of the partes the vrine is lyke the vrine of one that is whole which shal be proued to be true by this that hereafter followeth The. 5. Chap. BUT for asmuch as we concluded before that this infection is in the ayâ—â— which wée drawe in by breathing 〈…〉 s receiued into the inner partes of thâ— body through the pores of the skin by the motion of the arteyres how chauÌ„ceth it then that the heart is not alwayes infected for asmuch as in our large breathing the ayre which is drawen in by the Lungues imparteth the contagioÌ„ sooner vnto the heart because of theyr néerenes then vnto partes be farther of as the Liuer and the Braine Note this common reason sayth Galen that a corrupt humour which is engendred in all by one constitucion doth not affect the same places for that in respect of al theyr natures the body was not in the same coÌ„stitution at that present but one part was weaker then another For those partes which be stronger in qualitie or quantitie vse to expulse and driue awaye the offending bumour into another that is of lesse resistaunce Wherfore if the heart eyther of it selfe or by helpe of Phisick be strong then wyll it driue the venimous ayre eyther to the Liuer or to the Brain Moreouer the proportion of the putrifaction maye be in cause thereof for whatsoeuer hath the force to do any thing doth not immediatly execute the same vpon what euer it méeteth withall but necessarye it is that there be some naturall likenesse betwéene the thing Agent and the Pacient and after this maner we affirme that Purgations drawe this or that humour by reason of the lykenesse vnto them of nature or substauÌ„ce And therefore the olde writers sayde verye well that euery thing cannot worke vppon euerye thing but onely whatsoeuer hath some agréement with the Agent in matter or in maner of applying them together lyke as the Ephemerum Colchicum a venimous herbe so called the Uiper beare enmitie against the Liuer as may easilye be perceiued by the bloody flixe dropsie and other accidents which both of them do cause and as the byting of certaine Beasts breedeth the iaundice corrupting conuerting the blood into choler Besides this Henbaine the Aspe molest that part of the Braine wherein the Animall facultie resteth the last bringing vnwakeable sléepe the first distracting the mind which it doth not by reason of cold as late writers affyrme For Brionie which is hot worketh also the same effect howbeit the extreeme colde that is in Houselike in Lettice or Poppie troubleth not the wittes The Basiliske slayeth a maÌ„ sodainly consuming the spirites which he doth they say by sight and hyssing The Taxus which seme suppose to be the Ewtrée kylleth with his shaddowe specially in hot cuntreys those that sleepe vnder it â–ª strangling them presently lyke as the Hemlock with his passing cold qualitie extinguisheth naturall heat These causeth of so sudde in death procéedeth froÌ„ no other thing then the peculiar kind of poison which at the first assault inuadeth the castle of life For euery thing hath his peculiar mixtion froÌ„ whence spring forth those properties of substaunce And these thinges are no lesse proper vnto the ayre also then they are common vnto plants brute beastes so that the diuerse kinde of putrifaction which is in the ayre infecteth or affecteth the diuers partes of our bodies after a diuerse kinde of maner For loke what the ayre is such must needes our humours and spirites bee wherein the soundnesse or infirmitie of the partes consisteth And this was the cause that Hippocrates wrote how that the sundry mutacioÌ„ of tymes procureth many diseases as namely if the Summer be drie and the wind North the Haruest verie rainy and the wind South the winter following are lyke to ensue payne in the head coughes horsenes rewmes and stuffing in the head and many shal fall into consumptions lykewise some other disposition of the Summer and Haruest ingendreth other kindes of diseases so that sometime they procéede froÌ„ the braine sometime depend vpon other partes according to the diuerse temperature of the ayre and Hippocrates very learnedly hath set downe in the thyrd boke of his Aphorismes in his booke of Epidemies and of the ayre places and waters But the auctoritye of D. Ambrosius Pareus whome posterity acknowledgeth for the thyrd sun of Aesculapius doeth much lighten and confyrme this opinion who opening the bed wherein one laye sicke of the Plague felt a most filthye and pestilent sauour rysing from the plaguie botch and carbuncle which so strooke his Braine that presentlie he fell in a sowne to the ground without feeling any paine at the heart or other accident that might declare that the heart or stomacke or any other part of the body were affected at length recouering strength he arose and his braine began to expulse that contagious ayre with so forcible sneesing that the blood therewith gusshed out of his nose and vnlesse sayde hée the expulsiue facultie of my braine had bene strong doubtlesse I had died for the Animall or lyuing facultie had bene therewith vtterlye oppressed Thus you sée louing Reader by the example and iudgement of so notable a man that this poyson may first infect the braine no other part being hurt For there is a perpetuall drawing of ayre into the braine in euerye breathing creature in at the nostrels through the bones called Istmoidea into the foremoste ventricle or sell of the braine where the smelling vertue remaineth whereby it commeth that it imparteth most readelye vnto the braine that infection which it receyueth before that it conuey it vnto the heart For it cannot come vnto the heart vntyl such tyme as it bee well laboured in the Lungues wheras by the tareing there it looseth some parte of the venimous qualitie â–ª or else infecteth the hollownesse of the Lungues or the thin skins and rimes within the breast or the Midriffe whereby many times in the Pestilence commeth spetting of blood as Guido de Cauliaco hath noted in the same plague which beginning first at Auenion was dispersed ouer all Europe Lykewise the painfull Cathar with shortnesse of breath which the FrenchmeÌ„ termed Coqueluche which awhile agoe raged ouer all Europe was caused by the ayre declaring it selfe to bée pestilent euen by the verye force thereof and going from man to man which was the kinde of that infection do to and notwithstanding all the accidents and tokens declared that by similitude of passion the braine was likewise affected as were heauines and paine in the head with desyre to sléepe the mur stuffing in the head and distillacion into the Lungues stomacke The lyke vnto this is to bée founde in Hippocrates in the thyrd booke of Epedemies where he describeth a pestilent state For many were diseased in the Iawes had impedimentes in theyr speache theyr bellyes were troubled with laskes many wared rotten and fell into
consumptions so that the next wynter following wee were much troubled with contagious squincies in these quarters which came to passe with chaunging of the winde from the South to the North as it is to be learned out of the twentye fowrth Aphorisme of the first booke of Hippocrates Aphorisines And afterward Hippocrates addeth and the diseases sayth he which the pestilent ayre doth bring if it once offend the Lyuer are burning feuers dropsies putrifaction of the lower part of the bellye and priuities and when sayth hee the rottennes had taken déeper rootes many lost theyr armes and from some the whole cubite from the elbowe foreward fell awaye The lyke kinde of Pestilence was that which Galen citeth out of Thucidides to haue raigned in Athens But if all these proofes can not sufficientlye perswade thee rememember that the Leprosie is a contagious disease the contagion whereof proceedeth of the ayre corrupt and infected by leprous persons which beeing drawne in by breathing infecteth others the contagion taking hold on the Liuer which is the seat of the Leprosie éeuen so one that is sicke of the plague disperseth the infection abrode in the ayre which infecteth those that are about him with the same sicknesse wherby it hapneth that the same disease and hauing the verye same accidentes many times continueth a yéere or twoo togeather as I remember it chaunced once in England Measelles by consent of all auncient wryters take theyr originall of an infection sent downe from the celestiall bodyes into the ayre and are of the kinde of Epedimious diseases and the forerunners of some gréeuous mortall pestilence the cause whereof is the heat and boyling of blood and are to bée numbred among diseases of the lyuer And that there is in these a most manifest infection to be taken one of another euery simple woman can tell and Rases maketh them one kinde of the Pestilence Thus all that we haue hetherto sayd do prooue ▪ that the Pestilent ayre sumtyme infecteth the Braine sumtyme the Lyuer and sumtime the heart according to the diuersitye of the putryfaction ▪ and the diuerse disposition of the body For as fire is sooner kyndled in drye strawe then in gréene wood so lykewise the infected ayre béeing dispersed abroade and breathed in sooner ouerthroweth suche bodyes as are stuffed with euyll humours then those that are cleane and pure from any such and for this cause you shall see among a great many that were about one which was sicke of the plague one onely many times to escape the sicknesse and euen so all that looke vpon sore eyes become not sore eyed but such onelye in whome the infection had lyke matter to worke vpon And this is the cause why for the most part sorenesse blearenesse of the eyes vseth to come before a plague as Aphrodiseus wryteth Because sayth hée the plague is a disease of the spirites and when this troubled and corrupted spirite is caryed vp to the head it molesteth the eyes and hurteth them before any other thing for being subtile and moueable it goeth first vnto the eyes Not vnlike vnto this is that which Aristotle verie fitlye demaundeth howe it chaunceth that when euell tydinges or sorowfull newes are told vs wee suddeinly shake quiuer and the beholding of affections in other before our eyes bréede the like affections in vs also for when we sée another eate some sower thing our téeth waxe in an edge and if wee heare a sawe filed or a Pumice stone cut we tremble quake for cold The cause of al these as saith Aristotle is the spirite which entring within our senses moueth vs altering and many times extinguishing the spyrites which are within our bodyes howbeit then by lykelyhood proportion they should more easily chaunge the spirites which remaine in she heart Braine and Lyuer then in the vttermost part of the teeth But a man shall not easily perswade the common people ▪ or the newe wryters in this point as that the filthy stynking Kennels and durty places of the Citye doo onely hurt the Braine The Colicke whereof next after Hippocrates Paulus Aegineta maketh mencion in the yéere 1572 ▪ reygned generallye and dyd very much harme kylling many For all that were sicke of it fell into the Paulsie or falling sicknesse and many dyed thereof either in the fyt or not long after as I obserued it in the house of my good Lord and exhibitour and in the Monasterye of Casa dei or Gods house néere vnto our dwelling called Rugla for the Nūnes which dwelt there could not prouide for theyr health by any other meanes then by flight and chaunge of place And more then fiftéene yéere since this gréeuous disease much afflicted our cuntreymen and Citizens also and euen this last winter it wandred here amōg our next neighbours as it reygned at Abbeuille in the yeere of our Lorde 1554. of the cure whereof I meane Godwylling to intreate in my booke of diseases which came by inheritaunce And this much thou hast alreadye Louing Reader cōcerning the cause and place of the Pestilence and now harken farther to the signes and tokens thereof The. 6. Chap. IF the putrifaction of the corrupted ayre do take holde on the spirites the heat is not sharpe nor pricking the patiēts féele a greater heat in their breast then in any other part of the bodye the pulse is nothing weake but sumtime more quicke then it is woont but yet not to swift as when the imperfection is in the humours the vrine is lyke vnto the naturall there issueth no sweat but some moisture appeareth on the forehead and in the necke the tongue is drye and rough they thyrst not much nor tosse them selues hether thether because the naturall strength is whollye ouerthrowen they sowne often there appeareth vpon them neyther botche nor blaine nor Gods markes neyther haue they the laske but dye suddeinlie vnlesse they be well looked vnto at the fyrst assault of the sicknesse But when the putrifaction hath inuaded the sound substaunce of the heart then it bringeth a feuer as I haue sayd like to an Hecticke or a consuming feuer in which there is no great heate but that which is lurketh within consuming and putrefiing the substaunce of the heart burning it and all that is therein the pacients féele not themselues to be in an ague or to be sicke at all so sone as they haue eaten meate ▪ they fall into a colde sweat their pulse is indifferent almost naturall but sumdeale quicker and weaker theyr vrine is lyke ones in good health they raue not they are not troubled with the laske nor gréeued with any other accident The lyke plague vnto this raigned at Lions and Vienna in the yeere of our Lord. 1525. as Montuus reporteth If the pestilent ayre being drawne in at the nose or otherwyse haue possessed the braine the signes thereof are tremblinges and sadnesse the partye féeleth great paine
those that came neere them partlye with an outragious kind of madnes and partly consumed thē with a pestilent quality There are some also that kyll a man presently as in Phrygia and there be many Welles and small Lakes and bituminous springes or standing waters and places where Metals haue beene digged and the stinking pudles of Auernus and Lucrinus whose lothsome vapour kylleth the Dogges that do but once licke of it bee it neuer so litle and stifleth the Fowles that flye ouer it Of these diseases hath Hippocrates intreated in his booke of the ayre places and waters The Epidemij sicknesses are taken by Hippocrates in two significations After one sort the Epidemius sicknesse is taken for some disease which taketh a great many of people away whether it bee flixe or tercian ague or some like disease which raigneth among the people in some one place howbeit for the more part the Greeke words Limos and Diathesis Limodes are taken for the Pestilence which inuading men wéemen children of all ages dispatcheth many out of their liues whether it procéede first of the ayre or by infection of which diseases Hippocrates hath intreated in his booke intituled Epidemiorum Wherefore what kinde of disease the Pestilence is what the substaunce thereof is and of what causes it proceedeth we must now declare The. 2. Chap. THE Pestilence is a contagious ayre not being the disease it self but the neerest and most principall cause thereof either raised with in the bodies or caught abroade suddeinly weakning the spirites the powers which gouerne the body The cause of this Pestilence the more parte of learned writers ascribe vnto the ayre but not all one waye for some are of opinion that the poysoning infection is sent down from the starres and planets and so dispersed through the ayre other say that the ayre it selfe is putrified the cause of which putrifaction they ascribe vnto the coniunctions and oppositions of the planets the Eclips of the Sunne and Moone and the coniunction of Saturnus with other euell planets by meanes whereof insue sundry tempestes great chaunge of the ayre and consequently thereof commeth diuers rottennes and putrifactions For the ayre hath manifest causes of alteracion as namelye the mingling of other straunge ayre with it or of some kinde of substaunce else which is most contrary vnto vs as are rotten vapors and thereof it putrifieth and waxeth pestilent and is chaunged into the nature of poison Whereby it cōmeth to passe that according to proportion this plague rageth sumtime among men sumtime amōg beasts and sumtime among grasse fruite corne And there be many thinges very common that are good for cattel wyl hurt men and contrariwise wyll slay cattel that wyll doo men good Like as many doo perceiue that the feeding on naughtie meates engendreth the plague as if a man should fall into the plague by vsing such euill diet as is commonlye séene in the dearth of corne and other victuals then immediatly shall he infect others and when that disease by going from one to other hath gathered strength and hath inuaded many of all ages and sexes it is called the Pestilence Againe they suppose that sumtime the ayre is infected by lower causes of thinges rotten and putrified as of carcasies vnburied wythred and putrified hearbes and weedes priuies dunghils and such lyke which afterwarde being drawne into our bodyes breedeth the plague as some doo write of the Putauian pyt Surely that this is the verye iust iudgement reuenge of God our barbarous nation being the verie vttermost land of this part of the worlde doth acknowledge and professe a most manifest testimonye whereof we haue in Ezechiel and in the second of the Kinges the fowre and twentye Chapter The. 3 ▪ Chap. THat secrete force of infection which our senses cānot discerne consisteth in an humour or some other kinde of substaunce for a force power of a bodily substaunce cannot so much anoy our bodies Wherefore I thinke it verye requisite for to knowe perfitlye vppon what part of our body this secrete poison exerciseth his tyrānie séeing according to the diuersity of the place where it setleth there ariseth not only diuerse kyndes of pestilences but also a diuerse order of cure is requyred for them For if it be receyued into the substaunce of the heart it resembleth the likenesse of an Hecticke or consuming feuer and many times it surpriseth the spyrites and kylleth the man presently As not yet full sixe yéeres since I my selfe sawe in the Pestilence which raged in Lyons where men fell downe dead to the grounde euē as they were going in the streets Sometime it resteth in the Liuer and according to the nature of the humour which it infecteth it causeth a feuer as namely the feuer called Synochus if it haue infected the blood and a burning feuer if it be choler and the like iudgement is also to bee geuen of the other humours A like plague vnto this whereof I speake not fullye fiftéene yéeres ago raigned in Eueris at Vernoyle whereas a Surgeon through the grace of God and mine instructions saued a great many at which time Iohn Renart the Apothecarye a man verye well learned vsed singular diligence towarde our cuntreymen and Citizens It hapneth also sometime that the poysned ayre being drawen through the nostrels into the braine first hurteth the same for sufficient proofe whereof shall serue the discourse which followeth The. 4. Chap. IT is well knowen by the doctrine of Hippocrates and the colledge of Arabians that the principall partes haue theyr voiding places issues or as they terme them Emunctories into which they clense and rid away whatsoeuer is noysom vnto them speciallye if those partes be strong and thereby as they saye is coniecture made of the part affected as for example if the botch appeare in the grine it is a signe that the disease is in the Liuer or in the partes beneath the midriffe but if the sore breake foorth in the arme pits they say that the heart and the partes aboue the midriffe are infected as they lykewise gather that the infection is in the braine if the poysoned swelling gather behinde the eares or in places thereabout although many times there chaunceth inflamation of the kernels about the eares called Parotides whē a more vehement heat hath lifted the matter vp higher as sayth Galen in the fourth booke of commentaries vppon the Aphorismes the. 75. Aphorisme Moreouer the vrine confirmeth this opinion of ours béeing sometime thick and troubled yealowe and white as we sée the same to be altered according to the humours offending and diuersitye of the partes affected as many times the skull being eaten with rottennes and the rime of the braine perished with a stripe or putrified and whē stoare of mater is gathered within the skull a man shall perceiue the vrine to be litle or nothing at all chaunged For when the venim féedeth vpon the sound substaunce
in the head be raueth at the fyrst assault of the sicknes hée is troubled with a cholericke distillation out of the head into the stomacke Lungues and nether partes he is eyther verye sléepie or aboundeth in ouer watching he hath swelling in his neck and about the eares the daysling of the head hyssing in the eares with readnesse of the face and beating of the temples This plague raygned in Auernia in the yéere of our Lorde 1546. Many are of opinion that the Pestilence is a thyrde kinde of the burning Feuer and iudge that it procéedeth of Melancholicke blood eyther putryfying or boyling by reason of the putryfying which they gather to bée so by the resemblaunce which it hath to a continual quartaine and the smellings which vse to appeare in such Feuers Howbeit vnlesse all the auncient wryters and this our learned age also haue bene verye much ouerseene the Feuer is not of the verye substaunce of the sicknesse For albe it for the more part shee ioyne her selfe vnto it as a most painfull companion and a whelpe of the same hayre notwithstanding the whole order of the cure sheweth that they differ euen by whole kinde And because the place of making blood and other humours is by nature appointed vnto the Lyuer I wyl shew the signes of euery one beginning first with the signes that declare the infection to bee in the blood which are these heat not byting but gentle and milde a stiffe and strouting weerinesse of the whole body stinking sieges large and liquide lying of the pacient vpon his back heauines of the head beating of the teÌ„ples rauing and idle speech after the fourth or seauenth day smal thyrst or none at all a filthie tongue vrine at the beginning almost white afterward growing redder and confused all the bodye ouer speciallye vpon the backe breast and armes litle red whelkes rysing not vnlike to fleabites If the infection be in Choler the diseased are vexed with that vnquietnes which the Grecians terme Lismos féeling such an extreame burning within them that thèy alwaye crye to bée remoued to some colder place although theyr outwarde partes are not hote at all theyr face is sometime pale and sometime red they thyrst much theyr tongue is verye drie they neuer sléepe their breath stinketh they breath hardlye for which cause and by reason of theyr immoderate heat they desire to drawe in freshe ayre continually theyr sieges are cholericke thinne stinking and fattie and sometime they make water verye yealowe watrishe and thinne When the infection hath taken hold on the rawer part of the blood then the pacient sléepeth continuallye the body is slouthfull and the partes thereof weerie the belching sower soft and flegmaticke swellinges do aryse with other signes moe declaring the dominion of fleame And therefore tender and moist natures are sooner infected then olde men and such as are geuen to labour or that are of a colde and moist temperament and brought vp with cold meates But when this pestilent corruption of the ayre hath inuaded the dregges of the blood called Melancholie the pacient wyll bee very carefull and heauy and much more sorrowful then he was woont he becummeth distract the pulse is small and déepe the vrine lyke the wine of Pomegranates blackishe and whatsoeuer sores or botches breake out in the body they represent the coulour and complexion of their humour The. 7. Chap. HEtherto we haue intreated of the signes it followeth now that we come to the cure which coÌ„sisteth in two pointes in preuenting and dryuing away the sicknes The pestilent ayre is auoided many wayes First if wee kéepe awaye all occasions of the bringing of it to the place where wee dwell as we reade that Marcus Varro did at Corcira for when he perceyued howe that there were some sicke in euerye house round about him he shut his windowes whiche opened to the South and he opened them that were to the North and so preserued all his familie in good health howbeit that which Varro did toward the South I thinke ought to be done also when the winde is East Northeast and West also for if the wise and dilligent Phisition do well marke it he shall perceiue that the plague incrâ—aâ—eth when those windes do blowe So lykewise it is necessarie to chaunge place as from lowe places to goe vnto higher when the plague is ingendred by corruption of the ayre but if the winde bring the plague out of one cuntreye into another then were it kest to descend from a high dwelling to a lower where the ground is watrishe and the ayre thick which wyll hardlye receyue the impression of the supernall bodies And when we haue chosen an house then the pestilent ayre is to be corrected by burning of such thinges as eyther by secrete or manifest qualitie are contrarye to the infection as are the Trochisces which followe Take Styrax calamite Benioin of eche one dram red Roses Lauender Cypres of eche halfe a dram with Rosewater TragagaÌ„t make Trochisces burne theÌ„ in a chafingdishe of coales or else burne with them of the composition called Gallia or Alipta moscata and such lyke It were verye good also for this purpose to burne such woods and hearbes as yéeld a sweet sauour as Rosemary Sage Lauender Baies Ciprus wood Juniper the wood the barries the wood Aloes Cinnamon Cloues Likewise the sprincling of sweete waters about the chamber amendeth the euill disposition of the ayre as the water of Lauender and Maierom but these are most to be vsed when the ayre is moist cloudye and colde For the warme ayre more spéedely and redelye perceth into our bodies and is soonest infected with the qualitye of some other thing as Auicen hath noted in his first booke in the Chapter of varietye of seasons Wherefore prouision must bee made that it waxe not verye hote by sprincling of fayre water and vineger rose-vineger by setting vp Wyllowe boughes and by strawing the Chamber with water lyllies flagges and such like The. 8. Chap. BUt nowe it is not inough in this maner to haue amended the ayre but also the principal parts must bee strengthened both with thinges receyued inward and applied outwarde to thintent they maye the more valiauntlye withstande the pestilent ayre And among those thinges to which the Grecians giue name for that they be hanged about vs I lyke especiallye of twaine the one is if a hole be made in a hasyll nut and the kernel bâ—e pulled forth with a pin and the place fylled vp againe with common quicksiluer and hanged about the neck it preserueth a man wonderfully from the pestilence This Medicine I learned aboue twelue yéeres agoe of the Phisition to the Right honourable the Lord Vidam that nowe dead is For at what time Henrie the secoÌ„d King of FrauÌ„ce lead his armie into Germanie and at the siedge of the Citie of Mentâ— hee preserued not onelye him selfe but also his Surgeon which went to them that