Selected quad for the lemma: cause_n
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A91769
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A discourse in the praise of antimonie and the vertues thereof. Written and published at the request of a person of quality. By Constantine Rhodocanacis.
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Rhodokanakēs, Kōnstantinos, 1635-1689.
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1664
(1664)
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Wing R1335; ESTC R229938
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6,707
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11
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A DISCOURSE In the Praise of Antimonie and the Vertues thereof Written and Published at the request of a Person of quality By Constantine Rhodocanacis Printed in the year 1664. A DISCOURSE in praise of Antimony and the Vertues thereof ALL expert Chymists have so commended this Mineral that amongst all the Students of the Art there is not one who doth not much admire it and not without good cause For amongst all Minerals Antimony alone hath received from Nature a Body compounded and tempered with an admirable proportion of Elements The Elements have given it so great and secret vertues as if they had endeavoured to rank it in the number of those things that have in them something of Divinity Seeing that this sacred Lead hath power to make manifest the secret vertues of other Mettals for it is a certain mild fire that can preserve not only the Bodies of Mettals but even those of Men. This is that fire which resolves and penetrates the metalline Bodies Let us hear what Psellus saith of it to Xiphilinus the Patriarch who desired to be instructed of him in some secrets of Nature Shall I saith he discover unto you the vertues that lie hid in the inward parts of Antimony or the sacred Lead which Hippocrates kept so secret under the name of his Tetragon Where we may note that Psellus called this Mineral sacred because he well knew it to be the perfection of Nature the illustrious light and flower of Jupiter for there is in this Mineral a certain incombustible Sulphur which useth to unite it self to other Mettals and to purifie their impure and combustible Sulphur Hence he is called the Governour of all Mettals the light and blood of Gold because he doth not only correct the imperfect Mettals but also upon the Test purgeth Gold it self and exalts his light and splendour He is called also the Star of Mars because being joyned to Iron it melts to a bright Mettalline called the Star of Iron and the starry Regulus thereof He claims likewise to himself the name of Mercury and is called the shining Mercury because there is a very near affinity between these two Minerals He is also called Venus and Phosphorus because he brings forth two Cupids armed with different Arrows whereof some are tipped with Gold and some with Steel in testimony of his affection both to Gold and to Iron wherefore his Father Saturn hath adorned him as his Son with several titles He is called moreover the Magnesia because Antimony hath a certain magnetical or sympathetick property by which he enclines to and affects the Mettals that he may impart to them a greater perfection and this much after that manner by which the Loadstone enclines to the Pole-starre and tends towards it perpetually And to comprehend all in a word Antimony with its magnetick quality allures as it were all curious spirits to the search and study thereof and effects this much that when they have once known it they have a desire to appropriate it to themselves and to exclude all others from the knowledge thereof And this is the cause why they imposed so many names upon it and disguized this Mineral under the names of living creatures as when they bid us Take the black Lyon with sparkling fiery eyes and Basil Valentine calls it a Wolf whose process I will here insert that such as can understand it may learn thereby to make no contemptible Medicines for the health of man Take saith he the hungry ravenous Wolf which is subject to warlike Mars but originally is the son of Saturn which lies in the Mountains and Valleys ready to dye for hunger Cast before him the body of the King that he may eaâ—e it and when he hath devoured it cast the Wolf himself into a great fire and the Wolf will vanish away and leave the King behind him Do this three times and then the Lion or King will overcome the Wolf and the Nature of the King delights much in the tincture of the Wolf because of the affinity that is between the Blood of these two In this operation thou mayest observe a most pleasant thing for when the Lion is glutted with the blood of the Wolf he will shine like the Sun and his inward vertue is very great and very profitable for any work thou wouldest effect therewith Behold now the Mineral Key which is delivered to us that we may not only open Mettal with it but withall that we may open our Eyes and may be able to discern as well the Internal Qualities as the Externâ—l of the Sâ—cred Lead This also is generally affirmed of Antimony that it is very beneficial to colour withall for there are drawn out of it several colours or tinctures not only to paint and beautifie the Eyes with but also to stop their defluxions yea and to mitigate all sharp humors and inflammations and to take away their causes Hence the Jewish women made use of Antimony for a Cosmetic to paint their Eyes and Faces withall for they endeavoured to render themselves pleasing to the Assyrians Chaldaeans and Aegyptians In this respect the Chaldees called Antimony Cohol and the Arabians Cohl because it beautifies the face as the Greeks also called it Stibi from its colour for the Women did black their Eye-brows with it as the custom is in Turky at this day Galen also confesseth that the Greek-women used it to the same end and he teacheth that it is not only proper to paint the Browes but also to stop the defluxions of the Eyes Whence he boasts that he had found a most excellent remedy to repell and drie up all sharp Rheumes that offend the Eyes and this remedy was therefore called an Opthalmic and a Prophilactic or Praeservative of the Eyes This Remedy was usual amongst all those people who lived under the Romane government and was esteemed infallible not only to stop defluxions but to clear the Eyes and to take away all spots and clouds that hindred the sight Hence it may appear that Antimony was used in the days of Galen and principally by the phrase Vpostimmizein in the Greek tongue from Stimmi which signifies Antimony because they did put the Stimmi or Antimony upon their Browes and painted them therewith There were also many Physical Remedies made for the Eyes of Antimony whereof some were dry and some moyst Confections wherewith the sight was strengthened and sore Eyes very readily cured Hence it appears that Antimony cleanseth our Eyes as well as Mettals and certainly if the effects of it are so wholesome being outwardly applyed to the Eyes what shall we think of it if it be ministred inwardly and taken into the Body Of a truth it will no less strengthen the stomack if it be well prepared for it cureth all distempers of the inward parts strengthens the appetite and giveth ease in all stitches and pungent distempers caused by Cholerick and Sharp-humors in the Gutts or Stomach Antimony was the Phaenix of Hippocrates
but a Wiseman must extract the secret and supply himself with the knowledge of the Vertues thereof out of its Ashes for there they lie hid For this Mineral doth so strengthen and stirr up nature that she can free and discharge her self from Bilious humors which breed obstructions in the Gutts and stomach and from thence disperse themselves into other parts of the Body This Mineral stirreth up four several faculties in our Bodies whereby the Excrements are expelled and all peccant humors cast out for it purgeth by vomit by stoole it causeth us to sweat it strengthneth the principal parts and is a preservative against poysons These admirable vertues were the cause why Hippocrates concealed this Mineral under the name of his Tetragon and verily nature hath not produced any other Compound wherein there is such vertue and power to remove and resolve obstructions in the Gutts seeing nature hath not imparted this faculty to any other Body but hath conferr'd it upon Antimony alone Hence Basil Valentine confesseth this Mineral to be most conducing and agreeable to the principal parts of the Body as the very Balsam and Mumy of life and he affirmeth that there is not under heaven a more excellent medicine than what may be prepared out of Antimony for it expelleth poysons opens all obstructions driveth out the superfluities of the Blood by sweat and purgeth by stool and vomit most justly therefore did Hippocrates call Antimony his Tetragon because of its fourfold faculties and vertues for it vomits it purgeth it sweateth and it preserves and strengthens withal Galen calleth those shining filaments or streakes which appear in Antimony Plakas which discover and manifest unto us that Antimony is naturally full of Regulus in which Regulus there are excellent Vertues For by his Plakas Galen understood the purer and brighter parts of the Antimony in which parts those four medicinal faculties lodge which make up the Tetragon Amongst all Symptoms of Diseases the most vehement is an extream pain of the head which procedes from abundance of Bilious slimy humors heaped up and impacted in the Gutts where they cause Inflammations and such strong Obstructions that sometimes the natural passage downwards is stopped that the very Excrements are purged out at the mouth and in this cause Hippocrates requires that the patient should vomit every sixth day should drink wine and be purged with his Tetragon in which Text Galen hath rightly observed that by his Tetragon Hippocrates understood Antimony For this Mineral being well prepared roots out the Causes of this Symptom namely the Bilious humours impacted in the Gutts It is plain then that Hippocrates by his Tetragon meant Antimony for this disease will not yield to any other Remedies for purge the Patient with common Medicaments as Hellebore and the like and make him vomit never so often yet the pain in the Head shall still continue for those remedies cannot resolve and expell the Bilious excrements that cause it and therefore the Patient must be purged with the Tetragon for it is the property of this Mineral to resolve Obstructions and purge them out both upwards and downwards as also by sweating and to strengthen the natural parts which have been weakned by the peccant matter And seeing this Mineral is Diaphoretick withal it doth by a gentle transpiration disperse and expell those noxious vapours and fumes which ascend from the Stomack and the peccant matter up to the heart and the head and cause those troublesome symptoms and these excellent effects made a famous Philosopher call Antimony the Healing Mumie of life Others there were who called Antimony the Ramm and not without reason for as the Coelestial Sun begins to be exalted in the Sign of Aries even so the Terrestrial Sun namely Gold is exalted and purged in Antimony as we may understand by the Aenigmatical process of Basil Valentine formerly mention'd under the names of the Lyon and the Wolf And there are those who stick not to affirm that in Antimony is hid the secret of all secrets as being the Marcasite of Saturn But this moreover is worth our observation that there are two sorts of Antimony namely the Male and the Female The Male is more impure earthy and of less weight but the Female is purer more sparkling and bright much heavier than the other and hath more in her of a Mettalline nature whence we may conclude with Dioscorides that that Antimony is to be chosen for the best which hath in it certain shining filaments or streaks and which being broken the fragments will easily crumble between your fingers and which hath not much earth mingled therewith nor any extraneous foeculent superfluities Moreover there are made of Antimony several sorts of Medicines namely the Crocus or Mineral Saffron the Flowres the Glass of Antimony the Antimonial Cups the Butter the Mercurius vitae or vomiting powder the Regulus the Golden Sulphur the Salt and Oyl made thereof by Resolution in a cold place as also several kinds of Tinctures For our part we know how to make four different Tinctures of Antimony whereof the one excells the other in vertue according to the purity of the matter whereof they are prepared The same we say of our sweating powder and these our Medicines cause no vomits at all but work only by sweating and that kindly too and without any molestation or offence to the stomack And at Cambridge there are many persons who can attest this truth with me as also here at London We prepare also besides the Tinctures and the Diaphoretick another Medicament which is a ruddy powder and we call it the Theion of Hippocrates and our Panodon because it purgeth at all the Emunctories or passages of the Body by Vomit by Stool by Urine by Sweat and an insensible transpiration We prepare also the Salt of Antimony which hath the same effects with our Theion this only excepted that the Salt purgeth only downwards by Stool and Urine and in that respect is better than our ruddy powder for such Patients who cannot endure vomiting Medicines Of all and each of these we shall now discourse that such persons who desire to have them may know what they are good for and how they ought to be taken and in what quantity Of the use and Dose of our Antimonial Tincture This Tincture is a good and a safe Medicine and may be taken inwardly or applyed outwardly with much benefit for it cures the Leprosie the French Pox the Scurvy all Feavers the Falling-Sicknesse the Dropsie the Plague the Meazles the Itch and such other Diseases In Meagrims and pains of the head and the Hypocondriack melancholy it avails much It expells poisons cures those that are Asthmatical killeth Worms and helps in many other distempers which cannot be cured with Simples It cleanseth the Blood emptieth all vicious humours of the Stomack brings down the Courses and maketh Barren Women fruitful in the Gout also and the Stone it is a commendable Medicine The Dose thereof