but now I am come up to the main Body where I must fight every foot of Ground and force the Camp which you need not doubt is very regularly fortified But whatever be the event one thing I am sure of That I shall either die in the Bed of Honour or ly in its Truckle-bed I proceed now to examine what the Dr. has said in particular on this Head whether in his Oration or Dissertations And I wish with all my Heart the Conrroversy were to be determined by these and he to be tried by his Works But I am perswaded no reasonable Man will decline such a Judge and therefore I go on The First that presents it self is the Inaugural Oration a piece of Work that all the Mathematicks in the World can never bring under the Laws of Rule and Compass either as to Matter or Form It is here where the Plan of this magniscent Structure is drawn so well that it may pass for an Original that can never be imitat I must confess ingenuously that I have viewed it on all Quarters and taken the prospect of it on every side and can find no uniformity in it but that of Nonsence in which all the Parts so wonderfully agree that one would almost swear that it had sprung from the fortuitous Concourse of Atoms I had once designed to put it into English Burlesque for me thinks such a Fool 's Coat would have fitted it very well For then be sure it would have been Rhime whereas now it is neither Rhime nor Reason A Digression here and there is the Embellishment and Beauty of a Discourse and sets it off as Patches do a fair Face and even Venus her self is drawn with a Mole But if in stead of a Patch one should apply a Plaster over the whole Face who would not â—ry out Monstrum horrendum informe Ingens cui lumen ademptum I have many times wondered with my self how any Man of common Sense could have the Confidence to pronounce such a piece of Gibberish before so learned an Auditory as the University of Leyden till at last I found out the Knack which is That Holland being a free State Men are allowed there to use their Tongues freely either in Sense or Nonsense without trouble or molestation providng they do not disturh the publick Peace The design of this Oration is High and Noble no less than establishing Medicine on a sure and lasting Foundation that cannot be shaken Quod nec Jovis ira nec ignis Nec poterit ferrum nec aevi abolere vetustas For hitherto it has been floting upon Water and been more like to an inchanted Island or Farie-land than terra firma Hitherto it has been a Conjectural Art and now it will prove a Certain Science But before the Professor lay the Foundation of this Babel he like a wise and skilful Architect removes the Rubbish out of the way he shows us what hither to has obstructed this great Work and frustrat the Endeavours of so many learned Men that aimed at the perfection o this Art so beneficial to Mankind I hope no Body expects that I should follow any regular or artificial Method in tracing this Oration but rather that I shall do as these who go a Hunting leave the beaten Road and follow the Chace through Hill and Dale Mountain and Valley Moss and Moor as the Beast shall chance to take its way I find then the Rock on which all the Physicians has split is Philosophy For whenever this got into Medicine it spoilled all and the Physicians divided into as many Sects as â—he Philosophers every one setting up a different Hypothesis according to the Philosophy he valued most whether the Platonick Peripatetick or Epicurean c. and now of late the Cartesian And so every one explained the first Principles of natural Bodies and their Actions and Operations according to his own Hypothesis Whence came in the Doctrine of Physical Causes about which these Philosophical Phyficians were at a perpetual seussle Hinc illae lachrymae Now here is the Disease but where is the Cure Many hitherro have attempted it but all in vain Till at last the Professor fairly undertook it which I wish prove not worse than rhe Disease Medicine must then be separat from Philosophy and emancipat from the Tyranny of all its Sects and broughr under the Dominion of the Mathematicks And therefore Physical Causes that disturb the Common-wealth of Medicine must be expelled its borders as Disturbers of the publick Peace and a new Colony of Mathematical Causes these Bulls or rather Monsters in Medicine must be planted in their place But that which crowns the Work is the Method of the Astronomers which we must imitat in building this Aetherial or Aereal Castle call it as you please The first thing then to be done is to part Medicine and Philosophy which is but just for they have been too long Brethren in Iniquity Therefore all ye who mind to excel in this Art shun Philosophy as ye would do the Pox and study Mathematicks if ever ye design to arrive at Perfection For nunquam excoletur pro dignitate Medicina quamdiu intra limites rationalis illius coercetur c. ipse dixit And lest you call in question his Authority let us hear his powerful and weighty Reasons for this Divorce When Men first began says our Oratour to follow the study of Medicine and Philosophy for the good of the Body or benefit of the Mind never theless the occasions for Medicine were very frequent but for Philosophy only casual For our Predecessors of old fed on Corn and Catle and led a poor mean Life exposed to all the inconveniences of the Weather and felt the hurt of Heat and Cold that is they fell sick before they thought of providing themselves with Cloaths or Houses Those were the first beginnings of Diseases and these the first Remedies But their Catle also being of a short Life and subject to Diseases then as well as now brought them under a necessity of following Medicine and these that Cured them were said to help or assist Men. For he that keeps one from starving seems to save his Life But Men began to study Philosophy after they had found out by Experience the Virtues of Remedies and might safely and at their own leisure examine the Faculties of things Is not this a very learned Discourse to prove that Medicine is older than Philosophy because the occasions for the one were more frequent than the other When Men first began to Hear and See the occasions of Seeing were more frequent For turn your Eyes what way you please some Object always presents it self But the occasions of Hearing were less frequent and casual for you may turn your Ear twenty way and hear nothing at all Therefore Seeing is older than Hearing I grant Necessity is the Mother of Arts and that which is most necessary probably was before that which is less so But if I be
not mistaken Mens Minds were sick before their Bodies and consequently had sooner need of Physick But tho' this do not hold there is another Argument beyond exception which is That Man was created a reasonable Creature to whom it was as natural to contemplate the Works of his Maker and to search after and inquire into the Causes of Things as to Eat Drink or Sleep and perhaps a litle more And I think what is Natural takes place of that which is Adventitious as Medicine may be called For though Man had stood in his Integrity he had notwithstanding of that been a Philosopher But I doubt there would have been place for Physick Moreover it is downright false that ever occasions for Medicine were so frequent as these for Philosophy which being nothing but Naturae rerum contemplatio as Celsus calls it finds Objects every where Whereas Physick is confin'd to the Body of Man and only so far concerned with other things as they have any relation to that And therefore if the Doctor 's Reason hold Philosophy must be the elder of the Two But what though I should grant that Medicine is older than Philosophy and once subsisted without it it will not follow that it was better so than with it For this Art was a long time lame and defective consisting of a few Experiments and ill made Observations until the time of the Divine Hippocrates who first digested and set in order these things that before were confused and licked this rude Lump into a Form and he it was that first institute the Medicina rationalis joining Reason to Experience And so brought Philosophy in into this Art in which it is so necessary that it can no more be without it than a Ship without a Rudder What can be more necessary for a Physician than Philosophy Not the Jargon of the Schools or that which evaporats into vain Curiosity and contents it self with bare Speculation But that which Hippocrat and Galeu and the other ancient Hero's of Medicine followed which was to consider things not in their absolute Natures but in reference to the Body of Man But Omne tulit punctum qui miscuit utile dulci Hippocrat de vet Medi speaks thus Atqâ—i milâ—i necessarium esse videtur ut omnis Medicus de Natura sciat omni studio annitatur ut cognoscat simodo aliquid eorum quae fieri debent recte praestare velit quid est homo ad ea quae commeduntur bibuntur comparatus And Galen de simpl medicam facult tells us That we are not to consider Quale ex se sit medicamentum neque ad totam Naturam And this is the Philosophy we must follow and he that does not is justly esteemed a Quack and Mountebank And there is no more reason to reject Philosophy in Medicine because the Philosophers are divided into a great many Sects than there is for abandoning Christianity and turning Atheists Deists Epicureans and meer Scepticks in Religion because the Christians are divided into Sects not a few But the Professor may alledge that he is not against Philosophy in Medicine but only maintains that it should be free from all the Sects of the Philosophers Why what Evil have they done Quid meruere boves What hurt does Medicine sustain whether the Physician be Peripatetick or Cartesian Whether he hold a Vacuum or maintain a Plenitude whether Medicines work by their Ocult qualities or by the Form and Figure of their Parts whether Opium makes a Man sleep quia habet virtutem dormitivam according to Thomas Diaphorus or by its rarifying Quality according to the Doctor c. Does any Man of Sense take Indications from these Whimseys Do these any way change the Methodus Medendi Did not these who knew not the Circulation of the Blood use Phlebotomy in Fevers and in different parts too as well as these that know it do I know no harm any can sustain by these innocent Speculations except some crackt brain'd Fools and these are not fit to be Physicians A few Hours may be better spent this way and with less hazard both to Physician and Patient than in Drinking or lying and Swearing bantering the Scripture and ridiculing Religion But there is something more than the Philosophy I have mentioned to make a Man a good Physician that is an Honest Sober and Temperat Physician which is Moral Philosophy or rather Christian Morality which is so necessary to the Professors of that Art that none but a Mad-man who is weary of his Life will intrust himself to any other This made the Great Hippocrat to fall out into this hyperbolick Expression Medicus Philosophus est Deo aequalis Habent enim quaecunque habent ad coercendam intemperantiam inscitiam avaritiam concupiscentiam rapinasque ac impudentiam But it is superfluous to adduce an Authority to confirm a Truth that every Body knows For how shall he that Fears not GOD regard the Life of Man or he that destroys his own Health with Surfeiting and Drunkenness prescribe good Rules for the Health of another For qui sibi nequam cui bonus But since the Doctor had not so much as a probable Argument for this Opinion I 'll furnish him with a Demonstration that will convince the World of the Truth of the thing in debate For which he owes a Cock to Aesculapius and a Capon to me which I think the large better of the two though at best it is but a lame Sacrifice And that the Argument may go the better down I 'll dress it with a Geometrical Sauce But I must first beg two Postulata's which I am sure none will refuse me but either an Infidel or a Fool viz. That Beasts were created before Men and that none but a reasonable Creature can be a Philosopher Demonstration Beasts were created before Men per Postul 1. and felt the Inconveniencies of Heat and Cold ut per se notum i. e. according to the Doctor they were first Sick Now Necessity is the Mother of Arts ut per se notum and therefore the sick Beasts sought out Remedies and no doubt found many and consequently were both the first Physicians and first Patients Man not yet being created Now Beasts are unreasonable Creatures ut per se notum and no unreasonable Creature can be a Philosopher per Post 2. Erg per Post 1. Medicine is older than Philosophy quod erat demonstrandum Scholium This is so manifest a Truth that it stands in need of no Proof but may pass for an Axiom Does not Nature it self teach us that all Creatures seek their own preservation and shun these things that hurt them and tend to their destruction Hence it is that new-born Babes who have not the exercise of Reason seek after Food and Warmth and shun Hunger and Cold as much as in them lyes which their Crys that are nothing but the voice of Nature sufficiently testify But why should I mention these since the very Beasts themselves
their Favours But that you may not take this for a piece of Counter-banter I 'll show you that this Reasoning is every whit as ridiculous and absurd as I represent it For though all Bodies may be said to be of the same Nature in respect of their common Essence and Properties as Extension Divisibility Mobility c. yet it will not follow that they ever can be changed into one another or come under the same Laws except the Doctor mean that for ought we know the thing implies no Contradiction from which nothing at all can be concluded The Laws of Nature are established by the Author of Nature But how far their Limits extend we know not Yet we have reason to believe that He has set them their Bounds that they cannot pass For we find that every thing propogates after its kind and some Transmutations are very hard For we can hardly make a good Fire of Ice though a certain Author affirms That in Island it is become so dry with Age that the Inhabitants make very good Fewel of it But granting all this how will it follow that the Laws and Affections of the Fluids and Canals in the Body of Man may be defined Very well for all Bodies being of the same Nature and subject to the same common Laws of Motion the Terrestial as well as the Celestial these we see not as well as these we see And the Astronomers by a Method familiar to themselves and useful to all having found out and defined the Laws and Affections of the latter whose Motions and Regularity is obvious to our Eyes Therefore the Physicians by the like Method may find out the Laws and Affections of the Fluids in the Body of Man whose Order Figure or Motion they cannot see though inlightned with the Mathematicks as we shall see when we come to examine the Professor's Demonstration of the Uniformity of the Pores The Argument is just such another as this One that sees well may be a good Painter Erg One that is stone blind may be so too If the Professor would be so kind as to assist us with Mathematical Spectacles to see the Animal Spirits the Form Figure and Contexture of their Parts and all the small Filaments and Pores by which all the Secretions are made we would thank him for the Favour and then think of following these Star-gazers But though he could make our Bodies as transparent as Crystal of the Rock so that we could see with the naked Eye all the order and harmony of the Microcosm as well as we do the Motions of a Clock we should by this means have a more curious and useless Speculation but never a whit more useful or successful Practice Physick would still be a Conjectural Art and Physicians still Guessers and Men dye after the old fashion and Mathematicians be mistaken and Fools speak Nonsense If indeed the Professor would teach us how to take down the Machine and set it up again to take out a crack't Spring and put in one that is sound and whole and when the Pendule runs too fast to add some weight to the Ballance and make the Vibrations more regular and equal and slow then there would be some hopes of seeing some Mens Clocks go better and strike more regularly Yet after all I must confess there would still be some Watches that all the World would never make go right The Professor has hitherto only shew'd us in general the Usefulness and Advantage of this New Method But now he comes closs to the Point and makes Application to a particular Case to show us the Power of his infallible Principles and the heroick Exploits of his new knight Errants the Mathematical Causes Than which nothing can be more just for all the Proof of the Pudding is in the eating But if ever the Doctor make a good Pudding with this Seasoning I 'll eat the P Because says he Parag. 25. I said that it was not necessary for Physicians to search out Physical Causes and that this may seem a hard Saying to the Philosophers Therefore I 'll illustrat and confirm the whole Matter by an Example that none can except against This is the first time that ever I heard that the knowledge of Physical or Natural Causes was altogether useless to a Physician And therefore no wonder that not only Philosophers but all pretenders to common Sense think this a saucy and senseless Saying Are not all evident Causes natural ones But if the Doctor understands the first Principles of natural Bodies the springs of their Actions and the way and manner of their workings I know none but some light nodled Mountebanks that follow this ignis fatuus or false Light or pretend to take any practical Indications thence no more than from Mathematical Causes For as I told you before neither Hippocrat nor Galen thought any such knowledge necessary But that this is not the Doctor 's Meaning I will shew you by and by for he himself alledgeth the knowledge of such Causes as the Physicians call Physical or Natural very useful in the practice of Medicine But let us hear him out The Physicians says he that wrote before us of the Diseases of the Eyes in which a kind of Images or Semblances appear before them and trouble the Sight confidently affirmed that the physical Cause of this was some litle Corpuscules or Motes sweeming in the watry Humor of the Eye which moving hither and thither up and down imprint on the Retina as it were the resemblance of Flies or such like things which we think we see before us And in this the Doctor alledgeth they wete very much mistaken Here is a sad and lamentable Story that poor Mortals should have been so long haunted with those Spectres or Ghosts for so our Orator calls them which are of a quite different Nature from all others of that kind which for the most part haunt Men most in the Night but those are most troublesome in the Morning especially after a rousing Cup. Is it not sad to think that no Body appeared for so long a time that had skill enough to conjure these Spectres But I see not what the Professor can say for himself since he knew how to have sent them a packing with his Mathematical Rod 8 or 9 Yeaâ—s ago For you must know that the design of building this Castle in the Air is not so late as one would imagine the Materials has been a long time a preparing for it Tantae molis er at Medicinam condere gentem For the Doctor had a learned Discourse on this Subject out of which this is extracted in the Year 1685 about which time it was prophecied that the Labd would begin to Thrive The Prophecy is this For who survives the Eighty-five Shall see Land begin to thtive By which it appears that it was to thrive in Medicine as well as other things And this seems in some measure to illustrat the former Prophecy Pray
D. P. an expert Physician and learned Mathematician This learned Man will needs have the knowledge of the Mathematicks necessary for Physicians not only as an Instrument to digg and prepare our Minds for the Seeds of all Arts as well as this of Medicine which is a Mistake many have fallen into more than he but as having an Affinity and peculiar Congruity with it and without which it can never be cultivat as it ought or bring forth Fruit Twenty Thirty or an Hundred fold no more than Corn can grow without the Dew of Heaven and benign Influence of the Sun But whatever be in this that Mathematicks are necessary for a Physician I am sure Physick is very necessary for some Mathematicians and that a good swinging Dose too But that you may not take this for a Romance as readily a wise Man will I shall cite you two or three Testimonies of the Dr's that in the Mouth of these Witnesses the truth of what I say may be established The First shall be that at the end of his Dissertation de circulatione sanguinis in Animalibus genitis non genitis Nunquam excoletur pro dignitate Medicâ—na quamdiu intra limites Rationalis illius â—â— ercetur aut quamdiu praeter vires hactenus â—â— Medicinam receptas aliae Philosophis praesertim Peripateticis huc usque ignotae a Mathâ—maticis inventae methodoque hisce not a inveniendae non recipientur I confess ingenuously I can hardly eitheâ— make good Sense or good English of thâ—â— Passage But if I be not mistaken the meaning of it is this That Medicine can never be polished as it ought to be or brought to that perfection it is capable of so long as it is confin'd within the narrow limits of that we call Rational Medicine or as long as beside these already received into Medicine other Powers or Properties call them as you please which the Philosophers have hitherto been ignorant of especially the Peripate ticks found out by the Mathematicians and that only can be found out by a Method known to them are not received The Second is in the Sect. 17. of his Dissert de motu sanguims per vasa minima Neque diffiteor non alio magis nomine arridere mihi Artem Medicam quam quod methodo geometricae possit morem gerere uti eae omnes testiquae corporum vires naturas exploâ—â—t i. e. I confess that nothing makes Medicine more acceptable to me than that can be subject to the Method of Geomeâ—â— as all these Arts that search out the â—irtues and Natures of Bodies The Third and last is at the end of his â—â—augural Oration where he tells us That â—â— does not wonder that the Physcians â—â—re ignorant of the physical Causes of ese Diseases Non tamen existimo says me non explicasse causas illarum seu Maâ—â—maticas seu Medicas nempe eas quarum â—â—nitio est Medicis utilissima i. e. Nevereless I think I have explained the Maâ—â—ematical or Medical Causes of them viz. â—â—lese Causes the knowledge of which is â—â—y useful and profitable for Physicians I doubt not but these Testimonies will â—ficiently convince you of the truth of â—â— Assertion and that this Mathematiâ—â— Medicine which is as great a Bull as â—â—y I know is none of my calving Is there any thing so absurd or ridicuâ—â—s that some Men will not maintain And which is more that will not get somâ— footing in the World if it be set off witâ— an Air of Impudence and Novelty Waâ— ever any thing more absurd and contrâ— dictory not only to it self but to the common Principles of humane Nature thaâ— the Epicurean Philosophy And yet hoâ— greedily it was suck'd in in the beginning and how that Herd has multiplied anâ— increased since every Body knows Bâ— the belief of Transubstantiation puts th Matter beyond all doubt Before I come to Examine this learnâ— Man's Scriblings in particular where th Picture of this Chimera is drawn to tâ— Life I shall consider the common I le and weigh in a just Ballance the Reasoâ— of these Pretenders some whereof I haâ— had occasion to discourse with Is not say they the Body of Man Machine or Automaton whose Nature aâ— Essence consists in the Form and Figuâ— Motion and Rest Symmetry and Propotion of the Parts c. which only can â— defined by the Mathematicians And no Man can pretend to mend a Watch we who does not understand its Nature and how it is formed and put together so no Man should take upon him to Cure Diseases without the knowledge of the Mathematicks Who can say this is not a just parallel since the Lines though drawn out infinitly will never meet to all Eternity Or who can refuse this for a Demonstration since I 'le warrand it for as good as any of the Doctor 's I am to examine afterwards Who doubts but the Body of Man in some sense may be called a Machine Yet it is of such a wonderful Structure and curious Contrivance for we are wonderfully made has so many small Parts and Springs such variety of Motions c. that none either knows or can know but the Great Artificer that first made it and set it a going All we can do is diligently to observe its natural Motions and take notice what disturbs their Regularity and endeavour to find out by Experience assisted with Reason what may put it right again And this I think may be done without the Mathematicks As for Example Men found that raw Meat troubled the Stomack and was of hard digestion and therefore they tryed it boyl'd and roasted c. and found it did a great deal better They found likewise that that which was agreeable to them and of easie Digestion while in Health would either not go down or increased their Disease if it did when Sick and this taught them the use of Broaths Ptisans c. And thus came in the Dietetick Part of Medicine Moreover when any intestine Commotion was raised by Surfeit or Drunkenness they found that upon the expelling the Enemy the War was at an end And thus they learned the usefulness of Vomiting Purging c. When in Fevers or violent Head-acks c. the Nose fell a Bleeding the Fever abated and the Pain evanished And thence they learned the use of Blooding And thus came in the Pharmacutick or Curative Part of Medicine And all this without so much as once dreaming of Mathematicks These were the First Lineaments and ruder Draught of that Noble and Excellent Art But something was still a wanting to finish the Picture and this was Reason without which bare Experience more frequently hurts than helps This is that which weighs all in an equal Ballance without the assistance of the Staticks considers all the Indications and Contreindications arising from the Nature of the Disease the Causes and urgent Symptoms the Age and Constitution of the Patient the Season Sympathies and Antipathies c. And there is
of the Starrs and who should he choose but Pâ—olomy and Copernicus both Physicians in Ordinary to the Moon He designed also to have Tycho Brahe the Dane present but he had been drunk over Night and was taking a Nap He carries them to see the Patient Now let us hear the Consultation Copernicus being the younger spoke first thus By all the Signs and concurrent Symptoms it seems to be beyond doubt that this Ladys Disease is nothing else but deliquium animi proceeding from Vapours occasioned by the Earth from which noxious Steams arise because of the Sun's absence by whose benign Influence all Creatures enjoy Life and Health Strength and Vigour especially this worthy Lady who can no more be without â—t than we without Air. That this is the immediat Cause of the Disease seems â—o me certain But this is not enough but the procatartick Cause must be enquiâ—ed into from which if I be not mistaken â—he principal Indication both for curing this Disease and preventing a Relapse must be â—aken We must find out then the Reaâ—on why the Moon falls so frequently inâ—o the shaddow of the Earth which causes these â—ainting Fits and see whether the Cause be Internal in the Moon herself or External in the Sun or Earth I am of Opinion that it is not in the Sun who being fixed in the Center as a Sentinel to his Post can never do amiss so long as he holds his Station And therefore if there be any broken Heads abroad no body can blame him who is as innocent as the Child unborn For the Earth it is but a dull senseless unactive Mass and tho it be always a Rambling yet it has neither so much Wit or Malice to put such a Trick on a fair Lady her kind Neighbour The Cause then must be Internal and ly in the Lady her self who has been a long time over Head and Ears in love with Endymioâ— as every Body knows and for the mosâ— part she goes down every Night to kisâ— the Shepherd as he lyes asleep upon thâ— tender Grass and frequently missing thâ— way for Love is blind she falls into thâ— shaddow of the Earth And this I judgâ— to be the true Cause which being founâ— out the Cure is easie For love beinâ— nothing but a kind of Madness I thinâ— nothing can be more proper than great Evacuations by Purging Blooding c. and puting her under a strict Regimen for sine Cerere Bacho friget Venus Then spake Ptolomey thus You have spoke very well said he both as to the Disease and its immediat Cause the knowledge of which is not sufficient as you very well remarked But if I be not mistaken you have miss'd the Procatartick Cause altogether by reason of your wrong Hypothesis Here it is that you and I differ in the Cause and I am affraid we disagree also in the Cure My Opinion is then that neither the Moon nor the Earth is to blame For the Lady Moon is not in Love as you alledge and what she did to Endymion proceeded not from an amourous Wantoness which I confess is a kind of Madness but from meer Generosity or rather Charity which is a Virtue and can never lead any Body out of the way For Jupiter having condemned him to a perpetual Sleep because he had been a litle too homely with Junâ— she stole him away from him and hid him in a Cave under a Mountain and stept down sometimes at Night to see how his Head lay without any sinistruous design And for the Earth I maintain she is fixed to her Post and her Ear nail'd to the Center and cannot in the least budge thence and therefore she cannot be the Cause For your Hypothesis that makes the Earth turn round is false for it is only the reeling and turning of your own Heads makes you imagine so as these who have a Vertigo imagine all things turn round The Cause then must undoubtedly ly in the Sun who is a precise kind of Gentleman and will not step out of his Road to please any Body but will needs make Visits both to the Head and Tail of the Dragon according to his old custom by which means his poor Sister who cannot live without his presence one Moment falls into fainting Fits in some of which she may chance to die one time or another And therefore in my humble Opinion the Sun ought to be soundly putged with Hellebore and Blooded ad animi deliquium according to the Method of the Ancients for his Disease is certainly a downright Madness For who but a Mad-man would make any Body run the hazard of their Lâ—fe for a meer Visit of Ceremony And lest you may think it strange that I apply the Cure to the External Cause and not to the Patient I have for a President the Great Hippocrates who cured a great Pestilence by kindling great Fires and thus correcting the Malignity of the Air. Beside there is nothing more ordinary than to apply Sympathetick Powder to the Weapon that made the Wound And this is my Opinion grounded on my Hypothesis and to which you ought to submit you being but a young Man and I your Senior That will I never do said the other for my Hypothesis according to which I proceed in the Cure is as good as yours and large better And so they ended without concluding any thing though both great Mathematicians Wherefore we see the Moon subject to these Fits to this Day From all which you may understand how safe it is for Earthly Physicians to imitate these Heavenly or rather Lunatick ones And in such an Art as Medicine is to follow the Method of the Astronomers Now the Doctor having demonstrat the Excellency and Usefulness of this Method crys out Et nos dubitamus c. And do we doubt that Physick is not to be brought to perfection the same way We must doubt till we have better Grounds to believe Are not all Bodies says he of the same Nature and may be changed into one another c. as above Well reasoned all Bodies can be changed into one another as Elephants into Oysters Sun Moon and Stars into Dunghils Watches into Woodcocks Here is a strange Metamorphosis Would it not be pretty to hear one cry Who will buy a Goose and when you come to buy it you find it a Pigg at least you may perswade the Seller so by this Reason That every thing may be changed into another of what kind soever But as universal as the Professor thinks this Transmutation to be yet there are some things altogether incapable of this Change As for Example these that are crack't from their Cradle can never be made sound for their Disease is vitium organi a privatione ad habitum non datur regressus I confess they may be Cured by a Miracle as the Man was that was born blind But these that believe no Miracles have no reason to expect that one will be wrought in
mark the Harmony In this Discourse the Doctor treats some eminent Physicians like School Boys telling us That they like Sheep followed the Flock that went before them These Beasts that followed the Herd were Platerus Senâ—rtus Riverius c. which were not such Dunces nor blind Admirers of the Ancients as our Orator would make them But since those were the Sheep in Medicine I wish the Doctor would tell us who were the Goats that we might separat the one from the other There is one Passage more in this Discourse that ought to be taken notice of and may be of great use to those that love a Cup viz. That these Ghosts haunt Folks most in the Morning after drinking of Wine but N. B. especially Ale Whence I observe that if we must needs take our Collation that it be rather in the pure Blood of the Grape than in muddy Ale For if that make some Hobgoblings appear this will make you imagine you see whole Legions of Devils A second Observation is That these evil Spirits are always raised with Dâ—unkeness Whence it follows that the way to lay them is to go sober to Bed But let us go on I affirm says the Doctor that no Corpuscles sweeming in the aqueous Humor or contain'd within the Eye can imprint their Image on the Retina And I affirm the contrary and so we are quits But it must not go so For says he whoever considers well how large the Diameters of the Eye must be and what are the Laws of Refraction will find that the Image of any thing within the Eye which is placed before the Retina must be projected outwards and can never make any impression on the Retina and therefore can no ways affect the Sight And I say whoever considers the Laws of Sense and Reason will sind this Passage stark Nonsense As for his Laws of Refraction since he has not told us what they are I am not concerned in them For a Law not promulgat is as good as no Law at all But the Doctor out of an excess of Charity has dispensed with these Criminals being tried by the Laws of the Dioptricks and remitted them to the Judge Ordinary Experience who is very impartial But says he in the above-mentioned Discourse 1685. the thing is so clear that without the help of the Opticks it may be demonstrate every Day by Experience For if any thing be brought so near the Eye that it almost touch the Cornea the Eye will have no impression of it nor any perception at all Now though this be as false as Transubstantiation and equally contradicts the Testimony of our Senses yet many considerable Advantages result from it The First is for those who have tender and weak Eyes who cannot endure the Light for they may keep their Eyes almost quite shut constantly which will contribute very much to the Cure and nevertheless see every whit as well as if they were wide open For when any thing is brought so near the Cornea that it almost touch it as the Eye lids no doubt do it will make no impression upon the Eye at all nor any ways obstruct the sight The Second is for those who have a Cataract growing on the Eye to convince them of a Mistake they all labour under which is that they see always something like Midges or Flies that trouble the sight to convince I say these poor deluded Creatures that it is only a deception of the Sense and sickness of their Brain and consequently that they must be treated as these who are Hypocondriack or Mad without taking any notice of their Eyes at all The Third and Last is universal and useful for all which is To make Men see through a Mil-stone as well as the most transparent Crystal by making the Object almost touch the Cornea For then you will see every whit as well as if nothing were in your way at all I hope no Man will doubt of these Conclusions since you have the Professor's word to warrand them Ipse dixit But all is not yet done he has another String to his Bow and I make no doubt with this two-fold Cord these poor Hobgoblings will be strangled For he foreseeing that an Objection might be made that although these litle Corpusculs could not be said properly to make any impression on the sight nevertheless they might produce the like effect by hindring some Rays of Light that come from the Object to penetrat to the Retina and so hide some parts of the Object from our sight has armed himself with an Effatum which he never wants upon occasion The Effatum is this That there is no point of any visible Object from which there comes not Rays of Light to every point of the Cornea so that although many points of the Cornea were covered with Spots nevertheless all the parts of the Objects would be seen This Effatum may truly be called Effartum which comes from Fartum a Pudding For never was Pudding more stuffed with Meat than this is with Nonsense Do not we see Objects by the Rays of Light that comes from them to the Retina and if there come none from them at all they cannot be seen except Men have Cats Eyes who they say see in the Dark and by the same Reason if there come no Rays from any assignable part or point of the Object to it there can be no perception of that part at all Now if there be any Spots on the Cornea or in the acqeous Humor and if the Rays coming from any part of the Object fall on them they can never penetrat into the bottom of the Eye and so can make no sensation of these Parts there which consequently must be hidden from our sight Do not all opack Bodies cast a Shaddow And are not these Spots such By what Inchantment then have they been wheedled out of their Birth-right I have found where the knack lyes which is here That these litle Bodies are Witches or Wizards which Children say have no Shaddow And with this Reason I am content till the Doctor find a better You see it was not without a Cause that the Doctor was angry with the Old Physicians and that he had just ground to disposess the physical Causes and banish them from the Common-wealth of Medicine But it was as just that some other should be put in their room who will prove a great deal better Subjects than they And these are the Mathematical Causes But says he if that Point of the Retina or Net in which the Rays that come from any visible point of the Object should meet be covered or compressed so that the Image cannot reach it there will be no sensation of the Object at all And if the same thing fall out in many points of the Retina all these things will come to pass that the Physicians believed for so long a time was transacted in the watry Humor And believe so still for any thing the Doctor
you shall dye for want of Water and this is demonstrat by a learned Physician who is likewise a great Mathematician That is none of my business says the Child as long as the other two Canals are open we shall have Water in spight of his Mathematicks and live maugre a Demonstration From this Mathematical Demonstration redounds a confiderable Advantage to the Lieges and Damage to the Tinkers For these Rogues when they mend one Hole ordinarly make two but here by stoping one you stop three q. e. d. In this place the Doctor takes occasion to inquire into the force of Thunder that stops the Breath all of a sudden and choaks Men in the very twinkling of an Eye Here you shall see that the Doctor is indeed Mysta Naturae penetrats into the inmost Recesses of Nature The Reason the Doctor gives for suden Death occasioned thus is The suden and great Expansion of the Air whose Particles says he become both lighter and larger and so cannot enter into the Lungs And so the Blood cannot circulat because the Lungs will clap together and compress the Vessels And therefore the Creature who is thunder-struck must presently dye the Circulation being stopt The Doctor told you just now That the Puppie dies because when once it has breath'd in air some Particles which remain still in the Lungs are so rarified and expanded that they blow up the Lungs to such a degree that the Vessels are pressed together and the Circulation stopt And here you are told that the Circulation is stopt meerly because there is no air in the Lungs at all which is indeed very odd that it should fall out just at the very nick of time that one is killed with Thunder Whereas I think it would fall out quite otherwise for the Particles of the Air that are in the Lungs would be affraid to come out for the Thunder The Professor says he was the more confirmed in this Opinion by seing one opened who was killed with Thunder at Edinburgh where nothing was to be observed that might occasion his Death except this wonderful shrinking and clapping together of the Lungs Here is a wonderful Explication of the wonderful Effects of Thunder and of its way of working And here I cannot but wonder that this Mathematical Archer one of the true Sons of Apollo should never once hit the Mark with his geometrical Arrow One hit for the Honour of the Nation that we may not be ashamed of our Glory But let us examine this thundering Gibberish The Air says he being expanded or rarified it cannot enter into the Lungs What then Cannot we live a Minut or two without Air No doubt and more How comes it to pass then that those who are thunder-struk fall down dead in an instant as one shot through the Head But why should the Air being rarified not enter into the Lungs Because says the Doctor the Particles become larger and lighter Here is an excellent Dish of Nonsense dressed a-la-mode For any Body knows that in rarifying of Liquids the parts become not larger but less for one is divided into a Thousand or more indefinitly If the Air were like to Brass or any other malleable Matter what the Doctor alledgeth might follow The Particles of the Air then by Rarifaction become more subtile and penetrating and rush hither and thither on all quarters with the greater violence according to the force of the Impellent which will be so far from hindering it to enter into the Lungs that it will rather run into them like a Torrent and by blowing them up press the Vessels and so stop the Circulation And consequently if any dye by this Accident it must not be for want of Air but for having too much Moreover one would think that in this Case the Air being rarified would become like a large Cupping-glass and occasion not only the swelling of the Lungs but of the whole Body rather than their clapping together The Example of the Lungs being clapt together in him the Doctor saw opened is so Childish that I almost blush to repeat it What! does not every Body know that those who die either a natural or violent Death if their Wind-pipe be open dye in the act of Exspiration and not Inspiration And therefore we say when any Body dies That they breath'd Out their last and not that they breathed In their last and so no wonder the Lungs be clapt together Moreover if the Expansion or Rarefaction of the Air be the cause of this Phaenomen how comes it to pass that many are scorched with Thunder and Gun-powder who are killed by neither since there is reason to believe the Air as much rarified in these as in the above-mentioned Case If this Doctrine hold it will make one afraid of a very F t for that expands the Air after its own fashion as is evident by the Crack Being now almost breathless in pursuing this Demonstration about Breathing it is high time to refresh our selves a litle Wherefore I will intertain you with the Doctor 's Discourse De motu quo cibi in ventriculo rediguntur ad formam sanguini reficiendo idoneam Here I promise you a Dish of as well dressed Chile as ever you tasted Nothing could come in better season after a Treat of Air which though it be absolutly necessary for our subsistence yet it is but a lent Diet alone there must be some more solid substance to make this Vestal Flame or lamp of Life burn Even as in Fire which without both goes out This solid Substance I confess is easily found but all the matter is to know how it is digested and turned unto Nourishment which is as necessarly for a Physician to know as it is for a Cook to understand how the Fire assimulats its Fewel and whether or no the igneous Atoms that insinuat themselves into the Pores of the Meat while it is a boiling or frying be nothing but raments of the third Element sweeming in the first as Fish in Water before he can make you a good Potage or Fricasie of Chickens The Doctor in order to the establishing of his own Opinion first refutes his Adversaries And here he is like to have a hard pull for it for the greater the Opposition the more glorious the Victory for he has a number of Surly Sour-looking Saucy Fellows to encounter armed with sour and salt Ferments and Stygian Liquors and Vanhelmonts Archaeus and Dolaeus Bogles to grample with Wherefore he had need of Armour that is proof For these Ferments cut like aqua fortis But the Archaeus and Lemures are worst of all for nothing will do with them but Conjuration We come now to the Question to be answered viz. How the Meat is to be digested i. e. What Power or Faculty or Ferment dissolves the Meat in the Stomack and makes it fit for Nourishment Many different Opinions have been about this as well among the Ancients as Moderns The Opinions of the
Ancients were Four Some followed Hippocrat who affirmed Heat was the Cause of Concoction Others maintained with Plistonicus the Disciple of Pythagoras that the Meat did putrifie or rot in the Stomack and so that Concoction was Putrefaction and consequently that the Stomack was a kind of Dung-hill The Third was that of Erasistratus and this is the Doctor 's which I believe he takes to be new though it be more than 1600 Years old who held that Meat was bruised or grinded in the Stomack and so the Stomack by consequence was a kind of Mill and digesting nothing but grinding The Fourth maintained with Asclepiades that what we call Concoction is no Concoction at all but that the Meat raw and undigested as it is eaten is distribute through the Body This was the briskest Fellow of them all who came in at the broad-side and told them that they were debating about nothing for there was no such thing as Concoction I wonder the Doctor was not of his side since they seem to be of a party For as this Man maintained that Concoction was no Concoction at all so the Doctor gives us Demonstrations which are no Demonstrations at all Among the Moderns some followed the Ancients Others salt and sour Ferments some had recourse to the Archaeus c. The Doctor only begs one thing for to refute his Adversaries Opinions which is so just that no Body can refuse it viz. That whatever the Cause of Concoction be it must be such that will not either dissolve the Stomack or other solid Parts of the Body as it were with a chymical Fire or aqua fortis This is altogether as reasonable as to demand that the Pot that boils our Broath be such as the Fire will not melt down while the Broath is a boiling This being granted the Doctor soon stops his Adversaries Mouths by asking them How it comes to pass that that which dissolves the Meat in the Stomack whether it be Heat Ferment or Putrefaction does not dissolve the Stomack also since it dissolves not only Meat of the same kind but that which is much more solid I verily believe that not only the Doctor himself but his Admirers also thinks this an insurmountable difficulty which no doubt has made him reject these Opinions and imbrace one so absurd as his will be found It is strange to see how Men are in love with their own Dreams and Delusions and how they see other Mens Faults and are blind to their own For the same Objection that is against these Opinions holds against the Doctor 's For if he ask them how it comes to pass that the Stomack is not dissolved as well as the Meat in it They may ask him how it comes that the Stomack by bruising and grinding Meat of the same nature with it self and much more solid too is not grinded to dust and crumbled away to nothing long ere now The Doctor Answers That whatever damage the Stomack sustains that way is soon repaired by the Blood Whatever force is in this it makes as much for any of the contrary Opinions as for his and so the Stygian Lake or Chymists Laboratory or Cooks Shop or Dung-hill may maintain its Right against the Mill. I am sure none but these that think very litle or drink very much would find any difficulty in this which puzells this learned Man so sore that he thinks it unanswerable For the things which we digest cannot properly be said to be of the same nature with our Stomack or other parts of our Body for they differ as much as living things and dead For what we eat must first die and cease to be nourished before it can be digested And were the Stomack and other parts of the Body of the same nature as the Professor alledgeth with these things we digest we should ly under the same necessity of preserving our Bodies with divers Pickles and Spices as we are to keep Beef and Mutton from corrupting with Salt and so we should be all talking and walking Mummies But lest the Doctor nnderstand not this I remit him to the School-master of Fools for instruction who will inform him that Worms live frequently in the Stomack in spight of Heat Fermentation Putrefaction c ' and sometimes in spight of Physick and Physicians too Thus you see the Professor has given his Adversaries a Morsel they can never concoct But lest it may chance to putrifie he must prevent that too and take another word of Dr. Lister For the Professor cannot away with this old musty stinking Opinion and no wonder for it turns his Mill into a Jacks and makes it good for nothing but grinding T s. There are other Reasons says he why we reject the Opinion of the learned Mr. Lister For this Gentleman will needs have the Meat to rot in the Stomack because it is in a warm place without the Animal But this says the Doctor does not answer the Question for one may still ask What is the reason that Flesh out of the Stomack does not corrupt or putrifie so soon or if it do it does not turn to Chile Which nevertheless the same Flesh will do in the Stomack in a very litle time This is just such a Question as if one would ask Wherefore the wind of the Microcosm smells worse than that of the Macrocosm and why the Vapours pent up there corrupt so soon But I wonder the Doctor does not see that this will put the Water by his Mill and hinder it to go except he make it go with wind of which he never wants plenty For I would ask him How it comes to pass that the Stomack of any Animal taken out and fill'd with Meat and pressed between the two Hands never turns the Meat into Chile which nevertheless it will do in a very short time when the Stomack is in the Animal The Doctor will readily Answer that it is not Motion considered in general that is the Cause of Concoction but a certain kind of Motion so and so circumstantiat peculiar to the Stomack So will his Adversary reply that it is a certain kind of Putrefaction that cannot be defined and yet Putrefaction it is or Corruption still and is a juster Notion of the thing than any I have met with But among all the Opinions I have met with none is so ridiculous and absurd as the Doctor 's as he has stated it For to tell us that the motion of the Stomack may contribute to the Concoction is that which no Body will deny But to say it is the adequat efficient Cause for the Doctor assigns no other is every whit as absurd as to affirm that because Meat helps to preserve our Life therefore we need neither Drink Sleep nor Air. Yea it is manifest to any considering Man that from the Motion of the Stomack we can no more have an Idea or Notion of Concoction than from the Idea of a Wind-mill we can frame one of a Solan-goose But
no Mathematicks in all this Moreover this Machine is of a quite different nature from artificial Ones which can be taken down and set up again at One's pleasure and by this means soon mended when any thing is amiss But such an Experiment as this I doubt would prove a litle too dangerous on the the Body of Man For tho' it is easie to take it down all the matter is to put it together again and set it a going I would advise these Mechanists to try the Experiment first on some of themselves For there is reason to suspect that something is wrong in their Clock-work that reason thus and if it succeed well they need not doubt of Practice And for their incouragement I propose to them the Example of that famous Witch Medea who also tried it first on a Sheep which she dismembred and boyled with certain Herbs that were under the influence and dominion of such and such Planets whose nature and motions are only known to the Mathematicians Did ever any thing more wild or extravagant enter into the Mind of Man than to imagine that this speculative Science that goes all by Demonstration shall be of use in a practical Art founded on Experience In which there are no infallible Conclusions either as to the Event or Cure of Diseases but only high Probabilities and rational Conjectures as in other practical Arts such as War Agriculture Politicks c. and which without Revelation are capable of no more Which Kerkringius in the Preface to his Specimen Anatomicum has expressed very well thus Nam eas qui sibi it a placent in Juâ—â— Mathematica ut etiam Medicinam velint ad ejus leges revocare nihilque tentari a Medico antequ am illud faciendum esse aliter fieri non posse demonstraverint tanquam ineptos homines a medicandi Arte praestantissima rejiciendos censeo Ego certe citius eos insanire Mathematice demonstrevero quam illi probaverint artem hanc practicam quae non exigua est ejus laus divinatoriam ad Mathematicoruâ— leges revocandam esse Non potest revocari omnium Regina Artium Politica non debet Medicina agendum in utraque est ex prudenti judicio servanda respublica aegerque sanandus est antequam pereant dum illi suos quaerunt quos nunquam invenient calculos quosque quoerendos esse gratis assumunt prudentium omnium in gratiis But since the thing is so ridiculous and absurd what can be the ground of such a Belief You know that the Sectaries that break off from the Church since they have no pretence to Reason are forced to have recourse to pretended Inspirations and Revelations So here I see nothing can support this tottering Sect but this old Prophesy of Sybilla Tempus enim veniet quo si non fallit Apollo Clara Caledoniis fulgebit stella pruinis Quae rectum monstrabit iter qua ad templa Minervae Ire licet tenebras istisque fugabit ab oris Artis Apoloneae nec non arcana recludet Tunc homo Nestoreos sanus durabit in annos Arte Mathematicae nam sic cecinere Sybillae The time will come if great Apollo Prove not an idle lying Fellow As he has done many a time In Scotland a bright Star shall shine That shall thence Darkness drive away And to true Wisdom shew the way And Physick's Secrets all display Then Men shall live as long as Nestor By Purging Vomiting and Clyster Prescrib'd by Mathematick Art Thus Sybil sung then let a F Here is a Prophesy that fortells clearly that such a thing will come to pass and that he by whom this great Blessing shall be conveyed to Mankind shall be Born in this Countrey without giving notice who the Person is or when the time of his appearance will be For this lyes still wrap'd up in the depth of Destiny which only time will discover and bring to light But I pretend no great skill in Prophesies You may consult at your leisure these that have commented on Merlin Thomas the Rymer Mother Shipton and Mother Gregg who may be able to give you some light in the matter I wish with all my Heart it might be fulfilled in my time What satisfaction would it be to me to see some old Physicians go to School again and come under the Ferula I should even be ready to split my Lungs with laughing to meet them with Apolonius Conicks and Des Cartes Analyticks under their Arm going to get a Lesson from the Professor But that which would compleat the Farce would be to see Messieurs les Apothecaires trying their Intrants in reading Receipts by Euclid's Elements the Mathematicians Dispensatory And ordain that no Clysters should be administred but by Syringe which is a Cylinder as every Mathematician knows I confess you may think this but a very weak Foundation to support such a Fabrick But weak as it is it is sufficient For Castles in the Air need no Foundation at all I hope you will not mistake me and think that I have any quarrel with the Mathematicks For that were both unjust and unreasonable in me as having never got Good or Hurt by them in all my Life And if I had received any Injury I am sure you are so charitable as to think I would have forgiven it It is not the Use but the Abuse of the thing I complain of For which I ought no more to be blamed than he that condemns Drunkenness tho' the Wine were never so good For it is one thing to take a litle Wine for your Stomack 's sake and another to sweem in the blood of the Grape the one will refresh and the other may chance to choak you What greater abuse than to intrude this upon other Arts to which it has no more relation or affinity than Musick has to Painting or Colours to Sounds The Mathematicks deserve their room in the World and Common-wealth of Learning and are very good Neighbours while they keep within the bounds prescribed them by Nature and do not wander beyond the limits of their own Orb But if they come to make Incursions on the Territories of anorher Vortex they may chance to share with the Comets in their fate Oportet vivere couvenienter Naturae says the wise Stoick Every thing has its Limits fixed by Nature which it should not pass Property is that which makes Kingdoms States flourish in Wealth Peace and Honour And if that be taken away all goes to ruine And the Paralel holds exactly well in the Common-wealth of Learning For Divinity Medicine Law and Mathematicks have all their distinct Provinces and may live very well in Confederacy together but can never be subject to one anothers Laws But if any Man will needs join what Nature has divided I wish him Joy and conclude with the Poet. Atque idem jungat vulpes mnlgeat hircos Hitherto I have been but skirmishing and beating some of the advanced Guards