because they struck not at the cause a judicious Chymical Doctor my acquaintance whose many years converse with Pyrotechny had made him well skil'd in Physiology and the Doctrine of Ferments hearing the Merchant complain to his Physician that told him he must have Blisters Blisters rais'd in his Neck to draw the humour backwards after the pretty ill-contriv'd old way strike at the effect but neglect the cause I say the Chymical Doctor hearing him complain and seeing him like to loose his eyes sight out of compassion offered him his help contrary to his custome for I believe he hateth that shabbed trick of asking people to buy health and told him he would give him something to cure him should not cost above half a Crown the Merchant replyed he cared not what it cost provided he could be cured and thereupon coming next day to the Doctors house he gave him a Liquor that kills Spurious acid Ferments and is very friendly to the eye which being dropped into his eyes three or four times a day they were well in the space of as I think three daies By which you may still see the force of Ferments and what Medicines are likeliest to prevail And as a Fever in the hand is caus'd by a Thorn a forreigner and an enemy to the part as also the like in the Eye by a Mote both the begetters heat being present of Spurious Ferments so if it happens that any thing is admitted into the Stomach which I have in following Discourse endeavoured to prove the Prime seat of life there through its weakness or neglect of the Vitals called away from their duty by some sudden fear surprisal or otherwise for there may be twenty waies to cause it what ever is received in for nourishment deviates puts on a Hostile dress and through debility is detained in that Noble Bowel longer than it should know the thing so detain'd is an Enemy and Metaphorical Thorn to the Stomach the prime seat of Life and consequently the Parent of Feverishness in the whole body byeconsent The which thing happens not to the Eye or Hand in regard they are less noble and nourished and are not those on whose welfare the life of the Whole Body depends therefore no more to be compared to the stomach in point of Excellence then Servants are to their Masters wherefore seeing the blood which is innocent is commonly charg'd with the guilt of harbouring the cause of a Fever and is therefore let out and Nature impoverisht I will proceed to prove that 't is mightily wrong'd and lay the blame on the Stomach as its due To tel you that with Stomachical Medicines and those that resist Spurious Ferments I have known of many hundreds that were cured of Fevers without the least assistance of Phlebotomy or endangering the Life of the Patient and such Fevers that the single and associated endeavours of several Galenists before the Doctor that at last cured them with such was called will be I suppose much to weak an argument to prove it inasmuch as some may on on the other hand object that those Medicines I call stomachical might be aswell adapted to the Blood and might destroy the Spurious Ferment in it I therefore shall endeavour more amply to prove by arguments aswell as examples And first I wil begin with a Hectick Fever which though numbered by many and that not ineptly in the Catalogue of Consumptions I shall here Summon in to prove the stomach the seat of a Fever To tell you its definition and to spend time and paper to tell you the opinion of the Antients about it would be a thing besides the matter it being not my intent to spin out a tedious Discourse whilst the Disease is too notoriously known That the foundation of that febrile heat which accompanies a Hectick is in the stomach and that its weakness is the causer thereof is so apparent to any one that has but half an Eye that to deny it would be vain whilst in the beginning of the Disease when 't is in its Bud a Feverishness is wonted to possess the palms of the hand and sometimes the whole Body in less than an hour after eating any thing liberally and this when as yet the food is in the stomach and no chyle sent from thence to the Venae Lacteae much less to the blood in the Veins that it might there prove the cause of that Heat Nor doth the Aestuating and Feverishness cease till the stomach hath overcome the oppression of the food and in some sort fitted it for the Duodenum yet at last having digested and clear'd it self of it the Aestuating spontaneously ceaseth till the stomach is over-loaded a fresh Here we see that a Fever is caus'd and cured again whilst the Blood in the Veins is unconcerned That this is true my own experience hath told me besides what I saw from others For being some years since a little too Bookish I in studying for the health of others lost my own Yet not so but that I could pretty well walk about for 't was only my Spirits were flag'd and the digestion of my stomach weakened This I felt for a mouth together and could by no means be drawn to give over till by apparent signs I fully perceiv'd my self in a Hectick Fever For usually at noon after eating a moderate dinner or at evening a supper the palms of my hands would burn my head ach I was sometimes more than ordinarily Feverish that this Feverishness was from my Stomach and that the Blood was not concerned any otherwise than as 't was hot for the sake of the vital Spirit I will thus prove I usually about an hour sometimes less after Dinner or Supper whilst as yet the meat was in my stomach was wonted to have the palms of my hands hot and sometimes other parts too with no little pain in my head Being therefore a Tabler with my Câ—rdial Tutor I knew how to come at Medicines and would usually when I found the Fever and Head-ach violent drink about four spounful of two Medicines which were stomachical and abstersive and as usually remove them both in half an hours time hy enabling my stomach to master the food whilst it destroy'd all inclinations to Spuriousness Whereas should the food have laid long have declin'd and prov'd Thorny and the stomach not able to dismiss it the thing to be expected had been a continual Fever from Natures endeavouring to expel it Nor is the heat in a Hectick otherwise differing from that in a continual Fever than that the one is occasion'd by food receiv'd into a stomach that is unable to digest it through an ill-habit and general weakness and that the other is caus'd from food received into a healthy strong stomach which either through its being too too much or from some other accidental error Nature being unable to dispose of it lies there and degenerates and Thorn-like produceth a Fever But a
opening a Vein so long as the spurious Ferment in both Stomach and Blood is unremoved seeing that good and bad will be lest behind as well as emitted and that the Vitals being weakened by it will be less able to subdue the spuriousness in the remainer Besides the Digestions being debilitated will be hindered from thorowly concocting what shall be taken for nourishment and thereby damnify the whole mass of blood and produce a greater weakness if the party be not vigorous and active But if he is strong and Lusty he may outwear it as many robust stout people do who are accustomed to be bleeded once a year and by that means make it so customary that their bodies expect it in the absence of a good Medicine Though such are not much to be heâ—ded because the loss of four ounces to one that is sick is more injurious than thrice four to once that is strong and healthy But if the bloods impurity is from an error in the first shops of digestion caus'd by those enormities mentioned what good does Phlebotomy so long as the cause is not remov'd and the Digestions send immature aids through debility For if it be granted that we make several ounces of blood daily dismiss as much through the Pores of the Skin likewise that the blood is subject to mutation by adhering to what succours are sent from the Stomach as truly it is and that through deficiency and debility impurity enters the blood is it not agreeable and consentaneous to Reason that after a thorow and perfect strengthening it and removing the occasional cause the same Crimson-juice should grow healthy again whilst all digestions are gradually cleansed Yes ' t is But this can no waies be better and safelier done than by Spirituous Valiant and Innocent Healers seconded by a regular Diet. By such Healers I say as are assistant to Nature and may help her to expel the Diseasie leaven and insinuate into the private recesses of Life such as may subvert all Forreign Hostile ferments without craving the assistance of the Lancet For notwithstanding the Taunts and Negations of careless Men such Medicines are to be found but I can assure them not by sleeping nor only reading of Books which may be the cause some meer Notionists say thus of themselves and discover their own Sloth by their Scoffs For all the boastings and Vain talks of these Chymists say they we can find no Remedies that can Dissipate a Fever certainly and cure Scorbutick affects without having recourse to Phlebotomy much less in a Pleurisy to deliver a Person from the Jaws of Death that is almost suffocated with blood For surely had there been any such Medicines we should have known them who have tumbled over so many Volumes But they should consider that although to be well-read is a thing needful and so requisite that he which is not deserves not the Name of a Physician yet that he who on the contrary is so incumbent on his Books as to neglect that most Material part of Pharmacy the making improving of Medicines by Pyrotechny may doubtless pass for a good Scholar unless he be egregiously Dull but will scarce work Wonders in Physick Because good vertuous and lively Medicines must cure the Sick for all words and such are not obtain'd without practice in making For if Hippocrates and Galen were well-studied and good Linguists yet 't is to be understood that they spent not their whole time about the Nominative case and the Verb or in Readings only and subscribing to the errors of their Predecessors but the greatest part in Materia Medica and in procuring such noble Remedies as might credit a Physician and cure the Diseases of their Age. For if the first of them had not he scarcely ever had obtained such excellent Medicines as he did wherewith to out-do all the Physicians of his time had scarcely ever been solicited and promis'd great Honours and Rewards to attend on King Artaxerxes's Court and stop a depopulating Plague in Persiâ— that had baffled the Kings Physicians and all other and for his famous cures to have been by his Nation counted one descended of the Gods Five hundred years after him was Galen who for composition of Medicines and making them with his own hands as also for curing or at least-wise palliating those Diseases which were Grassant in his dayes was famous But seeing that as Generations succeeded maladies were entail'd on the world as wel as lands and do still grow worse and worse through the intrusion of several Diseases whose foot-steps were unknown to the Antients it must needs be necessary to exalt the Vertues of Medicines as much as Diseases are exalted in Malignity by making them innocent piercing and lively and by with-drawing all nauseous and hurtful qualities from them whilst Agents are duely apply'd to Patients And for a Physician to affirm or think that no man is a Possessor of such lively innocent Remedies as may safely and certainly cure Diseases without Phlebotomy because through either his Neglect want of a Physical genius or a faithful Tutor to communicate the result of twenty or thirty years experience in Pyrotechny he never was owner of such or because he hath unsuccesfully tried some weak if not mischievous Chymical Remedies such as Apothecaries frequently buy of incurious and mercenary Operators to wit Spurious Mercurial and ill-made Antimonial ones that will purge and vomit unreasonably or have the Mercury unslain That are rather disturbers than aiders of Nature and that were at their first entrance banisht the Laboratories and Repositories of the Ingenious who will harbour no Medicine that may not be safely taken by the healthy I say for such a one to undervalue and desame those innocent and vertuous Chymical remedies he never knew nor experienced and to affirm or think no Man a Possessor of such because he himself is not is a thing both â—idiculous and idle For he should call to mind the old Adage vix gemma in trivio that things excellent are not found in common Roads And that the Poet tells us and that not untruly Gods sells Arts to sweats therefore not to readings only though to be well-studied becomes a Physician This with many other such like absurdities I should scarcely have Detected had I not prefer'd peace of mind and the welfare of my Neighbour before my ease and leisure Neither should I have thus attempted a publick discovery of some Injuries in Physick caus'd through the Ignorance and conceitedness of some and the carelesness and dishonesty of others For when I observ'd some through a Vulgar abuse to make a prey of the People and under the notion of preventing future Diseases like Lice fatten themselves with Mens blood or at leastwise grow rich by their miseries and by the poysoning the good juices of the Body and saw others whilst Diseases themselves are in a manner poysonous give poysons and venoms to the Sick to cure Diseases take Beelzebub to cast
Medicines as a Carduus posset c. or a Medicine made of two or three Ingredients for commonly the simpler a Medicine is the better 't is which the long experience of Mothers Grand-Mothers and Great-Grand-Mothers have told them is good and profitable the Sick might be sooner reliev'd than by such Recipe confused Medicines as are commonly huddled into Books and Printed through desire of Fame There being scarcely one Receipt of ten that is good for any thing but that is subject one time with another to dammage more than help Nature and those that are good in such books are commonly some few Balsams Vnguents Emplasters or Salves But now to speak of a Fever and its seat Concerning a Fever its seat and and the Nature of Remedies most proper for its Cure ANd first I judge it will not be amiss as Perliminary to Treat a little of the vices of Ferments and the contrary They being of Genuine proper and true the producers of quietude and health in the Body and é contra if spurious malign estrang'd and forreign the Authors of all disorders and Fevers Thus a Thorn or Splinter in the hand makes such disturbance through its forreigness to the part and its spurious fermentive odour that it excites a preternatural heat and sometimes make the whole hand and arm sensible of its power thereby so altering and corrupting the Saline Blood which flows thither as summon'd by the inraged Spirit of the part which by Helmont is called the Archeus to expel the incroaching Enemy as to make it put off vitality So that thus in the mean time the Blood is busie to expel but not able and for that cause angry and hot in approaching the Thorne which through the excitemenes of heat sends forth a spurious odour 't is changed from its saline and Balsaâ—ick nature and becomes as injurious as the Thorn Insomuch that at last instead of a Hostile Thorn only a Thorn and Thorniness are present to the more violent exalperating the Archeus And indeed Optima Corrupta pessima the Blood the most lively juice of the Body being thus once deviated and infected is no less mischievous than the Thorn For it having through adheering to the thornyleaven put on corruption lost its salineness and its vitality is thenceforth forbidden to circulate in with the Blood and enjoy the benefit of Life However a ferment being begun it glanceth forth its vitious raies and whilst the Archeus is inraged at what doth afflict him and neglects the defence of his Territories the neighbouring good Blood is gradualy perverted for a little Leaven leavens a whole Lump and the Life of the part is endangered Thus you may see the cause of a Fever and that though it takes its denomination from Heat yet that heat is but the effect and therefore not so much to be minded seeing the thorn or thing causing is cold and Deadly But if whilst the thorn in the hand is unremov'd or if removed whilst the begun Thorny Ferment or leaven is in being they should to abate the accidental Feverish-heat let the Blood out or apply coolers outwardly or inwardly opposing the preternatural heat with contraries could you possibly forbear smiling and not think them half witted or at least wise well furnisht with Ignorance surely I think not yet this way might and should doubtless have serv'd had not Chyrurgical experience prov'd it Vain and not only have serv'd but we should perhaps have been able to bring some old musty rotten Axiom to have prov'd it Authentick if not backt with sufficient Authority For a great many of the Antients who were wonted as at this day 't is too common to strike at the effect not the cause loving sloath and ease and being loath to swim against the stream of a received opinion lest they should be accounted Hereticks in Physick deem'd it better more safe and profitable to Transcribe Collect from and comment on their Antients than in the least to oppose their dark notions Insomuch that till within the space of an hundred years there was rarely any who sung not the same Cuckows note But Diseases growing more obstinate daily and baffling the common method of healing whilst the Pox and Scurvy prevail'd God whose Mercies are beyond his judgments mercifully sent us Men tender of the health of their Neighbour and that sought not wealth so much as Wisdom who have so effectually laid open the errors of Galen who was but a man at best and therefore Subject to err and manifested the defects of the Antients who were likewise Men that unless we wil wilfully shut our eyes as the greater is the Misery too many do we may plainly enough see their barrenness I remember a Learned Gentleman of my acquaintance no Physician but a general student and by that means intimate with some Court-Physicians seriously told me that on a time he lately Discoursing with an eminent Doctor a lover of Chymical Principles and asking him why he let his Patients be bleeded seeing he knew better things had what follows for an answer Sr. saith the Dr. I am forced to do it otherwise I should have little to do for the people will be bleeded and look strangely on him that wont admit on 't and they must be humour'd I must needs confess the Doctors dealing is politick but how in the interim it fares with his Conscience I know not but surely I think mine would fly in my face should I do any thing which I knew might prove injurious to the Sick though the Patient being ignorant perswaded me Much good may his gain by bleeding do him But to reassume our discourse about Forreign Ferments and to prove them the cause of heat in a Fever leaving our Thorn let us consider a Mote in the eye not unlike a Thorn to the part of which I will Treat after I have desired you to take notice that all Ferments are injured by strange ones and that all parts and Liquors of the Body abhor the intrusion of a forreigner Thus a Mote in the Eye stirreth up a Feverish heat in the part whilst Nature being hurt sends moisture plentifully to wipe it away But labouring in vain grows inraged and angry and gives leasure to the Mote heat being present to lay the foundation of a spurious Acrimonious Ferment that corrupts ' the Latex flowing thither and endeavours a total extirpation of the life of the part Insomuch that unless a Medicine contradictory to Acidity and the Spurious Ferment subvenes a a continual weakness if not loss of the sight is threatned whilst the Latex or Liquor which flows Saline from the Eyes when wel is corrupted by the acid acrimonious Ferment Thus a certain Merchant from some Hay-dust or such like Motes that fell into his Eyes contracted a violent soreness he took various remedies as ordered but they still grew worse and worse at last when he had for nigh too months used many Medicines to cure them and all attempts prov'd unsuccesful
more narrowly beset the life in the Stomach c. It was a real sign of the Patients not recovery and that the best shop Remedies would be baffled Therefore I say and say it again that that Physician who lets a Patient for several dayes decline whilst he makes use of Remedies in a Fever or other such like Acute distempers and yet at last the Party recover deserves not in the least to have the honour of the Cure whilst Nature by her goodness effected it For had she not done it for all his Crisis the Patient had died at last And let it not suffice to say this learned man or that learned man useth Phlebotomy in a Fever and therefore we may do so for if they do so know 't is through a penury of good Remedies for where noble Remedies are there 's no need of it And know also that Helmont who out of compassion to his neighbour wrote expresly against it was as Learned as the Learndest oâ— them all and that not a few Learned and Graduated Doctors in this Nation have appeared in Publick against it I remember one of our ingenious Moderns in a treatise of his lately publisht candidly confesseth that he through a penury of good Remedies in some high Fevers made use of the Lancet I must needs highly commend his candor whilst he does his best to find better and could wish more Physicians had so much good will towards their Neighbour as to be as diligent as he â—or Purging and Phlebotomy the two main Pillars of the common Method where found by learned Helmont so fruitless and destructive in Fevers that with a serious Character he affirms he should be guilty before God if he did not perswade we must wholly abstain from them What must we doe then Go to labour as other honest Physicians have done and take heed of Mercury and Antimony by which means you may get Medicines that will credit a Physician and certainly cure a Fever Such Medicines I say if you are as fortunate as some others have been that will not stand shall I shall I but will fall to work on the Disease presently and if Nature be not too weak will enable her to cast it out the dores either by Vomit Sweat Stool or Urine according as she best can dispose on t But what is a Fever by no means safely to be Cured by Phlebotomy and borrowing the assistance of the Lâ—ncet do not we see that a person in a Fever that is exceeding hot has that aestuating abated by bleeding and it afterwards the heat increaseth and the Fever is renewed cooling again is produced by sanguimission is not this obvious and manifest I answer 't is obvious that after bloodletting the Patient is cooled but you do not consider how for 't is no otherwise then as the Vitals are weakned and so a desisting for a time from the Combate between Nature and the Occasional cause in the Stomach is admitted of For when shee has rallied and gained a reinforcement and is enabled to give another onset the Fever renews and is as ill as before and if you think meet requires a cooling But I don't mean by a loss of more blood for if you go that way to work your cooling will but add weakness to weakness and take away strength from the shoulders of Nature And yet after a second or third opening of a Vein and a loss of that Crimson Treasure if the Cause the Cause the Cause I say in the Stomach remain and Nature is not wholly prostrated the Fever will again renew in spight of the Lancet's assistance For Manente causa non tollitur effectus A Thorn in the hand remaining a heat and Fever in that part doth not cease And the occasional matter like a Thorn remaining in the Stomach heat in the whole body will not cease so long as the Life can make resistance But when you have let out too much of the Bload so that not enough remains to make good the Combate the Patient is fairly cool'd and to the small honour of Phlebotomy dies whilst the numbers of the Fatherless are increast Whereas had a Medicine that is able to preserve it self from Mouldiness in the Glass or Gally-pot and not only so but also lively innocent friendly to the Stomach and a resister of Spurious ferments been administred with some other Cordialine Medicine according to the necessities of the sick to revive and keep up his spirits Nature might not only have been enabled to expel the Occasional cause by wayes most meet and easy but likewise the Thornyness or bad Character imprinted on the stomach and its dependants might be obliterated as also the faculties and functions strengthened So that a person cured after this method and way might be as lusty in few dayes as before When as those that are cured after repeated Phlebotomy and such like exhausters of the strength if they at length recover through the benefit of Nature or otherwise How slowly do they get strength how thin and weak like small beer it s own self are they for a long time and how subject on the least error or cold to suffer a relapse The last of which the learned Dr. Willis confesseth saying They who let their blood often out are the more prone to Fevers Neither as some suppose is Putrefaction in the Heart or Stomach the producer of heat of it self and so consequently the cause of heat in the whole body For if so that Putrefaction which of it self is so Hot as to extend its heat to the Extreams and Surface of the Body i. e. to the hands and feet must of necessity scorch or burn thot bowel wherein it resides But that the real producer of that aestuating and Feverishness is not an inflamed mass of putryfyings I shall prove by a Thorn thrust into the hand which is so for from being hot that 't is actually and potentially could and yet through its being an Enemy to the life of the part inrageth it and exiteth a Fever Which cannot better be extinguisht than by a strengthening of the injured life and enabling it by good remedies to expel the Thorn and Thornyness By doing which the Praeternatural heat will of its own accord cease without the aid of Coolers or taking away the Blood Therefore is the Heat in a Fever a thing by accident a latter product not the being or occasional cause and consequently not so much to be regarded as for that cause and for fear of inflaming the sick by adding a kind of Fire to Fire as they phrase it to deny when the Patient desires it a Glass or two of comfortable Liquor to wit Good Beer Ale or Sack in moderate quantities It having been by long experience proved that through the assistance of such in Fevers much good may be done Seing many have recovered by their sole aid when the Apothecaries Drugs have proved aidless without them But if with them good innocent yet
how his Grand-Father perisht by Phlebotomy and his Father being four times Bleeded Died Consumptive through that loss in the space of two months He said His Sister falling sick a Physician was sent for who when he came found her Pleuritically affected therefore orders fourteen ounces of Blood to be taken away presently and the next day at his coming again six or seven ounces more by which means she whose age was but ten years was so extreamly debilitated and consequently her life endangered that for the space of a month she was not able to go and recovered not her strength as formerly in many months after But now at length she hath outgrown it Whereas had the Physician given her an excellent Medicine or two inwardly to strengthen the Stomach kill spurious ferments and slay the stimulating thorn in the Pleura and Blood also had applied another to her side for the same purpose he might without a loss of Blood and exhausting her strength have taken away the occasional cause and with ease have strengthened Nature so as to have dispos'd of the out-hunted Blood to her greatest advantage and profit either by admitting it again into the Veins which thing is very common if a good Medicine is present or by dismissing it by the mouth or fundament So that a Person thus cured without Phlebotomy may be well and vigorous in a week or little more Or if through the far absence of good and able Medicines he had for the present drawn out six or eight ounces of Blood had afterwards exhibited remedies to slay Acidity in the remainer and the Forreign guest in the Pleura he might with more ease and less hurt to the Patient have head her without running a hazard Only observe that though this way brings greaer ease yet scarce so much benefit to the Doctor forasmuch as a months time keeping people in hand produceth more Angels than a Week However 't was well the young Woman recovered at last when her Fathers pocket had paid well for it But had one forty or fifty years old been dealt with after this Bloody rate the loss would not have been so easily made up But in all likely-hood 't would have made the party weakly if it had not cost her her life Or which is oft-times the event of a great loss of Blood have laid the foundation of some bad Disease Witness Helmont Pleuritis quae per Phlebotomiam est restituta saepe post annum recurrit saepiusque tabem post se relinquit The Pleurisy which is cured by Blood-letting oftentimes after a year returns and oftner leaves a Consumption behind it And which Helmont here takes not notice of so great a loss of Blood laies oft the Foundation of the scurvy as is daily too too obvious Nor do I write feigned Notions or imaginary Conjectures having whilst I was for many years conversant and a tabler in the House with an ingenious aged Chymical Physician known of a great many cured after this manner to wit without Blood-letting nor to the best of my remembrance did ever any one miscarry under his hand Yea so acute was he at it that several have recovered by following his mehod without the least assistance of Phlebotomy that have been given up for Death by eminent Galenists So that observing such cures frequently done by him and on the contrary often Miscarriages by others I set upon the study of Physick out of a desire to inform my self that I might prevent being purg'd out of my life as my Father was And after a twelve months pursuing my studies and observing curative passages I began out of an affection to the Chymical Science to prove a general student in Physick being daily improv'd in my intellectuals by hearing my experienced Intimate Discourse his patients declare the effects of his Medicines Nor was I less admonisht by hearing them amongst the rest to intersperse complaints some against Mercurial and Purgative or Vomitive Antimonial Medicines others against other horrible Vomits declaring how such a Person took one and was thereby so weakened that she never left vomiting till she died Another declares how her Husband was Bleeded by an Apothecaries order and had twentyounces taken away whereby he through weakness fainted and died Another relates how a Doctor I might call him a Horse-Doctor had given a Dose of Pills to her Neighbour that kill'd him before the had done working These with many more such-like narratives minded me of my Fathers Death and the harm I my self had sustain'd by twice bleeding often Purging and Vomiting and an Issue So that for many years I at every Autumn had a tedious fit of sickness and was often indispos'd at other times Thus it continued till about the twentieth year of my age when I happily came acquainted with this Chymical Doctor who by ordering me to take his abstersive wholsom Medicines kept me so healthy that now for seven years together I have not been sick to say sick two daies Only through too closely pursuing my studies I once made my self somewhat Hectical but with good wholsome Medicines and laying my Books aside a little I in about a month was cured again Yet believe that what with the hurts of the Small-Pox when I was a Youth seconded with the dammage received from Purges Bleedings Vomits c. I have been so weakened that I shall scarce ever regain my former Complexion and chearful countenance whilst I notwithstanding through Gods mercy am pretty healthy But to return Thus having spent about four years in my studies I began to fancy the practice of Physick But when I considered on the other hand the dangerousness of working with unexperienced tools and such remedies as Books alone will afford me without a faithful Tutor to open my understanding in the Analysing of Bodies the reasons of applying Agents to Patients and the compounding and applying of Remedies I say when I considered this I was somewhat disheartened through an unwillingness to turn Experimenter and as Physicians too often do Ludere cum corio Humano Because I saw much of the mischief frequently done by Physick was effected through too great confidence in Vulgar Prescripts and Authors whilst Diseases were not the same But Providence favouring and my most Cordial friend intirely loving me I obtain'd he being aged the knowledge of all his Method and Medicines with what was the result of twenty I might say for he himself had an Aged and Learned Tutor in Chymistry almost forty years experience in Chymistry nor was I wholly ungrateful Being therefore for several years since no Botcher in Medicine I thence-forward applied my self to a more narrow search and from frequent Readings Operatings and daily converse having made some discovery of Abuses and Injuries in Physick I thought meet at length for a General good to publish them That the Physician may be admonisht to defend himself and his Patient and the Patient likewise fore-warn'd to take heed of such who being confident
the Young Chymical Physician must not know at any hand lest he should be offended as he had cause For doubtless if it had done her no harm it had been enough to turn him off upon sight of a full Glose-stooll and imagining all diseasiness in it and to have given the Fame and Name of curing her to the Galenist For so they used sometimes to serve his ingenious and true-hearted Father before him and with some musty Electuary or Syrup muddy Cordial some trivial Decâ—ction or a Purge carry away the Credit when he had done the cure and by railing against Chymistry though those Remedies which were Chymical cured the Patient sometimes get such an Antipathy in him against them for fear of mischief four or five years after that Chymical Medicines and the Doctor must be shâ—â— out But Providence had not design'd that he should than complain with the Poet. Ego hos versiculos feci tulit alter honoreâ—â— I cured her another has the Name However notwithstanding I as an acquaintance visiting her several times in her sickness had taken up the Gally-pots and Glasses with their mouldy Medicines left on the Cup-boards head by the two other Physicians and had askt her how she could reasonably expect a cure and preservation from Medicines so Spiritless aâ— unable to preserve themselves and had told her 't was unreasonable to expect it yet so much was she over-perswaded and taken with the guilded and pretty name Purge that she took a purging Dose had six or eight stools thereupon That all Diseasiness was banisht and that the Close-stool had imprison'd it was doubtless confidently believ'd but the Scene was suddenly alter'd for before eight next morning the Chymical Doctor was sent for in hast to the lately purg'd Gentle-woman forasmuch as nothing but Death was expected The Doctor saw it and was very sorrowful therefore giving her a little of a Medicine to revive her languishing feeble Spirits he returns home and I being present tells his Father who was both his and my Tutor in Chymical Pharmacy c. He believ'd Mris. would not recover because he saw his Medicines non-plust And experience had told him if those Medicines he had given her could not prevail nought else he or any Galenist in Town could give would This I had known various times verified and therefore likewise believ'd the same however we agreed upon 't that Medicines should be given her because as lâ—ng as there was Life their was hopes lest the relapse might be from some Peccant matter more narrowly besieging the Life in the Ventricle Which was too true for though we knew not of it then 't was a Really Peccant Purge In brief she again followed the same Medicines and took them successively as ordered which blotted out the venome of the Laxative and in about a week recruited her strength With which she being confirm'd that the Doctors Method and Medicines were safe innocent and vertuous pleasantly relates the whole story of the Purge and thereby unfolded that Riddle which is so exceedingly puzled us to wit how she came so violently to Relapse in the presence of such vertuous healers However she recovered and has continued well several years without Relapsing to the nodiscredit of Chymistry Another Gentle-Woman having contracted a Disease through catching Cold and want of Digesture had her Vitals so narrowly be set and violently assaulted that her recovery was even despair'd of whilst the Consultations and mutual endeavours of two Learned and expert Galenists were in vain She being in this weak condition sent for the Chymical Doctor and was very well pleas'd with his rational Theory the description of her Disease its cause and manner of cure But words would not heal her therefore he sent two Medicines Stomachical and Abstersive which she took and for the first two or three daies very much mended But the Digestions whilst weak having heapt up abundance of Flegm Nature after she was reinforc't attempted the expulsion of it to ease her self of that load and not being strong enough fell under the burthen to the well-nigh choaking the Patient Hereupon the Doctor was sent for in hast who gave her lively Medicines plentifully which brought abundance of tough viscous Flegm and in a short time he left her much better After this she took the same Remedies and was by that means so vigorous and stout that Nature resolv'd to have the other brush with her Enemy and clear her self of the clogging Flegm In which combate the Sick party being in danger of suffocation the Doctor was sent for again and plying her as before he brought it all up to the no little hastning the cure Which being done he did his endeavour to cleanse and strengthen the Ferments and Functions of the Body with Medicines which were lively and innocent and in nine or ten dayes space fully recovered her to the credit of Chymical Physick Also an ingenious Gentleman my good friend having for many months laboured under a Galloping Consumption and made use of diverse Physicians in vain at length recollecting his memory remembred how I had formerly commended this Chymical Doctor And thereupon though afraid of those dreadful things called Chymical Remedies because he had heard how some had done mischief with Remedies so call'd was induc'd health being a thing desirable to see what the Doctor could do A desire of health doubtless it was inclin'd him to it for he was in no wise a friend to Chymistry and would never have craved the assistance of its Medicines could those of the Shops have cured him But necessity had no Law he had also heard from others a good Character of the Doctors Medicines and his Method commended for its innocency At leastwise the worst that could come was but Death he thought towards which he was hastning apace whilst the most Authentick Bills and costly Prescripts were expos'd to a mock by the Disease For his flesh was so wasted that he was little else but Skin Bones his Stomach was so weak and made worse by Spiritless drossy Doses that he almost continually spitted and daily grew worse and declin'd Whilst he was in this languishing state he consulted this Chymical Doctor who to cure him gave him innocent Remedies yet lively Stomachical cleansing and proâ—est enemies to forreign ferments with such good success that about two months following them restor'd him About a year after the same Gentleman through drinking wines and eating a thing he could not digest surfeited and contracted a Quinzy After some daies the Doctor visiting him and finding him scarce able to speak and in a Fever withal gave him Medicines to fortifie his Stomach and break the neck of the Fever and applied likewise two other Medicines to his throat outwardly that were enemies to Acid Thorninesses These so abated the fury of the Quinzy and vanquisht the Fever and its cause that in the morning when a friend of his came to make his Will as supposing him not for this