motion and emanation lye down in a profound and inextricable sleep but they are hindred either by the proper vice of themselves because having taken or being distemper'd by some Narcotick they are as it were coagulated and become immoveable or because their exterior tracts or paths in the Brain are obstructed and possessed by some strange guest so that there is no fit space granted them for their expansion The symptoms of this Disease which now come in order to be explained the chief are Sleep and forgetfulness or a cessation of every other knowing or spontaneous function unequal and slow breathing a Feavour and oftentimes the distemper growing worse Convulsions a leaping of the Tendons and at length universal and deadly Cramps or Convulsions As to the too former of these we mentioned before that Memory is deficient altogether for the same reason as Sleep exceeds to wit forasmuch as the Spirits inhabiting the outward part of the Brain being either bound up or expulsed from their tracts do not irradiate or beam forth from the Callous Body into the Cortex or shelly part of the Brain by which imagination or waking is made nor do they being carried inwards and repeating their former footsteps represent the Ideas or Images of things before acted Indeed Sleep Watching and Memory are affections of the same parts and places of which it is no light sign and which vulgarly appears by experience that Opiate Medicines by which Sleep is provoked being often given hurt the Memory Yea I my self knew one having taken a strong Hypnotick or Medicine to cause sleep after being sick with a Feavour lived many nights and days without sleep and almost wholely lost his Memory especially as to any thing long past As to what respects the other faculties of the Corporeal Soul to wit the Imagination Appetite or desire Sense and Motion although no Narcortick or sleepy chains are cast upon the Spirits destinated to these offices and that the Pores and passages of the interior Brain within which they are wont to expatiate are seen to be open enough yet these Spirits because during the fit they are denied their commerce with the others bound up of themselves lye down and are overcome by Sleep For as a continual sleepiness beginning about the root of the sensitive Soul to wit the Cortex or shelly part of the Brain immediately its whole province is obscured as it were with a veil to wit the knowing desiring and self-moving part of the Soul and also the intellect it self its windows being every where shut up hardly speculates or beholds any thing Further the power or force of this Disease is seen to be extended to the other part of the sensitive Soul presiding o're the Cerebel and its Regiment wherefore during the fit of the Lethargy the respiration and Pulse are altered for that becomes unequal and slow sometimes drawing the breath deep and long sometimes short repeated and as it were double and this being great and swift diffuseth a feavourish heat thorow the whole body The reason of the former if I am not deceived is this to wit that the same Morbific Cause which infects the outward part of the Brain and its inhabitants infects also in part the Cerebel and the Spirits there serving for the motions of the Precordia which being by that means disturbed and hindred though they omit not thir tasks yet they perform them difficultly and with interruption hence the Diaphragma and Muscles of the Thorax do not so easily and swiftly as before perform their Systoles but laboriously and with a longer straining or endeavour and sometimes with repeated tryals or forces This kind of unequal long and difficult breathing frequently happens also in a Phrensie wherefore some judge the cause both of this and that to be from the inflammation of the Midriff or Diaphragma but amiss because the symptom in both these Cephalick Diseases depends on the Cerebel participating the hurt of the Brain grievously distemper'd As to the Feavour of one troubled with a Lethargy to be known by the great and quick Pulse hot breathing with a burning of the Tongue and Mouth without any heat in the extream parts some deduce this from the same cause as the Lethargy to wit either from Phlegm putrefying in the Brain or from a cold inflammation of the Brain Others on the contrary affirm the Feavour to be the primary effect and thence the Morbific Matter to be carried into the Head from the burning Blood Concerning these we grant that a Lethargy comes often after a Feavour but we can say nothing of the Phlegm putrefying in the Brain or of its frigid Inflammation which is as much as to say icy fire for if this be malignant or of evil custom happening also to Children old Men and other Phlegmatick Scorbutick or very Caecochymical persons or such as are full of ill humors about the height of a Disease not well Cured oftentimes in the place of a Crisis the feavourish matter being snatch'd into the Head induces a cruel and oftentimes a deadly Torpor or sleepiness which notwithstanding ought not to be esteemed the symptom of the Disease but of that Feavour After this manner I have often observed and elsewhere have particularly described that Soporiferous Feavours and as it were marked with a certain sleepiness have raged and become Epidemical at sometimes by reason of the evil constitution of the year But it is no less usual when a Lethargy is the principal distemper for a Feavour to follow and to owe to it as much its original as its Cure for a Feavour beginning after a continual sleepiness that being shaken off or discussed ceases soon of it self such a Feavour we think to arise not from the Blood growing hot by reason of the strife of intestine particles but because of the impulse of the containing and neighbouring bodies variously altering and disturbing its course For indeed the right temper of the Blood very much depends not only on its particles being truly mixt and overcome but also upon the motion impressed on the Heart and the Vessels or the Organical Circulation to wit that its Liquor may every where flow with an equal and alike flowing and ebbing which if finding any where a stop or Remora it be retarded its motion is made more impetuous and with a Feavourish tumult in the whole channel besides This manifestly appears in violent passions acute pains a breaking of the unity in all which the Blood being obstructed in one place or straitned it is snatched more vehemently in others and conceives a Feavourish heat for this cause to wit lest the thread of its circulation should be broken on which life necessarily depends wherefore as the Proverb says None dyes without a Feavour For how poor or deficient soever the Blood is and that the strength of all the moveing parts are weak yet in the instant agony of Death by the mere impulse of
as Powder of Coral and Pearl black Cherry Water or Water of Cowslip Flowers or Poppy Water and others sweetning and cherishing the spirits These being thus premised concerning the first and most light manner of foolishness or talking idly we will proceed to its higher degree viz. the Phrensie which is far longer and more durable than the former Distemper In the Delirium a perturbation of the Spirits inhabiting of the Brain being excited is like a waving of waters from a stone flung into a River but in a Phrensie their commotion seems as it were the storm of waters raging in a tempest The Phrensie is defined to be a continual dotage or deprivation of the principal faculties of the Brain arising from an Inflammation of the Meninges with a continual Feavour To this Disease there is another of kin viz. the Paraphrensie commonly called or additional Phrensie whose cause is not an inflammation of the Membranes which cover the Head but as they affirm of the Diaphragma Further in either Distemper as also in the Pleurisie but falsly it is affirmed that the Feavour doth arise as it were only symptomatical from the same conjunct cause viz. from the Inflammation of some part But indeed that the Phrensie doth rather succeed the Feavour and is produced because the boiling blood doth transfer its adust or burnt recrements to the Head Hippocrates long since and now every common body observes to wit for that the Urine of one sick of a Feavour being changed from a troubled and thick into a thin and waterish Urine shews a Phrensie at hand Wherefore from hence the cause of this Distemper is concluded to be a translation of the Feavourish matter into the Brain But as to the conjunct causes of the Phrensie and Paraphrenesis we may easily shew that the former doth not always proceed from the Inflammation of the Meninges nor this latter from the Inflammation of the Midriff I have often seen in Anatomical Dissections the Meninges yea sometimes also the exterior compass of the Brain beset with an inflamed tumor and the sick not distemper'd with a Phrensie but on the contrary with a stupidity and have dyed with a Carus or some other sleepy Diseases And truly that it is so reason plainly declares for the Meninges being inflamed and by that made more tumid press together the Brain very much and about its compass shut up the ways and passages of the Spirits so that the functions of waking and memory being hindred the Lethargy as it appears de facto necessarily follows Nothwithstanding far otherways in the Phrensie all the passages and Pores of the Brain for the excursions of the Spirits seem to be too largely open because the Images hidden or laid up are raised all at once out of the utmost and all the places of the memory which together with others suggested from the Phantasie to the common sensory tumultuously bring forth such manifold and highly confused notions There is only wanting to the sensitive soul for its expansion to be straitned or loosened within the Head which certainly the inflammation of the Meninges would effect rather than that it should be dilated above measure and that all the Pores of the Brain should be unlocked and carried beyond its wonted compass Perhaps it may happen from a long continuance of this Disease that the Blood being greatly heaped up within the Vessels of the Meninges and there stagnating that it may at length bring forth an Inflammation in them and then for that reason we may suspect because it often so falls out that the Phrensie doth pass into the Carus or Lethargy of which phrensical persons often dye No less do we reject the Inflammation of the Diaphragma which cause of the Paraphrenesis Galen in times past and moved by this authority most Physicians in every age since asserted Anatomical observations plainly prove the contrary Some time since dissecting the dead Carcase of a Maid dying of a sudden Leipothymy or swooning away we found in the fleshy part of the Diaphragma a great Imposthume with a bag full of filthy matter and watery little bladders yet she was not troubled ever with a Delirium or Phrensie Some time since also when we had made an Anatomical Inspection of a Gentleman of the University of whom we have made mention in a late Tract who dyed of a long spurious Pleurisie it manifestly appeared that a great Imposthume being ripened in the Pleura and the intercostal Muscles and broke inwardly that a vast plenty of matter had flowed forth into the cavity of the Thorax which gnawing the Diaphragma lying under had made a great hole in it nor was this man however in all his sickness Delirious or Frantick Wherefore I think this Distemper scarce ever to be produced from such a cause but that opinion seems to arise from hence because oftentimes in a true Phrensie together with a continual raving the motion of the Diaphragma is wont to be hindred or perverted as is gathered from the unequal and difficult breathing to wit sometimes anhelous or breathing short and as it were suspended sometimes short and swiftly repeated with sometimes a double breathing which kind of symptoms and also at the same time the alienation of the mind are said to proceed from the Midriff being inflamed and for that reason convulsed wherefore the Ancients called the Diphragma Phrenes But there was no need for this if they had consider'd that the whole action of the Diaphragma doth depend upon the flowing forth of the Animal Spirits from the Cerebel and therefore there is a necessity if the Phrenetick matter invading the Brain some part of it should with it rush into the Cerebel that besides the raving the motion also of the Midriff though of it self innocent should be altered as we have shewed elsewhere more largely Therefore the formal reason of the Phrensie seems to consist in this that the Animal Spirits being at first very much irritated in the whole Brain are driven into inordinate very confused and also impetuous motions so that the acts of every Animal Function are depraved and variously perverted and at the same time very many Ideas of things being raised up out of the memory the old are confounded with the new and some evilly joined or wonderfully divided are confounded with others the imagination suggests manifold Phantasms and almost innumerable and all of them only incongruous and the common sensory represents the images of sensible things distorted double or incoherent that hence the mind and the will choose or pick out nothing but ridiculous and impertinent conceptions and passions and cause the actions of the body to become almost only irregular Moreover the spirits being struck as it were with madness tumultuate not only in the Brain but also in the Cerebel and every where in the nervous Stock wherefore Frantick people not only talk idly but breath unequally speak aloud strike with their fists fling about their hands
of the whole Body in which the animal spirits like Soldiers sent abroad perpetually running up and down on this side and on that perform the offices of Sense and Motion Further those who dwell within the Head it self the superior Legion of the sensitive Soul altho more freely ranging yet lye not disorderly or loosely but its numerous Company being limited with certain Bounds and Cloysters as it were within the narrow space of One Chamber perform infinite Variety of Actions and Passions Concerning these discoursing formerly more fully in our description of the Brain and Nerves we did distinguish the Seats of all the Faculties yea we did shew the Commands of the Animal Function voluntary and involuntary to be divers in themselves also to belong to divers Governments of the Brain and Cerebel with their respective appendixes of the Nerves Further we shewed that those Spirits the Authors of either function not only within the narrow Channels of the Nerves but also in the large meeting places or Emporiums of the Head have peculiar paths to wit the medullary tracts as it were intrinsick Nerves most curiously stretch'd forth here and there But indeed because it is objected that I have not described all and perhaps not exactly enough therefore that those medullary Passages may be the better beheld we have lately instituted another more accurate anatomy of the Brain to wit by gently scraping with the point of a Pen-knife its parts we removed every where the softer and brownish substance a-Kin to the Cortex of the Brain the whiter and more hard being left by which means in several places of the Brain and the Oblong Marrow many Medullary Chords or Strings as it were distinct Nerves wonderfully Communicating among themselves and with other white or medullary Bodies were brought into sight For as much as this Anatomical Administration render'd the more secret passages of the Spirits and the motions belonging to the Arcana's of the animal Government very Conspicuous we shall here shew a new Figure or two of the Brain rolled forth and the flesh when taken off in the chief places in which are plainly beheld both the Common Passages and the Private paths of the Spirits and which carry them backward and forward immediately thorow the beaten way of the medullary tail and which lead thorow the by-paths of the Prominences into the streaked Bodies Therefore in the Brain taken out and rolled abroad according to our Method let there be a dissection so made between the Orbicular Prominences to wit between the Testes or Testicles Nates or Buttocks that when they being whole and divided in the middle of the Pinal Glandula the parts are layed by themselves the streaked Cavity of either may be lay'd open As in the 6 th Table Fig. 1. A. b E. A. b. c. c. D. Then it it will easily appear that the said Prominencies called the Testes are marrowy Epiphyses or additions of the oblong marrow which sticking to the tails of the Cerebel from thence look towards the Brain and a Commerce is seen to be maintained between this and that This last Ephiphysis passes from the parts of the Brain into the next natiform or of the form of a Buttock B. which is an adjunct or some Augmentation of that To this Medullar a.a. in a Sheep Ox and many four-footed Beasts grows a Cortical substance B.B. But otherways in a Man Dog Fox and other more sagacious Creatures it is marrowy thorow the whole the reason of the difference I have shewed in another place This medullary Epiphysis reaching above the Testes and Nates and going under the Pineal Kernel tends towards the Chambers of the Optick Nerves approaching which F. by and by it is cleft into two Branches as it were Nervous one of which G is carryed to the Cone of the streaked Body and the other H. towards its Basis and in its oblique passage sends a shoot into the midst of the Border of the streaked Body this Branch going to the basis of the streaked Body behind the root of the Fornix is inserted into an Angle of the streaked Body As to the Use of these Parts we have proposed our Conjectures in our Tract of the Brain and truly nothing seems more probable than that by this side-path of the Prominences and by the Passage of the Medullary Passages there are Commerces held between the Brain and the Cerebel for as often as it happens that Impressions or Instincts meerly natural follow spontaneous Affections and Motions or are joyned to them all that within those private Tracts is occupied See our Anat. of the Brain p. 176. Further whereby every such Impression from the Viscera or Precordia by the mediation of the Cerebel are carried from them in the same way forward and backward into the streaked Bodies and on the contrary every force and perturbation The Medullary passage which is for their commerce enters in three places viz. In the middle and at either end into the streaked Bodyes To the Prominences which are called Nates and Testes succeed the Chambers of the Optick Nerves E. E. as also above the Medullary Trunk certain Epiphyses or Additions serve for a private office viz. only for the visive Function For as the sight is a most noble faculty and as the Organ of the eye is highly curious so it obtains a very spacious Furniture or Porch and also a very strait to the common Sensory viz. the streaked Bodies Because the Optive Nerves coming together under the Trunk of the oblony Marrow and being by and by disjoyned they climb up his sides where going under the appropriate Protuberances they go into a numerous company of hairy threads which are every where interwoven with the cortical Substance Fig. 2. Tab. 6. These Medullary or Nervous structures or bindings which without doubt the visible Species pass thorow are all parallels which being stretched forth Strait are brought to the streaked Bodies every where through their whole Compass Fig. 2. Hence it is probable the causes of the Sandy drops or Spots yea and of the sight otherways depraved or lost do lie hid not only in the Eye and Optick Nerve but sometimes in these parts for as much as those Filaments or Nervous threads being obstructed or bound together the visible Species are not able to beam themselves to the streaked Bodies I knew one being affected by his Imagination and Memory being grievously hurt that those diseases vanishing fell into blindness The reason of which accident seems to be that the morbifick matter occupying at first the superior frame of the Brain being slid thence lower by the Cortix at length enter'd into the Optick Chambers There remains yet a private passage of another sence to wit of the smelling to the common Sensory viz. the streaked Bodies The mamillary Processes being entered into the Prominences of the Inferiour Brain go under its Basis till they come to the border of the
thô the Chrystalline Humor be of the form of a Lentil it doth not bear out enough so as it might receive the Beams of the whole Hemisphear therefore the watery Humor is lay'd to it as an addition which thrusting forth the Cornea or horny Coat and rendring it more bunching out encreases outwardly the Convexity or bending forth of the Eye which is indeed that the visible Species might be from this place and from that and on every side more plentifully admitted into it as into a Window made forth or butting out beyond the plane of the Wall Further the watery Humor swelling forth with the horny Coat breaks a little the oblique Beams falling towards the Perpendicular and so compelling them nearer together directs more together into the Convexity of the Chrystalline swelling There is yet another use of this watery Humor to wit to temperate the Beams passing thorow it being sometimes somewhat fiery and so to render them more proportionate to the Sensory On the other side of the Chrystalline Humor to wit on the back of it the glassy Humor stands like to fused Glass this much more plentiful than both the other possesses the greatest part of the Optic Chamber also being less Compact in it self is apt somewhat to flow out and is included with a most thin little Membrane this lyes upon the Retine Coat and contains the Chrystalline within its Bosom It s Primary use is to separate the Retine Coat in a just space from the Chrystalline Humor that after the Beams have past thorow this as it were thorow the Burning-Glass with a due Refraction they may have in that placed at a just distance their habitation Hence in those who have the Chrystalline Humor in the form of a Lentil and so the Beams passing thorow can't come together but at a greater distance have great plenty of this glassy Humor and its plenitude causes the Spherical Figure of the Eye But in those who have the Chrystalline swelling round that the Beams passing thorow are more crooked and have a dwelling or nest at a less distance the quantity of the glassy Humor is found less and its defect causes the depressed Figure of the Eye or of the form of a Cheese Further the glassy Humor according to Scheinerus being somewhat a more thin Medium than the Chrystalline Humor breaks a little the Beams passing thorow from the Perpendicular and therefore somewhat enlarges or draws forth the Picture of the visible thing otherwise more contracted and shews the same more conspicuous in the Retina Thus much concerning Seeing and of all the Senses in the next Chapter we should speak of the other Power to wit the Locomotive but being we have formerly largely discoursed concerning that we shall handle in the following certain Affections belonging to the Corporeal Soul as to the Exercise of the Motions and the Senses to wit Sleep and Waking CHAP. XVI Of Sleeping and Waking SUch is the weak and instable Nature of all living Creatures that they are not able neither to Live perpetually nor to Act and Labour continually but that there is a Necessity for them even as once and at last to dye so daily to repeat frequent turns of Sleep as it were so many previous Monitors of Death Though we have not experienced it we easily know what it is to dye to wit when the vital Flame like a Lamp is either by degrees consumed or violently extinguished presently Heat and Light and what flow from them both all the Vital and Animal faculties are abolished But what is the formal Reason Essence and Causes of Sleep which we suffer and daily experience is almost wholly unknown Concerning this there are various Opinions both of Ancients and Moderns but they rather seem Dreams than satisfactory Reason To wit whil'st some affirm Sleep to be mere Privation others a Bond of all the Functions these place for its Cause a retraction or introcession of Heat those an assent of Vapours from the Stomach to the Head Some assign for the subject the Brain others the Heart others the Stomach and Spleen and some again the Soul others the Body by it self and lastly others both together to wit the whole Animal Body Among the latter Writers Conradus Schneiderus hath of late been Eminent who rejecting the Opinions almost of all others and asserting Sleep not to be produced from Vapours nor from any material Cause nor to depend either upon any affection of the Brain or of any other part affirms it to be and Waking also mere faculties of the Soul to wit innate or born in it and wholly inorganical Also he saith that the formal Reasons of either are that the Soul or its animadversive Faculty sometimes withdraws and as it were hides it self and sometimes puts forth and expunds it self This Opinion thô in some part it seems likely does not easily deserve our assent because notwithstanding he asserts Sleep and Waking to be proper Faculties of the Soul and these inorganical and independing of the Body he further supposes other chief Powers of the Soul to wit common Sense Memory and Appetite not to be performed from the divers Organs within the Brain nor to be distinguished by their Seats but to be diffused thorow the whole Body Therefore that we may the more rightly Philosophize concerning Sleep we ought to consider what are its Subject formal Reason Causes Differences and Effects First As to the first it clearly appears that Sleep is not extended neither to the whole Soul nor to the whole Body for the Praecurdia and Organs of respiration are exercised with a perpetual Systole and Diastole the Viscera dedicated for Concoction perform their Offices more and better in Sleep than in Waking Further when as the aforesaid Parts are wont to alter their actions according to the urgencies of evident Causes as may be argued by the Pulse and respiration variously changed also from Vomiting and sometimes a sudden loosning of the Belly the exercises of the sensitive Power as well as the Motive ought to be granted to them in Sleep But the Blood is circulated and flames forth in quiet the nourishing and Nervous Humors are dispensed yea and the superfluous and what is excrementitious are best separated or put forth Hence as it appears perpetual watches are kept about the midst or inmost part of the Animal Body In the mean time it is observed that Sleep urging all the External Senses are shut up also that all Spontaneous Motions whatsoever cease so that the Bodies being wholly subjected to ease lye as they were dead Further the Internal Powers related to these such as are the Common Sense Phantasie Memory Appetite conspire together with these External Powers and either wholly omit their Acts or exercise them but obscurely and confusedly From these it may be plainly gathered that the Animal Spirits which are the next or efficient Instrument of Sense and Motion are also the immediate
the Head-ach and there induces painful Corrugations and Inflations Further the Serum carries with it infestous Recrements as sulphureous saline sharp acid bilous or melancholic or of some other kind and fixes them to the nervous Fibres which cause an acute or dull a shorter or a longer pain The Headaches arising by reason of this kind of remote cause infest more grievously in the Winter time in a moist Air and in a Southern Wind Moreover Catarrhs of the Face Mouth Larynx and of other parts oftentimes accompany this Disease 3. The nourishing Juice or fresh Chyme being carried from the Blood to the solid parts and laid upon them by reason it becomes improportionate to some parts of the Head evilly disposed is wont to excite periodical fits of the Headach For this provision being laid up near some nervous Fibres because it cannot be assimilated begins to trouble them or burthen them after some stay and at length provokes them into wrinklings to expulse that which troubles them An Headach proceeding from such a cause as I have observed in many doth dayly come at so many hours after eating and continues a like space of time yea the times alter according to the manner of taking their repast both as to the quality and quantity and so also the fits of the pains are wont to vary 4. The nervous Liquor is a cause of pains by its inordination as oftentimes in other parts so also not seldom in the Head for this either degenerating from its temper or being imbued with dregs or filthiness does not pass thorow so freely the nervous Fibers but is apt to stagnate and to be heaped up in them to an irritative fulness and that chiefly within the Fibres made weak beforehand or of an evil conformation such as are sometimes the Membranes of the Head because in these predisposed the watering Liquor being hindred in Motion easily arises to an aggravating or provoking fulness so that the Fibres being so filled like the stomach too much crammed enter into Convulsions and painful wrinklings for the putting away their contents nor do they cease from them till they are freed of their burthen which notwithstanding afterwards being heaped up again sometimes sooner and sometimes later cause from thence others and so again other fits of pains The Headach arising from such a cause springs oftentimes without any notable turgescency of the Blood and gently and as it were of its own accord without any errors in dyet or living yet sometimes it may sooner arise by reason of disorders in the non-naturals and other accidents This is wont to come more often in the Morning and after long sleeping when the nervous Fibres have drunk in this humor more largely In the aforesaid Headaches the Morbifick matter is made up for the most part of one singular humor and so the fits of the pains are something more gentle and oftentimes sooner pass over But there is another Cause of this Disease when two humors like divers kinds of Salts meet together and grow mutually hot and so from the strife of dissimilar particles the Fibres are very much pulled and moved into very acute and cutting pains and are most commonly longer infested with them In this case one of the champions is always the nervous liquor but the other either the serous water or the nourishing juice We exempt the Blood because it only washes the passages of the Nerves and does not enter them deeply but the nervous humor by reason of the vices but now recited sometimes of it self pulls the containing Fibres and provokes them into painful Convulsions If that another humor either the Nutritious or Serous for both of them are wont to be guilty being little of kin be plentifully poured upon this so predisposed and copiously heaped up within the Fibres presently all the particles being raised up strive among themselves and so by a mutual effervency notably distend and haule the Fibres that from hence from their being long and greatly wrinkled most sharp and long remaining pains are induced Whether it be this or that humor meeting with the nervous juice that causes the Headach may be easily known from the proper irregularities above described of either peccant humor by it self By what means and for what more remote causes the humors either Nutritious or Serous offend as often as meeting with the Nervous humour contained within the Fibres move the fits of pains shall be declared anon in the mean time I think it sufficiently appears that the more frequent and habitual Headaches are produced chiefly by the fault of the nervous liquor because this is most intimate both with the Fibres themselves which are wrinkled and the Spirits which are moved into painful distractions also because the pains of the Head sometimes arise without any disorder or tumult of the Blood Serum or nourishing Juice and these being emptied or allayed after what manner soever oftentimes the Headach most pertinaciously continues But concerning the nervous Liquor when it is the cause of the Headach we observe that its fault is sometimes universal and sometimes private for sometimes it doth acquire its evil from the distempered part to wit forasmuch as being constrained to subsist or stagnate within the Fibres hurt by their conformation it is so perverted that at length being infested fermenting either by it self or with some other humor it irritates them into painful Corrugations Yet sometimes and especially in the more grievous Headaches we may suppose that the whole Mass of the nervous Liquor is in fault but the nervous parts of the Head partake of its evil before any others in the whole Body because these are the chief and nearest springs of the nervous Liquor and are also highly sensible wherefore the nervous Liquor when ever it is vicious either swelling up of its own accord or growing hot by another humour being poured unto it within the Meninges and other Membranes of the Head more than in the other parts of the Body becomes painful The thing appears to be so because a long and grievous Headach is wont to be Cured not so much by Remedies applyed or proper for the Head as by those which restore the Crasis or Constitution of the nervous Juice and the bloody Mass and such are Chalybeats or Steel Medicines and Antiscorbuticks or Medicines against the Scurvy Which certainly argues that the nervous Liquor where-ever it is in fault thorow the whole Body chiefly punishes the parts of the Head Thus much for the causes of the Headach both the procatartick or foregoing and the Conjunct there yet remain others more remote called Evident which raise up the former and provoke them into act or the painful means of affecting But they are of a various kind and of a divers operation to wit Whatever things are apt first to transfer the Morbific matter from another place into the part affected or secondly to move it before lodging in it
Brain may be prevented and also that what is already impacted may be discussed or taken away Further the Animal Spirits ought to be rouzed up or excited and all sleepiness or stupidity shaken from them For this end ought to be applied Purging Blood-letting Cupping-glasses Blistering Plasters repelling and discussing Topicks and Cephalick Medicines to be given and chiefly such as are impregnated with a Volatile Salt and many other means of administrations already recited But if this Disease coming upon other Distempers happens to a person whose Body is already much worn out the Blood vitiated or greatly depauperated you must seriously deliberate before taking away of Blood or Purging yea also abstain very much from them Yet sometimes that the Conjunct Cause or matter of the Disease impacted in the Brain may be put into motion it may be expedient to take away Blood moderately either from the Forehead or Temples by Leeches or from between the Shoulders by Cupping-glasses and Scarification Here Blistering Plasters are in chief esteem to be applied not only to the hinder part of the Neck or Head but to the Legs and Arms and other parts of the body by turns Further let there be given frequently the Spirits of Harts-horn of Sut of Sal Armoniack Amber or a Mans Scull Coral and others impregnated with other Cephalicks with a Iulep or any other proper Liquor The forms or Receipts of these and of other Remedies used in these cases together with the Histories of the sick and examples of Cures are extant in the description of the aforesaid soporiferous Feavor so that there is no need to inculcate here again the same or such like There yet remains an other sleepy Distemper or kind of Lethargy or continual sleeping commonly called Carus which is greater than the Lethargy and somewhat lesser than the Apoplexy and is so near akin to this that it often passes into it but yet it is wont to be differenced from either For those sick with the Carus breath well for the most part and when they are strongly pulled they move their Members sometimes lift themselves up open their Eyes and often speak which Apoplectical persons do not yet the same though excited or moved do scarcely understand any thing or plainly discern in which respect they are distinguished from such as have the Lethargy From these it appears that the Conjunct Cause of the Carus doth penetrate deeper towards the middle part of the Brain and hath its seat in the outmost border at least of the Callous Body wherefore the Animal Spirits being restrained from their wonted expansion within this Emporium the acts of the Imagination and Memory cease and although the Species being impressed from a more strong sensible is directed inwards and oftentimes the local motion is retorted to it yet because this impression reaches not to the Callous Body by reason the Spirits are there amazed or stupefied the sick know nothing what they feel or do The Conjunct Cause of this Disease therefore is very often the same but somewhat more strong than that of the Somnolency Coma and Lethargy The Morbific Matter is seen to possess both the Cortex of the Brain and the Marrow lying under and being carried forward some greater bosoms of the middle part and the upper borders of the Callous body yea sometimes as this matter is partly carried forward by degrees these Diseases arise and every next is but the augmentation of the former But sometimes the Morbific Cause without any gradual progress thorow these parts affects the middle part of the Brain at the first assault and there as it is more lightly or more deeply placed causes the Carus or the Apoplexy In which case it is not to be thought that the whole compass of the Callous Body like the Cortical part of the Brain should be possessed by the soporiferous matter because it is sufficient this matter rushing into any one place and invading some part of the middle Marrow that presently for that reason an Eclipse or at least a beating down of the Spirits follows in all that region After this manner it is wont to be when the Carus comes upon a malignant or ill handled Feavour or upon the Headach or some Convulsive Distempers or when it is excited by a blow on the Head or by a fall or by reason of an Imposthum broken in the Meninges for by reason of these accidents the interior Marrow of the Brain is wont to be so pressed together shaken or otherways altered that presently the tracts or paths of the Spirits are obliterated or blotted out The prognostick of the Carus for the most part is but evil especially if this Disease comes upon a malignant or a long continued a gentle and not Cured Feavour or on a Woman in Childbed no less danger is also threatned if it follows after other Cephalick Diseases or is excited by reason of a Wound in the Head but yet in these cases all hope of Cure is not presently to be cast off for I my self have observed some sick after this manner and esteemed desperate or past all hope to have recovered The event of this Disease is wont to be various either in Death or in health The Carus passes not rarely into a soon killing Apoplexy that after first the animadvertive faculty being lost with a short breathing and without motion then by reason of the evil being transmitted to the Cerebel there follow alterations of breathing and the Pulse and quickly death it self But sometimes the Morbific Matter setling more deeply and falling from the Callous Body into the streaked Body one or both together the Brain clears up a little so that the sick look about them talk and know things yet in the whole body besides a Palsie or Dead-Palsie on one side follows but so that life is not out of danger for oftentimes when the Brain begins to be restored the Cerebel grows worse that for that cause the Spirits there being evilly disposed or affected which perform the offices of the vital function and merely natural either Convulsions are stirred up in the Bowels and Precordia or deadly impediments of the Pulse and respiration yet sometimes when the Morbific matter is not so plentiful nor very malignant it is partly supped up into the Blood and partly shook off so that the sick grow perfectly well again The Curatory Method suggests the same intentions of Healing and requires wholly the same Remedies as those which are wont to be administred in the Lethargy and the Apoplexy Wherefore there will be no need to add here a company of Indications nor to heap together a great pile of Medicines But what seems more to the purpose that I give you one or two Histories of sick people of which I have many by me A known person of about forty years of Age who having through Intempernace lost his health took I know not what Medicines
when the Sun is in the Equinox the light on the Horizon and have neither perfect night nor perfect day so these only enjoy a kind of twilight betwixt sleep and waking The Waking Coma is rarely a Disease of it self but for the most part it is a symptom coming upon other Diseases as the Feavour Phrensie Lethargy and the like wherefore it requires not a Curatory Method peculiarly but there is only need that to the Remedies prescribed for the first or primary Disease there should be added other Cephalicks which may dispel these clouds and meteors of the Brain or if both will not be expelled together the same Medicine which cherishes the parts of the one getting the better will immediately overcome the other so in the Waking Somnolency it is convenient to procure either perfect sleep or perfect waking and in this case I have often given Narcoticks with good success CHAP. VI. Of the Incubus or Night-Mare THUS much concerning the morbid exorbitancies of irregular sleep and waking which are almost proper and as it were of the region of the Brain and affect not the Cerebel but rarely and that secondarily and collaterally as hath been shown But there remains a distemper commonly called the Night-Mare in Latine the Incubus which is both peculiar to this Region and also seems in some measure analogical to the sleepy diseases forasmuch as its fits arise for the most part from sleep by reason of the Animal Spirits being bound in the Cerebel or suppressed their eclipse or interruption though short about the exercise of the vital function is induced That the subject nature and causes of this Disease may be the better known we shall first consider its Phaenomena or the appearance of it The fits of the Incubus or Night-Mare for the most part and indeed only falling on one in sleep are used to be excited mostly after the stomach is loaded with undigested meats and lying on the back in Bed They who labour with it seem to feel the hurt chiefly in the Breast and about the Praecordia for respiration being suppressed and very much hindred they think that a certain weight lying heavily upon their Breast doth oppress them which weight mocks their imaginations with the Image of some spectre or other and this whilst they think to shake off or put away by the moving of their Body or members they are not able to stir themselves any way But after a long space and sometimes till they are almost dead they at last awake with a strugling about their heart and being more fully rouzed from sleep the imaginary weight suddenly vanishes and the motive force of the body is restored but for the most part a trembling of the heart remains and frequently a swift and violent beating of the Diaphragma Then the fit being over the deception of the phantasie conceiving the horrid image of the Incubus or spectre is perceived The common people superstitiously believe that this passion is indeed caused by the Devil and that the evil spirits lying on them procures that weight and oppression upon their heart Though indeed we do grant such a thing may be but we suppose that this symptom proceeds oftenest from mere natural causes though what they are and in what place the Morbific matter doth subsist is not agreed on among Authors nor indeed is it easily to be assigned Because the imagination is deceived and the error being propagated further into the senses themselves so imposes on the sight and feeling that they believe they plainly see and feel a monster of this or that shape or figure lying upon them and for that the loco-motive faculty of the whole body is hindred in the mean time some have placed the seat of this Disease wholly in the Brain and would have the oppression of the breast to be merely phantastical But although we grant the monstrous shape of the Incubus which is conceived to be a mere dream the Precordia to be truly affected is apparent and the motion of the Pulse and breathing is suppressed or hindred for that the heavy weight of the breast is plainly felt by most in their waking yea and when thorowly fresh awaked and when that is removed the tremblings of the Heart and Diaphragma and inordinate motions follow whence it follows that these parts labour and suffer a real hurt Wherefore others that they might the more easily unloose this knot dividing the Morbific Cause assign a portion of it to the Brain and another to the Breast for they say that the motion of the Lungs are hindred by a viscous and very gross humor impacted about them and that doth excite as it were the oppression of a bulk lying on them with want of breathing then Vapors being raised to the Head do fill the principal Nerves and so hinder the loco-motive force which opinion no more likely than the conceptions of those troubled with the Night-Mare deserves not to be assented to because there are not any signs of this humor heaped up about the Praecordia which appear before or after the fit yea when this region is very much burthened as in the Phthisis Asthma or Dropsie of the Breast the Incubus does not therefore infest more frequently or more grievously Further it appears not how the matter heaped up in the Praecordia should be only troublesome in sleep or by what passage or way the Vapours from thence so suddenly inducing want of motion should be elevated to the Head Wherefore the Reason or Aetiology of this Distemper I think to be taken or judged of far otherwise Therefore this heavy weight or load lying on the breast seems indeed to be left because the motion of the Heart and the organs serving for breathing is hindred for from the motion of the heart ceasing or being hardly performed the Blood in its bosoms and in the breathing or Pneumonick Vessels statgnating and being there very much streightned a sense of as it were a weight opresses the region of the breast which also seems therefore the more grievous because the Lungs Diaphragma and Muscles of the Thorax being hindred in their motions and as it were bound together at the same time with the heart do labour with a great endeavour to exercise or to put forth themselves But the most hard question yet is concerning the Cause by reason of which the motion or action of the Praecordia is suppressed or hindred This seems impossible to be done by matter impacted in the organs themselves of which indeed there must be a very great deal to suffice for the hindrance of so many parts and some signs of it at least would appear somewhat out of the fit wherefore it seems that we may rather say that the action of those parts are hindred because the influx of the animal spirits are hindred or suppressed This is frequently done in Convulsive Distempers as we have elsewhere declared and have clearly shewed by
into disorder by too great a motion and confused fluctuation run inordinately into the heads of the Nerves of the wandring pair and for that reason stir up Convulsions and Convulsive motions in the Bowels Thirdly 'T is observed that the Vertigo comes upon Drunkenness as a known symptom and that to those unaccustomed the drinking though moderately of Wine or strong Ale also the taking of Tabaco easily induces the same affection the reason of which is because from the Liquor or vapour so taken certain fierce particles and untameable are carried into the Brain by the passages of the Blood and nervous Juice which being improportionate and incongruous to the Animal Spirits drive them hither and thither from their wonted tracks of flowing and reflowing or ebbing and so move them into whirlings and turnings about These are the chief occasions or solitary evident causes which do use to bring the Vertigo or turning round in the Head to some men how sound of constitution soever they be which kind of effect these occasions produce forasmuch as the Animal Spirits being disturbed beyond their set courses and orders are moved inordinately fluctuating here and there both within the passages of the Brain and also some of them like a thred broken off from their wonted irradiation into the nervous Stock For these being always reciprocal depend mutually one of another to wit a perturbation of the Spirits within the middle part of the Brain and their flowing forth into the nervous Stock being hindered for from what ever cause either effect is induced the other immediately follows A turning round of the body going in a Coach or in a Boat or Ship also Drunkenness and the unaccustomed fume of Tabaco compel the spirits in the Brain to fluctuate and shake disorderly which for that cause are presently inhibited from their wonted flowing into the Nerves that those so affected can hardly go or stand in like manner on the contrary looking from on high passing over Bridges a languishment or syncope falling on them recal the spirits from their wonted emanation who for that cause tumultuating within the Brain or being moved inordinately cause a Scotomy or dizziness or a turning round of the objects These things being thus premised concerning the Vertigo raised up by reason of an outward accident or from a solitary evident and non-natural cause we shall next inquire how and by what means it is wont to be induced from an intrinsick and preternatural cause Concerning these take notice that the Vertigo is sometimes a symptom depending upon some other Distemper placed sometimes within the Brain and sometimes without it but sometimes this is a Disease of it self which being raised up within the middle part of the Brain becomes very troublesome and often terrible and very hard to be Cured As to the former many Cephalick Diseases or such as belong to the Head viz. Acute pain the Lethargy Epilepsie Carus Apoplexy with many others do often accompany the Vertigo to wit because the equal expansion of the Spirits in the Brain and therefore their irradiation into the nervous Stock from such like various Morbific causes are easily hindred or disturbed as shall hereafter appear when we deliver the Aetiology or reason of the Vertigo as it is a Disease of the Brain But sometimes this symptom is wont to be produced by reason of other Distempers placed a long way from the Brain and that chiefly by two ways or means For first it is usual for a dizziness to arise by reason of the flowing of the Blood being suddenly called away from the Brain as in a Syncope or Swooning great want coming near it wicked hard labour great Haemorrhagies or expence of blood long fasting in passions of violent sadness and fear yea by reason of other occasions when the motion of the blood is deficient or fails in the heart so that the affected are proclive to faintings and swooning away presently because the tribute of the vital liquor is withdrawn the animal Spirits growing deficient in the Brain withdraw their radiation from the nervous Stock for when their spring is cut off those that remain leaping back from their emanation wander about confusedly in the Brain and very often stir up the Vertiginous Distemper Secondly an inordinate recourse or flowing back of the Animal Spirits from some inward or from some outward member often causes the Vertigo forasmuch as the Spirits being disturbed from the affected part by a long series thorow the passages of the Nerves at length disturb others inhabiting the middle part of the Brain and drive them into the like disorders for this cause it is that sharp humors gnawing or pulling the Fibres of the Ventricle because the infestous and irritative matter being moved in the Spleen Pancreas or Intestines causes light dizzinesses in the Brain I have known from an accute pain an Ulcer or a mortified Inflammation in the Foot or Arm frequent tremblings and failings though short in the Brain to have been induced Whilst that the conceived inordination of the spirits is transferred from the distemper'd part thorow the Nerves into the Brain a certain Formication or tingling or as it were the ascent of a cold air is seen and perceived wherefore the cause of this Distemper is commonly ascribed to Vapours arising up to the Head which error we have elsewhere sufficiently confuted Further many are wont when they have fasted or stayed long beyond their hour of dineing to have a dimness before their eyes and their heads to have a turning and then afterwards those clouds vanish having eaten a little this does not so happen according to the vogue of the people for that wind or vapours ascend to the Head from the empty Stomach which the aliments being taken in do immediately suppress but because the Fibres of the Ventricle and the nervous Filaments or little strings being destitute of the nervous Juice with which they desire to be watered are wont to enter into corrugations or wrinklings and light Convulsions which kind of Convulsions and disorders of Spirits for that they are continued thorow the passages of the Nerves into the Brain produce the Vertiginous Distemper which as soon as the Fibres of the Stomach remit their wrinklings ceases of its own accord For this reason I have known some by a Vomit being given tearing the coats of the Ventricle to have been taken with a cruel Vertigo yea I do suspect that this Distemper does sometimes arise from meats of ill digestion and ungrateful to the stomach But the Vertigo is not only a symptom but sometimes a primary Disease of it self whose nature that we may the better search into we ought to inquire into its subject the formal reasons and causes of it and then these being found out and truly unfolded we will proceed to its prognostick and Cure Without doubt the immediate subject of the Vertigo are the Animal Spirits which every one labouring with this Disease
therefore here pass over purposely in this part of the Diseases belonging to the Head and according to our wonted method descend yet lower to the other regions of the Brain and its dependences and now we shall endeavour next to describe the Distempers which belong to the Streaked Bodies Oblong Marrow and also to the Nerves and nervous Fibres We have formerly shewed that these parts do perform all the functions belonging to motion and sense wherefore the failing or the enormities of these are the affections of those Bodies or of the Spirits inhabiting them But indeed sense and motion are hurt chiefly after two manner of ways to wit either is wont to be perverted or hindred when Motion is perverted Cramps and Convulsions when Sense pain arises when either function or both together is hindred or abolished the Distemper is thence stirred up called the Palsie which we are at present about to handle Concerning Convulsion and Pain we have already treated The Palsie is described after this manner to wit That it is a resolution loosening or relaxation of the nervous parts from their due tensity or stiffness by which means Motion and Sense to wit either one only or both together in the whole Body or in some parts cannot be exercised after their due manner The nervous pats are loosened because the Animal Spirits do not sufficiently irradiate them nor blow them up nor actuate them with vigor The cause of which defect is either an obstruction of the ways by which their trajection or passage is hindred or the impotency of the Animal Spirits for that they are distemper'd with a numness or that being but few in number they do not lively enough unfold themselves By reason of these various means of being affected there arise diverse kinds of Palsies For in the first place as to motion by it self this spontaneous faculty which is chiefly and almost only lyable to the Palsie is sometimes taken away in the whole or altogether in some parts but sometimes this being only hindred is lessened or depraved Secondly In like manner also one sense only by it self or more together is sometimes wholly taken away and sometimes only much diminished or vitiated Thirdly Sometimes it happens that both powers are hurt at once We shall speak of each of these in their order and first of the Palsie in which spontaneous motion is abolished which we say is excited from two causes chiefly to wit the ways being obstructed and the Animal Spirits being touched with a numness or as it were with a certain malignant blast As to the former an interception of the Spirits from the loosned parts by reason of their passages being obstructed that always existing above them is wont to be caused in various places and for divers causes but chiefly it happens in the first sensory viz. in the Streaked Bodies or some where about the Medullar Trunks or lastly in the Nerves themselves and so either in their beginnings or middle processes or in their extreme ends i. e. the nervous Fibres When the evil or hurt is brought to the Streaked Bodies or the oblong or spinal Marrow it either obstructs the whole Medullar thread or rope from whence arises an universal Palsie below the distemper'd part or one moiety of it whence comes the Hemiplegia or Palsie of one side or it affects in one side or in both at once the little heads of some Nerves whence loosnings or resolutions are caused in this or that member apart from the others There are many means whereby the ways or passages of the Animal Spirits are obstructed in the aforesaid bodies First Either their passages are filled by an extraneous matter impacted in them Or Secondly They are pressed together by Blood flowing out of the Vessels a Serous deluge or some Tumor lying upon them Or Thirdly and lastly the unity or continuity is broken as by a stroke or wound or bruise also by excess of cold or heat According as these several places are distemper'd and the several means of their being affected we shall run thorow the chief cases of the Palsie together with the Aetiology or reason thereof with the manifold appearances of Symptoms in them and in the first place we will speak of the Palsie arising from an hurt brought to the common Sensory to wit the Streaked Bodies And indeed that it so comes to pass I have proved by ocular inspection and shall be plainly demonstrated anon by Anatomical observation Further as often as an universal or an half Palsie follows as it is often wont to do upon a Lethargy the Carus or Apoplexy any one may conceive that such a change of the Disease happens from a translation of the Morbific matter for that this at length going out of the Pores and passages of the Callous Body which it at first possest and sinking down a little lower runs into the Medullary tracks of one of the Streaked Bodies or perhaps both of them And so when the Animal Spirits are hindred from their wonted out-flowing or irradiation into the nervous Stock the motive faculty only or if the obstruction be very great both this together with the sensitive is hindred I have sometimes observed in a Palsie coming after a grievous fit of some other Disease that all the moving parts of either side have been loosened after a more light manner For though they were not able to perform the more strong motive endeavours yet for the most part they could extend bend yea and move their members hither and thither to wit because the Morbific matter being diffused abroad thorow both the Streaked Bodies had not so closely filled every where all the passages Moreover on the contrary I have known in a Palsie of one side so suddenly excited that there has been a far greater resolution so that they so struck were not able to move any way hand or foot nor any other member on the distemper'd side Further sometimes it happens from the Morbific matter being copiously fallen down and obstructing closely all the Medullary tracts of one of the Streaked Bodies that all the respective parts have not only been destitute of motion but some of them also of sense so that some members felt not any painful impression how vehement so ever it was Such a Distemper happening in a lesser degree is wont to excite a sense of numness or pricking or tingling such as in members lean'd or lain upon If it be demanded why sense is not always hindred as well as motion in every Palsie since as it seems either is performed by the same Nerves and Fibres within the same Medullary tracts so that one faculty is only the inversion of the other as to this we may say that as light beams thorow glass when wind is excluded so also sense being safe oftentimes motion is lost Besides sense is only a passion and a sensible impression which is propagated from the organ by a continuity of
his belly swell'd his breathing was yet more hard and troublesome that he could now scarely draw breath His Pulse was very weak and upon any motion of his Body he had frequent swoonings away and loss of Spirits Hence as there 〈…〉 rce any place left for purging Cordials and Antiparalytick Remedies were only to be insisted on but notwithstanding the use of which this sick man within a fortnights time labouring for many hours under a Dyspnoe or want of breath at length expired The immediate cause of whose Death I suspect to have been the manifold concretions of the blood in the Heart for when the motion of the Praecordia for a long time was very much hindred there seems nothing more probable than that these kind of gobbets as it were fleshy should increase within the Ventricles of the Heart For the illustrating of the Theory of the Palsie a little more and also of the Lethargy and Carus I shall add this other example with Anatomical observations which happened whilst the former were in the Press A little one a little above three years old of a moist or humid Brain as appeared by most grievous sore Eyes and the watry whelks or pustles of the face to which it was sometimes obnoxious falling ill about the beginning of Autumn with a slow Feavour and lost Appetite it became very torpid and sleepy so that it would sleep almost continually day and night but being awake he knew those standing about him and answered very aptly to their Questions To this Child fit Remedies being presently and diligently given viz. Clysters Blistering Plasters Purges also Juleps Spirits of Harts-horn Powders with many others used in these cases they prevailed so much that within six or seven days the sick Child being free from its Feavour waking enough and desiring Food seemed to grow well and to have scarce any more need of a Physician But in a short time after by what occasion uncertain falling into a relapse and again sleepy was presently seised with a most grievous stupefaction so that it was hardly to be awakened and scarce knew any one or what it did it self the next day being plainly stupid though being strongly pulled it did open its Eyes it would roll them about hither and thither and saw nothing but within a day or two a Palsie follow'd in its whole right side The former Remedies were repeated and besides sneezing Medicines chawing Medicines to draw down Rheum by the mouth a taking away of Blood with Poultisses applied to the Feet and all its Head being shaven drawing Plasters were put all over its Head with other Medicines and ways of administrations prescribed in order nothing profited but that this sick Child after its lying so insensible for four or five days at length its breath and Pulse failing dyed It s dead Body being opened we found almost all things sound enough in the lower and middle bellies i. e. in the Belly and Breast unless that in the right Kidney a whitish mattery Humor or as it were a thin Corruption had begun to be heaped together which plentifully flowed forth out of some parts of the Kidney being disfected and squeezed together This did seem to have been the beginning or a certain rudiment of a future Imposthum and perhaps by reason of the Serum not sufficiently separated here it s greater plenty had slowed to the Brain For the top of the Skull being taken away the anterior region of the Head almost to the insertion of the fourth bosom swelled up being covered with clear water shining thorow the Membranes which presently flowed forth when the Meninges were dissected Further in this place portions of the Brain being by pieces cut off appeared too wet and without any red or bloody pricks but in the hinder border of the Brain the Vessels were red with blood and the Cortical substance appeared without tumor or deluge of water more close and firm From these as we have affirmed before it manifestly appeared that the cause of the Lethargy did depend upon the watry flood or as it were Anasarca or Dropsie of the outward part of the Brain The Brain being cut piece-meal and an hole made in the anterior cavity distended by the water the clear water being before as it were penned up within a more narrow space leaped forth a great plenty of which had filled all the Ventricles to the top and as it seems by compressing the Optick chambers as in the other case above described brought in blindness and by entring or pressing together one of the Streaked Bodies or its Pores caused the Palsie The Choroeidal Infoldings appeared as it were half boiled whitish and almost without blood It is probable that the water did flow forth of these Vessels by which the Ventricles of the Brain were overflown all or at least the greatest part of it although in this case if as some think the watry Latex or Humor sliding down lower from the shelly part of the Brain the Brain being at length thorowly passed thorow did rain down into these bosoms we may from thence aptly fetch a reason wherefore the Lethargy at first thought to be cured returned afterwards more cruel accompanied with blindness and the Palsie to wit because at first the stock of the sleepy matter falling down from the shelly part of the Brain into its cavity the animal function was a little cleared but afterwards when new matter sprung up in the Cortex of the Brain and this sliding forward into its bosom was heaped up to a fulness for that reason happened the relapse of the former Disease with those companions of blindness and the Palsie But although the Dropsie of the interior Brain or the inundation of its Ventricles by compressing either the Streaked Bodies or the optick chambers raised up the Palsie or blindness or by pulling the beginnings of the Nerves the Convulsive Distempers yet it appears most evidently by our late Anatomical observation that the Lethargy did not arise from any such cause but only from the exterior part of the Brain being overflowed or pressed together A certain Gentleman a long time unhealthy after he had laboured almost for five months with the Colick or rather with a wandring Scorbutical Gout in which not only the Viscera and Loins were troubled with great torments but moreover the Membranes and Muscles of the whole Body were almost continually tormented and at length he suffered sometimes most horrid Convulsions in his Members sometimes resolutions and sometimes a Phrensie in his Head and sometimes as it were Apoplectical fits or a darkness in his Eyes so that being worn out his strength and spirits wholly exhausted he dyed Almost seven days except the last but one before he dyed being more strong as to his Sense and Intellect he lived almost perpetually without sleep though gentle or the more strong Opiates were given him yet he could not sleep at all A little before this waking from a Vesicatory applied to the hinder
every where by equal angles of reflections But those who have a flat head or too sharp or otherways improportionate are affected for the most part with some noted fault of the Animal Function for these kind of Brains like distorted Looking-Glasses do not rightly collect the Images of things nor truly object them to the Rational Soul Thirdly The substance of the Brain should be well temper'd and of a laudable frame not only as to the qualities of heat and cold of driness and moisture but its Systasis or Constitution consisting of plenty of a volatile Salt and Spirit with a moderate proportion of the rest should be thin and airy that the Spirits may pass thorow the whole and cut out to themselves paths also it should be moderately firm and compacted that the tracts and passages being made may remain and not be presently blotted out again by the sinking of the too soâ—t parts But in Stupidity it is to be suspected that there is in the Brain an excess of some manifest quality as of moisture or coldness for which reason Children and old people are wont to be affected with a dulness of their senses or sometimes the Texture is too thick and Earthy so that the spirits do not easily irradiate it or cut tracts for themselves to wit they cannot penetrate an opacous or thick body no more than rays of light To this kind of deadish Texture of the Brain those that are born of Plowmen and Rusticks as if they were formed of a worser clay are obnoxious hence in some Families reckoning many descents backward there is scarce one witty or wise man found In some places the influences of the Heaven and Air incline as it is thought the Inhabitants to Stupidity so to be born in Batavia is proverbially as much as to say a Fool. Fourthly Besides these vices of the Brain which are for the most part original and born with it sometimes its evil conformation as to its Pores and Passages by reason of some acquired inordinations is a cause that the Animal Function is not rightly performed For first of all as to what appertains to the smaller Passages and Pores of the Brain which the spirits themselves frame every where thorow its whole substance and perpetual flow into them for the exercise of the Animal Functions it sometimes happens that these are either defective or perverted and so bring on a dulness of mind or Foolishness These little spaces are defective because the consistency of the Brain being either too obdurate or too fluid it will not indure to be cut thorow after a due manner or to remain or continue so bored thorow But we suspect those Passages to be perverted either because they are too loose or too strait or else for that their making is unequal Too strait Pores do not sufficiently admit store of matter for a good plenty of Spirits Those loose above measure receive together with that matter Heterogeneous Particles and infesting the Animal Regiment They seem to be unequally formed where they are more open in one part of the Brain and more strait in another For this cause we think it to be that some understand or know things well enough but still judge evilly for that their notions and conceptions like the visible Images passing thorow a diverse Medium become distorted Further perhaps for this reason it comes to pass that some excel or are strong in Imagination and Phantasie yet are very deficient in Memory and others on the contrary 3. It sometimes happens that both these conjunct causes do concur together to Foolishness to wit because both the Animal Spirits are dull and toâ—pid and also the Brain evilly conformed And in truth which part soever is first in fault it quickly will make the other in like manner guilty Because when the Spirits being blunt and sluggish do not freely pass thorow the Brain the Pores and Passages in it are not either sufficiently cut thorow or else they close again and the Spirits if they cannot expand themselves by reason of the evil texture of the Brain as they should do they at length becoming slothful and idle grow heavy and acquirâ— a vicious disposition Thus much concerning the Conjunct Causes of Foolishness as to its Procatartick and Evident there belong more occasions by reason of which the aforesaid evils are wont to be brought to the Brain or the Spirits or to both together For in the first place Stupidity as we but now observed is sometimes original or born with one and so it is either hereditary as when Fools beget Fools the reason of which is clear enough to wit the same weak Particles flowing for the constituting the Animal Organs in the Son which were in the Fatherâ— or Stupidity being born with one is as it were accidental to wit it frequently happens that wise men and highly ingenious do beget Fools and Changelings or heavy witted which we suppose so to come to pass sometimes for this cause for that the Parents being too much given to study reading and meditation the Animal Spirits that inhabit the Brain are so much wasted that for the supply of them the most generous Particles of the Blood are still carried to the Head and but few only and small are permitted to descend to the Spermatick Bodies When the rational Soul becomes greatly solicitous in bringing forth its child which are the works of the Intellect then the Corporeal Soul the Spirits being called away to wait on the other becomes not at all or very weakly prolifick Besides this reason there is another frequently to be met with wherefore the first implanted sagacity of men as well as of Brutes is not often propagated from the Parents to the Children For when as we presume certainly the Colt of a generous Horse or of a delicate strain or the Chickens of a Game-Cock that they will patrissare or be like their Sires so that they are sold at a great rate and the virtues of these if not broken by inordinate and preternatural feeding or bringing up descend by a long series to their young from age to age This often happens otherwise to men to wit because the Parents do so enervate and weaken their bodies by intemperance luxury and evil manners that they beget only languishing and unhealthy Children Hence it is that for the most part those who are born of Parents broken with old age or of such as are not yet ripe or too young or of drunkards soft and effeminate men want a great and liberal ingenuity or wit Nor does there happen a less detriment to them of the Animal Faculty whose sires are obnoxious to evil affections of the Brain as the Palsie Epilepsie Carus Convulsions and the like so that to be born of Parents who have a sound mind in a sound body is far beyond a large patrimony Secondly There are more evident causes by which Stupidity is wont to be induced
moreover this plainly convinces from the cure of the Gout by torture or cutting of the part For Authors worthy to be believed have told us in their writings that the Member being cut off in which the sickness uses to be or greatly wounded that the Disease has ceased without any relapse in like manner as a most grievous Tooth-ack and continual is most often cured by pulling out the distemper'd Tooth If that the Goutish humor were as it is commonly said a Cholerick or a Phlegmatick humour or any other merely Excrementitious it flowing afterwards to some other member after the former distemper'd were cut off would there excite a new Morbific Mine but this happens only in some accustomed joints for that this or that part is become more weak and so admits into it self the more easily all other filthy portions and neither assimilating nor sending them away suffers them to increase into a Morbific Mine Further the Recrements also of the nervous juice that are sharp and acetous fall down more readily into the same part by reason of its debility But to the Saline Procatarxis or foregoing cause of this Disease lying in the Joints not only the weakness of the distemper'd member but much more and first of all the evil disposition of the Blood doth help We shall weigh a little the reasons and the manner how it is done of either 1. And in the first place the fault of the Blood is that its elementary Particles and chiefly the Saline are not in a fit state or condition For they ought to be within the mass of the Blood in the middle betwixt a fixed and a volatile constitution they are called fixed so long as the Sulphur and Earth being combined do pertinaciously adhere to them as it is observed in fresh and raw Urine from which you shall not easily draw by distillation either Salt or Spirit But the saline Particles are votatilised when leaving the Sulphur and Earth they adhere to the spirituous and with them fly away as it is seen in the spirit of Urine being distilled after a long digestion Then there is a middle constitution between these when the Saline Particles are so loosned and dislocated from the Sulphureous and Earthy Particles that upon occasion they may be easily laid hold on by the Spirituous and ascend together with them as it is in Urine putrefied by digestion from which with a very little heat you may force out Spirit and Salt In like manner the Saline Particles in a living body seem first of all to be in a degree of fixity within the Chyle from which notwithstanding through Concoction in the Bowels being rightly made they begin to come forth a little Secondly these are made volatile in the nervous juice And Thirdly they are of a middle constitution in the bloody mass to wit which are exalted by a continual circulation or digestion so that they are in some manner volatile that being associated partly with spirituous particles and distilled forth with them into the Brain they go into Animal Spirits and partly going into the nutritious juice together with the sulphureous and others they increase in their nourishing the solid parts But sometimes it happens that the saline Particles at least not all are not rightly exalted within the bloody mass but remaining in a state of fixity give a beginning or cherishing to many Diseases That we may say nothing of the Scurvy Dropsie and many others we only say for the present it may be suspected that the first seeds of the Goutish distemper depend upon this cause for when the nervous juice being destinated to the heads of the bones where it is chiefly received ought to consist of very much Salt there is a necessity that its Particles because they are too fixed and thick cannot be admitted presently into the Pores and passages should increase into a Morbific Mine Besides that more easily and more often happens if the weak or broken Fibres of the bodies planted near cannot by wrinkling themselves shake off what is troublesome or superfluous As to the secret leading or evident causes from which the nutritious liquor being brought from the blood to the joints is imbued too much with a fixed Salt and by reason of which these parts become too prompt and easie for the receiving what is improportionate to them the chief of these for that they are various and manifold we will briefly touch upon 1. And first of all an hereditary disposition is wont to produce either evil For those troubled with the Gout for the most part beget Gouty Children and this Disease descending from the Parents to the Children is wont not only to have the like fruits in both and also to ripen about the periods of the same age but for the most part it hath its first roots in the same members and observes every where the like progresses concerning the reason of which I think we have already said enough being the same as other Diseases propagated ex traduce or from the Parent 2. But indeed the Gouty disposition is brought in oftentimes without any original fault by reason of an evil manner of living and errors in the six non-naturals For those who are given to Surfeiting and drinking much and indulge their appetites by an inordinate eating and drinking and especially if they feed on salt and spiced meats and guzle down great plenty of Wine easily contract this Disease For by this means the Chyle is indigested and indued with very unfit and untameable Particles and so ill prepared in the Bowels and then from a more liberal drinking of Wine saltish settlements and heterogeneous feculences or dregs which subsist somewhere in the first passages being too much exalted are carried into the Blood to which enormities of living if a sedentary life idleness or sleeping at noon be added so that the superfluities neither exhale nor the Saline impurities are dissipated by exercise but left to settle about the jonts certainly too much of this Alchalisate seed is sowed for a plentiful harvest of this Disease of the Gout 3. The debility of the little Joints and Goutish disposition is not only hereditary but excited frequently by reason of various occasions The falling down of the Morbific matter often induces this for if by chance it happens that at first the fit of the Gout comes in this or that part afterwards the peccant humor more easily falls down into the same member and quickly constitutes as it were a nest where the Eggs may be continually laid up Besides a solution or breach of continuity also or some hurt inflicted on any joint by wet or cold by a blow or putting out of joint oftentimes stirrs up the Goutish disposition Secondly But indeed as the Blood brings a Saline Mine for the Morbid seed and the Joints receive and hide it readily yet this provision without the coming of the other seeds is like an addle Egg
Recrements of the nervous humor subsiding here as it were upon its bottom neither can be drawn back by any of the Vessels nor pass into the cavities of the Intestines there is a necessity that it must erect in this part it s morbid nests The evident causes are of a double kind to wit first those that do injury to the Brain and nervous stock by causing a greater provision of the Morbific matter or secondly those which by agitating or shaking the Blood and humors stir up the Mines gathered together and before quiet and provoke them into painful heats or fermentings It would be tedious here to examine the manifold and diverse occasions by which the Colick pains are brought upon those predisposed for these often are caused by great inordinations in the six non naturals and the mutations of the Air and the Year and moreover by what help should be expected by the untimely administring Medicines themselves From what has been said the differences of this Disease may be easily known For first by means of the causes we have shewn the Colick to be either accidental which is caused by reason of the Intestines being provoked by sharp contents such as we but now described it Secondly By reason of the place affected the Colick is sometimes superior sometimes inferior sometimes lateral or of the side as the Morbific matter is fixed either sometimes in this part sometimes in that part of the Mesentery or in other infoldings of the Abdomen Thirdly By reason of the sickly condition and temperament of the sick it is called a Bilous or Cholerick a Phlegmatick or a Melancholick Colick also either simple or Scorbutick not that these imaginary humors excite of themselves the Colick but according to the dispositions of the Body distemper'd various Symptoms are made or caused to vary As to its Prognostick it is commonly known that the accidental Colick to wit excited from a solitary evident cause is most often safe and with an easie matter cured but the habitual as to its disposition it is very difficult to be rooted out so that the fits may no more return and its fits sometimes are pertinacious notwithstanding Remedies and sometimes continue many days yea weeks and months 2. The Colick disposition frequently succeeds long intermitting Feavours and continual being evilly handled for that the nervous Liquor being highly vitiated gathers together many Recrements which are deeply deposed into the Infoldings of the Abdomen as it were the more open receptacles Further for this reason an Epidemical Feavour rages some years to which the Colick is joined as its Pathognomonick or peculiar Symptom hence in like manner a long and grievous Scurvy causes also the Colick because it perverts the nervous liquor 3. After the Colick pains have raged for sometime in the Belly they fall oftentimes into the Loins and then the Disease increasing or growng worse they enter upon the members and the muscles almost all in the whole Body and at length oftentimes end in the Palsie which certainly is a manifest sign that the Morbific matter is not carried by the Arteries but by the Nerves and that its subject or seat is not the cavities or the coats of the Intestines but the nervous Infoldings of the Mesentery For because the Lumbary pains or those of the side do come upon the torments of the Belly besides that the Nerves of either place communicate the cause is further for that the Morbific matter being much increased in the Head slides down not only into the wandring pair but also into the spinal Marrow and entring into it and setling in its bottom causes pains to arise in the Loins and afterwards in many other Nerves which proceed from the Spine or Back-bone and in other Members and Muscles distemper'd lastly it brings in the Palsie by the passages of the Nerves being stuffed by the Morbific Matter heaped up to a plentitude in them 4. The more cruel Colick and very much raging whose cause is an Inflammation or an Imposthum of some Intestine for the most part induces the mortal Iliack Passion The Curatory method in the Colick as in most intermitting Diseases suggests three primary Indications The first of which Curatory to be administer'd in the fit respects the allaying of the pains and for the sooner and more easie taking away the coming of the Disease Secondly Preservatory which shews the taking away the cause of the Disease without the fit that the fits may not be often repeated or more grievously infest Thirdly Vital which supplies Remedies for the preserving of strength in the torments and most cruel Cruciations and for the cherishing of the Spirits Concerning these we shall speak a little more sully in order 1. We almost only respect the Curatory Indication in the accidental Colick for the evident cause which is an irritation of the Intestines by sharp contents being removed the pains for the most part cease of their own accord nor do they return without the like occasion Wherefore for the quick curing of this Disease the practice is well enough known to every common person among the vulgar to wit presently to administer softning Clysters Topick Anodynes and Narcoticks to which if a Feavour be joined or feared letting of blood is often used with success We shall set down forms of these and the order of using them in the Cure of the habitual Colick Therefore for the healing of this Distemper in the fit there are two chief Intentions to wit both to take away the painful breach or solution of the unity and to allay the burning or growing hot of the Fibres and the Spirits in them For the former you must endeavour both that the matter impacted in one or more Mines may be shaken off or subdued and also that a flowing in of new matter may be hindred The second Intention which ought chiefly and continually to be insisted upon is performed by Anodynes chiefly and Narcoticks After what manner and by what Remedies every one of these are methodically to be done we shall now shew you Most often the Cure of the pain of the Colick and that rightly is begun with a Clyster Let this at first be gentle and only emollient by which the Corrugations or the wrinklings of the Fibres may be allayed and the burning Spirits flattered or pleased For this end warm Milk with Sugar or Molossus or Syrup of Violets is convenient as also Emollient Decoctions of Mallows Marsh-mallows Mercury with the Flowers of Melilot and Elder with the Oyl of Almonds or of Olives also a Decoction of a Sheeps-head or Calves-feet sometimes a Clyster of mere Oyl of Olives or of Linseed Oyl is wont to help before any others But if the more gentle Clysters do not loosen the Belly nor are easily ejected there must be given such as will more provoke and press or as it were stroke forth the humors by the little mouths of the Arteries For which end
character 54. 't is of kin to boldness ibid. Animals reduced into classes 7. as Fire and Light are chiefly energetical in mechanical things so in Animals In perfect ones there ought to be many senses 56 Animal spirits what they are 23. to what compared ibid. they abound in an objective and an active virtue 24. they are the efficient cause of sense and motion 56. a most swift communication of them implanted within all the parts ibid. an opposite tendency of them effect both sense and motion ibid. they pass through the sensible species and not the effluvia of the object penetrate even to the head 59. they actuate the Rainbow of the Eye very much 85. they are the immediate subject of sleep 87. and the immediate subject of the Vertigo 147. their distemper being after a diverse manner as it is the cause of the phrensy so it is of Melancholy Madness and Stupidity 188. from what disposition of them the primary Phaenomena of a melancholick Delirium proceed ibid. as they are compared to light they are call'd opacous or full of darkness 189. these kind of spirits in melancholy compar'd to those in Chymical Liquors ibid. they are not like the spirit of Blood as they should be nor like the spirit of Wine for such is rather in the Phrensy ibid. they are like acid spirits distill'd out of Salt Vinegar Box and such like ibid. Stygian Waters are like the nature of the Animal Spirits in madness ibid. three chief affections of acetous Chymical Liquors which agree with them in Melancholy first the effluvias falling away from these Liquors are perpetually in motion in like manner also the Spirits in the Phantasy of a Melancholick Person thence the effluvias from acetous Chymical Liquors do not proceed far in like manner the imagination of a Melancholick Person though always imployed comprehends only a few things and therefore every thing is conceived with a greater Image than it should be Lastly effluvias from acetous Liquors do not evaporate so much from open Pores as they make new and in like manner whilst the Animal Spirits form new tracts in the Brain produce unwonted and incongruous notions 190 191. after they have for some time been vitiated in melancholy the conformation of the Brain is also hurt 191. how they acquire a disposition like to Stygian Water 202. they are the subject of Madness 201 Antiscorbutick Medicines good for pains in the head 116 Apoplexy its seat 153. a description of the disease ibid. its subject ibid. the spontaneous functions only deficient in it ibid. the opinions of others concerning this disease ibid. the theory of this disease is best shown by Webser 154. a reason added by the Author ibid. a twofold Apoplexy 155. The Theory of the former delivered ibid. this disease either accidental or habitual ibid. the cause of the former 156. an extinction of the Spirits comes from opiates or immoderate drinking of hot Waters ibid. the formal reason of the habitual Apoplexy ibid. what its conjunct cause is 157. it consists in the Pores of the Callous Body being suddenly stopp'd and the spirits being driven away by the contact of malignant matter ibid. what the nature or disposition of the morbifick matter ibid. the procatartick cause of the habitual Apoplexy ibid. the differences of this disease 158. its prognosticks ibid. the curatory method ibid. what is to be done in the fit and in what position the sick ought to be kept ibid. Phlebotomy and other administrations noted as Vomiting-medicines Comforters Cupping-glasses hot or glowing Iron 159. the preservatory method ibid. purging and bleeding Spring and Fall ibid. Cephalick remedies ibid. Spirits and Tinctures Lozenges Tea Coffee and Chocalet prepared how to be made and taken 160 a medical Ale ibid. Examples and Histories of Apoplectical Persons ibid. an Anatomical observation 161 Appetite it stirs up local motion 36. the Appetite Imagination and Phantasy in the callous Body of the Brain 25 Approach of the sensible object is made either by contact or effluvias sent forth or by reflected or repercussed particles of the Air Breath or Light 56 Arguments and Reasons of very many Authors perswade that the Soul of Brutes is not only Corporeal but Fiery 5 Artery cutting what it may profit in the head-ach 120 121 Authors for two distinct Souls in man 40 B. BAths when their use is hurtful to the Palsy 173 Bewailing wherefore oftentimes joined with weeping 80 Blasting or withering of Trees like the Palsy 164 Blood animated but hardly sensible 55. its disorders allayed by sleep 92. it performs its offices which are the generation of the Animal Spirits and nourishing the parts better in sleep ibid. how it excites the head-ach 108. the Blood and its contents are sometimes the means of the conjunct sometimes of the evident cause in head-achs 109. for what causes it is wont to be moved and bring hurt to the distempered head ibid. it delivers to the head the morbifick matter received from any other part 110. its inordinations how they may be taken away and prevented 114. its exclusion from the Brain does not easily happen because all the Arteries communicate one with another and some of them supply the defects of others 154. its total exclusion from the Brain sometimes happening causes a terrible Syncope 155. which depends oftnest on the motion of the heart being hindred and so either by reason of the Cardiak Nerves being bound together or by reason of the Spirits in the Cerebel being hindred from their flowing into the Nerves ibid. the original of madness either from the Blood or the Spirits themselves 203 Bloody Brutes why some more hot some more cold 13 Bloodless Creatures whether they have Fiery Souls ibid. Brain and Cerebel 2. Roots of the sensitive Soul 23. a twofold action in the Brain and its Appendix of begetting and dispensation and of Exercise and Government 24. the reason and manner of the former ibid. an exact anatomy of the Brain through its corticated or shelly part 25. the Brain and Praecordia the two Roots of the Soul 48. vices of the Brain noted 148. its distempers wherein the reason is hurt as wel as the other Animal functions 179. what its indisposition is to the Phrensy 183. the Procatartick cause of the Phrensy partly in the Brain 184. Melancholy a distemper of it and the Heart 188. its conformation is hurt after the Animal Spirits being for some time vitiated in melancholy Diseases 191. the Brain labours in stupidity as to its magnitude and figure 209. as to its substance or texture 210. and in its evil conformation as to its pores and passages ibid. Bridges passing over them looking down from on high places and drunkenness how they cause a turning round of the head 146 Brutes their various kinds with their Souls described 7. all their Souls after the manner of Fire want a twofold Food viz. a Sulphurous and Nitrous 6. the more perfect Brutes are indued with knowledge either inbred or
use of an inferiour reason 3 Nervous Liquor how a cause of the head-ach 108. the habitual head-ach depends chiefly upon its fault c. 109 wherefore it oft-times becomes corrosive c. 202 Nutritious juice how it excites the head-ach 108.110 111 O. OPâ—ats how they cause sleep 128. how they operate in the Ventricle or Brain how as assigned by Webfer 156 P. PAlace or seat of the humane mind in the Phantasy 41 Palsie what it is 161. its seat ibid. it s conjunct causes 162. in the Palsie either motion or sense only or both together is hurt ibid. spontaneous motion is abolished by reason of the ways being obstructed either in the beginnings or middle passages or about the ends ibid. the ways are obstructed by impletion or compression or by a breaking of the unity ibid. an obstruction in the streaked Bodies causes the universal Palsie or the Palsie of one side ibid. why sense is not hindered as well as motion in every Palsie 163. why all Muscles of the Eyes and Face are not loosened in an universal Palsie ibid. a compression of the streaked Body sometimes stirs up the Palsie ibid. a paralytick obstruction doth sometimes happen in the oblong and spinal Marrow ibid. a Palsie often succeeds Stupidity ibid. a Palsie sometimes from the pressing together of the Marrowy chord ibid. sometimes from the unity being broke 164. the seat of the Palsie sometimes in the Nerves themselves which are either obstructed or compressed or the unity broken ibid. an obstruction sometime in the beginning of the Nerves sometimes in the middle or in their utmost processes ibid. the other conjunct cause of the Palsie ibid. in every Palsie the matter is not so thick or cold as it is vitriolick and other ways infestous to the Spirits ibid. the blasting or withering of Trees like the Palsie ibid. the more remote foregoing causes of the Palsie ibid. the Palsie is either a primary Distemper and a Disease of it self or secondary coming upon or succeeding other Diseases ibid. why the Palsie often succeeds convulsive Diseases ibid. why the distemper of the Colick 166. why the Gout ibid. the evident causes of the habitual Palsie ibid. want or paucity of Spirits oftentimes the cause of the spurious Palsie ibid. for which reason old men are obnoxious to this Disease 167. also scorbutical Persons and such as are full of ill humours ibid. also others long sick ibid. hence some dare not venture on local motion others endeavouring cannot bear it long ibid. the second kind of Palsie in which motion and sense are hurt at once ibid. the third kind in which sense only is affected 168. why feeling is sometimes lost and motion safe ibid. the Prognostick ibid. the Cure 171. Histories and Examples of Paralyticks 174 Paraphrenesis what it is 181. its conjunct causes 181 182. wherefore breathing is hurt in this Disease ibid. its Prognosticks 184. Cure 185 Parts of the corporeal Soul 22. parts serving for hearing how they differ in man and some four-footed Beasts 74 Passions their History from 45 to 55 Phantasy or imagination the power thereof in Brutes 38. 't is often deceived ibid. in man 't is the intellect presiding over the imagination V. Intellect the seat or palace of the humane mind in it 41. the pleasing of it and the senses cause sleep 90 Phantastick desires are immense 52 Phrensy V. Delirium Platonists and Pythagoreans affirm'd the Soul of Brutes to be an incorporeal substance 2 Pleasure and Grief the two primary affections of the Soul 48. they affect the two roots of the Soul viz. the Brain and Praecordia ibid. and 49 Praecordia wherefore and how esteemed the seat of holy affections 47. why call'd the seat of Prudence and Wisdom ibid. they and the Brain the two roots of the Soul 48. they truly labour in the Incubus 142 Prototype of a sound by and by stirs up innumerable Ectypes 70 Pupil of the Eye in some round in others longish the reason inquired into 83. its colour in some black in others grey reddish or otherwise colour'd the reason shewn ibid. R. REasons of very many Authors perswade that the Soul of Brutes is not only corporeal but fiery 5. the reason of good and evil either concerns the corporeal Soul by it self or united to the Body or subjected to the rational 45. reasons of Colours and Images unfolded 77. reasons of the symptoms in Love-madness explained 199. of Tumors and Vlcers in the Kings Evil c. 202 203. of symptoms in Madness 205. why wise and strong men are not always begot of strong and wise men 210 S. SAlivation in inveterate head-achs without suspicion of the Venereal Disease whether it ought to be administred 119. the means and manner of salivating by Mercury unfolded 119 120 Sense what it is 56 57 to 60 Serum how it excites the head-ach 108. its evacuation through its right way being suppressed brings its Flux to the head 110 Sight the most noble Sense 75 77 78 Sleep unknown or greatly controverted what it is 86. Schneiderus's opinion that it is an inorganical faculty of the Soul ibid. its subject not the whole Body 87. the Animal Spirits its immediate subject ibid. all the Spirits injoy rest but not in sleep c. ibid. it s immediate subject is the knowing part of the sensitive Soul ibid. the mediate are the Bodies contemning it 88. its formal reason and beginning ibid. and causes 89. 't is either natural not natural or preternatural ibid. by what and how many ways it begins from the Brain first affected 90. not from fumes ibid. its matter conveyed only by the Arteries 91. why raw and indigested meats induce sleepiness ibid. how it seems to begin in the Eyes ibid. the effects thereof 92. why those that sleep are apt to be cold outwardly ibid. the Blood performs its offices better in sleep ibid. what it affords to the lucid part of the Soul ibid. benefits of sleep noted ibid. Soul the contemplation thereof whereto it conduces 1. divers opinions of the Soul 2 3. three things to be considered in the Soul of Brutes 6. various kinds of Brutes Souls described c. 7. Insects have fiery Souls c. 8. whether fiery Souls in Bloodless Creatures 13. the corporeal Soul in man subject to the rational 18. a double subject of the Brutal Soul 22. whence two parts thereof c. ibid. the sensible part divisible 23. the Animal Spirits constitute its Hypostasis ibid. its beginning 29. frames it self before the Body and increases with it ibid. the Bodies duration depends upon it ibid. like flame it has its trepidations c. 31. as strong in sense and motion as a machine 32. if immaterial also rational ibid. the common sensory not the whole Soul 33. 't is like a self-moving musical Organ 34. the rational far exceeds the Brutal how both joyn'd in man and how they frequently disagree 38. the rational Souls priority ibid. the first act of either is simple apprehension ibid.
a twofold Knowing Power and a twofold Appetite The Rational Soul of it self without Affections how it gâ—verns and orders the Phantasie and Affections In things to be Known the Corporeal Soul obeys the Rational but not in things to be done The Corporeal Soul inclining her self to the Flesh Fights against the Rational How it is reduced to Obedience It often seduces the Mind Wars are moved between them Affections of Conscience nigh to Man A Twofold state of the Corporeal Soul Tranquil or Quiet And Disturbed In which either part of the Soul is moved And is either too much inlarged Or Contracted The Trouble of the Soul impressed on the Sensitive Part by and by is Communicated to the Blood The quiet of the Soul happens not only in sleep but often waking when pleasing or unhurtful things are met with On the Contrary when from the Objects Good or Evil is promised Then first the Imagination afterwards the Appetite is mâ—â—ed The Reason of Good and of Evil either concerns The Corporeal Soul by it self Or her united to the Body Or her subjected to the Rational Soul Hence Passions are called either Physical Metaphysical or Corporeal Passions merely Physical are Sympathies and Antipathies Some Instances of Passions merely Physical Passions Metaphysical By these first the Rational Soul Then the Sensitive and Sanguineous part of the other are affected Wherefore and how the Praecordia are esteemed the seat of Holy Affections What it is to have the Heart hardened Wherefore the Praecordia are called also the seat of Prudence and Wisdom Three Corporeal or Moral Passions The two Primary Gestures or Affections of the Soul are Pleasure and Grief They affect the two Roots of the Soul to wit the the Brain and the Praecordia Grief and Pleasure first of all arise from the Sense Afterwards both from this and also from the Phantasie and Memory Some are more Pathetical or moved than others How the Affections are wont to be iterated also how allayed or obliterated The Number of the Passions uncertain Pleasure and what Affections are subordinate to it Love Hope Boldness c. Grief with the Affections subordinate to it Hatred Aversion Fear c. Next to Pleasure and Grief are Love and Hatred The Objects of these are Sensible or Imaginary things By what means desirable things affect the Spirits and the Blood A Pleasant Sensation is described Love is excited by Opinion The Object of this is set up like an Idol in the Phantasie And Worshipped Hatred excited by the Sensible or Imaginary Species How the first of these Affects the Spirits and Blood The Imaginary Evil affects both the Blood and Spirits Love and Hate are transitory Passions Quickly changed into Desire and Aversion The Soul is chiefly employed by these Both proceed either from the Sense or Opinion The desire of a sensible thing is excited either from Natural Instinct or from Custom The former is moderate and easily satisfied Desire got through Custom despising moderate things aspires to new things The reason declared Because the Agent and Patient ought to be unlike The Desires of sensible things tend chiefly to Luxury or Lust. Phantastic Desires are immense But are chiefly carried to Riches or Honors Aversion is excited either from the Sense or from Opinion This Passion being frail is soon changed into Desire Sensible Desire affects both the Spirits and the Blood What Alterations Imaginarâ— Desire brings upon them The Fluctuation of the Mind Plaâ—t Hope and Fear Succeed to Desire and Aversion The Provision of Hope It s Obâ—ect both the Sense and the Imagination Affects both the Spirits and the Blood A Character of Fear How it Affects the Spirits and all the Faculties How the Blood It often passes into Desperation In like manner Hope into Audaciousness To which Anger is of Kin. The Character of Anger There are more than Eleven Affections Pity Envy Boasting Shame c. A Character of Shame Innate Affections Viz. An Inlargement of the Individual A begetting of its Kind Venus an Enemy to the Brain and Nerves The madness or fiery of Lust. Reason suppresses its flowing The Blood is animated but hardly sensible The lucid part of the Soul feels or perceives the impulse of all Objects and is moved by them Sense and Motion are the chief Advancers of the animated Body The efficient Cause of either are the Animal Spirits A most swift Communication of them implanted within all the Parts An opposite tendency of them effect both Sense and Motion What the Sense is The approach of the sensible Object is made either by Contact or by Effluvia's sent forth or by reflected and repeâ—â—â—ssed Particles of the Air Breath or Light As these several are made manifâ—ld they requiâ—e divers Sensories All Knowledge from Sense In Perfect Animals there ought to be many Senses That one of the Touch or Feeling suffices not How the same Spirits receive sensible Species so very divers Than this may be done are required First a Structure of the Organ after a diverse manner Secondly a Various Constitution of the Animal Spirits After what manner Sension is made All sensible Impressions do beam forth from all the Organs into the streaked Bodies In every Sension is required First That the Species be impressed on the Sensory Secondly That it be carried thence by the passage of the Spirits to the Common Sensory How the divers sensible Species are distinctly represented in the same Common Sensory It is shown by an example of the Air whose divers Particles have divers carryings forth Also by the example of Water in which many wavings being at once made are all distinct The like is in the Airy Hyposiasis of the Corporeal Soul For the divers Perceptions of which together in the Common Sensory there are many and distinct Tracts produced Sensible Impressions as they are stronger weak stir up other Powers either more or fewer All the other Powers of the Soul proceed at first from Sension The Animal Spirits pass thorow the sensible Species and not the Effluvia of the Object penetrate even to the head The bounds and passages by 〈◊〉 and into which the Species pass thorow The Number of the Senses is well affirmed to be Five So many and not more are requisite The Sense of Feeling is more thick but the most ample or large Exhibits Signs of Iudgment to the rest of the Senses It hath a mighty diffusive Sensory or Organ Which are the Nervous Fibres In all the Parts both External and Internal Which Fibres thô every where of the same Conformation Yet Exhibit various Species according to the various approaches of tangible things Tangible Species immediately carried either to the Cerebel or to the streaked Bodies And from thence goes forward sometimes to the other Faculties Viz. the Imagination Memory and Appetite The Kinds and Differences of Feeling are either In respect of the Object In respect of the Sensory And so it is either manifest or private Pleasant or Sad. The Taste a
divers Conformation inquired into The Pupil of the Eye in some round in other longish The reason of this inquired into The Colour of the Pupil in some black in others gray reddish or otherways Coloured The reason of this shown The Parts of the Eye are the Coats and Humors The Coats greater or lesser The greater are three The Sclerotick The Albugine grows to this The Sclerotic Coat is in some round and in others depressed The Vessels of this Coat The Coat Chorocoeides Is black in most Animals but not in all A Portion of this in most Brutes is of a diversified Colour otherwise than in Man The reason of this is shown The Rainbow of the Eye is described and its use declared The strength and irradiation of the Eye from the Rainbow The Animal Spirits actuate it very much The Retine Coat It s description and use The Humors of the Eye Three Chrystalline It s description and uses The watery Humor and its uses described The glassy Humor Its uses The plenty of the glassy Humor varies according to the Figure of the Chrystalline Humor Sleep Necessary for all Animals What it is unknown or greatly Controverted The Opinion of Schneiderus He affirms Sleep to be an inorganical faculty of the Soul The Subject of Sleep not the whole Body The Animal Spirits are the immediate Subject of Sleep All the Spirits enjoy rest but not in Sleep The Spirits only arising from the Brain and who are the Authors of voluntary Functions enjoy Sleep Not those Procreated in the Cerebel Tâ—e immediate Subject of Sleep is the Knowing Part of the sensitive Soul The Mediate are the Bodies containing it The formal reason of Sleep The beginning of Sleep is in the Cortical part of the Brain which is also the seat of the Memory The Causes of Sleep First what the final is To wit a refection and quieting of the Spirits The formal Cause of Sleep consists in the Rest of the Spirits and in the watering of the containing Parts The evident Causes Sleep either Natural or not Natural or Preâ—ernatural Sleep not Natural sometimes begins from the Spirits being brought low Sometimes from the Cortex of the Brain being too much watered For what Causes the Spirits lye down of their own accord The force of Custom A notable Example of Natural Custom or Assâ—duity 2 The Spirits being weary lye down on their own accord The pleasing of the Senses and the Phantasie cause Sleep The Spirits are Compelled into Sleep by Narcoticks Their Penury or want perswades to Sleep By what and how many ways Sleep begins from the Brain first affected When its Compass it overflow'd by the Serum coming to it To which may be added the iâ—â—â—cilliâ—y of the Brain and loosness of the Pores Sleep not from fuâ—â—s or vapoâ—â—s The Matter of Sleep conveyed only by the Arteries Why raw and indigested meats induce Sleepiness That happens by reason of the Consent which is between the Stomach and the Brain and which it has with the whole Soul besides How Opiats Cause Sleep whilst they operate in the Ventricle How Sleep seems to begin in the Eyes Of the Effects of Sleep 1 Towards the Vital or Flamey part of the Soul The Blood is more inkindled and inflamed in Sleep than in Waking Wherefore those that Sleep are apt to be Cold outwardly 2 Sleep allays the disorders of the Blood Whither they are induced by the conteining Bodies The Internal boyling up of the Blood is also allayed by Sleep The Blood performs its Offices which are the generation of the Animal Spirits and the nourishing of the Parts better in Sleep Sleep is not to be yielded to presently after Eating Such Sleep burts the Lungs and Brain Makes the Spirits more dull and gives evil nourishments What Sleep affords to the lucid part of the Soul It refreshes the wearied Spirits inhabiting the Brain And allays them being out of order The Spirits inhabiting the Cerebel are disturbed in Waking with the Spirits of the other Regiment Why those being disturbed do perform their Offices better whil'st these lye quiet in Sleep Other benefits of Sleep are noted Hence Chyâ—ification and other functions merely Natural are performed best of all in Sleep Of Dreams What they are They are sometimes excited by the Spirits inhabiting the Brain Sometimes by Spirits inhabiting other Parts to wit the Stomach Spleen Genitals Dreams sometimes stir up local Mocions Of Waking A double Consideration of it 1. As it follows upon Sleep Waking is either Natural or Violent The Essence or formal Reason of Waking The Pain of the Head the chiefest and most common affection among Diseases The Causes of it manifold and very diverse that they 〈…〉 be methodically recited Hence it is that its Cure is often instituted Eâ—pirically What things belong to its Pathology The Subject of this Disease The formal Reason of it The differences and kinds Pain is either without or within the Skull Or universal or particular This either before behind or on the side Many other differences of it noted Of which the chiefest is that it is either occasional or habitual The reason of the former unfolded The habitual Pain of the Head hath always a more remote Cause besides the evident Cause The evils or the weak Constitution of the affected part and the easie flowing in of the morbific matter concur to this more remote cause The Parts of the Head predisposed and their vices viz. an evil or weak conformation are noted The former often times is innate and hereditary But more often is contracted anew And chiefly from Cold Also by reason of the inordinations in the six non naturals By accident From internal Corrections 2 The debility of the distemper'd part is also a more remote cause of the Headach which outward accidents and errors in feeding and other Distempers are wont to produce The other part of the more remote Cause secondary and moveable consiâ—ting in the flowing iâ— of the morcific matter This matter is either the Blood or its 〈◊〉 or the nutritioâ—s or nervous 〈◊〉 Which sometimes alone sometimes â—â—â—ing together 〈◊〉 the 〈…〉 How the Blood excites the Headach 2 How the Serum 3 How the nutritious Iuice 4 How the nervous Liquor is a cause of this Disease The Headach arising from the fault of the nervous Liquor infests chiefly in the Morning 5 How many humors meeting together and mutually growing hot stir up Headaches The habitual Headach depends chiefly upon the fault of the nervous hamor The fault of the nervous liquor is either universal or particular proper to the place distempered The more remote or evident Causes of the Head-ach are noted Of which sort are first those which move the morbific matter flowing from another place to wit either the Blood or Serum or nourishing juice and stir it up within the places affected of the Head The Blood and its contents in Headaches are sometimes the means of the Conjunct sometimes of the Evident Cause For
what meaâ—â— in the Brain The History of one presently kill'd by taking too large a Dose of Opium Sometimes a Lethargy arises from Narcotick Particles begotten in the Body Even as Convulsions from a nitro-sulphureous or explosive matter What things belong to the Theory of the Lethargy Its symptoms The chief of which are a sleepiness and oblivion By what means the other faculties of the Soul to wit the knowing desiring and locomotive are affected The evil of the Disease reaches also to the Cerebel Hence breathing is often hurt or altered This proceeds not from the Inflammation of the Midriff From whence the Lethargick Feaver Not from Phlegm putrifying in the Brain Nor is the former always the cause of it in the Lethargy Lib. de Morb. Convuls Cap. viij p. 96. More often the effect of this Disease proceeds from the Organical Circulation of the Blood being hindred or altered How none dyes without a Feaver The Prognostick of the Lethargy When the Disease is desperate When it is only so When some hope may be conceived From whence more hope may be had Whence more of hope than of fear A red Swelling coming upon a Lethargy sometimes cures it Lib. 9. of Convulsive Diseases The Cure of the Lethargy Phlebotomy almost always necessary Outward Administrations Internal Rememedies Iulep Spirits A Powder A Vomit or Purge How they are indicated When to be avoided Starification Catharticks Erthines Sneezing Powders and Apophlegmatisms c. A Blistering applyed to the Forepart of the Head very much helps The first History The reason of this A second History The third History The Cure described Sleepy Diseases do not arise by reason of the Ventricles of the Brain being filled with water The ends or limits of the Lithargy as to the places distempered are constituted Some sleepy Distempers lesser than that viz. Sleepiness and the Coma The Caros is greater than it Continual Sleepiness described It s Seat assigned In what respect it differs both from the Lethargy and the Coma. The conjunct cause of Sleepiness What the deluge or Anasarca of the Cortical part of the Brain is To which happen an heaping up or as it were a stagnation of the Blood about the compass of the Brain Also a Torpor or Sleepiness of the Spirits The Cure of Somnolency An History The 〈…〉 Sick 〈◊〉 The sleepy Coma. The reason of it The Coma is either a primary Disease or it comes after other Distempers The Cure of it when it is a Disease of it self The Cure of the Coma as it is the symptom of another Disease In Lib. Of Convulsive Diseases Chap. viij 3 Of the Caros How it differs from the Lethargy and the Apoplexy The Seat of the Caros is a little deeper in the Brain than that of the Lethargy It s Conjunct Cause The Caros is either a primary Disease or it cometh upon other Distempers The Prognostick of the Carus The event of this Disease is various sometimes it passes into an Apoplexy Sometimes into the Palsie It s Care is the same with the Lethargy and the Apoplexy The first History Another History Long Waking is either the symptom of other Diseases or else is a Disease of it self The cause of natural Waking consists in the restlessness of the Spirits and the openness of the Cortical part of the Brain In like manner also preternatural Watching depends upon one or both The former means described by shewing how many ways the unquiet or elastick Spirits stir up long waking First Because being recalled for Sleep into the middle part of the Brain they grow tumultuous Secondly Because being called back into the nervous Stock they impetuously leap forth And so either into the interior Nerves serving the Praecordia and Viscera Or into the Spinal Marrow and the exterior Nerves The causes of the aforesaid Distempers assigned The Cure of them declared The second sort of thorow or long waking arising both from the too much openness of the Brain and from the unquietness of the Spirits its foreleading Cause Which also causes waking in Melancholick People For the same reason Coffee causes waking An History shewing an example of this Disease A description of the waking Coma The cause of this Distemper shewn It is more often a symptom of other Distempers than a Disease of it self The Seat of the Incubus is in the Cerebel A Description of it It most often proceeds from natural causes The Seat of this is falsly placed in the Brain The Praecordia truly labour The cause doth not stick partly in the Brain and partly in the Breast The next cause of this is the hindrance of the inflowing of the Spirits to the Praecordia This not in the Parts affected Nor in the Nerves themselves But happens in the Cerebel where the first Spring of the Spirits is From whence the sense of the Weight proceeds Whence loss of motion proceeds Wherefore the fit being so grievous is so soon ended without leaving any evil Whence after the Fit the tremblings of the Heart and the Praecordia The Incubus of it self rarely dangerous The Prognostick of the Incubus The Event of it is shewn It s Cure Infants and Boys obnoxious to this Disease how they ought to be handled The Stat of the Vertigo A Description of it The Causes and the Manner of the non-natural Vertigo The Reasons of them shewn Why looking down from on high and passing over Bridges cause a turning round in the Head How Drunkenness A perturbation of the Spirits in the Brain and a revocation of them from their flowing into the Nerves depend mutually on one another From what causes the preternatural Vertigo is wont to be excited Sometimes the Vertigo is a symptom of other Cephalick Diseases Sometimes it is excited by reason of the Distemper of other distant parts viz. from the stomach spleen c. and so by two means 1. Either by reason of the Flood of the Blood being kept back 2 Or by reason of an inordinate recourse or flowing back of the Spirits towards the Brain Not by reason of vapours elevated from these parts is it excited The immediate Subject of the Vertigo is the Animal Spirits The mediate the Callous Body It s formal reason It s Conjunct Cause 1 From the perturbation of the Spirits 2 From their ways or passages being obstructed This is seen by things helpful and hurtful The more remote foregoing cause of the Vertigo consists both in the vice of the Bloud and of the Brain The Reason of the former explained The vices of the Brain noted The differences of this Disease It s Prognostick The Cure of the Vertigo There are three chief intentions of healing 1 To take away the root or feeding of the Disease 2 To remove the procatartick causes 3 To take away the Conjunct Cause The Curatory Method as shewn Why vomiting Medicines are so much noted in this and other Diseases of the Head What is to be done out of the Fit for prevention sake Electuary A
Observations and firmly stablished better solve all the Phoenomena of the Sick viz. They declare more aptly the Causes of the Symptoms and shew the Reasons of Curing more accommodate to every Disease But as to the Remedies and Therapeutic Method althô we follow not exactly after the manner of others the Ancients we have nevertheless rejected nothing ratified by grave Authority or approved by daily Experience and besides we have added many things found out Emperically and Analogically by the Moderns Althô it is neither our Hope or Ambition that these should be pleasing to all yet what is my last wish I doubt not but that this may be an help to many for the illustrating the Medical Science and for the more happy Curing of Cephalick Diseases Farewel OF The Soul of the Brutes The First Part PHYSIOLOGICAL SHEWING Its NATURE PARTS POWERS and AFFECTIONS CHAP. 1. The Opinions of Authors both Ancient and Modern are recounted WIth what Pleasures and with what Delight beyond other things the Contemplation of the Soul hath drawn to it self the Wits of Men and most profoundly Exercised them appears even from hence that almost none of the Philosophers of whatsoever Sect they were and of every Age who have not laboured in the search of it But indeed how hard and abstruse it is and with what dark Blackness not less than the shades of Hell it self this Knowledge of the Soul is over-shadowed may be gathered from this because they are opposite and uncertain concerning it yea almost as many Men as there are so many several Opinions have they Published that truly 't is no unjust Complaint of the Soul that she understands all things but her Self Nevertheless in this Age most fruitful of Inventions when that so many Admirable things not before thought on as it were another Ancient World unknown are discovered about the building of the Animal Body when new Creeks are daily found out new humours spring up and altogether another Doctrine than what hath been delivered by the Ancients concerning the use of many of the Parts hath been instituted why may we not also hope that there may be yet shewn a new disquisition concerning the Soul and with better luck than hitherto Therefore however the thing may be performed I shall attempt to Philosophise concerning that Soul at least which is Common to Brute Animals with Man and which seems to depend altogether on the Body to be born and dye with it to actuate all its Parts to be extended thorow them and to be plainly Corporeal and that chiefly because by the Nature Subsistence Parts and Affections of this Corporeal Soul rightly unfolded the Ingenuity Temperament and Manners of every Man may be thence the better known as also the Causes and formal Reasons of many Diseases as of the Phrensie Lethargy Vertigo Madness Melancholy and others belonging rather to the Soul than to the Body as yet hidden may in some part be discovered Then Secondly because the ends and bounds of the aforesaid Corporeal Soul being defined the Rational Soul Superior and Immaterial may be sufficiently differenced from it nor is that Argument admitted so easily confounding them together whereby some deserving very ill of themselves have affirmed the Souls of Man and the Beasts only to differ in degrees of Perfection and so that either alike must be either Mortal or Immortal and alike propagated ex traduce or from the Parent Wherefore that the Dignity Order and Immortality of the Rational Soul discriminated from the Corporeal may be vindicated and likewise that we may make a way to the remaining Pathology or Method of Curing of the Brain and Nervous Stock in which not only Parts of the Body but often the animal Spirits yea sometimes the whole sensitive Soul seems to be affected altho we have formerly unfolded according to our slender Ability not after this manner the Descriptions and Uses of the Brain and Nerves Therefore at present we shall endeavour to deliver a certain Doctrine of the Soul previous to the shewing the Doctrine of the Diseases of those Parts But here it will be first expedient to rehearse the Opinions of others or at least the chiefest and most noted among them From which being put together if not what the Soul truly is may be made known yet what many considering it have thought of it and from thence a little more certain search of it we may enterprize And indeed if we would grow wise concerning the Soul only out of the Pleas of Authors and the Writings of Philosophers of every Age we should be intangled in a Labyrinth of Opinions following for truth mere Phantasms and for the genuine Idea of the Soul as it were the Apparitions of divers Specters But that we may reduce the various Opinions whatever have been declared both of the Ancients and Moderns to some certain Heads it will be fit that we observe some did affirm it to be Corporeal others Incorporeal In either Kind we meet with great diversity of Opinions For first of all among those who thought it Incorporeal some affirmed it to be a Substance existing of it self and immortal others without Substance having only an accidental form Those who believed the Soul an Incorporeal and Immortal Substance differed also among themselves The Platonists and Pythagoreans said the Souls of all living Creatures to be a certain Part of the Universal Soul of the World and that they were depressed or immerged in this lower Body as in a Sepulcher and therefore the Soul when the Animal received Life was not born but dyed for as much as by this inferior Birth it was divided from the simple and undivided fountain of Nature Further they thought that the same Soul so demersed did wander from one Body being dead to another and so by a various Metampseuchosis did inhabit or was a guest sometimes in the Bodies of Men and sometimes of Beasts The Manichees asserted That all Souls being taken out of the Substance it self of God did actuate Terrestrial Bodies and going from hence again returned into God himself The Origenists different from either taught that Souls were Created from the beginning of the World and at first to subsist of themselves then as occasion serv'd that Bodies being formed they enter'd into them being begun and actuated them during Life and that at length they returned to their private or singular Substances The state of which Souls tho some attributed it only to Humane Souls yet there were others who granted the like Immortality to the Souls of the Brutes yea and of Plants On the contrary Nemesius but untruly saith That Aristotle affirmed the Soul to be Incorporeal but without Perfection and Mortal when he had designed the Entelechia or Perfection of every living thing as to wit She as it were arising up of her own accord from Power only of matter rightly disposed understands nothing else but it s own Crasis or Temperament resulting from the mixture which as
the Heart or at least to the Skin and other parts of the Body Truly by observation after what manner these parts which supply the place of the Liver and Messentery in some Fishes and Insects are made something may be thence gathered concerning the uses of the Liver and of the Vessels both Miseraick and Milky in bloody Brutes In the Male Lobster above the beginnings of the aforesaid parts on either side from the sides of the Oesophagus the spermatick Bodies begin which being sent down towards the bottom of the Trunk and there being more compacted and made smoother after the likeness of the Epididimis or thin covering of the Testicles are terminated in two Yards the Tops of which have their going out thorow holes forged in the last little feet but one In like manner in the Female Lobster two nests of Eggs on either side of the sides of the Oesophagus and Ventricle are placed and pass into two Wombs planted in the lowest Trunk of the Body and into those thorow the holes forged in the last little Feet but one there lyes a passage to the genital Members also a passage from the Womb for the laying of Eggs so that it appears how these living Creatures are most fruitful with a multiplyed Issue when as nature seems to be careful and industrious about their genital parts being double and greater than in many other Brutes to wit that as they being both at once double they might produce both by the works of Generation Conception and bringing forth not only always Twynns but almost Miriads of Twynns Below the Ventricle yea and lower also then the beginnings of the other Viscera the Pericardium in which the beating heart is included is placed in the bottom of the Back the Systole and Diastole of the heart are strong and swift as in Creatures of Blood this appearing of a whitish Colour is indeed a Conick Muscle whose Cavity being sufficiently large is framed with Fibres or Columns also with many strong and various little Furrows The Aorta going forth from its top is cleft presently into two Branches which go towards the Gills The venae cavae one ascending the other descending meet together from the bottom of the Heart and there enter into its little ear The Heart whilst it is relaxed receives the vital humour from the vein and by and by when it is contracted drives it forward into the Aorta The crusty Fishes even as the shelly altho without Blood are indued with numerous and large Gills which are instead of Lungs to which that all the Vital humour may be frequently carried therefore not as in earthy Insects are they dispersed thorow the whole Body but on either side under the brim of the armed coat and being gathered together in one place are made into certain little bundles The inferiour and utmost part of the Gills which are broad and obtuse is fixed to the Sternon or meeting of the Breast with hanging little feet the upper part ascending under the Coat is loose and free and by degrees grows sharp otherwise than in Fishes with Blood whose Gills are tyed together being solid at either end In all the Gills of the Lobster Three Bosoms are found of which two seem to be made for the carrying in and out of the vital humour because a black Liquor being injected into the heart passes to the Gills and there passing first thorow one Bosom returns by and by thorow the other We will speak by and by of the third from these Bosoms appear productions of small Vessels as if it were feathery arising on every side thick set and short like jagged welts or fringes which being spongy sup up the Waters continually flowing to them at every turn of the Diastole and press them forth by Systole to wit for the end that whilst it is there unfolded within the small passages the food for the vital humour may be inspired The Third Bosom being carried from the top of every Gill to its Basis ends in the common Channel in all the Gills of the same side which nigh to the insertion of the highest Gill which beats perpetually gapes with a large gap Any one may easily perceive this in a live Lobster whilst it breathes out of the water for in every Systole or pulse of this supream Gill one may see a bubble of water break forth out of that hole Further if into that hole a black Liquor be injected by and by entring under that Common passage it passes thorow from thence both into all the Gills and the small and feathery Bosoms of them and also into the Arms and all the little feet the Cavities of which the Muscles do not fully stuff yea and into the Cavity of the Body In like manner wind being blown into that hole all the aforesaid parts will be inflated or blown up From hence we may guess that hole with the common channel and the three bosomes of Gills to be a certain Trachea or Wind-pipe into which plenty of water entring at every Diastole is returned back at the next Systole In the mean time these waters in this passage do not only Communicate with the Vital Humour abounding between the Gills but besides are laid up between the Cavities of the Members and the Trunk that they may supply these Fishes whilst they are kept dry with matter for respiration and therefore they not only longer subsist in the open air but also live for some time in a place void of all air In Crusty Fishes for that for the agitating the Gills as it were with Lungs the Ribs belonging to the Sides the Muscles of the Breast and other things are either wanting or by reason of the stiffness of the neighbouring parts are made unable it is performed by an admirable artifice as whilst the Gills for the most part being loose and are left easily moveable the several little bundles of them about the basis of the bony little Foot being included with the Muscles within their Cavities as it were so many hanging Ribs are fixed being drawn forth far beyond the Trunk of the Body which as so many distinct Pendulums by the help of the Muscles which they include being almost continually shaken cause also continual Systoles and Diastoles for the inspiring and exspiring of the Gills But it may well be doubted whether we ought to assign Souls of the nature of fire to these bloodless Creatures inhabiting the waters because they rejoyce in an Element that is deadly to fire it self and to the Lives of more perfect Brutes But this Problem shall be satisfied by and by when we have first discours'd of the Use of the Gills in Bloody Fishes as also concerning the Praecordia of these and others of a more frigid blood In the mean time the Third Table shews the Figures representing to the Life the parts of the Lobster Secondly After the bloodless Brutes their
can the blood be made to boyl wherefore it follows that it is inkindled like the spirit of Wine and so as it were flames forth and boyls up Further we shewed that it is truly inkindled in hot living Creatures because the proper Passions of Fire and Flame are found only besides in the Life of the Blood for in like manner both to this and to them there is need constantly of an Internal Sulphureous Food together with the External nitrous yea and either Flame alike to wit the Kitchin and Vital whil'st they burn desire Eventilation To these may be added that the Life and Flame of the Blood as to their Various ways of production and extinction there particularly described and rehearsed are wholly after the same manner Lastly the analogie or agreement of either Flame being sufficiently unfolded we have declared by what beginnings the Vital Flame arises by what degrees it increases and after its hight is diminished Further we have shew'n reasons wherefore this is not visible and destructive as the common Flame but as it is Subordinate to the Corporeal Soul as to a Superiour Form it admitting a proper Species and serving to the uses of Nature destinated by the Creator silently burns with a gentle and friendly heat like a Fire shut up in Balneo Mariae apart by it self and as it so destroys not the Blood but inkindling the Liquor even so its Superficies wholly dissolves the frame of the whole mixture it follows thence that some particles being burnt others of a various Kind being manumitted or let go they are Variously imployed in the offices of the others but of these those which are chiefly Subtil as it were Beams of Light sent from a Flame are as it were distilled into the Brain and Cerebel These most subtil particles are called the Animal Spirits and first of all entring the Cortical Substances of those parts and from thence flowing into the Meditullia or middle parts of either of them and into the Oblong and Spinal Marrow and further into all the Nerves and Nervous Fibres dispersed thorow the whole Body Constitute the other and more noble part of the Corporeal Soul commonly called the Sensitive by us the Lucid or Etherial into whose Nature as also into the ways of its Subsisting Acting and Suffering we shall now in the next place inquire Secondly The sensitive part of the Soul even as the Vital is extensive and divisible whose Hypostasis when as the Animal Spirits as to the Integral parts do Constitute a great and difficult question arises concerning them of what sort of substance they are and from whence they are indued with so notable an Energy or Power I shall say nothing to those who wholly deny these Spirits for that the existencie of which is almost palpable and may be proved demonstratively by the effects nor am I much solicitous of those who arguing Contend that the Senses and Faculties of living Creatures however perceptive cannot be but from an Immaterial and Immortal Substance and therefore without any necessity multiply almost to Infinity and I know not for what end not only Essences but also immortal Souls of Brutes yea of Fleas Flys and of other more vile Insects Against these Opinions there needs no other Argument than that any one may consider truly in every Brute or Man the Organs of the Animal Faculties than which certainly nothing in the whole nature of things can be made more Mechanically and with a more neat Artifice The Brain and Cerebel the two Roots of the Lucid part of the Soul or rather the Fountains of the Primary Spirits are placed in the top itself of the Body into which when the Animal Spirits are distilled from the Blood placed above and round about as it were by a descent they from thence flow forth through the Medullary and nervous Appendixes as it were by Bills or Pelicans placed here and there into all the inferiour parts Either head consists of a double Substance viz. a Cortical or Barkie which for the most part serves for the reception of the Spirits and a Medullary or Marrowy which serves for their dispensation and exercise Further as the Animal Spirits for divers uses of the Animal Faculties ought to obtain Tendencies or Stretchings-forth of a divers sort within their distinct and peculiar passages either Medullary part being wonderfully Divaricated is cut every where into Various tracts of Labyrinths as it were so many Conclaves and Chambers all which Medullary tracts the Cortical part every where lies between and fortifies From these as it were Primary Palaces of the Soul the Oblong and Spinal Marrow like spacious Courts are stretched forth which also are furnished by reason of the Medullary substances variously lying between with many Porticoes and Walks planted here and there for the necessary works of the Animal Function From these Marrows the Nerves arising are carried to the several parts of the whole Body as it were so many distinct paths then from these many other small Shoots or nervous Fibres being on every side sent forth as it were so many smaller or lesser Paths are almost innumerable at the ends of which others secondary Fibres Membranaceous and Musculous are disposed though thick Series as it were so many martial Fields in every one of which is placed a Maniple or Band of Spirits In this most ample and highly intricate Labyrinth of Cloysters and Animal passages the Medullar or Nervous Processes how small soever being most thickly set variously implicating one another and ordinarily cutting cross one another yet all of them distinct and designed to certain offices allways agree mutually between themselves and intimately conspire together So that every Impulse or Instinct is carried from one end to another presently yea from every part to all the rest sooner than in the twink of an eye Further from the effects it is demonstrated that within these several tracts some subtil particles do flow and cause Animality or Life in all which tho they be most thin invisible and nimble we rightly call the Animal Spirits and the Constitutive parts of the sensitive Soul Altho it appears plain that such like Spirits are the Authors of the Animal Function and do constitute the Hypostasis of the Soul it self yet what they are according to their proper essence seems hard to be unfolded because we can hardly meet with any thing in Nature to which they may be compared in all things The comparing of these with the Spirits of Wine Turpentine and Harts-Horn and such like does not quadrate or agree For besides that those Chymical Liquors neither represent the Images of their Objects nor are indued with any Elastic Virtue as the Animal Spirits those also are less Subtle than these and less Volatil for as much as they may be powred forth out of one Vessel into another or may be distilled but the Animal Spirits presently vanishing after life is extinct
propagate its Species or produce other Souls for which end it Continually lays up from its provision an incentive matter and Continually desires to expose it to an inkindling It is natural for every Animal without guide or example to take its proper food and to Swallow it down both that the web of the Body being daily increased might grow to its due magnitude and also that the Soul as it were its woof being daily supplyed with new plenty of Spirits may be able to be Coextended or stretched forth equally with the Body and able to perform lively the Acts of its Functions Then assoon as the Lineaments both of the Body and the Soul being sufficiently drawn forth and the Compass and Bulk of each Compleated some Animal Spirits superfluous from the individual work begin to abound and so seperate into the genital parts with a Subtil humour picked from the whole Body as it were into a Store-house destinated for the propagating the Species and there being lay'd up forme the Idea of the Animal which afterwards is transferred into a fit Matrix for to be perfectly formed The genital Humour is not as Hippocrates formerly taught and as now commonly believed carried from the Brain into the Spermatick Vessels for no peculiar passages lye between that and these Bodies far remote but without doubt the bloody mass it self sends its most noble part into the Genitals as well as into the Brain Wherefore when as there are no Nerves that reach to the Testicles and that there are noted Arteries sent and admirably made thorow wandering Passages and frequent engraftings of the Veins to wit for that End that they may carry the most pure flower of the Blood as it were thorow the winding Chanels of an Alembick distilled by a long passage and so wrought and made most highly subtil into those parts what is superfluous of this or less clarified the Veins do not only receive and carry back but also because from the much Spirit a great quantity of Serous water which serves always for its Vehicle abounds therefore the Water-Carryers are produced in these parts abundantly more than in any others But that a great loss of the genital Humor doth hurt very much the Brain and the Nerves and bring to them a notable debility the reason is because the blood as it makes up the losses of the seed destinated for the propagating its Species carries thither and bestows whatsoever is most precious of its own in the mean time as the Brain is defrauded of its due provision by the great plenty of Spirits being carried into the Spermatic Bodies yea as the blood is not able sufficiently to impart to the Genitals out of its proper store it remands or snatches its Tribute from the Brain and other parts that it might be there bestowed so that not seldom the strength of the whole Soul and Body is consumed on the mad insatiate fulfilling of Lust or Venus and in these desires everyone or the unskilful complains of Flames and feels the blood not only to flame forth but a greater fire increasing to make hot the marrow yea oftentimes it is known to burn up the Flesh Inwards and Bones and to reduce them to a rottenness As to that most quick and Intimate Commerce of the brain with the genital Members for as much as the Venerian imagination Causes presently an insurrection in these parts and on the other side a swelling up of the seminal humor stirs up the Venerial Imagination the Cause is not an Instinct thorow the private passages of the Nerves which are wholly wanting reciprocated from this to that but because for the Act of Generation greatly necessary and performed with a most vehement Affection one part of the soul by it self or one part after another is not moved but the whole Hypostasis together and on a sudden and is inclined or snatched towards the Genitals hence every most light incentives of Lust are most swiftly powred forth thorow the universal parts of the Soul fiery of themselves and Extreamly perclive or apt for such fires Whilst this Corporeal Soul being inkindled like flame in the animated Body on every side diffuseth Heat and Light we may take notice of its various tremblings shakeings inequalities and irregular Commotions these sorts of Irregularities to be observed concerning the phasis or appearance of this Soul of which we treat tho they are more perspicuous in Man than in Brute Animals yet they altogether respect the inferiour Soul of Man which is Common to him with the Brute Animals But that we may briefly handle some of these Affections of the Corporeal Soul first it is to be noted that its flame does not always flame forth equally For besides that its food is sometimes afforded more plentifully and too sulphureous sometimes more thinly and less inflameable so that the Flame is inlarged or Contracted its accension also in the praecordia tho of it self moderate and equal is wont to be variously shaken by the fanning of Passions so that it is carried sorth sometimes into an Excessive burning as from Anger and Indignation sometimes this vital flame is in danger to be always blown out as by sudden Joy and another time almost suffocated as by sudden fear or sadness In like manner the Systasis or Constitution of the Soul from the rest of the Affections being exposed as flame to the winds is diversly changed in its appearance as will more clearly appear when we shall speak particularly of its Affections Nor do these sorts of Inordinations only proceed from the sudden impulses of Passions but sometimes the Vital flame habitually becomes decayed weak and as it is were half exstinct as by intemperate Cold and also as is observed in the phlegmatick diseaâ—e the dropsie longing of maids and other diseases in whom the Blood being too watery like moist and green wood sends forth but a small and inconstant flame and almost overwhelm'd with fume and vapour But sometimes the bloody Liquor being more sulphureous than it ought is almost wholy inkindled as happens in a Choleric Complexion and in an intemperate Feavor According to either of these hights as the inkindling of the vital flame is altered so the lucid particles which flow from it to wit the beamie texture of the Animal spirits diversly shines and breaths forths from the decayed or bound up inkindling of the Blood the sphear of the sensitive soul is seen to be straitned and to be drawn in within the limit of the Body and to be immerged or sunk down so that it doth not sufficiently actuate or illustrate the whole frame of the Brain and its Appendix On the Contrary when the Vital Fire is very strong so it doth not burn forth too much and feavourishly the Constitution of the Animal Spirits being made greater in it self is much inlarged forth far beyond the Compass of the Body so that any one exulting for Joy
carry Man not only beyond the Brutes but himself to wit above his Natural State for as much as they subject the Sensitive Soul to the Rational and both to the most high God But yet such a Divine Politie is not erected in Man without great Contention Because whil'st Reason using its proper force and also Institutes and Sacred Ethicks endeavours to draw the Faculties of the Corporeal Soul to its Party she rising against it adheres pertinaciously to the Flesh and is hardly pull'd away from its Blandishments yea what is to be lamented it seduces in us the Mind or Chief Soul and snatches it away with it self to role in the Mud of Sensual Pleasures So that Man becomes like the Beast or rather worse to wit for as much as Reason becoming Brutal leads to all manner of Excess But indeed 't is not always so with the Empire of the Mind but that she returning at length sometimes on her own accord or awakened by some occasion and knowing of its â—all arises up against the Sensitive Soul as against an Enemy or Traitor casting her out of her Throne commands her to Servitude yea sometimes by reason of some wickedness committed it compels it to torment it self and its Lover the Flesh and so to expiate as much as it may its faults by inflicting on it proper Punishments Indeed these kind of Acts and Affections of Conscience near to Man plainly shews that there is in him either two Souls subordinately or at least the Parts of the same are far different to wit when one of which opposâ—s the other and either strives for the obtaining of Proselytes it happens that Man is hurried into contrary Endeavours and is acted little less than like a Daemoniack possess'd with a Legion But having proposed these things concerning the Rational Soul which we have touch'd only by the by as besides our purpose we will return to the Corporeal and as we have illustrated its Essence Hypostasis and Integral Parts we shall now descend to the Explaining of its Affections or Passions But in the mean time as we have shewn by comparing the Corporeal Soul of the Brute with the Rational of Man what vast difference there is between them perhaps it might be to the purpose to compare the Brains of either and to observe their differences But this Anatomy being elsewhere made we have noted little or no difference in the Head of either as to the Figures and Exterior Conformations of the Parts the Bulk only excepted that from hence we concluded the Soul Common to Man with the Brutes to be only Corporeal and immediately to use these Organs But as we have shewn the description of a Sheeps Brain dissected within the Cortex and as it were made bare of Flesh whereby all the Interior Parts might appear we shall here also to Crown the work give you the Figure of an Humane Brain so as all the inward Parts may be laid open The Eighth Table Contains a new Anatomy of the Humane Brain where by a Dissection with an Instrument made thorow the Bill the Callous Body and the Fornix or Arch and their Parts being taken away and separated the streaked Bodies also the Optic and Orbicular Prominences one side erased and the other whole and plain are Exhibited A. A. A. A. The Hemisphear of the Brain divided and separated by themselves B. B. B. B. Portions of the Callous Body with the Fornix cut off and removed apart C. The Basis of the Fornix with its Roots which cohered with its Trunk Y Y divided Portions of which with Cuttings off of the Callous Body are laid apart on the right and left hand D. One streaked Body scraped or Erased that the Medullary streakes or nervous Tracts may appear E. The formost border of this Body sticking to the right Hemisphear of the Callous Body F. G. The Basis and the Cone of the same Body H. The hinder Border of the same in which the Optick streaks yea and other Medullary Processes are sent from the Orbicular Prominences I. The streaked Body of the left-side plain with the Vessels creeping thorow them whose Borders and Ends are made after the same as in the right K. The right Optick Chamber erased whose Medullary streaks being strait and thick set K.K. are stretch'd forth into the Border of the streaked Body L. The right Nati-form Prominence in like manner erased with streaks stretched forth into the Medullary Process M. M. The Medullary Process which proceeding from the Testes and compassing about the Nates sends from thence other Medullary passages into the streaked Body as more plainly appears in the left side being whole N. The Pineal Kirnel in its proper place O. O. The Orbicular Prominences called Testes Marrowy thorow the whole P. The left Nati-form Prominence plain and whole which is smaller in Man and for the most part Marrowy Q. A Medullary Process Compassing the Nates from which is sent one Medullary Pipe or passage R. towards the Cone of the streaked Body and another S. towards its Basis of which by and by a forked branch goes forth one r. to the middle of the streaked Body the other s. to the corner of its Basis. T. A Transvers shoot knitting together the aforesaid Branches V. The hinder Borders of the streaked Bodies joyned together among themselves W. The Gap or Chink leading to the Tunell X. The Gap or Chink leading into the Cavity lying under the Orbicular Prominences Y. A Medullary Process leading from the Oblong Marrow into the Cerebel which seems to be the root of this Z. Z. Separated Portions of the Cerebel cut off that its Tracts both Marrowy and Cortical or Barkie may be seen X. The Cavity or hollowness lying under the Cerebel 〈◊〉 44 Tabula VIII CHAP. VIII Of the Passions of Affections of the Corporeal Soul in General THe whole Corporeal Soul so long as she is quiet and undisturbed she is fittted to her proper Body equally as to a certain Chest or Cabbinet and waters all its Parts gently both with little Rivulets of Blood Circulating and actuates and inspires them every where with a gentle falling down of the Animal Spirits But it sometimes happens that the whole Constitution of this same Soul is so shaken and moved that both the Blood being interrupted in its equal Circule is compelled into irregular Excursions and Recursions and various Fluctuations and also that the Animal Spirits being snatched hither and thither inordinately perform the Acts of their Functions yea the Animal Spirits themselves whil'st being moved irregularly do shake the Praecordia and flow into them in an undue manner cause the Course of the Blood more to be perverted Further from the Corporeal Soul being disturbed not only the Animal Spirits and Rivers of the Blood are driven into disorders but they induce alterations both to the other Humors and to very many Parts and Members of the Body and to the Rational Soul it self in Man
diffused within the Brain and stock of Nerves is Co-extended or equally stretched forth with the Organical Body and almost with all its Parts is affected with every Contact or with the meeting of other Bodies she perceives all Impressions either outwardly objected or raised up within and as she is moved by these every where diversly inflicted she indues according to the various impulse of the Objects various Gestures and Species in her self and also draws the Members and Parts of the Body it self with her wholly into the same Figures and Motions For indeed it is the Energie or the Act of the Soul it self from which every Function of the animated Body primarily and chiefly arises If at any time any Stroke or Impression be inflicted any where to the animated Body presently a certain Fluctuation or waving is stirred up in the Hypostasis of the whole Soul or of the struck Member by which some Animal Spirits or subtil Particles shut up in the Organical Parts as a blast of Wind in a Machine being struck run hither and thither and so produce the Exercises of Sense and Motion in the whole Body or respective Parts Truly among the various Gestures of the Corporeal Soul by which she altering her Species or Hypostasis brings a change to the containing Body the Sensitive and Locomotive Powers obtain the chief place for as much as they are Common almost to all living Creatures at least to the more perfect to which also all the rest of the Faculties may easily be reduced These are the chief Advancers of the animated Body upon which all the other Wheels of this Self-moving Divine Machine depend But the Internal and next efficient Cause both of Sense and Motion are the Hypostasis of the Sensitive Soul or the Animal Spirits instilled from the inkindled Blood into the Brain and from thence diffused into the Nervous Stock which being distributed from the Brain as the Fountain thorow the Nerves to the whole Body imbue irradiate and blow up all the Parts and bring a certain Tensity or stretching forth to each so that the passages of the Nervous Bodies like Cords stretched forth straitly on every side from the Brain and its dependencies reach forth into all the Exterior Parts by which so stretch'd forth and actuated by a certain Continuity of the Soul if one end be struck presently the stroke is perceived through the whole so that every Intention conceived within the Brain presently performs the designed work in every Member or Part and on the other side every impulse or stroke which is inflicted from without to any Member or to the Sensitive Body is communicated instantly to all Parts within the Head If that an Impression or force tends from the Brain outwards thorow the Nerves into the moving Parts Motion is produced but if they being made outwardly are directed inwards towards the Brain Sense arises But whil'st either of these are performed it is not so to be understood as is commonly asserted as if the same Spirits make hast and leap back presently as it were from one end of the Course or Circuit to the other but as the Soul is stretched forth thorow the whole with a certain Continuity its Particles viz. the Spirits contiguous one with another are set like an Army in Array for they after a Military fashion whil'st they move not from their station and keep Order perform their Offices and whether they be set in Battel Array or on the Watch they perform the Commands carried outward from the Brain themselves being almost immoveable and effect Motion and deliver presently to the Brain the news of any sensible thing impressed whereby Sensation is made So indeed the same Animal Spirits thô with an opposite and inverse tendency and aspect of them cause Motion and Sense But both Faculties as to the Exercises of their Acts require something divers Organs yea the Animal Spirits planted within the same for the performing the divers Offices of their Faculties are ordered with a various Affection and with a different manner of Orders That each of these may be the more clearly illustrated we shall first of all speak of the Sense and of whatsoever belongs to it both in General and in Special and then afterwards concerning Motion The Sense as it is taken in a more strict acceptation viz. for the proper Function in animated Bodies and by which they are distinguished from inanimates is wont to be described after this manner That it is the faculty of perceiving Sensible objects Because the Sensitive soul as hath been said being apt to be affected or moved by every Contact or Impulse of an exterior Body forces its constitution to vary in the whole or in part according as it is struck But exterior Bodies because they consist of Particles of a various Kind and diversly figured therefore when some are applied to others their approaches one among another are not always made after one and the same manner but after a manifold manner and with notable variety to wit either by Corporeal Contacts or by Effluvia's falling from them or by Particles of Air Breath or Light reflected from them issuing from them on every side like Darts Further and to every one of these Kinds many Species are attributed Because not only Concretes but also various little Bodies of the same Subject shew and impress manifold Types of their Contacts several of which as they are received and so known distinctly by living Creatures the Sensitive Soul using Corporeal Organs hath many Sensories fitted for such variety of Objects and divers representations of things in which several both the Conformation of the Pores as also the disposition of the Animal Spirits are proportionated to the little Bodies sent in from the Object which are only of one Kind fitly to be received By this means sensible Impressions at least that may be of use to any Animal are perceived and from this manifold way of Sension proceeds the Knowledge of all things according to that of the Philosopher All Knowledge is made by the Sense when on the contrary if Bodies and their Particles should strike the Systasis of the naked Soul or part of it always after one and the same manner nothing at all would be known because one thing or parts from another or these from those Members would not be distinguished Wherefore that all the chief Objects and their Accidents might be distinctly noted it is so provided that some Particles strike this Organ and not that so that they affect their several respective Sensories only the rest being untouched From hence it is clear that 't is necessary that there should be many Sensories in perfect Animals which may perform divers Actions both for the preserving of Life and propagating the Kind and also for the knowing many things and chiefly for the embracing of what things are Congruous to themselves and for the shunning all incongruous things for this things 't
melted which two are biting sharp and corrosive of themselves apart if they be put together lose all acritude to wit these Salts being of a divers Kind viz. Fluid and Alchalisat being put together work mutually one upon another by which means the little Spears and Pricks of both are broken even as if the edge of one Knife should be rubbed against the edge of another Plants and Herbs which are naturally biting sharp if they be macerated in White-wine or perhaps in any other Liquor put away all their sharpness and yet the Liquor becomes not at all sharp In these sort of Concretes all the acritude depends upon the volatile Salt which being loosned by the mixture presently flyes away For the same Reason these sort of Herbs being subjected to distillation exhale almost an insipid water and the dreggs of the Herbs remaining after distillation is also insipid Hence also some Herbs which being green abound with a sharp biting juice being dryed lose very much of their acritude as Scurvy-grass Water-cresses and Brooklime c. Secondly The bitter Savour or Taste such as is principally in Gall and Wormwood seems to be made for as much as the Particles of its Body are planted with forked Pricks which digging into the Sensory not deeply but only on the Superficies cause a sad or sorrowful Sense just as if the sharp-pointed fruit of the Teasle should be sharply handled with ones hands In Subjects indued with a bitter Savour Salt associated with Sulphur and suffering an Adustion with it Predominates First Subjects which exhibit this kind of Savour naturally among Vegetables are Wormwood Southernwood Centaury Colocynthida Agaric Fumitary and almost all Herbs which grow in dry and mountany places then Gâ—mms and Concrete juices as Myrrh Aloes Opium Ammoniac c. Among Minerals they are not easily met with The Excrements of living Creatures as the Gall and Dung the Liquor contained in the Bladder of the Gall and so the Skins of some Birds are bitter Secondly As to the second Things which draw bitterness anew they are Compounded Liquors if in Cooking they are burnt or are made too thick by Evaporation hence Soot is bitter and whatever things suffer adustion or burning Sugared Aliments and sweet things are most easily Corrupted in the Stomach and degenerate into a most highly bitter Humor Thirdly As to the Third a bitter Savour is most difficulty taken away without the Destruction of the Subject in which it is as appears in Aloes and Colocynthida and Medicines prepared out of them Yet New Beer being something bitterish by the boyling of Hops in it grows sweet by clearing and a long fermentation the reason of this we have shewed elsewhere Further Liquors which grow bitter by reason of their Contracting an Empyreuma or burning to if they be exposed for a long while in a moist Air or distilled over again mixed with Calcined Salt they will partly lose their Empyreuma or smatch of Fire and bitterness 3. Because Experience shews that Salts for the most part do grow together into many pointed and diversly corner'd Figures it is most likely that the Salt savour is produced when Particles of any Body pointed with many Angles and Edges on all sides do as it were cut into the Sensory like as if little bits of broken Glass be strictly pressed in ones hand In these Kind of Subjects the Saline Principle excells the other Elements First Bodies naturally Salt are scarce met with in the family of Vegetables althô Plants and Herbs almost all owe their rise and growth to Salt It is seen however that Sea Scurvigrass and Capers have something of a salt Savour Salt obtains the chief place among Minerals and salsitude or saltness is chiefly eminent in Sea-Salt in Salt that is dug up Nitre and Sal Gemmae The Excrements of Animals to wit the Dung the Sweet the Serum are Salt Blood also participates something of the Nature of Saltishness Secondly Those Salts which are made by an artificial means are the fixed Salts of Herbs made by incineration or burning to Ashes Compounded Salts to wit Borax Sal Ammoniac A volatile Salt is drawn forth of Amber Bones Horns and also out of the Blood of Animals by Sublimation Thirdly As to the Third all natural Salts if they be distilled often over again pass into acetous or tart Liquors The reason of which is because these kind of Concretes suffer a divorce of the other Principles by the fire and so come more near to the Simple and Elementary Nature of Salt Volatile Salts at first white if exposed to the Moisture of the Air do melt into a reddish Liquor not very Salt and besides smelling like the stink of smoak or soot because the mixture being loosned by the moist Air the Saline Particles for that they are volatile many of them fly away but in the mean time the Sulphureous Particles before subjugated get the Dominion Fourthly The Acid or sour or tart Savour or Taste seems to be made when the Particles of any Body are four pointed or corner'd to wit which appear with a smooth and acute point and with a sharp Body like a wedge made into a bigger bulk so that which way soever applyed to the Sensory they prick it and by pressing it something bind it up and therefore they leave in it larger Incisions than any other Savour This Kind of Savour for the most part depends upon a fixed Salt carried forth into a Flux First Bodies naturally acid or sower are among Vegetables Pomecitrons Oringes Lemons Berberries Sorrel Tamarinds c. Among Minerals scarce any to be met with as I remember nor is it easily to be found among Animals unless perhaps the Melancholly Juice the ferments of the Stomach and Spleen the Pancratic Juice and also the fasting spittle of a Man may be said to be something Acid. Secondly Made Acids are Vinegar and the Spirit of it or the Liquor distilled The Melanchollic Humor preternaturally begotten in the Body which often like the Spirit of Vitriol becomes Acid and almost Corrosive Vitriol Salt and Sulphur being whole and tasted in their solid substance shew no kind of acidity if they be made subject to Chymical Operation send forth a Liquor highly acid the reason of which was shewed but now Thirdly As to the Third Chymists say that acetous Spirits to wit of Sulphur Salt Vitriol c. by a long Digestion and Circulation do grow sweet All acetous Mineral Spirits also distilled Vinegar and the juice of Vegetables if they dissolve any Body by knawing or corroding it as Corals Pearls or any Precious Stones put away their acidness because the Particles of the fluid Salt in the acid Stagma or Menstruum are fixed to the Alchali Salt in the mixture Moreover these Kinds of Spirits and acetous Liquors if they are mixed either with Oil of Tartar or with the fixed Salts of Herbs loosed by Deliquium loose their acidity
burning Water like the Lees of Wine distilled after the same fashion In both these and in the following Instance the additional sweetnesses are bruised by the saline little darts Sugar of Lead being fused by the fire melts into meer Lead if it be distilled in a Retort if we may believe Beguinus it will produce a burning and sweet smelling Spirit 8. The unctuous or oyly savour seems to be produced when the Particles of any Body are very Spherical and round which neither hawl prick nor tickle the Sensory but only stroke it with a gentle and soft coming to it In these the Sulphureous Principle predominates First Bodies naturally Unctuous or oyly among Vegetables are ripe Olives the Turpentine-Tree The Larix and some sweet smelling Gums naturally sweating forth Among Minerals Asphaltum Bitumen Amber Sperma Ceti and some fat Earths and Ochers Of Animals and their Parts the Sewet Marrow and Fat. Secondly Unctuous things prepared by Art are Butter Cream Oyls press'd out of Fruits and Seeds as Oyl of Nuts of sweet Almonds also Oyls drawn out of Seeds Woods Gums and Refines by distillation Thirdly Althô unctuosity is most difficulty taken away from the Subjects yet it is wont to be lessen'd for so Unctuous Bodies if they grow stale or are too much boiled or otherways grow hot by shaking losing their smoothness become rank and prick and dig the Sensory Further Sewet and Fat if they be long exposed to a moist Air contract a settlement and become hoary and then are resolved into Water or a corrupt Earth In this and in the former instance whil'st the mixture of the Body is resolved some Sulphureous Particles fly away in the mean time the remaining lose their Dominion 9. An insipid Savour or Taste seems to be made when the Particles of any Body are indued with superficial little Darts not at all sharp but smooth and discharged which enter not into the Pores of the Sensory and no ways dig or hawl it In these the Principle either of Water or Earth predominate over the rest First Bodies naturally insipid or tastless are Common Water especially Rain Water some cold Herbs the raw white of an Egg c. Althô in the whole world there is nothing insipid simply yet Speech is wont to apply it to them things in which some one of those Savours are not eminently which we have before recounted Secondly That Savory things may become Unsavory the more acute Particles ought wholly to fly away or be very much broken Herbs long kept also many more things if they be distilled by a moderate heat yield almost an insipid Liquor Thirdly Insipidness it self sometimes is taken away for insipid Water if it stand long that it putrifie acquires a stink and mouldy Savour The white of an Egg boiled hard has something a sharp taste In these kind of Instances some active Elements being before subjugated get strength Besides these Kinds of simple Savours which are as it were the Elements of the rest there remain yet many Complications of these simple ones as the Savours rehearsed are conjoyned one among another And for as much as by the Wisdom of Nature to satisfie all Palates and by the Luxury of Art that she might please the Throats of some manifold mixtures of Savours have been produced that almost nothing to be eaten is found simple and without Sawce or Condiment The several Compositions of these is a thing almost impossible to enumerate it shall suffice for the present that we note some of the more noted Conjugations and their Affections as they are grateful or ingrateful to the Palate The first Conjugation and that most grateful to the Palate is of acid and sweet of which sort are generous Wine Confections prepared out of Citron Wood-Sorrel Berberries c. Sugar'd things and sharp things pickl'd with Sugar Secondly Sweet and Astringent as also sweet and sower are well Consociated as in Marmalade of Quinces Candied Bulloes Cyder drunk with Sugar c. Thirdly Sweet and oyly yield a grateful Savour to the Palate but that brings a nauseousness to the Stomach as in Milk-meats Sugar'd-meats and Pasty-crust c. Fourthly Sweet agrees not with biting bitter or salt Savour Fifthly nor doth a bitter Savour of it self agree with any other it is grateful to the Palate well-tempered with the sweet Sixthly Salt-savour best agrees with the biting sharp as in flesh seasoned with Salt and Pepper it is an ingrateful Sawce with the oyly Seventhly The Acid Astringent and Sower are well associated with the sweet not with the rest There are more Kinds of some other Compounded Savours which we have no time now to recount But there are in respect of the Taste as the Compounded Tunes of Harmony in respect of Hearing in both sensible not simple Species of one Kind but are carried manifold and variously Complicated to the Sensory It now remains for us to pass from the Taste the Object of which we have largely handled to the other Species of the Senses CHAP. XIII Of the Sense of Smelling IT seems that the Smell is a more Excellent and a little more Sublime Faculty than either Tasting or Touching to wit because its Object is more subtle and comes to the Sensory with a thinner Consistency for there is no need to put upon the Organ the more thick substance of the mixture but it suffices that the Effluvia's or Breath sent from odorous Bodies thô at something a remote distance be inspired into the Nostrils together with the Air. Living Creatures are furnished with the Sense of Smelling for this end to wit that agreeable and wholesom Aliments may be known and discerned from disagreeable and hurtful for because it were an incongruous and dangerous thing to take in presently into the Mouth all things offered to be eaten and to be examined by the Taste lest perchance Venomous and Stinking things carelesly taken in by the Palate should bring loathing or hurt to it the Smell examines first the thing at a distance and refuses those rotten things or guilty of any other very infestous quality without receiving any hurt by the Contagion This Kind of Primary use is seen more excellently in brute Animals than in Man for they by this Index only most certainly know the Virtues of Herbs and of other Bodies before unknown yea hunt out and easily find their absent Food thô hidden from them by the Smell But that the Noses of Men are less quick or sagacious it ought not as some would have it to be ascribed to the abuse of the Faculty but the Cause lyes in the defect of the Organ it self for this is not so accurately required for the distinction of Humane Food where Reason and the Intellect are present For that Reason the inferior Powers in Man exist less perfect by Nature that there might be a place left for the exercise and dressing of the more superior As to what
and down hither and thither by the moved Air. Hence it follows that some Sonorifick Particles or Causing sounds are diffused thorow the Air and as they are more subtil than the little Bodies of the Air and are indued with a more rapid Motion the Transmission or Propagation of the sound depends upon the peculiar motion and waving of these made apart from the inclination of the whole Air. We have elsewhere shewn in the texture of the Atoms of the Air that there are contained Luminous or Nitrous Particles by the inkindling and by the most swift trajection and reflection of these Light the appearances of Colours and the Images of all things are produced And besides these most thin and moveable Bodies which seem to be of a certain fiery Nature and interwoven with the Air and by the private waving of which the visible Objects are carried to the Organ it is likely that certain other Particles of another Kind and those perhaps Saline are diffused thorow the rare and most fluid Constitution of the Air by which whil'st they are strucken and swiftly moved and apt to be figured according to the Idea's of Sounds the Organ of the Hearing is also affected and by this means receives the Impressions of sensible things For it seems that the Sound-causing little Bodies swimming in the Air and interwoven with a certain Continuity in its Pores and thickly set in its passages are placed after that manner that when a Motion is impressed in any Portion of them by the striking against a solid Body they being agitated according to the Character of the Impressed Motion move or shake others planted round about and they again others which are next to them and so when the same Motion is propagated round on every side by a successive affection of the same Particles as when a Stone being cast into a smooth water many little Circles begining after one another and unfolding themselves create an Impression of the first stroke in every part lesser types of the sound and almost innumerable take the place one of another or fill up the room of the first Prototype sound excited according to the solid Body and from thence on every side waved according to the Symbolical Particles successively moved even after the same manner as when the rayes of Light are reflected from an Opacous or shaddowy Body for as much as they being sent at hand from every part of the Object do meet together in a most thick Series of Cones in every place and so create infinite Images of the same thing visible in all places In like manner also whil'st the Sonorific Particles leap back from a solid Body they cause the audible Species to be every where represented according to the stroke there made upon them in the whole Sphear of Vibration whether by a like Contortion or Gyration or any other ways of Conformation in Motion of the symbolar Particles But althô there are found Sonorific little Bodies something like the luminous they are differenced notwithstanding in many things for first of all their Motion is much more slow than the luminous which clearly appears from a Gun being discharged at a distance for it is sometime after the flash reaches the Sight that the report comes to the Ears But the luminous Particles thô they easily pass thorow the more solid Diaphanous Bodies yet not thorow thick shaddowy or Opacous Bodies thô they are made of a more thin or rare texture or stick in the chinks On the contrary the waving of a sound does not so easily pass thorow Glass but the same is often heard within a Chamber that is impervious of Light or where Light cannot enter Hence it may be conjectur'd that the rayes or beams of Light how subtil and thin soever they be are carried only in strait Lines for whether they at first stream forth or are broken in the altered Medium or are reflected from an objected Body they every where pass forward and observe the Line or direction and pass thorow the oblique and winding passages not with a turning passage or going thorow but the sounding Particles being excited into Motion insinuate themselves within the bending pores and blind holes like the flowing of Waters but these Kind of little Bodies which are the Vehicles of sounds I suspect to be of a Saline Nature for this reason because the Particles of this Element are most of all Moveable and Active next to the fiery and Nitrous Sulphureous for it is seen that Glass and Metallick Bodies which abound with very much Salt being struck yield a sound excelling all others Also it makes for it for as much as in a great Winter Frost when the Atmosphear of the Air abounds with Saline Particles a sound becomes more clear and is carried farther So much concerning the Sonorifick Particles as much as we are able to get by Conjecture concerning their Nature Subsistence and wayes of carrying forth or of waving As to these what at first was propounded concerning the Sense of Hearing it self there remains yet to be unfolded by what means and for what occasions these Particles interwoven with the aerial Body are stirred up by a sounding Body into Act then how the same being moved affect the Sensory As to the former there are infinite ways whereby the aforesaid Particles are stirred up into Act or by which sounds are wont to be produced whatsoever percussion of a solid Body yea and almost every vehement Compulsion of the Air when resisted yields a sound There are very many Varieties of these but the Universal or at least the chief Causes of sounds may be not improperly reduced to two ways of being uâ—deâ— to wit either that a solid Body being struck and so affected with a Vibration or shaking drives together the Air and with it the Sonorific Particles and the â—â—râ—ke being most swiftly repeated causes them to shake or to wave Or secondly the Air and with it the Sonorific Particles being driven into a more narrow space whil'st they go forth by Compression are struck against the solid Body and are driven by it into a vibration or shaking By reason of the former way all solid Bodies struck by solids yea and hollow Metallick Bodies a Drum the strings of an Harp and other Musical Instruments furnished with strings when they are stroke yield a sound in all which a vibration being excited from the stroke and shaking Body and impressed on the Sonorific Particles is the whole Cause of every produced sound or of long Continuance and also thô but of a minutes durance or sounding For both Metals also Stones and Wood and other solids being struck make the Air to tremble and yield vibrations or shakings in some measure like Bells and the strings of an Harp Wherefore when by the Finger or any soft Body being lay'd upon them that shaking is stopt presently the sound is intercepted In the latter Rank to wit where the Air is compelled
among themselves and differ little or nothing one from another as to their Essence for indeed the same Effluvia's or little Bodies for as much as they proceed from a lucid Body are called Light for that they are reflected from an opacous or shaddowy Body under a certain placing and meeting together cause the Image of the Object and for as much as it happens the same rays of Light in their reflection are broken or turned in from a dark or opacous Body after this or that manner they cause the Appearance of this or that Colour to be represented As to the Rays themselves or the passing thorow of little Bodies the irradiation or beaming forth of which shews the Representations either of Light Colour or Images it is much disputed whether they are only Effluvia's darted from a lucid Body and repercussed in their going forth and reflected variously here and there as is asserted by Gassendus and some others or whether Particles being sent forth from a lucid Body move other the like Particles implanted in the Air and as it were by inkindling them render them luminous and these at length others and so a diffusion on every side of Light or Images is propagated as it were by a certain waving Against the former Opinion 't is objected that it seems impossible that the Effluvia's of flame or fire should be able to be unfolded so suddenly and dilated or spread abroad to an immensity for when a Candle being lighted immediately the whole Chamber is illuminated it can scarce be conceived that the fiery little Bodies of that flame should break forth so suddenly and so thick that they should fill in the twink of an Eye so vast a space For indeed the new Motions and Increase of an inkindled flame are more slow and perceivable to the Sight it self how therefore can we imagine the motion or dilatation of Light for that this is but only a thinner flame to be so incredibly swift Besides when in the same instant in which a Light placed in an eminent place is inkindled it is beheld at many Miles distance none can think that these Particles sent forth from it can be able to be carried so long a space at least in so short a time but truly how should it be supposed that these Effluvia's streaming from a small Light should presently possess the whole Hemisphear Because the light enkindled in the whole Region round about meets with the Eye where-ever placed Besides when from a Glow-worm a certain kind of Light or fire shines in the dark and is perceived at a distance if this apparition should be made by reason of the fiery little Bodies streaming from this little Creature whence I pray is so much fiery Tinder supplied From these and some other Reasons we are led to believe that when the Medium is so soon inlightned besides the Effluvia darted from the lucid Body others also interwoven with and implanted in the Air being moved by those Effluvia's and as it were inkindled contribute to illumination For the Explanation of this hither ought to be referred what hath formerly been said concerning the Nature of fire and flame to wit we have shewed that with the Sulphureous Particles breaking forth from an inflameable Body others Nitrous do come from the Air and are inkindled with them and so do not constitute fire or flame unless both are joyntly inkindled The like reason may be given of Light and consequently of Images and Colours most swiftly produced from Flame and Light to wit some Sulphureous Particles being carried beyond the compass of the Flame joyn together with others Nitrous and easily inkindled and so produce a most thin Flame viz. Light For indeed from an inkindled fire many sulphureous Particles presently streaming forth thickly lay hold on more or at least the like Nitrous and so constitute a more thick and almost dark Flame this for that it is fat and thick passes not thorow the Pores of Glass and thô it is apt of its own Nature to be carried in direct lines yet it is wont to be bent hither and thither and to be made crooked by the blasts of Wind yea to be carried within Tubes or hollow Pipes very crooked But Light is made of fewer and more subtil sulphureous Particles which passing beyond the first inkindling fly away round about far and wide and so meeting every where with many Nitrous constitute a most thin white Flame and without heat this easily passes thorow Glass and all clear Bodies Its beams for as much as they consist of more Nitrous than Sulphureous little Bodies are carried only in strait lines so that thô they are wont ordinarily to be broken or reflected yet they cannot be made crooked Subjects emitting fiery and luciferous Particles among the Coelestials are the Sun and Stars but among the Sublunaries whatsoever are filled with Sulphur are apt to flame forth Concerning the Sun we note that wherever it may be seen in the Earth it diffuses a clear Light so do not the fixed Stars because they are at too great a distance from the Globe of the Earth As to the Subluminary Lights we shall observe as it were three Stadia or measures in which they have their Beams after a diverse way to wit in the first place the Flame consists within the compass of a lucid Body which is both hot and disperses heat every where round about to what is near not only by the open Air but also by all Bodies to wit both diaphanous and dark solid or rare Secondly In the extream Border of the Flame succeeds the Sphear of Light which being more illustrious near the Flame is by degrees attenuated till it ends in plain darkness Beyond the bound of the Light the lucid Body propagates its Image or likeness a great way for a Candle being inkindled is beheld for many Miles in the dark The trajection of which seems to be made by reason of the Impression made on the Nitrous Particles diffused thorow the Air wherefore when the accension ends about the border of Light yet from thence it at a long distance transmits every way an Idea of the Flame or Light by a most swift undulation or waving of them being moved The trajection or the passing thorow of the Rays of Light whether the same be direct or reflected or broken goes forward as we hinted but now only in strait lines and not in oblique or turning about the reason of which is because the fiery or light-carrying Particles how subtil or active soever they be most easily pass thorow and without any impediment the Pores and Passages of the Air and follow not its Course or Torrent Further as the fiery Particles as it seems are only of a Spherical Figure and of a very small bulk their irradiation or beaming forth is made only in direct or strait lines to wit because when the little Globes breaking forth from any fire stream thickly
shake or to contract more near together its Systasis or Constitution so care is taken that a greater company of Spirits yea and a more plentiful flux of Blood are compelled to the principal Parts viz. The Heart and Brain as it were the stays of Life The Animal Spirits of their own accord leap forward to these places as to the two fountains of Life yea and the Blood is more fully heaped up in either for as much as the blood-carrying Vessels being bound together straitly by the Tract of the Nerves drive forward swiftly to these places its Latex and take it away more sparingly from thence therefore whil'st an occasion is offer'd of Weeping presently the Bosoms of the Heart with the whole Neighborhood swell up and are hugely inflated by the Blood there heaped together and for as much as it is suffused with abundance of Serum very much boiling hence both the Lungs are stuffed up that they can yield but a sobbing respiration and the Diaphragma that it might give place to their swelling is depressed lower with a stronger and more often repeated Systole which is the Cause of Sobbing in the mean time for as much as the Air is hardly blown into the Windpipe the Lungs and the Diaphragma being so distended and at last hardly returned that mournful sound in Crying or Lamenting is effected The parts of the Face and Mouth composed into a mournful Aspect aptly answer to this Affection of the Praecordia the reason of which we have shewed elsewhere because the Nerves which Contract the Praecordia are intimate Relations and rejoyce in a mutual Sympathy with those which pathetically Compose the Face in Laughing and Weeping But whil'st these things are acted in the Praecordia and Countenance the business is carried no less tumultuously in the Brain for here the Spirits being acted in Confusion all things are upside down and the Brain by the too great influx of the Blood is in danger to be either overturned or drowned which that it might not come to pass and that madness follow not upon any Passion the Nerves binding about the Truncks of the Arteries in many places bind them strongly and so repress the flowing of the Blood and its Liquor being at first notably rarified is thickned suddenly and as it were melted wherefore its Serosities running forth like a Flood are disposed into the Kirnels of the Eye destinated for this business by Nature Then because these Kirnels are pulled by the Pathetick Nerves which are of the same stock with those of the Face and Praecordia and are strictly bound together the serous Humors by reason of these Passions of the Mind being imbibed by the Kirnels of the Eye are as it were stroked out from thence and so distil in showers of Tears From hence a reason may be had why Tears are wont to break forth in some after a sudden Joy because in great Joy joyned with admiration the sensitive Soul enlarges it self very much and diffuses most amply its Systasis or Constitution then as it were fearing a Dissolution it again Contracts it self wherefore in such an Affection the Blood flowing forth plentifully into the Brain blows up all the Vessels and by reason of its fulness distends them then after its Channel being thus intumefied the same Vessels being presently bound hard together suffers a Flux and as it were growing liquid plentifully deposes its Serosities into the aforesaid Kirnels There remains another Consideration about Weeping why Men or Man Kind only or chiefly in bewailing are wont to weep or to shed tears even for the same reason which is given for Man's being a visible Creature makes him fit for Weeping To wit Man is more fitly made for all Affections and chiefly for the conceiving of Joy and Sadness than Brute Animals and as he is a sociable Creature he ought to Communicate those sociable things some signs naturally implanted in him to wit Laughing and Weeping But as to the Organs which perform these Kind of Affections we have elsewhere observed that there happens in Man otherways than in Brutes a wonderful consent between the Praecordia and the parts of the Mouth and Face by reason of the Conformation of the intercostal Nerve so that as soon as sadness possesses the Breast presently the Aspect of the Face corresponds with the same Perturbation Thus much for the Kirnels of the Eye and their Use and Action Among the intrinsecal Parts of this Member next follow the Muscles concerning which there is scarcely any thing rare to be met with or that has not been already taken notice of by others It is obvious for any to conceive that so many Muscles ought to be constituted as there are Kinds of spreading abroad by which this Globe may be moved as it hangs within the Compass of the Bone for this is made after a fourfold way or manner to wit on that side and this side upward and downward and two ways obliquely viz. By bringing it about both towards the outward and inward corner For these several Kinds of Motions are constituted so many distinct Muscles which are found almost in all perfect Animals and are easily seen in the dissection Four strait Muscles are inserted into the Cardinal spaces of the Eye to wit the Muscle lifting it up and pressing it down its Zenith and Nadir and drawing to and putting from as it were possessing the opposite points of the Horizon to wit East and West the oblique Muscles compass it about like a Sphear towards the Exterior and the Interior corner I pass by here that the Muscles of the Eye do change their Names according to the Passions of which they are Marks wherefore that lifting up is called Superb or Proud because that in Pride it holds the Eye elate or lifted up which however is more true of the Eye-lid and that Muscle deserves rather the Name of Holy and Devout because it greatly lifts up the Eye in strong Prayer wherefore it is the manner of Hypocrites who affect the Habit of Sanctity so to role the Eyes about that they hide the Pupil of the Eye and turn up the white to be seen The depressing Muscle by its action shews the mark of an humble abject and often of a Pious Mind also that drawing inward may not be improperly called Drunken because Drunkards drawing their Eyes towards the inward corner are wont to look asquint and when one Eye is drawn in more than the other for that by this means the Pole of the Sight is varied they behold things as if they were double I knew a young Man obnoxious to the Palsie when the drawing in Muscle was strongly drawn the other Muscles of the left Eye being loose by reason of the Eye being thus distorted every object appeared double nor could he distinguish the true one The Muscle drawing from or outward may be well enough called the Indignator to wit because in such an Affection we bend our Eyes outwardly with
Subject of Sleep but not all of them but some Bands as it were of a Superior Order at those times keep Holy-day but others whose task is more assiduously required for the Preservation of Life are wholly inhibited Concerning these that the reason of the difference may appear and that the bounds of Sleep may be defined we must note that there is need for all the Animal Spirits which constituting the Hypostasis of the Corporeal Soul perform all its Functions because they cannot incessantly exercise or ever continue their Acts to have frequent intermission by which being worn out and tyred they might be refreshed notwithstanding there is not granted a Vacation or rest to the Spirits of every Regiment after the same manner nor in the like dimension For the Animal Spirits which being born within the Brain there constitute the chief Faculties of the Soul and from thence flow into the Nervous stock for the performing of the Spontaneous Acts of Sense and Motion and effect the more hard and laborious tasks are not tyed to the continual performance of them but are permitted after hard labours to lay aside their work and as it were to be idle so that the Privilege of Sleep properly pertains only to these But as to the Animal Spirits of the other Kind which being procreated within the Cerebel and there receive and emit the Instincts and forces of Sense and Motion merely Natural and from thence flowing into the Praecordia and Viscera perform the more assiduous Offices of the Vital and Nutritive Function I say that the Labours of these are more easie and less laborious but as they are absolutely necessary for the preserving of Life that they ought not almost at any time to lye still therefore the aforesaid Spirits being busied about these Offices are not suffered to keep Holy-day long and to indulge themselves with Sleep but it is sufficient for them to intermit their tasks for a short space and presently to resume them and so to have in stead of a longer Vacation some broken times from their Labours as chiefly appears from the pulse and breathing in which the times of motion and of rest are reciprocal and almost equal Indeed the Spirits performing these tasks seem as if condemned to the Stone of Sisyphus to wit that they still lift up the same burthen then resting whil'st it slides down again they presently and so perpetually repeat their Labour Further whil'st that the Animal Spirits influencing the Viscera of Concoction propagate the Acts of Vermiculation from Part to Part receive and give place to motion and rest mutually in themselves which also is more amply performed when we Sleep soundly in so much that sometimes the work of more difficult Concoction is not to be done but in Sleep Therefore the Empire of Sleep chiefly and almost only belongs to the Animal Spirits inhabiting the Brain and the Executors of the Animal Function there of whose Acts we are knowing and in the Appendix both Medullary and Nervous If those Spirits arising from the Cerebel as influencing some Pathetick Nerves to wit of the fifth and sixth Pair seem to participate of Sleep that happens by a consent deliver'd from the Brain to wit by which the Commands as of Motion so of rest are conveyed to them We affirm That the immediate Subject of Sleep is the greater Portion of the sensitive Soul which being rooted in the Brain and thence diffused into many Parts of the Body is the Author of every Spontaneous Motion But the Mediat the Brain it self and all the sensible and moving Parts which Communicate with it Also on the contrary the other lesser part of the sensitive Soul which being rooted in the Cerebel and thence stretched forth into the Praecordia Viscera and some other Bodies is the Parent of the Vital and merely Natural Function to wit of whose Acts the Animal is not conscious is freed from the Bonds of Sleep From these that we may proceed to deliver the formal Reason of Sleep let us conceive that this greater portion of the sensitive Soul the Animal Sleeping doth lay aside its expansion like a Veil sinks within it self and hiding its head as it were within its own Bosom sees nor cares for nothing that is without so that both the Emanation of the Spirits into the globous Part of the Brain and also their irradiation into the Nervous stock ceasing the Act of spontaneous Sense and Motion both outwardly and inwardly is suppressed If it be demanded in what Part or Region these Spirits dwell who first of all possess Sleep and begin to be indulged with rest before any others it may be well supposed that the Spirits first Sleeping are those which flowing within the globous part of the Brain create the Acts of the Fantasie and Memory To wit these either of their own accord or by reason of the incourse of Strangers falling down from the Pores of the Exterior Brain in which they were wont to expatiate convey themselves into its more deep Matrows or middle Parts where as it were lying down idely intice the Spirits there implanted to the like slothfulness and from thence flowing into the Nervous stock recall others from their Efflux and solicite them to idleness Indeed the Spirits irradiating the outer Brain do first of all grow stupified and begin Sleep in their recess as appears from hence because there is a Necessity for these sometimes to be repressed from their expansion and to be driven inwards that there may be a place left for the instilling the Nervous juice or matter for new bands of Spirits into the Brain wherefore those veterane or old ones being not only wearied go from their Station but being as it were drowned by the Humor plentifully rushing in are compelled from their watches From these things it will not be difficult to assign the Causes of Sleep and first that we may begin with the Final which is always the Key to the rest If it should be demanded for what end the Animal Spirits going out of the globous part of the Brain into its middle or marrowy Parts are bound up with chains of Sleep and so after a solemn manner alter the vicissitudes as of Exercise so of Rest this easily occurs that the Animal Spirits at least those who are wont to be more strongly exercised lest they being wholly loosned should perish and break the Hypostasis of the Soul want for the sustaining of themselves a twofold prop to wit Rest and Food by the former care is taken lest the Spirits for that they are highly volatile should be very much drawn asunder by too much Occupation and acted into Confusion wherefore after that they have long and much laboured they desire to rest and be at quiet of their own accord then by the other to wit Food the wastings both of themselves and of the spirituous Liquor with which they are washed are repaired therefore needful for them But
both these benefits requisit for the Spirits to wit their sedation and refreshment are granted and almost only to Animals in Sleep For althô in Waking pleasant sensible Objects do something please the Spirits and that the nourishing Liquor supplied from Aliments newly received in may something cherish them yet a fuller refreshment and quieting by which they are sufficiently fortified for the lively performing the Animal Functions are not obtained but in Sleep for then the Spirits being at leisure for some time from Motion get to themselves new stores and in the mean time the Brain like a dry Sponge imbibing most greedily the nutritious Liquor takes it for Provision for it self which after a little space it dispenses to the several Parts both of its proper Regiment and also of its Appendix yea plenty of the Spirits and their food being somewhat exhausted the Brain as it were another Stomach seems to be hungry after Sleep greatly to desire it and not to be satisfied unless it daily enjoys it and that in its wonted measure for in the space of every Night there is a certain Necessity of Sleeping for so many hours as we have formerly accustomed our selves to if at other times as after Eating an evil Custom indulges Sleep we afterwards more hardly want it than our Dinner for the privation of due Sleep or what often accustomed to is as it were a fasting to the Brain by which if long affected that and its Nervous Appendix languish as it were for hunger Therefore for the taking of Sleep by which the Brain may be filled with the Nutricious Humor and the Spirits wearied or exhausted by Motion may be refreshed a certain Law of Nature or Necessity is incumbent upon us and calls it upon us oftentimes against our Minds But this kind of Disposition being innate to most Animals and chiefly to Man whose Spirits are most of all employed is the Final or Procatartick or more remote Cause of Sleep but its formal or Conjunct Cause consists in these two things viz. in the Vacation or Rest of the Spirits and in the Irrigation or watering the Parts containing them by which as common to either Affection a relaxation follows from a Tensity or Inflation of the Brain and Nervous Parts As to the evident Causes or occasions by which Sleep is wont to be introduced first we must distinguish concerning Sleep That it is either Natural or Ordinary which every one enjoys daily for so many set hours and its accession and duration depends upon either Conjunct Cause existing together in Act viz. at the same time the Spirits remitting their tasks sink down and the nourishing Humour flows into the Brain then this being sufficiently watered and they refreshed Waking returns Or Sleep is not Natural or Extraordinary which for some occasions follows in an undue measure and inconvenient time Concerning preternatural Sleep we shall speak more properly of it in another place when we shall treat of Soporiferous or Sleepy Diseases But as to the Non-natural we have observed that it is of a double Kind according to the Complication of the Conjunct Cause For either the Spirits first lye down and so the Brain imbibes more copiously the apposite Liquor or first the Brain is too much moistned with Humor and so the Spirits being as it were drowned are forced from their watches For when the Blood every where washes the Cortex of the Brain by almost innumerable Ramifications of Vessels a certain spirituous Water from these bloody Rivulets always stands at the Door and is ready to be instilled into the Medullar Substance of the Brain which for as much as it is copiously received within presently overwhelms the Spirits and obstructs their passages and so Sleep being call'd upon every Animal Function ceases for a time yet lest this should be too frequently and untimely done the Animal Spirits so long as they are lively and active inflate the Substance of the Brain and keep it extended so that the Spirituous Liquor which is also Soporiferous is not admitted but only in a small quantity such as may suffice for the exciting of Sleep But if either the Spirits being weary lye down of their own accord or are compelled by the boyling Blood coming impetuously to the borders of the Brain to give place to it the aforesaid Liquor rushing in on heaps produces almost invincible Sleep Wherefore according to which either the Animal Spirits open the doors of the Brain of their own accord or the Nervous Liquor besieging them impetuously breaks thorow The Prophases or evident Causes of Sleep are of this or that rank there are many Kindes of both of these and ways of being done the chief of which we shall briefly touch upon First In the first place therefore there are many Causes for which the Animal Spirits begin of their own accord to keep Holy-day among which the force or power of Custom obtains the chief place For when we have accustomed our selves to Sleep at certain set hours the Spirits about the same time as it were dismissing the force of their Motion leaving presently all work and External Commerce retire inward and indulge themselves with Rest The reason of which is because the sensitive Soul for as much as it is void of all Science and proper direction determinates this or that thing to be done by outward Accidents and Circumstances wherefore the Animal Spirits in what path they are once led unless they be hinder'd will repeat to an hair their former tracts Hence it is that we both Sleep and also Awake at set and wonted hours also we expect and hardly can pass by the same times of Dinner and Supper So solemn the manner of Nature is to do the same thing which it did before and till being taught new things it is the manner of its Government constantly and exactly to observe the old An Example of this Kind of Natural assiduity is admirable which was told me for certain of a Fool living some years in our Neighborhood who thô he were silly and foolish yet did he know exactly without any sign the interspaces of the Hours and as often as the space of an whole Hour was elapsed as if he had been a living Clock he would presently personate the like Number of the Hour with so many hoarse founds and no business or employ about any other occupation could make him omit this Task He at the beginning was wont to imitate aloud by making a noise every stroke of the sounding Clock and as often as he heard the sounding of the Bell of the Clock presently he cry'd One Two Three c. repeating successively the several Pulsations hence it hapned afterwards that the Animal Spirits by daily imitation being accustomed to be stirred up to such a Motion according to the set spaces of Time at length they were able to distinguish the same Periods of their own accord nothing directing as if the sliding
Subject of Sleep and she entertains it for as much as being restrained from Expansion and as it were drawing a Curtain she enters into her self and sinks down on every side towards the middle of the Brain we say that such a subsiding of the Soul or its chiefest part thô done in the Brain is oftentimes excited by reason of the Cause lying hid in the Stomach because there is a mighty Sympathy between this and that or rather the Animal Spirits inhabiting the Ventricle althô arising from the Cerebel conspire so intimately with the desiring or knowing Soul which is the Inhabitant of the Brain that they are able to bend exalt depress it every way The Appetite of necessary or delicate food snatches it from any other proposition or desire The frustrated longing of big-belly'd Women causes an Abortion or a Monstrous Birth At the first taste of a draught of Wine before the Liquor can be carried into the Blood it lifts up and wonderfully chears the drooping Soul In like manner on the contrary Opiats or Sleeping Medicines because they stupifie or mortifie the Animal Spirits implanted in the Stomach bring presently a Torpor to the Knowing part of the Soul and sometimes an extinction to its whole Hypostasis both flamy and lucid For the same reason undigested Aliments because they fix and burthen the Spirits inhabiting the Ventricle render the others Presiding in the Brain for some time Dull and Torpid But sleep seems to begin not only from the Ventricle but for the most part from the Eyes for when about to Sleep of our own accord we our selves first of all shut our Eyes our Eyes being made heavy and dull Sleep creeping upon us whether we will or no love to be closed yea if we would watch longer we rub our forehead and Eye-lids and open them with a certain force as if about to cast off Sleep chiefly there arising Concerning these we may say that rest being about to be indulged to Animals may be the less disturbed Divine Providence hath so provided that the Windows being presently shut the meeting with External Objects may be hindred The Eyes ought to perform this Office especially as the most noble Sensory also that they may more certainly perform it whil'st the Knowing Soul withdraws it self and Contract its Compass the Spirits being recalled towards the middle of the Brain the Sight as the Organs of the other Senses are destitute and left flaccid and apt to fall down and this happens chiefly and more certainly to the Eyes because Sleep coming on the Brain becoming full and swell'd with the flowing in of the Nervous juyce at that time more uberous or plentifully abounding very much presses upon the Optic Nerves and those moving the Eyes lying under its basis with a long passage different from any others and so hinders the wonted inflowing of the Spirits into the Sensory of Sight Thus much for the Nature Causes and the various ways of inducing of Sleep there yet remains for us to consider of the chief Effects and Alterations of it which it is wont to bring to Soul and Body and their Parts and Humors and first what it brings to the Vital or Flamey part of the Soul radicated in the Blood Concerning this first of all we shall note That the Blood is more inkindled and much more plentifully burns forth in Sleep than in Waking the Truth of this is plain from the standing Observations of such as have given it for Law that Men Sleeping exhale or breath forth a departure of a far greater weight than Men Waking thô they use Exercise and Sweat Moreover Reason and Experience dictate the same thing for as a Combustible Matter being placed near the Centre of inkindling and heaped about it burns more than if the same being divided into parts smoaking and half inkindled should be drawn out and planted here and there in various places in like manner it may be judged of the Blood which being quiet in Sleep being called aside or disturbed with no Passions nor with the impulses of the Muscles out of the Praecordia or detained out of doors enters the Lungs with a more full Flood and there more slowly passes thorow the Centre or place of accension whence there is a Necessity that it should then be more plentifully inkindled and burn with a greater flame than if touch'd only with a more light burning it should hastily pass thorow those places But every one doth know by Experience in himself that in Sleeping the Praecordia grow very hot and the External Parts are apt to be cold wherefore there is need of covering them with Bed-Cloaths whereby the Effluvia deteined about the Compass of the Body might warm it whil'st in the mean time there is a Burning in the Breast and from the Flame and Soot ascending from thence the Tongue and Parts about the Mouth as if roasted are white Hence in the Day-time those Sleeping in the open Air or any where else unless well defended with Cloaths take Cold for by reason of the Heat being drawn back the Cold little Bodies of the Air compassing them enter into the Pores and stop them up but on the other side Asthmatical People and such as have their Lungs stuffed or bound together or are otherways difficult to be moved hardly Sleep within the Bed because the ambient Heat so greatly increases the Flame inkindled in the Praecordia that for the eventilating it and conveying it thorow the Arteries the Lungs being weak and growing tyred in the Motion are scarce nay not at all sufficient 2. For as much as the Blood is more inkindled during Sleep therefore then chiefly its disorders are allayed But these are of a twofold Kind to wit either the Blood is variously agitated hither and thither by the impulses of the Conteining and Neighbouring Bodies as in violent Passions and Commotions both of the Body and of the Soul Or it grows turgid or swells up by its proper rage after the manner of fermenting Wine from the Heterogene and heating Particles being mixed with it As to the First so long as we are Waking the Course of the Blood being very much disturbed is continually agitated as it were with certain winds because the Fantasie more strong Meditation the Appetite and the several Passions drive the Blood sometimes more swiftly sometimes repress it by their Influence snatch it impetuously sometimes into these sometimes into those Parts and thence again repel it Besides these Floods stirred up by the Mind also the Motions of the Body and Members render its Course yet more troubled and dangerous because the Sanguiferous Vessels being variously pressed by the Motive Parts and by and by released they variously transfer and call back the Blood and by and by snatch it elsewhere hence its Humour so long as it rapidly runs from place to place evaporates less and so heaps together a greater stock of Excrementitious Matter which
instead of the Evident Cause than the Conjunct but beside an evil procatarxis or a certain predisposition is always affixed to the part affected or wont to be distemper'd by reason of which the aforesaid Causes also the inordinations of the Nervous Liquor and the meeting and growing hot of it with the bloody Serum or the Nutritious Juice raise up the fits of pains Although the more remote Cause of the Headach be manifold and diverse so that its several kinds can scarcely be number'd yet for the constituting it these two to wit either one or both of them do chiefly or for the most part lead the way viz. First The evil or weak Constitution of the affected part Secondly Then because of the more easie and ready heaping up of the Morbiâ—ic matter in it As to the former the parts of the Head obnoxious to pains are the Nervous Fibres belonging to the Membranes Tendons the Musculous flesh and other sensible Bodies the Morbid provision of which consists in their evil conformation or debility Of these that the former is sometimes innate and hereditary appears from hence because the Disease is often delivered from the Parents to the Children and seems to be done chiefly by this means because the covering of the Head being made more thick or more close than it ought neither the humors nor the vapours do easily pass thorow wherefore being by these restrained and hindred in their Motion and so heaped up the Meninges Pericranium and other sensible parts being too much stuffed or inflated or hauled receive pains to which happens that sometimes by reason of the original intemperance of the Brain the Humors or Vapours about the parts hanging like an arch over it are variously heaped up together 2. But it more often comes to pass that the Vices of an evil Conformation by which these or those parts of the Head are disposed to the Headach are contracted anew and that by a various kind of production for sometimes by Cold taken by reason of the Northern winds Snow or Rain the Pores of the skin in some region of the Head yea and the nervous Fibres themselves are so closed up or otherwise perverted or weakned that they are not able to bear the outward air nor the agitations of the Blood or Humors but presently the Headach arises Nor is the predisposition of the Headach less rarely produced in the disorderly useing the six not natural things For the Blood being stirred up above measure upon any cause whatsoever impresses by its boyling up or by the insinuation of the Serum or Vapours a breaking of the unity in some nervous parts or some other sort of hurt for which reason as there is a present Headach by and by stirred up so afterwards there is a disposition to the same upon every light occasion But oftentimes a disposition to the Headach not easily blotted out is induced by a vehement Passion Surfeit Drunkenness also by a blow wound or contusion of the Head so that either the proper or excrementitious humors being heaped up and standing in those parts being afterwards moved of themselves or growing hot with other inflowing juices stir up inflations or painful haulings or pullings Yea I have known Inflammations Imposthumes Whelks Scirrhous tumors growing to the Meninges with the Skull and other Diseases of an evil conformation excited in the Membranes of the Brain by which at first for a long time frequent Headaches and most cruel and then afterwards a sleepy and deadly distemper hath been induced the cause of the Disease not detected but after death by Anatomy and indeed it is to be suspected that inveterate and pertinacious pains in the Head which return and dayly become more tormentive in spight of all Remedies depend upon some such invincible cause 2. Not only an evil conformation or the breach of unity but also sometimes a meer weakness or enervation renders some parts of the Head obnoxious to the Head-ach for when as the Fibres are somewhere so infirm that they are neither able of themselves to rule the proper humor nor to resist the incursions of a strange humor the part so disposed by reason of any light occasion is moved into painful wrinklings These kind of debilities of the Fibres sometimes external accidents as the excess of cold or heat sometimes also errors in Dyet or living as Surfeit Drunkenness and especially sleeping at noon moreover great Catarrhs and a long lodging of a sharp Serum are wont to bring in So much for the primary more remote cause of the Headach which is also fixed and rooted The other cause of it secondary and moveable consists in a ready and easie heaping up of the Morbific matter about the predisposed parts from which come the fits of pains and their approaches But as the matter is manifold it is wont to be heaped up after a diverse manner and to excite pains which affect after a diverse sort This as we have said is either the Blood or its Serum or the nourishing Juice or the nervous Liquor Every of these being variously disposed or imbued with feculences or dregs are by degrees heaped up about the predisposed parts of the Head sometimes before the fit and sometimes that coming they are plentifully cast down But sometimes one only humour with its plenitude and acrimony distends or provokes the sensible Fibres sometimes more meeting together by their mutual growing hot pull or haule the Fibres and so stir up painful Convulsions We shall briefly take notice of the several kinds of these with their signs and the manner of their being made When therefore a part of the Head as chiefly the Meninges or some region of the Pericranium is predisposed by reason of an evil conformation or debility to the Headach the approaches or fits of the Disease are wont to be excited by reason of the various incursions or coming together of the following humors sometimes of this sometimes of that humor and sometimes of many together 1. Sometimes the Blood it self being incited into a more rapid motion and boiling up into the Head is straitned or stopp'd in its passage about the predisposed places and from thence being by and by heaped up there distends the Vessels greatly blows up the Membranes and pulls the nervous Fibres one from another and so brings to them painful corrugations or wrinklings For this reason those obnoxious to the Headach are forced to shun all occasions by which the Blood should grow hot above measure as drinking of Wine Exercise Baths c. 2. The Serum being more copiously heaped up in the bloody Mass oftentimes conceives a sudden Flux either of its own accord through meer fulness or stirred up by an evident cause and so presently running forth from the Blood doth not only rush into the Lungs but very often into the Head and being poured upon its Membranes or Muscles is copiously heaped up about the parts predisposed to
or thirdly and lastly which impress on the Fibres themselves predisposed to painful Convulsions this Distemper by the consent of the other parts afar off they belong to this rank As to the former the Blood and its inmate humors to wit the Serous and nutritious also the bilous acid and otherwise vicious recrements are apt to be moved from various Causes and to be transferred into the Membranes of the Head viz. many accidents from without ordinarily effect this as great and sudden mutations of the Air or the season of the year excess of heat or cold or of moisture plentiful feeding drinking of Wine Bathing immoderate Venus violent passions yea many other occasions sufficiently known and to be avoided by all subject to Headaches Further these humors sometimes swell up of their own accord and without any external Cause or other ways evident being moved drive themselves forward into the Head in which place when they come and settle upon the Fibres before indisposed though they constitute a part of the Conjunct Cause yet they when they are first in motion or flux become the means of the Evident Cause Wherefore when we have first unfolded by what means the Blood with its contents being carried to the distempered Membranes stir up Headaches we shall then shew by what means and upon what occasions the same humors are wont to be moved and to be snatched into the Membranes And first the Blood growing hot of its own accord and by reason of the strife and intestine motions of its particles imparts its trouble to the Head It s frequent and wandring turgency or boiling up happens not only in the fits of Feavours but also without any cause or suspicion of disease which in others scarce perceiveable those obnoxious to the Headach sufficiently take notice of and feel neither doth the blood only bestow the hurt to the Head from its own proper provision but receiving it elsewhere sends it thither Oftentimes the Blood receives the incongruous matter from the Stomach Spleen Mesentery Liver and other parts or Inwards infestous to it self or nervous Stock which growing hot a little time after that it might extrude or thrust it forth it pours it upon the Membranes of the Head and so produces the Headach commonly called Sympathetick viz. by a consent excited in other parts which kind of Distemper being transmitted from other parts to the Head sometimes also it happens after another manner as shall be by and by declared When the Mass of Blood abounds with Serum it is sometimes excited to the putting it off by meer fulness wherefore it conceives a flux or as it were a certain melting to wit by which the thin and watery part may be separated from the thick and bloody Then because the Blood becomes more diluted in its swelling up and passes more swiftly and more copiously thorow the Arteries than can be carried back by the Veins almost all that is serous is sent away by the spaces between the Vessels being poured sometimes on these parts and sometimes on those as falling down in many places it causes tumors or Catharrs so lying on the Membranes of the Head it stirs up fits of pains But the serous heap from many other causes sweating forth from the Blood suffering a flux rushes on the Meninges and the Pericranium and causes in them most troublesome Headaches A sudden Constipation or closing of the Pores by Cold or Wet almost constantly produces such a Distemper in most obnoxious to this Disease Sharp and thin Wines Cyder yea and Beer that by reason of its soureness is apt to ferment because they fuse the Blood and precipitate its serosities are forbid to those troubled with Headaches as so much poyson And lastly whatever is wont to cause a Flux in those troubled with the Gout the same also for the like reason causes it in these for the rising Serum in either flows to the distemper'd part where it oftentimes grows hot with the nervous humor Further not only the meer and simple Serum of the Blood dropping forth upon the Membranes of the Head stirs up pains but sometimes other humors joyning together and by this passage being admitted to the distemper'd part encrease the tragedy of the Disease it often happens that a thin and watery humor doth suddenly flow forth from the Lymphic Vessels the Glandula's and perhaps from the Passages and Pores of the solid parts in which it is gathered together and is poured forth into the Blood in the Veins from whence presently passing thorow the bosom of the Heart and being confused with the Arterious Blood and by that soon separated is cast back by any way it can find therefore being partly sent away by the Reins it causes a flowing down of a clear and copious Urine also sometimes partly redounding on the Brain or Nervous Originals produces Sleepy or Convulsive Distempers as we have elsewhere shown Yea sometimes a certain part of the same limpid humor being snatched with the Serum into the Membranes of the Head raises up fits of a most cruel Headach For indeed I have observed in many a watry and very plentiful Urine either to precede or accompany the fits of this Disease But we may believe other manner of recrements of the other parts viz. bile from the Liver black bilary feculencies from the Spleen and perhaps incongruous humors from the Stomach Reins Pancrace c. are supped up by the Serum of the Blood and deeply boiled with it by which whilst it is infected it more readily conceives Effervescencies and so rushing impetuously into the Cephalick Vessels and there fermenting with the nervous Liquor brings forth Convulsions and painful and very troublesome pullings or haulings The serous heap whether it be simple or as we have shown complicated is sufficiently infestous to the Head whenever its usual evacuation thorow its due and accustomed ways is hindred viz. whether if the Pores being bound up transpiration be inhibited or by reason of the evil distemper of the Reins an Evacuation by Urine is not copiously performed either defect greatly punishes those subject to Headaches Further the Membranes of the Head are oppressed by reason of the passages of the Blood being obstructed in other places for if the lower or middle parts of the Belly and especially the Liver and Lungs are troubled with an obstruction so that the Blood can scarce pass thorow in those places it s more full torrent is directed into other parts and especially towards the Head so that for this Cause I have known to have followed not only Headaches but also soporiferors or sleepy and sometimes deadly distempers 3. As the Serum in the bosom of the Blood so the nourishing Juice that is the fresh Chyme made out of the Aliments lodges there too and is circulated with it and forced to follow its inexorbitances being as it were in the current of the same River Wherefore when the Blood presently after eating
is carried impetuously or inordinately to the Head and the nourishing Juice being half Concocted or depraved is fixed there to the Membranaceous Fibres it causes painful pullings or haulings to follow for hence it is that exercise bathing violent passions reading or any serious intention of the Mind upon a full stomach hurt those troubled with Headaches Sometimes the nutritious Juice is not presently or easily mixed with the Blood but being carried fresh to it by and by stirs up a turgency so that many constantly after eating are troubled with an high Colour and oftentimes also with an Headach This commonly but amiss is imputed to the obstruction of the Liver when indeed it proceeds from an evil disposition of the Blood hardly bearing the mixture of the fresh Chyme Wherefore such a distemper follows for the most part dangerous Feavours and especially the Small Pox and sometimes great Surfeits 4. There yet remains another sort of Evident Causes to wit by which the leading Causes or predispositions to the Headach are actuated plainly different from the former irregularities of the Blood Serum and nourishing juice to wit when Headaches very often most terrible follow by reason of Convulsions begun in other parts and from them continued to the Head 'T is an usual thing for a certain sense or feeling of a Formication or little pricking to creep forward from the Hypochondria as also from the region of the Stomach Mesentery Womb yea sometimes from the Members or outward parts to the Head and by and by sometime after to excite a pain that will last for a good while This kind of Distemper which is wont oftentimes to be the forerunner of the Vertigo also of the Epilepsie or the Apoplexie is commonly believed to be the ascent of Vapours when indeed it is only a Convulsion begun in the extremity of some Nerve which creeping upward towards its original and then coming to the Skull for as much as it either is communicated to the parts within the Head or to the Meninges either one or both of them it stirs up Convulsions or pains Which passions notwithstanding follow this Formication or tingling brought from elsewhere sometimes as a sign and sometimes as the cause We have in another place largely enough unfolded the reason of the former to wit it being shown that when the Morbifick matter possesses the beginnings of the Nerves or the nearest parts to them in the Head a Convulsion oftentimes beginning from the ends of the same Nerves being carried thence upwards towards the places first distemper'd ascends as it were by a creeping forward wherefore not only upon the Vertigo but upon the Headach a Vomiting comes very frequently But further an Irritation in some distant Member or Viscera is sometimes the occasion and in a sort the cause of the Headach to wit when the Morbifick matter is heaped up even to a fulness of Turgency in the part of the Head already disaffected there is need only of a light Vellication or pulling of the Containing Fibres that this matter being stirred should cause a fit of the Disease to which movement it often suffices that by intimate concent of some distant Inward as the Ventricle Spleen or Womb with the Head the nervous Fibres should be pulled or hauled for presently from thence the trouble being communicated by the Nerves some Membranaceous Fibres of the Head being evilly disposed and burthened with the Morbific Matter begin to be strained and wrinkled and so when the Mine of the Disease is moved from its moved Particles the Fibres are urged into grievous and continual Corrugations Headaches that seem to begin after this manner from the Viscera and commonly called Sympathetic are wont to be ascribed to Vapors viz. by supposing a Mine of the noxious humor to lye hid in some Inward from which being moved whilst the Effluvia ascend into the Head and there sharply pierce thorow and pâ—ll the nervous Fibres pains are excited We have already so plainly refuted this doctrine that there is no need here to bring any other reasons to oppose it But in the mean time let us inquire whether pains of the Head do not arise also by other means besides a Convulsive communication thorow the Nerves by reason of the Morbific Cause lodging in the Stomach Spleen and other places Concerning this we may suppose that Matter oftentimes degenerate is heaped up in remote parts which carries its hurt to the Head by the passage or Circulation of the Blood 'T is a usual thing for Corrupt humors viz. sometimes sharp sometimes acid or austere to be heaped up in the Ventricle Bile in the Liver atrabilary or melancholic dregs about the Spleen yea and other sort of degenerate Matter about the Mesentery Womb or other parts from which being heaped up to a fulness of swelling up a Fermentative Miasm or Infection is fixed to the Blood from which that being as it were imbued with rage impetuously grows hot and partly by its swelling up and partly by transferring what is incongruous into the Membranes of the Head stirs up fierce and cruel fits of pains As to the Ventricle that it is so some obnoxious to this Disease have plain experience Because some of them after the Bile or Choler flowing in the Stomach and others after a noted soureness and ravenous hunger most certainly expectia fit of the Headach The reason of which seems partly to be that those contents of the Ventricle being supped up by the Blood make it hot and stir up in the same a Cephalic Turgency or swelling up moreover from this kind of sharp Vitriolick or otherways infestous matter being heaped up and moved within the Stomach a Convulsion or Corrugation very troublesome is impressed on the Fibres and the extremities of the Nerves there inserted which immediately being continued into the Head by the passages of the same Nerves of the eighth pair and of the Intercostal is communicated to the Membranes and the nervous Fibres predisposed to painful wrinklings By reason of the same Reciprocal Communication between the Stomach and the Head a nauseousness and Vomiting as we said but now follows upon the Headach viz. the Membranes being stirred up into painful wrinklings by the Morbifick matter even as is wont by a blow or wound and transferring the evil by the passage of the Nerves to the Ventricle guiltless of it self a vain endeavour of Vomiting sometimes arises nothing remaining within the Ventricle that should be cast forth yet sometimes from a cruel shaking of the Inwards in striving to Vomit the Gallish or Pancreatick humor either one or both of them being thrust forth into the Duodenum and cast forth by Vomit is ignorantly taken for the Cephalick matter 2. The pains of the Head are wont to be imputed no less to the Spleen than the Ventricle and indeed 't is ordinarily observed in Hypochondriacks obnoxious also to this Disease when a Pain
Inflation a Rumbling or some other Perturbation of the distemper'd Spleen happens in the left-side that the Headach as if raised up by it by and by frequently suceeds hence presently 't is the voice of the people that these Vapours being sent forth from the disturbed Spleen stir up the pain of the Head But indeed we may grant that the Headach arises sometimes from the default of the Spleen yet reject this opinion that it ought for this cause to be imputed to Vapors but indeed either to an evil Ferment transmitted into the Blood from the Spleen or from a Convulsion from thence communicated to the Head by the Nerves because in the Spleen evilly affected the Melancholic humor being degenerate sometimes into a Vitriolic Nature sometimes a biting sometimes a sharp or otherways infestous is oftentimes heaped up which of its own accord being shaken forth by reason of plenitude or occasionally by reason of some perturbation and being confused with the Blood impresses a Fermentation upon it by which its Liquor rushing by it self on the Membranes of the Head or growing hot with the nervous Liquor causes painful pullings or haulings Further it is no less probable that sometimes a Convulsion being excited in the nervous Fibres which are very much disposed about the Spleen brought thence by the passages of the Nerves of the wandring and Intercostal pair and continued to the Head impresses the like Distemper to the Membranes predisposed to it 3. A reason may be also rendred according to the same Pathology to wit either from an evil Transmission of the Ferment or a continuation of the Convulsion for Headaches which are said to be raised up by consent from the Liver Mesentery the Womb and other parts The habitual Headach the Aetiology or the Reason of which we have already sufficiently handled is yet divided into certain kinds to wit it is either Continual or Intermitting but the periods of this are sometimes determined to a certain time and are sometimes wandring and uncertain we shall speak briefly of each of these 1. Sometimes therefore it happens that some are afflicted with a Continual pain of the Head to wit for many days or months little intermitting unless when sleep helps in which case we suppose that there is not only present a Procatartick or leading cause but also a Conjunct somewhere fixed and constant For besides that the parts affected or that are wont to be affected are weak and their watering liquor much depraved is apt to stagnate or to grow hot with other humors there is moreover oftentimes excited in them a breaking of the unity to wit an Inflammation a red and painful swelling a Scirrhous tumor or Imposthum or of some such kind about which whilst the humors of divers kinds do meet together and are heaped up there arise almost perpetual pains by reason of the nervous Fibres being continually pulled or hauled These kinds of Headaches do not rarely end in sleepy distempers and at length deadly for when I have opened the Heads of many dead of these Diseases the signs or footsteps declaring the aforesaid kinds of Morbific causes have appeared some examples of these shall be added hereafter 2. The habitual Headach is for the most part Intermitting whose sits as they are certain and Periodical or coming at a set period of time are wont often to return in the space of half a day and night or once in twelve hours Some more rare cases I have known which exactly repeating the Fits came every other day yea once in a week or a month It is an usual thing for Headaches that seem to be driven away to return again about the Equinoxes or Solstices to wit because at these times the Blood and Humors conceive greater Turgences or risings up than are wont and therefore are more apt to grow hot with the watering Liquor of the nervous parts of the Head and to renew the wonted fits of pains But when about these times of the year Headaches return they are not prorogued by a longer accession for a great while but for the most part having gotten subordinate periods they are wont to infest at some certain standing hours for the space of twelve hours When therefore a Periodical Headach hath its daily fits for the most part the reason of these as of Intermitting Feavors ought to be sought from the fault of the Morbifick Matter arising to a plenitude at a set time and then growing hot For it may be supposed that the proper Liquor is perverted somewhere about the Membranes of the Head and the nervous Fibres evilly disposed or doth not well pass thorow them wherefore when the nourishing Juice placed also on the same parts from the Blood is not presently assimilated nor doth well agree with the other humor at length from both of them heaped up together and disagreeing a mutual growing hot arises and from thence a painful pulling of the Fibres but for that the fits of the pains are not always at the same distance after Eating but arise in some sooner and in others later and sometimes before sleep and sometimes after the cause is that partly the offices of Concoction and distribution of the Aliments are performed sometimes sooner sometimes later and partly because in these the nervous Liquor and in those the nutritious Juice is most in fault wherefore as the fulness of this happens sooner and of that later so the times of the fit vary we shall illustrate these afterwards with observations made concerning the cases of sick persons 3. When the fits of the intermitting Headach are wandring and uncertain the Procatarxis or foregoing cause of the Disease is neither great nor constant nor is the Evident Cause continual Wherefore when that either cause is oftentimes absent and one of them often wanting the fits of the Disease are not tyed to certain times but in some they are as it were by chance and accidental in others in whom a predisposition to this Distemper is a little more firmly rooted the pains of the Head more frequently molest and are ordinarily excited by reason of various occasions yea and for some they are wont to be most certainly expected The reasons of the fits so variously happening appear clearly above from the Aetiology delivered of this Disease besides the whole business shall be illustrated anon by examples CHAP. II. The Prognostick and Cure of the Headach SO much for the Causes of the Headach which being so various and diverse and their Series so perplex'd and intricate it will not seem easie to keep one Method concerning all cases of the Sick whereby we may be led presently to the true knowledge and Cure of this Disease nor is there less difficulty concerning its Prognostick But common experience affords some observations from which it may be gathered that the Cure of this Sickness is sometimes easie sometimes difficult or scarce possible so that from thence it may be
lawful to declare the event of the Disease either safe or very dangerous or wholely uncertain Truly if any one enjoying formerly a perfect Health should fall into something a cruel Headach and of some long standing by reason of a more strong Evident Cause as drinking of Wine Surfeit Venus immoderate Exercise or such like forasmuch as the fore leading Morbid Cause is not as yet firmly laid we may pronounce such a Distemper to be safe enough and not pertinacious But if the Morbific disposition should be inveterate so that for many years the fits repeat often of their own accord and upon every light occasion this though not dangerously sick yet we predict it not easie to be Cured Further the Cure will be yet more difficult if Hypochondriack or Hysterical Distempers oftentimes troublesome are oft wont to excite the Headach at every turn or if the taint of an inveterate Venereal Disease be rooted in any distemper'd part If that the pain of the Head shall be not only inveterate but almost continual that we might suspect it to arise from an Inflammation or a Scirrhous Tumour an hot Swelling an Imposthum or Worms there is none or very little hope of Cure especially because the sick will refuse great remedies as Salivation or opening the Skull which if they be made use of perhaps at any time with any fruit or success yet the former and this two for the most part are wont to be tedious to the sick before they can effect any thing worth the trouble and expectation The pain of the Head either Continual or Periodical if it be great and hath joyned with it a Vertigo Vomitting or other Convulsive or Soporiferous Distempers shews a suspicion of great danger even which often passes into a deadly Apoplexie and not seldom into an Epilepsie Palsie Blindness Deafness and other funestous and incurable Diseases The Curatory method of the Headach comprehends many Indications and those of a various kind according to the manifold Species Causes and differences of this Disease which will not be an easie thing here to set down and rehearse in order The accidental Pain of the Head with the remote Evident Cause and its consequences ceases for the most part of its own accord or at least is taken away by letting of Blood Rest and Sweat The habitual Pain by reason of the diversity of Causes viz. both the Procatartick and also the Conjunct suggests also different intentions of Healing we shall here briefly touch upon the chief of these and to which all the rest may be placed In every habitual Headach whether Continual or Intermitting there are two chief scopes or intentions of Cure to be met with to which all the other Curatory intentions ought to be aimed and by which we should provide against either Cause of the Morbid Procatarxis 1. To wit in the first place that all the Tinder or inkindling of the Disease be cut off you must endeavour that both the matter flowing to the distempered places of the Head or those evilly disposed or apt from thence to flow to them be supprest or called from thence to another place then moreover that Convulsions in other places excited and that are wont to be propagated from thence into the Head be prevented 2. Then secondly it must be indeavoured if it may be done that the Disease it self or its Conjunct Cause may be rooted out that the places of the Head predisposed to Headaches whether they be only enfeebled or hurt in their Conformation whilst they are defended from the frequent Excursions of the infestous matter may recover their former state and vigour Which kind of Indication though it be very seldom suddenly or wholely performed yet sometimes the Cure is by degrees laboured out by diligence and care however fixed and rooted the Morbid matter be As to what appertains to the first scope of healing which is first and especially to be regarded we said that the Matter or Humours which are wont to be gathered together about the parts of the Head predisposed to the Headach and to excite the fits of the Disease are either the Blood or the Serum or the nourishing or nervous Juice or Liquor Moreover with every one of these Vapours and Effluvia's as also Recrements sometimes Bilous sometimes Melancholic sometimes Acid Salt Sulphureous and of some others of a various kind taken into the Blood from the Viscera sometimes from those and sometimes from these we have shewed to be transferred by its passages into the Headâ— against the force and incursion of all these Medicinal fortifications are to be instituted 1. And in the first place if the leading cause to pains or a disposition thereto lye about the Membranes of the Head for that the Blood being hot and apt to rise up rushes by heaps into the Membranes of the Head and when it cannot easily pass thorow them distending the Vessels above measure and pulling the nervous Fibres excites the fits of this Disease whose signs are a Sanguine temperament heat and a flushing or redness about the head and face also an high pulse and shaking with veins distended with Blood presently it must be endeavoured both that the Blood be made more sedate that it may not be so readily moved into rage or swelling up as also that it be not incited and boiling up may not be carried with a greater tendency or inclination into the Head than into other parts nor in like manner be compelled to stagnate by reason of the bosomes of the Meninges being too full Wherefore if the fit infests long let blood in the Arm or the Jugular Vein out of the fit sometimes it is expedient to take Blood from the Sedal Veins with Leeches to wit by this means that the Blood by chance boiling up may be brought down towards that place to which it often tends of its own accord Let there be Medicines of Vinegar Rosecakes and Nutmeg or some other Epithems or Medicines of the same nature applyed to the Head Also give to drink Iuleps Emulsions or Decoctions which allay the fervour or madness of the Blood Let the Belly be cooled and kept soluble by the use of Clysters Moreover for prevention use at times Whey or Spaw-waters also drinking of Water a thin and a cooling diet help the shunning of Wine spiced Meats Baths Venus violent motions of the mind or body yea and of all hot things is to be ordered Then for the fixing of the Blood its Effervescencies or growing hot must be prevented for which Distilled Waters Juices of Herbs or Decoctions Electuaries Powders and especially Crystal Mineral are in frequent use There is no need here to add a method or particular forms of Medicines when in this case almost every body labouring is wont to be his own Physician being taught by frequent experience from things hurting or helping 2. It is rarely that the Blood alone or only by it self is
in the fault more often other humors being carried by its passage to the Head and there disposed cause the hurt Therefore when ever the Serous Colluvies or heap goes out from the Blood as was shown but now it causes Headaches frequently the signs of which are Catarrhs about other parts viz. the Nose Mouth or Throat being infested with them then abstinency and rest is to be ordered and that the belly be emptied by a Clyster for the allaying the flux of the Serum and that the matter be suffered to evaporate from the Membranes of the Head if these do not succeed and that the Headach ceases not quickly and of its own accord oftentimes in a more hot Constitution Phlebotomy is convenient to wit because the Vessels being emptied of Blood sup up the extravasated Serum But in frigid tempers Vesicatories or Blisters are of notable use applied to the hinder-part of the Head or nigh the Ears Then after the Belly is emptied by a Clyster the Flux may be allayed by the use of Anodynes or more gentle opiats that being allayed it may be convenient to exhibit a gentle Purge then Medicines which either move by Urine or Sweat or by both together that so they may gently evacuate the superfluous Serosities Medicines fit for this purpose may be every where found in Books which notwithstanding are not to be made use of by Empericks rashly and without distinction but ought to be designed according to the judgment and skill of a prudent Physician always having a respect to the Constitution the temperament and proper disposition of the Patient and to other accidents and circumstances and to be compounded or altered according as the matter requires yea sometimes to be prescribed extempore Wherefore since it will be altogether needless here to heap up many Receipts and a great pile of Medicines it shall be sufficient to propose in this place one or two forms only of every sort of Medicines respecting the chief intentions Take Pills of Amber half a dram Resine of Ialap four grains of Peruvian Balsam what will suffice to make four Pills let three be taken when the Patient goes to sleep and the other in the morning if they work not enough Or Take of sulphurated Scammony half a scruple of the Ceruse of Antimony fifteen grains of the Cream of Tartar eight grains make a Powder to be taken in a spoonful of Grewel early in the morning Take of the Sulphur of Antimony four grains of the Refine of Ialap five grains of the Cream of Tartar six grains bruise them together and with what will suffice of the Conserve of Violets make a Bolus to be taken early in the morning with care or by government Take of the Roots of Butchers-Broom Burdocks Cherefoil Avens each one ounce of preserv'd Eryngo an ounce and an half of the Florentine Iris three drams of the lesser Galangal a dram and an half of the Seeds of Burdock three drams of the dryed leaves of Betony Sage Vervine female Betony each half an handful of Raisins of the Sun stoned two ounces boil these in four pints of fair water till a third part be consumed then add to it of white Wine half a pound strain it and sweeten it if need be with syrup of the Five Roots two ounces take of this six ounces warm twice or thrice in a day a good while after meals For such as are indued with a more Cold and Phlegmatick Constitution the like Decoction of the Wood of Guaicum Sasafrass Sarsaparilla with the addition of the aforesaid Ingredients make an Apozem of which take six or eight Ounces twice or thrice in a day warm For the poor and oftentimes with good success for the rich I was wont to prescribe a Decoction of the dry'd leaves sometimes of Sage or Betony Vervine or Rosemary made of Spring-water and impregnated with the tincture of the Powder of the Berries of Coffee taken warm twice a day about six or eight Ounces 3. If that with the running out Serum Saline Acid Bilous or otherways Infestous particles received either wholely from the Mass of Blood or by its means from the Viscera are carried into the Membranes of the Head and being there fixed bring forth great acute and continual pains then it will be convenient to iterate spareingly the taking away of Blood yea and sometime a gentle Purge to apply cooling Medicines Anodynes and sweetners to the distemper'd places so oftentimes also to exhibite more gentle Hypnoticks or Medicines causing sleep at every turn also Apozems and the Juices of Herbs pressed forth which allay the fervour of Choler carry it forth gently by Stool or Urine and are of known use but in the mean time more sharp Medicines or the more strong whether they be purgative working by Sweat or Urine helping it for that they too much fuse and shake the Blood and Humors are carefully to be shunned I have frequently observed in those labouring with an acute and pertinacious pain in the Head the Serum swimming in the Blood being let forth to be dyed with a yellowness or Bilous Recrements being boiled in it also in this case let Phlebotomy be sparingly but often celebrated and the drinking Whey or Spaw-waters plentifully have helped before any thing else 4. Further by the fault of any Inward as the Stomach Liver Spleen or Womb or of any other by reason of the transmission of an evil Ferment the parts of the Head suffer then in the Cure of the Disease Remedies for the Spleen are to be given with Cephalicks or such as are proper to the Head Hence the Stomach being also in the fault these often times are helpful to such as are troubled with Headaches Elixir Proprietatis the Elixir of Vitriol of Mynsich the sacred Tincture Vitriol of Steel the Powder of Aron Compound and others ordinarily had for the Stomach for others whose heads partake of the evils of the Spleen Chalybeats or Medicines made of Steel often yield help Some Women troubled with Headaches have felt ease from Hysterical Remedies In like manner when the vices of other parts contribute to the Head-ach let there be joyned with the former shown you things to be taken for those parts 5. Sometimes the nourishing Juice as we showed already is the cause of the periodical Headach viz. forasmuch as this being poured on the Blood and not rightly assimilated by reason of disagreeing particles causes a swelling up in it so that the Blood boiling up into the Head carries its leavings or superfluities into the Meninges or into some of their predisposed parts and by this means stir up the Fibres into painful Convulsions I have known many for this cause to have been obnoxious to dayly Headaches whose Mass of Blood hath been vitiated after the Small Pox Measels and other Feavours and sicknesses viz. so many hours after eating sometimes sooner and sometimes later first a flushing of redness in the
things more concerning this but that we expect shortly to be made publick by the Learned Physician Doctor Needham an exact method of Salivation and a full account of it as to its measures and effects and its benefits and hurt There is yet a celebrated Remedy remaining among Chirurgical helps viz. a cutting or opening an Artery This was of great esteem among the Ancients and some of the Moderns make use of it and very much cry it up But it appears to our observation that this so cry'd up success most often fails Nor no wonder because reason holds not at all on which the Ancients depended that the Arterious Blood was different from the Venous or that of the Veins and was in greater fault and more rageing and therefore to be let forth Nor indeed is there any reason wherefore the Blood being drawn from the Artery rather than from the Vein near the pained place should bring ease but rather on the contrary more help ought to be expected from opening of the Vein because the Artery being emptied receives and draws nothing from the distemper'd part but the Vein being opened draws from the place of the effused Blood and from its whole neighbourhood and oftentimes sups back and renders to a Circulation the Blood and other Humors heaped up and stagnating near the nest of the Disease But however that we may not recede too much from the practice of the Ancients we shall grant that sometimes it may be helpful though attributing nothing to the section of the Artery and not immediately yet causally and only by consequence and by accident to wit forasmuch as the ends of the Artery being cut grow fast together so that the passage of the Blood by that way is shut up for the future from hence when as a lesser provision of Blood is carried by the Artery towards the place and the like still carried away from it by the Veins it therefore sometimes happens that the nest of the Morbific Matter sometimes lessened and its mine is by degrees consumed For this reason this administration oftentimes succeeds happily in diseases of the Eyes Further Farriers make use of the like practice for the Curing of evil tumors in the Legs of Horses to wit they take and bind the Artery by which the Matter flows to the distemper'd part and in the mean time that which was impacted partly evaporates and is partly supped up by the Vein And I have heard that the same has been try'd by our Harvey and not without success for the Curing also of Strumous and Scirrhous Tumors in the humane body I might here subjoyn many other kinds of Remedies yea also the prescriptions and forms of Medicines which are wont to be administer'd for the Curing of Headaches both by Physicians and by Empericks but enough of these are to be had in Physical Books It will be to our purpose that after the delivering the Aetiology or the reason of this Disease so confusedly shown and its Therapeutic or Curatory part sufficiently shadowed for the more clear illustrating of these things that we add some more rare cases of sick persons and examples of a continual and most grievous Headach which also for an invincible cause was oftentimes deadly A Woman of about fifty years of age after she had labour'd for about six months with a most grievous pain in the Head troubling her almost perpetually under the Sagittal Suture or the seam that goes thorow the length of the Skull dividing it into two parts yielding to no Medicines or method at length fell into a Lethargy with a partial resolution of her members from which notwithstanding being shortly recovered by timely Remedies she awaked with the Headach as cruel as before moreover within two or three weeks after relapsing into the sleepy distemper she departed this life Her skull being opened there grew from the side of the third bosom to the Membranes a Scirrhous Tumor three fingers broad by the coming between of which both the Dura mater for a little space was grown to the Pia mater and the sanguiferous Vessels which should open there into the cavity of the bosom were stopped up Further the cranklings or turnings in of the Brain both the exterior and the inward cavity was filled with a clear water From these things being observed the invincible and at length deadly cause most clearly appeared to wit the most sensible Fibres of the Meninges being continually pulled and torn partly by reason of the breaking of the unity and partly from the humor belonging to the Nerves being there heaped up and stagnating together with others flowing thither and growing hot with it were provoked into Convulsions perpetually or painful Distentions Afterwards when the Blood being for a long time hindred in its circulation by reason of that Tumor or that at least it could not pass thorow it by any means sent copiously away from it self the Serous Water as its manner is whereever it finds an hindrance and at length a Dropsie in the Brain was raised which was the cause of the deadly Lethargy I remember I have seen the like case in another whom I have opened Further as I think the disease in many troubled with Headaches doth depend on the like invincible cause I will however describe one example yet living of this kind of Distemper Some years since I was sent for to visit a most noble Lady for above twenty years sick with almost a continual Headach at first intermitting She was of a most beautiful form and a great wit so that she was skilled in the Liberal Arts and in all sorts of Literature beyond the condition of her sex and as if it were thought too much by Nature for her to enjoy so great endowments without some detriment she was extreamly punished with this Disease Growing well of a Feavour before she was twelve years old she became obnoxious to pains in the Head which were wont to arise sometimes of their own accord and more often upon every light occasion This sickness being limited to no one place of the Head troubled her sometimes on one side sometimes on the other and often thorow the whole compass of the Head During the fit which rarely ended under a day and a nights space and often held for two three or four days she was impatient of light speaking noise or of any motion sitting upright in her Bed the Chamber made dark she would talk to no body nor take any sleep or sustenance At length about the declination of the fit she was wont to lye down with an heavy and disturbed sleep from which awaking she found her self better and so by degrees grew well and continued indifferently well till the time of the intermission Formerly the fits came not but occasionally and seldom under twenty days or a month but afterwards they came more often and lately she was seldom free Moreover upon sundry occasions or evident causes such as
the change of the Air or the year the great Aspects of the Sun and Moon violent passions and errors in diet she was more cruelly tormented with them But although this Distemper most grievously afflicting this noble Lady above twenty years when I saw her having pitched its tents near the confines of the Brain had so long besieged its regal tower yet it had not taken it for the sick Lady being free from a Vertigo swimming in the Head Convulsive Distempers and any Soporiferous symptom found the chief faculties of her soul sound enough For the obtaining a Cure or rather for a tryal very many Remedies were administred thorow the whole progress of the Disease by the most skilful Physicians both of our own Nation and the prescriptions of others beyond Seas without any success or ease also great Remedies of every kind and form she tryed but still in vain Some years before she had endured from an oyntment of Quicksilver a long and troublesome Salivation so that she ran the hazard of her life Afterwards twice a Cure was attempted though in vain by a Flux at the Mouth from a Mercurial Powder which the noted Emperick Charles Hues ordinarily gave with the like success with the rest she tryed the Baths and the Spaw-waters almost of every kind and nature she admitted of frequent Blood-letting and also once the opening of an Artery she had also made about her several Issues sometimes in the hinder part of her Head and sometimes in the forepart and in other parts She also took the Air of several Countries besides her own native Air she went into Ireland and into France There was no kind of Medicines both Cephalicks Antiscorbuticks Hysterical all famous Specificks which she took not both from the Learned and the unlearned from Quacks and old Women and yet notwithstanding she professed that she had received from no Remedy or method of Curing any thing of Cure or Ease but that the contumacious and rebellious Disease refused to be tamed being deaf to the charms of every Medicine Further this so long possessing the out-parts of the Head though it could not invade the cloysters of the Brain yet when I visited her unfolding its ends in some other parts of the nervous kind it had begun to stir up most cruel pains in her members and also in her Loins and bottom of her Belly as is wont to be in the Rheumatism and in the Scorbutick Colick If we should inquire into the Aetiology or the Causes of this inveterate Disease we can suspect nothing less than that the Meninges of the Brain being from the beginning more lightly touched had afterwards contracted an habitual and indelible vice It appears by the History that the distemper at first arose from a Morbific matter which was translated into the Head after an ill cured Feavour Then perchance by reason of some hurt brought to the Membranes the tone of the Fibres was so much endamaged that afterwards the Humors flowing in them both the nervous and others being heaped up to a fulness or growing hot by mere aggravation raised up the fits of the Headach But at length the diseased cause growing worse by reason of the frequent fits it seems that the unity of those Fibres were so much broken that from thence little Tumors or Scirrhous knots or swellings being riased up in all the exterior Meninge or in a great part of it produced pains almost continual and those apt to be made worse or imbitter'd upon every light occassion Certainly it seems most likely that the invincible and permanent cause of so long and yet not deadly Headach proceeds from some such thing viz. a Scirrhous Distemper of the Dura mater the Pia mater being in the mean time safe For from any other cause if there had beee a conflict of Nature and Medicine with the Disease either a quick death or a joyful victory had far sooner been obtained A noted Gentleman of about forty years of Age strong and healthy going a journey for a whole day in a continual rain the wet beating on the hinder part of his Head caught cold and the next day he began to feel a pain in that part which in a short time after becoming very bitter afflicted him night and day and kept him almost continually without sleep For the Cure of this Distemper Phlebotomy Purging Glisters Blisterings and Remedies to cause rest yea and many others of every kind though diligently applyed by the Counsel also of many Physicians helpt little or nothing When the Disease notwithstanding these grew every day worse after a fortnights time preternatural swell'd kernels and painful arose all about his Neck the pain in his Head nothing remitting Further the Tendons of his Neck being very much distended and stiff became very troublesome to him to which in a short time succeeded Convulsive motions and a sudden leaping of the Tendons in several parts with a delirium and at length the sick person worn out with pains and watching yielded to death Though we had not leave for the dissecting the dead body yet it may be suspected that both the Pericranium and the Meninges in the hinder part of the Head cloathing the Cerebel where they are more thick and very nappy were first affected and then from thence the evil was afterwards communicated to the whole Head and wandered into all the nervous stock when as in those Membranes transpiration was hindred from the cold and the wet and also the tone of the Fibres very much hurt it is probable that the nervous Liquor watering them being then hindred in its motion and stagnating did burthen the containing bodies then that being depraved in its Complexion grew hot with other humors flowing thither and being at length coagulated with them grew together into Scirrhous and Strumous Tumors and so laid the copious seed-plot of a most grievous Headach Then afterwards when through watching and perpetual pains a great inordination of the Spirits and a great Discrasie of the Juice watering the Head were produced for that reason the knotty Concretions in the Neck the stifness of the Tendons and at length Convulsions and Convulsive Motions followed in the Brain and in the whole nervous Stock and so when as the animal oeconomy or regiment was much decayed and that the motion of the Praecordia could not be continued the vital flame expired Sometimes deadly and incurable Headaches are no less raised up from a fiery swelling and Imposthum than from these kind of knots and little pimples of the Meninges Sometime since a young man of the University whenas he had complained for a fortnight of a most grievous pain in the Head incessantly afflicting him it was at length increased by a Feavour and afterwads waking Convulsive motions and talking idly followed at which time a Physician being sent for letting blood Clysters Plasters Revulsives Blistrings also internal Remedies which call away the Flux of the Blood and Humors
from the Head being carefully administred profited nothing so that death soon followed His Skull being opened the Vessels leading to the Meninges were full of Blood and very much distended as if the whole Mass of Blood had flowed thither so that the bosoms being dissected and opened the Blood presently rushing forth flow'd to the weight of several ounces above half a pint Further the Membranes themselves being distemper'd thorow the whole with a fiery Tumor appeared discoloured These coverings being taken away all the infoldings of the Brain and of its Ventricle were full of a clear water and its substance being too much watred was wet and not firm Without doubt in this case the incursion of the heated blood into the Meninges and the heaping of it up there exciting the Phlgemon or fiery swelling was the cause of the Headach and of the following Delirium Then the Blood being accumulated there when it could not circulate flung from it self plenty of Serum by which the whole inward part of the Head was over-flowed so that the Disease at first perhaps curable by Phlebotomy from thence afterwards became mortal I remember another Academick who after a long Headach under the temporal Suture tormenting him perpetually for three weeks together immediately fell into a deadly Apoplexie His Head being opened a fiery swelling had grown in the Meninges near the place where the pain was from which being ripened and broke the filthy bloody matter falling on the Brain had distemper'd its substance with a rottenness and blackness Besides these invincible causes detected by Anatomy I observed more chances after the same manner as of other sick people by which we may conclude its Aetiology to be the same or very near of kin with the signs and symptoms of the like nature and but now described But although a continual Headach especially if it be without intermissions for many weeks is not without danger yet we ought not therefore to despair of its Cure because the cause of this how fixed and immoveable soever it seem oftentimes by the long use of Medicines and sometimes without them is helped by Nature and time however in a case almost desperate there is need of some Medicines lest the present Distemper should pass into a worse to wit a Soporiferous or Convulsive Thus much for a Continual Headach it now remains that we should propose some more rare examples and instances of the Intermitting Therefore that we may let alone here the Headaches whose fits being wandring and uncertain proceed from the Blood or Serum rushing on the distemper'd places as cases very well known and commonly seen we shall now shew you now some select Observations of this Disease either periodical or caused by the consent of some Inward As to the first we have shown the periodical fits of the pains of the Head to be produced by the nutritious Humor or by the nervous Juice we shall now shew you Examples of either A venerable Matron of about forty five years of Age of a lean habit of Body and indued with a Cholerick Temper after she had lived for a long time obnoxious to Headaches wont to be caused occasionally she began about the beginning of Autumn to be troubled with a periodical pain of the Head This Distemper invading her about four of the Clock in the Afternoon was wont to continue till midnight when being wearied with pain and watching she was compelled to sleep then afterwards awaking out of a profound sleep she found her self well again She being sick after this manner for three weeks suffered the daily fits of this Disease and forbore to take any Medicine which she greatly abhorr'd but at length her Appetite being lost and her strength worn out being forced to seek for Cure after letting blood and a gentle Purge she took twice a day for a week or two the quantity of a Chestnut of the following Electuary and grew perfectly well Take of the Conserve of the Flowers of Succory and Fumitory each three ounces of the Powder of the Root of Aron Compound two drams and a half of Ivory one dram and a half of yellow Sanders and of Lignum Aloes each half a dram of the Salt of Wormwood one dram and a half of Vitrial of Steel one dram of the Syrup of the Five Roots what will suffice to make an Electuary In this Case that after a disposition to the Headach the fits of the Disease became at length periodical after the manner of intermitting Feavours the cause without doubt was the assimilation of the Chyme or nourishing Humor into Blood being hindred because when its provision being received into the Mass of Blood could not be overcome it was wont after a little stay to disagree and with its particles to grow hot therefore presently the Blood swelling up that it might shake off the incongruous mixture laid aside its recrements as in other parts so especially and with a greater sense of trouble into the before weak Fibres of the Meninges or hurt in their conformation This Matter being poured on the Head or rushing of it self thorow the sensible Fibres or growing hot with the Juice watering them raised up the fit of the pain but now described which continued until the heterogeneous particles growing hot with their mutual coming together were either subdued or exhaled A very comely Woman tall and slender being for a long time grievously obnoxious to distempers of the Head was wont sometimes to be troubled for many days yea weeks every day as soon as she awaked in the Morning with a most Cruel Head-ach afflicting her for three or four hours and in the mean time she was vexed with a weight of her whole Head a numness of her sences and a dulness of mind which kind of Distemper together with the pain like discussed Clouds vanished before noon and left her quiet and calm Then again the next morning it possessed her Head like a dark Cloud For the Curing of it I prescribed the use of Purging Pills Phlebotomy sparingly besides a Blistering and Spirits of Harts-horn or of Sut with Cephalic Juleps or Waters That in this Lady otherways than in the other sick Lady the pains of the Head rather followed after sleep than were healed by it the reason seems to be because in this morning Headach the Morbific Matter resided in the nervous Juice whose more notable crudity and fuller aggestion about the Head happen immediately after sleep as we have elsewhere shown at large But the other Evening fits of this Disease depended upon the fulness and swelling up of the nourishing Liquor within the bloody Mass and therefore happening so many hours after dinner was not allayed but by sleep which quiets the disorders of the Blood It doth no less clearly appear that the fits of the Headach do arise sometimes by consent from other parts viz. the Womb Spleen Stomach c. and though the complaints and
the experience of the sick declare it to arise from Vapors yet from the Histories of them and their appearances rightly weighed 't is most clear that this proceeds from another reason than from Vapors carried to the Head from the distempered inward And in the first place as to the pains of the Head that seem to arise from the Womb there is nothing more frequent than that upon the suppression of the Monthly Flowers or the Lochia after being brought to bed or as they call it the flooding for cruel Headaches to succeed Further although the Terms do rightly flow yet some at the instant of its flowing others at the stopping of the same are wont to be troubled with a cruel pain of the Head But indeed though at the same time as the Head the Womb also is distemper'd however it doth not follow that the evil is transferred from hence thither immediately but the Blood it self which fixes the Morbific Matter to the Head carries it sometimes begotten in its proper bosom and destinated to the Womb wrongfully into the Meminges of the Brain and sometimes snatching it from the parts of the Womb delivers it with greater malice to the Head This same reason may also serve for the Headach commonly attributed to the Stomach Spleen and other parts A beautiful and young Woman indued with a slender habit of body and an hot Blood being obnoxious to an hereditary Headach was wont to be afflicted with frequent and wandring fits of it to wit some upon every light occasion and some of their own accord that is arising without any evident cause On the day before the coming of the spontaneous fit of this Disease growing very hungry in the Evening she eat a most plentiful Supper with an hungry I may say greedy appetite presaging by this sign that the pain of the Head would most certainly follow the next Morning and the event never failed this Augury For as soon as she awaked being afflicted by a most sharp torment thorow the whole forepart of her Head she was troubled also with Vomiting sometimes of an Acid and as it were a Vitriolick Humor and sometimes of a Cholerick and highly bitterish hence according to this sign this Headach is thought to arise from the vice of the Stomach That I may render a reason of this first it appears that a Vomiting will succeed a hurt upon the Head to wit after a blow or wound or a fall yet a pain of the Head rarely or never follows upon Vomiting the pain of the Heart or the Stomach any otherways labouring unless the Blood comes between Wherefore in the aforesaid case of the sick person as it appears plainly that the Meninges of the Brain were before disposed to Headaches its fits were stirred up by every agitation of the Blood hence it is obvious to be conceived when the heterogeneous particles are heaped up together to a fulness in the bloody Mass by reason of the vice of the Chyle presently a flux of it arising for the expulsion of the trouble those being but evilly match'd being separated by the Blood and partly poured forth out of the Arteries into the Ventricle do raise up its Ferment and so produce hunger and partly rushing into the predisposed Meninges of the Head do there dispose the tinder or rather incentive of the Headach about to follow This sick Gentlewoman averse to all Physick when she would undergo no method of Medicine at length became obnoxious also to Paralytick and Convulsive distempers Out of these it will be easie to design the reason of every other Headach viz. of the Hypochondriac Hepatic or otherways Sympathetical so that there need not here to be added any more Histories or Observations CHAP. III. Of the Lethargy THUS far we have described by what Disease chiefly and after what sort the out-skirts of the Head or the coverings of that enclosed within the Skull are wont to be affected and now descending to its more internal part and which lyes next to the Cortical or shelly substance we shall see to what distempers this part is found to be chiefly obnoxious We have shew'd at large in another place that the Cortex or shelly part of the Brain is the seat of the Memory and the porch of sleep wherefore we rightly referr the Disease which is wont to cause an excess of sleep and an eclipse or defect of memory to wit the Lethargy to that Cortical part of the Brain The word Lethargy is wont to signifie two sorts of Distempers which are as it were the act and the disposition of this Disease for those who are said to labour with this Disease or are sick of its great assaults are overwhelmed with so great sleepiness that they can scarce be excited by any impression of a sensible object yea if by chance being prick't or pinch't they open their Eyes or move their members presently they let them fall again and become insensible and oftentimes when left to themselves indulging a perpetual sleep by an easie transition they pass into death it self whose type this Disease is which kind of fits have often a Feavour joyned with them which when the sick awake and return perfectly to themselves for the most part ceases of its own accord Or secondly they are accounted Lethargical who being oppressed with an immoderate torpor or numness of the senses are found to be almost ever prone to sleep so that in the midst of a journey yea at dinner or though busied about any thing they presently fall into a drousieness But as there are diverse degrees and various manners of this sleepy distemper so also they constitute the various kinds of this Lethargick disposition We shall for the present speak first of the former Lethargy and properly so called and afterwards of continual Sleepiness also of the Coma Caro and other soporiferous Diseases akin to it and likewise of Continual Waking In the mean time it is to be noted that almost in every kind of Lethargy there is always as its Pathognomick sign a Torpor or Sleepiness and oblivion or forgetfulness Those who suffer the more grievous fits of this Disease if they are awakened by any force in their declination forget all things nor are they able to remember their own nor the names of their Friends also those who have drunk more sparingly of this forgetful cup as much as they are proclive to Sleep so much are they deficient in Memory so that they forget late actions and oftentimes repeat things done and very often ask the same questions As to the other faculties as Reason Phantasie the sensitive and loco-motive powers the failings or defects of them are proportionate according to the enormities of Sleep and Memory Wherefore that the formal reason and the causes of the Lethargy may be the beter known we should here first of all discourse concerning sleep and oblivion and for what causes they are excited But having already
discoursed concerning the former of these we shewed that the essence of Sleep did consist in the corporeal souls withdrawing it self by little and little and contracting the sphere of its irradiation left destitute and as it were shut forth of doors the outmost compass of the Brain or its shelly part and so the exterior and all the organs of sense and motion from the emanation of the spirits so that they for refreshment sake being called inward lye down and give themselves to rest in the mean time the Pores and passages of the outward part of the Brain being free and empty from the excursions of the spirits are prepared for the coming of the nervous Liquor stilled forth from the Blood for a new provision of Spirits In accustomed and natural Sleep these two causes conspire and happen together as it were out of a certain mutual compact of Nature viz. at the same time the Spirits give place the nervous Humor enters but in unnatural sleep or that which is extraordinary sometimes this cause and sometimes that is the former for the Spirits being wearied or called away first withdraw themselves and so offer an entrance to the nervous humor heaped up before the doors or else the nervous humor driving to those places more plentifully and as it were making its way by force repels the Spirits and entring into their passages does as it were drown them we have particularly assigned the various occasions of either of these and after what manner they come to pass Concerning the eclipse or desect of the Memory we need not speak much here because it is wholely from the same cause as immoderate Sleep to wit the exclusion and an interdiction for a time of the passing up and down of the Animal Spirits from the exterior passages of the Brain full of some humor Preternatural Sleep or an insatiable sleepiness which is the chief symptom in the Lethargy and sleepy Diseases seems to arise wholely from the same causes as non-natural Sleep carried forth only with greater force or energy to wit either the Animal Spirits being first distemper'd leave the outward compass of the Brain and give an entrance not only to the nervous but to the serous and some other vicious Humor or else the superfluous and excrementitious humors together with the nervous break thorow the cortical doors of the Brain and as it were overflowing its Pores and passages drive thence and repel the Spirits sometimes this is chiefly the cause sometimes the former and sometimes both together We shall first speak of that which is the more frequent cause of the Lethargy to wit the eruption of either too much or too incongruous humor upon the confines of the Brain and then afterwards of the departure of the Spirits from the affected part I have often found by Anatomical observation that the Lethargy doth arise from the Serous heap rushing into the outward infoldings of the Brain and entering into its Pores and Cortical passages for in many dead of this Disease I found the spaces between the foldings of the Brain full of clear water yea and its outmost substance soft and infirm from too much wet moreover in some I found the interior cavities swelled with water and the whole frame of the Brain overflowed with a Dropsie or rather a flood When therefore in a great and mortal Lethargy it hath appeared that it has been after this manner we may well suspect in a lesser and cureable sleepiness that the out-borders of the Brain are at least too much watered with humor and the tracts of the Spirits overflowed especially if there appear any signs of water or of Serum abounding about other parts of the Head A grievous sleepiness is wont to be excited not only from the Serum being too much or from the over plenty of any other Morbific humor but sometimes from its malignity for it often happens that a certain infestous and virulent matter is instilled from the Flood into the Brain which entering the Pores of the Cortical substance profligates the Spirits and either extinguishing them or driving them away inwards so that this region being left destitute of them a sleepiness and forgetfulness succeeds There is none almost who hath not taken notice that this often happens in malignant and ill handled Feavours also in the Scorbutick Cachexie the Yellow Iaundice and certain other Chronical Diseases oftentimes a sluggish and vapid or tastless water is sent in instead of the subtil and spirituous nervous Juice that is the parent of forgetfulness and of sleepiness This Conjunct Cause of the Lethargy to wit the heaping up of too much Humor or too incongruous within the shelly part of the Brain depends upon other Causes to wit more remote leading causes and also evident causes As to the former they are wont to be in fault both when the Blood supplies the distemper'd part with Morbific matter and also because that the Brain it self too easily admits it For indeed the Blood transfers to the Head in some a great quantity of a watery humor and in others of a salt or scorbutical humor also again in others excrementitious humors and deadly to the animal government sometimes taken from these bowels and sometimes from those and as occasion serves instills them together with the nervous Juice out of the Arteries on the outer borders of the Brain and there by little and little insinuating this kind of Morbific Matter by a long congestion causes a dark cloud or else by a sudden transportation of it overflows at once all the outward part of the Brain and drives away the inhabiting Spirits like a Sea breaking in and compels them to run more inwardly But indeed the Morbific Matter how copiously or infestous soever it be and poured on the Head doth not induce the Lethargic Distemper unless the very weak or vicious constitution of the Brain be also in fault for if this be strong and of good temper it easily resists the assaults of all those yea it bears without hurt the errors and enormities in thâ— six non-naturals Those who have this part too humid or too cold as Children and old Men also those distempered with Cacochymical Humors the Dropsie Scurvy or Humors gathered about the mouth of the Stomach are very prone to sleep and sometimes fall from a stronger Evident Cause into a continual drowsiness Besides those who have a weak Brain and their Pores too lax or open that by that means the feculencies obtruded from the Blood find a more easie passage often become obnoxious to sleepiness yea and to the Lethargy for such as are given to Surfeiting and Drunkenness are wont presently after to fall asleep which weakens the tone of the Brain and fill and too much open its Pores with a crude and filthy Juice so that when it hath been for a long time accustomed by reason of these occasions to admit into them the Serous superfluities it afterwards refuses
nothing brought to it but that its passages like a course or wide strainer suffers all the grosser particles both Saline watery and earthy easily to pass thorow them Besides these more remote leading causes which become the act of the stirred up Morbific there are more strong Evident Causes for so great danger does not hang over the Brain as that its whole compass should be invaded from every morbid provision nor upon every light occasion But there are many and diverse occasions by which the sleepy assaults are seen to be incited the chief of these are great Surfeits Drunkenness especially of Wine or the Drinking immoderately of Strong-waters then after such excess to lye all night or sleep in the open Air further an evacuation of the Serum by otherways after having been long suppressed also if Spaw-waters being drunk in a larger quantity and not again render'd presently by Urine threaten a Lethargy And so also do recrements of other Diseases either not well or not at all Cured being translated to the Head so as a continual sleepiness often happens after acute Feavours or such as continue long and other Chronical Diseases and especially the Headach Frensie Empyema or collection of gross Humors upon the Lungs and the Colick Thus much of the Lethargy whose assault proceeds from the Cortex or shelly part of the Brain being affected to which succeed either an eclipse or an exclusion of the Spirits there inhabiting with a sleepiness and oblivion But as non-natural sleep so sometimes what is preternatural begins from the Spirits being first dejected and which is usual to succeed another Cause It is obvious to any one that this ordinarily happens from more strong Opiates without any previous flood or stopping of the cortical part of the Brain for it is not probable that Narcoticks stir up the Humors and send them to the Brain when it plainly appears that all the effervescences and flowings of these are allayed by them But if it should be asked after what manner and by what means Opiates cause sleep and sometimes a deadly Torpor or sleepiness we say That this Medicine is a certain kind of poison beating down or extinguishing the Animal Spirits by its blasting the Blood and solid parts in the mean time being almost untouch'd Wherefore when the Animal Spirits become raging and as it were struck with madness running hither and thither and will not be quieted and allayed Opiates being administer'd like water flung upon a flame destory some of the outmost bands of them so that the rest being lessened and flying inwards quietly lye down We have at large discoursed of these things in a particular Tract Of the Operations of Medicines on the Humane Body For the present we shall note which is to the purpose that Narcoticks or Medicines causing rest being taken at the mouth do put forth their powers partly in the Ventricle and indeed immediately and partly in the Brain both that and the Mass of Blood mediating By what means Narcoticks do operate whilst in the Ventricle and provoke sleep we have shewn Chap. XV. When they are moderate in either province they gently intoxicate some unquiet Spirits and so immediately quiet the rest but if any one takes Opiates in too large a Dose he shall presently feel hurt both in the Ventricle and in the Brain and a little after being insensible shall suffer a greater evil in either to wit a mighty heaviness and as it were an immoveable weight in the Stomach which seems to opress both it and the neighbouring parts indeed by this sign the Fibres of this place the Spirits which before actuated them being broken become without life and as it were dead then by reason of the Opiate particles being carried about with the Blood to the frame or compass of the Brain and instilled into its Cortical or shelly part the Spirits being driven away from thence or extinguished an irresistable and oftentimes a deadly sleep follows yea I have sometimes known from a more grievous hurt inflicted on the Ventricle only by the use of a more strong Narcotic Death it self to have followed before sleep could creep upon them coming by a long way about A strong man vexed with a most cruel Colick for ease sake whilst a Physician was sent for took rashly a great quantity of Opium a little after he had taken it he complained of a great burthen oppressing and mightily weighing down the Ventricle His Friends and the by-standers gave him Cordial waters Wine and Strong-Waters but without any ease This oppression creeping wider ahout the Precordia raised up pains and swoonings but still being awake and constant in mind he cryed out that his spirits more and more failed him till about three hours after complaining that his sight was gone he presently dyed But that we may return to the Lethargy as it is a Disease and not the effects of Opium whence we digressed concerning which we are yet to enquire whether it may arise from a Narcotick Humor begotten in us as some Chymists assert We shall tell you our conjecture that we think this 't is sufficiently plain that there are other sorts of Morbific particles produced in our Bodies than those commonly called Elementary and Humoral and that they do affect after a various manner viz. besides the Watery Earthly Bilous Phlegmatick or Melancholic we may find others Vitriolick Nitro-sulphureous and others participating of enormous Sulphurs and Salts and active to our evil The Convulsive Pathology can by no other means be delivered and explained unless by supposing that some extraneous little bodies and as it were Nitro-sulphureous which sticking to the Spirits and at last cast off by them stir up the Explosive that is Convulsive force In like manner we may think that others of another nature may perhaps be begotten such as are of a Sulphureous Vitriolick or Narcotick nature which when they creep into the Brain and nervous Stock fall upon some Animal Spirits which they by chance do meet with extinguishing and fixing them ordinarily induce their losses and eclipses such as happen in the Vertigo Apoplexy or Palsie as we shall more fully shew hereafter In like manner in a great fit of the Lethargy though it be improbable that these kind of Narcotick particles should be in heaps derived from the Blood into the Brain in so great a quantity that they should at once overturn the spirits dwelling in its whole precincts and fix them yet we may believe that this may be some part of the Cause Wherefore in every long sleepiness or Lethargick disposition we do suspect the Animal Spirits to be burthened with such a Lethaean Copula and that we should direct the darts of every Medicine against it Thus much concerning the formal reason subject and causes of the Lethargy properly so called the summ of all which is That the Animal Spirits the inhabitants of the exterior Brain being hindred from their wonted
Nature they either pursue their functions or the nervous Fibres every where erect themselves and put forth their utmost endeavours that they might drive forward the Blood flowing in them and Circulate it with a rapid motion I once visited an illustrious Lady who for some time had been miserably afflicted with Colick and Convulsive distempers and quite worn out and at length fell suddenly into a deadly Lethargy When I perceived her Pulse to beat strongly I prescribed that four ounces of Blood should be taken out of the jugular Vein which immediately leap'd from the opened Vessel with such force that I believe if it had been suffered the whole Mass of Blood would have flowed thence for the next day after her dead body being opened I found scarce four ounces more of Blood in her whole Body and yet she dyed thus in a Feavour The reason of the Lethargick Feavour is wholely the same which is seen to arise only from the Vital Organs being very much incited by labouring Nature and therefore vehemently driving about the Blood The prognostick of the Lethargy is shut within a strait limit for the fit of the Disease being for the most part acute is soon terminated either in Death or health and for the most part it is wont to give more of fear than of hope If it comes upon a malignant Feavour or hard to be cured or if it comes upon other Cephalick or Convulsive Diseases as the Headach Phrensie Madness Epilepsie or also upon a long and grievous Colick or Gout the Physician can predict nothing but evil nor is it less to be feared if it happen in a Body full of evil Humors or one long sick or in an old Man In like manner it is an evil omen if the sick being presently overwhelmed with a great Torpor or stupidness and almost Apoplectick cannot be awakened and if he breaths unequally and slowly or with a great snorting then the Disease increasing and the sick troubled with tremblings Cramps leapings of the Tendons and at length with Convulsive Motions it is to be esteemed desperate or without hope But if the Distemper be excited without any great foregoing Cause with an only Evident Cause as a Surfeit Drunkenness or by the use of Narcoticks a blow on the Head or some not deadly stroke we may expect the event to be less deadly or mortal Then if the Distemper arising from such occasions happens to a Body before whole and strong if it does not wholly take away the Sense and Memory at the first assault and after a short time the symptoms begin to remit a little of such a sick person you ought not to despair In every Lethargy if any Cause of the Disease is seen to be cut off and removed so that if by the help of Medicines or the instinct of Nature copious and helpful evacuations by Sweat Urine or by Stool do follow with ease or help or if by applying of Blistering Plasters a great deal of water flows forth if a swelling or great whelks or pustles break out behind the Ears or in the Neck if frequent sneezing happens or water flow from the Eyes or Nose thence a certain hope of health may be expected Hippocrates l. Coac c. 145. mentions a Cure of the Lethargy to be often made by the distemper of the Thorax saying That many Lethargicks that are stuffed with Phlegm have recovered Which words are wonderfully wrested by Interpreters Mercurialis understands by suppuration the putrified matter of the Disease to be evacuated by the Ears and Nostrils Prosper Martianus will have Hippocrates to be understood in the word Lethargy not the disease of the Head but of the Breast But wherefore are all these subterfuges when it often happens that the Morbific matter at first fixed in the Head and stirring up a continual sleepiness or Lethargy the same being thence supped up by the Blood and deposited in the breast doth produce an Empyema or a spitting like those whose Lungs are wasted In the description of a Soporiferous Epidemical Feavour which raged in the year 1661. we noted the same to have happened to many Concerning the Cure of this Disease for that it has no respite or truces it is not to be deliberated on after a sharp Clyster being given let a Vein be opened presently for the Vessels being emptied of Blood they are more apt to sup up the Serum or other Humors deposited in the Brain Further in this case I advise rather to open the Vein in the Neck than that in the Arm. Because by this means the Blood being very much heaped up within the bosoms of the Head and perhaps standing still is more easily reduced to an equal Circulation Letting blood being performed immediately other remedies of every kind are to be made use of Let Vesicatories or blistering Plasters be applied largely to the Neck and Legs anoint the Temples and Face with Oyl of Amber or Cephalick Balsoms lay over all the Feet a Cataplasm or Poultis made of Rue Crowfoot and Pepperwort with black Sope and Bay-salt use hard frictions or rubbings to the Members frequently apply to the Nostrils Salt of Urine or Spirits of Sal Armoniac Then let there be administred Cephalick Remedies Take of the Water of Poeony Flowers of black Cherries Rue and of Walnuts simple each three ounces of the Water of Poeony Compound two ounces of Castor tyed up in a rag and hung in the glass two drams of Sugar three drams mix them and make a Iulep let it be given about four or five sponfuls every three or four hours also with every Dose of this give twelve or fifteen drops of the Spirits of Amber or of Sal Armoniac or a paper of the following Powder Take of the Powder of the Root of Poeony the male of a Mans Skull of the Root of Virginian Serpentworth or Snakeweed of Contrayerva each one dram Bezoar and of Pearl each half a dram of Coral prepared one dram make a Powder and divide it into twelve parts Further here it is to be considered whether an evacuation either by Vomit or Stool should not be made I know that this is variously controverted among Authors and I have also known it performed with various success which being weighed and laid together I shall briefly propose my opinion If the Lethargy should arise upon a Surfeit or a late Drinking or if from taking some disagreeable things or Narcoticks presently let a Vomit be given wherefore you may give Salt of Vitriol with Wine and Oxymel of Squills or in strong bodies an Infusion of Crocus Metallorum or of Mercurius Vitae with black Cherry water Let it be given and if it doth not work of it self provoke Vomiting with a Feather thrust down the Throat But if the fit of the Disease comes upon a Feavour or any other Cephalick Distempers or if it be raised up primarily or of
it self by reason of some foregoing cause before lying in the Blood or Brain then a Vomit or Purge being given at the beginning when the matter is flowing doth oftentimes more hurt than good because the Humors whilst in motion are more shaken and agitated and when they cannot be subdued and brought away they drive them into the distempered part On the second day if the numness doth not remit let Phlebotomy be repeated if the Pulse shew it fitting or else instead thereof take forth blood from the Shoulders after Scarification by Cupping Glasses then a little after if nothing hinders let a Vomit or Purge be administred Take of the Sulphur of Antimony five grains of Scammony sulphurated eight grains of the Cream of Tartar six grains mingle them make a Powder let it be given in a spoonful of the afore prescribed Iulep Or Take of Scammony sulphurated twelve grains of the Cream of Tartar fifteen grains of Castor three grains make a Powder and let it be given after the same manner In the mean time let altering Medicines or such as derive the matter from the place the same or such like be still continued On the third day and afterwards ought to be applied such things which are forbid at the beginning of the Disease for fear of a new Fluxion viz. Errhines or things that Purge the Head at the Nose Sneezing Medicines or Powders Apophlegmatisms or Medicines which draw the Humors from the head by the mouth Further it is then sometimes expedient to apply the warm intrails of some animal new killed to the forepart of the Head after the hair is clipped or shaven off and often changed also sometimes to foment those places with a Discussing and Cephalick Decoction or Fomentation but before all other Topicks I have known great help brought from a large Vesicatory or Blistering with many running sores made all over the compass of the Head I saw two sick with the Lethargy after the Disease held long and that not only the Memory but almost all knowledge was lost Cured chiefly by this Remedy for in both of them the â—â—eyed places when they could not be easily covered poured forth great plenty of thin matter about half a pint every day It will not be needful to set down any more Medicines of this nature being commonly and every where to be had it now remains that we illustrate what we have said with some Histories of sick people which I shall here add A Country-man about thirty years old of a Phlegmatick Complexion something inclining to Sanguine being a long time obnoxious to frequent Headaches about the beginning of Winter became sleepy and very stupid and one day whilst he was following the Plow in the Fields lying down on the ground he fell into a profound sleep and when he could not be awakened by his servant and others calling him he was carried home and put to bed his Friends in the mean time expecting that after he had finished his sleep he would awake of himself After the space of twelve hours being past when he could not be awakened by pulling thumping noise and other means they sent for me as soon as I came I applied Blistering Plasters large ones all about the hinder part of the Neck then taking from him about sixteen ounces of Blood I caused him to take a strong Clyster and his Face and Temples to be anointed with Oyl of Amber and Frictions and painful Ligatures to be applied to his Legs Also I prescribed him to take oftentimes in a day Spirit of Sut with a Cephalick Julep Notwithstanding he lay all that day stupid without any sense and if being provoked by some strong or hard pulling he lifted up himself a little and opened his Eyes presently falling down again and shutting them he fell into his continual sleep again About Evening I took care to have Cupping Glasses with a great flame to be applied to his shoulders which done he began a little to awake and about that time he had a great stool and very much Serum flowed forth from the Blisters the Plasters being taken off then we had great hopes of his health And therefore at every turn remedies being applied that night awaking in the morning following he knew his Friends and answered aptly to those who interrogated him But as yet the whole cloud was not vanished but that being sleepy he remained several days oblivious till at length being purged twice he perfectly grew well This case has the exact type of the Lethargy properly so called where for the conjunct Cause it had an heaping up of abundance of Serum about the compass of the Brain and then a breaking in of it into its infoldings and when by a timely use of Remedies the flowing in of new matter was hindered and that which lay upon the part was partly supped up into the Blood and partly being rarified into Vapours and Effluvia's was shaken off the Cure of the Disease quickly and wholely followed An Oxford Gardiner being sick of a Feavour about the height of the Disease instead of a Crisis he fell into a continual Sleep and lay drowned in it for three or four days so that he could not be awakened by the use of any Remedies But at length his Head being shaven Blistering Plasters were applied all over his Head and many running sores left open and awakening he recovered the use of his senses a little But his Memory being almost wholely lost he became so stupid that he remembered the name of no Man nor their words and remained like a Bruit When he had thus remained foolish for the space of almost two months and still very sleepy the cloud began a little to be dispelled and at length he returning to his wonted labour was in indifferent good health but he never had afterwards the same vigor of mind and wit as he had before this Disease In this case you have an example of a Lethargy coming upon an ill Cured Feavour in which the Morbific Matter by a sudden translation of it into the outward part of the Brain had for a little while filled not only all the Pores and passages but also had so hurt their Conformation that the Spirits being for some time excluded and at length freed they could not recover their former paths or wonted tracts till of a long time after I remember very well the example of a Lethargy arising from the use of Opiates in a Country Village where I lodged by chance one night by reason of the foulness of the weather For being about to go to bed mine Host asked me if I would visit two poor people his Neighbours distemper'd after a wonderful and miserable manner When I shewed my self ready to do the office not only out of Charity but led also by curiosity I was carried willingly into a small and poor Cottage where I found the Father an old Man and his Son both of them in
or shuts up their passages Hence it follows that preternatural Waking or that which is immoderate depends upon these two either on one or both together for either they being grown too outragious and as it were struck with a fury will not lye down of themselves or the nervous Liquor doth not so fill and stop up the Pores of the outward part of the Brain that from thence the Spirits may be compelled inward to rest Examples of both of these are ordinarily to be met withal And first of all we shall take notice that the Animal Spirits sometimes becoming outrageous and so Elastick or shooting forth or otherways enormous that they will not only not lye down and be quieted but scarce be contained within the proper sphere of their emanation wherefore being spread abroad in continual waking so fill the Brain and keep it extended that the nervous Juice though it lyes heaped up at their doors cannot be admitted but if it enters of it self and the Spirits are called back inwards from the Cortex of the Brain presently they being forced thither or tumultuating within the middle part of the Brain raise up many and often most horrid phantasies whereby sleep is driven away or directing thence their declination further into the nervous Stock there stir up great disorders which continually drive away and break off Sleep though it seems ready to creep upon them As to the former of these I have often observed that some being disturbed with waking were afraid to sleep though desiredly coming upon them for as soon as they shut their eyes to sleep presently leaping up they would cry out they should grow mad with a multitude of confused phantasms so that they were necessitated to abstain from sleep Secondly whilst the Spirits become more outrageous and are for sleep sake recalled towards the interior compass of the Brain sometimes they convert their rage into the nervous Stock and then tumultuarily rushing in upon the Nerves destinated for the Precordia or the Inwards raise up inordinations in the respective parts hence in those thus distemper'd as often as they shut their eyes to invite sleep either tremblings leapings and binding up of the heart with loss of Spirits and breathing stopped or inflations and rising up of the Bowels with a sense of choaking and other symptoms commonly called or taken to be Hysterical follow or else secondly the Spirits being recalled from their watches and turning on the nervous Stock transfer their rage sometimes on the spinal Marrow and the Nerves reaching from thence into all the exterior Members Wherefore in some whilst they would indulge sleep in their beds immediately follow leapings up of the Tendons in their Arms and Legs with Cramps and such unquietness and flying about of their members that the sick can no more sleep than those on the Rack Once I was consulted with for a noble Woman who was in the day-time cruelly tormented with the pain about the heart and Vomiting but in the night she was hindred from sleep though it seemed to approach by reason of these kind of Convulsive Distempers invading her with it nor indeed could she sleep all the night unless she had before taken a large Dose of Laudanum wherefore this Medicine at first being permitted her only twice a week afterwards she took it daily for three whole months contracting by it no hurt either in her Brain or about any other function and when in the mean time by the use of other Remedies the Dyscrasies of the Blood and the nervous Juice were amended and the Animal Spirits were made more benign and gentle she having after that wholly left off her Opium could sleep indifferently well These kind of sleep-destroying Distempers stirred up either within the middle part of the Brain or within the nervous Stock either more inward or more outward do depend wholly on the evil constitution of the Animal Spirits for those who ought to be gentle clear and bright and to actuate gently the containing bodies and to influence them with a benign influence become sharp and fierce and like Effluvia's sent from Stygian Waters unable to be restrained do distend them too much and refuse to be governed by the command of the will and to be quieted by sleep yea being restrained in one place they immediately grow tumultuous in another Such a constitution of the Animal Spirits proceeds from the acid and oftentimes as it were Vitriolick Dyscrasies of the Blood begetting it and of the nervous Juice cherishing and increasing it as shall be more fully shewed hereafter when we speak of madness In the mean time as to what belongs to the Cure of thorow or long waking which we but now described because it cannot be long tolerated therefore those things which may bring present ease ought first to be administred for this end those things which sooth the Spirits and gently moderate their disorders are convenient as those commonly called Anodynes viz. Distilled Waters Decoctions Syrups and Conserves of the Flowers of Water-Lilies Cowslips Mallows Violets Hearts-ease of the leaves of Willow Lettice Purslain also Emulsions or Juicy expressions If that the unquiet Spirits will not be allayed by gentle flatteries you must compel them into quietness as it were with bonds and strokes plenty of them ought to be diminished and the places also to be inlarged in which they may expand themselves in freedom and without tumult and quitted from the intanglements of other Humors to wit of the Blood and Serum For which ends sometimes the opening of a Vein is convenient and Blisterings are always to be made use of also Diacodium and Laudanum if it be convenient are frequently given and in the mean time whilst that Opiates give some truce to the Disease the cause of it ought carefully to be rooted out by the use of other Remedies as much as may be wherefore such as take away the sharpness of the Blood and nervous Juice and render a sweetness to them are to be administred day after day in Physical hours In which rank are shelly Powders Apozems and Distilled Waters Alterers made out of temperate Antiscorbuticks the more gentle prepared Chalybeats Spirits of Harts-horn and of Sut and almost before all other things the Tincture of Antimony is much esteemed There remains another sort of thorow or long Waking the cause of which in some if not in the greatest part consists in almost a continual openness or too much gaping of the Pores or passages in the Cortex of the Brain For besides that the Animal Spirits becoming sharp and somewhat outragious refuse to lye down of their own accord and to indulge rest moreover no stop or yoke is imposed upon them from the nervous Liquor entring into the Pores of the Brain but being free and quitted of all burthens they are also expanded within the exterior spaces of the Brain every where open wherefore for this cause those troubled with long Waking
feel no sleepiness or heaviness in the fore part of their head no desire or approach of Sleep I have known some distemper'd after this manner who when they had lived for many nights continually without Sleep seemed still chearful active strong in their stomach and ready for business and not to want Sleep The cause of this without doubt is because the burnt and melancholy Blood supplies the exterior part of the Brain with a nervous Juice that is not soft and favourable but too much parched and stuffed with adust particles which for that reason is apt neither to stay long within the Pores of the Brain nor gently to embrace and hold the Animal Spirits Further the Spirits themselves procreated out of it become of their own nature too Elastick and unquiet so that they are not easily setled or are prone of their own accord to Sleep But these more fixed do not readily fly away nor being wearied do suddenly grow faint but indure for a long time without any great refection and yet remain lively Concerning this waking disposition of the Animal Spirits as it is the same in Melancholicks we shall have an opportunity of speaking of it more largely hereafter We may also here take notice that for the same reason to wit that the adust Particles of the Melancholick and torrid Blood being poured into the Brain together with the nervous Juice causes waking the drinking of Coffee also in use formerly among the Arabians and Turks which is drunk by our Country Men either Physically or out of wantonness all sleepiness being driven away doth produce unwonted waking and an unwearied exercise of the Animal faculty that some having a necessity to study late in the night or presently after drinking or a full meal by drinking a due quantity of this Liquor become still waking and perform any hard task of the mind without sleepiness Surely the cause of this is because this drink insinuates adust particles of which it is full as may be perceived both by the smell and taste immediately into the Blood and then into the nervous Juice which still detain the pores of the Brain open by their agility and inquietude and add to the Spirits all sleepiness being shaken off certain provocatives and madness by which they are excited to a longer performance of their offices Further we shall deliver afterwards where we speak of Melancholy those things which belong to the preventive Cure of this long waking or the removing of the Morbific cause In the mean time for the taking away immediately this symptom as often as it is grievously troublesome we noted that Opiates were little profitable for a bare Dose being given doth rarely cause sleep and render the sick more weak and languishing It often better succeeds if they go to bed and take some soft and pleasing Liquor as our own Ale clear and mild or Posset-drink with Cowslip Flowers boiled in it or an Emulsion of Melon Seeds and Almonds in a great quantity to wit two or three pints I was some times past consulted with about an old Hypochondriacal person who besides other Symptoms usual in that case was for many years obnoxious to frequent very troublesome and noisie belchings he was wont every day two or three times for about two hours continually to belch with such a noise that he might be heard far and near at a great distance But sometimes for a week or two and sometimes for a month this belching would be changed into a long waking for having that Distemper much remitted this Gentleman was kept without sleep almost whole nights and when he had thus been for three days and sometimes more perfectly waking he seemed not to want sleep and complained not of sleepiness dulness or languor of spirits And when Narcoticks rarely brought to him any help he took sometimes in the evening a Posset made of Ale and Canary Wine and night coming on he sometimes drunk Distilled Waters by the use of which oftentimes he got some sleep then afterwards his waking perfectly vanishing by degrees his belching returned Hence it appears there was but one cause for either to wit the adust particles and irritative being poured forth from the bloody Mass sometimes into the coats of the Ventricle and sometimes into the Cortical part of the Brain Secondly besides these distinct Distempers of Sleep and Waking or their inordinations there remain other conjunct or complicated irregularities of them in which the acts of either function are prevaricated together Which indeed is observable in that Distemper or affection called the Waking Coma of which we shall now speak briefly Those sick with the Waking Coma although they are continually prone to Sleep yet they can scarce sleep at all but after the manner of Tantalus up to the chin in the Lethaean River to tast which as soon as he stoops down the water slides away from him and sinks lower For they feel a cruel heaviness in their Heads with a sleepiness or numness of all their senses and faculties that they hardly endure to turn themselves in their Bed or to be disturbed by the by-standers with talking and expect they shall presently fall into a sweet sleep but when they would indulge it and endeavour strongly to embrace it various phantasms rolling about in their mind keep them still waking neither are they suffered to take any sleep at all which seems to them to be still at hand Upon this not seldom follows a Delirium that whilst the sick lye with their eyes shut they perpetually talk absurd and senseless things and fling about hither and thither their Arms and Legs excessively and being raised up they look about them doggedly It is an usual thing for those sick of Feavours to remain a whole night as it were drowned in sleep and in the mean time are scarce silent a minute of an hour but murmur various things to themselves also sometimes cry out houl and leap out of Bed If the reason of these be inquired after we may say that the Pores and passages in the Brain which are the walking places of the Spirits are very much possessed with a thick and so periferous matter poured forth from the Mass of the Blood that the Spirits being very much hindred from their wonted expansion and mutual commerce an heavy and invincible sleep seems to hang over them but because some sharp and highly active particles like so many goads cleave to these Spirits they are perpetually incited into motion and so some of them break thorow the ways howsoever fast shut and stopped with mounds and run forth either directly or obliquely as they can and thus such motions of theirs however confused and diverted by reason of impediments and not able to exercise compleatly the Animal function yet they easily drive away or hinder its cessation and rest for this reason indeed such who are distemper'd with this Disease are like those living under the Pole who only see
good dyet let her take also Morning and Evening a Dose of Cephalick Powder or Electuary drinking after it a draught of Posset drink with the leaves of Sage or Betony or the Roots or Seeds of Poeony boiled in it Let the Infant take twice a day a spoonful of proper Distilled Water Let him have an Issue made in the nape of the Neck and let it lye sometimes on one side and sometimes on the other and rarely or never on its back If a Neck-lace of Coral or little balls of the Seeds or Roots of the male Poeony be worn about the Neck or at the pit of the Stomach it is not altogether useless if that in sleep being often and grievously shaken they are seen to be more dangerously troubled with this Distemper let Blisters be raised in the hinder part of the Neck or behind the Ears also Evening and Morning let there be daily given a Dose of the Powder of Ammoniacum or other proper Dose in a spoonful of Distilled Water or Iulep CHAP. VII Of the Vertigo or a turning round in the Head HAving viewed the exterior compass of either part of the Head and detected the Diseases which beset the sensitive soul about the first beginnings and last springs of the Animal Spirits we shall next descend to the middle part of the Brain where the phantasie and common sense reside and behold what kind of passions these parts are obnoxious to Concerning this in the first place we shall note that sometimes troops or rather mighty armies of Spirits inhabiting these places are affected and sometimes also small handfuls or bands then again many of them are affected together or else only a few at a time or they become Elastick from an heterogeneous Copula and so are compelled into inordinate motions or as it were explosive or shooting off as in the Epileptick fit or suffering an eclipse as in the Apoplexy are deprived of all motion Concerning the former disposition of the Spirits we have formerly treated largely enough and the astonishing Disease we shall handle afterwards But in this place we shall speak of a certain Passion or distemper belonging to these parts viz. the Vertigo in which a certain band or handful of the Spirits are affected and their motions are seen to be partly perverted and partly suppressed Being but little solicitous about the names by which the Vertigo is wont to be known we shall describe the nature or formal reason of it after this manner viz. The Vertigo is an Affection or Distemper in which the visible objects seem to turn round and the sick feel a perturbation or confusion of the Animal Spirits in the Brain that they do not rightly flow into the Nerves Wherefore the visive and the loco-motive faculties do often in some measure fail that those labouring with it fall and oftentimes are covered with darkness In this fit it is observed that the imagination and the common sense are in a manner deceived whilst they believe the quiet objects to be moved but the rational judgment remains for we understand our error and we presently ascribe this fallacy to the inordination of the Animal Spirits for that we plainly know that the spirits flowing within the Brain do decline from their wonted irradiation or beaming forth and do not rightly perform the offices of motion and sensation during the fit That we may find out the Morbific Cause and the preternatural manner of the Vertigo we shall inquire after what manner this same affection or Distemper how extempory or sudden soever it be is wont to be excited from non-natural things for men ordinarily become Vertiginous or have a turning in their head with a long turning round of the body looking down from an high place passing over Bridges Sailing and by Drunkenness and many other ways It will be worth our while to consider a little further the means of affecting by which these exterior actions stir up this turning or rolling about from whence it will the better appear what kind of intrinsick causes â—ay be able to excite this passion In the first place therefore when men are foâ—â—ome time turned about both in that motion all things seem to be turned about and also they ceasing from turning about that still continues in the phantasie so that the affected oftentimes fall to the ground further though they shut their eyes they still perceive as it were a turning round like the turning about of a Mill in the Brain The reason of these is not that the deception of the sight is first brought to the eyes and afterwards continued for some time because this affection is caused by the turning round of the body whether they look with or shut their eyes But indeed the cause of this apparition wholly depends upon the fluid substance of the animal spirits For that the spirits flowing within the Brain are even like to water or a thick heap of Vapors included in a Phial which being shaken round about together with the Vessel and made so to turn about continues for a time that motion though the Vessel stands still in like manner also when the body of a man is turned round about the spirits inhabiting the Brain from that turning about of the Head like the containing Vessel are agitated into spiral or round motions and when therefore they cannot irradiate the Nerves with their wonted influx and direct beams from hence oftentimes a Scotomy or dizzness and a failing of the feet together with a rotation or whirling about of visible objects are induced The visible Hemisphere seems to turn round because as the sensible impression is received by the means of the recipient so the objects as the spirits seem to be moved round about Secondly looking from on high and passing over Bridges stir up a Vertigo or giddiness in the Head for that there is a terror cast on the imagination from unaccustomed objects as also from the site of the body or going in danger whence that being very solicitous how it should rightly order and more firmly direct the spirits into the bodies of the Nerves calls them back into the middle part of the Brain and so perverts them from their wonted afflux and irradiation and whilst it indeavours to set their battel in better array and to direct them more surely by too great a care drives them into a certain confusion and irregular motion Wherefore 't is observed that drunken men and very bold because they are not careful or solicitous concerning the guiding of the animal spirits suffer no such thing Sailing or riding in a Coach causes a turning in the Head by the like reason as the turning round of the Body because the very fluid spirits being too much agitated like water shaken in a Glass leap hither and thither disorderly Further it is wholly for the same reason why many going by Ship or by Coach are subject also to cruel Vomiting to wit because the spirits being snatched
finds to be greatly disturbed and wandring up and down but the mediate subject are those parts of the Brain in which the Imagination and common sense reside and whence the next way lies into the nervous Stock These are the Callous and streaked bodies For indeed the Animal Spirits love to expatiate themselves and to he expanded or stretched forth on every side within these medullary places as in a most ample Field and pleasant Garden wherefore like beams of light with a full and streight ray they pass thorow all the Pores and most thick passages of the marrow hence it is that whilst they gently flow in one line from the outmost border of the Callous body to wit from the streaked bodies and turnings and windings of the Brain towards its middle part they represent pleasant imaginations and phantasies and whilst in another line they flow forth perhaps thorow other passages from the middle of the Callous body into the infoldings or windings about of the Brain they transferr thither signets or marks of notions for the Memory and then whilst they tend into the streaked bodies and the beginnings of the Nerves they actuate all the moving parts and carry to them as often as there is occasion the instincts of the motions they are to perform But in the Vertigo these equal emanations of the Spirits as it were rays of light seem to be intercepted and diversly perverted in various places because some bands or handfuls of the Spirits are obscured others are bended another way and moved hither and thither into turnings round and whirling about and oftentimes snatched transverse or cross one another Wherefore confused phantasms wandring and inconstant images or actions of sensible things are represented in the Brain by reason of the Spirits so disturbed Then forasmuch as the irradiation into the nervous stock is lessened or hindred a dizziness and failing of the motive function follows If that we should yet further inquire into what hinders or obstructs the ways whereby the Spirits are compelled thus to go aside or tumultuate within the Brain it seems probable that these inordinations of theirs do depend upon a two sold cause viz. first that certain fierce and extraneous Particles being entred deeply into the Brain together with the nervous Juice stick close to the spirits and move them into enormous motions but this as appears from common experience happens to every one on the immoderate drinking of Wine or Strong-waters or the unaccustomed taking of Tobacco by the eating of some Vegetables or being anointed with Mercury for that some Heterogeneous bodies and infestous to the Spirits follow them and are snatched with them even to the middle part of the Brain why may not such kind of Morbific particles and Vertiginous be supplied from the Blood and other humors very much vitiated and insinuated into the inmost conclave of the Brain Then secondly we may suspect that when the serous foulness doth by degrees creep forward with the nervous Juice and at length penetrated deeply that it doth contaminate these pure marrows and greatly stuff up its Pores so that the Animal Spirits do not shine or beam forth with a clear and full light but with a weak broken and as it were with many shadows mingled or interspersed with it In an habitual Vertigo and inveterate it seems to be plain that the Conjunct Cause doth contain both these from the proof and that not light taken from things that are hurtful and helpful For I have observed in many that this affection or Distemper hath been altered much for the worse or for the better upon two occasions for whatsoever things being inwardly taken that beget turgid particles and apt to grow too hot and rageing as Wine Strong-waters spiced pepper'd and flatulous or windy food always hurt those troubled with the Vertigo and for the same occasions no less hurtful are those things by which the brain is filled and more stuffed as Surfeits sleeping at Noon or overlong in the Morning the Southern wind a cloudy thick and moist air a low and watry habitation on the contrary the same persons are much helped as they easily perceive by a slender and light dyet also by a clear air and an open soil where the wind has a thorow passage Thus much concerning the subject the formal reason and the conjunct cause of the Vertigo now in the next place let us inquire into its Procatartick or more remote leading cause by reason of whose morbid provision or predisposition these two evils are wont to be induced on the spirits inhabiting the middle part of the Brain But here we apprehend both the Brain it self with the watering Liquor and also the Blood with its infected humors to be in fault The vice of this is most often that it turns from its right temper into a sour acid and otherways vicious disposition and being degenerate perverts the nourishing Juice and also gathers in its bosom a Serum and filthiness of diverse kinds which it is ready to pour forth into the Head But there are many evident causes to wit an evil dyet and errors in the non-naturals also the Scurvy a long or malignant Feavour and other Diseases going before by reason of which the Blood becomes so full of ill humors and so hurtful to the Head In the mean time the crime of the Brain is for that its temper is humid and weak its frame loose and infirm with its Pores too much open and gapeing more than they ought so that all the heterogeneous strange and elastick Particles together with the serous or otherways diseased recrements being poured forth from the Blood into the Head are easily admitted into the Brain together with the nervous Juice and because of its more open Pores fall down without any let or stop into the middle part viz. the Callous and streaked Bodies This kind of too dissolute or loose habit of the brain is in some innate and originally further those who are of a tender constitution to wit delicate soft and luxurious Men and Women whose spirits are not able to suffer any thing strongly easily contract a Vertiginons Distemper or rather increase it to wit because when the spirits of the Brain cannot resist the incursions of strangers they give way to every matter that is drove to them but in others though strong inordinate feeding a sedentary life frequent surfeiting also intemperate sleep and study an inveterate Scurvey evil gross humors a long â—eavour and other diseases of the Head do very often cause this kind of evil disposition of the Brain From what hath been said the differences of this Disease are easily gathered for that I may pass by what we but now mentioned that it was either a primary Distemper of it self or secondary arising or depending upon others further we noted that the primary Vertigo so it were light and not deeply rooted was only troublesome with fits excited from an
evident cause so that oftentimes the distemper'd are well enough but by reason of their evil manner of living or other accidents they become Vertiginous but sometimes this Distemper becoming habitual they are found to be obnoxious to it almost at all times Secondly As to the feat of this Disease there is a notable difference for this is sometimes more outward as is seen happening in the Callous body and hath almost only the tumults and failings of the Spirits and the wandring inconstant and often confused acts of notions and sense in the forepart of the Head but sometimes the Morbific matter falling down more backward about the streaked bodies stirs up the Scotomy or turning of the Head and a loss or failing of the motive function that oftentimes the Eyes are darkened and they reel or stumble and their Legs fail them As to the prognostick of this Disease the symptomatick or accidental Vertigo yea almost all the others while fresh are free from much danger and are easily to be Cured But the habitual and almost continual although great danger and suddenly to fall is rarely threatned yet because it admits of only a difficult and long Cure it so tires out both the Patient and the Physician that before the Disease can be Cured they both become weary of one another The primary Vertigo being placed before or more outward which hath scarce a darkness or falling accompanying it is more safe and healable but is often changed into an inveterate Headach and sometimes also it is cured of it self by an Haemorrhage or bleeding at the nose or by a flowing down of the Haemorrhoids it is also oftentimes taken away by Medicine The Vertiginous Distemper arising behind and intercepting the beamings forth of the Spirits into the Nerves is far more dangerous and oftentimes passes into an Apoplexy or a Palsie or into Convulsive Diseases There does not properly belong to the symptomatick Vertigo any Curatory Method There it is only needful to joyn some Cephalick Remedies discussing the clouds of the Brain and quieting the disorders of the Spirits to those other primary indications or rather that we may speak to the capacity of the vulgar which ought to be done sometimes though feignedly let some Medicines contrary to Vapors be added The accidental Vertigo or any other fresh or newly taken may be healed with Phlebotomy and a gentle Purge and sometimes iterated but that the Disease may be more certainly extirpated let there be besides administer'd carefully Cephalick Remedies such as are anon described For the Cure of an habitual Vertigo and become inveterate there ought to be instituted almost the like method as is against most other Cephalick Diseases which suggests these three chief intentions of healing viz. in the first place must be endeavoured that the root or nest of the Disease may be cut off and that the brain may remain free from any new flowings in of the Morbific matter for which end a right order of dyet being commanded sometimes letting of blood and most often a gentle Purge in the intervals are convenient Let a dry and open air be chosen let immoderate and untimely sleep and study be shunned let morning and evening draughts be wholly abstained from in the place of the former let a draught of Tea or Coffee with Sage leaves boiled in it be given Let an Issue be made in the Leg or Arm and sometimes let the Hemorrhoidal Vessels be kept open with Leeches let the distemper'd rise early in the morning and wash every day the fore-part of his Head with water and also his Temples and rub them with a course cloth Secondly The second curatory intention is to take away the Procatartick or more remote foregoing causes wherefore endeavour that both the Dyscrasie or evil disposition of the Blood may be removed and also that the weak and too loose constitution of the Brain may be mended For the former altering remedies chiefly are convenient as temperate Antiscorbuticks and sometimes Spaw Waters or Whey To which always may be added for the latter indication Cephalick Medicines to wit such as are prepared of Coral Amber humane Skull the root of the male Poeony Misleto the dung of a Peacock and the like the forms of which we shall shew you by and by The third Intention which is properly curatory endeavours to take away the Conjunct Cause of this Disease which however the Procatartick Causes being removed for the most part ceases of it self for if the coming of every extraneous Matter into the Brain be cut off there will remain nothing but pure and clear Spirits and they having gotten open and free spaces within the Callous Body will from thence flow forth on every side However for the scope of healing this you must prosecute it with the former with Medicines indued with a volatile salt whose particles being very subtil and active do refresh the Animal Spirits of which sort are chiefly Spirits of Harts-Horn Sut of Sal Armoniack c. impregnated with Amber and humane Skull Tinctures of Coral Amber Antimony Elixir of Poeony c. These things being premised concerning the Vertigo in general it will seem to the purpose to draw or shadow forth the Curatory Method particularly and as it were to direct you by a thred and in the first place is shewn what is to be done for the Cure in the fit and what out of it for prevention 1. As to the first although the invasion of the Vertigo seem cruel it is for the most part without danger and easily passes over of its own accord In such a case if the Pulse shews it let Phlebotomy be made use of after having given a Glyster but because the sick think themselves dying and expect medicinal help in that case let there be Blisters made in the Neck and stinking things held to the Nose as Castor the Spirits or Salt of Harts-horn or Urine or of Sal Armoniack Further let these Spirits be given twice or thrice a day with a convenient Dose of Cephalick Iulep going to sleep let them take a Bolus of Mithridate with the Powder of Castor let them take the next day if the Distemper doth not yet vanish a light Purge or if the sick be prone or easie to Vomit an Emetick than which a better Remedy can scarce be taken Take Pills of Amber twenty five grains of the Resine of Ialap six grains of Tartar Vitriolated seven grains of the Balsom of Peru what will suffice to make four Pills to be taken going to bed or early in the morning Or Take of the Sulphur of Antimony five grains of the Cream of Tartar half a scruple of Castor seven grains make a Powder Let it be taken with care expecting to Vomit That Vomiting Medicines do oftenest help in the Vertigo besides the testimony of Authors appears plain enough also from common observation and besides since those troubled with the Vertigo do often Vomit of their
same is wholly darkened and suffers a full eclipse The word Apoplexy denotes percussion and by reason of the stupendous nature of the Disease containing as it were something divine it is called a Sideration or Blasting for those taken with it being as it were Planet struck or with an invisible Numen fall suddenly to the ground and being deprived of sense and motion and the whole animal function ceasing unless that they breath they lye a long time as if dead and sometimes yield to death But if they revive oftentimes they are taken with an universal Palsie or else of one side The immediate subject of the Apoplexy and the nearest are the Animal Spirits inhabiting that region of the Brain where the principle faculties of the knowing or understanding soul reside to wit the Callous Body but we conclude the mediate subject to be the middle part of the Brain because from hence the instincts of all spontaneous motions proceed and in this the perceptions of all sensible things are terminated by what means the Cerebel and Praecordia and all the other parts both Animal and Vital are secundarily affected we shall shew anon when the symptoms of this Disease and their reasons are delivered Upon the coming of the Apoplectick fit all the acts of every spontaneous and knowing function to wit which depend upon the brain it self are forthwith hindred and cease the reason of which is because the Animal Spirits being suppressed in their chief place of meeting to wit the Callous Body both their next motion of expansion in that place as also their flowing forth into the nervous appendix is wholly defective For therefore by reason of such an eclipse of them in that place an immediate and an universal darkness is caused in the whole animal region which is under this government yet in the mean time the Pulse and respiration as also the motion of the Ventricle and Intestines are after a sort performed either perfectly and freely or at least interruptedly and with pain forasmuch as their actions proceed wholly from the Cerebel which is not at all or but little hurt by the Morbifick matter But it will seem difficult to be explained after what manner and from what causes the Animal Spirits are so suddenly and all at once suppressed and as it were extinguished about their first spring of emanation so that all sense and motion depending thereon ceases every where Concerning this there are many and diverse opinions of Authors whilst some place the cause of the Apoplexy in the Heart and others in the Brain then some lay the fault on the intemperance of that and others on the evil conformation of this Further the obstruction of the Brain is said by some to cause the Apoplexy in the greater Ventricles by others in its Pores or lesser passages then the obstruction being taken for the cause of the Disease and wholly binding up the lesser Pores of the Brain is said to excite the fit either because the afflux of the blood for the begetting of Spirits is hindred from those parts or because the flowing forth or emanation from thence of the Animal spirits is kept back It would be a tedious thing to examine the opinions of every one and to consider the weight of their reasons The Theory of this Disease seems to be very exactly delivered by the famous Webferus for in the first place for the finding out of its so abstruse and hidden causes he brings Histories or Anatomical observations in which the Phaenomena are declared in many dead Carcases of those dying of this Disease to wit in three struck or blasted he had found the blood extravasated or out of the Vessels here and there in great clodders and had largely marked the substance of the Brain in another the Serous Colluvies had overflowed the whole head both without and within the Skull From these footsteps of this most hidden Disease thus detected the Author concludes That the principal places affected are not the greater Ventricles but the middle marrowy substance of the Brain and Cerebel which is every where porous and indued with very small passages both that the vital spirits may flow in thither from the blood and that the animal may flow forth But indeed he affirms That the whole cause of every Apoplexy doth consist in these two viz. either in one of them or both of them together to wit either because the flowing of the blood thorow the Arteries to the Brain is deny'd or else by reason that the flowing forth of the Animal Spirit from the Brain and Cerebel thorow the Nerves and Spinal Marrow is prohibited or for both these causes together As to the former he proposes a threefold means whereby the blood may be hindred viz. First Either by reason of the obstruction of the inner Carotid Arteries and of the Vertebrals to wit which happens in the greater Vessels and chiefly about the ascent of the Brain from the blood concreted into cloddery pieces or in the lesser Vessels which pass thorow the brain from a Viscous Matter planted in them Or Secondly the flowing in of the blood is detained from the brain by reason of the compression of those Vessels which sometimes happens because the Paristhmia or Kirnels of the hinder part of the Neck do so swell up from a Serous heap of watry Humors that by pressing together the Arteries passing thorow shuts forth the passage of blood to the Head Or Thirdly The bloody flood may be hindred because a Vessel being preternaturally opened within the Skull great quantity of blood is poured forth which should otherways go to the benefit of the brain As to the other cause of the astonishing Disease viz. from the flowing forth of the Spirits being hindred he affirms that may be caused by two ways to wit either by reason of the obstruction of the beginning of all the Nerves caused by a serous inundation or by a sudden compression of the same which is caused either by an heaping up of too much blood in the Meninges or in some parts of the brain it self or in its Ventricles or else by a disposition of the Phlegmonodes These most ingenious reasons indeed seem to challenge our assent for that more probable or more likely are not easily to be brought but because we think some of these are to be altered and others to be added therefore we shall here institute though not a different yet somewhat another reason of this Disease And in the first place though we grant that the flowing in of the blood may be sometimes denyed to the Brain yet we do not believe that it only happens after the aforesaid ways nor that for that reason the Apoplexy doth arise We have elsewhere shewed that the Cephalick Arteries viz. the Carotides and the Vertebrals do so communicate one with another and all of them in several places are so ingraffed one in another mutually that if it happen that many
of them should be stopped or pressed together at once yet the blood being admitted to the Head by the passage of one Artery only either the Carotid or the Vertebral it would presently pass thorow all those parts both exterior and interior which indeed we have sufficiently proved by an experiment for that Ink being squirted in the trunk of one Vessel quickly filled all the sanguiferous passages and every where stained the Brain it self I once opened the dead carcase of one wasted away in which the right Arteries both the Carotid and the Vertebral within the Skull were become bony and impervious and did shut forth the blood from that side notwithstanding the sick person was not troubled with the astonishing Disease wherefore it may be doubted whether the blood excluded from the Brain by reason of some Arteries being obstructed or compressed doth bring forth this Disease Certainly there is more of danger that the cause of the Apoplexy should be from its too great incursion and extravasation within the Brain as it was in the three Apoplectick people cited by the Author and that not only because the marrowie substance of the Brain was deprived of the Blood coming to its use for such a defect might have been supplied by the other Vessels extending their branches every where but rather because by the extravasated Blood and not seldom being concreted into an hard and mighty bulk the marrow of the Brain is pressed together the passages of the Spirits being by that means shut up But indeed though we deny this to the afflux of the blood into the Brain being hindred in any part only yet it may be granted to its total exclusion for therefore we have often noted a want of all motion to be caused which Distemper however hath been rarely taken for the astonishing disease but rather is wont to be called a Syncopy or Swooning away or the Hysterical Passion If at any time the motion of the Heart be wholly suppressed presently the Blood being retained without the Brain the Animal Spirits fall down even as the light vanishes when the flame is put out The action of the Heart is stopped or hindred either by reason of the improportionate flowing in of the Blood as in the violent passions of fear or sadness or by reason of the Animal Spirits which serve for its motion being denyed by the Cerebel This we think to happen sometimes because of the Cardiack Nerves being Distemper'd with a Convulsion or otherways bound together after which manner it is usual in Convulsive and Hysterical Passions sometimes for the outward parts as the Arms and Legs and sometimes the Inward to wit the Praecordia and Viscera one after another to be affected but a want of motion follows the inordinations of these in which the sick lie for some time without motion or sense with a small or seldom beating Pulse as if dead Which indeed so seems to come to pass by reason of the Cardiack Nerves being contracted at that time and so the Spirits which were about to flow being suspended though we believe such a want of motion sometimes to be produced by the mere confusion of the Spirits within the Brain but in this case the heart it self is lively enough moved and the Pulse is also strong and landable But besides it seems most likely that the motion of the Heart is ofen suppressed or inhibited by reason of the Animal Spirits destinated to the vital function being suppressed in the fountain it self to wit within the Cerebel We have mentioned this to be done in the Distemper of the Incubus but without doubt it ought to be attributed to this cause for that I have observed in some a failing of the Spirits with a sudden privation of all the Animal functions to follow upon a great weight in the hinder-hinder-part of the Head in which the sick become senseless and immoveable with the Pulse and breathing very much lessened and scarce perceivable and lye quite cold for many hours yea oftentimes a day or two more like dead than living persons I have known sometimes those distemper'd to be stiff and cold Pulse and breathing to be thought quite gone and to be indeed esteemed quite dead and put into their Coffin yet after two or three days to have reviv'd again but whoever awakes out of this fit whether it be of short or long continuance does not for that reason fall into a Palsie or half Palsie of one side as those for the most part do who are distemper'd with the Apoplexy Further no doubt but that many die from such a Morbific cause whose death wrongfully hath been ascribed either to the mortal Syncopy or to the Apoplexy properly so called Truly the case afterwards described can only have the like reason given for it Wherefore though it may seem a Paradox yet it is not incongruous to reason that we affirm that there is a twofold Apoplexy one in the Cerebel which we but now described the other seated in the middle of the Brain into the causes of which and the manner of it we shall now inquire But here in the first place we must distinguish concerning the various assault or fit of this Disease to wit forasmuch as sometimes being excited without any previous disposition or Procatarxis from a sudden and solitary cause it is often invincible and for the most part mortal against this there can be no preventive method of healing or preservatories instituted and the Curatory method which is wont to be taken proves very oft ineffectual Or Secondly the Apoplectick fit having an antecedent cause or previous Procatarxis is brought into act by reason of various occasions or evident causes As to what belongs to the blasting or being stricken of the former kind to wit suddenly and unthought of its conjunct or next cause is either a great solution or breach of the unity happening some where within or near the middle of the Brain by reason of which its Pores and passages being obstructed or pressed together the whole emanation of the Spirits is suppressed or else it is an huge and sudden profligation of the Spirits or an extinction of those dwelling in the Brain We shall shew the formal reasons of both of them particularly and the several ways of their being affected Extravasated Blood the breaking of an Imposthum and a great flood of Serous humor plentifully flowing forth are wont to effect the greater breach of the unity within the Brain From Blood effused or extravasated within the Brain and there either growing together in clodders or striking on the affected places doth often times cause mortal Apoplectick fits as I my self have proved by Anatomical inspection in some others besides the instances brought by the famous Webfer but such Morbific extravasations of the Blood within the Brain proceed either from an external cause as a fall from on high or by a blow on the Head or by hitting it
against some hard thing and the like or from an inward cause to wit for that the Blood being sharp and thin and the little mouths of the Vessels and the places between being too loose it growing more than ordinarily hot either of its own accord or occasionally and flowing forth thorow these easily breaks into the soft and yielding substance of the Brain Further although we have assigned the seat of this Disease in the Callous Body yet the blood because effused somewhere nigh or above it because it compresses the underlying Marrow by intumifying the distemper'd places causes the Apoplectick fit Secondly An Imposthum or Ulcer is rarely wont to be excited within the Brain but often in the Meninges and almost for the same occasions by which the extravasation of the blood happens while it is ripening it causes only an Headach or heaviness but when it is broke the filthy stuff flowing from it into the shelly part of the Brain gnaws and putrâ—â—ies it and then by degrees instilling its putrid particles and very infeâ—tous to the Spirits into the middle or marrowie part of the Brain raises up at lasâ— the fit of the astonishing disease Thirdly The Serous heap or deluge being poured forth from the blood into the Head though rarely or never of it self yet sometimes by reason of more strong evident causes runs so suddenly into the Brain that filling and stuffing soon all its Marrowie Pores causes astonishment or deprivation of sense and motion And this I have known to happen to some from drinking of sharp thin Wine or Spaw-waters and sleeping upon it and I have observed the like effect from a long and total suppression of Urine also in Haemorrhages or fluxes of blood being suddenly stopped And lastly the Serous Recrements in malignant Feavours being translated to the Head by a critical transposition often causes a mortal senselessness or becoming speechless Another kind of evident causes from which sudden blasting or being smitten is wont to be caused consists in the sudden profligation or extinction of the Spirits which indeed doth not seldom or rarely happen from strong Narcoticks or Medicines causing sleep and also from the immoderate drinking of hot waters Though we have already discoursed concerning the use and effects of Opiates I cannot however pass over their way of affecting assigned by that most famous Doctor Webfer This Learned Man affirms That Narcoticks only do too much open and dilate the Pores and passages of the Brain and as it were open the doors of it before fast shut whereby every extraneous and incongruous thing is admitted into the Chamber or sleeping place of the Spirits together with the subtil liquor poured forth from the blood and so by a violent incursion dissipates their ranks and orders But indeed it appears from what hath been above said that Narcoticks do not only or always operate so for we have shewn that whilst they are yet within the Ventricle they often cause sleep and sometimes death it self Besides it should follow from thence that Opiates being often given should bring still a greater evil because by dilating more and more the Pores of the Brain they cause a much more easie entrance to all manner of impurities but truly it is clear enough that Narcoticks are most hurtful at the first time being taken and afterwards being often taken do little hurt so that some accustomed to Opium will devour a great quantity of it without hurt which is certainly a sign that this doth not so much alter the conformation of the Brain as that it doth immediately agitate or work upon the Animal Spirits whom at first because so very improportionate to them it slays with a mere blast then afterwards there being a certain familiarity between them and this Medicine it disturbs them not Thus much concerning the causes of the accidental and sudden Apoplexy which falls indifferently upon all men though not at all predisposed for which also there can be no preventive Medicines instituted and it is rarely that it is cured But besides we observe that this Disease is sometimes habitual and that it remains as a constant disposition in some men by reason of which at first they are exercised only with light skirmishes but after some time they become more grievous and of which at last for the most part they dye Concerning this therefore we shall inquire 1. what the Conjunct Cause of this Disease may be and the formal reason of it 2. In what the Apoplectick Disposition or Procatarxis of the Disease consists Then 3. What Evident Causes it hath 1. As to the first we may suppose upon the coming of the Apoplectick fit that a certain matter before heaped up and dispersed in the compass of the Brain at length doth descend into its middle or marrowie part and there doth assault all the Spirits and suppress and beat them down in the very fountain of their emanation Although it doth not plainly appear whether they effect it either by stuffing only the Pores of the Marrow or by driving away the Spirits themselves or by inflicting on them a numness notwithstanding it is likely that it may be done by either of the ways And indeed we say the medullary Pores of the Brain may be somewhat stopped or obstructed because the same matter which at first setling on the Callous Body caused senselesness being sliden down from thence lower into the Callous Body and then stuffing its Pores is wont to excite the Palsie of one side But yet we may not conclude that the sideration or being struck doth arise only from the Pores of the Brain being stopped because then the fit would oftentimes creep on them gently and by little and little forasmuch as all the Pores cannot be possessed by the inflowing matter at once but successively and some after others But when as this Distemper leaps upon one suddenly and like lightning what can we conceive less than that the Spirits are struck down as it were by a blast from the malignant contact of the matter rushing upon them For it seems that its particles descending on every side from the compass of the Brain into its middle part or the Callous Body and entring it from every part do presently fill the passages how strait so ever they be and drive to flight hither and thither the Spirits and compel them into a close place who being then beset and reduced to a strait corner when they can neither resist long or are able to penetrate into other Pores possessed by the Morbifick matter at length are struck flat down letting go every function of the knowing soul but then they do not easily nor quickly rise up again because they are not able to quit themselves from the embraces or bonds of the malignant matter nor pass any where into empty or open places wherefore they lie long suppressed till at length sometimes perhaps that matter though leasurely is dssâ—pated or supped up into
changed therefore instead of the Electuary let there be substituted for two or three weeks sometimes the Spirit of Sal Armoniack with Amber or Coral or else impregnated with humane Skull or Castor sometimes Elixir of Poeony or Tincture of Amber or Coral or Elixir Vitae of Quercitan or the simple mixture also instead of it may be drunk compounded Waters or Water of black Cherries or Walnuts or the simple Waters of Rosemary or Lavender sometimes a draught of Posset-drink with Flowers of the male Poeony or the Lilies of the valley boiled in it or a draught of Tea or Coffee in the morning let the water of which it is prepared have such ingredients first boiled in it or let Chocolate be prepared after this same manner Take of the Powder of the Root of the male Poeony of humane Skull prepared each half an ounce of the Species of Diambrae two drams make a Powder to every paper add of the Kirnels of the Cocoe Nuts one pound of Sugar what will suffice of this make Chocolate take of it half an ounce or six drams every Morning in a draught of the Decoction of Sage or of the Flowers of Poeony or such like Take of the Powder of the Root of the male Poeony of humane Skull prepared each one ounce and a half of the pick'd Root of Zedoary Cretick Dittany Angelica Contrayerva each two drams make a fine Powder of them all add to it of the yellow of Orenges and Lemons Candied each two ounces let all be beaten to a Powder take about half a dram or a dram an hour before and after meals For ordinary drink let a Vessel of four gallons be filled with ordinary Ale in which six handfuls of white Horehound dryed had been boiled of Anacardine and Cardomums cut and beaten each one ounce and a half of it make a bag to hang in it First of all a very strict dyet ought to be ordered let a temperate dry and open air be chosen let good and wholesome meats be eaten and slender meals Let suppers be sparingly taken or none at all Let noon-sleeps drinking bouts and other customary things about the non-naturals be shunned I could here propose many Histories of Apoplectical persons to wit of some who were once or twice touch'd and yet living and of others who have dyed at the first assault or in the second or third fit The most Reverend Father in God the Lord Gilbert Archbishop of Canterbury recovered of a grievous Apoplectical Fit six years ago God prospering our medicinal help to whom we render eternal thanks and from that time though he sometimes suffer'd some light skirmishes of the Disease yet he never fell or became speechless or senseless But we shall not stay upon this or other examples to unfold them largely because there is nothing in them very rare that may illustrate the Aetiology of this Disease Some of their dead Carcases I have dissected but only of such as the cause of death was from some former great hurt of the head as some blow or by means of some blast in all which the extravasated Blood or an Imposthum was the cause of their death We have been prohibited often by their Friends from opening those dying of an habitual Apoplexy who expecting to have them revive again held it as a deadly thing and so wholly forbid Anatomy But I shall here relate a notable Anatomical observation taken about five years since at Oxford An ancient Divine an honest and a godly Man indued with a fat body a short and brawny Neck being long unhealthy and living a sedentary life contracted a very Scorbutick evil disposition being troubled with a difficult and laborious breathing with an heaviness of the Head and unwonted numness was scarce able to endure any thing of labour or exercise more than that he daily went and came from his Chamber to the Chapel and Hall one Morning he came to the Chapel a little before Prayers begun and while he was on his knees he was suddenly struck and immediately became speechless and senseless and fell on the ground but being carried thence and his cloaths taken off he was put into a warm Bed I and other Physicians being presently sent for and coming as soon as we could possibly we found him not only without Pulse sense and breathing but all his Body cold and quite stiff nor could he be recalled to life or heat by any Remedies or ways of administrations though used for some time by which we suspected that the Pulse of his heart was wholly hindred at the first stroke and that its flame being put out presently all motion of the Blood was suppressed The next day seeing the Carcase dead enough and stiff we opened it nothing doubting but that the Distemper so suddenly mortal would shew clear marks of it within the Head But there or in any other part was not the least shadow of this most cruel Disease The Vessels watering the Meninges were moderately filled with Blood without any Inflammation or Extravasation The Brain the Cerebel and the oblong Marrow with all their processes and prominences appeared every where thoroughout firm and well coloured both without and within nor was there any Serum or Blood poured forth any where within the Pores or passages nor yet within the greater Ventricles nor heaped up yea the Choroeidal Infoldings placed both within the cavity of the Brain and behind the Cerebel seem'd free from all fault so that the Morbific matter equally thin and subtil like the Animal Spirits whom it affected remained wholly invisible and we could only argue its presence by the effect But lest this should lye hid some where without the Head after the contents of the head were diligently inspected we came to the Breast where the discoloured Lungs being through the whole stuffed with a frothy matter manifestly shewed the cause of the short and difficult breathing But the Heart was sound and firm enough free from any obstruction or fleshy Concretions Further neither in the neighbouring parts or in others about the Viscera was found any Imposthum or Ulcer by whose contact or stink the Heart could be suddenly oppressed or the Vital Spirits if this be possible might be choaked Wherefore in this case nothing could be suspected else but that the Animal Spirits implanted within the middle of the Cerebel were put to flight and as it were extinguished suddenly by some malignant or narcotick or otherways deadly Particles so that the motion of the Heart presently failing like the first moving wheel in a Clock or Watch immediately all the other functions their impulses being taken away wholly ceased CHAP. IX Of the Palsie THE middle of the Brain or the Callous Body to which we have assigned the seat of the Vertigo and Apoplexy seems also to be the primary distemper'd place in the Epilepsie Concerning which as also concerning Convulsie Diseases since we have elsewhere largely treated we shall
the nervous process to the common sensory without any endeavour or labour of the Spirits which may be done though the common sensory be in some measure obstructed and the Spirits inhabiting it benummed But motion is a difficult and laborious action to which is required that the Spirits expand or stretch out themselves lively and not only put forth as it were explosive endeavours in the moving organs but chiefly about the parts where the beginning of the motion and its first force is and from thence in the whole passage thorow the nervous parts Wherefore as but a few Spirits and bound suffice for sense many free and expeditious as to their expansions are required for motion But that the Morbific matter being slid down into the Streaked Body the Muscles of the Eyes Mouth and Face do still retain their motions it is because that some of them about the beginning of the Spinal Marrow below all the Nerves arising from the oblong Marrow have their place of obstruction I say that it is so because the Nerves destinated to the aforesaid Muscles the motions of which are stirred up by natural instincts and brought from the fifth and sixth pair even as the Nerves serving the Praecordia and Viscera derive chiefly the influences of the Animal Spirits from the Cerebel whose regiment though the Streaked Body be distemper'd remains often unhurt Not only an obstruction of the Streaked Body but also a compression sometimes causes the Palsie as shall be shewed by and by from Anatomical observation to wit when the blood is extravasated and growing cloddery within the inferior cavity of the Brain and perhaps a Serous deluge is there heaped up and doth lie heavily upon the Streaked Body and press it together so that for that reason the Medullary tracts being bound together are hindred from the Spirits flowing into them Next after the Streaked Bodies the seat of the Morbific Cause is in the oblong and spinal Marrow also sometimes in these though rarely an obstruction but more often a compression or a solution of the unity excite the Palsie As to the former it is not probable that great plenty of Morbific matter should be sent from the Brain into this or that part together and in heaps for such a great and sudden flux hardly happens beyond the streaked Bodies But it may be suspected that Narcotick or otherways deadly Particles being forthwith poured forth into the Brain and from thence thrust forth into its appendix doth at first stick within the more narrow spaces of the Medullary Trunk and then by degrees being heaped up causes the Paralytick obstruction whilst these Particles are carried in the Brain here and there in the Callous or Streaked Bodies they stir up frequent Vertigoes and mists before the eyes and sometimes in the motive parts short numnesses but these being by degrees heaped up together within the Trunk of the oblong Marrow or the spinal forasmuch as they possess all or part of its passage and by that means either obstruct all the Pores of the Spirits at once or some ranks or orders of them they bring forth either an half Palsie or a loosening of some members sometimes the superior sometimes the inferior I have observed in many that when the Brain being first indisposed they have been distemper'd with a dullness of mind and forgetfulness and afterwards with a stupidity and foolishness after that have fallen into a Palsie which I often did predict to wit the Morbific matter being by degrees fallen down and at length being heaped up some where within the Medullar Trunk where the Marrowy Tracts are more straitned than in the Streaked Body to a stopping fulness For according as the places obstructed are more or less large so either an universal Palsie or an half Palsie of one side or else some partial resolutions of members happen But in either Marrow and especially the Spinal an interception or inhibition of the Spirits creating a Palsie most often happens from a compression or a breaking of the unity The extravasated Blood or the Corruption flowing from the broken Imposthum and perhaps a Serous deluge being deposited within the hollowness of the Back-bone yea also an hard Tumor being risen somewhere in it by pressing together the marrowy rope shuts up the ways of the Spirits Further either a stroke wound or bruise of the Head or spine yea and a distortion of this latter do often pervert or break off the Marrowy Tracts yea an excess of cold taken in Frost and Snow straitens and stops up the passages of the Spirits Those kind of cases and instances being obvious enough to common observation there will not be any need here to speak of them particularly or to unfold them more largely Thirdly The Morbific cause being sometimes planted lower possesses either the greater Trunks or the lesser shoots of the Nerves themselves and that likewise is either an obstruction or a compression or a breaking of the unity by reason of any of these ways and according to the like means of affecting within the nervous passages as in the marrowy it is wont to be excited The oppilative or stopping Particles being fallen down from the Brain and carried forward into the oblong Marrow enter into the Nerves destinated to the Muscles of some parts of the Face and by obstructing the ways of the Spirits in them bring forth the Palsie in the Tongue and sometimes a loosening in these or those Muscles of the Eyes Eye-lids Lips and of other parts and then by reason of the contrary Muscles being contracted beyond measure they stir up a Cramp or Convulsion in the opposite part Nor is it less usual for the same Particles for that they are fewer to be carried yet further without any great hurt into the Spinal Marrow and lastly going forth from it to run sometimes into the several Trunks of the Nerves and sometimes into some handfuls of them and for that reason to induce the Palsie to the several Muscles or members or in some of them only As often as for this cause the Muscles of one side of the Neck are resolved or loosened the other opposite being too much contracted render the Neck twisted or awry It ordinarily happens by reason of some private Nerves being so obstructed for some Fingers of the Hand or Toes of the Feet to be loosened But if many handfuls of Nerves together happen to be stopped a Palsie follows oftentimes in the whole Arm or Thigh It would be too tedious to mention every case here by which the Nerves are wont to be stopped about their beginnings middle processes or utmost ends to wit the Membranaceous or Musculous Fibres by reason of compression or breaking of the continuity and so deny the exercise of the moving faculty to the respective parts The reasons of these kind of Distempers are so clear and manifest and so commonly known that it would be superfluous to insist on the
opening them any longer But we shall rather pass to the other conjunct cause of the Palsie which more immediately affecting the Animal Spirits and sometimes striking down and as it were extinguishing them by mere contact or as it were by a malignant blast brings in a resolution or loosening in the respective parts What we before affirmed in the Apoplexy we now again do the same in the Palsie that there are deadly Particles not only oppilative or stopping but sometimes Narcotick or Stupefactive and as it were extinguishers of the Spirits which kind of affection if it be strong causes sometime Paralytick Symptoms without any great obstruction of the ways The breath or steams of Antimony Mercury or Auripigment often causes weaknesses tremblings and loosening of the Members in such as are long conversant among the Furnaces of Chymists and of Metals We may in like manner believe that in some Scorbutick and very Cacochymical people heterogeneous Particles and as it seems of a Vitriolick nature passing thorow the Brain and its marrowy appendix do enter into the nervous passages together with their watering Juice and cast down some handfuls of the Spirits in them or suppress their motion Hence suddenly arise stupors numness or looseness in the Members or Muscles sometimes in these sometimes in those and soon after vanishing in one place presently spring up again in another But at length when these sort of Particles being abundantly poured forth into the Nerves and laid up in heaps they become variously fixed here and there and moreover shut up the ways of the Spirits and so cause a fixed and permanant Palsie And indeed in every Palsie made by obstruction the Morbific matter is not thick and cold Phlegm as Galen and many other Physicians have asserted for such doth not pass thorow the Brain much less the nervous passages but it seems to consist of most subtil and very active Particles though infestous or deadly to the animal regiment But indeed the Palsie happens in Men no otherwise than the blasting or burning or withering in Trees because some winds being indued with very frigid or cold blasts to wit with a Nitrous or a Vitriolick Spiriâ—â— when they blow upon the green and tender sprigs of trees cause them suddenly to wither for that the tender stalks like Nerves every where inter-woven with the sprigs and leaves are bound together by the blast of the malignant air so fully that they receive not any more the Juice sent from the Trunk or Root by reason of which defect they wither Much after the same manner extraneous Particles and as it were Vitriolick being admitted within the organs of sense and motion for that they at once bind up the Pores or cast down or suppress from motion the Animal Spirits cause in the respective parts as it were a withering or drying up But this is not so caused by mere Phlegm or a Serous â—â—ood as plainly appears because those indued with a moist and cold Brain have always their Nose and Eyes moist with the distillation of a snotty or watry humor yea those who are troubled with a Dropsical Brain in which the Brain and the tops of either Marrow do as it were swim in water are not for that reason disposed to the Palsie unless by the pressing together of the Marrow We have hitherto described the various cases of the Palsie and the means by which it is caused together with their â—everal formal reasons and conjunct causes As to what belongs to the other causes of this Disease we must first distinguish that it is either accidental or habitual The former happens to some from a solitary evident cause such as a stroke wound bruise and excess of either heat or cold without any previous disposition and besides this and the conjunct cause which for the most part is a compression or breach of the unity it hath none The habitual Palsie depends upon a Procatartick cause which is always an extraneous and as it were a Vitriolick matter begotten somewhere before and heaped up which being from thence suffused into the organs of sense and motion for that it stops up the marrowy or nervous Tracts or sometimes profligates the Spirits by mere contact or effects both together brings forth loosenings in the respective parts by reason of the influence of the Spirits being deny'd them This kind of Procatarxis or foregoing Cause depends upon a twofold antecedent or secret leading cause to wit one remote which is a vicious Blood carrying to the Head a Morbific matter either begotten in it self or taken from the Bowels or some other place and the other more near which is an indisposed Brain to wit weak and too lax or loose or otherways evilly made and so easily admitting heterogeneous or strange and deadly Particles The Morbific matter being brought to the Brain sometimes induces the Palsie primarily but more often secondarily and not but after other Diseases first excited The reason of the former to wit that the habitual Palsie be a primary Disease and by it self requires these two things viz. That the heterogeneous Particles be disposed chiefly for the causing or stirring up the Palsie then that they be admitted by degrees and but in small quantity for if they enter in great heaps they would first cause the Carus or Apoplexy and if they be not of a plain Vitriolick nature or quality when having passed thorow the Brain they come to enter into the organs of Sense and Motion they would first occasion in them Convulsive and painful Distempers yea sometimes the Colick Gout or Scurvy first and then at length the Palsie 2. The secondary Palsie often succeeds Distempers for the most part Chronical after the natural and vital faculties being by them very much hurt a slow and long Feavour strength being at length worn out causes oftentimes enervations or resolutions of the whole Body or of some Members Long and immoderate sadness a Consumption a Scorbutick Atrophy or wasting being long fixed in Bed unhealthy old Age yea and many other passions after a notable evil first brought to the Brain and nervous Stock at length brings on the Palsie But indeed this Disease more frequently comes upon some other Distempers either of the Brain as chiefly the Carus and Apoplexy or of the nervous stock and such chiefly are the Scurvy Convulsions Colick and Gout By what means it succeeds Cephalick Diseases we have already shewed in this and how the Scurvy in another tract we shall now inquire how it is often the off-spring of the other three 1. We have shewn already that the Spasme or Cramp or Convulsion doth sometimes bring in the Palsie to wit when from contrary or opposite Muscles being one of them loosened and the other pulled together Further it is an usual thing for those who are long obnoxious to Convulsive Distempers to suffer at length debilities in some members and at length resolutions or want of motion I
have known many Epileptical persons and others troubled with Convulsions by reason of the motive function being abolished or inhibited in this or that part to become at first lame and then Bed-rid the reason of which seems to be because the Morbific matter being continually admitted within the tracts of the Brain and its appendix both medullar and nervous and often thrust forth doth at length so debilitate and dilate them so that it gives an open passage besides to other kind of Particles either Narcotick or Vitriolick by reason of which the Palsie comes after the Convulsion Further I have often observed by reason of the diverse mingling of the Morbific matter like as when Rain and Snow happen together that the sick have at once been infested both with Convulsive motions and the Palsie A notable example of this with the reason of it we have fully described in our Tract of Convulsive Diseases Chap. IX p. 115. 2. They who are frequently and grievously obnoxious to the Colick at length become also Paralytick The case is so frequent here that the succession of this Disease is accounted among its prognosticks for those who are wont to suffer cruel fits of torments in the Belly returning by intervals or are troubled with pains about the Viscera of the Abdomen cruel and almost continual at length have wandring pains in their Body and Members and then afterwards stupors or numness and lastly resolutions or want of motion The cause of these effects proceeds both from the seat of the Disease and the Morbific matter being changed to wit this which being very small but sharp and irritative runs only into the Sphlanchnick Nerves and so by reason of the Fibres of the Viscera being pulled did stir up in them Cramps and pains afterwards becoming more copious and also duller and Narcotick pours down thorow the Spinal Marrow and entering into the Nerves destinated to these or those Members or Muscles brings forth resolutions in the respective parts We shall more largely shew the reason of this when we treat of the Colick It is a very ordinary observation that the Palsie comes upon the Gout frequently in the Members obnoxious to it the reason of it is easily known forasmuch as in this sickness the Morbific matter is twofold and doth depose salt and as it were lixivial Particles thorow the Arteries and as we suppose others sourish or acetosous to come to them by the Nerves as shall be more largely shown hereafter it is no wonder if that at length other sorts of Particles become companions to them by other beaten ways and at length either by filling or by compressing obstruct the very small passages of the Spirits As to what belongs to the evident causes of the Palsie to wit for what fore-causes or occasions those disposed to this Disease contract it the sooner or that having been taken with it already are yet wont to be more grievously tormented I say whatsoever doth more vitiate the Blood also those things that stop up the Brain and its nervous appendix or stir up suffusions of the Morbific matter in it also what do inflict a Narcosis or stupefaction to the Spirits or lessen their numbers may be brought hither In this rank first occur the disorders in the six non-naturals an evil manner of living drinking thin clear Wine or strong hot liquors too much sleep or too untimely an idle and sedentary life immoderate Venus too much loss of blood a moist Air or Marshie dwelling an House new Plastered Metalick fumes and vapors frequent use of Narcoticks or stupefying Medicines or too much taking Tobacco excess of cold heat or moisture vehement and long passions of sadness or fear with many others all which we have not here leasure to recite Thus much concerning the Palsie in which the loco-motive faculty is abolished or lost or very much hindered by reason of the ways of the Spirits being obstructed and themselves affected with a certain stupefaction in the whole or in the respective parts There follows another kind of this Disease depending upon the want and fewness of Spirits in which although motion be not deficient in any part or member wholly yet it is not performed by any but weakly and depravedly only For though the distemper'd are free from want of motion they are not able however to move their members strongly or to bear any weight moreover in every motive indeavour they labour with a trembling of their limbs which is only a defect of debility and of a broken strength in the motive power For when strength is wanting for the lifting up of any member firmly and at one essay or endeavour Nature flagging acts with a more often repeated tryal or endeavour and so the part being in motion is compelled as it were to shake and tremble To which happens that when the nervous Fibres flagging or growing weak they are not able to sustain the Tonick endeavour or the stiffness in the Animal regiment and these endeavouring or striving to exert or put forth their utmost power enter into motions as it were Convulsive and reiterate them perpetually Wherefore in some Paralyticks there is always a trembling and shaking in all the limbs Those who thus become Paralytick by the paucity or want of Spirits and so from their small or diminished dispensation into the nervous System are made obnoxious to such a Distemper by reason of various causes and occasions First Extream or unhealthy old age or immoderate loss of blood or the genital humor induce this kind of Paralytick disposition in many men to wit because from the wasted blood and almost liveless there is stilled forth into the Brain but a very small stock or provision of Animal Spirits Secondly Almost for the same reason the loco-motive faculty grows weak or fails in persons greatly Scorbutick and such as are full of indigested juice for such not being fit for any strong exercise go infirmly and weakly and are very much tired by any long or swift walking further by any more heavy endeavour they suffer often times a numness in their limbs with an impotency of moving them For indeed the bloody Mass is in these very watry and stuft with impurities and for that the Brain being weak and loose as to its Pores admits easily all sorts of filthinesses into it self wherefore fewer Animal Spirits being only created and those not clear and subtil but dull and hindred by the adhesion of a more thick matter although there is not always an obstruction of the ways or a Narcotick disposition they are not able to unfold themselves into motive endeavours Thirdly Not only Scorbutical persons but also many others hardly and long growing well from some Chronical Disease are distemper'd with Members very much loosened from their due vigor and strength and with a languishing of their Limbs that though they are well in their stomach and have a good and laudable Pulse and Urine yet they are
or other Distempers of the Brain or nervous System if it be not in a short time altered for the better or gives not place to Medicines it remains for the most part incureable 3. If that a total resolution follows from a total obstruction in the beginning of the oblong Marrow or from the Back-bone being vehemently hurt and that sense and motion are both taken away the Distemper is hardly or scarce at all to be Cured 4. Those who are once cured of a Palsie arising from an evident solitary cause do not so easily relapse into the same as when the Disease depends upon a procatartick cause 5. A Palsie happening to men of years to Cacochymical very Scorbutical and intemperate persons although the Distemper be not very great is difficultly Cured As the Palsies are manifold and are from diverse causes so the Cure is not to be instituted always after one manner but after a various method to wit appropriate to every kind of this Disease For the most part there are these three kinds of it or rather there are three means of healing of which there ought to be had concerning the Cure of this Disease now this now that or now another to wit because resolution whatever or in what place soever it be is either caused 1. from an external accident as a stroke a fall a wound excess of cold or the like suddenly Or 2. It succeeds to some other Distemper as the Apoplexy Carus Colick or a long Feavour Or 3. It is primary and a Disease by it self by degrees excited and depending upon a procatartick cause or a previous provision Concerning each of these we shall speak particularly 1. Therefore when the Palsie is caused by reason of some accident with a vehement hurt there are not many intentions of healing but only that the part hurt may recover its pristine conformation And first of all that the Blood and other humors flowing to it being weak and distemper'd and staying there might not increase the hurt Phlebotomy is most requisite in this case and presently to be celebrated then the belly being made slippery by the use of Clysters and a slender dyet if the matter requires it let there be instituted either easily digested meats or moderate Hydroticks or water meats to wit that whilst the sick is kept in bed he may continue in a gentle sweat that all the superfluities may copiously exhale from the hurt part and that the Spirits being gently agitated may repeat their former ways and tracts within those Pores and passages so unlocked by the warm Effluvia's For this end the Powder ad Casum described in the Augustan Pharmacopoea or as it is in ours is of common use let there be given of Irish Slate to the quantity of about a dram in a draught of white Wine warm'd or of Posset-drink made of it and repeated every six or eight hours Besides if there be at hand the Decoctum Traumaticum let it be taken ever now and then frequently in Posset-drink or a Decoction of the Roots of Madder or of Butter-bur or of St. Iohns-wort Flowers Further in the mean time let the distemper'd part be carefully lookt to which may be easily known partly from the hurt inflicted and partly from the loosened members If there be any thing dislocated in it you must take care that as soon as it can it may be put again in its place if a Tumor Contusion or a wound be excited they are to be succour'd by Balsams Liniments Stuphes or Fomentations or Pultesses But if nothing preternatural appears outwardly let a Plaster of Oxycrocium and of Red-lead each alike what will suffice be laid upon it and let the sick be kept quiet and in a moderate heat for three or four days If the resolution remains confirmed and the afflux of new matter be not feared let more resolving and discussing Remedies be applied to the distemper'd places wherefore make use of Fomentations and hotter Oyntments yea natural Baths if they are at hand or at least artificial Sometimes it may be expedient for the distemper'd Members to be wrapped in Horse-dung or in warm grains and to be kept so for some time and lastly between whiles besides the use of these to add Clysters and gentle Purges But if no help follows these administrations the sick ought then to be handled with the like long method and with the same Remedies as those that have an habitual Palsie or any other coming upon other Diseases and confirmed which means of Cure for every common Palsie more deeply rooted shall be shewed anon 2. When the Palsie coming upon a Feavour Apoplexy Carus or other Cephalick or Convulsive Diseases is greatly and suddenly excited first the Physician ought to endeavour the taking away of the conjunct cause which hath almost ever its seat in the oblong or spinal Marrow Wherefore at the beginning of the Disease Blood-letting and Purging if nothing shews the contrary Clysters Vesicatories Cupping-glasses Sneezing Powders Oyntments and other administrations used in Cephalick Diseases to wit which by any means may shake off or pull away the deadly matter fixed to the Medullary Trunk or to the little heads of the Nerves coming from it are to be made use of If that at first the force of Medicine effects nothing within fifteen or twenty days for that the Distemper is radicated and become habitual it must be expunged by a long method and equally by preservatory as well as curatory Indications of which we shall speak anon 3. The habitual Palsie depending upon a procatartick cause whether it be in fieri or in disposition or whether it be made or in the nest or bird either requires a peculiar means of healing There are two chief causes of the former in both which the Curatory Method respecting only the fore-leading Causes is designed after the like manner to wit whether any falling dangerously ill of the Palsie or growing well of it relapses into danger the same Remedies almost are to be insisted on The intentions therefore of healing are First That the offices of Chilification and of making of Blood be rightly performed and matter for the procreating the Animal Spirits be supplied both laudable and sufficient to the Head then Secondly That the Brain being still firm and well made the heterogeneous Particles being excluded it may admit all that are fitting and rightly exalt then into Animal Spirits For these ends I think convenient to propose the following method which ought to be varied according to the various constitutions of the sick In Spring and Fall that they enter into the ordinary course of Physick yea the whole year besides some Remedis are in constant use Blood-letting is not always convenient to all men But though we forbid this it is not for the same reason with the Ancients supposing the Palsie to be a cold Disease but because the Animal Spirits are both procreated out of the Blood and
become also Elastick in the motional Fibres by reason of the bloody Copula therefore if plenty of this be taken away they grow weak and deficient Which thing indeed I have observed in many and for the most part languishings and tremblings to have been begun in the Arm out of which the blood had been taken However in some indued with a sharp and hot blood and apt to flame forth too much though disposed to the Palsie it is sometimes convenient to let blood a little and sparingly About the Aequinox a Purge ought to be instituted and after due times between to be iterated three or four times But first if nothing oppose let a Vomit be given of the Salt of Vitriol Sulphur of Antimony or an Infusion of Crocus Metallorum or of Mercurius Vitae then let there be taken Pills of Amber or of Aloephanginae by it self or with the Resine of Ialap every seventh or eighth day At other times we prescribe Cephalick Remedies such as in the sleepy Diseases viz. Electuaries Powders Spirits and Volatile Salts Tinctures Elixirs with distilled Waters and Apozems sometimes these sometimes those or others Let Issues be made in the Arm or Leg yea in fat people and such as are full of ill humors in both together or between the shoulders Let them drink all the year medicated Beer of Sage Betony Stechades Sassafrass Wood and Winterines Bark Wine and Women ought to be forbidden or but moderately to be used If that the Palsie be excited after a previous disposition either of one side or in some members and that it still continues notwithstanding the first attempt of Medicine a long and complicated method is always requisite and oftentimes doth not suffice for not only the Disease or its conjunct cause or its foregoing severally but all together ought to be opposed for which ends Phlebotomy being for the most part interdicted only a gentle Purge and rarely is convenient Besides some chief Cephalick Medicines and Antiscorbuticks are wont to help against the foregoing cause of this Disease But all of this sort are not convenient to all yea as we have observed in the Scurvey according to the various Constitutions of the Sick there are also Remedies of a diverse kind and virtue For to Cholerick Paralyticks to wit in whose sharp and hot Blood there is much of Salt and Sulphur and very little of Serum the more hot Medicines and indued with very active Particles are not agreeable yea are often hurtful which things notwithstanding are very profitable to Phlegmatick persons whose Blood is colder and contains much of Serum and but few active Elements Wherefore for this twofold state or condition of sick persons it seems convenenient that we institute here a double Method of Cure and two classes of Medicines of which these may be given to cold Parlyticks and those to the hot In the former case for the taking away the Procatartick cause after Vomiting and Purging being rightly instituted I was wont to prescribe according to these following forms Take of the Conserves of the leaves of the Garden Scurvy-grass of Rocket made with an equal part of Sugar each three ounces of Ginger Candied in India half an ounce of the rinds of Oranges and Lemons Candied each six drams of the Powder of the Claws and Eyes of Crabs each four scruples of the Species of Diambre two drams of Winterens Bark one dram and a half of the Roots of Zedoary the lesser Galingal of Cubebs the Seeds of Water-Cresses Rocket each one dram of the Spirits of Scurvy-grass Laevender each two drams of the Syrup of Candied Ginger what will suffice to make an Electuary Take of it about the quantity of a Walnut at eight of the Clock in the Morning and at five in the Afternoon drinking after it a pint of the following Decoction warm or Coffee with the leaves of Sage boiled in it six ounces of or â—per Wine three ounces Take of the shavings of Lignum Sanctum six ounces of Sarsaparilla and of Sassaphras each four ounces of white and yellow Sanders of the shavings of Ivory of Harts-horn each half an ounce infuse them according to art and boil them in sixteen pints of Spring water till half be consumed adding of Crude Antimony in Powder and tyed in a rag four ounces of the Root of the Aromatick Reed of the lesser Galingal each half an ounce of the Florentine Iris one ounce of Cardamums six drams of Coriander Seeds half an ounce six Dates make a Decoction to be used for ordinary drink Going to sleep and first in the morning let a Dose of the Spirits of Sut or Harts-horn or of Armoniacal Amber or of Blood c. be taken with three ounces of the following distilled water Take of the leaves or roots of Aron one pound of the leaves of Garden Scurvey-grass of the greater Rocket of Rosemary Sage Savory Thyme four handfuls of the Flowers of Lavender three handfuls the outer rinds of ten Oranges and six Lemons of Winterans Bark three ounces of the roots of the lesser Galingal of Calamus Aromaticus the Florentine Iris each two ounces of Cubebs Cloves Nutmegs each two ounces all being cut and bruised pour to them of white Wine and of Brunswick Beer or Mum each four pints distil it in common Stills and let all the liquor be mixed together Sometimes in the place of the Electuary may be taken for fifteen or twenty days a Dose of the Tincture of Sulphur Turpentined of the Tincture of Antimony or of Amber Also sometimes Elixir Proprietatis or of Poeony let them be taken in a spoonful of distilled Water drinking after it three ounces of the same Also sometimes the following Powders or Lozenges may be taken by turns in the medical course Take of the Powder of Vipers flesh of Monpillier prepared one ounce of the hearts and livers of the same half an ounce of Species Diambre two ounces make a Powder take one dram once or twice a day with the distilled Water three ounces or with Viper Wine with a Decoction of the leaves of Sage of the root and seeds of the Burdock and the Candied roots of Eringo made of Spring-water what will suffice and boiled to one moiety six or eight ounces in the Morning warm expecting to sweat after it Take of Bezoartick Mineral Solar half an ounce of Cloves powdered two drams mingle them make a Powder and divide it into twelve parts let one be taken after the same manner twice in a day between these kind of Remedies gentle purging may be often used Take of the Powder of the picked roots of Zedoary the lesser Galingal each half a dram of Species Diambre one dram of the Powder of the seeds of Mustard Rocket Scurvygrass Water-Cresses each half a dram make of them all a fine Powder add to it of the Oyl of the purest Amber half a dram and with white Sugar dissolved
conjunct cause yea and do not always drive forward but pull back the matter impacted in the Nerves do greatly shake and often break it in bits so that when the continuity of the heap is broken the Animal Spirits themselves easily dissipate the Particles of the Morbific matter loosened one from another We have before mentioned another reason of the help of Emeticks in the Sleepy Disease which also may have a place in the Palsie Instances and examples of Paralyticks are so ordinarily and almost daily met with that their various Types and Histories would fill a Volume if they should be described Wherefore I shall only add here some few and more rare ones to wit one or two by which the chief kinds of this Disease may be illustrated For as it will be little to the purpose to describe the resolutions of members excited by outward accident as from a fall wound or stroke I shall insist only on those cases where the Palsie either arises by its self after a previous disposition or comes upon some other Disease Some time since a certain Gentleman strong and well flesh'd and beyond the tenth lustre of his age almost ever healthful at length being given to a sedentary and idle life and from thence becoming more dull and heavy than usual refused any exercise and more hard motion of the body moreover he was wont to be melancholick and sad upon any light occasion yea sometimes to break forth into weeping and tears without any manifest occasion This man a little after which I also observed in many others was distemper'd with an imbecillity and trembling of all his members and then with a resolution of the lower parts to which Disease for that he was melancholick and soon weary of Medicines he gave himself up as overcome and by degrees being made more weak and languishing he dyed within six months I remember many others but especially two committed to our Cure who were highly ingenious and very learned in the former part of their life but afterwards in their declining age partly through the evil disposition of the body and partly through the perturbation of the mind became dull â—nd forgetful and after that notwithstanding the use of the Remedies in the beginning of the Disease Paralytick In these kind of cases first the Brain it self as to its temper and make seems to be so weakened that the Spirits inhabiting it becoming torpid and wandring out of their tracts did not rightly perform the acts of Memory and Imagination then by reason of their failure and disorders in their first spring or fount which are not enough taken notice of till they become uncureable there is a necessity that an impotency or an eclipse of the motive faculty should succeed in the nervous appendix But the Cure of these Distempers as often as they are excited from such an occasion is ever very difficult because the antecedent cause is hardly or scarce ever taken away A young man of a Sanguine temper ingenious and for the most part healthy sitting in a Chair after a large supper and immoderate drinking of Wine was so distemper'd with a numness or stupidity in his right hand that his Gloves which he held in it fell of themselves out of his hand then getting up and endeavouring to walk he felt a resolution or loosening in his Thigh and Leg of the same side and a little afterwards falling into a certain hebetude or dulness of mind and stupefaction yet without an Apoplexy for he was still himself answering aptly to questions asked him though but slowly and with difficulty and doing those things that were bid him Presently a skilful Physician being sent for Phlebotomy Vomiting and Purging were celebrated in order Cupping-Glasses Scarification Oyntments Frictions and other fit administrations were carefully applied Nevertheless the Palsie increased that besides the motion of his members on the right side being taken away he also lost the sight of that eye yet still being stupefied and sleepy he was compos mentis and knew his Friends and being conscious of his infirmity and solicitous for the recovering his health he took all remedies were given him but notwithstanding all this the animal functions daily more and more languished and at length by their consent the vital so that about the seventh or the eighth day from thence falling sometimes into a Delirium and sometimes into Convulsions or other distractions of the Animal Spirits his strength being at length quite lost he yielded to Death His Head being opened the anterior cavity of the Brain was filled partly with Ichorous Blood partly concreted and in clodders or gobbets with plenty of Serum Hence as it is easie to conceive from this deluge pressing upon one of the Streaked bodies and binding up its Pores and Passages the flowing of the Spirits into the nervous appendix of that side was hindred and for that reason the resolution in the respective members was excited and because of the optick chamber where it is inserted into the Streaked Body being also pressed together the Eye of that side lost its sight further because the Callous Body chambring that den was somewhat pressed by the heaped matter from thence the hebetude and stupefaction of the chief functions of the soul were excited yet without their subversion or inordination By reason of the evil being fixed on the substance of the Brain and the Spirits inhabiting it these sorts of Distempers do proceed and not from the impletion of the Ventricle as appears clear enough by this instance and by what we have elsewhere mentioned A Servant to a certain Nobleman being about forty years of Age indued with a sharp Blood and Cholerick temperament and for some time obnoxious to the Vertigo whilst he was riding in the Country to a certain Village being taken suddenly with a dizziness in the Head he fell upon the ground headlong and being instantly taken up by the inhabitants and put to bed he lay for many hours insensible and as if dead But afterward being awakened he felt an universal Palsie and all his members loosened on both sides Visiting this Man the day after I took from him presently about twelve ounces of Blood and prescribed forthwith some other Remedies both outward administrations and also inward Medicines to be carefully given him and indeed with good success for after five or six days he began to bend and stretch forth his hands and feet yea though slowly to move them about hither and thither then by the constant use of Remedies within two months he was able to rise up to stand on his feet and to walk a little with the help of Crutches then using at home for some time daily a temperate artificial Bath he got strength and motion by degrees in his members at length as soon as the season of the year served going to the Bath within a fortnights time by the use of the Baths he grew perfectly well and leaving his
inkindled in the Lungs or doth it burn with a plentiful and enough clear flame within the passages of the Heart and its vessels but is apt to be repressed and almost blown out with every blast of wind Hence when that the vital flame is so small and languishing that it shakes and trembles at every motion it is no wonder if that the Melancholick person is as it were with a sinking and half overthrown mind always sad and fearful By reason of this kind of saltish Dyscrasie of the Blood Melancholicks rarely have a Feavour yet being taken with it by reason of the irregular burning of the Blood they are more in danger No less doth it come to pass by the fault of the Heart that Melancholick persons become sad and fearful by reason of the course of the Blood being retarded and called back from thence for because that Muscle is actuated but with an inflowing of weak and enormous Spirits it cannot perform its contractions strongly enough and constantly whereby the Blood may be driven forward into the whole body without stop or leaping back So the Blood and the Animal Spirits affect one another mutually with a reciprocal evil and bring hurt one to the other That is the Melancholick Blood consisting of Saline Particles carried forth together with Sulphureous begets Animal Spirits indued with an Acetous nature as hath been shown and these Spirits wrongly performing the offices of the Vital Function cause such an evil disposition of the Blood to be increased Thus much of Melancholy in general viz. of its Essence Conjunct Causes and chief Symptoms together with the reasons of them Before we proceed to the kinds and differences of this Disease we ought to explain from what kind of causes both Procatartick and Evident it is wont to arise and to be cherished and first from whence either part of the Soul viz. both Animal and Vital doth acquire their morbid dispositions First we say the former of these to be Acetous like to the Spirit of Vitriol or Vinegar and this to be Salino sulphureous or Atrabilary or Melancholick further as the one doth cherish the other so they at first beget one another For sometimes Melancholy beginning and for a long time persisting from the Animal Spirits being disturbed and driven into a certain confusion causes the Melancholick disposition of the Blood and sometimes also the Blood at first contracting this evil disposition perverts the nature of the Spirits That Melancholy doth very often arise from the Animal Government every common body doth sufficiently note to wit forasmuch as the Animal Spirits conceive inordinations from violent passions of the mind in which when they remain long they bend the whole Soul yea and the Body from their due temper and constitution So especially destroying Love vehement sadness panick fears envy shame care and immoderate study are wont oftentimes to excite this Distemper For by reason of these kinds of occasions the Animal Spirits being thrust down beyond their wonted paths of expansion and remaining in their error by reason of the assiduity of Passion at last they go into these deviating tracts which afterwards observing they are hardly reduced into their former due ways Then forasmuch as for that reason the motion and vigoration of the Heart as hath been shewed is lessened therefore the Blood is defective in its due temper and sanguification and is from thence made more fixed and Salino-sulphureous and the Animal Spirits coming from it are but degenerate into a sourness and so the Blood being depraved by the latter encreases to the Melancholick disposition begun from the Spirits No less often doth it come to pass that the seeds of Melancholy being at first laid in the Blood do at length impart their evil to the Spirits For this reason some are made obnoxious to this Disease from their Parents But an inordinate living long intermission of wonted exercise usual evacuations as of the Menstrual Blood or the Piles or bleeding at the Haemorrhoidal Veins also the Seed or the Serous Matter being suddenly suppressed and many other occasions easily infect and foul the Blood and render it Melancholick whose depraved disposition is of necessity communicated to the Spirits But we cannot here yield to what some Physicians affirm that Melancholy doth arise from a Melancholick humor somewhere primarily and of it self begotten and they assign for its birth several places to wit the Brain Spleen Womb and the whole habit of the Body for besides for that no such mines of such an humor appear unless perhaps some be planted in the Spleen moreover the Blood it self is it which conceives at first the Melancholick intemperance or any other by it self and then deposes the Recrements of the same nature in proper emunctories or receptacles For neither is the yellow Bile or Choler laid up in the Gall-Bladder or the black Bile so called or Melancholick humor in the Spleen unless the bloody Mass begets those humors before hand If at any time these or other Recrements being any where laid up are received of the Blood they produce its effervescency or growing hot but not presently or easily its intemperature Therefore because sometimes the original of Melancholy is ascribed to the Head and the intemperature of the Brain from these to wit too hot and accused to be from those too cold I rather think it ought to be affirmed that this Distemper doth sometimes at first begin from the Brain and the Soul dwelling in it because Hippocrates also plainly asserts it 6 Epidem Sect. 8. T. 58. For distinguishing Epileptical and Melancholick persons beings made so together or else successively as to the formal reasons of the Diseases he saith The defluxion which floweth from the Brain from the ill affection state or temperament thereof if it flows into the Body causeth the Falling-sickness if into the cogitation or the mind Melancholy So in Melancholy he grants the Soul distinctly and as it were apart from the Body or Brain to be affected Secondly Because sometimes the original of this Disease is deduced from the Womb it is not to be thought that the Melancholick humor is there at first generated but the occasion of Melancholy doth proceed from thence either bacause the whole Blood being infected and made degenerate by reason of a stoppage of the Menstrua strives to go into a Melancholy Dyscrasie or intemperature or because by reason of the provocations of Venus or Lust being restrained not without great reluctancy of the Corporeal Soul the Animal Spirits being for a long time forced and restrained become at length more fixed and Melancholick Thirdly It is a common opinion and also ours that sometimes Melancholy is either primarily excited or very much cherished from the Spleen being evilly affected and so from thence is called by a peculiar word Hypochondriack as we have shewed at large in another Tract of Convulsive Diseases But the Blood is first in fault begetting in
in a proper Broth. Take of the Syrup of Steel four ounces take of it one spoonful twice in a day in a proper Vehicle Take of the Extract of Steel of our Steel prepared with a proper Decoction three drams of the Powder of Ivory of yellow Saunders of Lignum Aloes each half a dram of the Salt of Tartar two scruples of Ammoniacum dissolved in the Water of Worms what will suffice to make a mass let it be made into small Pills let three or four be taken every Evening drinking after it three ounces of the water of Apples or of Cowslip flowers Whey if it agrees with the stomach being drunk very plentifully for many days for the same reason as Spaw-waters viz. by washing out the Salt and Sulphureous particles of the Melancholick blood is often given with success Whey with Epithimum infused in it or boiled in it is highly praised by some Let Broths be made of a boiled Pullet with the roots of Polypodium Chervil Fenil Butchers Broom and the leaves of Ceterach Harts Tongue Scolopendria c. take a draught of it in the Morning and at five of the Clock in the Afternoon in which dissolve of the Vitriol of Steel six grains to ten of the Salt of Wormwood and of the Cream of Tartar each a scruple The Iuices of Herbs and their expressions bring sometimes notable help to the taking away the Discrasâ—e of the Blood Take of the leaves of Borage of Water-Cresses each six handfuls two Apples pared the Pulp of two Oranges and of white Sugar one ounce let them be all bruised together and pour to them of the best Cyder a pint and an half make an expression very strongly and let it be kept in a glass The Dose is four ounces twice or thrice in a day In the summer time a Bath of sweet water for that it wipes away the filth impacted in the Pores of the skin and moves transpiration insensibly is very profitable to some Because Melancholick persons sleep but badly and from long and frequent waking become worse therefore Anodynes and sometimes the more gentle Hypnoticks when there is need may be prescribed to be taken late at night for this end are convenient a Decoction of Cowslip flowers or of the leaves of Lettice or the water of red Poppies or the Syrup of the same Further Emulsions of the Seeds of the white Poppy of the Syrup de Meconio and others that are only agreeable and cherishing of the Spirits As there is an infinite Company of Melancholicks as well as of Fools therefore we shall illustrate our Hypothesis with two Examples only in one of which the Disease begins from the sensitive part of the Soul or the Animal Spirits and the other from its Vital part to wit from the Blood Sometime since a noted person about forty years of Age of a florid countenance chearful and nimble about any business being afflicted in his mind by reason of a certain affair and very much dejected he became thereupon very sad Melancholick and with a dark and cast down countenance When I went first to visit him he complained of a manifold hurry and distraction of thoughts which were so many that he was busâ—ed in his Phantasie almost night and day continually he lived without any sleep Nor were these cares concerning the commonweal or the proper business of his Family nor about the health of his Soul or of his Body was he at all solicitous but was rather troubled perpetually about small matters and of no moment He was so fearful of all things that he presaged loss or death immediately to happen to him upon every small accident And lastly he was so sad as if he would contend in weeâ—â—â—â— with Heraclitus Further he laboured with such a straitness of Heart and so gâ—â—â—â— a constriction that he seemed to feel all his Praecordia to be drawn together like a Purse and he thought that there still lay there an immense burthen and mighty weight under which he imagined he could not go unless stopping towards the Earth Whilst he talked and discoursed with his Friends this constriction of the Praecordia and the weight did somewhat remit but then again they were wont to be repeated more vehemently shaking for fear at any unaccustomed object Nor did he labour only in his Praecordia but with a certain constriction in his whole Body besides and as if a certain burthen lay on the region of his Loins and also on his shoulders and arms The reasons of these Symptoms are clear enough from our Hyphothesis As to the Cure after various Medicines being given without any success I at last perswaded because it was then Summer time that she should drink of our Artificial Spaw Waters for a fortnight Therefore first two quarts of Spring-water being poured upon half a dram of our prepared Steel for a night and afterwards as much in four quarts of water the sick man every morning drunk the clear liquor and within four or five hours he rendered the greatest part of it by Urine He took besides going to sleep and early in the morning a Dose of an appropriate Electuary such as is above described with a Cephalick Iulep within two months he became much better and afterwards by degrees returned to himself Whilst I was writing these a young Noble man being lately returned from his Travels beyond Sea and becoming unhealthy put himself upon our care This person being formerly indued with a Sanguine and chearful temperament splendid in his appearance as also with an acute wit and of a ready ingenuity whilst he travelled in the Countries abroad but one Summer living in Spain he felt a great alteration in himself from the great heats in that place for first of all from the frequent heatings of his Blood he became obnoxious to an heat arising in the palms of his hands and in the bottoms of his feet with prickings over all his body which in a short time vanished Then he found him self very bad as to his Appetite and Sleep moreover being dull and sad he began not to mind yea sometimes to avoid any pleasant business or the converse of his Friends At length his indisposition daily increasing without any evident cause or real trouble of mind he became Melancholick so that being ever thoughtful fearful and sad nothing could delight him for his studies exercises travelling conversation with learned men or any other thing which he before delighted in now became to him a trouble and a terror After this manner being distemper'd for two years he was so changed from himself as if he were another Man For his Cure he had consulted the most skilful Physicians in Spain France and Holland and lastly in England and had tryed several methods of healing almost without any benefit The Melancholick distemper of his blood at first contracted by the intemperature of the Air still remaining and afforded to the Animal regiment Spirits
It easily occurs if the reason of these be inquired into that the Latex watering the Brain and nervous Appendix doth contain in it self together with a subtil Spirit great plenty of volatile Salt Therefore when this is so depraved that the Spirit being depressed the Saline Particles degenerate into a flux and acquire to themselves little Sulphureous bodies it becomes plainly Corrosive and Stygian Wherefore malignant humors and Ulcers chiefly happen in the nervous parts and their Emunctories and there are excited upon any light occasion as when a small hurt happens to the Breast of a Woman a Cancer follows because indeed the nervous humor being hindred somewhere in its passage doth there stagnate presently the Spirit being depressed or flying away the Saline Particles degenerating from a volatile to a four nature get to themselves soon after strange companions and snatching either Eartâ—y or Sulphureous little bodies or of some other kind begin to congeal into Sâ—â—â—hous Strumous or Cancrous Tumors And when after this manner by the stagnating of the nervous Liquor and by its getting an heterogeneous concretion the Mine of a Tumor is blown up in some part and the supplements of the same liquor are continually perverted into the like nature of viciousness to which also happen the Melancholâ—ck impurities poured forth from the Blood and other humors which with their joined forces encrease the rage even as when diverse Salts and Sulphurs are destilled together and constitute in the distemper'd part a Septick matter and like to the Escharotick or crusting up of Stygian Water According to this reasoning or Aetiology the irregularities of these kind of Tumors as also the appearance of the Kings-Evil are most aptly unfolded If that the nervous Liquor so corrosive and made degenerate doth not grow into Tumors flowing into the nervous Fibres it is wont to cause here and there most cruel Pains and Cramps But as this Liquor of the Nerves being depraved after this manner stirs up the aforefaid Distempers in the nervous parts so it is not difficult to conceive that the same water for that it is for a Vehicle of the Animal Spirits flowing in the Brain doth acquire together with those Spirits a Corrosive and as it were a Stygian nature and for that reason excites Madness The depravation of the Animal Spirits together with the juice watering the Brain or the disposition of Madness is wont to arise after various ways and for diverse causes but truly for the most part this Distemper as we have observed of Melancholy begins either from the Spirits themselves or else from the Blood First Madness beginning from the Spirits arises sometimes from an evident solitary cause as a violent Passion sometimes also it proceeds from a foregoing cause lying in the Brain as when it comes upon Melancholy or a Phrensie We shall a little weigh the reasons of either case and the various manner of their being made 1. As to the former when a vehement affection puts any one besides himself that happens to be made thus either because the Animal Spirits are too much overthrown and hurried into confusion or because they are elevated above measure and endeavour to stretch themselves forth beyond their sphere First The Spirits are wont to be cast down by a violent and terrible Passion so it often happens that some being struck with a panick fear by seeing a true or an imaginary Spectre or Ghost afterwards fall into a perpetual Madness Further some by reason of some notable disgrace or repulse others by reason of their hopes of obtaining their Love being suddenly and unthought of frustrated and others by reason of a rash breaking their oaths or vows and violated Conscience being first highly troubled in mind anon become Mad. The reason of which is because the Animal Spirits being driven beyond their orders and wonted passages and put into confusion do make for themselves new and devious ways which entring into immediately they bring forth delirious Phantasms in the mean time the Saline Particles of the nervous juice the spirituous being depressed depart from their volatileness and suffering a flux assume to themselves the Sulphureous little bodies poured forth from the Blood into the then weak and open Brain From whence this Liquor being most sharp like Stygian Water and the Animal Spirits becoming fierce and very much incited become furious Secondly Sometimes the Animal Spirits whilst they are too much elevated almost after the same manner induce both to themselves and the nervous juice the mad disposition Hence Ambition Pride and Emulation have made some mad the reason of which is because whilst the Corporeal Soul swelling up with an opinion and pride of its own excellency lifts up it self and endeavours on every side to expand or stretch it self forth most amply beyond the border or sphere of its body the Animal Spirits being tumultuarily called into the Head will not be contained within their wonted bounds but being there broken and diversly reflected by reason of their too much excretion are compelled into new and plainly devious tracts wherefore both they being thrust forth from the course of their proper emanation and also the nervous Liquor do quickly acquire a sharp and incitative Disposition as was said but now for that reason Madness follows Thus much concerning Madness excited by reason of a solitary evident cause but this Disease doth also arise from a Procatartick cause preexisting in the Brain and chiefly from Melancholy or the Phrensie going before in that the Animal Spirits with the nervous juice being a little more exalted and in this a little more depressed acquire the disposition of Madness As to the former it is a vulgar observation that sudden and great Melancholy is for the most part next to Madness the reason of which is because when the Animal Spirits together with the nervous liquor degenerate into a sourness are perverted there only wants the accession of Sulphur by which they afterwards getting a Stygian nature may induce Madness as when an acid Liquor distilled out of Vitriol or Salt by the addition of Sal Nitrosus becomes Aqua fortis but indeed in a great passion of Melancholy because the Spirits being disturbed the passages of the Brain are too open the Sulphureous Particles carried from the Bilous and Rancid Blood find an easie entrance and so the former sour or acid disposition turns into a Stygian or Maddish Hence it is observed if any one of a more hot temperament falls into a Melancholick Delirium with fear and sadness forasmuch as the Sulphureous Particles in its humors are joyned to the Salts being depressed into a flux that sadness and thinking at the beginning very readily a short time after becomes madness Secondly for that also a Phrensie often ends in Madness the reason is almost the same with the former but inverted to wit because in a Phrensie the Spirits and the nervous Liquor becoming Sulphureous
and too much inflamed afterwards burning forth get to themselves Saline Particles and so in like matter get a most sharp and as it were a Stygian nature wherefore the Feavour then ceasing the Fury becomes fixed and continual 2. The disposition of Madness hath no less frequently its roots in the bloody Mass and is at length produced into act to wit when as the Blood being depraved and becomes Nitro-sulphureous it either perverts the nervous Liquor as also the Animal Spirits or supplies them but evilly Which kind of taint of the Blood is either hereditary or acquired First It is a common observation that men born of Parents that use sometimes to be mad are obnoxious to the same disease and though they have lived above thirty or forty years prudent and sober yet afterwards without any occasion or evident cause they have fallen into Madness The reason of which is for that the Blood at that time bending from its due temper by degrees into a Nitro sulphureous affords to the Head Animal Spirits and also the nervous juice participating as hath been said of a most sharp nature We have formerly shewn that in our Complexion Elementary Particles do persist during life apart from the secondary afforded by nutrition and have their times of crudity maturity and defection wherefore we suppose the morbid seeds do ripen into fruit according to the periods of Ages Further we take notice that oftentimes the fruits of Diseases of this kind do remain ripening for a long time or perpetually as long as life yet sometimes falling off as it were of their own accord do wither away then sometimes in another tract of time from the infection being left new fruits do spring up and by little and little rise up to their height Wherefore Hereditary Madness is sometimes continual and sometimes intermitting Its fits are wont sometimes to come again after a shorter time and sometimes after a longer interval Secondly As the foregoing Cause of Madness sticking in the Blood is oftentimes innate or original so sometimes the same is by degrees begotten either by an evil manner of diet or by the suppression of usual evacuations or by reason of a Feavour going before or for some other causes and at length being brought to maturity breaks forth into Madness It is an usual thing in great want of sustenance that some poor people being constrained to feed only on very disagreeing meats and of ill digestion become at first sad with an horrid aspect louring and dark and a little after Mad. The Haemorrhoids and the after flowings of Women in Child-bed being restrained in their flux or some evil and foul running Ulcers being suppressed dispose some towards this Disease Further those who originally or by acquisition are indued with a more sharp temper and with fierce manners and threatning countenance by reason of the dispositition of their Blood being nigh to a Nitro-sulphur are in danger to fall into Madness from some strong evident cause Thirdly Venomous Ferments being insinuated to the Blood and nervous juice as first of all from the biting of mad Animals or by the taking of some poisons are wont to stir up Madness Concerning the reasons of the former we have proposed our conjectures in another place Of late a very Noble Lady and to be credited told me from her own knowledge that a certain Gentleman having eaten at dinner time the tender leaves of Wolfs-bane in a Sallad with other herbs in the Evening found himself ill and complaining of a great unquietness and agitation of his Blood and Spirits he desired his Friends to send for a Chirurgeon to let him blood or that otherwise he should grow Mad which indeed as he said came to pass for before he could be let blood he fell into Madness and dyed in a nights space This kind of deadly Distemper so suddenly happened for that this poison had not only perverted the Blood and Animal Spirits as to their temper but had slain or beat them down immediately with its malignant Ferment Thus much for the formal Reason and Causes of Madness The primary Symptoms of it we have mentioned to be a Delirium and a Fiâ—ry the reasons of which appear clear enough from what has been already said To these we may moreover add Boldness Strength and that they are still unwearied with any labours and suffer pains unhurt of which we will speak briefly Mad-men are not as Melancholicks sad and fearful but audacious and very confident so that they shun almost no dangers and attempt all the most difficult things that are The reason of which is because the Animal Spirits being very fierce and provoked both fortifie the Imagination that no object may seem greater or bigger than it is wont to be and actuate also the Praecordia with vigor so that they cast forth the Blood strongly and swiftly and drive it forwards lively to the utmost borders of the Body In this Distemper the Soul endeavours to be carried forth and to lâ—ap beyond the compass or sphere of the Body and so striving on every side against the incursions of any exterior things bears it self without fear Secondly Mad-men are still strong and robust to a prodigy so that they can break cords and chains break down doors or walls one easily overthrows many endeavouring to hold him The certain cause of which is because in the Blood and nervous juice of Mad people are contained Particles as it were Nitro sulphureous or otherways most sharp and as it were Stygian from whence the Animal Spirits are indued or are strong with an Elastick or Explosive force stupendous great and far beyond what 's natural Thirdly it is observed that Mad men are almost never tired for although by playing mad pranks and striving many days and nights they strongly exercise their members and live in the mean time without sleep or eating yet they scarce languish at all nor desist from their agonies for want of strength Which without doubt comes to pass for that the Animal Spirits though very moveable and Elastick are not however volatile and easily dissipable but by reason of the Saline Particles being depressed from their volatileness into a flux being joined with the Sulphureous become firm and more fixed and therefore continue longer in their activity In like manner as we have observed in Aqua fortis which though it be contained in a vessel that 's open perpetually sends forth very many Effluvia's and yet still retains its substance unwasted and its corrosive force otherwise than the spirit of Wine or Blood the virtue of which soon evaporates In the fourth place almost for the same reason Mad-men what ever they bear or suffer are not hurt but they bear cold heat watching fasting strokes and wounds without any sensible hurt to wit because the spirits being strong and fixed are neither daunted nor fly away Further the blood having gotten a Nitro sulphureous
wholly barren and unfruitful because for the constituting of this Disease into act it is required that the nervous liquor by chance swelling up or growing turgid pours forth Saline impurities of another condition to wit acetous falling away with a certain effervescency or heat and as it were a firing of the other Mine Wherefore we think good to set down this other foreleading cause of the Gouty Disease in the nervous humor and its acetous or sharp affluxions or flowing to the parts And indeed that the Saline Particles of this Liquor degenerating from a volatilization to a flux do become acid we have shewed by very many instances and reasons both formerly and also in this Tract But for the provision of this Disease it is not requisite that the whole Mass of the nervous juice should be acetous but it is sufficient that some portions of it in the Brain or elsewhere in the nervous stock being depraved or that its Recrements laid up here and there had contracted this kind of Nature from which afterwards growing turgid when as the acid Particles run together to the Saline Mine laid up in the Joints they stir up the Gouty fit after the manner aforesaid But truly it manifestly appears that acetous fluxions being brought from the nervous humor do frequently happen by a notable instance or experiment often cited by me viz. I have often observed That those obnoxious to the passions or pains of the Nerves have suffered or felt a light rigor or stiffness in their whole Body which is a corrugation or wrinkling of almost all the nervous parts and then presently the Convulsive Distemper would follow at which time the Urine was rendred very copiously and clear which being without any lixivial or nitrous savour which otherwise it always has was very sharp like mere Vinegar indeed by this most clear sign it appears that the humor being risen up to a fulness in the nervous parts and moved by its swelling up doth bring in the Convulsive Distempers and when a portion of the same sweating or dropping forth is laid up in the Glandulas immediately being reduced thence into the Blood by the passage of the Veins and Lymphaeducts it did excite the flood of the sharp Urine Indeed in like manner from the same humor swelling up in a lesser measure and still remaining within the nervous passages and setling in the Joints we think the Gouty fits do arise Indeed it is an argument that part of the Goutish matter doth proceed from the Brain and Nerves because for the most part those obnoxious to this Disease do complain a little before the fit of an heaviness of the head and of a dulness with a Vertigo and sleepiness but as soon as they begin to suffer the pains of the Gout as if the Clouds were blown away from the Brain they enjoy a more free understanding with a great and unwonted sharpness of wit Besides when as there are sometimes many Saline Mines of this inveterate Disease deposited in diverse Members it is observed that the pains do very much invade first the superior places and then by degrees descend to the rest wherefore when perhaps at first the Vertebrae of the neck were troubled a little while after the shoulders or other members of the Arm were possessed then the Disease reached to the Loins or the Hips and lastly the joints of the Legs and so to the lowest joints sometimes these and sometimes those The Evident Causes which in respect of the nervous liquor stir up the Gouty Fits do either pervert the Particles and portions into an Acetousness or else stir them up before degenerated into Fluxions 1. Acid liquors as thin Wines Cyder stale Beer experience being mistress are to be shunned by Gouty persons more than a Mad-Dog or a Snake For these kind of Drinks do not only bring into act the cause of this Disease but contribute more Acetous Particles by carrying them to the Brain and nervous Fibres to its nest and increase the Morbific matter 2. Immoderate or unseasonable exercises of the Body violent passions immoderate Venus and a disorderly feeding and whatsoever besides greatly disturbs the spirits and humors or shakes them and by that means stir up the fluxions of the nervous juice or its recrements induce the pains of the Gout 3. Usual evacuations being suppressed also taking of cold and wet for that by this means the blood and by consequence the nervous liquor conceive effervescencies and fluxions do bring on the fits of this Disease 4. For the same reason the changes of the Heaven and of the Air as also the Tropicks of the year are wont to bring on the pains of the Gout so that it is become a Proverb That Gouty persons carry their Almanack in their joints and deduce most certain Prognosticks of the weather from their pains For as often as the humid constitution of the year or the blowing of the Southern or the Northern Winds or Snow are at hand they are wont to predict these from the coming of their pains Further every Quarter of the Year especially Spring and Fall they are more grievously tormented Wherefore the Aequinoxes are always religiously observed by them The reason of these consists partly in this forasmuch as insensible perspiration is variously altered by reason of the mutations of the Air and Year therefore the Effluvia's which are wont to transpire being restrained do ferment the Blood and the nervous Humor and easily stir them up into Goutish Fluxions Besides the humors of our Bodies even as the Sap of Vegetables and other natural and artificial Liquors do diversly grow hot about the changing of times and enter various states or conditions of either fixation or sometimes of volatileness or of a flux The chief differences of this Disease are taken from the distemper'd places and so there are ordained as it were distinct species of the same to wit the Chiragra or Hand Gout the Ischia or Hip Gout the Gonagra or Knee Gout and the Podagra the Foot or Toe Gout in the mean time pains are wont to be excited in some other members and are noted by the common name of the Gout Whether the pains of the Teeth or of the Loins and pains of other parts ought to be referred hither we have not now leasure to inquire This Distemper as to its original is said to be hereditary or acquired as to the temperament of the sick it is Hot or Cold or Sanguine Cholerick or Phlegmatick to wit because the Blood being hindred in its circuit about the distemper'd places sometimes an Inflammation or a watry swelling come upon the pains As to the relation of other Diseases the Distemper of the Gout is either singular or else complicated with other Diseases and chiefly with the Scurvey or the Stone Of which kind of combinations because they are intimate and frequent as if they were of kin to this Disease
Reins appeared most sound and firm but the right Kidney was almost consumed a small heap of the Glandâ—la's being only left all the Vessels and the Vreter being joined together and wholly shut up so that no Urine at all had passed there of a long time The left Kidney being large enough contained within the cavity and its passages a great heap of Sand or Gravel and little Stones besides there was a round hard and whitish stone fallen into the Vreter three inches deep and there fixed and had wholly shut out the passage of the water the Membrane of the Vreter where the Stone stuck was become so thick and callous and so free from pain that here it could by no means be moved either upwards or downwards It seems in this case that when the coagulated Particles of the Blood and nervous juice to wit the Saline fixed and the Acetous meeting together at first in the Reins did stir up for a while the Distemper of the Stone afterwards by the use of the abovesaid Powder the saline Particles being still thrust forward into the habit of the Body and not easily rendred heaped together the Goutish seed plot in the Joints the Reins being in the mean time free But at length when by the drinking of his own Urine the saline Mine was brought back into the Reins the Disease of the Gout was changed into the mortal Disease of the Stone CHAP. XV. Of the Colick Passion IT has been mentioned in the former Chapter by what right we have referred this Disease among the Distempers of the Brain and nervous Stock to wit both in respect of the Symptoms urging which are pain and Convulsive motions as also from the reason of the cause by Charles Piso placed in the head and truly not improbably Concerning the word Colick from the Intestine called the Colon we shall not strive for that it is supposed though wrongfully to be chiefly affected in this Disease The Distemper may be described That it is an hauling or notable pulling of some parts of the Abdomen or the Belly from whence a very acute pain arises and with it for the most part a Vomiting as also Convulsions and Contractions almost of the whole Viscera of the Belly are wont to be joined And for that the Navil and its neighbouring parts are sometimes as it were with a Perforation or boring thorow drawn inwards and sometimes swell out with an inflation or blowing up and as it were with a great leaping forth the Intestines by an inverse motion of the Fibres are oftentimes pulled together upwards wherefore the Belly being extreamly bound together renders little or nothing yea although it be often provoked by Clysters it doth not easily part with its contents It appears clearly that the Ventricle with the Duodenum and the bladder of Gall are in like manner pulled by Vomiting and by the casting forth of great plenty of yellow or green Choler Sometimes the Vreters and the bladder of the Urine are so contracted that in all the fit the Urine is wholly suppressed or but very sparingly rendered Besides a Vertiginous Distemper of the Head frequently preceeds or follows the fits of this Disease yea the Colick growing worse and inveterate oftentimes causes pains in the outward members and at length ends in the Palsie Therefore forasmuch as very many parts are wont to labour in this Disease we shall inquire which is primarily affected and by what means the other suffer then what is the conjunct cause of the Disease in what place it subsists and from whence it draws its original As to the part primarily or first of all distemper'd though the Disease being urgent the whole region of the Belly is wont to be disturbed yet its primary seat ought to be placed where the pain chiefly infests and pertinaciously sticks But this by the consent of very many Physicians is said to be some where in the Gut Colon. Wherefore Celsus saith That the Colick is a Distemper of the greater Intestine which also reason seems to perswade something for whether the Morbific Matter is supposed to be heaped up in the Cavities of the Intestines or to be wholly fixed in their Membranes certainly there are extant deep little Cells in the folds of the Colon for its receptacles and thick coats of this Intestine in which the peccant humor may be deeply fastned But indeed this opinion to which we cannot easily assent as also the denomination of the Distemper seems to have grown in credit in the Schools of the Physicians from this only because we ordinarily observe that the Intestines enter into pains and torments being irritated by wind medicines Choler and perhaps other humors contained within their cavities hence as it is obvious may be inferred that the Colick pains do arise from the sharp and provocative contents of the Intestines and especially of the Colon. But if it were so without doubt those things which loosen the Belly and draw forth plentifully the wind and the dregs or Faces should give certain ease the contrary of which often happens to wit by some more violent or often Purging the Disease has grown worse Wherefore that the seat of this Disease and the nature of it may be truly known we ought first of all to distinguish here concerning the torments of the Belly or pains commonly esteemed for Colicks to wit these are either meerly occasional arising from a solitary evident cause and ordinarily happen without any previous disposition to some men and especially to those who being of a tender constitution have very sensible Fibres and Spirits quickly dissipated after this manner disagreeable or unwonted eating or drinking also medicines taking of cold and many other alterations about the six non-naturals oftentimes excite great perturbations with pains in the Viscera of the lower part of the Belly which kind of Distemper ought to be esteemed not the Disease but only Symptoms excited from a manifest cause But besides the Colick properly so called happens to some not only produced by an accidental cause but falling upon some men predisposed by a peculiar right depends wholly upon a foregoing cause ripened by degrees The more grievous fits of this Disease for the most part have their periods and observe the changes of the Air and Year further being excited they do not easily give place to any Remedies nor quickly pass over but notwithstanding the use of Fomentations and though the Belly be taken down very much by Clysters or Purging they oftentimes continue with great fierceness for many days and sometimes weeks The pains in every fit still repeat the same part and are followed with a concourse for the most part of other the like Symptoms But the pains of the Colick though they have not the same seâ—â— in all but sometimes exercise their cruelties under the Ventricle sometimes about the Navel or the Hypochondria and sometimes in the lower part of the Belly or about
the Loins yet as often as they are repeated in the same sick person they mostly observe the same nest For the unfolding the Aetiology of this Disease it is not enough to affirm that the Intestines are pulled either by their sharp contents or irritated by the Blood and other humors poured into them and breaking the continuity For as to the former it is extreamly improbable that the Bile or Choler or Phlegm or the Pancreatick Juice or any other simple humor or growing hot or fermenting with others should be able to excite such fixed cruel and long continuing pains Besides because the Intestines being besmeared with their own dung cannot be easily pricked by the Contents though sharp nor are they wont to be exasperated by them insomuch that the sharpest stools which oftentimes fetch off the skin at the Fundament very little trouble or not at all the passages of the Guts further these being grievously provoked whatever is troublesome contained in their cavity is easily shaken forth and either by driving it forward upwards or downwards is quickly thrust forth as is plainly perceived in the Disease of the Choler and other Dysentrick Distempers nor indeed is there almost any loading of these provoking the Membranes and stirring up pains which may not be exterminated or carried forth of doors by one purge or other Then secondly as to what respects the suffusions of the Blood or Serum within the coats of the Intestines by which an Inflammation or painful Tumors are excited Indeed we grant that sometimes it may so come to pass yea I have known it by ocular inspection but from thence we have observed not the Colick but the Iliack passion to have been excited For when I have opened several dying of the Iliack passion I found almost in all that the cause of the Disease and of their Death was an Inflammation or Ulcer of some Intestine neither is this any wonder because a Solution of the continuity in a very tender and highly sensible Membrance doth stir up Convulsions and painful Corrugations or wrinklings together and so continual and cruel that therefore the Peristaltick motion of the distempered Intestine whereby the dung or dregs of the Belly are carried forward toward the Anum or Arse-Gut should be hindred and wholly inverted Therefore that we may thorowly inquire out both the Matter and Mine as also the seats and the ways of flowing to them of this Disease of the Colick by some other means it may deservedly be suspected that it is the nervous Juice and its Recrements and that the rather because this passion hath so intimate an agreement or consent with the other Distempers of the Brain and the nervous Stock as we have already shewed Charles Piso hath affirmed That as most distempers of the whole Body so also the pains of the Colick are excited by a Serous heap or deluge gathered together in the head and he contends that the seat of this Disease is neither in the coats nor cavities of the Intestines but in the Peritonaum or inner rim of the Belly and that the cause sticks wholly in the Brain near the original of the Nerves To wit he supposes which he saith he hath found by Anatomical observation The serosities laid up in the hinder region of the Brain to beset the little heads of the Nerves of the wandring pair and so some of the utmost branches and shoots of them inserted into the Peritonaeum or inner rim of the Belly by the Caul to move into Convulsions and from the contraction or drawing together of this most cruel pains both in it and in the underlying Viscera as it were breaking them to pieces to be excited For the proof of this opinion he brings an example of a certain man dissected being dead of a most grievous fit of the Colick in whom the hinder region of the head near the Cerebel was so much drowned with a clear water as also the nervous original of the wandring pair that the marrowy substance appeared very much moistened like wet Paper Sect. 4. Chap. 2. But indeed though we should grant that the Colick should arise from the humor of the Brain and from the default of that watering the nervous parts yet we think that this painful passion is excited not after that manner as this Author has laid down Because we think neither the seat of this Disease to subsist in the Peritonaeum nor its primary cause to be within the head For as to this although the Morbifick matter being heaped up in the head near the origine of the Nerves doth sometimes produce in the parts at a great distance Numnesses Cramps and Convulsive motions as we have elsewhere shewn by many instances with the reasons of the Distemper yet it is much otherwise in a very cruel pain such as the Colick is wont to be For as to this being excited which always proceeds from a breach of the continuity it is required that the dolorifick cause or improportionate object should be fixed in the distemper'd member itself or at least a certain part or portion of it Neither is it sufficient to say that the Convulsion proceeds from a remote cause and so the pain from the Convulsions For although pain oftentimes doth produce Convulsive motions yet these do not produce pain of themselves at least great and continuing long Wherefore in the pain of the Colick the matter drawing asunder the sensitive Fibres and pulling them one from another and so provoking them into painful Corrugations or wrinklings doth not still stay in the Brain but descending from thence thorow the nervous passages towards the Intestines seems to be heaped up somewhere in their neighbourhood nigh to the pained parts and there either growing turgid or swelling up by reason of their fulness or growing hot with some other humor do bring in the fits of this Disease We indeed reject the Mine of the Colick from the Peritonaeum because this Membrane being very thin and gifted but with very few and only small Vessels is neither capable of any great affluxions of Humors neither can it self though pulled together be able to urge the Viscera lying under it into pains by compressing or drawing them together But the Morbific matter being slid down from the Head by the Nerves into the Belly finds very convenient nests in the Mesentery in which very many and great Nerves have there their noted infoldings and distributions Wherefore as this part is very sensible and very much obnoxious to the flowings in of the humors of the nervous Stock it may be deservedly affirmed to be the seat of this Disease of the Colick We have shewn formerly the causes of some Convulsive motions in the Abdomen which are commonly called Hysterical to lye hid in the Mesenterick Infoldings moreover in the same places we did then assert That the Colick pains had sometimes their nests and confirmed it sufficiently by Anatomical observation But
the matter is something diverse and not the same that is wont to excite the so different Distempers of either under the same roof In the Passions called Hysterical we have largely declared in a former Treatise That the Animal Spirits being burthened with an Elastick Copula are let off or as it were exploded one from another and so the containing bodies are unwillingly forced into irregular or preternatural Motions But in the pains of the Colick the same Spirits by reason of the matter troublesome to them and improportionate being provoked and so pulled and distracted one from another do put the sensible Fibres into very troublesome Corrugations or wrinkling themselves together By what means this comes to pass in the pains of the Colick also what are the conjunct and the foregoing causes of this Disease and the reasons of the Symptoms we shall a little further explain Therefore we shall suppose that for a Seed-plot or Mine of the Colick Distemper some Recrements of the nervous humor being fallen from the Brain thorow the Nerves and slid down into the Mesentery and other infoldings of the Abdomen are there heaped up which if they be thick and very viscous so that they cannot be received by the Lymphaeducts or water-carriers and so sent away or that they cannot sweat forth by the small shoots of the Vessels into the cavities of the Intestines stagnating in those parts and being by degrees heaped together do arise at length to a provocative fullness then this matter growing more degenerate by standing and becoming more infestous grows turgid occasionally or of its own accord or perhaps grows hot or ferments with a Saline fixed humor poured forth thither from the Blood torments the shoots of the Nerves and the nervous Fibres of which the Mesentery hath an infinite number with very troublesome and painful Corrugations which kind of Distemper of these doth not plainly cease till the hot or Fermentative matter being shaken off or pressed forth into the cavities of the Intestines is at length overcome Further forasmuch as from the Mesentery and its Infoldings nervous shoots and Fibres are most thickly put forth into the bottom of the Ventricle the bladder of the Gall the Choledoch passages all the Intestines and on every side almost into all the Viscera of the whole Abdomen therefore whilst the Colick matter grows hot or ferments in its Mines it there stirs up torments and oftentimes most cruel pains and together with them in many other Membranous parts Cramps and Convulsive or painful Contractions are every where excited Hence by reason of the Mesentery being primarily distemper'd a most sharp pain under the Navil shews it self like as if a stake were driven thorow it or a wimble a boring it then round about almost in the whole Abdomen or lower region of the Belly by reason of the Intestines being variously drawn down or backwards in diverse places together wandring pains run about hither and thither and by reason of the motions of the Fibres being disturbed or inverted both in these and also in the urinary Vessels the Belly is almost always bound up and sometimes a suppression of the Urine or a rendring but a very little succeeds yea also the Duodenum the Gall-Bladder with its passages and the bottom of the Ventricle being distemper'd with a Spasm or Cramp and their Fibres drawn upwards from thence frequent Vomiting with a copious casting forth of yellow or green Choler doth infest during the fit But some do contend that this Bile or Choler which is sometimes cast forth as green as a Leek is the material Cause of the Disease and that abundance of it dropping or distilling forth into the Viscera doth excite the Colick pains in the Intestines I say that this humor about the beginning of the fit is contained without any offence in the Bladder or bag of the Gall but afterwards by reason of the Convulsions of the Viscera being from thence pressed forth and as it were drawn or stroked out into the Stomach it is carried from the distemper'd Ventricle by Vomit but there perhaps meeting with some other acid humor it acquires a greenish colour yea sometimes a blackish as we have sometimes found by Anatomical observation And indeed it appears clear from this because those who are of a more cold temperament and beget little Choler when they are sick of the Colick cast forth by Vomit little or nothing of the yellow or green Bile and yet they are wont to be vexed with as cruel and sharp pains as others In the fit of the Colick to the pains of the Belly most cruel pains raging about the Loins in the bottom of the back are very often joined which certainly cannot arise from the irritation of any Intestine But it may be easily conceived that these are excited from the Morbific cause implanted in the Mesentery forasmuch as some most noted Nerves belonging to the Loins enter into the greatest nervous infolding of the Mesentery hence not only painful Convulsions are delivered by consent from one part to another but besides it is probable that some Recrements of the Back and Loins are derived by this passage into the Mesentery and in some measure for this reason Scorbutical people are so very obnoxious to pains of the Belly and to a Flux Thus much concerning the nature and seat of the Colick as also of its conjunct cause and of the Symptoms of the same coming into act As to what belongs to the foregoing cause it consists chiefly in these two things to wit first of all for that many Recrements are heaped together in the nervous Liquor and secondly because they being chiefly received from the Nerves destinated to the Viscera of the lower Belly and brought into the Mesentery constitute the Morbid Mines there 1. The former of these happens for the most part from the fault and vice of the Brain to wit because this admits together with the nervous liquor Heterogeneous Particles and infestous to the Animal Regiment within its borders besides also for that it doth not send away presently these and other ordinary Recrements by convenient sinks Wherefore the incongruous matter when it cannot be otherways carried from the Brain it most easily rushes into the most open Nerves of the wandring pair And for this Reason it is that Women from every inordination of the Brain frequently contract the disposition called Hysterical to wit because the Recrements of the nervous Liquor whether they are Spasmodick or Convulsive and Elastick or letting off or painful or provocative only being more apt to be deposed into the wandring pair so ordinarily excite Convulsive Symptoms like to the Colick 2. Because this matter running into the pair of the wandring Nerves is laid up in the Mesentery or in other Infoldings within the Abdomen the reason is that in these nervous Infoldings many and large Nerves of the same conjugation are at last terminated wherefore if the
acquired 34. what natural instinct brings to them ibid. some examples and instances of it ibid. Brutes in some things are taught by the impressions of sensible things 35. the direct sensible Species creates in them the Phantasy and memory ibid. the reflected the Appetite 36. by example imitation and institution also 37. how far 't is they are able to know ibid. their Syllogisms 38. their raciocination what and how vile 39 A Burning-Glass placed before a dark Chamber declares how light is made 77 C. CAros how it differs from the Lethargy and Apoplexy 136. its seat a little deeper in the Brain than that of the Lethargy ibid. it s conjunct cause ibid. 't is either a primary Disease or comes upon other distempers ibid. its prognosticks 137. its cure the same with the Lethargy and Apoplexy ibid. its Histories ibid. Cartesius and others their opinions concerning the Souls of Brutes 3 Coma waking its description 141. its causes shown ibid. more often a Symptom than a Disease ibid. V. Caros Colick whence its denomination 225. why counted among the Diseases of the Nervous stock ibid. its description ibid. its seat not always or often in the Gut Colon neither in its Cavity or Coats ibid. it s conjunct cause are not the contents of the intestines nor the humour impacted in the Membranes 226 the Nervous Liquor seems most of all to contribute to its cause ibid. its seat and part affected 227 228. why pains of the Loins often come upon Colick pains ibid. in what the foregoing cause consists ibid. the evident cause 229. the differences of this disease ibid. its prognosticks ibid. its câ—re ibid. to 233. its Histories 233 234 Corporeal Soul the subject of the rational 41. after what manner 't is affected in melancholy and madness 191 Custome its force 89. a notable example thereof ibid. D. DEafness sometimes proceeds from the loosness of the Drum 73 Declination of age disposes some to foolishness 211 Delirium what it is 179 its formal reason ibid. its causes either from the blood or ex teriour Spirits planted in the Nervous Stock 180. by what and how many ways it is caused by the blood ibid. how it proceeds from the irregularities of the exteriour spirits 181. its prognosticks ibid. its cure ibid. the primary Phaenomena of a melancholick Delirium and from what dispositions of the Spirits they proceed 188 Desire and aversion chiefly imploy the Soul 51. how excited c. ibid. to 53 Digby and others their opinion of the Souls of Brutes 3 Dreams what they are 93. sometimes excited by the Spirits inhabiting the Brain sometimes inhabiting other parts viz. the Stomach c. 94. they sometimes stir up local motions ibid. Drunkenness and looking down from high places c. how they cause a Vertigo 146 E. EAR and its uses 71 72 Eating is a certain solution 62 Epicurus and his late followers opinion that the Soul is made of Atoms 2 3 Epilepsy its seat the middle of the Brain which is the seat of the Apoplexy also 161. Eye its description and reason of its diverse conformation inquired into à p. 78 to 86 F. FEar its character c. 53 54 Feeling more thick but most ample of all the senses 60. its kinds c. from 60 to 62. what its proper organ 168 Fire its definition agrees by its causes and essences with the Soul of Brutes 5 Fishes why they rejoice rather in the Water than Air ibid. they breath by the Gills ibid. Flame V Fire part of the Soul 22 31 33. its difference from light 76 Foolishness V. Stupidity G. GAssendus his assertion of the Soul 4 according to him every body is either lâ—cid or illustrated 77 Gometius and Pereira deny the Souls of Brutes to have sense and perception 2 Gout a distemper of the Nervous Stock 214. its subject its appearances rehearsed ibid. parts affected 215. morbiâ—ick matter not any simple humour ibid. in its mine two humours concur and mutually grow hot exemplifyed how ibid. the Blood full of a fixed Salt as it were its feminine the Nervous Liquor being sharp the masculine seed 216. its foregoing causes ibid. 217 218. the evident causes of the goutish fit 218. whence the debility of the Ioints 217. differences of the Gout 219 wont to be complicated with the Scurvy and Stone and the reason of that shewed ibid. its prognostick ibid. cure ib. a notable history of the Stone converted into the Goâ—t and of the Gout into the Stone 224 H. HEad-ach the most common and chiefest affection among diseases 105. its causes so manifold that they can hardly be methodically recited ibid. hence its cure often instituted empirically ibid. what things belong to its pathology ibid. its subject ibid. it s formal reason differences and kinds 106. either within or without the Soul universal or particular ibid. many 〈◊〉 differences noted ibid. an habitual one hath always a more remote cause besides the evident ibid. its causes a p. 107 ad 110. arising from the Nervous Liquor it chiefly infests in the morning 108. how stirred up by many humours meeting together and growing hot ibid. the habitual one chiefly depends on the fault of the Nervous humour 109. its kinds noted at large 112 113. how it seems to arise from the Spleen mesentery or womb ibid. its prognosticks 113. cure from 114 to 125. Histories ibid. a continual headâ—ach not to be accounted incurable 123 Hearing its excellency as to use and activity performed at a distance c. 69. its organ described 71 Heart hardned what it is 47 Histories of head-achs from 121 to 125. of one killed presently by taking too large a dâ—se of Opium 128. of Lethargick 232 c. of continual sleepiness 135 137. of long waking 140. of the Vertigo 151 152. of the Apoplexy 160. of the Palsie 174 175 176 177. of the delâ—rium or Phrensy 187. of Melancholy 197 198. Histories of mad people are to be sought in Hospitals for mad people 208. A notable History of the Stone converted into the Gout and the Gout into the Stone 224. of the Colick 233 234. of a mortal madness from eating the leaves of Wolfs-bane 204 Hope 53 54 I. IMages light and colour are of the same substance 75 Imaginary Metamorphosis of melancholick persons 200 Imagination V. Phantasy Incubus or Night-mare its seat in the cerebel 142. its description ibid. it most often proceeds from natural causes ibid. its seat falsely placed in the Brain ibid. the Praecordia truly labour in this Disease ibid. its cause doth not stick partly in the Brain and partly in the Breast ibid. its next cause is the hindrance of the inflowing of the Spirits to the Praecordia 143. this not in the parts affected nor Nerves themselves but in the cerebel where the first spring of the spirits is ibid. from whence the sense of the weight and loss of motion proceeds ibid. why the fit being so grievous is so often ended without leaving any evil ibid.
whence the trembling of the Heart and Praecordia after the fit ibid. the Incubus of it self rarely dangerous ibid. its prognosticks 144. its Cure ibid. how infants and boys obnoxious to this Disease ought to be handled ibid. Insects appear to have fiery Souls because they want sulphurous and nitrous food 8 Instances of passion merely Physical 46 Instinct natural what it is 34. what it brings to Brutes ibid. examples of it ibid. it dictates to them what 's wholesome what not 35. leads not only to simple actions but to very complicate ones ibid. yet those always and in all of one kind only ibid. how 't is wont to be compared with acquired notions 37. and with the impressions of sensible things ibid. with habits learned from example or institution ibid. with notions learned from experience and imitation ibid. Intellect in man presides o're the imagination c. 38. and discerns its errors sublimates its notions and divests them from matter and contemplates immaterial substances judges and directs its propositions deduces from these others more sublime thoughts beholds it self by a reflected action and contemplates other things remote from sense as God c. 39. it depends upon the Phantasy 41. by reason of the various constitution of this and the Brain Souls seems unequal 42 Issues made upon or near the distemper'd place help little 119 K. ALL Knowledge from sense 57 L. LEthargy its seat the same with that of Sleep and Memory 125. its Fits are call'd by this name ibid. and the soporiferous disposition also 126. of which are various kinds ibid. its causes ibid. to 128. what things belong to its theory 129. the chiefest of its symptoms ibid. by what means the other faculties of the Soul as the knowing desiring and locomotive are affected ibid. it s evil reaches also to the cerebel ibid. hence breathing often hurt or altered ibid. which proceeds â—ot from the inflammation of the midriff ibid. its Fever from whence ibid. and 130. none dyes without one ibid. its prognosticks ibid. its cure 131 to 133. Histories ibid. its ends or limits as to the places distempered are constituted ibid. some sleepy distempers lesser than it the Caros greater ibid. Light Colours and Images the same substance 75. Light and Flame their differences 76. wherefore Light either reflected or refracted goes forward only in streight lines ib. it can pass through a Chamber in the mean time not to be perceiv'd ibid. 't is primary or secundary ibid. the differences of these 77 Lobster its Anatomy 11 12 Local motion stir'd up by the appetite 36 Love how excited 50. it and hatred transitory passions 51. its object set up like an Idol in the Phantasy and worshipped 50 Love-madness 199. reasons of its symptoms ibid. Lucid part of the Soul 22. shines diversly 31. alteration of the flamy part impressed by it 32 Lungs how differ in Birds and four footed Beasts 17. for what end perforated in Birds ibid. M. MAdness and Melancholy are a-kin 201. the subject of Madness are the Animal Spirits the disposition of which are like to Stygian Water ibid. three chief accidents in Madness which are also to be found in Stygian Water 201 202. the conjunct cause of Madness what it is ibid. the original of Madness either from the Spirits themselves or from the Blood 203. it begins from the Spirits from two occasions ibid. by what means it comes upon Melancholy 204. how upon a Phrensy ibid the original of Madness sometimes from the Blood ibid. it is either hereditary the reason of which is shown 204. or acquired and so either by reason of errors in the six non-naturals or by reason of Poysons ibid. History of a mortal Madness from eating the leaves of Wolfs-bane ibid. the reasons of the symptoms of Madness explained 205. wherefore mad-men are audacious ibid. from whence their immense strength ibid. wherefore they are never tired ibid. wherefore they are not easily hurt ibid. the differences in respect of the original magnitude and time ibid. the prognosticks ibid. the cure from the indications of continual Madness 206. the curatory indication as to discipline ibid. as to Medicines ibid. the preservatory indication consists in altering Medicines as whey c. specificks c. ibid. the vital and curatory indications 208 Melancholy its definition 188. 't is a distemper of the Brain and Heart ibid. its Examples or Types various and almost in finite ibid. 't is either universal or particular ibid. the primary Phaenomena of a melancholick Delirium and from what disposition of the Spirits they proceed ibid. as they are compared to light they are call'd opacous or full of darkness 189. these kind of Spirits in Melancholy compared to those in Chymical Liquors ibid. they are not like the Spirit of Blood as they should be nor like the Spirit of Wine for such is rather in the Phrensy ibid. but these are like acid Spirits distill'd out of Salt Vinegar Box and such like ibid. the formal reason of Melancholy aptly represented by acetous Chymical Liquors ibid. there are three chief affections of these which agree with the Animal Spirits in Melancholy 190 191. in Melancholy after the Spirits being for some time vitiated the conformation of the Brain becomes also hurt 191. in this Disease the affection of the Praecordia as to fear and sadness is delivered ibid. after what manner the corporeal Soul is affected in Melancholy and Madness ibid. the cause of either depends partly on the Blood and partly on the Animal action of the Heart ibid. the Procatartick causes of Melancholy are partly the acetous nature of the Spirits and partly the Melancholy discrasie of the Blood and the distemper begins sometimes from this sometimes from that 191 192. how it begins from the Spirits and the Animal Government 192. by what means it arises from the Blood ibid. Melancholy doth not arise from any atrabiliary humour heaped up in some pâ—ace or mine ibid. by what means according to the Ancients 't is said to arise from the Head ibid. how from the Womb ibid how from the Spleen ibid. how from the whole Body 193. the differences of this Disease in respect of its first subject and by reason of the temperament of the Sick and in respect of its next cause as it is singular or conjunct and in respect of the imagination being diversly hurt ibid. its prognosticks ibid. in the Cure the evident cause is first to be removed ibid. and herein are three primary indications first Curatory c. 193 194. secondly Preservatory c. 149 altering Medicines are here of greatest moment and not purging as the Ancients thought 196. Histories of this Disease 197. particular Melancholy is excited by reason of two sorts of affections concerning good or evil 199 Melancholick persons their imaginary Metamorphosis 200 Metamorphosis imaginary of melancholick Persons 200 Millepedes notably help in the cure of the head ach 118 N. NEmesius attributes sense and perception to corporeal Souls and farther the
the second enunciation 39. how little the Brutes Soul can do in respect of man 40. Authors for two distinct Souls in man ibid. which reason also dictates 41. the rational does not exercise the Animal faculties nor obliterate the sensitive by its coming nor transmute it into a mere power ibid. by what bond united to the Body ibid. the corporeal its subject ibid. created and poured into the formed Body not propagated extraduce 42. plurality of Souls in man manifested by their differences ibid. the rational of it self without affections and how it governs and orders them and the Phantasy 43. in things to be known the corporeal obeys it but not in things to be done and inclining it self to the flesh fights against it ibid. how 't is reduc'd to obedience ibid. it oft seduces the mind ibid. it s twofold state 45. its lucid part feels or perceives the impulse of all objects and is moved by them 56. after what manner the corporeal Soul is affected in Melancholy and Madness 191 Spirits their distinct offices in various provinces c. 24 25. how they receive sensible species so very divers 57. the Animal the immediate subject of Sleep 87. for what causes they lye down of their own accord 89. compell'd into sleep by Narcoticks 90. their penury perswades to sleep ibid. the distemper of the Animal Spirits being after a diverse manner as it is the cause of the Phrensy so it is of Melancholy Madness and Stupidity 188 compared to light they are opacous or full of darkness 189. these kind of Spirits in Melancholy compared to those in Chymical Liquors for they are not like the Spirits of Blood as they should be nor the Spirits of Wine for such are rather in the Phrensy but like acid Spirits distâ—â—â—â—d out of Salt Vinegar c. ibid. Stygian Waters like the Animal Spirits in Madness ibid. three chief affections of acetous Chymical Liquors which agree with the Animal Spirits in Melancholy 191. after the Animal Spirits in Melancholy being for some time vitiated the conformation of the Brain is also hurt ibid. how the Animal Spirits acquire a disposition like to Stygian Water 202. the original of Madness either from the Spirits themselves or from the Blood 203. it begins from the Spirits for two occasions ibid. Squinting whence it comes 82 Stupidity arises chiefly from the failing of the imagination and memory 209. wherefore the Organs of these faculties labour in this Disease ibid. chiefly the Brain first as to magnitude and by reason of figure ibid. as to substance or texture 210. its evil conformatiâ—â— as to its pores and passages whence Stupidity sometimes proceeds from both of them being in fault together ibid. what the antecedent causes of foolishness are ibid. ripeness and the declination of Age dispose some to foolishness 211 great hurts of the head sometimes cause dâ—ting or want of ingenuity ibid. and frequent Drunkenness ibid. and vehement affections ibid. and the more grievous Diseases of the head ibid. the differences of this Disease 212. how Foolishness and Stupidity differ ibid. Stupidity its degrees ibid. the prognostick ibid. if from an hurt of the head evil ibid. if excited from a Lethargy it admits of Cure ibid. sometimes 't is cur'd by a Fever ibid. the Cure requires both a Master and a Physician 213. what the Labour of the former ought to be ibid. what the Medical intentions are ibid. what kinds of remedies are shown ibid. T. TAngible species immediately carried either to the cerebel or to the stroaked Bodies 61. and from thence go forward sometimes to the other faculties ibid. Taste of kin to feeling c. 62 63 Tears their matter 80 Touch the same Nerves are observ'd to serve for its sense and motion 63 V. VEnus an enemy to the Brain and Nerves 55. necessary to the preserving of the individual 62 Vertigo its seat 145. a description of it ibid. the causes and manner of an unnatural one ibid. why looking down from on high and passing over Bridges cause it 146. how Drunkenness causes it ibid. from what causes the preternatural one is wont to be excited ibid. sometimes 't is a symptome of other cephalick Diseases sometimes 't is excited by reason of the distemper of other distant parts viz. from the Stomach Spleen c. 146 147. not by reason of Vapors elevated from these parts 147. its immediate subject is the Animal Spirits ibid. it s formal reason ibid. it s conjunct cause 148. is seen by things helpful and hurtful ibid. the more remote foregoing cause ibid. the differences of this Disease ibid. its prognosticks 149. the Cure ibid. the curatory method shown 150. why vomiting Medicines are so much noted in this and other Diseases of the head ibid. what is to be done out of the Fit for prevention sake ibid. cases and examples of the sick in three Histories and the reason of the case of the second History described 151 152 Vices of the Brain noted 148 W. IN Waking the Spirits inhabiting the cerebel are disturbed with the Spirits of the other Regiment 93. why those being disturb'd perform their offices better whilst these lye quiet in sleep ibid. a double consideration of waking 95 Long Waking of two sorts 't is either the symptom of other Diseases or a Disease it self 138. how many ways the unquiet or elastick Spirits stir it up 139. its causes assign'd ibid. its Cure and History ibid. Natural Waking its cause consists in the restlesness of the Spirits and the openness of the cortical part of the Brain 138 Want or paucity of the Spirits oftentimes the cause of the spurious Palsie 166 Watching preternatural depends either upon the restlesness of the Spirits or the openness of the cortical part of the Brain 139 Weeping its causes and the manner of its being made described 80. wherefore a bewailing is oftentimes joyned with weeping ibid. wherefore it comes from sudden joy 81. why mankind only or chiefly weep ibid. Wise and strong men why not always begotten of wise and strong men 210 Withering or blasting of Trees like the Palsie 164 FINIS Advertisement DOctor Willis's Practice of Physick being all the Medical Works of that Renowned and Famous Physician Containing these Ten Treatises following viz. I. Of Fermentation II. Of Feavers III. Of Urines IV. Of the Accension of the Blood V. Of Musculary Motion VI. Of the Anatomy of the Brain VII Of the Description and Use of the Nerves VIII Of Convulsive Diseases IX Pharmaceutice Rationalis the first and second Part. X. Of the Scurvey Wherein most of the Diseases belonging to the Body of Man are treated of with excellent Methods and Receipts for the Cure of the same Fitted to the meanest Capacity by an Index for the explaining of all the hard and unusual Words and Terms of Art derived from the Greek Latin or other Languages for the benefit of the English Reader With a large Alphabetical Table to the whole With Thirty Copper Plates Done into English
what Causes the Blood is wont to be moved and to bring 〈◊〉 to the distempered Head The Blood delivers to the head the morbific matter received from any other part A Flux of the Serum sometimes from meer fullness Sometimes from other Causes Sometimes the watry humor suffering a flux offends the Head Hence in those that have the Headach as in Convulsive Diseases there is often a clear and copious Vrine The recrements of other parts often carried violently to the head with the Serum The evacuation of the Serum thorow its right ways being suppressed brings its flux to the Head 3 The nutritious juice sometimes the cause of the Headach either 1 Because it is carried with the Blood into the Head 2 Because not being agreeable to the blood it stirs up its effervescency Sometimes the evident causes of the Headach are Convulsions somewhere begun and continued by the passage of the nerves into the Head Convulsions beginning after off are sometimes signs of an Headach shortly to follow Sometimes also the cause of it Coâ—vniâ—â—â—e Headaches seem to arise so from the Viâ—â—era not from Vapours But this sympathetick Distemper perâ—â—ps proceeds elâ—ewhere by reason of an evil ferment communicated to the blood So sometimes it seems to be caused from the Ventricle The Head and the Stomach intimately conspire and mutually affect one another 2 How the Head-ach seems to arise from the Spleen The like reason is for this Disease arising from the Liver Mesentery or Womb. The kinds of habitual Headach are noted It is either Continual â— Intermitting The Fits of the intermitting either periodical or certain â—â— iâ—certain and wandring The prognostick of the 〈…〉 is â—asie or diffiâ—â—lt to secured also the 〈◊〉 of the Disease safe or dangerous By what signs we may pronounce it safe and easie to be cured By what difficult By what scarce possiâ—le By what dangerous Accidental Headach easily cured The habitual affords more indications Two chief scopes of Cure 1 To cut in two the Bed â—â— Root of the Disease 2 To root out the Conjunct Cause The â—â—st or Tinder of the Disease the blood serum nourishing juice nervous Liquor and the Recrements caried thorow the Blood How the inordinations of the Blood may be taken away and prevented The pain of the Head from the serous heap â—ow to be cured Phlebotomy Purges Pills Purging Powders An emetick Powder An Apozem A decoction of woods A Cephalick Decoction impregâ—ated with the Tincture of Coffee Tâ—e Headach from other barious mixt with the serum how to be cured The Headach arising from any Inward how to be cured Rais'd up from the fault of the nourishing Iuice how to he handled Frequently follows the Small Pox and Measles Easily cured An Electuary A Iulep Antiscorbutick Remedies good for it The Headach raised up from the vice of the nervous humour how to be cured It s fault either private or particular Or universal and then letting of blood or stronger Purges are not convenient Remedies called Cephalicks proper here Of which sort are these which are convenient in Disâ—ases of the Brain and in these kind of Headaches A great many of these every where to be found in Physical Books An Electuary Iulep A distilled Water Tablets Tinctures Spirits The use of millepedes notably helps The other part of the conjunct Cause consisting in the weakness or evil conformation of the distempered part how to be handled We are not to despair of the Cure Here those Medicines are only profitable that cut off the inkindling or root of the Disease Chyrurgical Remedies chiefly help here of which are 1. Plasters Medicines raising Whelks and Blisters Liniments Fomentations and Bathings help not An Embrocation or a dipping of the head in cold water oftentimes helps Issues Issues made upon or near the distempered place help little The opening of the Skull cry'd up by many but rarely or never attempted Whether salivation in inveterate Headaches without any suspicion of the Venereal Disease ought to be administred The means and manner of salivation by Mercury unfolded Salivation not always safe wherefore to be suspected in Headaches What the cutting of the Artery may profit in this Disease Nevertheless in this Distemper it is often helpful and by what means is shown Farriers use the like practice And perhaps it may be convenient for the curing of strumous or running humours such as the Kings Evil. The History of a continual and a deadly Head-ach A continual and inveterate Headach passing into a Lethargy A second History of an incurable Headach in a most noble Lady labouring with it for twenty years Remedies of every kind for the curing this Headach try'd in vain Conjectures concerning the reason of this cruel Disease A third History of a deadly continual Headach A conjecture concerning the reason of the Disease A fourth History of an Head-ach excited from a fiery Swelling or an Inflammation of the Meninges An History of an Headach raised up from an Impostâ—ume in the Meninges A continual Headach we always to be accounted incurable An intermitting Headach whose Fits are uncertain are so frequent that we need shew no instances of it The sixth History of a periodical intermitting Headach The Cure of the same The reason of this Case unfolded The seventh History of the same Distemper excited by the default of the nervous Liquor The Cure of it The reason of the Case unfolded An Instance of an intermitting Headach which seem'd to be excited from the womb The eighth History of an intermitting Headach seeming to aâ—ise from the Stomach A reason of this Case delivered The like reason is for other Headaches seeming to arise from the Spleen Liver Mesentery c. The Seat of the Lethargy is the same with that of Sleep and Memory to wit about the Shell of the Brain By this name both the Fits of the Lethargy are called And also the soporiferous disposition or Sleepiness Of which there are various kinds The continual Sleepiness the Coma c. In every Lethargick Distemper there is an excess of Sleep and a defect of Memory The essence and causes of natural and non-natural Sleep rehearsed The causes of preternatural Sleep are An infartion or obstruction of the outward part of the Brain and a recess of the Spirits from thence Sometimes this sometimes that is the cause The Lethargy oftentimes from the serous heap overflowing the outward part of the Brain And sometimes from a Dropsiâ— of the whole Brain Not only a plenty of humour but the malignity often causes this Disease The proâ—atarctick causes of the Lethargy In what respect they are in fault Both the Blood begetting evil humours and sending them to the Brain and the Brain too easily receiving them Vpon what occasions the Brain is prone to the Lethargy The evident causes of this Disease Another conjunct cause of the Lethargy consists in the afflicting the Spirits with some narcotick How opiates causes Sleep How they operate in the Ventricle 〈…〉
distilled Water Tablets Chalybeats or Steel-Medicines Spirits Powders Cases and Examples of the Sick The first History The second History The Reason of the Case described The third History The Seat of the Apoplexy A Description of the Disease It s Subject The spontaneous Functions only deficient in the Apoplexy The opinions of others concerning this Disease The Theory of this Disease is best shewn by the famous Dr. Webfer Another Reason given by the Author The Exclusion of the Blood from the Brain does not easily happen Because all the Arteries communicate one with another and some of them supply the defects of the others A total Exclusion of the blood from the Brain sometimes hapning causes a terrible Syncopy This depends oftenest on the motion of the heart being hindred and so either because of the Cardiack Nerves being bound together Or By reason of the Spirits in the Cerebel being hindred from their flowing into the Nerves Hence there is a twofold Apoplexy one in the Brain the other proper to the Cerebel The Theory of the former delivered This Disease either accidental or habitual The cause of the former is either a great breach of the unity in or near the middle of the Brain Or a sudden stupefaction or extinction of the Spirits 1 A Solution of the unity either from blood let forth of the Vessels Or 2 From an Imposthume or the breaking of an Vlcer Or 3 From a Deluge of the Serum An extinction of the Spirits from Opiates or from immoderate Drinking of hot Waters The operation of Opiates as it is assigned by the famous Webfer The formal reason of the habitual Apoplexy 1 What its Conjunct Cause is It consists in the Pores of the callous Body being suddenly stop'd and the Spirits being driven away by the contact of malignant matter What the nature or disposition of the morbifick matter is The procatarctic Cause of the habitual Apoplexy The differences of this Disease Its Prognosticks The Curatory Method What is to be done in the Fit In what position the Sick ought to be kept Phlebotomy Other ways of Administration noted Vomiting Medicines Comforters Cupping-glasses Hot or glowing Iron The preservatory Method Purging and Bleeding Spring and Fall Cephalick Remedies An Electuary A distilled Water Lozenges Spirits and Tinctures Tea Coffee and Chocolate prepared how to be made and taken A Powder Medical Aâ— Examples A very rare History An Anatomical Observation The middle of the Brain which is the Seat of the Apoplexy is also the Seat of the Epilepsy The streaked Bodies the Medullar Trunks and the Nerves are the Seat of the Palsy what the Palsie is It s Conjunct Causes are Obstruction of the passages and the Impotency of the Spirits In the Palsie either motion or sense only or both together is hurt Spontaneous motion is abolished by reason of the ways being obstructed either in their beginnings or the middle passages or about the ends The ways are obstructed by Impletion or Compression or by a breaking of the Vnity An obstruction in the streaked Bodies causes the Vniversal Palsie or the Palsie of one side Why sense is not hindred as well as motion in every Palsie In an universal Palsie why all the Muscles of the Eyes and Face are not loosâ—ed A Compression of the streaked Body sometimes stirs up the Palsie A Paralytick obstruction doth sometimes happen in the Oblong and Spinal Marrow A Palsie often succeeds stupidity or becoming foolish A Palsie sometimes from the pressing together of the Marrowy Cord. Sometimes from the unity being broke The Seat of the Palsie sometimes in the Nerves themselves which are either obstructed or compressed or the unity broken 1 An Obstruction Sometimes in the beginning of the Nerves 2 Sometimes in the middle 3 Or in their utmost processes The other conjunct cause of the Palsie to wit the impotency of the Spirits Often arises from narcotick or vitriolick Particles by which the Spirits are put to flight In every Palsie the matter is not so thick or cold as it is vitriolick or other ways infestous to the Spirits The blasting or withering in Trees like the Palsie The more remote foregoing causes of the Palsy which are two 1 More remote to wit a vicious Blood and for that reason pouring forth a deadly matter upon the head 2 Nearer to wit a weak and loose Brain admiting the evil Particles The Palsy is either a primary Distemper and a Disease of it self Or secondarily viz. Coming upon or succeeding other Diseases Wherefore the Palsie often succeeds Convulsive Diseases Wherefore the Distemper of the Colick 3 Wherefore the Gout The evident Causes of the habitual Palsie Want or paâ—city of Spirits oftentimes the Cause of the Spurious or Bastard Palsy For this Reason Old Men are obnoxious to this Disease 2 Also Scorbutical Persons and such as are full of ill humours 3 Also others long sick Hence some dare not venture on local motion Others endeavouring cannot bear them long The Impotency of the Spirits proceeds in some measure from the default of the explosive Copula 2 The kind of Palsy in which Motion and Sense are hurt at ones 3 Kind in which sense only is affected Wherefore feeling is sometimes lost and motion safe What is the proper Organ of feeling The Prognostick of the Palsy It s Cure Three means of healing according to which this Disease is 1. Either accidental 2. The off-spring of another Disease 3. Habitual 1 The Cure of the former A Powder for a Fall Topicks to be applyed to the Distempered part 2 How the Palsie coming upon another Disease is to be cured The Cure of the habitual Palsie Whilst it is In fieri or doing The Intentions of healing respect the Blood and the Brain Bloodletting A Purge Cephalick Remedies 2 How the Disease in habit is to be cured Bloodletting and Purging cautiously and rarely to be admitted Altering Medicines ought to be given with choice How the Palsy is to be healed in a cold temperament Electuary Coffee A Decoction Spirits A Distilled Water Tinctures and Elixirs Powders Lozenges Pills How the Cholerick or hot Palsie is to be cured An Electuary A Distilled Water Chalybeats or Steeled Medicines A Decoction The juice and expressions of Herbs Pills Topick and particular Remedies Vniversal Remedies 1 Diaphoreticks They are not to be administred indifferently to all They often hurt the Cholerick Sweating Medicines Stoves Baths Natural Baths When the use of Baths is hurtful in the Palsie Salivation Vomitories Histories and Examples of Paralyticks The Example of the Palsie habitual excited of it self The first History The Reason of it The second History more rare and notable An Anatomicâ— Observation â— which the Caâ— is explained â— The third History The Reason of this The fourth History The Câ—rt expoposed The Reason of it The fifth History shâ—wing when the Baths are hurtful An example of the Palsie from a Lethargy The Distempers of the Brain follow in which Reason is hurt as
well as the other Animal Functions Who are said to be Foolish or to talk idly This is either shorter as the Delirium or longer and with a Feavour called Phrensie or without a Feavour as melancholy madness stupidity What the Delirium is It s formal Reason The Causes of the Delirium 1 Either from the Blood Or 2 From exterior Spirits planted in the nervous Stock By what and how many ways the Delirium is caused by the Blood 1 By reason of its too great heat 2 By reason of untameable Particles carried from it into the Brain 3 By reason of malignant Particles suffused from it 4 By reason of Effluvias or venomous Particles obtruded also on the Brain 5 By reason of its afflux being denied to the Brain How a Delirium proceeds from the irregularities of the exterior Spirits The Prognostick of a Delirium It s Cure Of the Phrensie what it is The Paraphrenesis Their Conjunct Causes The Phrensie not from the Inflammation of the Meninges The Paraphrenesis not from the Inflammation of the Diaphragma Wherefore breathing is hurt in this Disease The formal Reason of the Phrensie This Disease proceeds from the burning of the Animal Spirits The Inflammation of the Meninges stirs up rather the inveterate Head-ach or the Lethargy than the Phrensie Prosper Martianus also asserts this Chymical Spirits in their distilling are sometimes inflamed So the Animal Spirits What the Indisposition of the Brain is to the Phrensy The Procatartick Causes of the Phrensy which are partly in the Blood and Partly in the Brain The evident causes of the Phrensie The differences of it The Prognostick The Cure of the Phrensie Phlebotomy Clysterâ— A Iulep An Apozem A Drink Hypnoticks External Medicines causing Sleep Epithems The means for the preserving of strength Cordials The Histories of sick persons in Hippocrates Lib. Epidem A notable History The Distemper of the Animal Spirits being after a 〈◊〉 manner as it is the cause of the Phrensie so it is of Melancholy Madness and Stupidity The definition of Melancholy That it is a Distemper of the Brain and Heart Its Examples or Types various and almost infinite Melancholy is â—ither 1. Vniversal or 2 Particular The primary Phaenomena of a Melancholick Dâ—â—â—rium From what disposition of the Spirits they proceed As they are compared to Light they are called opacous or full of darkness These kind of Spirits in Melancholy compared to those in Chymical Liquors 1 They are not like the Spirit of Blood as they should be 2 Nor like the Spirit of Wine Such rather in the Phrensie 3 But these are like acid Spirits distilled out of Salt Vinegar Box and such like 4 Stygian Waters are like the Nature of the Animal Spirits in Madness The formal Reason of Melancholy aptly represented by acetous Chymical Liquors There are three chief affections of these which agree with the Animal Spirits in Melancholy 1 Effluvias falling away from these Liquors are perpetually in motion In like manner also the Spirits in the Phantasie of a Melancholick person 2 Effluvias from acetous Chymical Liquors do not proceed far In like manner the imagination of a Melancholick Person though always employ'd comprehends only a few things And therefore every thing is conceived with a greater Image than it should be 3 Effluvias from acetous Liquors do not evaporate so much from open Pores as they make new And in like manner the Animal Spirits whilst they form in the Brain new Tracts produce unwonted and incongruous Notions In Melancholy after the Animal Spirits being for some time vitiated the Conformation of the Brain is also hurt The Affection of the Praecordia in this Disease as to fear and sadness is delivered After what manner the Corporeal Soul is affected in these two passions The cause of either depends partly on the blood and partly on the Animal Action of the Heart The procatartick Causes of Melancholy are Partly the acetous Nature of the Spirits and partly the Melancholy Dyscrasie of the Blood The Distemper begins sometimes from this sometimes from that How it begins from the Spirits and the Animal Government By what means this Disease arises from the Blood Melancholy doth not arise from an atrabilary humour heaped up in some place or mine By what means according to the Antients it is said to arise from the Head How from the Womb. How from the Spleen How from the whole Body The Differences of the Disease 1 In respect of its first Subject 2 By reason of Temperament of the Sick In respect of the next Cause as it is singular or conjunct In respect of the Imagination diversly hurt The Prognostick of this Disease The Cure of the Disease The evident Cause first to be removed Three primary Indications 1 Curatory The healing of the Spirits is best performed by admonitions and artificial inventions concerning the business of Life Yet oftentimes there is need of Medicine besides The Preservatory indication concerning the Procatartick Causes of the Disease Phlebotomy Purging Vomiting Vomitories Purgers Pills Powders Syrups Altering Medicines are of the greatest moment and not pargiâ—g Medicines as the Antients thought An Electuary A Iulep A Distilled Water Lozengâ—s An Apozem Spaw-Waters Chalybâ—ates Steeled Medicines Whey Broths Iuices of Herbs A Bath Hypnoticks The first History An Example of Melancholy beginning from the Spirits The Cure The second History An Example of Melancholy arising from the Blood The Curatory Method proposed Vniversal Melancholy De Morbis Convulsivis Cap. 2. Particular Melancholy is excited by reason of two sorts of Affections concerning Good or Evil. Love-Madness The Reasons of Symptoms in mad Love Iealousie Superstition and Desperation The reason of the Symptoms The imaginary Metamorphosis of Melancholick Persons Madness and Melancholy are akin The Subject of Madness are the Animal Spirits The dispositionâ— of which are like to Stygian Water Three chief Accidents in Madness Which are also to be found in Stygian Water 1 The Particles of this are always in motion And in like manner the Animal Spirits in Mad-men 2 The Effluvia's of Stygian Water every where make new Pores and Passages In like manner also the Animal Spirits in Mad men 3 The Effluvia's of Stygian Water are diffused far In like manner as the Animal Spirits in Mad-men What the Conjunct Cause of Madness is How the Animal Spirits acquire a disposition like to Stygian Water It is shewed in the first place that corrosive and as it were Stygian Particles are begot in the humane Body Wherefore the Nervous Liquor oftentimes becomes corrosive Because the volatile Salt most easily degenerates into an acid and most sharp with the acquired Sulphur Hence the Reasons of Tumours and Vlcers in the Kings Evil and the Cancer are given Hence also the Madness of the distempered Spirits The Original of Madness either from the Spirits themselves or from the Blood It begins for two occasions from the Spirits 1 By Reason of a violent Passion by which They
are either too much cast down Or elevated above measure 2 Madness beginning from the Spirits succeeds Melancholy or the Phrensie 1 By what means it comes upon Melancholy 2 How upon a Phrensie 2 The Original of Madness sometimes from the Blood 1 It is either Hereditary The Reason of which is shewn 2 Or acquired and so either By reason of errours in the six Non-naturals Or by reason of Poysons An History of a Mortal Madness from eating the leaves of Wolfs Bane The Reasons of the symptoms of Madness explained 1 Wherefore Mad-men are audacious 2 From whence their immense strength 3 Wherefore they are never tired 4 Wherefore they are not easily hurt The Differences 1 In respect of the Original 2 By reason of the Magnitude 3 In respect of Time The Prognostick The Cure What the indications are of continual Madness 1 The Curatory Indication As to Discipline As to Medicine Phlebotomy Vomiting Medicines Purging Medicines The preservatory Indication Altering Medicines Whey An Expressions An Electuary A Iulep Distilled Waters Specificks A Decoction and Infusion of Apples Other Chirurgical Remedies 3 The vital Indication Histories and Examples of mad people are to be sought in Bedlam or Hospitals for mad people The Cure of Intermitting Madness The Curatory Indication Preservatory Stupidity arises chiefly from the failing of the Imagination and Memory Wherefore the Organs of these Faculties labour in this Disease 1 As to Magnitude 2 By Reason of the Figure 3 As to its Substance or Texture 4 The evil conformation of the Brain as to its pores and passages 3 Stupidity sometimes proceeds from both of them being in fault together What the Antecedent Causes of Foolishness are 1 An Hereditary Disposition Why strong or wise men are not always begotten of strong and wise Man The first Reason A Second Reason 2 Ripeness and the Declination of Age dispose some to Foolishness 3 Great hurts of the Head sometimes cause Doting or want of Ingenuity 4 Frequent Drunkenness 5 Vehement Affections 6 The more grievous Diseases of the Head oftentimes excite Foolishness The Differences of this Disease How foolishness and stupidity differ Degrees of stupidity The Prognostick of the Disease Evil if from an hurt of the Head What is excited from a Lethargy admits a Curt. Sometimes it is cured by a Feavour The Cure requires both a Master and a Physician What the labour of the former ought to be What the Medical intentions art What kind of Remedies are shewn 1 Evacuating Remedies 2 Altering Medicines Spirits A Distilled Water Tinctures Elixirs An Electuary Coffee Chocalate Physical Beer Outward Applications A Cap or quilted thing for the Head A Plaster A Liniment The Distempers of the Gout and Colick are Distempers of the nervous Stock The Subject of the Gout Its appearances rehearsed The parts affected The Morbifick Matter It is not any simple or singular Humour suggested from any of them In the Mine of this Disease two humours concur and mutually grow hot In like manner as when the Spirits of Vitriol are poured upon Oyl of Tartar A Vitriolick Matter partly supplied from the Nervous Liquor Either Matter growing degenerate or depraved turns to the Gout 1 From the Blood for that it becomes full of a fixed Salt 2 From the nervous Liquor for that it is acetosous or sharp The former is as it were the feminine Seed of the Gout The other masculine The Procatartick or foregoing Causes of the Gout 1 A Mine of fixed Salt laid up about the Internodia or Knitting togegether of the Bones This Matter is not meerly Excrementitious nor a Bilous or Phlegmatick Humour To this previous procatarxis to wit a fixed Salt the Discrasie of the bloud and the debility of the Distemper'd Member doth help What the Saline Particles of the bloud ought to be to wit in a middle state between fixation and volatilisation When being too fixed they become Morbifick And so they bring forth the Scurvy Dropsie and other Diseases and especially the Gout The Saline fixed or Arthritical Disposition of the Blood proceeds from various Causes 1 Sometimes it is Hereditary 2 Oftentimes acquired by reason of an evil manner of living From what Causes the debility of the Ioynts is excited 2 The other foregoing Cause of the Gout from the acetous part of the nervous humour Such an acetous disposition does not come upon the whole Mass of the nervous humour but only some portions or recrements of it It is shewn that acetous fluxions do proceed from the nervous humour And so part of the Gouty Mixt is sent from the Brain and Nerves The evident Causes of the Goutish Fit 1 The drinking of sharp Liquors 2 Immoderate Exercise 3 Evacuations being suppressed 4 The Circulations of the Heaven Air and Year The differences of the Gout 1 As to the places affected 2 As to its Original 1 In respect of other Diseases It is wont to be complicated with the Scurvy 2 With the Stone The Reason of this is shewed The Prognostick of this Disease The Gouty Matter being restrained or any other way translated oftentimes excites dangerous Distempers The acetous recrements of the nervous Liquor do chiefly effect this The first Instance of such aâ— Effect A second Instance The Cure Three primary Indications 1 Curatory for the allaying the pains in the Fits 1 For the taking away of the Breach of the Continuity Phlebotomy Purging Forms of Purges Vomiting Altering Medicines or such as preserve from the Gout Pills An Electuary 2 The Spirits ought to be allayed or quietâ—d 1 By Topick Remedies Pultesses A Fomentation Outward Narcoticks Resolving Topicks consisting chiefly of Saline Particles even analogic or correspondent to the Morbific Mine Forms of these Plasters in the declination of the Fit Opiates 2 The preservatory Indication out of the Fit Usual Purging and Vomiting Phlebotomy Altering Medicines called Antidotes of the Gout Pills A Distilled Water Tinctures Powders Medicated Beer A Milk Diet. Drinking of ones own Vrine A notable History of the Stone converted into the Gout and on the contrary of the Gout into the Stone The reason of this shewed by Anatomical Observation Why the Colick is counted among the Distempers of the Brain and the nervous Stock From whence the denomination A description of the Disease The seat of the Disease is not always or often in the Intestine or Gut Colon. viz. neither in its Cavity or Coats Pains commonly taken for Colicks These are merely accidental or habitual These latter are properly the Disease The conjunct cause of the Disease are not the Contents of the Intestines Not the humors impacted in the Membranes The nervous Liquor seems most of all to contribute to the cause of this Disease Charles Piso 's Opinion cited and examined The seat of the Morbiâ—ick Matter not in the Brain The part primarily affected in the Abdomen not in the Peritonaeum But more rightly it seems to be the Mesentery Where the seat of the Distempers called Hysterical often lyes hid The Colick-mine is affirmed to be within the nervous and other mesenterick infoldings of the Abdomen From which planted thereabouts the Colick Symptoms are excited The yellow or green Bile or Choler that is cast forth by vomiting in the Colick-Fits is not the material cause of this Disease Wherefore pains of the Loins often come upon the Colick pains In what the foregoing cause of this Disease consists 1 The nervous Liquor is in fault because the Morbifick Matter is gathered together in it 2 The nerves of the wandring pair and their mesenterick Infoldings because they receive into themselves this matter The evident causes of this Disease The differences of this Disease It s Prognostick The Cure 1 The first Indication Curatory What the chief Medical intentions are in the Fit For the most part Clysters are to be begun with Which are at first to be gentle afterwards more sharp Clysters Fomentations Pultesses An Oyntment Cold Fomentations Opiates Evacuating Medicines Vomiting Medicines Purges Salivation Baths Diureticks Mineral Purging Waters 2 The Vital Indication suggests Remedies Cardiack Hypnoticks 3 The Preservatory Indication by which are indicated Vomiting Purging Altering Remedies The Objection of Charles Piso solved The first History The Reason of it The second History The Reason of it The third History The Reason of it shew'd
pain of the Head is wont to be accounted the chiefest of the Diseases of the Head and as it were to lead the troops of the other Affections of that part for that it is the most common and most frequent symptom to which indeed there is none but is sometimes obnoxious so that it is become a Proverb as a sign of a more rare and admirable thing That his Head did never ake The Headach though it be a most frequent Distemper hath so various uncertain and often a contrary original that it seems most difficult to deliver an exact Theorie of its appearance containing the solutions of so manifold and often opposite things This Disease being constant to no temperament constitution or manner of living nor to no kind of evident or adjoyning causes ordinarily falls upon cold and hot sober and intemperate the empty and the full bellied the fat and the lean the young and old yea upon Men and Women of every age state or condition Hence because they cannot satisfie any one sick with this Distemper with the causes of it most commonly they say they all proceed from Vapours Further the Cure of this Disease is more happily instituted not so much by certain Indications as by trying various things and at length by collecting an Extempory method of Healing from things helping and hurting Wherefore if I should go about to untye this hard knot by drawing forth the matter more deeply and more accurately I must ask for pardon if I am carried by a long compass thorow the various Series and Complication of Causes and if at length by any means the Aeriology or the Reason of this Disease may be fully detected a more certain way to its Cure may be opened Therefore that we may go on more fully to institute this Pathology or shewing the Causes or symptoms of this Disease we ought first of all to unfold the Subject and the formal reason of this Disease together with the Causes and differences then to subjoyn the Curatory method and to illustrate it with some more rare Cases and Observations As to the former as all pain is a hurt or violated Action or a troublesome sension or feeling depending on a Convulsion or a Corrugation of the Nerves the Subject of the Headach are the most nervous parts of the Head that is the Nerves themselves as also the Fibres and Membranes and such as are more and most sensible seated both without and within the skull But the parts of this kind which are affected with pain are first the two Meninges and their various processes the Coats of the Nerves the Pericranium or skin compassing the skull and other thin skinny Membranes the fleshy Panicle of the Muscle and lastly the skin it self As to the Brain and Cerebel and their Medullary dependences we affirm That these Bodies are free from pains because they want sensible Fibres apt to be wrinkled and distended the same for the like reason may be said of the Skull 2. But whensoever pain is excited any where about the nervous parts of the Head its formal reason consists in this That the Animal Spirits being drawn one from another and put to flight cause the containing Bodies to be pulled together and wrinkled and so stir up a troublesome sension or feeling But that which so distracts the Spirits that from thence a troublesome feeling arises is some improportionate thing rushing upon the Spirits themselves or on the Bodies containing them which entring the Pores of and spaces between the Fibres pulls them one from another and so drives the spirits dwelling there into disorder 3. As to the differences of the Headach the common distinction is That the pain of the Head is either without the Skull or within its cavity The former is a more rare and a more gentle disease because the parts above the Skull are not so sensible as the interior Meninges nor are they watered with so plentiful a flood of Blood that by its sudden and vehement incursion they may be easily distended or inflamed above measure Secondly The other kind of Headach to wit within the Skull is more frequent and much more cruel because the Membranes cloathing the Brain are very sensible and the Blood is poured upon them by a manifold passage and by many and greater Arteries Further because the Blood or its Serum sometimes passing thorow all the Arteries at once both the Carotides and the Vertebrals and sometimes apart thorow these or those on the one side or the opposite bring hurt to the Meninges hence the pain is caused that is interior which is either universal infesting the whole Head or its greatest part or particular which is limited to some private region and sometimes produces a Meagrim on the side sometimes in the forepart and sometimes in the hinder part of the Head There are many other differences of this Disease to wit That the Pain is either light or vehement sharp or dull short or of continuance continual or intermitting its approaches sometimes periodical and exact sometimes wandring and uncertain Also by reason of the Conjunct Cause which as shall be declared by and by sometimes is the Blood sometimes certain excrements of it as either the Serum or nourishing juice or vapours or wind sometimes it is the nervous liquor sometimes a congression or striving of it with the bloody liquor The Headach may be called either bloody and that either simple or else serous vaporous or otherways excrementitious or else Convulsive from the humor watering the nervous Fibres and irritating them into painful Corrugations Concerning these that we may proceed methodically we shall rehearse in a certain order the various kinds of this Disease with their Causes and it seems good that we distinguish the Pain of the Head to be either accidental or occasional and habitual The former is wont to be excited without any foregoing cause or previous disposition by the solitary evident cause as when an Headach happens almost to all men after the drinking of Wine Surfetting lying in the Sun or vehement exercise also in the fitts of Feavours to wit forasmuch as the Blood being incited more than it was wont and boiling up immoderately very much blows up and distends the Membranes it passes thorow yea the Serum and Vapors copiously sent forth from it then growing hot and rushing on the Membranes pull and provoke the nervous Fibres Secondly The habitual pain of the Head hath some procatartick or more remote Cause fixed somewhere by reason of which it is troubled either constantly or often so that though it sometimes intermits yet it often returns of its own accord and is excited also upon every light occasion but this whether it be continual or intermitting hath neither always nor only the Suffusions or too great Evaporations of the Blood or Serum for the Conjunct Cause although these are often present where notwithstanding they are rather