any one Tribe of them For although when we have occasion for the virtue of any Specifick Medicine the rule hold good The more simple the better yet when we propose to our selves to cure our Patient by answering this or that Indication every several Ingredient contributes its share to the cure of the Disease And in this case the greater the number of Simples is so much the more powerfully the Medicine will operate Therefore out of the Medicines mentioned and those of the same nature several Recipe's tending to this end may be made I prefer the form of an Electuary in the manner of Theriaca Andromachi before all others as excelling in virtue because the mutual confermentation of all the Simples increases their virtue producing as it were some third thing which in equal quantity is of more virtue in them conjoyned than in any one of them And for the sake of young Physicians I discover the Remedy I my self make use of which is compounded after this manner Take of the roots of Angelico Calamus Aromaticus Masterwort Elecampane Leaves of common Wormwood lesser Centaury white Horehound Germander Groundpine Scordium common Calamint Feaverfew Meadow Saxifrage St. John's Wort Golden Rod Mother of Time Mint Sage Rue Carduus Benedictus Southernwood Flowers of Chamaemil Tansie Lily Conval English Saffron Seeds of Treacle-Mustard Garden Scurvigrass Caroway Berries of Juniper of each a sufficient quantity Let all the Herbs Flowers and Roots be gathered at those seasons when they have the most virtue Let them be dried and kept in Paper Bags till they be fit to Powder Let 4 ounces of each be well mixt and made up with a Syrup of Canary Wine and Sugar into the form of an Electuary of a due consistence Let him take 2 drachms morning and evening Or in defect of this let him use this following Take of Conserve of Garden Scurvigrass 1 ounce and an half of Roman Wormwood and yâ—llow rind of Oranges each 1 ounce of Candied Angelico preserved Nutmeg each half an ounce Theriaca Andromachi 3 drachms Pulv. Ari. Comp. 2 drachms with a sufficient quantity of Syrup of Oranges make an Electuary Let him take 2 drachms twice a day drinking 5 or 6 spoonfulls of the following Scurvigrass Water upon it Take of Root of Horse-Rhadish sliced 3 ounces Garden Scurvigrass 12 handfulls Water Cresses Brooklime Sage Mint each 3 handfulls Orange Pills No. vj. Nutmegs bruised No ij Brunswick Mum 12 pounds distill them in the common Organs till onely 8 pounds of Water be drawn off for use Of all Medicines commonly known which help concoction Theriaca Andromachi is the best but because it is made up of very hot Simples and besides abounds with Opium the abovesaid Electuary may more conveniently be made of the chief heaters and strengthners with Sugar dissolved in Wine which will be more gratefull to the Stomach than Honey is We must take care in the mean time that those Simples be made use of that are more gratefull to the Patient's palate for seeing they must use it a long time i. e. almost as long as they live it is very convenient Idem p. 49. that it be not ingratefull to the Palate XXXIX This must be observed above all namely that all Digestive Remedies whatever whether they consist in Medicine or Diet or Exercise must not be used by the bye but constantly and daily with all diligence For since in this Disease as also in most Chronical ones its cause is passed into an habit and as it were a new nature no wise Man can think that any light and momentany alteration brought upon the Bloud and Humours by any kind of either Medicine or Diet can attain the scope of Cure but the whole habit of the body must be turned another way and the whole Man must as it were be new forged again upon the Anvil For neither is the case here as in some acute distemper when he that was as well as heart can wish but even now is on a sudden taken with a Fever and sinks down as if a Bridge broke under him from a very good state of health into a most dangerous disease The state of the Gout is far otherwise When a Man by leading an intemperate life for many years one after another omitting his accustomed exercise consuming in sloth and idleness or by too much study and unremitted intention of mind and other errors of life hath endeavoured as it were on purpose that the various ferments of the Body should be perverted and the Animal spirits which are the primary Instruments of Concoction are oppressed whereupon the preternatural Humours that are gathered do at length break out and give an overthrow when they are exalted to the highest degree and when the flesh is made soft and the joints effeminate they more readily receive the Humours falling upon them And so at length another Nature as it were is by degrees superinduced the pristine and natural oeconomy of the body being utterly overturned and destroyed For these Paroxysms which in a manner wholly take up the thoughts of the inconsiderate and less knowing sort are nothing else but a series and order of Symptomes dependent on that method which Nature commonly uses in expelling the matter which is the cause of the disease outwards Wherefore he loses his labour whoever goes about to stave off this disease by using this or that Medicine or Regiment likewise onely now and then But since this Habit is founded and consists chiefly in the spoiling of all the Digestions and in the loss of natural firmness in particular parts we must obviate both evils and as well the strength of Concoction as the firmness of parts must be reduced and restored by degrees that is according to the Model of the pristine and accustomed oeconomy of the body And however impossible this may seem to be done fully and perfectly not onely because every Habit is with great difficulty changed into its contrary but because old Age which commonly is companion and partner to this disease doth violently oppose yet as far as strength and years will allow the Cure must be attempted and as the Patient is younger or elder Idem p. 67. so he will more or less escape the Tyranny of the Gout XL. A Milk diet either of raw Milk or boiled taking nothing else unless a little Bread in it once a day has been in vogue for 20 years last past This did several good beyond all other Medicines for this disease so long as they exactly observed it but as soon as ever he returned to the diet of the Healthy were it never so mild and gentle who had used himself to this the Gout presently returning handled the Patient far worse than before for the Principles of Nature being by this course weakned the Patient is rendred more unable to keep off the disease and therefore afflicts him more dangerously and tediously He therefore that thinks of taking this course must first of all seriously
the various natures of Mens bodies But the Moderns have found far safer Medicines as well chymical as exotick yea and things common among us that doe their work without Pain which the strong Medicines of the Ancients were apt to cause and such as whether the Nerve be bare or covered may safely be applied whereas to a bare Nerve all the old things could not be applied with safety As Balsam of Peru distilled Oil of Turpentine Tar Wax Oil or Balsam of St. John's-wort in which there are all the qualities that Galen requires with a Balsamick virtue which the old want and the old have also a corroding quality and the new do not onely waste Excrements but very much strengthen the innate Heat of the wounded part Sennertus III. Sometimes Oil of Turpentine will doe no good when it is applied too late and then we may hope in vain for a Cure as it fared about 18 years ago with Theodor. Vander Noen a Physician and Chirurgeon of Amsterdam Who having about noon let a pair of Scissers fall out of his Hands as he was catching them up in haste he hit the last joint of his right Thumb against the point of them and because he felt but little pain he neglected it for several hours but about ten at night he felt some small Convulsions in the part that was hurt and all over his body He was of a cholerick Complexion which made him when he had taken Physick to vomit it up again nevertheless his Convulsions and Pains continued therefore he called me in the morning and signified to me that he must die Because he never saw one cured into whose Wounds that piercing Oil had not been poured at first which he had neglected Sylvius de le Boë because the Pain was not great And it happened as he foretold A GUIDE TO The Practical Physician BOOK XIII Of Diseases beginning with the Letter O. Obesitas or Corpulency The Contents Taken down by drinking Vinegar I. What kind of Purging is good II. Wasted by a Medical Powder III. Their Diet. IV. One made lean onely by chewing leaves of Tobacco V. I. CHiapinius Vitellius Camp-Master-General a middle-aged Man grew so fat that he was forced to sustain his Belly by a Swathe which came about his Neck And observing that he was every day more unfit for the Wars than other he voluntarily abstained from Wine and continued to drink Vinegar as long as he lived upon which his Belly fell Strada de Bello Belgico and his Skin hung loose with which he could wrap himself as with a Doublet It was observed that he lost 87 pounds in weight II. Lest any great mischief should follow we must try to subtract by Medicine what a spare diet will not because it has been observed that a loosness either natural or procured by Art does not a little good But this must be done by degrees and slowly since it is not safe to disturb so much matter violently lest it should come all at once Therefore the best way of Purging is by Pills of Rheubarb Aloes each 2 drachms Agarick 1 drachm Cinnamon yellow Sanders each half a drachm Make them up with Syrup of Cichory They must be taken in this manner First 1 Scruple must be given an hour and an half before Meal then two or three days afterwards take half a drachm or two scruples before Meal Thus Purging must be often repeated at short Intervals till you think all the cacochymie is removed Fernelius Cons 17. III. A certain Goldsmith who was extreme fat so that he was ready to be choaked took the following Powder in his Meat and so he was cured Take of Tartar two ounces Cinnamon three ounces Ginger one ounce Sugar four ounces Make a Powder Forestus IV. Horstius found the things following to take down fat Men especially Onions Garlick Cresses Leeks Seed of Rue and especially Vinegar of Squills Let them purge well Let them Sweat and purge by Urine Let them use violent exercise before they eat Let them indure hunger want of Sleep and Thirst Let them Sweat in a Stove and continue in the Sun Idem ¶ Let them abstain from Drink between Dinner and Supper for to drink between Meals makes Men fat Ferdiâ—aâ—dâ—s V. I knew a Nobleman so fat that he could scarce sit on Horse-back but he was asleep and he could scarce stir a foot But now he is able to walk and his body is come to it self onely by chewing of Tobacco Leaves as he affirmed to me For it is good for Phlegmatick and cold Bodies Borellus VI. Let Lingua Avis or Ash-Keyes be taken constantly about one drachm in Wine According to Pliny it cures Hydropical persons and makes fat people lean Ferdinandus Obstructiones or Obstructions See Aperients BOOK XIX Oculorum Affectus or Diseases of the Eyes The Contents Bloudletting not hurtfull I. Great and frequent Evacuations are hurtfull II. Wine is the Vehicle of drying Medicines to the Head III. Eye-bright is not good for every Disease of the Eyes IV. Vpon what the Efficacy of a Seton depends V. Oculorum Dolor Inflammatio Ophthalmia or Pain of the Eyes Inflammation Bloudshottenness When the Eyes are ill of a fluxion where a Caustick must be applied VI. In a pertinacious Ophthalmia we must proceed to a Seton in the Occiput VII Where Issues must be made VIII A contumacious Ophthalmia cured by applying an actual Cautery to the swollen Veins of the Eyes IX Boring the Tip of the Ear is good X. Whether Purging be always proper XI Topical Medicines must be used circumspectly XII Gutta Serena Visus Imminutio or a Blindness without any visible cause Diminution of Sight When a Gutta Serena is curable XIII Cured by applying Blisters to the Thighs XIV By fasting XV. By a Wound in the Forehead XVI How using Spectacles helps the sight XVII Suffusio Cataracta or a Suffusion a Cataract The Body must often be purged XVIII One beginning cured by a Topick XIX The efficacy of Pigeon's Bloud XX. Cautions about couching a Cataract XXI The way of using purging Pills XXII Macula Cicatrices Phlyctaena c. or Spots Scars Blisters c. Spots must be distinguished from Scars because there is no cure for Scars XXIII The Chirurgical Cure of an Albugo XXIV Oculi Procidentia or Starting out of the Eye The Starting of the Eye cured by setting a Cupping-glass to the hind part of the Head XXV The restitution of the Humours of the Eye lost by a Wound XXVI I. I Have found in my self that letting of bloud is not hurtfull to the sight for when I had found my sight troubled for seven years and I had not let bloud for six months I opened a vein and let ten ounces of impure bloud and as much after dinner after which I found my sight come to me perfectly But because the last bloud was feculent the next day I bled again in the other Arm. And ever
is little and sticks not firmly to the sides of the Womb that has not as yet acquired a thickness capacious enough to suck up and contain the Blood that is as yet fluid about the Womb in the Hypogastrick Vessels by Bleeding in the Foot it may be recalled as in the Menstrual Purgation and so be withdrawn from the Womb Riolan anthropogr l. 6. in fine and therefore an Abortion would follow IV. The Diseases that seise upon Women not with Child as Vomiting want of Appetite and the like in them need Purging rather than Bleeding because they are caused by a Cacochymie abounding in the Stomach and the whole Body But in Women with Child they need Bleeding more because they are caused by the Blood retained from the very beginning of their being with Child And Experience hath taught that the Vomitings which often afflict Women with Child in the first Months are aggravated by Purgations but are much relieved by Bleeding yea are wholly removed if it be repeated every Month till the symptom wear off River V. According to Hippocrates aph 1. sect 4. one would think that we should reckon Purging to be safer than Bleeding for he there permits Purging in a certain case and time but on the contrary concerning Venesection he writes absolutely 5. aph 10. that it causes Abortion But Purgers do cause a great agiration and generally have a quality that is injurious to the Body and besides provoke the Terms and cause Gripings Whereas on the contrary Bleeding is administred with less perturbation of the Humours nor does it hurt any otherwise but as it deprives the Foetus of its aliment which fear is vain if there be a Plethora And it appears by Experience that Bleeding has better success than Purging when there is present the same reason of Indicants and Permittents Add that many Acute Diseases spring from plenty of Blood for which Bleeding is the properest Remedy VI. Hippocrates aph 1. sect 4. hath defined the use of Purgation in Women with Child Women with Child are to be Physick'd if the Matter be Turgent in the fourth Month and till the seventh but these later more sparingly But we must have a care when the Foetus is very young or when it is full grown Galen in comment says that Foetus are like to the fruits of Trees Now these when they are newly shaped or set have but weak Stalks and therefore they easily fall off when a violent Wind shakes them but afterwards when they are grown somewhat bigger they are not so easily shaken off the Trees and yet when they are come to their full growth and are ripe they fall off of their own accord and without any extrinsick violence In like manner Women suffer Abortion in the first and last Months because in those Months the Foetus is not so firmly knit to the Womb. But in our times Purgers are administred almost in every Month of their being with Child in Diseases which are produced by a predominance of Excrements and a Cacochymie when the Matter is turgent or concocted as often as there impends greater danger on the part of the Cacochymie than from the commotions raised by the Purge Physicians have been made bolder herein upon the account of the gentle and harm ess Medicins that we use now adays as Rhubarâ— Myrobalans Cassia Manna Senna Agarick and the like Yet we must always have regard to Hippocrates's opinion that Purgers may be given more safely in the middle Months but are to be used more waâ—ily in the first and last River ¶ Being with Child hinders Purgation for fear of Abortion and though even Acute Fevers be present and the Matter be Turgent yet the offending Humours may be corrected and evacuated by divers Remedies without strong Purgers For such Medicins are common at this day as prepare the Humours and bring them to the ways of the Ducts without making use of any violent Remedy And we must know that in the Diseases of Women with Child there is sometimes a very great fermentation of the Blood because of some Preternatural ferment raised in the mass of Blood which Purging Medicins as such can no ways bridle and moreover 't is very doubtful as yet whether that fermental Effluvium will follow the guidance of the Purgers See Zacut. M. P. H. l. 3. hist 14. Fr. Hofm m. m. p. 53. Schenkius obs l. 4. p. 554. VII Cassia is not to be given to Women with Child as no more are most Diureticks because through the nearness of the Womb with the Bladder which they provoke to expulsion they may do much harm Besides Cassia by its superfluous moisture relaxeth the Womb and weakens the Cotyledons and 't is also suspected for breeding Wind. Zacutus thinks that it may be so corrected by the addition of Spices and Carminatives as to become harmless but Experience witnesseth that it is not sate to use it VIII And the Evacuation that is made by Clysters is altogether unsafe because it may cause Abortion by compressing the Womb. When therefore there is need of them and Women have been accustomed to this kind of Remedy they ought to be made up in a less quantity and to be made of those things which are endued with a vertue rather to mollify and loosen than to purge strongly IX The use of Pills ought always to be suspected both because they disturb the Body more and also because of the Aloes which for its notable bitterness is offensive to the Foetus and is believed to open the mouths of the Veins But if its use seem necessary at any time in the more grievous Diseases of the Stomach which are often wont to afflict Womâ—n with Child in their first months of being so let it be well washed with Rose-Water that its acrimony may be taken away or let it be mixt with astringents and strengtheners as Mastich and the like X. Diureticks because they are apt to provoke the Terms also ought to be suspected and if the necessity of the Disease do sometimes require them let the more gentle be chosen XI The drinking of Acidulae or Mineral Waters is to be denied viz. the Medicinal drinking not the extraordinary wherein a draught or two is granted for pleasure or to quench thirst First because by opening inciding attenuating and absterging they provoke the Terms whereby Aliment is withdrawn from the Womb Secondly because the Belly is thereby loosened but things provoking to Stool are hurtful aph 34. 5. and 27. 7. Hereby the Foetus is deprived of Aliment the bands whereby it is tied to the Womb are loosened and the Foetus is offended by the frequent stench of the Excrements as they pass by XII Sudorificks if they be of the milder sort may be safely used Experience teaching that they are beneficial to Women with Child that are infected with the Pox or Plague or the like Diseases for when there are vitious Humours in the Body if Nature be not infirm such thâ—ngs help
her Itch. 9. Whey especially of Goats milk is in this case very useful which indeed in a moist Itch may be given at first with 2 ounces of juice of Roses that it may both purge and then for 4 or 5 dayes attenuate If the Itch be dry 2 or 3 ounces of juice of Fumitory may be added or also 2 ounces of an Emulsion of Melon Seeds which way it is a most efficacious Medicine for the Scab and Itch. ¶ This is an experienced Medicine in any Itch Take the root of sharp-pointed Dock-green of Elecampane green each half a pound Hogs-lard 3 ounces beat them in a Morter Sennertus boyl them a little on a gentle fire then strain them out violently and make an Unguent 10. This is a most excellent Oyntment Take of the inner yellow rind of black Alder 3 handfuls fresh Butter 1 pound the best Wine half a pound Arnold Weikardu◠Boyl them to the Consumption of the watry part strain it violently through a linnen Cloth Keep it for use it Cures the Itch admirably especially in the younger sort But the Body must first be well purged Scorbutus or the Scurvy The Contents Northern People alone are not subject to it I. Blood must be taken but in a small quantity II. When the Spots appear a Vein may be breathed III. Purging must be seldome and gradual IV. Things that act by a Specifick virtue must be used V. Their Heat and Acrimony must be corrected VI. The juice of Plants is to be preferred before Decoction VII It s Cure differs not much from the Cure of Hypochondriack Melancholy VIII Sugared things do harm IX Many Diseases are taken for Scorbutick which are not so X. The preservatory Method in a Salino-Sulphureous dyscracy XI In a Sulphureo-Saline XII Of the Curatory Method for the Scurvy whereby we oppose the Disease and the most urgent Symptomes XIII Of the vital Indication wherein are Comprehended Cordial Medicines Opiates and Diet requisite in the Scurvy XIV Medicines I. EXperience has taught us that our Country does not altogether want the Scurvy for although it be not attended with all the Circumstances which are reckoned up by Northern Authors yet it affords some Symptomes which are sufficient to establish its nature many whereof we have observed in several Patients 1. The first and most evident sign the affection of the Mouth Gumbs and Teeth In the Gumbs there is a redness itching putrefaction bleeding and stinking smell which affections are sometimes communicated to the jawes and palate and also to the Teeth which are found loose and black 2. Spots coming in the Arms and Legs 3. Difficulty of breathing and straitness of Breast by gross Vapors coming to the Diaphragm and by the swelling of the Pancreas that is filled with some thick humour 4. A spontaneous lassitude and heaviness of Body 5. Various Urines sometimes thick with a red and thick sediment without any suspicion of the Stone sometimes thin 6. A weak and unequal Pulse and almost formicating 7. Pains seizing several parts of the Body sometimes the Loins whence it is sometimes called Lumbago by some 8. Divers hurts of motion so that sometimes a Palsie arises sometimes Tremulous and Convulsive motions 9. A Flux simple or bloody 10. A stinking Breath 11. Frequent shivering not attended by any Heat 12. Agues far differing from the Characters of common Agues 13. Swellings in divers parts of the Body sometimes hard Riverius sometimes soft 14. Extream Atrophy II. This Disease as Galen advises admits not of plentiful Bleeding And if this Disease have taken root and there be a great corruption of the Blood and Cacochym with no abundance of Blood and if it hath seized the whole Body so as that already break out and other external Signs appear in the Body here and there bleeding must not be ventured on lest the more pure and subtil Blood running out and the more viscid and thick remaining in the Veins the Patient's strength be weakned But we must then rather fall on preparing and evacuating the Scorbutick Cacochymic Sennertus III. Many reckon it an unpardonable mistake to let Blood in Scorbutick Spots being only intent upon Anti-scorbuticks because of the Scorbutick malignity which is held to exclude this generous Remedy But although Blood-letting be not proper for a Scorbutick Malignity of it self yet I do not see why in the beginning while strength is yet good and while the Disease has not as yet Infected the whole mass of Blood a Vein may not be breathed in the Scurvey by accident as well as in other Cacochymies to the end that part of the ill Blood being taken away the Body may be relieved and so the remainder may more easily be brought under and conquered especially since Nature shows the same who sometimes in the Scurvy pours out Blood not only by the Haemorrhoids and Menses but also by other Veins as by the Nose Feet c. Nevertheless this Disease admits not of large Bleeding Frid. Hofmannus m. m. l. 1. c. 13. but a repetition of it is best in several places thrice at least but at some dayes distance IV. As for preparation and purgation since the Scurvy will not bear strong purgatives but is rather exasperated by them as Eugalenus informs us and all learned Physicians being so taught by experience testifie that the bad Humours cannot be evacuated all at once Gradual purgation is the best to be insisted on so to wit that the matter may first be prepared and concocted and the corruption and putrefaction of the Humours may be conquered and restrained and then gentle purgation may be made And seeing the Scorbutick matter is not all of the same substance but is mixt of divers humours we may again come to preparation and then if there be need the prepared Humours may again be evacuated by fit Medicines But if this should not be observed and purgatives should be given while the matter were crude and the specifick corruption of the Humours not as yet conquered the matter being moved and disturbed would produce great anxieties Yea it has been observed that several have recovered without the use of Purgatives Sennertus by using of attenuating and inciding Anti-scorbuticks V. It is not for nothing that Eugalenus informs us that several times Physicians otherwise learned have laboured in vain in curing this Disease which they understood not rightly who without doubt used both aperient alterative evacuating and strengthening things but in vain because they understood not a Scorbutick Cacochymie For all aperients and alteratives of the Melancholick Humour are not here sufficient but such things must ever be used and mixt withal Sennertus as respect the nature of this Humour VI. Since divers other Humours abounding in the Body may be mixt with the crude and gross Humour that is the cause of the Scurvy and they oftentimes cholerick and hot and since the Humors detained in the Hypochondria do as it were
and have afterwards Idem p. 185. upon the striking in of the Pustules fallen before they were ripe VI. And as it is unadvised and hazardous to advance too high the Ebullition once begun by means either of a hot Regiment or by Cordials so on the contrary there is no less danger to diminish the same by means of Emeticks Catharticks or any such thing seeing by this means the proper secretion of the separable Particles is much hindred Although that vulgar Argument which Men use against Bleeding and other Evacuations namely that we must not move the Humors from the Center to the Circumference since Nature seems to affect the contrary in this Disease be of no force at all because upon using these means a quite contrary effect has often been observed to follow to wit a sudden coming out of the Small Pox yet there are other reasons in readiness which strongly perswade that if by any means it may be voided we meddle not with this Practice For briefly to touch upon the chief of them by these Evacuations not only the Ebullition is too much hindred by means whereof the Particles to be despumated ought in the mean time accurately to be separated but that also is subtracted which should continually as it were afford fewel to the Secretion begun Whence it often happens that the Small Pox coming out at first with a laudable Progress and perhaps so much the better because the said Evacuations preceeded do a little after struck in as it were all on a sudden fall flat and for this reason chiefly because there wants matter to follow that which went before and bring up the Rere Idem p. 187. VII As to the second Indication which concerns the time of Expulsion as it is dangerous if the Patient when there is a Fever and the Pustules scarce yet appear be made over hot in the very time of Secretion so also it is a thing full of no less danger if the same be done at any time of the Disease and especially at that which is towards the beginning of Expulsion while the Pustules are yet Crude For although the Blood now that Separation is done and the matter discharged to the carnous Parts be in a great measure free from intestine Tumult yet it being as yet tender and young and having scarce got induction into a new state and texture it is apt to suffer and easily be affected by virtue of immoderat Heat coming from all places and so being irritated upon the least occasion it takes fire and is inclinable to a new Ebullition Which new Ebullition does not as the former now endeavor a Suppuration for we suppose that already finished but instead thereof it not only raises the above mentioned Symptomes but disturbs the Expulsion begun by the Pustules and does harm by exagitating the contained matter Either therefore the Parts now separated and left in the habit of the Body being hurried by that violent and rapid course of the ebullient Blood are drawn again into its Mass or the carnous Parts being heated beyond the degree due to Separation do not so well perform it or lastly perhaps upon the coming of this new Sickness the oeconomy of the Blood and the tone of the Flesh is perverted so that it cannot overcome the matter expelled Idem p. 188. and concoct it after the usual manner of Abscesses VIII In the mean time we must not be so intent upon preventing too great an Ebullition in the Blood as by exposing the Patient to the injuries of the Cold to hinder the eruption of the Pustules The degree of Heat most proper to promote their Expulsion must be natural and such as is agreeable to the temper of the carnous Parts And whatever exceeds or comes short of this is dangerous on either hand Idem p. 190. IX If the Pustules chance to strike in or the swelling of the Face and Hands fall upon Bleeding unseasonably or getting of Cold we must use Cordials but we must have a care of being too lavish in giving them for though you have taken away Blood yet it may so fall out that while you are afraid of loss of strength thereby and so use Cordials either strong ones or often repeated you cause a new Ebullition on a sudden For the Blood is as yet tender and is easily sensible of the strength of a hot Provocative Whence it comes to pass that often repeated Ebullitions arise in the same to which the Patients death may of better right be attributed Idem p. 191. than to the foregoing Blood-letting X. Moreover the Small Pox must not therefore immediately be forced out as soon as any suspicion of this Disease arises because forsooth the Patient is usually very sick and restless before their coming out when there cannot so much as one Instance be shown that any one died how grievously Sick soever he was because the Small Pox came not presently out or that Nature was wanting in forcing them out sooner or later unless at any time she were hindred by a too hot Regiment and Cordial Remedies given too early For I have more than once observed in young People and of a sanguine Complexion that a hot Regiment and Cordials given on purpose to force out the Small Pox before their due time have so little promoted their coming out that on the contrary they have given a check to it For the Blood being heated by these means and put into a more violent Motion than is fit to perform aright the separation of the Variolous Matter only some certain tokens of the Disease show themselves while the Pustules lie within the Skin and do not raise themselves further by what Cordials soever they were solicited to it till at length the Blood being reduced to its moderate and due Temper that is by allowing small Beer and taking off part of that load of Clothes wherewith he was rosted Idem p. 193. I have made a convenient way for the Pustules to go out and so I have put the Patient out of danger XI Nor also would I advise you to give a Cordial before the said fourth day though a Loosness were urgent and might seem to indicate the giving thereof For although a Loosness sometimes go before the coming out of the Confluent Small Pox which arises from inflammatory Vapors or from the Humors discharged into the Guts out of the mass of Blood that is exagitated and boyls for the first dayes yet here Nature will be no more wanting in driving out the said Vapors of the Variolous Matter into the habit of the Body which being done the Loosness will stop of it self than she uses to be in turning out and eliminating those Vapors which being turned upon the Stomach Idem cause Vomiting at the beginning of this Disease XII As soon as manifest signs of this Disease begin to show themselves I forbid the Patients the open Air and drinking of Wine and eating
vertebra A barber-Surgeon would cure it with Emplastrum Sticticum but quickly of a very broad wound it became a narrow fistula deep and exceeding painfull Idem IV. Some admit of vulnerary Potions only in those wounded parts to which they can reach as in the Gullet Stomach Guts where in a manner they serve instead of Applications but in external parts they reject them First because there is no mention of them in the Writings of the Ancients Secondly because of their distance they can never come to the Limbs and Head Thirdly because among the Medicines whereof they are made there are both hot and opening things as Betony Speed-well Carduus Benedictus c. and astringent things as Comfrey Wintergreen Horsetail Tormentil c. so that it is not evident of what faculty they ought to consist Fourthly because most of them are astringent they will do more harm by obstructing the Bowels than they can do good Indeed it must not be denied that little mâ—ntion is made of these Medicines among the ancient Physicians but this is not sufficient to reject them for the Moderns have found out many usefull Medicines which were unknown to the Ancients And though they do not touch the wound as topical medicines do yet they may reach to the wound by the Veins Neither because of the astringent virtue that some of them have need we fear that therefore we cannot reach to the out parts or that they will breed obstructions in the inwards for this inconvenience may be avoided by the mixture of other things with them which have an opening vertue Nor then are the vertues of all Medicines to be esteemed from the first qualities or those that depend upon them but from their specifick qualities which Experience alone suggests These Potions sayes Paraeus lib. 18. c. 28. though they do not purge noxious Humours by stool yet they are very effectual in cleansing of Ulcers and preserving them from the filth of excrementitious Humours in purifying the Blood and in cleansing it from all Ichores and impurities in knitting broken bones and restoring the Nerves to unity And by and by These Medicines by their admirable and almost Divine vertue so purge the Blood that by it as by a fit and laudable matter flesh or any other substance that is lost may readily be restored and the part recover its pristine unity And the thing that these Medicines do is to wast the exceeding moisture of the Blood which is not so fit for glutination to afford good matter for the generation of flesh and by moderate astriction to hinder any fluxion to the wounded part Sennertus V. But although such Potions do wonders yet great Symptomes and especially Dropsies of the Limbs do follow the unseasonable use of a traumatick decoction For since from some plants it has a great vertue of drying binding and agglutinating and from others and from the wine which is its vehicle of heating It is evident that it is then improper when we should attend suppuration and digestion which is thereby hindred and kept back moreover the Blood and Humours are heated and pains and Inflammations arise But when the wound is digested and suppurated sufficiently and free from all Symptomes when there is place for abstersion mundification and consolidation then they become a good Medicine It must also be observed that because they greatly bind and dry they are very bad for such as are ill of obstructions of the Bowels for by the same virtue they retain the excrementitious Humours in the Bowels hence Gripes hypochondriack winds and a thousand other inconveniences arise Wherefore the Body must be prepared before the use of them VI. Caesar Magatus l. 1. de vulner c. 38. and Septalius following him l. 8. Animad Med. disapprove of the old way of curing wounds used hitherto by all Physicians and Surgeons who every day at least once do cleanse and wipe them and when they have applied new Medicines bind them up again And they blame Galen that passing by the indication of most moment he was only intent upon the lesser that is abstersion of the excrements and filth the cause that breeds them being neglected and all care of conserving the temperament and innate heat of the part Which and the strength of the part if they be taken care of they think there will be a far less increase of excrements And they think the heat of it will be cherisht and strength will be added to it if it be hindred from expiring and its quality be preserved Which they think they are able to obtain by making up the defect of a natural covering with a Medicine analogous and familiar to the temper of the part by means whereof the heat may be cherished and its quality may be helped by its like Whence they gather that for to defend this heat wounds must be seldom opened lest the ambient Air do hurt them But since the same Persons confess that most grievous wounds have been cured by the old way of cure and they cannot deny but this new one has only place in simple wounds and where the wounded party is of a good habit of Body where great Vessels are not hurt and the Nerves are whole Besides there are many wounds by their own confession which Nature is not able to cure unless the impediments be removed by a Surgeon as if the Body be Cacochymick whence comes great store of excrements which cause Pain Corruption of the Part Inflammation Worms proud flesh and the like Finally since the exceptions exceed the rule which very rarely allow the use of this new way we must insist upon the old one approved for many ages VII Some reject the use of Tents in wounds 1. Because they need not be used to keep open the orifice of the wound when it is always open whether the Physician will or no nor to make the Medicines stick to the sides of the wound seeing they may be so melted as conveniently to be dropt in 2. They are troublesome to the part therefore Nature alwayes endeavours to expell them 3. They cause pains whence come new fluxions 4. when they are full with bad Humours they hurt the wounded part And they hinder evacuation of the Pus which being kept in grows worse 5. Hippocrates and Galen are silent concerning them On the contrary they seem necessary 1. That the orifice of the Wound may be kept open and that there may be a passage for the Pus 2. That the Medicines may touch the wound every way and reach to the bottom 3. That the upper part may be hindred from closing before the bottom of the wound be filled For a decision we must know that in wounds which are superficiary streight and that breed little pus they are not necessary nor should the cure of the wound be retarded by putting them in But if the wound be deep oblique and if much pus be bred they are altogether necessary that a passage
disgregation alone is thought to be the immediate cause of the Humours becoming crude For whereas they may offend three manner of ways as Hippocrates teacheth l. de N. b. v. 60. in Quantity in Quality and because they are disgregated from one another neither a fault in quantity alone nor a simple alteration as to quality are apt of themselves to breed crudity for neither of them is corrected by concoction for if the Humours exceed or come short in quantity we must only remedy it by evacuation or repletion for the Diseases that repletion causes emptying cures and on the contrary according to Hippocrates So neither does their fault as to quality make them crude because as Hippocrates says l. de v. Med. All these are thus cured that those who are affected with coldness be heated and those that are affected with heat be cooled and these things are soon obtained for there is no need of concoction Seeing therefore neither a fault in the quantity nor the quality can of it self introduce crudity upon the Humours it is necessary to affirm that the Humours contract crudity only because they are disgregated or sever'd from one another Wherefore because Concoction is opposed to crudity Hippocrates describing Concoction hath affirmed l. cit de vet Med. that it is wrought by a mutual permixtion and temperature as it were by boiling Now by Disgregation of the Hamours we understand not an exact separation of one from another so that they occupy divers places but a dissolution of that mixture by means whereof they are corrected and contemperated to one another and when it is dissolved every one acts according to its proper vertues and qualities By the means therefore of this disgregation is a Crudity introduced upon the Humours which while they are reduced to their former Union and Concord are said to be concocted From which we may collect that not all Diseases that depend on the abundance or alteration of the Humours shew signs of crudity or concoction but only those wherein is the aforesaid Disgregation And this Hippocrates l. de vet Med. would intimate to us whilst reckoning up the Diseases that are cured by concoction he only enumerates Fevers Tubercles or Tumours and Destillations for these Diseases do necessarily presuppose a Disgregation of Humours Therefore Concoction is in vain to be expected in those Diseases wherein seeing the Humours were never crude they are in like manner unconcoctible and far less in the Humours of the healthful whom we intend to Purge for prevention for in these only the width of the ways is attended to which Hippocrates meant in Aph. When Bodies are to be Purged they must be made fluid Reducing which Precept to Practice he uses before Purging both drinking more largely and bathing or fomenting all the Body over this latter chiefly before he would Purge downward Martian comm in Aph. 22. 1. and the former when he would Vomit ¶ Whereas there may be many causes of Disgregation I find them all reduced to three heads in the Doctrine of Hippocrates 1. When any Humor is so much increased in the Body that it far exceeds the rest in plenty 2. The second cause is motion or perturbation and agitation 3. A notable alteration as to the first qualities chiefly Now that the Humours may be disgregated through the excess of one of them as to quantity is consonant to reason so that it refuseth to be associated and contemperated to the rest as excelling of them Hippocrates shews us this cause of disgregation l. de insomn v. 31. For by some repletion says he made within there happens a certain secretion that disturbs the Soul where by secretion he understands not any evacuation but the aforesaid disgregation But concerning the causes thereof we must note that these sometimes cause a Disease of themselves and primarily without disgregation sometimes by its means otherwise there would only be one cause of Diseases The first cause therefore is the excess of any Humour in quantity And that the Humours are disgregated through motion which is the second cause Hippocrates teacheth 4. de morb by the example of Milk by the agitation whereof the Butter Whey and Cheese are separated And lastly that an alteration as to qualities makes the same disgregation is shewn also by the example of Milk which is conglobated or curdled upon pouring Liquor into it not by coldness alone as Hippocrates would but by any great alteration that may proceed to corruption of substance thus Milk is curdled with excess of heat without Runnet When therefore the Humours are so altered as to their proper qualities that the alteration tends to the destruction of the substance this is said to difference it from simple alteration whereby the Humours are not removed from their natural state their natural union is dissolved and they are disgregated from one another Idem l. de Nat. hum v. 272. so that although every one remain in the same place yet each is rendred intemperate as to its proper nature Franc. de le Boe Sylvius seeks the causes of Crudity and Concoction in a looser or stricter union of the execrementitious Humours with the Bloud He says Prax. l. 1. c. 55. § 16. Physicians mean the Crudity and Concoction of the Humours that constitute the Mass of Bloud and are mixt with it when they treat of them in the Examination and Cure of Diseases especially the acute and when they so greatly and deservedly desire the concoction of the Humours that the Cure may succeed according to wish for as often as the Bloud is infected and evil affected immediately or by intermediate Humours contained in the Body without the Mass of Blood viz. choler the Pancreatick juice Lympha and Phlegm so often the vital effervescence that is peculiar to it is altered vitiated likewise and that so as that presently more or less there is a disturbance of that natural and loose confusion between the Blood those Humours that flow continually with it to the Heart whether they be then joined to it more straitly and intimately or more loosly and less intimately Now when the other Humours are joyned to the Bloud more intimately and strictly than usual then a more watry Urine is made and such as has less tincture and other contents and this they call Crude that is a sign of crudity But after that the Urine by degrees becomes more tinged and brings more contents with it it is commended and is called concocted namely signifying that concoction is more or less begun or promoted which comes to pass as often as the abovesaid humours as excrementitious and before too strictly and intimately united to the Blood are by degrees separated from it again and are partly expelled together with the Urine which is good and profitable for a man as the other was bad and hurtful for according to Nature and in an healthful State the Urine has something at least of a Yellowish tincture but no content
much the rather because in such case there is always some fault in the Blood also 3. If humours differing from Blood be turgent and prohibiters of purgation be wanting as also indications for Bleeding then by no means must we breathe a Vein but only insist upon Purging as that which will afford no small relief and do much more good than harm Claudin Respon 2. XXVIII Though Revulsion be commonly used in the very Paroxysm yet it is also profitable after it that the morbifick reliques may be quite taken away so that a new fit may not come Thus in a suffocation of the Womb proceeding from the retention of Blood as also in other diseases fit help is given by Bleeding as well in the Paroxysm when necessity urgeth and there is danger of extinguishing the natural heat through the abundance of Blood as out of it as whereby the superfluous Blood that is preternaturally retained is evacuated translated from the Womb another way Gr. Horst probl dec 9. q. 3. and the imminent suffocation of the Spirits and heat removed XXIX When critical evacuations appear viz. Exanthemata or Spots Parotides Bubo's c. whether may we Bleed We must first shew what Exanthemata and Abscesses are and from whence they arise Exanthemata are little Prominences in the skin or red pale purple or blackish spots sometimes all over the skin sometimes scattered here and there one while thicker and another thinner sometimes broader sometimes more united and sometimes not raised at all above the surface of the skin That is called an Abscess which from a defluxion of matter transmitted into any part of the Body either inheres in it or raises a tumour as the Parotides under the Ears and Bubo's in the Arm-pits and Groins or Carbuncles and other such like under which name Abscesses and Exanthemata are comprehended For there are also critical evacuations by Stool Vomit Bladder Womb c. but these use to be called Abscesses by emission and the former by deposition from which we will take no indication of either letting or not letting Blood but from the Diseases and Symptoms that follow them The matter of Exanthemata and Bubo's Carbuncles and the like Abscesses is Blood that is unprofitable to the Body either through its quantity or faultiness or on both accounts which Nature by way of Crisis endeavours to thrust out of the Body at some certain time which thing she sometimes performs without any help but sometimes being oppressed she is overcome needing the help of art Therefore Venesection will be unprofitable while Exanthemata and other the said Abscesses are breaking forth or a little after whilst the Fever and other bad accidents if there be any seem to be remedied or evidently to be mitigated for that signifies that the strength of Nature is above the morbifick cause Wherefore the Artist ought in such case to see that he do not imprudently weaken or disturb the endeavours of Nature that are well begun But if the said endeavours be either wholly unprofitable or less effectual then it is a sign that Nature is oppressed by her burthen and overcome by the cause of the disease and unless she be helped she often lies vanquisht in so dangerous a combat Therefore as she was not to be interrupted while she shew'd her self a Conqueror so neither is she to be left destitute of help when she yields the Physician any signification of her weakness and oppression Which is the opinion of Hippocrates and Galen 1. aph 20. What diseases are judged and are judged intirely c. Also 2. aph 12. Those which are left c. If any say It often happens that imperfect crises are prolonged for several days so that it seems nothing is to be moved either on the day the Exanthemata break forth nor also on the day following I Answer That no certain stated and universal rule can be given in these cases but it is the part of a prudent Physician to discern when Nature is to be helped on the first day or on the second or later or when she is to be left without help seeing she wants no help if buckling to the work on the day of the crisis she either remedy or greatly lessen the disease but otherwise if she do not Add that Bleeding may also be profitable when by the eruption of these the maladies are somewhat mitigated So that I do not put off Bleeding though otherwise Blood were let before their eruption if I see the Fever to decline but slowly For even these are sooner cured thus as the other if they do recover both sooner and more safely Let us therefore say with Hippocrates and Galen that Judicatories or Crises which do not terminate the disease are signs of a predominant and perverse humour that stimulates Nature to an overforward excretion Therefore Nature shews that she desires help and that by Bleeding rather than Purging For the reason is at hand and that a very strong one seeing in the cases proposed the cause of the disease is in the Veins not in the Intestins Add hereto that Purging besides that it disturbs all the Body recalls both the impetus and motion of the humours to the principal or internal parts Hence Hippocrates says 4 Acut. Systrophae a sort of Abscess cannot be dissolved by Purging for in these Venesection is to be preferred c. Wherefore Purging is only allowable by art either in the beginning of a Fever or when the humours being concocted are prepared for excretion But Blood if the Nature of the disease require it and the faculties gainsay not may be let at any time Nor is this conceit of ours of evacuating the Body in the Parotides or in Exanthemata that relieve not the Patient new or not confirmed by Galen in his explication of these words of Hippocrates 6. aph 9. Broad Exanthemata itch not very much You will object again that by Venesection that is called inwards which Nature had begun to expell outwards viz. from the circumference to the centre I Answer That that only happens in superfluous effusions of Blood and not in such as are made artificially And by this reason which is brought Venesection is not so strongly disproved in this place as purging which they are not against but sometimes inopportunely propose it But suppose something be pulled back which yet there is not the profit in the mean time that follows upon a convenient evacuation of the burthening Matter is greater than the injury that could happen from a little corrupt matter received into the Vena cava But let us confirm the matter by examples A putrid and notable Synochus or continual Fever invaded a strong young man on the third day he had a Loosness like a Diarrhoca the next day the Fever and Loosness continuing in the same vigour red Exanthemata very thick and somewhat raised above the skin appear all over the skin the following day which was the fifth from the invasion of the
that are afraid of pain especially if you make use of the famed remedies of this day for Lime mixed with Holland Soap eats deep enough into the flesh and much more gently than the holoserick Corrosive of Paraeus but it has these inconveniences 1. That as the skin and body is more or less firm it corrodes sometimes far deeper than is needfull for I have found by experience that in one it corroded the skin and muscles even to the cavity of the belly and in another it hurt in an incurable manner the process of the peritonaeum and the seminal vessels contained in it 2. This corrosive extends it self also lengthways and breadthways farther than you desire especially if it be to be laid on under the arm-pits in the groins or joints for assoon as it grows warm it begins to spread about and will matter but little your defensive Plaster 3. It needs some hours before it can perfectly finish its operation yet more time is requisite in one body than in another But the humour will not always permit of this leisure especially if it be malignant 4. The Eschar that it causes does not presently fall off so that if you would have the humours to issue forth out of hand you must use the Lancet for all it Be as circumspect as you will you cannot avoid these inconveniences On the contrary the Lancet has these inconveniences That many Patients are afraid of it as if it caused pain but the fear is to be prevented by not speaking of it and indeed the pain is of no great moment In the mean time you have these benefits by the Lancet 1. By it you may make the apertion as long and deep as the malady and your curiosity require 2. You have the matter quickly and the Patient is relieved 3. The matter that remains and which is not yet concocted will be speedilier promoted towards concoction by assisting Nature with fit Medicines as well internal as external 4. And thus it will come to pass that you shall not have a long continued gleeting for if a gleeting once begin you may be sure that the fault is yours If you desire a reason take this Almost all Tumours that shew themselves behind the ears in the neck arm-pits and groins arise from hardened glands and from preternatural and very penetrating humours All these kernels are clad with a proper coat which being hurt by a Lancet or Catheretick Medicines a gleeting necessarily follows for no gland when its coat is opened can preserve either it self or its humours and this gleeting or dripping continues so long as till the hole in the coat be cured P. Barber chirurg â—arâ— 1. cap. 12. or the whole gland be vanished and consumed VII Those are in an errour that though the Abscesses be large rais'd up copped under the skin and situated in places that are least subject to an afflux of humours do always content themselves with one simple section forbearing from many and compound as if every one should not be treated in a peculiar manner and as if great ones should be treated like small ones and mortified or unconcocted ones like those which have raised up the skin and are become copped Let them consult Celsus Paulus and Avicen Severin medic effic p. 93. who have appointed different manners of dissection and shewn which are necessary in such or such cases VIII The ignorance therefore of some is to be noted here who pretend that Nature rejoyces in the proper covering of the parts which if it be taken off the heat will not so well preserve its strength The vanity of this superstitious providence is thus shewn 'T is true that Nature takes care for preserving the parts with a covering but that is when they are sound and entire for she intends to preserve such and not corrupt parts For the rind of a rotten Pomegranate covers and preserves all the rotten pulp and seeds Now shall the rind be kept whole to the end that the faultiness may be encreased and nothing be pared or opened In like manner if we will not touch the skin with our knives for fear of uncovering the evil we nourish and increase it Thus while I have taken care of ulcerous persons in the Hospitals when I have laid open fresh ulcers that had burst of their own accord I have often found the tendons rotting and corrupting under them though the ulcers seem'd not worth speaking of Which ought to perswade us assoon as the skin waxes soft with the malady Severin ibid. to cut it open and apply such remedies as are fit for the purpose IX Aquapendent advises that in cutting an Imposthume we make not the section so large as that afterwards the skin can hardly be agglutinated to the muscles that lie under it from whence a difficult motion of the Muscles may happen But this caution is either to no purpose or it has this sense That the incision should not reach the Muscles also For though it might happen that as they heal the skin and they might grow together yet however the motion of the Muscles might by that means be prejudic'd and not be so certain for the skin always yields and therefore he seems somewhat fearfull in cutting Just as he was also superstitious in curing of a venereal Bubo when he admonishes not to thrust in the knife too deep because if the glands were wounded death would presently follow c. I speak not this that I would have a man butcher'd but neither on the other hand would I be content with pricking him for that does not please me at all It has happened to many when a slight incision has been made of large sinuous abscesses what Hippocrates 1 Epid. 6. writes of one that died languishing of a sinuous Ulcer Idem ibid. If there had been a large incision made into it seasonably he might have been saved X. Nor do I commend their advice that with a cold moderation of mind doe the business by Causticks For in these there are many things that may be condemned The first is an inconvenience that the virtue of the Caustick is not onely extended lengthways of the member according to the desired form but spreads it self also broadways whence it is that it causes cruel pains and a great inflammation which ought carefully to be avoided in the parts not onely in those to which the Caustick is applied but in those next to them Secondly by reason the Eschar is long a falling off and the parts that are laid bare are slowly restor'd they doe not so much good as is expected from them But cutting if it be skillfully performed afflicts both less and a shorter while and presently brings the desired help Idem ibid. p. 94. and by cutting the skin in a line it does no prejudice on either side XI It is to be observed that Tumours which suppurate slowly grow not copped Severinus eff châ—r p. 94. nor rise much outward
excited to motion by sharp Clysters in which you must leave out the oily things which are usually added lest their Virtue be made dull If one go not to stool because the Liver breeds no Choler have a care of Rheubarb If from abundance of Wind the effect of a weak Stomach Hiera should rather be given than Cassia If from want of sustenance more plenty of it must be allowed for Weight and Pinching are causes that move the Expulsive Faculty ¶ Sennertus in Epitome Instit blames the Weakness of the Muscles of the Belly which also concur to the exclusion of the Excrements Therefore Childbed Women go to stool with difficulty not onely because of their long lying in Bed but because their Muscles are weakned by their labour Laxatives and meats of the like nature are here used to no purpose some Turpentine rolled in Tiphany is more convenient or Aloes or Rheubarb wherein there is some small Astriction beside the stimulating Virtue or a motion is to be procured by sharp Clysters A certain Melancholick person had a very costive Body so that sometime he went not to stool once in six or seven days He was cured by taking about two hours before Supper some stewed Prunes with their liquor Riverius centur 3. observat 5. to which he added a small glass of Wine mixt with a great deal of water half whereof he took before his Prunes and the other half after so he went well to stool and this wrought better than Prunes alone are used to doe A Matron about fifty complained that the strongest Purge would scarce work with her I suspecting the heat and driness of her inwards for she was Black Hairy and Masculine by giving her six drachms of Lenitive Electuary and half a pint of Whey to be drunk upon it half an hour before Meal obtain'd that which stronger means were not able to effect For within a few hours she was very laxative So I perform'd that by gentle means which the former Physician could not doe by stronger In Costiveness accompanied with Wind and tormenting Gripes seeing then Acidity is joyned with the Viscidity of the Humours that turn to Wind we must chiefly make use of some oily volatile Salt mixt with Opiates and all other Aromaticks which are likewise good to break the Wind But if mere Driness of the Excrements create this trouble in going to stool the Excrements must be moistened and softened before they be voided and this may be done over some Steam or by application of a Flannel or Sponge impregnated with the emollient Decoction for so the excrements will be softened and more easily voided Besides the Belly must be anointed with some emollient Unguent that the Excrements may pass with more ease A few days ago I was called by a person of Quality I found a Child four years old very unhealthy who went to stool but about once in three weeks and in the mean time the Excrements were baked into Lumps which you might distinctly touch through the Muscles of the Belly and feel how big they were nor were they voided without great pain and sometimes loss of Bloud and Sweat all over the Body After the use of an emollient Ointment within eight days he went to stool several times with much Ease Sylvius de le Boë â—ppen Tract 5. sect 141 142 143. I have frequently observed a Clyster of Milk with a litle Honey of Roses hath done much good in such a case for the Acidity the usual companion of Wind was tempered by reason of the Milk and the Excrements were in some measure also loosened and softened II. It is not good to use looseners as Apples Prunes or other fruit frequently and to cause plentifull evacuation for they relax the Stomach which when done there can be no right concoction Crato consilio tertio apud Scholtzium Seeing we are inform'd that the Stomach concocts food aright when it is corrugated and contracted into it self and that it embraces and contains the whole Mass till it be concocted III. Prunes loosen especially if they be eaten not immediately but some time before Dinner and alone for we must remember these common directions for all Laxatives out of Galen 2. de Aliment fac The reason is because they pass into the substance of the Body for that they are not pure Medicines but have something of Nourishment Therefore they that give Manna and such things four or five hours distance from Meals Augenius are ever disappointed of their End IV. In great obstrustions of the Belly we have observed the Opening of it to be very difficult in several Patients We must not pass in silence what we have several times met with in our Practice that when the Belly seem'd to be sufficiently emptied by purging Potions and liquid Excrements were voided nevertheless a great deal of other dry Excrements stayed behind in the Gutts and created a new Obstruction and repeated Pains I was called to one sick of the Colick when I had given him a purging Potion and he had purged much liquid Excrements and yet neither the load in his Belly nor his pains did cease I therefore ordered a Clyster which brought away great store of dry and hard Excrements From whence I conjecture the Potion brought away some liquid Excrements but that it was not able to discharge the Load of hardened Excrements But it is usefull in such an Affection of the Intestines to loosen the Body with a Clyster or two and after to give a purging Potion which if either it work too slow or Purge but a little Oethius apud Schenckium you may last of all give a Clyster to remove the Obstruction with more expedition In curing a costive Body it is better to admit of several Clysters seasonably repeated than to take any one lenient Potion whatever One good Purge administred with judgment in the Colick pain does that at once which Clysters cannot well reach especially in Colick pain from Obstruction of the Excrements above the Valve Rolfinc V. Sometime Colick Pains and many Symptomes arise from the hardned Excrements I knew a Patient who was much troubled with a kind of hard swelling in his left side under the Spleen for two years His Physicians continually ordered him Ointments and Fomentations without any benefit at length more Symptomes coming upon him he died We opened his Body and found the exceeding hard Excrement was the cause of that old Swelling And then we found the cause why the poor wretch sometime voided by stool certain green and exceeding hard round lumps for the Excrement by reason of its weight tending downwards some portion of it turn'd globular which was daily brought away by Clysters and afterwards by reason of the parching Heat of the great Artery which was near the place new Excrement was again joyned to that Mass and so hardened From the foreknowledge of this case I cured several such with two ounces of Oil of sweet Almonds
may draw down the humours more powerfully from the Jugular Veins Nor need want of strength be much feared which is here oppressed not wasted As for cooling the body Gr. Nymannus Tract de Apopl p. 217. and thickning the humours for which some reject bloud-letting it is of no moment for in the Apoplexy nothing is more necessary than Revulsion and Turning the Matter away from the Head and we must especially labour to doe it presently which Indication bloud-letting quickly answers Wherefore we may hope for more benefit from translation of the Morbifick Cause than we need fear damage from cooling of the Body II. After the universal Plenitude is abated by letting bloud in the Arm the Parts especially affected are to be relieved for which purpose the best means is opening the Jugular Veins out of which by reason of their bigness the bloud runs freely which by stagnation oppressed the Brain and by this discharge the Lungs are less oppressed and when less bloud comes to them they easilier deliver what they contain to the Arteries and left Ventricle of the Heart and the Current of the bloud being render'd more free Coagulation is hindred Obstructions are opened and the Animal Functions are by degrees restored Concerning opening of them Experience seconds Reason and these Veins may with more ease be opened Fr. Bayle Tract de Apoplexia c. 11. because in this Disease they being swelled there is no need of Ligature which in this case might doe harm and therefore after opening of them must not be too strait but Emplastrum Galeni must be applied to the Orifice III. When there is no Plethora but great store of sharp humours i. e. much sowre Melancholy or its Exaltation hath caused the Apoplexy which foregoing pains do shew Hippocrates bids us use Fomentations before bloud-letting nor without reason for when the Veins are inflamed dried and straitned and the bloud by degrees coagulates if we withstand these things by emollient heating and attenuating fomentations the bloud will run more freely and with its rapid motion will wash what was beginning to coagulate from the Capillary Vessels dilated and softened if presently after the Fomentation or in the very use of it a Vein be opened Otherwise it is to be feared the thinner part of the bloud may come away by bloud-letting while the thicker and what begins to coagulate stays behind which will hinder the effect of the Purge which should then be given The Head especially should be bathed seeing in it there is the greatest danger from Coagulation and next the Hypochondria But both Fomentations and bloud-letting should be used in the beginning of the Disease while the spirits are yet elevated Ideâ— IV. There is scarce a Practical Physician but advises bloud-letting in an Apoplexy caused by bloud But I question whether it be proper in every Apoplexy as the excellent Nymannus thinks For he in favour of his Hypothesis which takes every Apoplexy to be caused by Obstruction of the Sinus's is very large in commendation of bloud-letting which Hypothesis since it does not hold true in every Apoplexy as I have proved the like and perpetual use of bloud-letting may be questioned It 's evident when the Vertebral and Carotid Arteries are filled with fibrous bodies that bloud-letting avails little And those Apoplectick persons are in the same Case who have the Torcular stopt seeing it cannot wholly be obstructed except by some such like body Nor likewise will bloud-letting be convenient when Serum is gathered in the Ventricles and Cavity of the Skull since by it the immediate cause is not removed but the strength otherwise spent is more weakned In an Apoplexy where a Vessel is broke there is no hope both because a quantity of bloud poured into the Ventricles and Basis of the Brain cannot be got back by Art and because while it stays there it is coagulated In that which is caused by Serum gathered in the substance of the Brain what good bloud-letting does it is by accident namely as it abates the Turgescency of the bloud and Serum Therefore this alone will not remove the Apoplexy but we must also use things that spend and evacuate the Serum which moistens the medullous substance But bloud-letting in an Apoplexy caused by a sudden Obstruction of the little Arteries is good in many respects for first the preternatural violent motion of the bloud is stopt which often is the occasion of this Obstruction and it runs in less quantity to the Brain for instance when the bloud is taken out of the Arm no small portion makes to the Arm by the Axillary Veins that so what was taken away may be supplied Then the bloud hastens from the whole body and from the brain towards the Heart to assist it thus depauperated and spoiled by bloud-letting Wepferus Exercitat de Apâ—plexia p. 218. And the heart eased of the burthen wherewith it was loaded both before and in the Paroxysm disperses the bloud as it returns more chearfully in better order and in quantity more usefull to the brain which forceth and washeth out what caused the Obstruction and Trouble in the medullous substance and drives it into the Capillary Veins adjoyning to the extremities of the Arteries V. Bloud abounding in the head cast a full-bodied young man into an Apoplexy with Trembling loss of Speech and Ratling three most dangerous concomitants of this Disease Tulpiâ—â— c. 7. lib. 1. Observâ—â— Wherefore speedily to abate these violent Symptoms he was immediately bled in the right Arm but not bleeding so freely as his extremity required the same Lancet was used to his left Arm and when both had continued bleeding for some time his Ratling evidently abated he took his breath better and quickly was cured VI. Cupping with Scarification should be applied not to the shoulders and back as the Arabians advise because there is no remarkable Vein that reaches the Brain But they should be stuck near the Jugulars and under the chin if possible Rondâ—lâ—â—us For these Topick Remedies should be applied not onely upon the Veins that reach the part diseased but upon the next and largest if the constitution of the Part will permit it VII A large Cupping-glass may well be applied to the top of the Head seeing it draws the bloud out of the Sinus of the Dura Meninx opens Obstructions and raises the subsiding Brain With which opportune Remedy Fracastorius remembred how he had once cured a Nun at that very time when he himself being seised with a small Apoplexy Horstius in Probl. made signs by putting his hand to his Crown that he would have the like remedy applied but they that were by not understanding him and his Disease increasing about night he died VIII A Man of Threescore fell down drunk and contused the hind part of his head but his Skull was whole and he was taken with a true and violent Apoplexy While all despaired I tried to cure him I shake
consider with himself whether he be able to persist in it all his life which yet perchance he will not be able to doe be he never so resolved For I know a Nobleman who after he had lived a whole year on Milk alone not onely without offence but with a great deal of pleasure all which time he went to stool once a day or oftner growing costive on a sudden and the temper of his body being changed but the resolution of his mind still continuing Idem p. 75. and his Stomach at length loathing Milk was forced to give over Medicines especially made use of by eminent Physicians 1. An admirable Electuary for all Gout Pains which I have often used with good success I declare it eases them presently without trouble it cools the fiery heat and so qualifies the Part Jul. Caes Baricellus hort Gen. p. 90. that I have seen some sick of the Gout recover the same day they took this Physick It is made thus Take of white Hermodactyls cleansed from their upper coat Diagridium each 3 drachms Costus Cummin-seed Ginger Cloves each 1 drachm Let them be powdered and with some proper Syrup or with Honey and White-wine boil'd together make an Electuary The dose is from 3 drachms to 4. 2. Take of Germander Groundpine lesser Centaury Aristolochia rotunda Sage Betony each 1 ounce of the best ripe Guaiacum 8 ounces Crato lib. 6. Cons 100. Make a Powder By this one Remedy the Gout may be perfectly cured except a Man will lead Sardanapalus his life The dose is 1 drachm in the morning for several weeks 3. This is reckoned excellent for prevention Rod. à Fonseca Tom. 2. Cons 59. Take of pure Spring-Water 10 pounds the Wood of Mastick-Tree cut very small 3 ounces Let them boil an hour drink of this Water at Dinner and Supper For it strengthens the Stomach helps Digestion and prevents Defluxions This was given me as a secret by a very skilfull Physician 4. In a hot cause I think nothing is better Spigelius de Aâ—thritide p. 84. if I may conclude from my Experience than the Powder of Wild Cichory Leaves dried in the shade and gathered in May. A drachm or 2 scruples may be given in a little Chicken Broth without Salt in the morning 4 hours before dinner and in the evening as he goes to sleep either with a spare Supper or with none at all ☞ The outward Medicines are either indicated before or may be sufficiently compensated by this single one described in the following Discourse which seems of more moment in the Cure of the Gout than all that our great Physicians have relied on whether inward or outward put together The SUM of WILLIAM TEN RHYNE'S M. D. Treatise of the Gout PART I. The Aitiology Ten Rhyn de Arthrit p. 94. ALthough it be besides our Design to meddle with Theory yet I have two Reasons not to omit this of the Gout 1. It 's extraordinary Novelty shall I say or Antiquity New I must call it because lately transmitted to us from the East Indies but it must be really Ancient For it makes up one half of a Japan Doctour as the Needle makes the other and they derived this moiety of their skill from Ingenious China where perhaps its date may be so old that the eldest Chronicle in Europe cannot Synchronize But certain I am it is as Ancient as our Father Hippocrates as the Issue will prove 2. It s extreme Necessity For the reason why the Gout has been hitherto incurable by us Europaeans is the Ignorance of its true Cause as Prosper Martianus in his first Section frankly acknowledges Wherefore to doe the Learned Graecian and the Ingenious Barbarian both right and my Countrymen good I thought it a pity to let the Moxa go without its Reason lest it should lie undiscerned under a multitude of Plasters and Pultesses good for the Gout and for want of good Credentials it should not reflect the honour due to its Authours nor afford the tortured man that ease which it is able to procure To avoid therefore any farther Preamble and not to meddle with Etymologies we thus describe the Gout The Gout is a preternatural little and for the most part invisible and inwardly latent Tumour of the Periosteum arising from a dry and malignant Vapour which by the contractive motion of the Heart is forced with the Bloud through the Arteries to the Limbs and to the Joints thereof especially and violently separates the Periosteum from the Bone into which Interstice this Vapour being once forced doth stick there most tenaciously and distend the said Membrane of a most tender sense and so is the cause of that sharp Pain and sometime hinders the Member it self in its motion I call it an inwardly latent Tumour to distinguish it from other flatulent Tumors for whereas these lie between the flesh and skin or interstices of the Muscles the other lies hid under the thin film that covers the Bones I call it an invisible Tumour not that I am ignorant how in this Disease there are Swellings conspicuous enough but lest I should stumble upon the same Stone at which so many eminent Doctours for several Ages have tript For difference should be made between a Disease and its symptomes between that Swelling that is peculiar to the Gout which though a small one yet is the onely cause of Pain and that Swelling that is subsequent to the Pain of the Part For at the beginning these Pains are without any Swelling though afterwards about the State of the Disease the Part affected often swells The Practice of the Ancients might afford considerable Arguments for this latent Tumour as their cutting and burning Hippocrates lib. 3. de morb speaking of the Cure of the Pleurisie saith If he do not spit and it give some signs of it on the side cut or burn him But the most cogent may be drawn from the Panacea of China and Japan i. e. Burning by Moxa and from Acupuncture in Japan which puts it out of all doubt that most Diseases arise from a noxious Vapour the cause of some invisible Tumour And that a Vapour is the Cause I have Hippocrates his authority for it lib. de Flatibus Who saith That we live of Meat Drink and Air and then he shews how the Air especially is Authour both of Life and Death to all Animals He saith That this Air or Spirit which in our Bodies we call a Vapour is the sole cause of all Diseases He instances in Fevers Griping of the Guts Defluxions Dropsies Apoplexies Epilepsies and concludes that it holds true in all other Diseases but that it would be tedious to particularize them all When he comes to Defluxions under which the Gout has been ever ranked he hath these words The Spirit is involved in the Bloud near the narrow Veins and the thinnest part which I judge is the Vapour that causes the Gout is thrust out by the
Veins which with Hippocrates is a general name both for them and Arteries when a great quantity of this Moisture is gathered it runs by other passages and when it stops in any part of the Body there a Disease is contracted I therefore conclude with Hippocrates that the Gout arises from filthy diseased steams or from a flatuous Ventosity upon which if any Humour follows it was the Vapour that made way for it And not onely Hippocrates but more modern Physicians have held That the Gout comes from Wind. Guainerius and Matthaeus de Gradibus were of that opinion Also Guido de Cauliaco a stout Voucher of the 4 Humours tells how â—e read in the Pope's Canons that the Gout aroâ—e from Vapours That Royal French Surgeon Paraeus was of the same judgment Several eminent Physicians hold Vapours the cause of the Tooth-ach Bastard-Pleurisie Colick Epilepsie and of Fits in Women so that they are called Vapours in English And I question not but many Diseases differing onely in Name and Place are of the very same nature with the Gout especially all those into which the Gout and they mutually degenerate Furthermore the China Physicians say Our Bodies are governed by 3 things i. e. by the innate Heat the radical Moisture and Spirits which they hold to be the Vehicle of the Heat and the Lungs from which they begin the Circulation of the Bloud to he the Elaboratory of the Spirits Upon the temper or distemper excess or defect conjunction or separation good or bad constitution of these 3 things they reckon life and death do depend And they wholly ascribe the Gout to noxious Spirits or Vapours These Vapours are as different as the several Parts and Humours in the Body that cause them Their material cauâ—es are first Meat and Drink thence come various Humours from each of which a different Vapour ariseth Their efficient causes are chiefly the Stomach which as it is strong or weak hot or cold full or empty breeds a different Vapour and then all parts of the Body where there is any concoction fermentation ebullition or effervescency of Humours may breed different Vapours Administring causes are all the six nonnatural things He that would be better satisfied let him reade Fienus de Flatibus That it is a malignant Vapour the Vehemence and intollerableness of the pain do prove Nor do several Authours deny it especially Galen who assigns good reasons for it Because the Gout never comes to Suppuration Because this Vapour causeth more intense pain than any Humours while they suppurate Because it creates no trouble in any part by which it passes except the Joints Bâ—t which is of greater moment the Cure proves it for whilst in the Gout men are burnt with Moxa sometimes Wind hisseth out of tâ—e Burn. And if it be kept open like an Issue an ichorous filthy malignant matter weeps out of it which stinks most offensively All grant thâ—t the Periâ—steum is a very sensible Membrane Now this Vapour doth not torment it on the out side but it insinuates it self between the Bone and it and so parting the delicate and extreme sensible Membrane from its Bone and distending it causes a raging pain And the Tumour lying so deep no wonder it cannot break prison till way be made by a red hot Iron or by the milder Burning of downy Moxa This Vapour the cause of Diseases extends it self as far as any Periosteum enwraps a Bone And so the Gout may come under as many denominations as it hath Parts to afflict The Learned Languages have Christened onely three the Hand Gout Gout in the Feet and the Sciatica for all which England can afford no more proper name than Gout in general or what it borrows from other Languages As for the antecedent Cause of the Gout I cannot impute it to any particular part But I think whatever Part or Humour therein contained is apt to breed a Vapour from that same part the Vapour may be carried to the Heart by the Veins and so from the Heart communicated to the Limbs and Joints by the Arteries Which is the Reason that several are troubled with Fevers Swoonings Palpitation of the Heart and infinite other diseases when this Vapour is not cast off to the out-parts But with some the Gout is reckoned a good sign of long life This Circulation of the Vapour is a reason also that the Pains remove from the Feet to the Hands and from any one part to another And the Vapour being cast off by the Arteries might be the reason why in Ventosities the Ancients approved of Arteriotomy beyond Phlebotomy and does indicate that the burning with Moxa should be where the Arteries beat most which is not duly observed by the Chinois and Japanois If the Part be so strong as to return the Vapour by the Veins or if any one be so much an Empirick as to repell it to the Heart it proves often Tragical Wherefore I do caution all Practitioners not to use Repellents by any means PART II. The Diagnosticks A Physician can no more direct his Remedies without observing the Symptomes of a Disease than the Master of a Ship can steer his designed Course without observation of the Stars and his Compass and a competent knowledge of the Shelves on a dangerous Coast Therefore we should reckon as much of the knowledge of the Symptomes those especially called Pathognomick which live and die with the Disease as we would of the Cure it self Impediment in Motion and Pain are inseparable signs of the Gout which spring grow up come to a pitch decrease and vanish with it sure tokens of an inward latent Pain that rarely is observable by the eye With which we rank the Swelling of the Veins and the violent beating of the Arteries for Signs and Symptomes always concomitant to the Gout because we find them by experience The Pain of the Gout is a piercing distending throbbing deep continual and bitter Pain each of them a certain sign of the Periosteum's being afflicted It is piercing because a Membrane of a most delicate sense is â—urt Distending because the Blower up of the Gout separates raises and stretches it Throbbing because the Authour of this Disease passes the Arteries and makes the bloud move inordinately while it is forced into the part affected it must be deep because in the Membrane about the Bone Continual because the Vapour pours in continually into the pained part as long as it hath any matter to supply it And then it must be sharp because while it abounds in quantity and malignity the Vapour cruelly and violently molests fills separates and distends a membrane of most exquisite sense nay and sometimes dissolves continuity as the violence of the Pain doth argue The other Symptome is Impediment in Motion of the same nature and degree with the former which happens not through any fault in the Member but onely in the Periosteum And this difficulty of Motion appears and disappears with the Gout And these two
sate to table before he had scarce eaten one mouthfull he was forced to drink which I have observed in several to be a certain sign of a Dropsie coming upon them from the too great drought of the Liver depending upon the heat some fore-runners whereof I saw in his cachectick face Because he desired to drink the Spaw-waters for he refused other Medicines he fetched them sometimes from Griesbach where the Well is and kept them at home and according to my advice when he had over heated himself with Wine he accustomed himself to drink of them to quench his preternatural thirst which the Wine had caused I gave him leave to go to the Wells and to drink the Waters as others use to doe After this manner the use of the Spaws did both him good and others that laboured of the like intemperature of Liver which the Vulgar abuse thinking them to be good in most desperate Diseases and drinking them by Quarts Platerus Observ l. 3. p. 8. whereby the natural Parts and nervous Kind for which sharp things are bad are hurt besides they are very bad for the Breast and therefore for all that are troubled with a Cough and Shortness of breath Sometimes I have prepared artificial Spaw-waters which I have given for a Cachexy and they have done good ¶ The drinking of natural Vitriolick Spaw-waters continued for some Weeks is very good to correct the Heat of the Liver if it be used in time before the Dropsie invade a man and the Water be gathered in the Legs and Belly for when it already falls out of the Veins by reason they encrease its store they will doe no more good but will rather encrease the Swelling in the Dropsie Iâ—em Praxeos l. 3. especially if as they usually then do they piss but little and yet in the mean time drink much which therefore I have observed hath hurt a great many people VII Sweating with a Decoction of Guaiacum in a Stove or in Bed cures a Cachexy But in a Cholerick one you must sweat in a Stove with a gentle heat In a Melancholick one with a little more intense And in a Phlegmatick one with a most intense Heat that is as great as the Patient can endure without fainting This Cure is proper for such a Cachexy as happens to Maids or Women from Grief eating of crude things or drinking cold liquours but not for elder persons in whom it is bred by the use of strong Wine Hippocras Muskadel Salt and peppered Meats and such heating and drying things for since in this case the Liver is exceeding hot and dry and that there is great store of the Atrabilarious humour in the first and second region that is in the Veins of the Liver Spleen Mesentery and in the greater Veins and Arteries Enchirid. Med. Pract. Bathes are more proper than a Stove for a hot and dry Liver requires to be moistened and not to be dried And an Atrabilarious humour is but enraged and irritated by using hot things and profusion of Sweat VIII It is worth observation that a Cachexy in persons troubled with the Stone in the Kidneys has had its original from an Ulcer in the Kidneys when the purulent matter by reason of the obstruction in the Ureters regurgitating into the Kidneys and infecting the Bloud Sennertus hath infected the whole habit of Body IX It often falls out that a Man's Body becomes swollen turgid and languid and then the timorousness of the Physician grounded on no reason predicts danger But they may very properly be cured in a short time by Sudorificks used internally and externally The cause of this Evil hath not its rise from the Intemperature or weakness of those parts that the Ancients called Noble Besides it may easily be distinguished from the Dropsie which the said parts do cause for although the Patients be very sluggish and lazy yet they are oppressed with no anxiety of heart they breathe freely and from an open Breast and their Belly swells not much The watry matter is gathered first in the face and limbs and if the tumid parts be prest with your finger experience will shew that the parts are not so full as in a true Dropsie Barâ—â—tte Anâ—t â—ract c. 14. wherefore some that are ignorant of the true cause ascribe this Swelling to Wind. The Lymphatick Vessels being compressed broke or some other way obstructed so that the natural motion of the Lympha is hindred do cause the Ail X. When N. who was troubled with the Pox and a Water Rupture had been cured of both hâ—s Diseases by anointing with Mercury after the same example he ordered one Aldr. de Aldrighettis a strong Woman of a full Age that was swollen with the White Dropsie to be likewise anointed Binodius cent 3. obs 9. She made much Urine without any Salivation yet she felt a little pain in her Neck and perfectly recovered Medicines especially made use of by eminent Physicians 1. In an inveterate Cachexy I anointed the Belly and Feet which were swollen more than ordinary with the following Liniment Take of the tops of green Dwarf-elder green Cranes-bill Sauce alone Flowers of Roman Chamaemil each 2 ounces fresh Butter 1 pound let them boil well Strain them out and add of distilled Oil of Tartar rectified Oil of Wax well rectified Oil of Caroways rectified each 3 drachms Mix them and make a Liniment to be used as abovesaid Jâ—h Lud. à Fâ—â—â—den â—â—iâ— arbâ—r â—â—â—ae p m. 53. And take of this Cordial often every day Take of Cinnamon-water 3 ounces Oxymel of Squills prepared according to Zwelfer 2 ounces Spirit of Vitriol dephlegmed 24 grains Mix them for use This water which I always kept as a secret was wonderfully commended by all people 2. Phâ—l Gruâ—iâ—gius Mâ—d. Pract. l 3. parâ— 3. c. 2. Joh. Jonstonius Idea Med. pract l. 12. c. 4. tâ—â— 2. The Essence of Crocus Martis and a Mixture of it do in curing a Cachexy excell all other Remedies 3. The Water distilled off fresh Walnut-tree roots cut into little square pieces steeped in Whitewine 24 hours sweetned with Sugar-candy and exposed to the Sun for some days taken in 3 ounces weight using exercise after it cures the Green-sickness in Maids 4. Take of the finest filings of Steel 1 ounce Jâ—s Quâ—rcetanâ—s Pharm Dogm rest p. 321. faecula Ari 1 drachm and an half Ambergryse half a drachm Essence of Coral of Pearl each half a drachm Amber prepared Cinnamon each 4 scruples Sugar what is sufficient Mix them and make a Powder It is the best remedy for pale and depraved colours as for Cachexies in Women Men Maids younger or elder if the body be prepared and purged 15 days before one after another I have had admirable experience of this Powder in curing all Cachexies 5. Chalybeate Salt is very good for a Cachexy Schroderus 6. When the Body is purged Wormwood taken any way is excellent good to strengthen the
the bladder such a position of this part as I once indeed observed in one that was designed to be cut then there is no less need of circumspection as one may see in the example here instanced upon whom the Lithotomist had certainly done his office little to his own credit had he not being frighted with this perverse situation of the bladder in prudence desisted for this Stone was implicated in so perplexed an errour within the contorted bladder that as Anatomy informed me Aesculapius himself could not have got it out without manifest danger of life Nic. Tulpiâ—s lib. 3. observ 5 6. ¶ One man's bladder contained two encompassed so close by its corrugated coats that it was scarce capable of an ounce of liquour besides them X. Although Stones that stick and are fixt can hardly be pulled away and the greater number of these that are troubled with such do dye yet the Cure is not impossible seeing it is observed daily that several such have recovered amongst which I saw one from whom a two ounce Stone was taken Augenius Epist 2. l. 4. inclosed in a bag which rarely happens XI Many Errours are wont to be committed by vulgar Lithotomists in taking out the Stone the First is When they allow the Patient the days next preceding and in the whole course of his Cure to live as he list neither premitting Diet nor Preparation whence many Inconveniences and Death do follow for all things run from a plethorick and cacochymick Body to the place affected Therefore let Diet Preparation and Purging go before c. 2. They think they have done the business when before cutting they have purged their Patient with Antimony Mercurius vitae c. But these violent things debilitate the Strength and native Heat whence the Patient often dies after the operation 3. Some for a few days before the operation give a full draught of a decoction of Rest-harrow-roots or Millet-seed morning and evening to bring the Stone to the neck of the bladder but many mischiefs flow from thence for much humours are carried from the whole to the urinary passages Fabritius Hild. c. 23. de Lithot whence follow after cutting dangerous Symptoms Inflammation Gangreen Convulsion and Death Wherefore onely gentle purgative Potions must be given because if Lenitives do purge also by Urine how much more will strong Purgers which have also a diuretick virtue do it XII Lithotomists when they have got out the Stone often commit many Errours which want rectifying Some think the Wound should be drawn together with one Suture or two that it may the sooner heal but they doe ill 1. Because a Tent cannot be put in as it should nor the bloud gathered in the bladder whence come many Symptoms be got out 2. It is known that after the Stone is got out there often remains Gravel Phlegm clotted Bloud and Matter which not taken out doe much hurt 3. Suppose there be no such things yet it is certain that the bladder afflicted so long does crave time to purge out the gross and viscid Phlegm that it daily breeds but this must needs be done by the open Wound for seeing the urinary passage is long and turning therefore it cannot be voided that way especially when the expulsive faculty is weak II. Many Lithotomists immediately after the operation clap the Patient in a Semicupe in which they boil indeed appropriate herbs and keep him there half an hour for the easing of his pain and heating his body which was cooled by cutting But so there is imminent danger of an haemorrhage the Vessels being opened which is attended with fainting and weakness and is one cause of Death after operation Thus they offend against Aphorism 5. 23. Then after bathing much Vapours ascend another cause of fainting It is the property of the Bath also to draw whence a great quantity of humours is drawn down in a manner violently from the parts above from the Loins especially which were stirred by the operation and other Symptoms follow all the ways and passages being loosned by using the Bath so that all the excrementitious humours flow to that Wound and hinder the healing of it III. Some Lithotomists reject the use of Tents and doe all their endeavour to heal it quickly The Physician indeed should cure quickly but safely also now there is no safety unless the Wound be kept open by the help of Tents for some days after cutting and the bladder be cleared of gravel and phlegm which would grow together again by reason of the heat and inflammation left in the bladder whereupon the latter Evil is worse than the first for a Gangreen doth easily follow IV. The Errour of a renowned Chirurgeon must be remarked who writes that 't is sufficient when the Stone is taken out if the Wound be closed with clean Lint for the Vrine is enough to heal the Wound by its detersion and consolidation wherein it excells if so be he adds that no symptoms supervene And he says well for how will you obviate the Symptoms Pain Swelling Inflammations c. which usually follow wounds joined with confusion But if you would prevent them and Death that would otherwise certainly follow keep the Wound open with Tents which would otherwise so close with the swelling that neither Urine nor the viscid humours bloud nor matter that remained after cutting can run out Besides Urine cannot serve the turn of a Medicine when it has got an acrimony and corrosive faculty from pain and a preternatural febrile heat They that have tried it know that Urine retained is the chief cause of the Symptoms which usually follow cutting for the Stone therefore a prudent Chirurgeon will provide it an easie passage by the help of Pipes and Tents V. Nor is their errour less who make it their business by frequent traumatick Potions to cleanse the Bladder of Impurities Phlegm Gravel c. expecting hence a perfect Cure of the Wound But who can believe that there can pass to the Bladder or bring any benefit when Diureticks though endued with subtile parts cannot according to Galen Art Med. c. 96. penetrate thither VI. There are some who presently after the operation give a little Powder in a Glass of Wine as a singular help and not in the beginning onely but in the whole course of the Cure hoping from thence for an abatement of Pain a Repulse of the afflux of humours stopping of bloud and suppuration But Wine that is hot and sharp by nature will not stop a flux of bloud for which work cold and dry Medicines are requisite and it will not asswage Pain nor promote Suppuration as being hot it rather being fit by its acrimony to enrage than appease a Wound which office is onely granted to hot and moist things Hildanus and those void of all acrimony XIII Authours propose three places by which the Stone may be taken out 1. The orifice of the Bladder as is usual in Women by
freely the vapâ—ur contained in it exhales by so much the more violently doth the humour flow likewise which will encrease the Swelling into whose intimacy if the circumfluous Air which was excluded before by its coats do indeed penetrate presently there follows both a greater putrefaction and a more luxuriant rankness in the part affected which if you do but endeavour to hinder either by Instrument or sharp Medicines you do but twist ropes of Sand. The Daughter of Geropius Becanus carried in her left Temple for above Fifty years a hard and uneven Carcinoma but without an Ulcer or any great harm Nic. Tulpius lib. 1. obser 47. however the pain and itching by little and little encreasing she imprudently applied to the Tumour I know not what Caustick Medicines which corroding the Skin it quickly degenerated into an Ulcerated Carcinoma III. There scarce occurs any one disease this day in Surgery about which greater errours are committed than in the Canker Do you ask the cause The Disease and the Essence thereof is not sufficiently clear to them and in the Cure they too strictly observe that Axiome of Physicians Contraries are Medicines for their Contraries For when they see the Tumour very hard they endeavour by Emollients and Resolvers contrary to Galen's opinion to amend that hardness afterwards when the Tumour is degenerated into an Ulcer they consume the Lips that are hard with Escharoticks and Corroders they correct the filth and stink of the Ulcer with Aegyptiacum Hild. cent 6. obs 81. and such things all which how unreasonable and pernicious they are many examples do shew IV. Carcinoma's or Cankers if they be cured to the bottom can be cured no other way than if they be Ulcerous ones by burning if not Ulcerous by cutting For that there are some which may be cured is evident from Hipp. lib. 7. Epid. about the Man that had a Carcinoma in his Jaws burnt and was cured by him And others that neither can be cured nor ought to be medled with appears from Celsus because they are but provoked and do increase till they kill And the difference lies not in the kind of the Disease but in the Quality of the humour for in the very several sorts of Melancholy some are sharper or milder than others If therefore you perceive by any symptomes that a Man's Melancholy is so sowre as that it is much irritated upon a slender occasion perchance you must not dare to touch it But if by other symptomes you perceive the Melancholick humour that is in a Man doth incline to an earthy or sanguine nature you must try to burn it with Causticks and then if the thing succeed well you must proceed presently to fire especially if the evil be in a part which the disease can easily and speedily eat away such as the Jaws For in such cases Vallesius l. 7. Eâ—id p. 89â— although you be not sufficiently ascertained whether the humour be able to bear this Remedy you must try even with danger to burn it because if the cure should be neglected the disease might eat away the part though coming of no ungentle Humour Therefore you must try even with danger to cure a Disease that would certainly kill V. Purging should rather be used in the beginning according to the redundance of the Humours in the Body if perchance the encrease of the Canker may be hindred by it than that we should accommodate it onely to carry off Melancholick Humours as they commonly doe who think Melancholy to be the cause of it which indeed for a costive body may be better treated can upon this account especially doe no good because it cannot take away the cause of the Canker that is poisonous besides It is granted that other poisons as that which causeth the Pox may be discharged the body by strong Purges often repeated which it is not safe to doe in very weak bodies Platerus Tâ—m 2. p. 704. that are troubled with the Canker nor if it should be done would doe any good VI. Galen 4. aph 47. acknowledges he cured a Cancrous Tumour that came in the breast of a certain Woman by violently and often Purging her of black Choler in the Spring and Autumn H Montuus And by the like method of cure I also freed a certain Noble Countess of a Carcinoma in her Breast VII We have no reason to question the repetition of Bloud-letting again and again for there is a fault in the Bloud upon its being vitiated the Tumour depends And though a Cacochymy should rather be discharged by proper Purgers yet when there was hot exust and melancholick Bloud in the whole it ever pleased Galen 3. de lec affect 7. Fortis consul 86. cent 4. ad Glauc 11. and Hippocrates also to abate us plenty by breathing a Vein which is the more convenient if heat and redness be perceived in the part a token of the Fire 's being onely kindled and not that all is in ashes VIII Cordials especially those that resist poison will doe more good in subduing the strength of this poison than such as are accommodated to other humours And these are the chief of those things that are given inward in this case and should rather be used than vulnerary Potions which nevertheless some that they may try all things in a desperate disease do prescribe in an Ulcerous Canker And they most esteem of one that is made of a Decoction of Winter-green and Ground Ivy in Wine for the Canker in the Breast Platerus and for all others IX If in the part affected the peccant matter be but in a small quantity then there is no inconvenience in strengthening the Part because when the Part is strengthned that little which is left is easily dissolved by Nature This Rule is gathered from Galen 14 Meth. cap. 9. where he saith That in the beginning of a Canker the excrementitious humour if it be but little may be repelled to the principal parts because unless it be suddenly repelled Sanctorius lib. de Râ—m Innent c. 15 the Melancholick humour does presently distend the veins which when distended the Canker is rendred incurable But that it is so appears from Galen 6 aph 38. where he saith the Roots of the Canker are Veins that are distended by melancholick Bloud which unless it be removed the Canker cannot be cured X. Sometime the Pain is most outragious which will not allow one to take any rest or sleep wherefore we are often forced to have recourse to Narcoticks which in this case by reason of the intense heat of the humours doe less harm For once I saw a Woman that laboured of a Canker in her Breast Riverius prâ—ct l. 15. c. 10. whâ— every night for four months took four or five grains of Laudanum without any hurt and to her great comfort XI A Noble Woman had all the right-side of her face Mauritius Cordaeus con 7. in lib. 1. de
his upper parts or have his Head inflamed or if his Head ake or he be phrenitick or if he have a great Ulcer which cannot safely be irritated I avoid Physick as much as I can knowing for certain that it affects the Head Sleep shews this which presently seizes them that have taken a Purge If I can I content my self with sharp Clysters and a low Diet. Vallesius 2. Epid. 6. p. 225. VIII In an Intemperature of the Head with Melancholy always some Moistner must be mixt with Purgatives Nor may a Purge be prescribed till the body be first moistned IX The Ancients said that Sneezers and Apophlegmatisms were indicated by excrementitious humours gathered in the Ventricles and substance of the Brain This latter Age thinks not that these parts do empty the humours gathered there by the Nose and Palate nor that what is evacuated is excrements of nutrition gathered in the Meanders of the Nostrils and Membranes of the Palate and Jaws but in some mens opinion they are bilous phlegmatick melancholick and serous humours derived thither partly by the Arteries from the whole body and partly from the Salival ducts Rolfinccius meth med specialis p. 605. For this reason they are indicated by the cacochymick impurity of the bloud diluted with much Serum that its flowing into the Brain it s farther mixture with the circulated bloud and its approach to the more noble parts may be prevented X. If you make use of Sneezers to unload the Brain in its Intemperature with Phlegm you must abstain from violent ones as Powder of white Hellebore Root of Lily Conval and the like because of the great agitation they cause in the Brain convenient onely for such as are in a Lethargy or Apoplexy it is sufficient if you onely put a Fibre of the Root into the Nostril and then pull it out again XI Some think that the use of Ptarmicks does rather encrease than hinder a defluxion of humours from the head to the breast and that this should not be used but in case of extreme necessity and universals premised But in my opinion they are grievously out seeing in great and sudden suffocating defluxions they are very properly and succesfully used Quercetan Phrâ—m degm resâ—â—t c. 18. For Nature hath ordained these Chanels for the emptying of the Brain whom Art imitating doth so promote that in an open and free passage through this same way the course of the serous humours is expedited and turned back Avicenna uses a certain vaporous Sternutatory made of very strong Vinegar in which he dissolves a little Castor the steam whereof causes violent sneezing XII As much Extract of Tobacco made with Aqua vitae as a Pease laid on the Tongue brings off a great deal of Phlegm Riverius Exceed not this quantity for if it get into the Stomach it will cause grievous vomiting XIII As often as the Head is indisposed by outward Cold of the Air Water or Snow or the Nose doth run or they be troubled with a defect of animal Spirits so often I have observed my Patients succesfully and quickly cured if as quickly as may be that be driven out of the Head again which was got into it or any other part of the body and was hurtfull to them And this either by one Sweat or which I prefer by several but they must be spirituous and volatile because they must be such as not onely alter and correct the cause of the Cold and of other evils attending it but amend whatever amiss is introduced into the body contained or containing For this purpose I commend the following Receipt Take of Water of Fumitory Fenil each 2 ounces simple Treacle or any other Aromatick water 1 ounce Spirit of Sal Ammoniack 20 drops Oil of Cloves 3 drops Bezoarticum minerale half a drachm Laudanum Opiatum 2 grains Syrup of red Poppies 1 ounce mix them Let the Patient take two spoonfuls of this Medicine and when he is moderately covered expect a Sweat which he will facilitate and obtain his desire if every half hour he take as much of it till the Sweat burst out for then he must use it more seldom and sparingly he must use now and then some plain broth with a little Wine in it to repair his strength and make him the more able to sweat the longer for nothing does them so much good as a gentle Sweat sometime As often as the natural and competent Secretion of the animal Spirits is hindred by an inward or aguish chilness or by any other that without an Ague fit doth now and then seize a man so often by the like Sudorifick rightly used the Sweat arising sometimes sooner sometimes later the desired Secretion of the animal Spirits so necessary to humane felicity is sooner or later restored for by help of this or the like spirituous Sylâ—ius â—â—ax med l 2. cap. 1. sâ—ct 21. ad 36. volatile and aromatick Medicine the hurtfull and cold Vapour is discussed and dissipated in Sweat or insensible Transpiration which caused that dulness in the sense and liftlesness in motion And whoever in such an internal or external Cold do think to cure by Bleeding Vomiting or Purging they cast their Patients into greater hazards even of Life it self as I have observed more than once c. XIV The natural temperament of the Brain seeing it is very moderate we should therefore use both inward and outward Medicines for the Head with great caution lest while we change its native temper we bring some great mischief on this most noble part Wherefore their boldness is not to be approved of who attribute so much to those Waters called Aqua vitae being made of violent hot things that they affirm all Diseases of the Head may be both prevented and cured by the use of these same Waters not considering that most Diseases of the Head do come rather from hot causes than cold especially in those persons that are either in their youth or manhood Besides in our Germany the way of most mens living is such that there is scarce one in a hundred who gathers not a particular Plethora in his Head Whence it happens if the use of Aqua vitae be prescribed to one of these men that it seeing it is altogether vaporous immediately gets into the Head and disturbs it being full of various humours and disposes it either to the Epilepsie Apoplexie or to dangerous Catarrhs But that this opinion does not want experiment you may understand from this that those Apoplectick persons to whom these Aquae vitae are given Oethaeus apud Schenckium do almost all of them dye or grow worse as I have often observed and do find it observed by others XV. Some prescribe an Issue in the Coronal Suture to be made with a Cautery and do commend it for drawing out and evacuating the humours from the Brain and its Cover Although this is very familiar in some mens practice yet I have
painfull corrugations and farther Willis de cephalalgia lest the brain be invaded by the violent motion of the humours to the head and then which happens too frequently sleepy or convulsive diseases be brought on ¶ Some for inveterate Head-aches after once or twice purging fly to Quicksilver wherewith they rub the head and other aking parts These Men Encheir med pr. though sometime they remove the Pain yet they always increase the Cause and cool and moisten the brain more ¶ There are some that commend Empl. de Vigo cum Mercurio because it has been observed Ibid. that it hath put an end to an inveterate Head-ach having evacuated much phlegmatick humours by spitting ¶ Salivation terrifies several that are imployed in inventing dissuasives against it but experience dispels this vain fear Rolfinc meth spec p. 164. One that was sick of a grievous Head-ach and miserably afflicted with it being salivated recovered under our care and there was no sign of the Pox in him ¶ Willis in the place fore-quoted approves of Salivation in the Head-ach arising from the Venereal Disease In other cases he disapproves of it and produces some examples of ill success XXXVI An Oxyrrhodinum may not be applied in every Head-ach Abstain 1. When a Catarrhe is joined with it for the application of cold things increases the distillation and by its driness strains out the humour down to the Breast yet Trallianus allows it when the Head-ach has its original from the violent heat of the head which draws the humours like a Cupping-glass from the whole body this way it does good by taking away the cause 2. When plenty of gross humours or vapours cause the Head-ach in which case Oxyrrhodina doe more harm by obstructing than good by Repulsion 3. If the Head-ach be critical you may reckon it critical if in a Fever it fall upon a critical day if signs of Coction have preceded yet if the Crisis should be by Vomit they may safely be applied otherwise if Bleeding at the Nose were drawing on by driving back you would cause Death 4. They doe harm if bloud or another humour be firmly settled in the head for then Digesters must be made use of as Galen 13 m. m. 6. adviseth 5. In a Head-ach that is malignant or contracted from the Bite or Sting of a venomous Creature the Venom must rather be drawn outwards by Rarefiers XXXVII In the Head-ach caused by heat the juices of Purslane Housleek Kidney-wort and other things of the like nature Hollerius Perioch 2. but these things must be fresh not parched with heat and without juice Vinegar is good in Liquours but it is forbidden to Children and tender Bodies XXXVIII It is known that some Empiricks rashly undertake that they can cure all sorts of Head-aches with their Cephalick waters whereby many have been brought into perpetual tortures in their head I knew a Nobleman then but young who suffering a violent Head-ach from the ebullition of hot bloud through some bodie 's persuasion washed all his head in very strong Aqua vitae but by this unskilfull advice he was almost cast into Madness Oethaeus XXXIX Castor asswages pains in the Head coming from the Womb saith Hippocrates lib. 7. de Epidem and lib. 6. Great pain about the forepart of the Head and what-ever others arise from the Womb. Now indeed that Diseases by Sympathy are removed by curing what is first in fault and that this is the legitimate way of their Cure is very well known But Castor is commended for all Uterine Diseases I say those that are improperly called Uterine such as Fits of the Mother whether they be caused by suppression of bloud or seed or by wind by the joint consent of all Physicians Hippocrates in lib. de morb mulier makes frequent mention of it for the same purpose lib. 2. he prescribes Castor or Fleabane Therefore Castor taken inwardly cures the Head-ach from the Womb but then it cures Diseases of the Womb that are accompanied with the Head-ach i. e. Suppressions of the Menstrua retention of Seed and of the cold juices and wind Nor does it cure all Diseases of the Womb but onely cold ones for it will rather increase Inflammations and the Erysipelas Wherefore since the head-may ake for Inflammations of the Womb it is clear that Castor cures not all Head-aches from the Womb but such onely as come from its cold Diseases Vallesius Epid. p. 865. such as Galen affirms Fits of the Mother to be XL. It may so happen that a Disease of the head or of any one place may increase or grow better with the Disease of another part or place nor yet for all this be affected by Sympathy from that other part for it may chance that matter may flow from the self same fountain to divers parts at once and there may be no pain in the part that sends it nor any thing amiss known or perceived there As Hippocrates observed it happened to Agesius his Daughter 6. Epid. 3.4 who when she had a pain in her hip was oppressed with an Asthma and when her pain was eased she took her breath well Now seeing there is no communication between the Hip and the Breast it was very reasonable to suspect that the humour ran into each part from the same place and was dispersed at the same time The flux might be from the Brain or it might be from the Womb And therefore when two effects happen together a man must diligently observe whether the communication be from the head or from some other place Although Galen in his Comment upon this place says that an Imposthume was broken in her breast and when she had raised the matter her Asthma seased but upon small ground for it is more reasonable to think that in a Woman newly delivered the pain in her Hip came from the Ligaments of the Womb and her Asthma from the Sympathy of her Breast with the Womb and especially when she did not cleanse well which caused both these Ails and both these Accidents ceased when she did clease For the Womb in Lying-in-women is the occasion and root of all their Evils Casper Cald. lilustr Obs Med. 8. l. 2. and there is a great Sympathy between the Genitals and the Breast XLI That it is requisite the outer substance of the Brain and the Cerebellum should be open to the end the most spirituous part of the Bloud may penetrate it and be as it were percolated through it the cold of the Air Water or Snow vehemently affecting the head seems to prove after which not onely a Rheum but a more spare production of Animal Spirits uses to follow But whoever upon taking such a cold do let bloud or think to take away the cause of this evil by purge or vomit they indanger their Patient's life as I have more than once seen it done by men Sylvius de le Boē p. m. 402. that are
more conversant in Books than in Observation of Symptoms that betide sick persons XLII I think the inward Cold of the head is caused by Vapours breeding Cold carried to the head together with the bloud partly indeed by their austerity rendring the bloud inept to part with its spirituous parts and partly contracting the external substance of the brain or straitning its sinuous pores and so in some measure at least denying a passage to the most spirituous part of the bloud Then is the time to swear for by this means the Vapours that produce the troublesome Cold are dispersed But in this case Idem ibid. as in the foregoing it is hurtfull to bleed purge or vomit XLIII The nervous Liquour gathered among the Fibres of the Meninges and other parts of the head sometimes by its proper incongruity whereby being sowre or otherwise degenerate it becomes disproportionate to the Fibres sometimes for that it ferments with some other humour viz. the nutritious or serous flowing thither doth vellicate the containing parts and irritate them into spasms and painfull distensions When it is thus morbifick it is either peccant in the whole mass and inflicts its mischief on the head predisposed or in it self innocent is so affected within the fibres that it is perverted and so secondarily it becomes morbifick The cure of which then depends upon the restitution of the containing parts namely if the weakness of the fibres or the hurt conformation be amended the humour that bedews them will immediately be without fault In the mean time if being degenerate in the whole mass it impart its mischief to the head prepared for aking such Medicines and method must be used as may reduce the nervous juice to its due crasis that as it gently traverseth the fibres it may not irritate them For which purpose neither strong Purges nor large and frequent Bleedings are convenient because they put the bloud and humours into violent motion and waste the strength and therefore impress a greater acrimony upon the peccant nervous liquour Yet gentle Solutives and a little bleeding will sometime doe service that the bowels may be cleansed and the mass of bloud a little purged and way may be better made for succeeding Medicines Now the Medicines that render the nervous liquour more amicable and benign to the Membranes of the head which use to be disturbed by it are such as are vulgarly held to be Cephalicks scil whose particles being active enough and also thin and subtile do pass the bloud without turgescency or tumult and then insinuating themselves into the nervous liquour they gently actuate it and so make the nervous ducts to open themselves Willis cap de Cephalatgia so that all sensible and motive bodies do more freely irradiate the animal spirits and inspire them with Faintings Spasms or Distensions XLIV Sometimes the nutritious juice is the cause of a periodick Head-ach scil inasmuch as it being mixt with the bloud and not rightly assimilated by reason of the disagreeing particles it gives it a turgescence so that the bloud boiling up into the head leaves its Refuse in the Meninges and those parts of them that were predisposed and so irritates the Fibres into painfull Spasms For this very reason I have known several after the Small-pox and Measles and other Fevers or Sicknesses whereby the mass of bloud is usually vitiated who were subject to the Head-ach every day viz. so many hours after eating sometimes sooner sometimes later first a flushing in their face then a fulness and pain in the head did invade them Moreover they were more grievously plagued upon drinking Wine or eating windy Meats The fit of the Head-ach was more or less distant from their food altogether as the Chyme began to grow turgid either upon its first entrance into the bloud or after some little stay there After provision for the whole Medicines which restore the crasis of the bloud doe much good such as Antiscorbuticks especially Idem and Chalybeates XLV One infected with the Pox was cured by a sweating Diet and anointing with Mercury after which for some time he seemed free of his Disease But afterwards the same Distemper returned and he was again cured by using a Sudorifick decoction a good while and then by a Suffitus of Cinnabar he seemed again to be perfectly cured Yet afterwards he began to be afflicted with a grievous Pain in the left side of his head which in the changes of seasons especially at the coming in of Autumn tormented him sorely and kept fixt in the same place like a Nail Many Medicines were tried to no purpose I judged this grievous Head-ach did proceed from the reliques of the Pox that was not perfectly cured yet that its next and immediate cause or at least the fomenting and encreasing cause of the pain besides the Venereal virulence must be either a sharp and biting humour flowing to that part of the head or Mercury it self gathered in that part of the head or a Caries in the skull That I might have respect to all these causes 1. I prescribed universal Evacuation by bleeding and purging with an Apozeme for four days then a Sudorifick diet of a Decoction of Guaiacum and Sarsa for thirty or forty days for often a Pox that could not be cured by Mercury has been cured by long use of the Decoction And if the Head-ach came onely from virulent humours vellicating the membranes it could onely be cured by a long diet If it would not yield to the long use of the Decoction we ought to see whether no Mercury were gathered in the part which may be known if a Bullet made of Gold be put deep into the left Nostril and if after some stay in that place it be taken out white it is a sign there is Mercury You may try the same by covering a cephalick Plaster with Leaf-gold and laying it on the part grieved for if the Gold grow white it is a sign there is Mercury which may be got out by degrees if a thin plate of Gold be always worn upon the aking place and a golden Bullet be often put into the Nostril If by this means neither the pain do cease the place must be laid open and bored for often the Cranium is corroded by sharp virulent humours and a Caries is got into it when the Skin remains whole And though no Caries should appear yet the Trepan often does good by drawing out the virulent matter Riverius Cent. 2. â—â—s 91. that was gathered upon the Meninges of the Brain Medicines especially made use of by eminent Physicians Aetius Teâ—â—ab 2. 〈◊〉 2. 〈◊〉 4â— 1. Euphorbium has a natural power to cure the Hemicrania thus used Mix it with Vinegar if the right side ake anoint the left if the left side ake anoint the right it gives present ease ¶ Give French-lavender boiled in Water or in Water and Wine as the best Remedy in all Head-aches Or beat wild Docks
Figs N o 20 boil them in Milk and so apply them It is good also in pestilential Buboes Râ—â—olph Goâ—lenius as I have experienced 8. If a deep blew Sapphire touch a pestilential Carbuncle â— Bâ—pt Van Hâ—lmoâ—t and be rubbed on it for some time and then taken away it draws out all the Poison if its virtue be not weakned before therefore some use to circumscribe the swollen place by drawing the Sapphire round it lest the Poison should expatiate farther and invade some noble part adjoining 9. Wheat chewed in a sound person's mouth and laid to the place Hoâ—stiuâ— â—â—s 28. l. 2. asswages Carbuncles and then at some distance draw it round the sore Paâ—aeus 10. Rhadish root cut into pieces and often laid to the Carbuncle draws out the Venom powerfully ¶ I have often used the following Remedy successfully to asswage the heat and pain of Carbuncles and promote their Suppuration Take of Soot scraped from the Chimney 3 ounces Salt 2 ounces reduce them to fine Powder add 2 Yelks of Eggs stir them together till they be in the consistence of a Pultess Lay it warm to the Carbuncle Idem Praevotius 11. The Pulp of Quinces bruised and applied to a pestilential Carbuncle cures it successfully 12. A Woman that had a very bad Carbuncle about her mouth and lips was thus cured When I had first scarified the place I applied this Medicine Take of the Juice of Comfrey Francisc Vaâ—eriola Scabious Marigold these have a wonderfull and powerfull property against pestilential Carbuncles and Buboes each 1 ounce old Treacle 4 scruples Salt 1 drachm Yelks of Eggs N o 2. This Secret of mine never failed me J. Vigerius 13. You can apply nothing better to Carbuncles than this Remedy for it extinguishes the malignity to a miracle Take of quick Lime 1 ounce soft Soap what is sufficient mix them Make an Ointment and apply it to the sore 14. The Carbuncle is forced into a narrow compass Weikardus where it can doe less harm if bruised Scabious be laid round it on the sound place and Tansie be laid on the Carbuncle and it will be done more easily if afterwards some Hellebore root be thrust between the Skin and the Sore cutting a hole in the Skin first Cardialgia or The Heart-burn The Contents Sometimes bloud must be let I. It s legitimate Cure II. If complicated with a Fever what must be done III. When Strengthners may be applied IV. When incrassating and astringent things are proper V. Diet. VI. Medicines I. IT is no season to let bloud when sincere bile offends and it is onely admitted in three Cases 1. When there is a hot Intemperature of the Liver that produces very hot bloud which is the reason neither any fleshy nor fat substance can be produced So in Hippocrates 5. Epid. A man in Oeniaâ— was taken with most violent pains of his Stomach after he was let bloud in both Arms and a good quantity taken away he was cured 2. When a bloudy Ichor flows from the Liver or the whole Body to the Stomach because of the Suppression of the haemorrhoids Fortis consult 68. câ—ntur 2. 3. When it proceeds from the Suppression of the menstrua II. It s legitimate and proper Cure is taking away the Cause which must be done in this order When the fit is coming Vomit must be provoked immediately after Galen's example 6. in 6. Epidem comment 5. who raised Vomiting either with simple Oil or mixt with Water We give some Meat-broth to six ounces with Oil of Almonds and Syrupus acetosus each 3 ounces When a Man has vomited if the fit continues it is a sign of thick Bile sticking to the Stomach therefore give 4 or 5 ounces of the Syrup and an hour after except he vomit again of his own accord give him 6 ounces of new Oil of Almonds for the matter being thus incided detersed and attenuated by the Syrup may more easily be carried off either by Vomit or Purge Nor let the Syrupus acetosus make you afraid at all because as Avicenna teacheth it converts Bile into Phlegm and Phlegm into Bile And presently after Vomiting when the gnawing is laid some astringent strengthning thing must according to Galen's advice be applied outwardly And thus you must proceed in preventing remedies you must again diminish the matter temper the heat of the Bile and Fever withdraw it from the Stomach intercept its progress and strengthen the mouth of the Stomach In the Cure thus you must sometimes allay the Pain with Anodynes or even with Narcoticks sometimes you must discharge the cholerick matter by gentle purging and vomiting till the Heart-burn and Fever be diminished and quite taken away Idem ibid. III. In a Heart-burn with a Fever sometimes a Vomit must be given sometimes not And at other times it is more expedient either to purge or take off the acrimony of the humour If the Disease be very small or moderate though the strength be good you may omit cleansing the Stomach and proceed to strengthners and qualifiers If the Disease be violent you must qualifie the acrimony and also cleanse the Stomach And when the Heart-burn is laid you must evacuate the whole Body either by bloud-letting or purging as the nature of the Disease shall seem to require Galen 1. ad Glaucon puts this case Come on saith he if one be in a Fever and there be a plethorick disposition but proceeding from fresh crudities and he be heart-burned or also if he should vomit any bad humour and in his discharge shall be much offended so as to be very sick and restless shall we here with respect to the Fever try onely to evacuate the Plethora which otherwise without trouble we might doe Or shall we rather provide for the mouth of the Stomach and afterwards when this is grown something better evacuate the whole body as much as the case requires I think we should doe this last for I have seen many who have been thus held some of them dye others brought to death's door when the Physicians have attempted to cure them before they had strengthned the mouth of the Stomach Hence it appears that when the Heart-burn is violent we must not vacuate the whole Body but strengthen the Stomach take off the acrimony of the humours and afterwards proceed to purge This indication of taking off the acrimony of the Bile bore such sway with Hippocrates that he 4. acut in an acute Fever with Heart-burn fearing the future Symptome gave boiled Asses milk These things must be done in the Fit but in the time of Interval when this Symptome is laid we must go to the ordinary Cure but when the Disease is very violent we must doe all at once i. e. purge and strengthen the Stomach and take off the acrimony of the humours Now the Question is What way we should purge As to vomiting Galen in the forecited place
speaks thus But such saith he as are wasted with bad humours gnawing the mouth of their stomach you must cause them to vomit with warm water or water and oil If they be hard to vomit you must first warm the places near the mouth of the stomach and the hands and feet but if they cannot vomit this way they must provoke it by putting their finger or a feather in their throat But if this way neither will doe they must again take the best Oil can be got a little warm for Oil usually does not onely provoke to vomit but also makes the Belly loose And this is very good in the present case wherefore unless it happen of it self it must be procured by Art and this thing above all we must attempt with proper remedies Where he proposes Medicines to purge sharp and biting humours such as both take off the acrimony and purge not onely by vomit but by stool Water and Oil moisten loosen and obtund Oil answers this intention best for sometimes it causes vomit sometimes it gives a stool yea and sometimes it doth both but because it doth not strengthen but make lax he therefore gives Wormwood boiled in Honey and Water And at length when Superfluities are every way purged out of the Stomach and Guts he then applies himself to strengthning with astringents inward and outward This way of cure differs from the former where he supposed the Heart-burn less than to cause sainting namely such a Heart-burn as comes by sits and may be cured in the intervals But here he supposes a dangerous Symptome namely Fainting Therefore in the former Cure Galen would have us first strengthen the mouth of the stomach and proceed afterwards to vacuate the whole by letting bloud or purging but here he makes no mention of evacuation Again in the former he would have us onely take care of the mouth of the stomach but here he explains the way to mitigate to purge by vomit and stool and to strengthen What therefore is the reason of this diversity No other certainly but because the Heart-burn and all Gnawing of the stomach is rather to be corrected with obtunding and alterative Medicines than enraged with evacuating ones But when necessity is urgent we must make use of these but then they must be moderate in their kind such as both obtund and purge from the place Hor. Auâ—egenius Tom. 1. Epist l. 1. p. 128. as in the case proposed by Galen i. e. when Fainting is either expected or actually present IV. Celsus l. 3. c. 19. saith the first Indication in the Heart-burn is to apply Cataplasms to the Stomach which may repress it Secondly to stop Sweating For this he is grievously found fault with by some because when this Disease sometimes takes its original from the sole acrimony of humours in the Stomach sometimes beside that from a base poisonous quality yet before the peccant humour be either vomited or purged or if it cannot be evacuated before its acrimony be taken off or its base quality subdued he applies astringent Medicines to the mouth of the stomach whereby the matter is more stufft and rendred more stubborn in evacuation and alteration Yea Galen 1. ad Glauc 14. while the bad humour is yet contained in the part grieved he bids us in the beginning onely warm the parts near the mouth of the stomach and the hands and feet to make the part affected lax that so it may more easily discharge and divert the matter All which things indeed as they are true when the Disease gives truce and time allows the use of such Remedies so when the case is hazardous and strength sinks which is Celsus his case wherein the Body is melted with immoderate Sweat and the Pulse is low and weak we must immediately have recourse to strengthners as Galen there advises See the place at large above Besides astringents first strengthen the mouth of the stomach but then they are the cause that when it is strengthned it forces the noxious humours downwards that used to rise upon it which falling downwards Rubeus com in loc citat and stimulating the lower passage of the stomach are at length discharged by stool V. While the Heart-burn continues and the matter is much diminished we may safely proceed to things that intercept the course of the humours to the stomach to be given two hours before the Fit if a Fever be joined with it And they are incrassating and astringent things as Take of prepared Pearl 1 drachm true terra sigillata half a scruple Scorzonera water 4 ounces Pomegranate-wine 2 ounces Give a spoonfull often You may add 5 drops of Tincture of Corall Fortis If it be malignant give new Treacle with Pearl VI. Hippocrates cured a Woman of the Heart-burn without intermission by giving her Barly grewel with some juice of Pomegranate in it and eating once a day Now if the Pain came from Cold how could Pomegranate-juice be proper If from Heat why must she eat no more than once a day For they that are so held are hurt by nothing more than Fasting insomuch that unless they eat something in the morning before their usual dinner time they either faint or at least feel a greivous gnawing and they are never better than when their Stomachs are full of victuals whereby the Bile is imbibed and the close contracted Stomach is not receptive of it Certainly her Disease was from a fluxion of hot humours and they that are so held must take food neither in a small quantity nor thin because such corrupts and increases the Cacochymy but if a good quantity and substantial be taken it frees from fluxion and concocts Nevertheless a great quantity taken often can never he concocted especially in an indisposed Stomach therefore they must eat plentifully and but once But because they cannot pass any long time without all manner of food they should use some light and medicinal Breakfasts and Suppers such as Barly-grewel with Pomegranate-juice Therefore Hippocrates does not here mean by 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 all tasting of Food but one full dinner so his advice is to dine once well and at other hours to take a taste of something medicinal which cannot load the Stomach as if you should advise one to take a Tost and small Wine for Breakfast in Winter Vallesius sect 2. Epid. lib. 2. and Pomegranate-juice in Summer and for Supper Barly-grewel with that juice or a baked Pear Medicines especially made use of by eminent Physicians 1. The Stomach of an Osprey dried to Powder and drunk doth wonderfully help them that cannot digest their meat but it must not be continued for it causes leanness ¶ In a continual Pain and Vomiting when nothing will stay in the Stomach this is an approved Remedy Two Yelks of new-laid Eggs a spoonfull of Honey Powder of Mastick half a drachm let them be made hot in live Embers in an Egg-shell Al. Benedictus take this thrice a-day
the thick are made more stubborn Neither will it attenuate or absterge the humours for the heat acting upon the humours first consumes that which can easily be transmuted into Vapour and acts but dully upon the thick and tough humour which should first be consumed seeing it causes and encreases the disease Nor is the heat of any use that is procured by a drying diet for all heat when it hath not whereupon to act preys upon the radical moisture Therefore a drying diet is useless both because it deprives the body of nourishment and because it renders the humours more stubborn Tough humours in the body are made fluid the very same way as Artificers Glew which is made liquid not with dry things but moist Galen treating Lib. de atten vict rat about the expectoration of those things that oppress the Lungs saith that what is got out of the Lungs must not onely be incided and made hot but must be moderately moistned lest the spittle be hardned and made tough But the humours that are carried to the head can be attenuated no other way than they in the Lungs Galen indeed saith there that bodies in which cold thick and tough humours abound are relieved by the use of attenuating meats Botallus de octarrbo cap. 10. But this opinion must not be translated from Bodies to Humours which must not be attenuated by actually dry things but by suppings wherein inciders are boiled and those actually liquid XXXIII The choice of a convenient posture for the Head hath respect either to the ascent of matter to the head or to its descent from the head upon the parts below As for the Ascent it is certain that the humours will get to the head with more difficulty in an erect posture than in a leaning one because the humours by their proper gravity run downwards of their own accord which every one may easily experiment in his own hand if he let it hang down As for what concerns the descent of the Catarrh it is undoubted that the humours contained in the head will descend more readily in an erect posture by the help of their innate gravity Therefore if the parts receiving the Catarrh be more grieved than the head that sends it a leaning posture is proper for it But if benefit accrue to the head by unloading it self upon the more ignoble part then put an high pillow under the head And according to Celsus lib. 4. c. 4. if there be difficulty of breathing which often happens in a destillation the Patient must lie with his head high XXXIV Exercise of all the lower part is very necessary Saxâ—nia prâ—â—l praâ—t for for this very reason Weavers are not so much troubled with Catarrhs because they exercise their feet much XXXV Hippocrates 6. Epid. writes indeed that Venus is good for phlegmatick diseases the abundance of Phlegm being dried up where there is strength for it Yet from hence we may not inferr that it is good for people in a Catarrh nor yet from the history of Timocharis who he saith had a destillation in winter especially upon his nose and when he had used Venus it dried up His nose indeed grew dry but it is ill concluded from thence that his disease was cured seeing Hippocrates subjoins that lassitude followed and heat and dulness in the head diseases worse than the Catarrh Saxoniae thinks this opinion of Hippocrates applicable to hot Catarrhs XXXVI Calligenes lib. 7. Epid. in the Twenty fifth year of his age had a Catarrh and violent cough he brought up what he raised with great violence nothing staid below that fell down this lasted four years Hellebore did no good but a moderate Diet and to macerate the body to eat bread to abstain from sharp salt fat things succus Silphii and raw hearbs to walk much Drinking of milk did him no good but drinking pure Sesamum with soft wine Hence it is manifest the Catarrh came not so much from a multitude of humours in the whole body or in the head as from a proper intemperature of the Brain so that the excrements did not so much cause the intemperature as the intemperature caused the excrements for if excrements had been the chief cause of the disease purging would have done good but because the intemperature was the first cause and the intemperate Brain did breed matter for destillation of its proper aliment which it badly assimilated Hellebore did no good but abstinence from meat and to grow lean again with fasting for so Aliment was subtracted from the Brain and in penury of it there was less superfluity to destill and the Brain was dried with fasting and so the moist intemperature of the Brain came to be amended Moreover he was hurt by hot sharp salt and fat things because such things beside their heat have qualities that exasperate the Lungs and provoke coughing for sharp things prick salt exterge and corrode fat cause some tickling He was hurt by succus Silphii which is sharp hot and windy because thereby his head was filled and made hot and for that reason his destillation ran the more Raw herbs hurt him because a gross vapour that fills the head was raised from them Drinking of milk was not proper because it is bad for the head-ach and upon the same score likewise for them that are apt to have their heads filled though without aking wherefore it must be avoided by People subject to Catarrhs Much walking did good for it is a dry cause But understand withall seasonably for otherwise he had better not have walkt at all Friction also had been good and watching so it had not been too much His meat was bread a food truly every way moderate and without all fault unless too much be eaten He was relieved by drinking soft wine and pure crude Sesamum Soft sweet wine is good for a cough and for them that cannot raise by spitting as also is Sesamum because of that smooth Mucilage it hath Which Potion is more accommodate to diseases of the breast than to a Catarrh from intemperature of the Brain Vallesius com in loc cit Certainly it could do the Brain little good yet it did good because it would suffer nothing of the defluxion to stay below XXXVII N. Fifty five years old of a hot and moist complexion after many errours in living especially cares of the mind studies and drinking strong wine born of Parents who were subject to Catarrhs was taken with a destillation from his head upon all the right side of his body with a little immobility of the tongue and of the arm and leg on the same side all which diseases nevertheless gave way to convenient remedies onely some dulness and a sense of weight remaining in his right arm and leg which hindered him from going about his business He complained also of some weakness in his head so that when he looked upwards or downwards on one side or the other and brought his head again
Manna or lenitive Electuary with Tartar then we must come to the preparation of the first ways by repetition of the aforesaid things Then the obstructions of the Mesentery and Lacteal Vessels must be cured with attenuating opening and evacuating Medicines But to complete the detersion of the Stomach and Bowels some proper Spaw-waters may be given three days The Cacochymie must by degrees be taken from the bloud by preparation and frequent purging Nor must we fear Feverishness for in this case we must have an eye onely to the Cause and not look much upon the Fever These three sort of purgers being taken we must not believe that the whole Venous kind is cleared of its impurity Fortis l. de Feb. p. 43. wherefore purging must be repeated which may also have an opening virtue VIII In uterine and hypochondriack distempers seeing Sugared or Honeyed things doe not much good Consult 62. cent 2. therefore in the preparation of the Humours clarified juices of herbs must be put in the Decoctions Fortis transcolates the juices through Sand to purifie them IX Whether should motion and exercise be prescribed to those that are sick of the Green-sickness Idleness and Motion are equally hurtfull Idleness because it gives opportunity for heaping up of Crudities whereby the disease increases Motion especially violent because it raises the palpitation of the heart which often endangers Suffocation for the crude humours are put in motion whence Vapours are elevated to the heart Besides green-sick persons are unfit for exercise because their body is dull their strength languid and they are troubled with shortness of breath But as exercise in this disease towards the height is unseasonable so before it get any head and when it is declining it is very profitable for the languid heat is excited in the bowels concoction is better performed distribution of the Aliment is helped obstructions of the bowels are opened Horstius cent prob 9. qu. 5. motion is given to the humours and way is made for Medicines Yet a mean must be observed and general evacuations must be premised X. Whether may the absurd things which the Appetite craves be allowed We may sometimes indulge Women with Child because the bad meats which they long for may serve for Medicines or because if they should be denied the Child might be marked which would be worse But these bad and absurd things doe Virgins harm because the disease is thereby fomented and increased nor can any emolument accrue to the body or ought of the morbifick cause be abated by such things as Lime Chalk Ashes Oatmeal c. The grief arising from the denial of their desire is momentany Sennertus but the damage from such things is lasting XI It is a common opinion that Green-sick Virgins when they are Married recover their health and truly sometimes it happens that pale and discoloured Maids if they Marry become lively and acquire a rosie colour in their face and body On the contrary it is found that others have not onely after Marriage not recovered but grown worse There is need therefore of distinction for if the Illness have its rise from the retained Menses or Seed it is the safest way to Marry for so the reteined Seed is evacuated and the Womb is purged But if there be any evil disposition in any Viscus especially the Liver or the Spleen or in the whole body this is not removed by the use of Venus but rather increased and the bad humours that abound in the whole body are drawn to the Womb and raise obstructions in it whereupon long Fevers and other evils arise Such must be cured before Marriage or if they be incurable Sennertus it is better to remain unmarried Medicines especially made use of by eminent Physicians 1. The following Electuary of Steel is very good in obstructions of the inwards especially in the Green-sickness Take of Filings of Steel very fine grind them with Vinegar and dry them this should be done seven times Take of this 6 ounces Cinnamon Candied Nutmeg each 3 drachms Rheubarb 2 drachms Spec. Aromat Rosat 6 drachms Crato obs l. siâ—g Ep. 244. Honey and Sugar each 1 pound Mix them make an Electuary but universal Purgation must precede 2. There is nothing better than Quintessence of Catmint to cure the Pale Wan-colour in Maids for it most certainly and successfully promotes the Menses 3. They say Mercatus that in the Green-sickness from obstructions in tne Spleen an ointment of Ostridges grease is very good Some say nothing is more effectual ¶ It is evident from observation that Bezoar-stone is very good especially for Melancholick Women taken in some appropriate water ¶ I have experienced that Scorzonera Root steeped in some proper liquour and drunk in a morning hath cured several ¶ The best thing in the world for this Disease is the water that runs from a Grind-stone whereon Swords are ground if you quench red-hot filings of Steel an hundred times in it for so I have seen large Spleens wasted 4. Riverius In this Disease I have experienced the wonderfull effects of Quercetan's Cachectick Powder by means whereof I have cured innumerable Maids and Women of the Green-sickness 5. The following Pills are kept as a Secret by many Take of Juice of Mercury Varandaeus clarified Honey each 1 ounce Boil them to a sufficient consistency Add of the Seed of Roman Nigella powdered 3 drachms Make a Mass of a drachm whereof make 6 Pills Take two when she goes to bed for three nights one after another Cholera or a Vomiting and Loosness The Contents Sometimes bloud must be let I. Whether if it happen in a woman with child she may be let bloud II. Whether a Vomit may be given III. How things that restrain the violence of the humour must be given IV. We must astringe with caution V. A moist Cholera proceeds from heat of the Stomach VI. When a Sweat is proper VII When Laudanum may be used VIII The cure by Epicerasticks taken and injected IX A most cruel one cured X. In a Man Seventy years old XI Caused by drinking ungratefull Wine XII Cured with Vinegar and Water XIII A bloudy one cured XIV By Narcoticks mixt with Purgatives XV. Manna and all things made of Sugar suspected in a Vomiting and Loosness XVI Medicines I. WHen the Vomiting and Loosness is stopt by the use of Medicines and the strength something restored the Patients seem out of all danger which does not onely deceive the by-standers but even the Physicians sometimes for after one or two days quiet and intermission the Symptoms return stronger and more violent and carry off the Patient who was weakned with the first fit of his disease Which great danger must be obviated not onely by Restoratives and things that asswage the heat of the humours which must be continued when the fit is over but by letting bloud which draws back and very much qualifies the torrid
in it giving a Clyster now and then of the same Decoction When the matter is concocted and ready I have used Diaphoenicon and Diacatholicon with good success Leon. Jacchinus and sometimes Cock-broth and other Remedies which do not heat much XXII Give Syrups without any Liquour Oxymel simplex or compositum mixing some Scylliticum Syrup of Betony and Mint with it for if you mix any hot Liquours with it Saxonia they will encrease Wind. XXIII Seeing the antecedent Cause is either thick and phlegmatick humours lodging within the Membranes of the Colon or some flatulent matter or an Inflammation of the Colon or a sharp and biting Juice which causes sometimes are complicated if the Disease be of any continuance when frequently together with the thickness of the matter a flatulent acrimony is also joined with Inflammation wherefore according to the Hermeticks the colical disposition is produced from a tartarous Mucilage mixt with styptick and sowre Spirits Therefore it is asserted when all things convenient are premised that Spirit of Salt is very good as well because by its attenuating and resolving faculty it corrects the peccant humours as because by its discutient faculty it digests the flatulent matter Besides it alters the putrefying matter and preserves the humours from Putrefaction Yea by its aperient faculty it disposes the morbifick cause that nature may sooner rid her self of it And in as much as it depresses or fixes hot and sulphureous Exhalations so far it is a very good Anodyne Nor need we fear that by its heat it will too much melt and dissolve the humours which Galen 2. Meth. 8. bids us have a care of or that by its penetrative faculty it should enrage the humours more because it is evident in that being give to hydropick persons â—r Hâ—rstiâ—â— Dec. 6. rob 1. it quenches thirst and does not cause it and it rather consumes and asswages the raging humours than irritates them XXIV Be not inconsiderately of their opinion that Cure every Colick with hot things Look attentively to the Cause of the Disease before you I saw yellow Choler swimming so plentifully on the Colon of a Woman that one might have taken it thence with a Spoon which affluence of Bile in this place seeing Anatomists do frequently observe it is very likely that it sweats through the coats of the Gall-bladder by little and little being nearer to this Gut than others Wherefore they doe very ill who by overmuch study do violently press the Liver because this prone incurvation of the bended body squeezes out the Bile which sometimes as it pricks and vellicates the out Skin so now and then it insinuates it self between the coats of the Colon so miserably racking the Patient thus beset that he had rather dye a thousand deaths Tulpius obs l. 2. c. 37. than fall into such misery XXV The chief signs of a Colick arising from Phlegm and Wind are taken from the excrements and for the ease and cure of it things that purge Phlegm and break Wind all hot things with tenuity of parts are used Yet that we should have more respect to the temperature of the Body and the Age than to these Causes i. e. Phlegm and Wind this fresh example doth shew About two years since that Noble Person Mr. de Mommolin Treasurer to the most Serene Prince de Longeville in the Province of Neufchastel scragged as it seems of a cold and dry temper endowed in his youth with a senile prudence about thirty five years old was frequently taken with the Colick which gave him but little respite so that he was scarce two days free from it He advised with several Physicians whose main care was that the crude cold and moist humour might be altered concocted and excluded Wind dissipated the cold intemperature of the Stomach and Guts might be brought to a hotter and their tone might be restored them This Noble Person diligently observed the Diet and Medicines nor failed in any thing the Pain nevertheless raging and nothing abated At that time he was sent Embassadour by the most Serene Prince to his Subjects with the Noble Akakia for his Companion who is Grandchild to Akakia the famous Physician of Paris well known for his several Commentaries upon some Books of Galen He considering the constitution of the Noble Treasurer's body judged he must go another and contrary course he said the Disease must be overcome not by heating and drying things but by temperate and moistning and that the generation of Phlegm and Wind was the product as well of a hot and dry Intemperature of the Guts as of a Cold If he had a mind to be free of his troublesome and frequent Pain he must bid farewell to the Remedies he had hitherto used and must now ply temperate onely and asswaging things That for this purpose the continual use of Chicken or Veal-broth without Salt was very good that he should either wholly abstain from Wine or drink it with much Water The Noble Treasurer had scarce observed it three days but he was free from all pain and enjoyed his perfect health XXVI An Apothecary forty years old told me he was several years troubled with the Colick and could find no other Remedy but Drinking of Water and as long as he persevered in it he continued well but as often as he fell to the use of Wine again within two days he was taken with the same disease In my judgment the Colick was not raised by simple bile but for the greater part by a Melancholick Humour mixt with a bilious one seeing the said Apothecary had the melancholick temper predominant in him And seeing Melancholy is continually poured out of the Spleen into the Stomach which by its acidity infects the Wine as soon as it is drunk the Wine presently turns sowre upon the Stomach and encreases the cause of the disease But if a bilious humour were the cause of the Disease it might indeed be corrected by drinking water but the use of Wine would not so suddenly bring the disease because Wine does not so quickly produce the Qualities of Bile as of Melancholy in as much as wine easily grows sowre and not bitter And that which makes me the more believe it is Riverius Cent. 4. Obs 49. that when the said Apothecary was taken with a fit of the Colick he cast up sowre stuff by vomit and not bitter XXVII A certain Physician as Paulus l. 3. c. 42. and Avicenna relate Mart. Marrius de morb mesent l. 114. cured bastard Colicks which formerly ended in the falling-sickness and Palsie several times with Diet potentially and actually cold although irrationally Which nevertheless Oethaeus in Observat testifies did happily succeed the plentifull use of raw Plumbs and Grapes ¶ And it is convenient sometimes by the repeated drinking of warm water sometimes when the body is prepared of cold water to keep in the Choler that flies upward Or some water in which new vine
boiling and preparing it after such a manner as seemed most convenient for the health of the Patient giving him of it both morning and evening for a Julep and for his Drink although I had resolved not to put him upon so slender a diet as if he had not been afflicted with so tedious a Disease although he had formerly used a fuller diet than was convenient by which sort of remedy he was perfectly cured of his Disease Who unless indeed he had recovered of his Disease quickly after taking it truly I had added a greater measure of the Bark seeing it is more efficacious than the rind of Rhadish Citron Hellebore Capers and several other things Nor would I have passed to other things but have waited a few days Aloysius Mundella seeing the nature of this Medicine is such that it exercises its strength a long time after it is taken LI. A Bath-keeper of Vienna after he had been wrackt 3 quarters of a year with a most grievous Colick and had used many things amiss and the evil seemed to be exasperated by drinking Spaw-waters yea and his young Wife was but lately dead of the same Disease fearing the same fate sent for me He began to be convulse in his whole Body so that I guessed the matter translated to the nervous kind about to cause a Palsie created us this mischief When his Convulsions were stopt by Medicines I gave him Guaiacum Wine according to Amatus his Precept Cent. curat 32. to cause him to sweat for five days and he was perfectly recovered P. de Sorbait Ephem German an 3. p. 457. Without doubt it was a Colick from phlegmatick humours the Seminaries of wind got into the Guts which being dissolved by that Diaphoretick Wine was spent by sweat Some laxatives were given between whiles LII In a long and pertinacious Colick where the Constitution and Bowels are hotter than ordinary Purging waters or Whey and Syrup of Violets are often given with great benefit For both these Liquors where they agree drunk plentifully cool the excessive heat of the Stomach and Intestines and presently ease and make them lax when contracted by Spasms and painfull corrugations or convulsively extended by wind Moreover whereby especially as I think they doe good by insinuating Saline particles of another nature into the morbifick matter Willis cap. de Colica they tame and subdue the other saline and irritative ones that are in it and often carry them off by Purge ¶ Above all other Remedies whatever Iron-mine Spaw-waters drunk for a month in Summer-time use to give the most relief But when they are drunk great care must be taken that they be discharged again by Stool and Urine lest perhaps if they should make any long stay in the body Idem ibid. by running into the head or feet as they often do they might cause the Vertigo or Gout ¶ In a phlegmatick and flatulent Colick Spaw-waters have no place because they cool the Intestines and double the Pain and because they have no passage by reason of Costiveness they distend the Belly and encrease Pain In a bilious perhaps they may be allowed if the Body be loose and the Stomach such as can safely and easily bear the drinking of them For Galen 6. de loc aff c. 2. writes that reaching and vomiting are urgent in the Colick Sebisius de Acidulis Sect. 2. dissert 2. Sect. 44. and indeed far more violent than in the Stone and that the Patients vomit Phlegmatick and corrupt stuff for the Stomach when the Intestines are affected does sympathize LIII Diureticks usually doe more good than sweats whereby when the bloud is dissolved and its serosities are plentifully precipitated then the fewel of the Disease is cut off and the mass of bloud being emptied receives part of the morbifick matter Idem ibid. so that upon this account its reliques are easily discussed LIV. Bathing must not be allowed them that labour of such a Colick for usually their bowels are too hot and hereby they are more heated and the pain is encreased Then in an Afflux of that matter which first bred the Colick before the nerves be affected the muscles are first filled so that they cannot receive the animal Spirit which is the chief operator of sense and motion or if they do receive it yet they cannot doe their duty because of their feeble and weak constitution which bathing increases and so helps to a worse translation of the matter according to Aphor. 5.16 But if all things have been tried in vain Hoëferus Herc. Med. l. 3. c. 5. and the pain cease not nothing hinders but we may put the Patient in a Bath and industriously cause a Translation of the humour because so the morbifick matter is translated from the more noble to the ignoble parts when there is no place for evacuation that is a violent Disease must be cured by one more gentle for the bastard Palsie that follows in process of time goes away of it self or is forced away by fit Remedies ¶ Baths and Sudorificks are commonly prescribed in the Colick yet as far as I could observe seldom with good success Because these things by exagitating the bloud and nervous humour cause them to throw off more into the matter of the Colick and the matter lodged there already to boil and rage the more Wâ—llis and they very rarely discuss the matter perfectly LV. In the Colick Passion Diaphoreticks and Sudorificks must not be neglected seeing it is observed by Carolus Piso Sect. 4. Concerning Diseases of the lower Belly from serous matter cap. 2. That oftentimes these pains are much eased by spontaneous sweats and are averted by discussing wind And often Bile the cause of the Colick pain is by a spontaneous critical-motion of Nature thrust out to the outer skin in an universal Abscess Eâ—chir Med. pract See Castrensis lib. Quae ex quibus LVI We must have a care lest by using hot things taken inwardly or applied outwardly the humours become adust and raise an inflammation ¶ I have observed in some constitutions and tempers that Epithems of hot things or applied hot rather enrage than abate the pain Wherefore in these cases it seems not amiss to apply fomentations of a solution of Nitre or Sal Ammoniack as in pains of the Gout Willis and sometimes as Septalius reports of pure cold water LVII Some use a girdle wherewith they bind in the Belly strait But I think it is to no purpose and that it rather increases than diminishes the pain Rolsinc cons 3. l. 7 For when the Belly is squeezed the Colon also is straitned and the windy matter makes the more reluctancy whereupon the pain is enraged LVIII The same matter does not always cause the pain which causes the obstruction but sometimes a divers For store of wind with retention of the Excrements both dissolves continuity and causes Pain and Obstruction But when wind is not so plentifull
the humours being retained the Inflammation should be encreased Not Diureticks which seems a Paradox for Galen 5 meth 3. and 13. meth 11. teaches that when the Intestines are out of order the humours must be carried off by urine and for aphor ult 4. Sect. I take my reason for it from Galen 7. meth 11. who laying down the general method of curing Fluxes teaches That the humours must never be carried from parts of less moment to those of greater moment Of the former sort are the Guts which being large can bear the quantity and quality of humours without any great trouble Of the latter are the Liver Veins Kidneys Bladder all which having narrow passages besides the filth and acrimony are apt either to breed the Stone or Ulcers sharpness of Urine or Strangury And especially because the Guts themselves are a fit place for the purgation of the humours beyond the gibbous part of the Liver Neither may these humours be drawn to the habit of the body since they cannot pass thither but by the Liver and common Veins parts of moment Nor may the opinion of several be followed who for revulsion apply Cupping-glasses to the parts where the Flux begins although they be noble as if the Flux begin at the Liver to the Liver if at the Spleen to the Spleen for so not onely the matter gathered there is retained there but also new matter is drawn from the neighbouring places What must be done therefore Three things must be done First of all the matter must be brought away by Clysters or astringent Purgers Secondly if it be thin and hot it must be thickned and cooled Thirdly Saxonia the Diseases must be cured whereby it was bred XIV The cure of a wasting Flux which is when nature cannot retain the humours for some weakness from the alteration of temperament consists in the restitution of the temperament so a draught of cold water has cured several that have been sick of heat for whom walking in cool places and cooling diet is good without the use of Astringents On the contrary they that labour under a cold intemperature are benefited by strong wine and food high seasoned by heating frictions and anointings Mercatus for whom also the use of astringents is hurtfull XV. Whether in wasting Fluxes as some famous men have thought good it be convenient to give purging Medicines indeed but such as are apt to bind after evacuation the ratio medendi and a right method may inform us For seeing by such Fluxes it is not the superfluities that are brought away either from the humours or the solid parts but it is either the humours themselves or the solid parts that are wasted no man should by any means offer to purge but onely ply the causes of Colliquation For neither is Evacuation endeavoured by the Purge proper for the colliquated matter since Nature brings that away of it self nor is it indicated by what is to be colliquated since the onely indication to be taken in this Disease is that which hinders colliquation Which Colliquation a Purge may not onely not hinder but increase P. Salius l. de febr pestilent c. 24. And how dangerous this is let them tell you who boldly attempting it have brought the sick into a dangerous condition XVI Nor yet in these Fluxes is the use of astringent medicines approved because if that matter which is squeezed out by colliquation be altogether bad and retained within the body of the sick it may doe more hurt when retained than when voided for beside that by its pravity it would continually increase the Fever so also by its retention it would get a worse quality whereupon it would increase the Disease or it might with ease take its way to the heart or other principal parts Wherefore the Evacuation of matter already bred must be wholly lest to Nature Idem ibid. and the Physician must doe his utmost upon the causes of Colliquation XVII Among the several differences of Fluxes of the belly a virulent or poisonous Flux may be reckoned for one which if it be treated the common way all that are sick of it dye before you are aware It differs from others not in Specie or form but onely in cause or manner because the cause is poisonous and the disease malignant Therefore a diarrhoea lienteria dysenteria and hepatick Flux may be poisonous in genere and in specie For Galen 4. aphor 21. making mention of a Flux that was abroad in his days in time of the Plague says that the excrements were yellow and red and at last black In the cure the Flux it self must be observed distinct from the poison 2. The poison it self In respect of this onely two remedies are necessary Drawers to the Skin and Alteratives Nothing is better than the former 1. Because there is a due revulsion from within to without 2. Because the poison is drawn to an ignoble part that is the skin It may be objected if in curing of Fluxes there be indications taken from the matter from the causes and affections without the poison if there be Indications taken from the poison also upon which must we fall first Here we must consider the way and manner of the Flux for if it be swift in motion which the constitution will shew and if besides it be malignant we must streight oppose the poison if it be chronical and less malignant so as to give some truce we must first satisfie the common scopes Drawers either draw specifically or by their heat All the first are poisonous which must be so corrected that they may be fit to draw not to corrupt the Body Vesicatories draw by heat which hold the first place and they are convenient also in a colliquative sharp and hot Flux But the cause of the colliquation and heat must be enquired into for in poison beside the occult quality there is a heating colliquating and putrefactive quality so that if the poison be not immediately got out all things are given to no purpose Therefore in a hot and colliquative Flux so it be with malignity we may use Vesicatories Sinapisms Baths of hot water Frictions Anointings Cupping-glasses Alteratives also act by an occult or manifest quality The occult some by heat some by cold where the fluent matter the causes and the disease must be considered if all of them conspire in heat as you may observe for the most part in malignant Fluxes you must use cold Alexitericks as Unicorns horn Hartshorn Pearl Bole Armenick juice of Citron c. Observe in malignant Fluxes there must be a great quantity of Medicines Saxonia and often repeated XVIII An inveterate Diarrhoea which often happens to Scorbutick persons must by no means be stopt with astringents neither is it easily cured with alteratives nor with any Antiscorbuticks Spaw-waters impregnated with Iron or Vitriol are the best remedy for this disease Next to these are medicinal or artificial Chalybeates which doe much
Diaphoenicon frigidum applied hot to the whole Belly is most excellent in any Dysentery the same also may be applied in the beginning 7. Take pure root of Tormentil grosly bruised 6 ounces Pour to it in a glass Body of Tormentil water 16 ounces Let it simmer on a gentle Fire then let it cool and pour off and separate the Decoction carefully from the Root add of fine Sugar half a pound Set it in Sand and with a gentle Fire reduce it to the consistency of a Syrup Then add of the Tincture Oil or Liquour first precipitated with distilled Vinegar and then with Spirit of Vitriol of Corals Mich. Crugnerus mix it well and keep it It is a most excellent Remedy in the Bloudy-flux 8. Oil of Walnuts cures a Flux miraculously if it be taken inwardly and the Belly be anointed therewith ¶ This is reckoned a Secret in stopping Fluxes of the Belly If you take of the Juice of unripe Grapes 10 spoonfuls boil it a little after it is clarified drink a third part of it for it presently stops the Flux and strengthens the Bowels Claud. Deodatus 9. They say Cudweed boiled in Wine is an effectual Remedy Dioscorides 10. Boil a Crab with Wine and Pepper take off the Shells and dry them the Powder of the simple Shell taken twice every day cures any Flux specifically It may also be mixt with other things It is an experienced thing ¶ Distilled water of Celandine drunk Tob. Dorncrellius powerfully stops any Flux as I have heard one say upon his certain experience 11. There is no more present Remedy than Vva quercina in Powder Christoph Engelius for any Bloudy-flux I have cured some of desperate Dysenteries onely with it 12. The Cawl of a Wether fried in Oil of Roses and applied Franc. Osw Grembs is an excellent Remedy to stop the fury of it 13. A linen cloth dipt in the bloud of a Hare not killed by a weapon but in hunting by the bite of a Dog and dried and kept for use if it be made Lint of and given in Wine it cures the Dysentery Yea the Soldiers in Germany when they have killed a Hare in the aforesaid manner dry her in the smoke and give her in drink and so cure the Bloudy-flux infallibly Van Helmont 14. The Liver of a Wolf prepared that is when it has been steeped 3 days in very strong Vinegar and then dried in an Oven upon a Tile is highly commended 15. The Pisle of a Cat is a most certain Remedy in this Disease Frid. Hofmannus the Shavings of it may be mixt in some Electuary 16. It is admirable that Colcothar the Caput mortuum of Vitriol should possess a quality to cure a Bloudy-flux that is if they that are afflicted with the Bloudy-flux do go to stool upon it Christ Langius it cures them This is confirmed by many observations of D. Michael 17. Half a drachm of Crystal finely powdered and prepared taken in some convenient Water is a singular Remedy for a Dysentery Joh. Langius especially for one arising from porraceous and yellow choler 18. I have observed it by experience and beyond all doubt that 2 drachms of Filipendula root given either in Wine or the Yelk of an Egg is good The leaves and roots of which Herb I have often found to doe both the same thing ¶ I have found this Potion doe a great deal of good Take of Syrup of Popy 1 ounce of dried Roses half an ounce Diamargariton frigidum half a drachm burnt Ivory half a scruple Water of Plantain Horse-tail each 2 ounces ¶ This is excellent good to ease pain Take of Acacia Hypocistis the inside of a Quince Sumach Galls each 1 drachm red Coral burnt and washt with Rose-water 1 drachm and an half Opium 1 drachm Cinnamon Cyperus each 1 drachm Syrup of Roses what is sufficient Make a solid Electuary of which make Pills Lud. Mercatus whereof you may give a scruple or half a drachm 19. An Egg boiled in Vinegar and eaten Oribasius stops all Fluxes of the Belly 20. The Feet of a Partridge rosted and one drachm of the Powder given in Coriander water when there is a Fever and when there is none Joh. Praevotius in black Wine cures even a raging Dysentery 21. The dung of a Dog that eats bones dried and powdered and put in a little chalybeate Milk is good for a Dysentery given for 3 days morning and evening I can safely swear I have cured above an hundred of the Dysentery with it in one year as Christopher Landrinus can testifie Joh. David Rulandus 22. The Fruit of the Linden-tree yields an effectual Remedy for any Flux of the Belly Valesc de Taranta as Camerarius testifies 23. The lesser Plantain given with an equal quantity of Daucus is a singular Remedy Gul. Varignana 24. This is very much commended If the Patient for 3 or 4 days morning and evening sit over a red hot Plate of metal upon which 1 ounce of the best Turpentine or Pine Refin must be thrown ¶ This is an admirable one especially in Childrens fluxes if every day morning and evening the Child's anus be fumed with the Powder of young Asses dung carefully dried in an oven and strewed upon red hot Coals Benedict Victor ¶ The following Fomentation also is highly commended Take of Balm 1 pound Mullein 1 handfull put them in a long bag which afterwards boiled in a like quantity of styptick red Wine and strong Vinegar to a third must be applied warm to the Seat 25. Many reckon Cresses seed given alone or mixt with other things a singular Remedy in the Bloudy-flux Arn. Weikardus 26. This is a singular Remedy for any Flux of Bloud Take Frog-spawn and dip a linen cloth at least thrice in it dry it in the shade and doe so thrice Which cloth so prepared and dried you may use Apply a piece twice as large as the place where-out the Bloud flows Keep this as a Secret ¶ This is a singular Remedy for the Bloudy-flux Break a new Egg into a new earthen Pot then take a like quantity of Honey Vinegar and Oil mix them all together and bake them Eat them and you will find a good effect Marc. Ant. Zimara Dysuria or Sharpness of Vrine The Contents It must be cured variously according to the diversity of the cause I. A Vomit is proper II. The benefit of Clysters III. Cassia sometimes suspected IV. Diureticks sometimes hurtfull V. It arises sometimes from the defect of the humour that moistens the urinary passage VI. Sometimes from the site of the Bladder altered VII Sometime from the glandulous Body too much dried VIII Medicines I. A Man threescore years of age was sick of a violent Sharpness of Urine some placed the cause in his Bladder others in his Kidneys But when he was dead of an Apoplexy there was no fault observed in
on a sudden taken with such another Ecchymosis about his left Eyelid and Cheek whereby he was relieved and seemed better in other respects Here I told them they must abstain from liquid things as being endued with a repelling faculty Gr. Horstius l. 9. obs 11. by reason of their actual coldness which they quickly fall into and that they should undertake the business with dry digesting fomentations by which also gradually a dissipation was obtained as in the former V. This Caution is necessary before application of a Catâ—â—lasm that if the Skin be not whole a thin linâ—â—â—ag spread with Vnguentum rosatum Heurnius l. 1. Meth. ad Prax. populem or â—e tatia be first applied and then the Cataplasm VI. A Woman about 50 years old got a contused wound in her head by a fall so that there arose a Tumour from the extravasated bloud as big as a Hen's Egg. When all was done that should be done I thought of opening it or suppurating it according to Aphor. 5.20 To this there did concur the abundance of matter her age the hardness of her Skin the Winter-season Because she was against opening it and that I might avoid the pain and other troubles of Suppuration I tried dissipation First I fomented the part with warm water for half an hour then I shaved the part against the hair that the pores might be better opened and the filth sticking to the part might be better got off Riverius in obs communicat Then I applied of Oil of Lilies and Chamaemil equal parts applying upon that warm Cotton fumed with Spices and so the Tumour dissolved beyond all expectation VII They think this must especially be observed if the contusion be in the sides belly or back For then we must take especial notice whether in 3 4 or 5 days there arise upon the place where the Contusion was a Swelling with pain whether it increase daily and there be a throbbing pain and the Patient cannot indure the part to be touched if an unusual redness appear round it if he breathe short and there be any heat in the body For when these things appear although no blewness appear in the outer parts it is a sign that matter is gathering and an Imposthume breeding Wherefore lest the matter turn inwards eat holes and corrode the inward parts and by these means cause death or tedious diseases in the Patient the place must be timely opened for when the place is opened the matter runs out with ease Sennertus They think that Emollients and Suppuraters doe little good VIII We must take notice also of what Paraeus tells us how in a Contusion of the Muscles especially about the ribs the flesh swells and becomes as it were mucous so that if it be prest it makes the air flatulent with a small hissing and the prints of one's fingers remain in it Then in the space which the flesh parting from the bones has left a purulent matter is left which causes the ribs to perish If this happen we must timely prevent the mischief and the part must be bound very strait and then Oxycroceum Diachylum â—â—iatum or the like digesters must be used IX Some Noblemen in the River threw Water one at another one of them that had stirred himself most violently had a great pain in his left groin and at length an Ecchymosis in the same place a span long and five inches broad which was a certain argument that some Vessels must be broken Therefore the cure of broken Vessels was entred upon by Vnguentum herbaceum inwardly and outwardly Phil. Salmuth cent 1. obs 68. Pulvis ad casum Pimpinellae and Oxycroceum presently the pain ceased and the concrete bloud exhaled X. You may often see upon a Contusion of the fleshy parts of the body abundance of bloud extravasated in their interstices which you may find to fluctuate by the touch of your fingers and you may sever it as in abscesses but you must consider that to treat this as an Abscess is not always successfull To go to work by Discutients were tedious and by driers would be more difficult but to efficacious and expeditions Chirurgery it is easie That is if you thrust a Penknife or sometimes a broad pointed Lancet into the Skin for so and by squeezing it a little the grumous bloud will start out wonderfully Which was verified in a Carman that was kicked by a Mule Severinus Eff. Chir. p. 97. and had his Arm bruised swelled and pained who came to me and was this way successfully cured XI A Man of about 36 years of Age of a lean constitution by accident of a fall near two stories high into the Street was sorely bruised especially on his left-side hip and arm I immediately let him bloud largely and embrocated the parts bruised cum oleo ros myrt aceto and applied astringent Emplasters A Clyster was also prescribed and Irish Slate c. was given him whereby he was disposed to a breathing sweat and at the hour of sleep an Anodyne draught was prescribed to incline him to rest By this method the fluxion was checked during which the parts diseased were fomented with a decoct summitat abfinth anethi majoranae flor cham sambuci sem anisi cumini to which was added Spir. vini Wiseman's Chirurgery p. 70. Embrocations were also made ex oleis aneth rutae terebinth and the Cerote above proposed was applied over them and in progress of time he was cured XII To them that are employed in the cure of outward Ails there often occur Ulcers which lie hid under the Skin a little discoloured and something exasperated unity being broke which in cacochymick or cachectick bodies gives a painfull suspicion of it self and which may either pass into some cavity if any such place be there or of besetting and putrefying the bones or the Muscles and Nerves or if these or any joint be underneath there is fear of loss or lameness or of a perpetual feebleness Which it is a prudent Man's part to prevent because the force of corruption is admirable if it remain there any time For I have seen where the Skin has been whole and where it has not been touched by the abscess pieces of flesh ill cured have withered and likewise whole torous Muscles and long tendons c. Yea and solid bones have lost their rigour and natural splendour I have had eminent examples of this matter Which indeed as it is wonderfull in exactly putrid Ails so it is much more admirable in Contusions and Ecchymomas which if indeed they fall upon the nervous parts and be not at the first exhausted and dried up by Medicines when the flesh and vessels and fibres of other parts do both languish with the bruise and are a little poisoned with their own juice extravasated the bones which are fenced round being not sufficiently defended by their own small heat and slender vigour and being deprived by degrees of
Arm. ¶ Yet it is not always safe to put Hellebore root in a wound for while pain encreases by attraction of the humours the strength sometimes wasts Idem Analect p. 621. according to my own and others observation VII I resolved to open another Issue in the left Arm because I understood a Disease of so long standing must now be in the Brain for it is certain the brain abounds with these juices for which purging by the Belly seems not sufficient Which remedy was of that power that from thence forward he fell more rarely into fits and they were milder so that those who were by Mercatus Cons 3. accounted him perfectly cured VIII Adr. Spigelius tells of a Nobleman who had often struggled with an Epilepsie for twenty one years and when Aquapendent had trepanned his Skull for a grievous fall he had got down a pair of stairs he was never after troubled with a fit Therefore Rondeletius does not without reason approve of this remedy for a confirmed Melancholy in the Brain Rhodius Obs 66. l. 1. though Forestus think it dangerous IX Erastus disapproves of rubbings in the fit because the draw nothing from they place affected and because the numbness of the Limbs admits not of their virtue But the reason they are made use of is that the drowzy senses may be recalled to their office which thing violent rubbing in the Shoulders Arms Back and Thighs with a course cloth doth perform effectually Moreover this advantage accrews that the parts are thereby heated and the humours and Spirits drawn thither whereby there is a retraction made of the vapours that are creeping upwards to the lower parts because of the rubbing upon which restitution of the senses follows X. Whereas some set up the Sick keep their Arms and Thighs wholly from the Convulsive motion or strain them into this or that posture Farther whereas they blow sneezing up their Noses and pour strong Cordials into their mouths or use cupping and scarifying and by other modes of administration treat the caducous but roughly and disturb the manner of the Paroxysm this course I say is often followed amiss because by this means Nature has a double trouble one from the disease and another no whit less from the by-standers and attendants when it had been far better that the fit being suffered to take its own course the Patient had been onely one way afflicted Willis XI We must take notice that the usual Purges must be made use of frequently that is once or twice in a week and the course must be continued for several months yea sometimes we must go to the stronger Purgatives according to Massarias his rule who says that the Epilepsie is seldom cured because Physicians are always upon gentle means For this reason Chymists are wont to give the usual Purgers which draw the humours from the most remote parts If a happy event may be expected from such Medicines it depends especially upon Mercury calcined either with Gold or by it self in a sand Fornace with a long regiment of fire taking especial care that no part of it remain crude and volatile which would give a great violence to the Medicine which would otherwise purge gently enough it four or five grains of it be given with Pil. Coch. or rather with some phlegmagogick Extract Riverius XII Septalius says he never saw any relieved by a Vomit but that he observed they were all made heavy headed Reason tells one as much because a Vomit disturbs the head more which is ill already And this is very true where the Brain is primarily affected or when the matter lies in some part in the habit of the Body because this remedy gets nothing thence And Experience confirms it which has ever had ill success upon giving Purges whether upwards or downwards But if the Epilepsie hath had its first rise in the Stomach and the adjoining places and the humour that is the cause can easily be derived thither If the Patient can bear a Vomit the worst that can follow will be some small disturbance of the head which will quickly be at an end XIII The success of Vomits in an epileptick Paroxysm is dubious Septalius l. 6. n. 5. utterly disapproves it Nor is it good though it by consent with the Stomach for it is one thing to cure an Epilepsie before the fit another thing in the very fit in this we deny it for the reasons alledged by Septalius in the other we have no reason to scruple it Whether in diseases above the Throat a Vomit be of any use although the humours seem to be carried to the head Santorellus l. 22. Antepr c. 4. answers affirmatively Fridericus Hosmannus m. m. l. 1. c. 5. It is another case when Poison for example Hemlock taken into the Stomach produces an Epilepsie For Vomits according to Septalius his opinion would not be safe These are his words Have a care you do not give a Vomit in a fit of an Epilepsie I have seen some that have tried this in a fit induced thereto by the Authority of some Writers who have killed their Patients outright For the Head being more filled by the violent motion and the matter residing in the Brain being stirred they bring them to a perfect obstruction whereupon an Apoplexy usually follows The most excellent Frider. Hosmannus also l. 1. c. 9. disapproves of Vomits though the Epilepsie be caused by consent of the Stomach and although he seems to grant them out of the fit yet in their opinion they can scarcely be given when either the Paroxysms are continual or invade at very short intervals But these things are not of such moment as to forbid Vomits for Septalius seems to respect any periodical Epilepsie even that whose cause lies hid within the Brain and then it seems to be grounded on an opinion that is false and now exploded by most i. e. that the Epilepsie arises from the obstruction of the ventricles of the Brain and in the stirring of the humours by some violent agitation caused by Vomits even in the head the ventricles of the Brain may easily be wholly obstructed and an Apoplexy caused Besides when Vomits are given to get Hemlock out of the Stomach they are not opposed to an inveterate Epilepsie or one that is otherwise deep rooted and has tired out the Patients with many fits but to a new one Finally they cast out the proximate and primary cause from the Stomach which being removed the Epileptick fits forthwith or within a little time abate and shortly altogether cease And reason does not onely persuade the necessity and benefit of Vomits in this case but experience also proves the same for a Vomit immediately cured six little Girls who at one and the same time had eaten Hemlock and thereupon had been taken with most violent and tedious Epileptick fits while two Boys that had eaten it at the same time who could not be made to vomit though they
person to be fumed with Agate and that the Oil of it is good for the same ¶ C. Piso commends it highly The smell of it saith he is a most present remedy as I have experienced in several and in that famous French Virago Maturina who being given over for dead by her Physicians upon her first smelling of this Stone was raised from her Bed and beyond all expectation ran immediately with great chearfulness to the Table and Dice The controversie is decided by distinguishing Epilepsies for this fume is good in that which vapours ascending from the womb do cause for the virtue of strong smells is such that they discuss hysterick Fits if they be held to the nose But stinking smells bring an Epilepsie that comes of any other cause XIX Stupefiers of the Nerves because by dulling their sense they render them less affected with trouble when they are irritated and therefore less convulsed if the gentler sort of them be given in grievous and dangerous Convulsions I have often found them doe much good In which respect I think Treacle c. may be proper both because it infringes the venomous power of the Epilepsie and because it dulls the exquisite sense of the nerves Platerus de funct lâ—s p. 77. and that it is given rather for that reason than because it strengthens the nervous kind XX. If it have its rise from the Womb we must take notice not to give sweet smelling Medicines for they both make the head heavy Sennertus and cause the fit XXI Things that add strength to the nervous kind are appropriate remedies which are made of capital and arthritick simples which since they supply the nervous kind with new strength as it were that it may be the better able to resist what is troublesome to it use not improperly to be added to other Medicines which we use in the Epilepsie However not with the same mind or intention but because they believed the Epilepsie was caused by Phlegm stopping up the Brain not onely these things appropriate to the Nerves are hot but in the cure of the Epilepsie they used for the most part things that migâ—t cut and attenuate thick Phlegm and the hottest remedies Which notwithstanding if the Epilepsie come from the irritation of the nervous kind because they heat the Body more I observe they cure not at all so I know by experience they rather irritate and promote and exasperate the fits And because I either found or had it from credible persons that they doe more good than hurt with their heat except in a cold and moist constitution of body or when they have moreover some other property whereby they resist poison Platerus or this disease I think they should not otherwise lightly be used XXII We affirm with Jacchinus and others that a Decoction of Guaiacum is proper for those that are subject to the Epilepsie because we must especially have respect to the antecedent cause whereby the proximate is fomented and sustained And it often consists in gross impurities gathered in the whole Body or Brain Womb Stomach c. which do indicate Incision Attenuation Solution Purging by Urine Stool Sweat c. and therefore the consumption of themselves For these as they are the subjects and antecedent causes being removed the noxious faculty existing in them is also removed that is the malignant Vapour which being exalted or raised by evaporation does otherwise produce an Epilepsie And a Decoction of Guaiacum is of great service in respect of the present indication as by inciding and attenuating it dissolves this antecedent cause by cleansing it evacuates and by provoking sweat it renders the mass of bloud defoecate not without strengthening of the Bowels through its amicable astrictive faculty connate to it Nor is the decoction of Guaiacum onely usefull in rooting out the Cause but its acid Spirit and Oil also is very good to allay and conquer a fit We must take notice concerning Hydroticks that they are proper generals premised 2. That the decoction it self of Guaiacum according to the different nature of the Subject must be prepared with things appropriate to the morbifick cause taking care especially Gr. Horstius dec 2. prob 9. that in boiling it the Spirits do not exhale XXIII There are some that take Guaiacum for Lignum Heracleum Rulandi induced thereto both by the similitude of the name and because he often uses a decoction of this wood in the same diseases in curing of which he glories that the Oil has done good Quercetan on the contrary thinks it is drawn by distillation off Box wood Others think rather from the Pine Others from the Larch-tree for this reason especially because Oleum ERACLIVM makes by transposition of the very same Letters LARICEVM We saith Clossaeus although we are not ignorant that the Oleum Heracleum Rulandi is made of Hazle wood per descensum and that his Antepileptick Conserve is made of it not onely because Hazle nuts were called by the Ancients Heracleoticae but especially because Valentinus Rulandus writing to Fabricius Hildanus Obs 84. cent 3. plainly calls the Spirit and Oil of Hazle Wood per descensum Heraclinum Although saith he the thing be so yet I constantly affirm that Oil of Guaiacum may very fitly be used in its stead For the acid Liquor of Guaiacum hath the same virtues and faculties and shews the very same effects which he attributes to his Oleum Corylinum Moreover as experience testifies the specifick properties of Liquors perish in descensory distillation which being consumed by the fire a more fixt vitriolick Spirit is elevated together with a stinking Oil and Gum or Resine which as they are in great plenty in all Wood so in their power of acting and virtue Idem â—â—id they differ not much one from another XXIV Let Candidates in Physick observe this that the seed of Poeony is more gratefull than the root wherefore the seed may be put in Childrens victuals on the contrary the root is more convenient for Clysters It is better to use the powder of the root than the faecula for in preparing the faeculae of simples their virtue is washed away with the menstruum that is put to them yea just like Magisteries they are made like an useless Calx or the menstruum gives them some ascititious qualities XXV Candidates in Physick must also be told that if by God's Blessing they would cure an Epilepsie according to their desire they must account among Vegetables the Male Poeony rare to be found among Animals Castor or Swallows among Minerals Vitriol to be recommended to them as Specificks Some indeed will highly commend the use of Cinnabar of Antimony but it should onely be where the Epilepsie is caused by Worms S. Pauii Qu. Bot. cl 2. otherwise in my opinion it is no convenient Medicine for Epileptick persons XXVI While it was my custom to use Oil of Amber in people troubled with Epilepsies Convulsions Imposthumes
in the Lungs for those that were made purulent by a Catarrh falling on the Lungs when I observed it was odious not onely to the Patients but to the by-standers also and that it was distastefull to most by reason of its too much foetidness whether they used it by anointing outwardly or in Lozenges or Pills inwardly or any way else I have now for some years used Balsam of Peru in its stead to the advantage of my Patients I know Chymists do now correct it and take away the offensiveness of the smell by repeated distillation after washing it But I have found that after washing it is much weakned and does but little good wherefore I think we should rather use Balsam of Peru or the natural Balsam brought from Syria Heer obs 17. till we are taught how to distill an Oil of Amber without stink XXVII A Boy fell into an Epileptick fit once a day for fifteen days together The best Physicians thought it came from some disorder in his Head But the more Medicines they gave the worse the Disease grew so that in twenty four hours he had above one hundred and fifty fits yet they were small ones for he had onely a little commotion of his Head with a buble at his Lips Whereby notwithstanding they knew the Disease was not from any disorder in the head but by consent with the Stomach Trincavella l. 1. cons 25. Wherefore when they left off to trouble him with Physick and strengthened him the Child grew very well XXVIII I observed wonderfull shapes of Worms in an Epileptick Woman as she was athirst she drank greedily and frequently in her journey coming from Italy of any Water she met withall Her Epilepsie was very grievous with a swelling and an ill colour all her body over She was not relieved by Antepilepticks At length upon the repeated use of my Mercurial Pills she voided a great quantity of multiform Worms As soon as they were displaced her Epileptick-fits likewise ceased Bartholinus hist 7. cent 4. He also Cent. 6. Hist 20. produces the example of a young Man often troubled with Convulsions whose cure succeeded much better after his voiding of Ascarides XXIX A Youth about fifteen years old had a pain in his Pubes afterwards as his pain shifted to the left-side his Spleen grew presently ill and from Sympathy with it the Brain for he fell into most violent Fits of the Falling-sickness which came upon him onely by pressing the region of the Spleen with ones finger Among several Remedies nothing was better than Chalybeate-wine or black Hellebore Tulpius observ l. 1. c. 9. upon taking of which he voided so much black Choler that at last he came to himself XXX An Epileptick Maid was cured by the use of Vinegar and Water she took a glass of it every day in the morning and before the time of her Fit pure Vinegar When this disease was cured Riverius Cent. 4. Obs 1. she was troubled with a pain in her Limbs which also was cured by the use of the Bath XXXI I have known some young Men who might easily have been cured of this disease but because they would not abstain from Wine they became incurable All Men know that the Epilepsie affects the Nerves especially And because Wine turns sowre in all who have an infirm Stomach and a weak Brain and Vinegar is an open enemy to the Nerves hence Epileptick persons may easily gather how much they ought to avoid Wine and Venus Besides according to Aristotle and Averroes the Epilepsie is caused like sleep that is by a vapour Heer Obs 24. wherefore all vaporous things especially strong Wines should be avoided XXXII It is disputed by many Whether Apium be hurtfull for Epileptick persons That by Apium Parsly must be understood no Man will question who reads a passage in Pliny l. 20. c. 11. and Galen 2. de alim facult for this is the true garden or domestick Apium of the Ancients and ours is the Paludapium or Apium Palustre Pliny in the cited place says That if a Lying-in-woman eat Parsly the Child that sucks her will have the Falling-sickness Avicenna rejects Parsly especially from among Meats because by an innate property it causes the Falling-sickness And others following their steps forbid it Jacchinus is of another judgment opposing Galen and in a Counsel for an Epileptick Child allows of Parsly But an opinion that is held by so many learned Men must not be esteemed a figment it being without doubt founded on Experience which must be consulted They to whom it did no hurt were either not inclined to an Epilepsie or they used it onely as a Sauce and not as Meat So Galen in his advice allows one to taste it at least as he does Alexanders also by which notwithstanding the head is filled as he writes But the Ancients that are quoted speak of it taken as Meat Sennertus XXXIII In the cure of this Disease we are forced to leave the common method For the prescriptions of the Dogmatists in which they usually endeavour to carry off and totally eradicate the morbifick cause onely by Purges doe little or no good in the Falling-sickness yea they use often to doe harm I have known some eminent Practitioners who totally omitting the train of therapeutick intentions have betaken themselves to certain Empirical Medicines without any provision for the whole This sort of Practice though sometimes it succeeded well yet it would much more certainly have attained the proposed cure if by other Medicines also when the body had been rightly prepared all impediments had been removed Wherefore the Indications about the cure of the Falling-sickness will be either Curatory which respect the fit or Prophylactick which respect the cause of the disease As to the first general Evacuaters are scarce of use But the thing of most importance is to fix the animal Spirits that are too fierce and volatile and to suppress their explosions already begun To which ends two sorts of Remedies especially conduce that is 1. Things that give a check to the animal spirits when they are apt to be unruly and disorderly and that repell them as it were with a smell ingratefull to them and bring them into order which thing Medicines endued with a Volatile and Ammoniack Salt or with a Vitriolick Sulphur effect Such as are Salt and Oil of Amber Spirit of Bloud Hartshorn Soot Tincture of Castor c. for these taken inwards or applied to the nostrils often give relief and are thought to drive away the evil Spirits of this disease just as the fume of a Fishes-gall burnt drave away the Devil in Tobias 2. The Animal Spirits are either diverted or hindred from making their explosions when they are enticed and kept employed in some work familiar to them Wherefore when a fit is violent rubbing all the body over and continued often does good But the most of a Physician 's care lies in preservation that the cause
¶ Also a Sponge wet in water wherein the greater Pine-nuts bruised have been boiled Joh. Manardus is very good if the face be washt therewith 6. A piece of white Vitriol dissolved in such a quantity of water as the Eyes may bear may be used with success ¶ This Ointment is accounted singular for an Epiphora Take of Verdigriece 12 grains Camphire 1 drachm prepared Tutty half an ounce fresh Butter which must be melted with Rose-water and boiled a little 6 drachms Mix them make an Unguent put a piece about as big as a Pease into the greater corner of the Eye and let the Eye-lids be slightly anointed Platerus 7. In this Disease especially if it arise from a cold humour Water of Golden-rod wherein burning Frankincense has been extinguished is commended Sennertus 8. This Powder wonderfully restrains Tears Take the Shell of Citrine Myrobalans infuse them in Rose-water for two days dry them and powder them infuse them again three or four times in Rose-water Keep it ¶ Take dried Rue boil it in Honey and Vinegar strain it through a linen Cloth when it is strained anoint the Eyes with it it will most certainly restrain Tears ¶ This is a singular Remedy Burn some Frankincense and extinguish it often in Rose-water Joh Stâ—â—herus Drop it into the Eyes 9. This is a most experienced thing Wash the Eyes three or four times a day with Water wherein Gold smiths quench their Gold and Silver or their Tongs This will be better if a little Frankincense Mastick Aloes and Litharge be first boiled in it ¶ And this is an admirable thing Take of Juice of Fenil Pomegranate Sorrel Celandine purified Honey each 1 ounce Beat them together in a Brass vessel and let them stand in dung for 2 days Lapis Calaminaris and Antimony each half an ounce may be added Make a Collyry Erysipelas or St. Anthony's-Fire The Contents Respect must be had to the malignant quality joined with it I. Bloud must be let II. Purging is convenient onely towards the end III. We must use topical Medicines with caution IV. It refuses Suppuraters in soft parts V. Sleep must be avoided if it seize the face VI. When Coriander is proper VII An experienced Topick VIII Leeches good in an ulcerous one IX An ulcerous one in the Leg cured by anointing it with Spirit of Vitriol X. The Cure of the Pustules by pricking XI One that came often in the Face cured by an Issue in the Arm. XII One anointed with Oil caused a Gangrene XIII The Cure of an exulcerated one XIV How Frog spawn water may be used XV. Medicines I. IT is commonly believed it has its rise from yellow Choler but some of the Moderns rather derive it from thin bloud for 1. The Colour is a token rather of bloud than bile which is red when it ought to be pale or yellow as is manifest in the Jaundice 2. Although the Colour be vehement enough yet it is not so sharp as in Diseases arising from yellow Choler wherefore it is not so frequently exulcerated as Ring-worms and other Tumours caused by bile and when it is exulcerated it is not so much from its own nature as from the alteration of it 3. They are seldom obnoxious to it that are of a hot and dry constitution lean brown or black which is most suitable to breed yellow Choler but they rather that are sanguine fat fleshy and red 4. The fleshy parts the Thighs Legs Face Neck Breasts and the like are oftner affected than others 5. This Disease comes most between thirty and forty years of age about which time there is most bloud in the body But yet the cause must not be ascribed simply to fulness but rather to a depraved and peculiar quality of the bloud which proceeds from the putrefaction and corruption of its thinner part for Nature being stimulated by that malignant quality drives the vitious humour to the outside of the body A sign whereof is that this Disease seizes one like the Pestilence so that they who never had it before think they are taken with the Plague till the Disease shew it self in some part Hence it is the common practice when the Paroxysm comes and the Rose appears to take Medicines which help Nature's motion and drive the matter from the inner parts to the outer as Treacle Mithridate Water or Rob of Elder These Medicines taken in the beginning are approved on where plenty of humours is not urgent Sennertus otherwise it is safer to remove the antecedent cause II. Celsus especially commends Bloud-letting whom Paulus lib. 4. follows Galen 14. meth 2. ad Glauconem seems averse to it But I follow Reason rather than Authority for it is an acute Disease which must quickly be opposed a kind of Inflammation from the thinner Bloud or at least its Ichor and the hottest of it But in such a Heat who dare omit Bleeding or fly to other Remedies and neglect it since it draws from the part where the fluxion is evacuates helps transpiration and readily draws out the bilious bloud as it lies in the Veins If a sincere Erysipelas occur arising from Bile alone such as Galen supposes and if a bilious Cacochymie redound in the habit of body then Bleeding may be let alone for fear of the ebullition of cholerick humours III. Although Galen 13. m. m. seem to approve of Purging yet we must proceed to it with great caution and not till the declension lest the humours being stirred run to the part affected Wherefore after the seventh day Electuary of Juice of Roses with Cassia may be given and after it some pounds of Whey Fortis IV. The Ancients and most Writers of Chirurgery do very much use Coolers even Water it self the coldest of all yea they also mix with them Astringents and Stupefiers as Henbane Mandrake Opium Hemlock But the Modern reprehend this common Cure not without the suffrage of reason and experience for since the sharp matter exciting the Rose is not without malignity if its going out be hindred by these very cooling binding and repellent things it returns inwards and seizes the nobler and inner parts to the hazard of life hence a Phrenzy comes from an Erysipelas in the Head struck in Finally by these things the matter is shut up in the part affected whence putrefaction and suppuration which is often attended by a Gangrene Which thing since it often happens from the cure of the Greeks and Arabians they admonish us that the part may be so far cooled as that the heat may remit and the Patient confess himself not to feel so great a heat with the turning of the red colour into a livid But it may easily fall out that before sufficient caution can be used in this case such dangers may already be at hand Wherefore the case seems not to differ much from that of Burns For if a burnt part be dipt in cold water it does but
continuance of the Fever that as long as Medicines are given so long the Fever will continue for Nature is wearied which gathering strength again concocts the cause of the disease and expells it when concocted ¶ If a right fermentation of the bloud have gone before the despumation of the morbifick matter will be wholly made within the usual time But if cooling Medicines or Clysters have been given too late the Fever will run out a great deal longer especially in elderly Men that have been ill looked after To whom I being sometimes called after they had been sick of a Fever forty days and above have tried every thing that I might bring a despumation on the bloud but the bloud has been so weakned partly by Age partly by Clysters and cooling Medicines that I could never attain my end either by Cordials or any other strengthning things but either the strength of the Fever remained firm or though the Fever seemed to be gone the Patient's strength was very low and well nigh dead And being deprived of success in other Medicines I was glad to turn my counsel another way with no common success namely by applying the lively and brisk heat of young persons to the Sick Nor is there any reason that any one should wonder why the Patient should be so much strengthened by this method though unusual and debilitated Nature-helped so that she may discharge her self of the relicks of the matter to be separated and discharged since one may easily imagine that good store of brisk effluvia is transfused from a sound and lively body into the exhausted body of the Sick Nor could I ever find that the repeated application of warm clothes was in any measureable to doe that which the method now prescribed did perform where the heat applied is more connatural to Man's body and also gentle moist equal and lasting And this way of transmitting Spirits and Vapours it may be Balsamick ones into the Sick Man's Body from the very time when I made use of it although at first it seemed strange has been made use of by others with great success Sydenhâ—m XXIX In the cure of very acute and pernicious Fevers we must take diligent notice of this that they are seldom caused without some inward and peculiar disaffection of some of the Inwards and often with an Inflammation Wherefore the cure of the Hypochondria Head Breast Womb Kidneys and Bladder Riverius must never be omitted that by some means or other we may find out which of these parts is remarkably ill and may help it as much as may be ¶ As soon as I find a great burning in people in a Fever if signs of an inward inflammation which I diligently inquire do not appear yet I think of some such disaffection and I direct the course of my cure thither c. Scarce ever any one of those Fevers appears that burn violently so as to have the tongue burnt or wherein the Belly voids adust stuff but some of the inner Bowels especially suffers an inflammation Eryfipelas or at least some over-heating And they are perceived by some remarkable hardness swelling pain or heat in that region where the inward part is seated Vallesius XXX But if by reason of much loss of bloud which the Patient has sustained in the method of his cure or through often Vomiting or going to Stool or because for the present the Fever is quite off or because of his weakness or of the age of the Fever already declining there now remains no more danger of raising an Ebullition for the future then setting aside all fear instead of a Paregorick draught I give a pretty large dose of Diascordium either without any thing else or mixt with some Cordial-water It is certainly an excellent Medicine Sydenham if it be given in such a quantity as may make up a Medicine rather than an empty title XXXI To the constitution of a Continual Fever we require that its Cause be either in the Vessels that carry the Bloud and so in the Bloud it self and the multifarious parts of it or such other part of the Body as has continual commerce with the Bloud and so with the Heart it self but so as that it cannot be hindred or interrupted unless wholly nor be restored again at certain times which usually happens in Agues by internal causes We add that the Bloud may be so affected sometimes by external sometimes by internal causes that it may produce a continual Fever Among the external causes of this Epidemick Fever I observed the Air was then very hot and it penetrating as well the skin on all hands and therefore the Bloud it self as being drawn into the Lungs and there joined to the Bloud did not kindly temper it again as it was in a ferment according to Nature but by communicating to it its fiery and saline volatile parts it dissolved melted and rarefied it too much and so it greatly vitiated the vital Effervescency in the heart with its additional heat and produced a continual Fever Among internal causes I blamed Bile bred of the same fiery and saline-volatile parts of the Air but made more sharp volatile and abundant by the sharp ones and therefore causing a vitious effervescency as well in the small Guts as the Heart it self and indeed joined with notable heat and therefore without doubt a Fever The various and in many respects vitious humours which must of necessity be produced by the whole mass of Bloud being by little and little corrupted could not so well be called the cause of the Continual Fever that was then so rise as of the various Symptoms which did many ways vex divers Patients The Cure therefore of the Continual Fever as such ought to consist 1. In avoiding or correcting the bad Air. 2. In tempering the sharp Bile fixing the volatile and diminishing the abundance of it 3. In moderating stopping and reducing to its natural temper the vitious effervescency that is indeed joined with a notable and troublesome heat 4. In gently coagulating the Bloud too much dissolved condensating the too much rarefied and cooling it when over-hot or reducing it to a laudable integrity Fr. Sylvius when it is otherwise vitiated ¶ But though in the cure of our Fever we made no mention of Bloud-letting because we could very well want it and several have been happily cured without it yet it is not to be contemned since especially it is usefull to temper the heat of the Bloud and to prevent Suffocation in Plethorick persons Therefore it may be usefull for Plethorick persons for young people for those that are used to it for those that are sensible of much heat for those that desire it and for those who Idem in their imagination conceive great benefit from it XXXII Hippocrates in a Legitimate Burning-fever allows as much Water and Honey boiled there must be store of Water as the Patient shall desire and he carries the Patient with
scarce be laid by drinking a great quantity of cold water at one draught Therefore in continent Fevers it is to be feared lest a Diet of these very cooling Herbs cause either Death or an ill crisis by indisposing both the body and humours of the sick for Bleeding at the Nose and Sweating Idem c. â— XLI Avicenna says there are some who will allow Jujubes and Vetches with Vinegar and with Pomegranates and with Sumach when they have an intention to thicken the Bloud or when Nature is too soft And he subjoins And if any of these things be feared because of their binding lest namely it should make the Belly costive its Astriction may be broken with Prunes or some such thing and he may then be fed with Meat made of Gourds and Sorrel And a cold Sallet is good made of Sorrel Endive and Lettuce But it may be some one may object What advantage of any moment can follow the thickning of the Bloud in a continent Fever that for its sake he durst mix Sumach in Sallets in such a Fever Yet he seems to have allowed it for a twofold reason namely either for thickning or on account of a Symptome as when the Belly is looser than it should But for the thickning of the Bloud I think it by no means proper For it seems not the part of a prudent Physician in a Flux that comes either from the whole or from some one part unto another to tâ—icken the bilious Bloud with things that are very astringent lest perhaps we detain a superfluous humour when it is on motion in some part of greater moment or lest we fix that firmer which is in the part affected already Now in a continent Fever the boiling Bloud swells high like Water boiling in a Pot you may abate the heat of this and not take away the fire if you slacken the fiery quality from the water and this you may doe either by pouring in cold water or by uncovering the Pot that it may be cooled by the Air. So also in a continent Fever we may either abate the hot humour by drinking cold Water or we must endeavour that the boiling fumes may freely transpire through the pores of the body and this is the surer way to health for a remission of the Fever may be caused by the transpiration of the fermenting humours which may be done two ways either when the pores of the whole are opened or the humours are equally diminished as Galen in m. m. teaches But Astringents among which Sumach is a very violent one they are so far from making perspiration free that they hinder it by stopping the body for of the three causes that hinder transpiration stopping of the body is one Therefore from these things it is manifest that Sumach and other Astringents are too much enemies to continual Fevers because they hinder transpiration which is a cause of the remission of Fevers We may use such as are moderate upon the account of a Symptome XLII Some give Pullets Livers rosted after Broth to them that are sick of a continual Fever which I do not at all approve For Meat stays a long time in the Stomachs of sick people which is no small occasion why it is corrupted Besides a rosted Liver must be reckoned among drying Meats wherefore it is not proper for one in a Fever an argument whereof is Thirst Ibid. which it causes Febris intermittens in genere or An Ague in general The Contents The times of the Fits must be distinguished I. Vernal differ from Autumnal ones in their nature and their cure II. The nature of Vernal Agues III. Their manner of Cure IV. Autumnal ones are stubborn V. Indications for Cure VI. In tender Age the cure of Autumnal Agues must be committed to Nature VII The way of curing them in elder years VIII When is the time for Vomits IX When the Ague is over although Purging be necessary we must not doe it hastily X. Vomiting Purging and Bleeding in what manner they doe good XI Whether we may stop the Fit XII Sylvius his method of Cure XIII Whether Bloud-letting be always necessary in them XIV The necessity of moving Sweat XV. In the Cure we must look rather upon the obstructing Phlegm and the fault of the Pancreatick Juice than upon the diversity of Humours XVI The Empirical Cure by Febrifuges and the Jesuites Bark XVII XVIII The Cure by Specifick Purgatives XIX The Febrile Effervescence is stopt divers ways XX. Willis his Indications for Cure XXI Whether one may bleed in the cold Fit XXII A Purge given before the Fit comes hastens the Cure of the Ague XXIII Whether an Indication for Bleeding and Purging can be rightly taken from the Vrine XXIV At what time we may breath a Vein XXV Antimonial and Mercurial Medicines doe a great deal of good XXVI We must purge exactly in Autumnal Agues XXVII Some cured by giving Wine and Salt XXVIII By Laudanum Opiatum in the beginning of a Fit XXIX I. THAT we may make at least some conjecture about the Nature and Disposition of Agues we must take notice that these three things ought to be considered in a Fit 1. The time of Shaking 2. Of Ebullition 3. Of Despumation As to Shaking I think it arises hence because the febrile matter which being not as yet turgent was after a sort assimilated by the mass of bloud is now at length not onely useless but become an enemy to Nature does in a manner exagitate and provoke it whence it comes to pass that being irritated by a certain natural sense and as it were endeavouring flight it raises a Shivering and Shaking in the body a true Witness of its Aversation Just as purging Potions taken by squeamish Persons or Poisons swallowed unawares use presently to cause a Shivering and other Symptomes of that nature Nature therefore being irritated in this manner that I may come to the time of Ebullition that she may the more easily keep this enemy from her Throat falls upon Fermentation namely an usual Engine which it is accustomed to make use of in Fevers and some other acute Diseases when it endeavours to free the mass of bloud from inbred enemies for the disjoined parts of this peccant matter which were equally mixt with the bloud do by the benefit of this Effervescency begin in some sort to be gathered together and so may the more easily be wrought upon so as to become fit for Despumation By the name of Despumation I would have nothing else understood than the Expulsion or Separation of the febrile matter now brought under and as it were conquered And what is separated has the nature partly as we may observe in other Liquours of Yeast and partly of Lees. But the Fit returns because the febrile matter is not as yet all gone but as young Bees grow up insensibly at set times so this latent matter according to the nature of the Fits Sydenham Tract de Febribus p. 69.
taking a strong Purge to carry off the Remainder of the febrile matter have presently relapsed One would be ready to say that the matter of this Disease before laid asleep was by this means stirred up and brought into act by the Purge Yet if you consider the thing a right one would rather say that the frame of the bloud is much hurt by the violent Purge and whereas before it was prone to a bilious dyscrasie so as it could scarce assimilate the alible Juice it will presently for this evident cause degenerate the more and immediately pervert the nourishment into fermentative matter Willis 〈…〉 and so be susceptive of a feverish disposition XII The hindring an Ague fit is accomplished by Medicines which stop fermentation And although this Remedy be among Physicians accounted immethodical and very uncertain yet it is certain that Agues have been often cured in this manner when Medicines would doe no good at all Onely here we must observe this that the use of such things is most beneficial after Purging and Bleeding if this be necessary Willis ibid. and unless these things be rightly promised the other seldom stop a sit ¶ There are not wanting Men who to abate or stop the fit give Opiates On the other hand also there are some who judge that Agues must not be stopt at the very first but that the fit should be suffered for awhile Hence an Ague once begun if it end in any reasonable time is vulgarly termed rather Physick than a Disease for by this means the impurities of the bloud blaze out the obstructions of the bowels are opened and indeed the whole body receives Vent so that it is wholly freed from all excrementitious matter and from the Seminary of growing Diseases And we grant this in part to wit if it end in a reasonable time but if it be protracted long it is the cause of many Diseases and long Sickness For hereby the mass of bloud is much spoiled of the vital spirit and like over-high fermented Wine it palls In the mean time the saline and earthy parts are too much exalted wherefore the Jaundice Scurvey Dropsie and other Cachexies follow this Fever too late cured For as a House set on fire from without is easilier delivered from danger of Burning than if Vulcan were pulling down the inner Rooms so also it is more easie to drive away Agues from humane bodies in the beginning than after the Agues have invaded the inner oeconomy of the bowels And of a depurative fermentation of the humours if it should exceed measure Fird Hosmannuâ—s mâ—n p. 37â— a corruptive one may easily be made Sylvius his method of Cure XIII Forasmuch as we have made the Cause of Agues as Agues to be the pancreatick Juice by reason of an Obstruction made in its lateral Ducts by Phlegm coagulated therein and then made sharper and Sowrer by stagnation and carried hence by making way through the obstructing Phlegm to the small Guts and there vitiously fermenting with the Bile in its way and the Phlegm in the Guts and then at length creeping along with them under one form or other to the right Ventricle of the Heart and in it not onely by irritating the Heart with its acrimony or flatulency raising a more frequent Pulse but moreover divers ways altering and disturbing the vital effervescency and sanguification it self and producing many symptoms in divers places Their Cure may be performed if first the obstructing Phlegm that is more or less glutinous and coagulated be cut and loosned and then as offending in Place be removed and at least be brought as far as the small Guts if not cleared of the Body it self Secondly if the acidity and acrimony of the pancreatick Juice that is increased be tempered and corrected Thirdly if the vitious effervescency of the Bile in the small Guts be hindered or amended The obstructing Phlegm is cut by Aromaticks and any volatile Salt but especially so used that the whole body may be hot at once to the end the virtue of the Medicine being dispersed every way may reach also to the Pancreas it self and to its Lateral Ducts and so to the place affected and the Source of the Disease Which things are proper especially for phlegmatick and melancholick Persons Let the following Mixture serve for an Instance a spoonfull of it at a time to be taken several times a-day But two or three hours before the coming of a new fit to take three spoonfulls of it at the same time gently increasing the heat of the body either by motion or cloths or fire or a bath till the Sweat come for so it will doe more good and sometimes take the Ague happily away Take of Waters of Parsley 2 ounces Fenil 1 ounce Theriac simpl or Vitae Matthioli 1 ounce and an half Volatile Salt of Amber 1 scruple Syrup of Carduus benedictus 1 ounce Mix them As often as the complexion of the Patient is observed to be cholerick use loosners and sowre cutters Take of Fumitory-water 3 ounces Sal Ammoniac or Tartarum Vitriolatum 1 drachm Antimonium Diaphoreticum half a drachm Syrup of Fenil 1 ounce Mix them As often as both phlegmatick and cholerick humours abound in the same Patient of the two Subcontraries that were now commended these Mixtures may be made Take of the Waters of Cardaus benedictus Cichory each 1 ounce and an half Theriac simpl distilled Vinegar each 6 drachms Crabs-eyes in Powder half a drachm Syrup of the five opening roots 1 ounce Mix them If the obstructing Phlegm be not very glutinous oftentimes at once such Sweating the obstruction is wholly removed and the cause of it is carried into the small Guts and the Ague is cured In a Body that has but little Phlegm in it but more Bile a Vomit may be given three or four hours before the return of the fit by means whereof not onely the redounding Bile but also the obstructing Phlegm is forced to the small Guts hence to the Stomach and at last out at the Throat and Mouth and so the Ague is said to be destroyed To which end I have often with success used a Vomitory Sapa prepared by me of Glass of Antimony and other Medicines may in like manner be prepared of Antimony which is here proper above all other things Things that purge downwards now and then will doe the same thing but ever adding things that at the same time cut and carry off viscid Phlegm for example Take of the mass of Pilul fatid maj half a scruple Trochiscs of Alhandal Mercurius dulcis each 5 grains Oil of Amber 2 drops Mix them Make 5 Pills Let them be taken four or five hours before the next fit and they will purge gently The augmented acidity and acrimony of the pancreatick Juice will be happily allayed with volatile Salts and all Aromaticks not neglecting Opiates Therefore the Mixture above proposed of Waters of Parsley Fenil c. will be proper which will be
nothing now of Fevers that are truly and always chill and endure continually cold But because according to their Rule One Absurdity being granted a Thousand follow no wonder if Physicians building upon this false foundation and principle have here also proceeded amiss in the Cure of their Patients For although many Aguish persons have been very well after letting-bloud yet it does not follow that the same Remedy is good for all since especially not unfrequent Instances occur of them to whom Bleeding has not onely been useless but plainly hurtfull From which double and indeed contrary Experiment it can truly and onely be concluded that taking away Bloud does sometimes good and sometimes harm in the Cure not onely of Agues but of Continual fevers also Wherefore it concerns Physicians if they will be accounted Rational to understand the reason why diminution of Bloud does sometimes good and sometimes harm in the cure of Fevers that a Rule may be made when a Physician ought to use Bleeding and when he should let it alone That therefore I may conclude something certain in this Question I doubt not to affirm since Bleeding administred in Agues has not always done good but often hurt that it is not proper for Agues as such but that it is convenient and hath hitherto done good onely to certain Symptoms joined to this or that Ague But a prodigal Lavisher of humane bloud will urge Has not an Ague been by once Bleeding and taking away a large quantity of bloud cured and therefore is it not a fit Help and Remedy for curing it To which I answer Many slight Diseases are cured of themselves onely by ordering ones Diet aright wherefore it is no wonder when besides evacuation of bloud proper in Plethorick Bodies a laudable Diet is observed if an Ague be sometimes cured which the laudable Diet alone might have cured And it often cures slight Agues which consists 1. In taking of little Food that easily ferments and especially liquid and such as conduces to promote a gentle Sweat 2. In a little more violent motion of the Body and indeed even till the Sweat burst out 3. In a warm Air and covering the Body with many clothes to provoke a gentle Sweat All which things rightly observed which do not increase Phlegm that makes or is about to make an obstruction the obstructing Phlegm is easily dissolved by the pancreatick Juice now become more powerfull and upon the coming of a gentle Sweat it is driven into the small Guts No wonder therefore if sometimes where the Ague is slight where there is a Plethora where a laudable Diet is at least in part observed such an Ague be cured in the beginning when a Vein is breathed Which Cure is not all owing to the letting of bloud but especially to the alteration following a laudable Diet Yet I will not deny but the Cure of this Ague is promoted by the said breathing of a Vein as often as there is a Plethora and Burning Heat accompanying the Fits for not onely the danger of Suffocation is removed and of Extinction of the vital heat by too much bloud so filling the Vessels that there is not room for it when it is rarefied to be received into the Heart especially when it is more than usually rarefied while the acute febrile Heat continues but the hurtfull Burning in the Bloud also is diminished And these Dangers are prevented by letting bloud in time and taking away enough of it Besides Sweat usually follows upon such evacuation which is ever good for the Cure of Agues especially when it is with the refreshment of the Patient and he can bear it well and when it agrees with him Therefore Bleeding seems convenient not of it self but onely by accident not always but onely sometimes Idem in the Cure of Agues XV. I said Sweat was proper for the Cure of an Ague since it may yea ought to be known to all Physicians that it is an ill sign whenever no Sweat follows the fit towards the latter end that is the declension For such Agues are usually of long continuance as on the contrary they are usually short where every Paroxysm ends in a Sweat so that such a Diet be then observed as may not hinder the Sweat nor foment or increase any ill humours in the body Idem ¶ Scarce any Ague is perfectly finished without a Sweat and no man in an Ague can well promise himself perfect health who cannot sweat Want of Transpiration is one of the chief causes of Agues and may be alone sufficient to cause one and other causes without this can scarce cause an Ague But concerning Sudorificks we must take notice that they be sufficient and not onely stir the matter but also drive it out of the body for unless Patients sweat after they have taken them they oftentimes fall into a more violent Ague And then that they be not given onely once but repeated as often as there is occasion for onely one Sweat cannot always carry off all the matter but if you stop there the matter is rather stirred than perfectly evacuated And Nature by the repetition of them must be so accustomed to the Work that of her self she may always void what should be voided for if they be not rightly given simple Agues become double The common People do often as soon as they perceive an Ague fit come upon them immediately take a Sweat which some Physicians do not disapprove because experience testifies that Agues beginning may by this means be prevented Yet I think they cannot be given with safety in all bodies and that they cannot be used aright except in the beginning for if there be great store of filth in the body or if the putrefaction and corruption of the humours have gone any thing far they scarce doe any good unless we think fit to doe Sennertus de Febr. l. 2. c. 8. as Rulandus does in his Centuries and we have a mind to discuss the matter by several times giving strong Sudorificks XVI Concerning the Cure of Quotidians Tertians Quartans c. we give this advice that since we ascribe them not to different humours Phlegm Bile c. as to obstructing Phlegm or the pancreatick Juice variously disposed we must not have so much regard to the interval every return as to the diversity of the concomitant Symptoms and especially of Heat and Cold For although for example Tertians for the most part come in Summer time Youth and especially in Cholerick persons upon which score we may justly have respect to Bile yet there are not wanting Tertians which while the Cold is violent seize old Men and Children in which Phlegm abounds in which case if one should have regard to the tempering or purging of Bile he would be much mistaken for as a great Heat the effect of Bile is observed in most so in some little or no heat at is observed according to the variety of whose being present or absent the
Cure is to be varied Therefore we must always have regard to all the Humours that any way offend in the Body seeing they are the cause why the obstructing Phlegm is more or less sharp and therefore why the fit varies in all its circumstances and symptoms For as often as Bile has dominion in the Body so often will Phlegm be less viscous and the Pancreatick juice less sharp and therefore the Ague will upon this account be cured with greater ease and speed if so be it be cured aright But as often as Phlegm shall predominate above the rest of the humours so often will the Pancreatick juice and bile be more dull and so the obstructing Phlegm it self will be more glutinous wherefore the Ague will be cured more slowly though easily enough having all its symptoms commonly more slight And as often as the redundant Acid exceeds the other humours so often will the bile be more broken and dull but then the Phlegm is more glutinous and especially when the acid inclines to austerity Sometimes it is more fluid and serous especially when the Acid is sharp and bile is intimately mixt with the saline part and together with the more fluid Phlegm makes a salt Serum but a briny one wherefore then the Ague will be cured more slowly and difficultly But after what manner he should proceed Sylvius the Reader may gather from what has been said before XVII Specificks for Fevers seem to have place chiefly in Agues some of them fix the morbifick cause not onely by their Narcotick Sulphur or as others will have it by their Salt but also they dissolve and they consist of Opiates Others by precipitating they abound in a fixt Salt and act by stopping fermentation and ebullition Such are Crabs eyes Others act by sweating and when they have raised a sweat they exert their antifebrile virtue Some of them are internal and use to be given an hour or two before the fit and they doe good especially to Bodies that are not very soul for unless the source be exhausted by Universals they may produce abundance of mischief This is commonly known Half a drachm of Carduus Benedictus Leaves powdered taken in a little warm Wine Some antisebrile Specificks act by evacuating Rolfinâ—k 〈◊〉 Febr. c. 1â—3 such is that of Riverius in the Appendix of his Centuries XVIII Empirical Remedies that cure Agues are such as keep off the fit as it is coming without any evacution either taken inwards or applied outwardly especially where the Pulse beats and are chiefly tied to the region of the Heart the Wrists or the Soles of the feet The reason of their effect consists in this that by the use of them the turgescency and fermentation of the Bloud with the febrile matter may be stopt That is some Corpuscles or Effluvia are communicated from the Medicine bound about the Vessels to the Bloud which very much fix and bind the particles of it or by fusing and moving do as it were precipitate it The spontaneous heat of the Bloud is hindred either way just as when cold water is poured into a boiling Pot or as when Vinegar or Alume is poured into new Beer as it is working the working presently ceases and the liquor acquires a new tasie and consistency Things that are taken inward have thas tendency to break off the habit of habitual Paroxysms which if we obtain Nature recollects her self and upon her proper motion easily recovers her former state of health And although such an Intention be sometimes accomplished by giving a Vomit a little before the fit for it often stops the febrile motion of the Bloud by raising another motion contrary to this yet this indication may far more certainly be accomplished by such Medicines as do not at all evacuate from the Bowels but bring a certain fixation or precipitation of the febrile matter for the time upon the Bloud Whom I had in my hands to cure having first given a Vomit or a gentle Purge about three hours before the fit I applied Plasters to the Wrists and at the same time gave them some Febrifuge Powder in generous Wine and ordered my Patients to be kept in a gentle sweat in Bed It seldom so fell out but at the first or second time the Ague was by this means stopt and by repeating the Remedy a few times the Disease was perfectly cured Here something must be said of that famous Febrifuge the Peruvian Bark otherwise called China China or the Jesuits Bark The common way of giving it is to infuse 2 drachms of the Powder in thin or generous Wine in a Vessel close stopt for two hours and then as the fit is coming to give the Liquor and the Powder to the Patient as he lies in his Bed This potion sometimes stops the fit as it is coming yet oftentimes this coming after its usual manner it prevents the next following But however the fit be stopt at the first second or third period and the Disease seem to be cured it usually returns in twenty or thirty days And then the Powder being given again the fit is staved off about the same space of time and in this manner I have known those that have been troubled with Quartans who have had but a very few fits all the Autumn and Winter and so have kept the Enemy at Push of Pike till the Spring coming on by the help of the season of the year and Physick the disposition of the Bloud was altered for the better and so the disease by degrees has vanished Those who in this manner got truce of their Quartans went brisk and chearfull about their business whereas otherwise they grew feeble and pale and were reduced to a languishing and a vitious habit of body Scarce one of an hundred tried this remedy in vain It is not onely given in a Quartan but in other sorts of Agues with success But they that stop Agues with this Medicine onely seem to give cheating Physick But the use of this Medicine will be onely proper when the Patient's strength is too much spent with too great frequency of the fits and a truce is by this means procured Willis de Febr. c. 6. that Nature may recollect her self and thenceforth more powerfully oppose the Enemy XIX Riverius called Water impregnated with the Salt of Tartar his Aqua Febrifuga He infused Salt of Tartar and Spirit of Sulphur with a drachm or two of Senna and sometimes half a drachm of Jalap either in Spring-water onely or in some appropriate decoction so he cured all Agues even Quartans He also called Mercurius dulcis six times sublimed Calomelanos which certainly makes a laudable and never a noxious Purge The dose is to 1 Scruple whether Refin of Jalap or of Scammony half a scruple whose Dose may be diminished or increased And he affirms he never saw any other effect than good from this Medicine in innumerable cases and in all ages XX. Beside these things which
Liquours Therefore if you indulge the Loosness too much you will procure onely half that depuration which is so much desired and also that perhaps may be voided first which should have been rejected in the last place I confess indeed that when this Separation by Flowers is already made which is usually done gradually and insensibly for the most part by a little more ample Transpiration rather than by manifest Sweat a Loosness if it should chance to come would portend no great danger Yet we must know that it does not come for any other reason but because a Purge designed to discharge the excrements was not administred in season by which stay of theirs indeed the Excrements having got the mode of some malignant ferment do then irritate and stimulate the Guts to Excretion that I may not say that the very liquid consistency of the excrements for they are for the most part seen in such a form does sufficiently indicate Sydenhâ—m that they must not be esteemed a critical solution of the Disease VII It will not be much out of the way to relate the cure of a Woman who was taken with a Burning fever her Belly was always loose she got no sleep and she had an immoderate heat in her Stomach Her stools did not extinguish the febrile heat Some advised her to drink Barley-water onely for they judged the acuteness of the disease did not require a thicker Diet Others would have it better to bridle the violence of the disease with Medicines Others thought the immoderate flux of the Belly was to be stopt with astringents for this reason because the Patient found no relief from it But indeed my opinion prevailed that the Loosness should neither be stopt by Astringents nor that there was then any occasion for Medicines and that they could use no remedy that was more seasonable than to strengthen the Patient's Nature with a thicker Diet than was suitable to the Disease since by this means she might with less inconvenience bear the Symptome of a loose Belly Wherefore I kept the Woman for some days with thick Chicken-broth tempered with convenient Herbs and used no other remedy So indeed she escaped an acute disease onely by an agreeable Diet Whence I gathered that in an acute Fever with an immoderate flux of the Belly it is the wholsomest thing for the Physician onely to take care Brudus de victu Febr. that he strengthen nature with a thick Diet. VIII But then it ought to be considered when we must use astringent Meat and Drink In acute Fevers we do by all means endeavour to drive the efficient cause of the disease out of the Body and when any evacuation happens spontaneously although it be made unseasonably it must not be stopt for this reason because it is to be suspected that some share of the noxious superabundant humour is voided Although we know for certain that in these unseasonable Loosnesses much of that which is usefull and convenient for Nature is evacuated we must not for that reason stop the Loosness for a greater inconvenience usually follows upon the retention of an ill humour the Fever increasing and its Symptoms therefore increasing which devour the strength than the Damage of the weakness is which they that go the contrary way to work might fear Wherefore taking care for the Fever and its Symptoms we provide for the strength by a thick Diet. Yet it is to be understood that we give cooling and thick Broths onely in such a flux as is caused by Colliquative Fevers and Drink that participates of an astringent faculty more to withstand the Colliquation than to stop the Flux For it is not advisable to keep in the Body what is already dissolved from the parts by the violent burning of the Fever For this reason Hippocrates when in lib. de rat vict he had mentioned Loosnesses in Fevers in several places makes onely once mention of an astringent Drink and Broth of a thick consistence to wit when the Belly is loose and colliquative It seems to me saith he that cooling and thick Broths should be given and vinous Drinks which may stop or even more astringent ones But in the rest he sometimes advises to give a Purge so far is he from perswading Men to stop those fluxes Idem IX But we must know that all Loosnesses come from two causes namely from the hurt either of the expulsive or of the retentive faculty When it is caused by the irritation of the expulsive it is not safe to stop the flux with Astringents especially in acute Diseases But when it comes from the weakness of the Retentive it must be stopt with Astringent meats and drinks in every Fever and in every Disease Therefore in Colliquative fevers by reason that the Colliquation argues weakness of the Retentive faculty more than any strength or irritation of the expulsive Hippocrates does not without reason order Men to give thick and cooling Broths and Vinous and Astringent Drink which may bind Therefore in what diseases soever the Belly is loose through the weakness of the retentive faculty we must use Astringent meat and drink in them Idem taking our indication rather from the Symptome than from the Disease X. People in Fevers sometimes labour under a dejection of Appetite so that their Bodies wither with an Atrophy And seeing it has manifold causes no Meat can simply be commended to restore it Not onely the intemperature of the mouth of the Stomach dejects it but also whatever humour it is which dulls the sense of the mouth of the Stomach or hinders the contraction of its parts Now the Intemperature is for the most part hot with either contrariety dry and moist joined with an humour and without any When Heat and Moisture are the Cause Capers with Vinegar Pickled Olives and Broth of Lentils are good But when Heat is joined with driness cold Water does most good unless something prohibit it Lettuce Gourds Melons c. which is the reason why in Summer-time we use them at the beginning of a Meal that so we may repress the Heat and Driness of the Stomach after which we find we have better Stomachs to our Victuals The Appetite is also dejected for want of contraction of the parts of the Stomach This is a disposition contrary to it which some call Remollition or Relaxation of the Stomach it has its rise from a phlegmatick humour that has long hung about the Stomach and moistned its Coats which Galen mentions m. m. where he allows drinking of Wormwood for a Medicine for this Ail This Relaxation renders the superficies of the Stomach smooth whereby it dejects the appetite for the appetite is a Sense of some exasperating thing or arises from it Wherefore Wormwood may be rightly said to procure an Appetite for by its driness it corrects a lax Stomach by its bitterness and astriction it makes the smooth superficies rough Wherefore when the Appetite is decayed
much the more easily a Colliquation of his body will follow while the Heat seizes and wasts the solid parts of the body And Sweat also which takes its matter from Drink is by this means hindred which might have been promoted by cold and plentifull drinking Platerus XXXVI There are four sorts of Drink of which Hippocrates treats lib. de vict Acut. Barley-water Water and Honey Wine Vinegar and Honey In a dry Disease he neither makes mention of Oxymel nor Barley-water not of the first because an over cutting thing is not proper for a dry Disease not of the latter because it being drink nourishes but little because of its thinness But he mentions Honey and Water and Wine as things that nourish and moisten And he leaves the choice of either to the Physician as if he apprehended that sometimes in a dry Disease one of them might doe hurt and the other might doe good for if a dry Disease come from a cholerick humour by reason of its furious quality Water and Honey must be avoided by all means and Wine must be given because it moistens and administers strength to Nature with an Abstersion or Incision But if a dry Disease come from an over thick humour that resists the concoctive faculty Water and Honey must be rather given than Wine as well to extenuate the grossness of the humour as to moisten the Body for Water and Honey moistens more than Vinegar and Honey Brudus XXXVII In Fevers which have their original from a hot Cause without a mixture of Phlegm especially in Summer time the use of common Water is to be chosen But it must not be concealed that wherever we desire concoction of a crude humour of a phlegmatick kind Drink of distilled Water does more harm than that of natural Water The former indeed if it be given cold cools on a double account actually and potentially Besides it pierces more into the inner parts of the body upon the account of its fiery quality Whence it is manifest that the innate heat suffers more from this sort of Waters than from what is natural Wherefore in a cold Cause and in those that labour under a Weakness of any of their inward parts I think distilled Waters should be avoided Idem XXXVIII Since natural Sleep in the beginning of an Ague fit is hurtfull it is queried Whether we must think the same of it caused by Art See Agues in general Paragr XXIX XXXIX Sleep in the beginning of a fit may seem proper to some because it is a refresher of Mens bodies and a renewer of strength for it is said to be the Authour of good digestion But at the very time of the fit more intense and stouter strength is required because at that time when the peccant matter is moved it must be attenuated dissolved and discussed that it being at last by this means consumed the end of the fit may the sooner follow But the Negative should rather be held for Men should be waking in the very fit because the bloud and spirits and therefore the innate heat in Sleep move inwards yet this motion is contrary to that whereby the natural virtue endeavours to discuss the matter in the fit and remove it outwards For the Heat concentrated in Sleep may make the inward effervescency of the Humours greater and so the Fever more violent Yet when the fit is ended Sleep is not dissallowed when afterwards it egregiously relieves the strength weakned by the battle betwixt the Disease and Nature Horstius XL. If a Physician be consulted whether it be expedient for a sick Man who begins to sweat to be covered with clothes and sweat quiet or on the contrary whether he should not hinder sweating by fanning and motion And considering the Sweat is hot and that it begins to run from the whole body and is yet doubtfull as it is of the beginning of the Disease and of the day and the Disease be not known let him bid the Patient keep himself quiet neither laying on more nor taking away any clothes and let him sweat a while When he is dubious he must visit the Patient again and observe whether he be very restless or whether he begin to breathe hard or whether the Pulse be a little languid If any such thing follow let him order him to be removed and sanned with a fan If none of these things appear and he say that he is rather relieved than oppressed let him proceed not onely one or two but several hours taking in the mean time if the business be protracted long some Broth for his refection If on the contrary he be not onely restless and his Pulse argue weakness but he faint also or look thin in the Face he must not onely prevent it by fanning but also anoint the body with some Astringent as with Oil of Myrtle strowing on Powder of Mirtle and Pomegranate-flowers c. And the signs of a spending and fainting Sweat are said and lastly for it to be cold and to gather in great drops about his Forehead and Neck for his Eyes to be hollow his Face and Nails livid When these things appear Fainting and Death is not afar off Vallesius XLI It frequently happened that they who were upon the recovery from Fevers they especially whom the Fever had macerated a long time and had not left them till after long and plenteous evacuation especially if they were of a weakly habit of body it happened I say that they assoon as they began to be warm in bed were presently all over in a Sweat whereby some were grievously weakned and recovered their strength but slowly and others were cast into a Consumption Because I thought this could arise from nothing else but the bloud being so far depauperated and weakned by the contumacy of the Disease that it could not assimilate with Juices which were newly brought to it it endeavoured to cast them off by Sweat I always persuaded them that were thus affected to take three or four spoonfulls of old Malaga-wine by the use of which their strength returned ever and their Sweats vanished Sydenham XLII In Autumn 1675. dysenterick stools came upon an epidemick Fever and sometimes a Diarrhaea I presently perceived they were symptomatick to this Fever and not as in some Constitutions original and primarily arising Which notwithstanding seeing the cause of the Disease was included in the mass of bloud it did indicate bloud-letting which indeed giving a Narcotick twice after it was sufficient to conquer this Symptome Idem XLIII It often happens that the Patient is vexed through the whole course of the Fever with a troublesome Cough that is the tumultuous mass of bloud being evidently moved and all things now looking towards a Sedition it so falls out that some loose and diffluent humours are carried out of the mass of bloud through the Vessels of the Lungs or by diapedesis into the inner membrane of the Windpipe which is
manner of Juleps Emulsions Ptisans and even simple Water assoon as they are taken This most grievous Symptome is immediately cured to a miracle by taking a drachm of the Salt of Wormwood in a spoonfull of fresh Juice of Lemon Riverius as I have learned by experience L. A certain Person was sick of a slight Tertian in the fit he was so troubled with vomiting that he swooned at the very thought of it I gave him above half a scruple of Pills of Aloes in a Dose two hours before his fit they did their office by gently purging him in the fit Rolfinccius so that he was well in a short time LI. It is manifest from Hippocrates 1. de rat vict who granted Water to one in a Pleurisie when he was very thirsty that when Symptoms arise to that height as to add to the Disease or waste Nature's strength the Indication for Diet should rather be taken from them Nevertheless we must doe our endeavour to give such things as may if possible be proper for the Disease or at least not inconvenient For Hippocrates in the place forequoted has this passage But when any Pain torments you must give Oxymel to drink in the Winter hot in Summer cold And if his thirst be very great he must use Honey and Wine and Water Reason tells us the very same thing that the Intention of Cure must not be changed for every violence of the Symptoms but for that which is considerable for since Symptoms are the effects of Diseases by taking away their cause they vanish but if they be considerable they give the stronger Indication for Cure And their greatness is to be defined when they are the cause of some preternatural disposition which either adds to the Disease or wastes the strength of Nature Which soever of these things happens to be the cause of the greatness of a Symptome the Symptoms may justly then supply the course of Diet and Indication for Cure As to a pleuritick Person who is a little thirsty you must give Oxymel or Melicrate which of them the Disease shall require But if he be troubled with violent thirst you shall not use such things as respect the Disease and its Cause but such as lay thirst for much thirst dries the spittle and makes the Disease difficult of coction and increases the heat of the Fever wherefore we must give Melicrate and Water taking the Indication from the Symptome for Water should not be given for the Disease sake by reason it is an enemy to the maturation of the Grief Thus therefore the greatness of Symptoms must be defined so as the method of Cure and indications of Diet may be taken from them But when such Symptoms arrive at the said greatness that is are instead of a Cause in reference to the Disease they are either as an urgent Cause or Sine qua non the Disease cannot be cured Wherefore the Indication is stronger which is taken from them than from the Disease as may be gathered from the doctrine of complicated Affections Brudus de Viâ—â—â— Febr. l. 3. c. 27. LII In giving of Medicines Cautions and Rules of no small moment are taken from the Pulse Purging and Vomiting are prohibited by an over quick and violent Pulse and also by a very low one for while the bloud is too effervescent evacuation is not very proper both because what is noxious is not voided and also because the strength is much weakned by the perturbation And when the Spirits are broken and the strength is low Physick casts it lower and sometimes rather destroys it Wherefore when a Physician designs evacuation upwards or downwards let him first feel the Pulse and let him attempt these motions onely when Nature is strong and sedate that she may be able to attend the operation of the Medicine and to support the Patient's strength Nor is there need of less circumspection for Diaphoreticks and Cordials which if they be used in the Fever fit they too much increase the violent motion of the Heart and very often break its strength Also when the Pulse is very languid if hot and strong Cordials be used Life may easily be extinguished as when a little flame is quite put out by a strong blast wherefore it is a vulgar observation that Cordials often hasten Death for that in putting the bloud into too great a motion they sooner waste its strength And yet there is need of the greatest Caution and direction of the Pulse in giving Narcoticks for they because they doe their work by extinguishing and fixing the vital Spirits when they are over active if they be used in a weak or faultering Pulse they either render the Spirits too weak for the Disease by diminishing them or they bring a perpetual Sleep by too much suffocating them Wherefore in a languid unequal or formicating Pulse Opiates should be avoided as you would avoid a Snake or a Toad Williâ— de Febr. c. 10. Febris Alba seu Amatoria The White or Love Fever See The Green-sickness Book III. It s Description and Cure HIppocrates in his Book de Virginum morbis calls this the Wandring Fever some have named it the White Jaundice For several Symptoms give intimation of a white and cold humour seeing first of all the menstrua being stopt in time of youth in a hot and moist constitution have caused a coldness in the whole body by suffocating the innate heat obstructions in the Mesentery and Womb concurring not a little thereunto and it may be in the hollow of the Liver which hindring the ventilation of the natural Heat increase the suffocation of it upon which many Symptoms testifie a cold Intemperature The primitive Cause of this Maiden Disease was the intense Meditation of this Virgin in which the innate Heat and Spirits being diverted from the Stomach Crudities were bred the original of Obstructions in the lacteal and mesenterick Veins whence arose a hypocondriack Indisposition and complaints of Illness at the Stomach and rumbling of the hypochondria Moreover the mass of bloud was infected which being made thick and not having free passage through the Veins of the Womb at set times but setling in them has gathered obstructions in the Womb also and made the monthly purgation less which being increased a perfect suppression of them followed For the bloud not having an efflux saith Hippocrates lib. de Virginum morbis through the quantity it rebounds to the Heart and Diaphragm and when these places are filled the Heart becomes foolish then from fatuity comes torpidness then after torpidness a delirium takes them as when a man has sate a long time the bloud being depressed out of the Hips and Thighs into the Legs and Feet causes a numbness and after the numbness the Feet are unable to walk till the bloud return to it self c. And it returns very quickly for it soon flows back because of the rectitude of the Veins and it is not a dangerous place of
the Dysenteries themselves Therefore I called this a Dysenterick fever It sometimes began with Gripes but moderate ones or sometimes they came a little after it but often there were no Gripes at all For the cure of this Disease after I had observed that the Phaenomena of the Fever of most Dysenterick persons were the very same with them that accompanied the Solitary Fevers of this year it seemed consentaneous to me that my Patients might be cured if I did in some measure imitate that evacuation by which Nature uses to throw off that corrosive and sharp matter which is the continent cause of the Dysentery it self and of the Fever that attends it And therefore I encountred this Fever in the very same method both as to Bleeding and repeated Purging and Cordials as I used in the cure of the Dysentery above Except that I found that Paregoricks given between the Purges did not onely doe no good but that they did harm otherwise than in the Dysentery because the Matter was detained by them that should have been carried off by Purging The Patient lived for the first days of the Disease upon Oatmeal and Barley-Grewel His drink was small Beer a little warm And after I had Purged him once or twice I saw no necessity to forbid my Patient a little Chicken or some such meat easie of Digestion since this curing of him by Purging may allow it which could not be granted if we went another way to work The third Purge for the most part one day being always interposed made an end of the Disease Yet this did not always hold good but sometimes more were to be used If when the Fever was gone the Patients strength was broken and feeble and they recovered slowly which frequently happened to hysterick persons I endeavoured to restore it and to recall the Spirits that were run away and dissipated to their deserted Stations by giving Laudanum in a little dose but I rarely repeated that remedy nor ever prescribed it till two or three days after the last Purge But nothing made so much for renewing the strength and refreshing the Spirits as a free use of the open Air presently as the Fever was departed And I took the occasion of insisting on this practice from hence In the beginning almost of this Constitution I was called to a young Woman lying sick indeed of a Fever and almost killed with a most bitter pain in her forehead and with other Symptoms with which we have already said that this Dysenterick fever was loaded When I enquired of her in what manner the Fever first took her and how long she had had it she confessed that fourteen days agoe she had been freed of a Dysentery to which either going away of it self or forced away by help of Medicines the said Fever forthwith succeeded with an Head-ach Which I did conjecture I might be best able to prevent if I substituted another evacuation instead of the Dysentery very like that upon stopping of which the Fever arose and therefore I restored her in the method before recommended And the Fevers of this Constitution did most readily yield themselves to this method In young people and sometimes in those that were a little elder this Fever now and then got into the head upon which they grew delirous not indeed as in other Fevers after the manner of a Phrensie but they were struck with a Stupidity which came very nigh a Carus Sydenâ—am Sect. â— â— Obs in moâ—â— Aâ—â—t This happened to them above all the rest who had in any sort unfortunately employed themselves in extorting Sweats Febris Ephemera or An one-day Fever The Contents Whether the Bath be proper I. Whether Diatrion pipereon be proper for one bred of Crudities II. Whether drinking of Warm water be proper III. Whether Oxymel be good for an imputrid Continent IV. Whether drinking of Cold water be proper V. It cannot be safely cured without Bloud-letting VI. A Man may Bleed till he faint VII An Ephemera from constipation of the Skin cured by Hydroticks VIII I. WHether is a Bath proper in one-day-Fevers For the resolution we must know that a Bath of Sweet-water may be considered in respect of its divers parts whereof Galen l. 10. method enumerates four 1. The Air of the Bath by virtue of which Sweat is raised 2. A seat of hot Water 3. A seat of cold Water 4. That part of it where the Sweat is wiped off But since the causes of one-day Fevers are various and divers we must take notice that the hot Air of the Bath is proper for those Diaries which are caused by the closeness of the Skin obstruction of the Pores or swelling of the Glands But it is hurtfull for those that are caused by commotions of the mind by weariness heat of the Sun and the like A seat of hot Water may more safely be used in every Diary A seat of cold water cannot be granted without caution But then it is proper for every one to wipe off the Sweat Forestus his limitation laid down lib. 1. obs 6. must be observed that all these things may be proceeded on in an Ephemera as such For where Obstructions internal Crudities Loathings Catarrhs Loosness c. occur we must abstain from Baths We must take notice also that some Modern Physicians have substituted other remedies instead of Baths because we want that provision which was familiar to the Ancients And farthermore for this reason because most people are delinquent in their diet and hereupon heaping up of crudities renders their bodies unfit for the use of the Bathe G. Horstius II. Galen is found fault with by Trallianus for prescribing meth med c. 5. Diatrion pipereon simplex where when the body is costive crude aliment is lodged in the Stomach and 4 de sanit tuend for giving it in a nidorulent crudity which is proper neither on the account of the Fever nor of its cause which is the effect of an ever intense heat But Galen's design is to provoke the expulsive faculty by a Medicine endued with such acrimony to the end that the corrupt aliment may depart to the Guts and what crude remains may be farther concocted and digested Besides if it be given when the Body is Purged it does no harm because its heat is extinguished in the first ways Idem and goes not into the Veins but in the mean time it strengthens the weak Stomach III. Trallianus his Medicine deserves notice who commends drinking of warm Water where Meat is in the Stomach for it washes cleanses and drives the Meat into the lower Belly Primirosius d. â—eb l. 1. c. 5. it tempers the inflamed Spirits and he says he knows not a better remedy and truly it is an excellent one IV. Oxymel is suspected by some upon the account of the Honey whose heat seems hurtfull for several persons because it easily turns to choler But it is truly agreeable because it dissolves what is thick
is low and there is no fulness of bloud or but a very little and when it consists of the thinner part of the bloud Then because the whole Body cannot be evacuated by opening a Vein for these contraindicating Causes I should admit the use of moist Cupping-glasses by which we might advantageously evacuate that virulent Cacochymie Augeniâ—â— which is mixt with the thinner bloud X. In the Year 1648. an Epidemick Malignant Spotted fever raged with great destruction in which I often observed that the frequent application of dry Cupping-glasses and of Vesicatories to the middle of the Limbs and behind the Ears did much good even in desperate persons and such as had a Lethargy or a Phrenzy But if the heat or motion of the bloud were over high Petrus Borelius Cent. 1. Obs 60. then you were to abstain from cupping and scarifying for they were mortal but the use of Cordials was very advantageous XI It is the way of the Italians to apply Cupping-glasses to the lower parts for revocation of the poisonous matter from the Heart to the most disstant places To the Shoulders and Back by no means lest it be drawn towards the Heart from other places But they are properly applied to all these places beginning at the lower parts for the foresaid reason Which application since it does not sufficiently draw the poisonous humours and vapours from the heart and neighbouring parts therefore it is of necessity made to the shoulders and back Hear Mercatus his Opinion of them It is most advisable to scarifie where you set the Cupping-glasses to the Back over against the Heart Which Invention Practice has often shewn to be of such moment that I have seen anxiety inequality of the Pulse and other most cruel Accidents presently cease thereupon Wherefore till you find the accidents of the Poison in some sort to abate you must not leave off Cupping XII I had a Porter under Cure of a Burning Malignant fever When he was in great anxiety I ordered Leeches to be applied to his Anus but either through the negligence of the Attendant or the ignorance of the Patient they were set to his Paps which falling off full of bloud gave occasion to copious bloud-letting When I came P. Salius Diversus I found the man recovered of his Disease and I ascribed his succeeding health to this Remedy XIII When one has been sufficiently bled in the Arm opening a Vein in the Forehead is proper he may bleed 6 ounces Leeches may also be set behind the Ears which indeed are an usefull Remedy but not so effectual as the former because the thinnest part of the bloud onely is drawn by the Leeches when by a Vein of the Forehead sometimes in a Phrenzy more impure and corrupt bloud is drawn Riverius than from the Arm. XIV Vesicatories are condemned by some 1. Because they encrease heat and burning 2. Because by intervention of Pain they cause Watching 3. Because they often hinder the critical motion of Nature to the Nose I answer to the First That they cause heat onely in the external parts whereby the internal heat is abated To the Second That Watching and Pain come of themselves To the Third That they do not divert Nature from any wholsome purpose because she endeavours no critical motion But indeed they are necessary 1. That the heat which is almost stifled may be refreshed 2. That the poisonous matter that is about the heart may be attracted 3. That the raging matter rapt to the heart and brain Rolfinc Cons 9. l. 4. when it has a great urgency and causes a Delirium and makes the Pulse low may be retracted to parts far distant Vesicatories doe all these things as a present Remedy ¶ Being taught by experience I judged it a proper Remedy in this case because I observed the internal heat was very great when the out parts were cold and most grievous symptoms of the principal parts were imminent by reason of the malignant Evaporations of the boiling bloud By this means Revulsion is made to the out parts in which respect the Physician imitates Nature Horstius l. 1. obs 30. which uses to transfer Spots Buboes and Carbuncles to the out parts in Pestilential fevers ¶ Vesicatories applied to several Parts do powerfully draw and make revulsion of the bad and poisonous Ichores They are commonly applied to the hind part of the neck for there they draw out the poisonous matter and derive it from the head and serve to cure comatous affections which frequently happen in these Fevers Yet where a great Malignity has siezed the whole Body and very cruel Symptoms are urgent one is not sufficient but several must be applied In an exceeding severity of a Disease I use to apply them to five places namely to the Neck each Arm on the inside between the Elbow and Shoulder and to each Thigh on the inside Riverius between the Groin and Knee with good success XV. What Issues Sores and Vesicatories are able to doe in preventing and curing Malignant Diseases yea the Plague it self has been already in some measure known since Galen's time and is worthy of a more exact enquiry In our clime where the humours are for the most part gross phlegmatick and dull sometimes we observe present relief from Vesicatories especially if they be applied before the seventh day of the Disease to the inside of the Arms and Thighs where the large Veins run Yet there is a time when they are applied whole months to no purpose yea sometimes in a whole year no sensible relief is found from them The reason may be drawn from the difference of the Infection When these Malignant particles stick not very fast and do not embrace the tenacious moisture of the Body they are more easily discharged by a Vesicatory and the fugacious poison departs as the Serum breaks out But when they reside in viscid matter or are closely joined to any smooth matter they commonly elude the force of a Blister But how shall we know in what particles the malignity resides To consider the constitution is not sufficient for I have sometimes observed that Vesicatories were very beneficial to phlegmatick persons and that they have done no good at all to extreme cholerick Men. They must be applied in season especially when it appears by examples that they have done good to others who have been sick in the same manner Olaus Borrichius Act. Danic 1676. p. 77. near the same time But if they fail your expectation you must persist in Alexipharmacks which must nevertheless be made use of ¶ Since it is the ill custome of several Physicians when Malignant fevers do rage much if there be Head-ach and Delirium to rely much upon the application of a Veficatory that I might be certain of the success I enquired of several Chirurgeons from whose report I understood that most Patients died to whom they were laid And indeed I knew several who were
no fatness be left let it be distilled no more but if any be left let it be distilled till none remain and give half a drachm of this in 4 ounces of warm Barley-water To this purpose I have used Elixir vitae magni Ducis and essentia Theriacalis ejusdem in the same quantity to 2 drops Nor is there any reason why any one should reprehend the use of these Medicines as being very hot because the heat of them is easily dispersed and penetrates to the principal parts and carries off the infection of the humours by sweat besides we must use these hot things after taking of cold ones for Malignant and Pestilential Fevers must sometimes be cured by virtue of the fire Fonseca coâ—sult 47. tom 1. ¶ In a great decay of strength hot strengthning things need not much be feared so as out of dread of encreasing the Fever that we should be unwilling to deliver the Patient from imminent danger of Death seeing we must always have greatest respect to what is most urgent for when the strength of the Heart has been a little refreshed what hot strengthners have inflamed more than ordinary may be afterwards qualified by violent Coolers as Sal Prunellae and Spirit of Vitriol mixt in Juleps and ordinary drink This method observed by a prudent Physician does happily succeed even in the giving of hot Alexipharmacks and Sudorificks Riverius ¶ As to Bezoardick Medicines which take away the poisonous quality of the humours Treacle Mithridate Confectio Hyacinthi without all controversie they are better than any other Which though in some Pestilent fevers they be disapproved because they are hot yet I have observed that more benefit than hurt is got from the use of them Therefore Galen in Lib. de Theriac ad Pisonem allows Treacle in Malignant and Pestilential fevers Whose advice I approve so the Fever be not of an exceeding Burning kind Zecâ—hius Câ— sulâ— XXIV In Malignant fevers before the breaking out of the Spots you may sometimes observe the Hands of the sick far beyond the Wrist or the Feet far beyond the Anckle or both to be discoloured with a colour strange and different from that of the whole Body but momentany and fading and sometimes they are very red And such Patients do then complain of a great burning in their extreme parts and ask for cold things or some Crystal although the rest of the Body be not so remarkably hot which indeed is a mortal sign But if the heat rage yet more in their Limbs and gain strength then the Hands of such feverish persons in two or three days space without any other manifest cause are consumed with such an Atrophy as usually appears in their hands that are wasted with the Consumption you shall seldom observe that such recover especially them whose Hands are black and blew or of some dull colour Of which thing I give this reason following the example of the Excellent Spigelius namely That there are usually more and more apparent Anastomoses of the Veins and Arteries about the extreme parts as in parts remote from the fountain of Heat and which therefore stand in need of more hot and spirituous bloud And hence it comes to pass that the Bloud which is evacuated out of the hand is much more fresh coloured and redder than what is evacuated out of the Arm because the arterious bloud is here also ever evacuated By means of which Anastomoses that admirable Circulation of the bloud is performed But now if this Circulation be hindred in the extreme parts by the bloud being boiled by the preternatural febrile heat and made fibrous and tough like to dregs of Oil how should it be but as standing waters corrupt that so the whole substance of the Bloud in humane Bodies should be corrupted When even in fenny places ponds c. we observe sometimes green sometimes black sometimes red water is either gathered or corrupted but most frequently Marshes and the woody parts of Houses lying under the Penthouse or Eaves of the House or the plastered Walls between grow green because of the Rain abounding with the volatile Salt of grass and herbs got out by the heat of the Sun and the like reason may be given for other corrupt Waters For they are variously tinged with the volatile Salt of the Earth which must not be denied it but then corrupted by the heat of the Sun in Marshy places and they as it were counterfeit and falsly represent rust of Iron Bole Armenick Ochre May not therefore likewise that most vitious and corrupt bloud in the live Body of People sick of Malignant fevers appear livid and having lost its rosie colour of necessity most filthily mar the beauty of the Skin in the outside of the hands and feet When therefore the bloud or the mass of bloud grows tough in the foresaid manner so that the Circulation of the Bloud does I will not say wholly cease but is in part hindred two Phaenomena appear either the parts mentioned are siezed with an occult Gangrene and therefore they are scarcely recovered whose extreme parts are seized first with a manifest and pertinacious Heat and by and by are very red black and blew all which things have their latitude and degrees and when these things are over the sick are not so violently burnt as before or they do not perceive themselves so but the heat falsly abates and appears more gentle the Pulse also is apparently better but falsly because the bloud is tougher and flower to motion and Death is at the door Or a strange colour which is momentany easily vanishing and fading appears in the extreme parts of them that are sick of a Malignant fever But I divine that this portends that corruption of the bloud is in making or will shortly be which is analogous or like to the gangrenous Ichor but that the Salt rendred in some measure fixt in the Mass of bloud and especially in the said places most remote from the heart may be made volatile again by Alexipharmacks that is prepared Hartshorn especially and also shavings of crude Hartshorn shavings of Greenland Unicorn volatile Salt of Hartshorn Salt of Vipers Urine Ash Amber and the like Wherefore the famous Rulandus who was ignorant indeed of the Circulation of the bloud yet nevertheless in the Hungarian Plague highly commends Chymical Salts affirming that they doe as much as any other Medicines towards the expulsion of its latent fomes and saying How much soever you endeavour to assuage the Symptoms or to strengthen or refresh the Body you labour but in vain the fountain still remaining Nature therefore being strengthened by the help of these Alexipharmacks and volatile Salts discharges that partly fixed Salt in the mass of bloud being now made volatile by the Arteries into the Veins whereupon there appears not any one remarkable broad spot but many and innumerable appear fresh when the circulation of the bloud is restored plentifull sweat all the Body
marvellous efficacy given from half a drachm to a whole one in Malignant fevers Small Pox Measles yea and the Plague it self But whence comes its diaphoretick virtue considering its astrictive faculty Simon Pauli Quadrip Botan p. m. 225. affirms it is used to stop the ebullition of the bloud not to raise a sweat for as it is far better to spit on a spark that it may not burn and consume a whole House with the flame which it would rise to so it is most advisable by cold and dry things such as Antimonium diaphoreticum is and also Root of Tormentil Bistort which are astrictive and Diaphoretick Bole Armenick Terra Sigillata burnt Hartshorn Calx Antimonii c. to stop the burning of the bloud or the fermentation following it which if it exceed measure so as the circulation of the bloud being altogether disturbed the bloud be unspeakably corrupt it can neither return again to its natural habit and the contagion which follows that corruption that takes so many off is called the Plague whose fomes seminary or contagion you will never cast out of the Body except by Alexitericks or Sudorificks But this reason does not yet satisfie for if it held good the cure would not be safe while the cause of this burning or ebullition would not by this means be taken away and Opiates were better able to doe this work Nay Whence proceeds the usual eruption of Sweat after the use of the enumerated Medicines which are cold and dry Diaphoreticks Wherefore I judge that Antimonium Diaphoreticum as also the other Medicines are not indeed among the number of those Sudorificks that have the faculty of attenuating and dissolving gross humours but that they are such as imitating Nature do by their fixing and precipitating virtue which depends on a peculiar texture of the parts fix and precipitate the morbifick ferments or the volatile Sulphureous Salts Frid. Hofmannus Clavis Schroderiana p. 303. and also strengthen the Tone which being done the tumultuating faculty of the Archaeus is quieted and throws off what is troublesome by Sweat or Urine from the Lympha or mass of bloud XXIX We must take notice that Oxyrrhodina are not so convenient in Malignant as in Simple Putrid fevers because the dispersing of poisonous vapours must be procured by all means and not hindred therefore gentle repellents must be made use of or if the violence of the Symptoms be urgent we may proceed to strong ones Riverius so they be not kept long on XXX In Malignant fevers we must have a care of Epithemes for they may by no means be used in poisonous Diseases Mercatus and therefore we must avoid them as a pernicious Poison ¶ In Malignant fevers we must utterly avoid cold Epithemes which are proper for the Heart but they must rather be applied warm for otherwise there is fear lest when the Malignity is translated and struck back from the Circumference to the Center more harm than good result from it Therefore cordial Baggs are besprinkled with no liquours Wedellus but what are spirituous for fear of repulsion XXXI If the extreme parts happen to be cold there is great suspicion of Malignity and Languidness of faculty for that Coldness testifies there are both these Causes to wit a Malignant Putrescence of the Humours in the Bowels or Ulcers or great Inflammations or violent pains in the Intestines all these things force the heat to run inwards and to desert the out parts In this case there should be the greatest care imaginable to recall the heat and by all means to keep these parts in an equal temper with the other parts For although this coldness of the Feet be no cause of the Disease but a Symptome yet it is removed by revocation of the Heat that is of the Bloud and Spirits And nothing is more beneficial than to call them back because of the harm of their running to the internals which increases the inflammation and other affections of the Inwards and the heat it self by its being pent in is the cause of its own extinction Therefore we may not apply cold things to the Feet lest the burning heat be repelled inwards for in colliquating Fevers applications are best made to the Body between the Armholes and the Groin it is well if you can keep them from being cold Vallesius XXXII When in Continual yea in Malignant severs where a Delirium is imminent or the Patient cannot sleep we apply Plasters to the Soles of the Feet which are held to be applied for revulsion sake truly here is a notorious fallacy of the Cause committed For they are all hot things which abound with their volatile Salts and are of very thin parts Pigeons cut open alive pickled Herrings split Horseradish Leven with Salt Mustard c. Hence while in the said extreme parts of the Body both the venous and arterious Bloud being burnt up with the febrile heat is made heavy and dull cannot freely circulate these very things applied to the Soles of the Feet do attenuate melt and put in fusion that fixt Bloud and Serum by means of those subtile and volatile Salts wherewith they abound and so by accident while the free circulation of the bloud is procured in the Feet and it cannot restagnate into the Head Simon Pauli natural sleep creeps on XXXIII The use of Wine in this Fever sometimes is very beneficial for it is a great cordial and very opposite to Malignity Yet it often does harm by increasing the feverish heat Wherefore the constitution of the Patient and Nature of the Disease must be well considered If the Fever be small the poisonous quality intense and the Patient Phlegmatick mixt with water it may be given safely and successfully In a violent Fever and a cholerick Body Wine is destructive I have by infinite experiences observed these things especially in the purple Fever which was at Mompelier anno 1623. distinguishable from the true Plague onely by the Bubo For to those Patients whose Pulse was not very frequent but like the Pulse of a healthy man their Tongue moist and no thirst I gave Wine with good success and the relief thence emerging indicated the continuation of it both because the Fever was not heightned by the use of it and there was no thirst nor driness of Tongue raised In what Patients the contraries were I forbad them Wine altogether Yet we must observe never to give Wine in the first days lest the crude matter be too much moved but onely about the State when the signs of Malignity begin more fully to exert themselves Riverius XXXIV In the year 1623. after the Siege of Mompelier a very Malignant fever raged for several months of which half that were sick died and they peculiarly who had the Parotides or swellings of the Kernels behind the Ears which came usually about the ninth or tenth day of the sickness did all die And when I had seen several such but could
the fear of a future Fever prevented But yet if the Stool or Urine have no sign of putrefaction a Vein must not be breathed though the Symptoms be urgent But if this Imposthume follow the pestilential fever Phlebotomy will doe hurt Therefore before there is a pestilential fever we may bleed Yet seeing the Plague comes from contagion Heâ—rnius â—â—de jâ—â—ribuâ— because of the poisonous putrefaction already conceived I should think we should abstain from bloud-letting VII Bleeding is very prejudicial to them that are sick of the Plague and it is very dangerous also for them that would be preserved from it The poison often lurks for some days weeks or months in the body out of the Vessels before it shew it self by the use of Medicines that stir the bloud But if by Venaesection you draw it to the heart it behoves you to inquire whether or no the diminution of the bloud spirits and strength through your means be not the cause why the Heart is suffocated and is not able to chase away its enemy Physicians indeed who deserve credit and are well versed in their art do say that cautious bleeding and celebrated at the beginning has ever been the chief of Antipestilential means But they that in these cold Countries imitated them P Barbetâ—e de â—â—ste p. 1â—3 soon left it off yea our Countrey Physicians are now wholly silent as to bleeding VIII The Circulation of the bloud tells us that all poisonous and bad humours which are either thrown off by Nature it self or come from abroad should immediately at the very first moment be drawn out from the Glandules and the Skin it self by means of attractive Medicines lest that in the space of a small time all the bloud be infected and the heart it self be oppressed and suffer violence This may sufficiently shew how dangerous it is to breathe a Vein and Purge the body in a Pestilential and Venereal Bubo yea and in all venemous wounds on the contrary how necessary it is to draw out the peccant matter by the help of sudorifick and attractive Medicines Idem And therefore that the doctrine of the Circulation of the bloud is of great use in the Art of Physick IX Purging in a Pestilential fever is suspected both because of the lowness of strength and because a Loosness and that a colliquating one quickly happens But we must note that it is not always so But when it is whether it be colliquating or because nature attempts to discharge the peccant matter Physicians are not of one opinion For the most indeed think Purgatives may be given but such as leave an astriction behind them Others judge otherwise and aright for since in this case it is either the humours themselves or the solid parts that are colliquated the colliquated matter does not require vacuation by Medicine seeing Nature discharges it of her self nor is it indicated by what is to be colliquated since such evacuation should rather be stopt nor yet as if I thought it should be stopt by Astringents because if it be altogether bad it would doe more harm kept than voided but I should recommend it to Nature while the Physician opposes the causes of colliquation But if the flux be not Colliquative but Nature onely attempts the excretion of the peccant matter by stool then it will either be Symptomatick and the matter crude and bad or critical and the matter concocted If Symptomatical it will either be moderate or too much from whence loss of strength may be feared If moderate it must neither be promoted nor hindred for there is no cure of Symptoms by themselves If too much it must be stopped with such things as respect the peccant matter and the present Disease But in Pestilential fevers wherein the Belly is not loose some would Purge others not Of them that would some presently in the beginning of the Disease others not till the matter is concocted They that doe it in the beginning some doe it in the matter turgid others when it is quiet Again some use gentle Purges others violent They that purge in the beginning when the matter is quiet fear lest it become turgid and seize some principal part They confirm it from Galen 5 method 12. Who writes that they who recovered of the Pestilence which was abroad in his time some of them vomited all of them were loose They add that a crisis must not be tarried for which comes in the state or declension for as Galen 2 Aphor. 13. says Most crises end in a recovery unless the state of the Air be pestilential They produce also the experiments of them who in long Pestilences have recovered Men innumerable by giving strong Purges in the Beginning and Encrease They that think Men ought not to Purge are perswaded thereto because immediately at the very beginning there is a great decay of strength and because Colliquation is joined with it or an internal Inflammation in which a Purge does a great deal of harm Therefore the most famous Physicians Greeks and Arabians do not mention one word of Purging Others add that all the motion of the matter is to the skin and must not be drawn inward In this difficulty we would first of all observe this that there is a manifold difference in these Fevers The first is taken from the form for one Pestilential Fever is simple another mixt The simple one is that which without the Putrefaction of other humours has its rise from some poisonous putrid matter The mixt when other humours also do putrefy The second from the subject for the poisonous quality is either in the spirits whence comes a pestilential Ephemera or in the Humours and it is humoral or in the solid parts and it is Hectick The third is from the matter for the poisonous quality may reside either in choler phlegm melancholy or bloud and they keep the periods of those humours The fourth is from the place of the matter whence some are continual others intermittent The matter of the Continual some is in the Veins other in some determinate part For according to Galen we have Malignant fevers from the Brain being affected And such also as come from the Membranes containing the Brain and from the Lungs and Heart The fifth from the degree of putrefaction and venemous contagion since in most Fevers there is much putrefaction and but little poisonous contagion in some on the contrary In some both are great in some both are little The sixth is from the Symptoms for some are quiet so that they shew not themselves at all others make the Patients very restless especially inwardly Some are colliquating the Belly others abounding in Urine Some are with Spots others without These things granted we say 1. We must not purge in a Pestilential Ephemera and Hectick unless there be a great Cacochymie with fear lest the Infection should spread thither 2. We affirm that all matter is not turâ—id for we see it
almost always remain fixt in the heart or about the heart or some other place 3. This is true where the humours are tainted with the Infection as they commonly are that the passages and matter must of necessity be prepared with that concoction whereof they are capable which we must needs say happens in those wherein the Patients recover because no disease can end without signs of Concoction 4. Seeing the spirits either presently or in a little while sink in this sort of Fevers it is clear that we must use gentle Physick abstaining from all which savours of poison and use such as is well corrected But if there were burning or an Inflammation inwardly with chilness of the extreme parts purging would be dangerous But before it come to that coldness purging is allowed by Hippocrates 2. de vict acut as is seen in the beginning of a Pleurisie and peripneumony Unless the Inflammation were in the natural parts as the Stomach Liver c. in which parts notwithstanding some gentle purging is permitted onely to evacuate the parts near the Inflammation But that the motion of the matter is always towards the skin as some say is false For from the history of the Pestilence in Galen's time we see the matter crept sometimes to the Stomach whence came Vomiting sometimes to the Guts whence came a Loosness yea we have seen it come down to the Groin whence proceed Buboes sometimes it has gone to the Brain and caused putrid Lethargies Coma's Melancholy sometimes it has gone to the Heart and Swooning has followed sometimes sudden Dropsies have been bred Whence it is manifest that it is very good to evacuate the matter lest it tend to some noble parts Hence in Hippocrates his Pestilence 3 Epid. 3. t. 80. we reade how Loosnesses cured several Nor does it hinder because the Infection is poisonous for we know that Dioscorides and the Ancients generally purged in curing poisons And Hippocrates says we must purge the same day in acute Diseases if the matter be turgid and it is turgid when it is ready to pass out and has no firm inclination to any one part But in a pestilential fever for the most part the matter abides in one certain place and is neither ready for excretion nor hastens to pass out So Galen 6. Epidem 2. tract 9. and elsewhere says that it went ill with them that had a Loosness in the beginning but that they who had one in the state recovered But as for crises which according to Galen they say fall out ill in such sort of fevers and therefore should be prevented by vacuation in the beginning it is nothing because they would fall out worse if the crude matter were moved by a Purge especially when good crises would sometimes follow Therefore we may say that we may purge in a pestilential fever because as Galen says we must purge in every great Disease if the strength and other things permit But this Disease is a great one in its own nature violent â—â—â—â—us l. 9. 〈…〉 7. possessing and opposing a principal part that is the heart and malignant X. Concerning Purging we must observe this that the seminary of the Plague to use Crato's words can be cast out by no Purgative unless there be a great commotion made in nature which is done with danger enough for although it may so be that nature irritated by strong Medicines such as are made of Antimony and Mercury may throw the vitious humours out of the body and so cast out that poison which possesses them and the Patients may be cured thereby yet this is done by accident in strong bodies But the purge it self is not primarily opposed to the pestilential poison therefore such purges doe often harm and by putting the Humours in motion do cause dangerous and deadly Vomitings and Loosnesses Wherefore there is more hope in Alexipharmacks especially than in Purges which if they be rightly used there is oftentimes no need of Purges Therefore two things should be well considered First The constitution of the Body should be carefully considered and how the Patient does after he has taken his antidote and what sort of Fever comes upon the Plague For if the body be pure and there be no fear of a putrid Fever Alexipharmacks alone are sufficient and we must doe our utmost endeavour that the pestilential poison may be cast out to the habit of the body as it has often been found that Men have been delivered from the Plague by one large Sweat But if the body be cacochymick and the same danger in a manner may be feared from a putrid Fever as from the Plague after the taking an Alexipharmack it would not be amiss to give a Purge that some part of the matter that would conceive putrefaction and increase the Fever may be subtracted to the end Nature may with more ease conquer the rest Then we must consider whether the Plague that is abroad have its rise more from the fault of the Air or Contagion or whether it do not rather depend upon some inward fault in the humours as it happens after scarcity of provisions If the former there is no need of purging but Alexipharmacks are sufficient unless perhaps the Plague happen upon a very cacochymick body for then sometimes purging is not unprofitable although it be not on the score of the Plague but onely of the putrid Fever that would follow If the latter it is not onely usefull but necessary to purge For if bodies be full of bad and corrupt humours they must be purged lest they be inflamed by other Medicines or the poison grow stronger by the corrupt humours and disseminate it self farther or lest those copious humours being stirred should run to some noble part and cause there a deadly Inflammation and by all means lest a dangerous putrid fever should be kindled Wherefore if Purging be omitted although the strength of the Pestilential poison be broken by Alexipharmacks Sennerâ—â—s this Ail does often degenerate into a Disease no less dangerous ¶ Vomits and Purges do not evacuate so universally as Diaphoreticks and by concentring the malignant matter they often draw it in and fix it to the Bowels Willis XI Though many and strong reasons may be brought why a purging Medicine should not be given in a Pestilential Bubo yet because it is necessary that we attribute much to experiments especially in dangerous diseases and in such wherein Art cannot be exercised therefore in these it is necessary that we trust experiments Wherefore I will begin with other Mens experiments and afterwards produce my own We have many who attest they have used Purges with good success and I am swayed with this sort of common opinion And I know that James Carpensis the Chirurgeon was of so great authority at Bologna Ferrara and Reggio and in my own Countrey that he surpassed all other Italians of his time and he in the universal Plague of Europe from the year
Summer that they may be the less offended by the heats and sweat the less for they better withstand it who use Garlick than they who abstain Moreover it defends mens bodies from external Cold and renders them less obnoxious to it It performs this not by its quality alone but as it strengthens the innate heat so that the body afterwards is overcome with more difficulty by any cause whatever But they who have not used Garlick it is not safe for them to begin to accustome themselves to it in a pestilential constitution as neither it is for them that are of a hot constitution of a thin habit of body Children weak People and they whose bodies easily waste but they that are of a gross habit of body of a cold constitution and difficultly waste by transpiration I think they may obtain their desire in Wintertime Besides according to Hippocrates and Galen 4. de 1. Vict. it excellently preserves a man from surfeiting and how much this disposes mens bodies for any external impression the ill habits declare which arise from thence Then Dioscorides assigns great advantages to Garlick against the change of Water both for prevention and cure Moreover we know by long experience that Garlick strengthens the natural heat raises an appetite sharpens concoction and the rest of the natural Actions and does not suffer the meat to corrupt And Bodies suffer the quite Contraries to these things from the Plague therefore for the said Reasons we may give Garlick with meat to him that is sick of the Plague But if you consider it is drying as Dioscorides writes and that in the Pestilential fever there is a bad humour in the stomach whereby all its actions are corrupted especially that whereby meat is concocted and that whereby it is retained will you therefore reject it because it heats more than it ought By no means because the Patients suffer less harm from the addition of heat than of the pestilential putrefaction Besides the Heat is not in the earthy part of the Garlick as the heat of a bitter thing but it is in the watry part which presently is dissolved into the habit of the body passing immediately from the inner to the outer parts a thing which does not a little good in a pestilential Fever You will object that Hippocrates 4. de v. acut says that Garlick breeds Wind Heat in the Breast Head-ach and Loathing of meat But Galen asserts the contrary being taught by experience nay he says it cures the Head-ach if it be given after evacuation Therefore I advise all that are sick of a pestilential Fever as a most wholsome thing to mix Garlick with their meat that by its drying and strengthning the natural Heat it may resist the deadly prevailing corruption and that it may discharge what is corrupted by the way of Urine or by its violent motion to the circumferential parts as well as for these of the Symptoms in the Stomach vomiting and loathing meat yet still observing custome and the violence of the febrile heat according to the age complexion and season of the year Nor must it presently be rejected because of some contrary quality for Galen says It is difficult to find any thing that does greatly profit without hurt And as Avicenna says the heat of Garlick vanishes in boiling wherefore he that would use it whole let him boil it with meat without any other Preparation if one would break it let it lye a day in Infusion in Vinegar or Juice of Sorrel Besides they say Garlick drives away fear which very much afflicts and wasts the spirits of such as are seized with a pestilential Fever Brudus XXX Where there is great pain of the Head or Stomach and the Patients do not sleep Camphire must be used cautiously Otherwise this is as it were the Vehicle of other Medicines and makes them penetrate all over the Body and oppose themselves to the pestilential poison yet a great quantity of it is needless two or three grains may be sufficient XXXI Let Rose or Rue Vinegar be smelled to or let Citron rind be held in the mouth For they who for preservation would guard themselves with Zedoary and Cloves doe themselves a great deal of hurt Crato XXXII I know this that Opium has a special virtue against the Plague Wild-night-shade testifies this Gesnerus Ep. 34. which is a most effectual Remedy in the Murrain of Hogs as Tragus writes and it has the virtue of Opium ¶ I judge Opium should not be added unless to the hottest Antidotes but such they commonly are which are given in the Cure of the Plague for to omit other things which take Opium expresly into them the noble Pulvis Saxonicus good against Poisons has the fruit and leaves of Herb Paris that is the Aconitum primum Fuschii which cools no-less strenuously than Opium And this Antidote as I hear from experienced persons does abundance of good in the Plague And Electuarium de ovo has Nux vomica in it to which I find cold in the fourth degree attributed notwithstanding I am as yet doubtfull Idem ¶ It is wonderfull also that these things how bitter soever yet are not at all cold as the Cocculi Levantici This also is wonderfull that these exceeding cold things should cause Sweat Idem as I have often observed ¶ But seeing distilled Remedies seem to be preferred by me because they sooner penetrate and in the Plague there is need of quick penetration Yet I would not mix soporiferous things as Opium and the like with other distilled things both because I would not have them penetrate to the Heart and because such things distilled seem to me to be made worse and more hurtfull to our nature Idem but not hot things XXXIII In the year 1645. the Plague though not a cruel one was abroad And Dr. Henry Sayer when others refused the charge did boldly visit any that were sick he gave them Medicines every day he handled with his own hand Buboes and virulent Ulcers and he cured several sick people That he might guard himself from the Contagion before he went to any infected houses he onely used to drink a good draught of generous Wine then when he had finished his perambulation about the very threshold of Death he used to repeat the same Antidote But within a short time being so bold as to lye in the same bed with a certain Captain whose company he intirely loved who was taken with the Plague nor then did these Arts profit their Master which had been of so great advantage to all other men but he died of that Disease much lamented of all that lived thereabout About others that were infected with the Plague his method of Cure was usually this If Spots or Buboes appeared not till after he was called for the most part he gave a Vomit the Prescript of which was of infusion of Crocus metallorum with sometimes white Vitriol sometimes Roman When the
shews that all salt things are proper for this Fever Nor must they therefore be rejected because they breed thirst Brudus XXXVIII Besides in a pestilential Fever we must take diligent care of the Stomach that the Patient may be able to retain what he takes otherwise we can neither help the strength nor oppose the disease Wherefore my reason tells me that Salt-fish would be of use if it be such as is easily concocted for it is certain that it dries the stomach exceedingly causes an appetite and immoderate thirst settles a subverted and nauseating stomach As I was writing these things it was told me that an old Chirurgeon in England used successfully to feed people sick of the Plague with Salt-fish which the English call Herrings the French Anchoyes which if he cannot have instead of them he uses a less sort of Fish which take the Salt and Smoke better But you must warn your Patient to abstain from drink till an hour after eating of them but afterwards give him as much cold water as he can drink at one draught The use of such Fish is most effectual against the thin corrupt humidity in the stomach And how much such Salt-fish strengthens the stomach represses loathing and causes an appetite their very smell declares whereby no small appetite is procured to the stomach He therefore that is content with these reasons let him use them broiled being steeped in Vinegar or in Juice of Sorrel Idem XXXIX It is a difficult thing to prescribe a Diet for these Fevers For a thin one is not convenient 1. Because it is given that Nature may be at leisure to fight with the morbifick matter But in pestilential Fevers it is our onely care to prevent a War between Nature and the pestilential Humour because usually in such contest Nature is overcome 2. A Diet that is thin and easie of concoction is sooner overcome by the violence of the pestilential Contagion than by Nature Wherefore although it were very usefull and necessary for the breeding of Spirits which in such Diseases Nature most loves yet in this Disease we may not use it And gross Meats must not be given because they cannot be overcome of the natural heat as being languid also because they do not afford matter for spirits and they add to the cause of the Disease although they be necessary for a greater resistence against corruption For which reason I advise to mix such things as afford most plenty of spirits with such as resist the pestilential Contagion Such as it is evident they are that are dry by Nature and immerge themselves deep into the body with a quick penetration communicating a drying faculty to the whole with a little astriction Wherefore Salt and all salt things especially such as are of a thin substance as also all sowre things are admirably good They indeed increase the Fever but it is better to stop putrefaction and repair the substance than not to heighten the Fever Nor is it contrary to reason to increase thirst for it is desirable because 1. It shews that the action of the sensory faculty in the mouth of the stomach is perfect 2. The Patient will be delighted with cold water and he may drink plentifully of it which is an excellent Remedy Mercatus XL. But it is not adviseable to use Salt-flesh which the Northern part of Spain uses because it is hard of concoction Yet it were better to use the Juice of it when it is well rosted The Juice of Flesh breeds abundance of Spirits and strengthens the Stomach Therefore it must be our great care that we doe not offer the same meat so often till the Patient loath it Wherefore the Physician should think with himself of divers meats that he may use every one of them when it is proper All sweet and unctuous things whatever is hot and moist should carefully be avoided Lentils with much Vinegar Salt Saffron and Parsly boiled are convenient Brudus XLI Celsus lib. 3. c. 7. orders the giving of hot and strong Wine in the Cure of a pestilential Fever Which we must think was observed by him or by Physicians before him in the peculiar and particular nature of some Pestilence For even in our age many were sick of the Plague and recovered who had a great desire to Wine and acknowledged they did receive great benefit from Wine and they said they never found greater relief in the very height of the Disease than when they drank Wine which their Physicians also confirmed whereas otherwise although it restore strength and spirits yet it is manifest it is very hurtfull by reason of its heat Therefore Galen in giving Bâ—le Armenick which is cold and dry distinguishes carefully whether there be a Fever or no and whether it be small or great And whereas several Physicians write that Wine must not be given because it carries the Poison to the heart and opens a passage thither this reason does not hold because otherwise it were not convenient in Poisons when yet Dioscorides not onely permits it but commands it even to be taken liberally against the biting of Serpents and all wounds which hurt by cooling But what can the nature of the Pestilential fever be wherein Celsus commends Wine Certainly it must be such wherein there is much poison and very little putrefaction and that in cold matter For sometimes in pestilential Fevers the putrefaction is so remiss Rubeus in cit loc that it is almost none at all and yet the pernicious or evil quality is very intense XLII If the Patient be troubled for several days with a costive body with anxiety of heart Can a man expect relief from a Purge Costiveness is not the cause of the Anxiety but the poison it self Therefore proceed to give â—weats strengthen the Heart and be not greatly solicitous for the Costiveness But if you have a mind to loosen let a Suppository be used for the use of a Clyster is not so safe This hath done many harm at this time and others little good while in the mean time it â—o way resists the malignity But if you will neglect this admonition which is confirmed by experience and reason and have a mind to give a Clyster abstain I pray from Scammoniates especially in Women and Virgins Barbette that have their Menstrua XLIII The appetite of meat decayed may be restored by Acids any way taken and especially with sweet Spirit of Salt and Elixir proprietatis either mixt with the ordinary drink or used with cordial mixtures Where note that since the Pestilential poison for the most part uses to exert its deleterious quality in a few days it is not worth the while for a Physician to be solicitous for restoring the Appetite immediately in the beginning because when poison is conquered by Acids the Appetite returns of its own accord but if it comes slowly Syl ius de le Bâ—ë it may be repeated by often using
in other places requires But he forbids the giving of it before signs of Coction because it hinders attenuation and digestion of tough humours and causes difficulty of breathing convulsion and trembling in some But Averroës tarries not till that time because the Patient in the mean time is in danger of having his innate heat extinguished by the febrile and because the damage done by the cold Water is less than what would be done by the burning Heat for by drinking cold Water there is onely danger of lengthning the Disease by the violent Heat of Death Besides Coction is a sign the Disease is overcome and when the Heat is quenched drinking of Water is useless Therefore when Bile is raging cold Water may safely be given When it is cooled and the state of the Disease is over it will be useless because the humours will grow crude again with the Water and new occasion will be given to Obstructions and lengthning out of the Fever espeally in Natures that are obnoxious to Obstructions as the melancholick XVI Because in the place of Putrefaction in long Fevers a certain Infection like to a Ferment is usually bred and left behind whereby the humours though not so very bad are fermented and corrupted Therefore to extinguish this ferment and stop the humours convenient Evacuations premised we may proceed to the use of the Peruvian Bark which must be given in the beginning of the fit with Malmsey Wine in manner and quantity as is well known to all Physicians Fortis XVII A Tertian ague is sometimes prolonged by a hot and dry intemperature of the Liver which continually produces fewel for new fits As I have often observed in several who were of a dry and squalid habit of Body and altogether cholerick and without any store of humours they have had a Tertian for three or four months especially in a hot season of the Year Violent Purgatives and violent Aperients and Heaters are hurtfull to such But they must be treated with a cooling and moistning Diet and with Juleps and Broths of the same quality And the superfluous humours must be purged away by degrees with emollient and cooling Clysters Cassia Tamarinds Catholicon and Syrup of Roses but in this case Baths of sweet water especially doe wonders by extinguishing the hot and dry intemperature impressed on the Bowels which the Patient may use without Sweating Sometimes also the length of a Tertian depends upon an indisposition of some part especially of the Liver or Mesentery which cannot be cured by Purging never so often repeated because the ill quality remains in the part and daily gathers new humour which maintains the fits And this ill quality is removed by Diureticks Sudorificks and other dissolvents Things endued with such qualities are Wormwood lesser Centaury Carduus benedictus root of Dittany Burnet Tormentil c. whereof decoctions may be made Enchir. Med. pract Riverius to be given several days before the fits XVIII Many are ignorant what Galen's skill was in giving of Wormwood in Tertian agues In curing of them this among many other is one Indication to purge store of bilious humour by stool and Urine Another is to strengthen the mouth of the Stomach much molested with bile Wormwood performs these things of which Galen 6. simpl Wormwood has an astringent and bitter and also a sharp quality both heating and cleansing and drying and strengthning Therefore it drives down the bilious humours of the Belly by stool and purges by Urine But it purges what is bilious in the Veins most by Urine therefore it does no good when it is given for Phlegm contained in the belly And Dioscorides lib. 3. cap. 23. It has an astringent and heating virtue it purges bile which sticks to the Stomach and Belly it provokes Urine Therefore Wormwood is given for these two Reasons to purge Bile and to strengthen the Stomach It does no hurt because hot for its substance is not given but its decoction or infusion in Melicrate as Galen said besides onely the leaves are infused that is a small quantity to cause heat To say nothing Augenius l. 7. tom 1. Epist 8. that if it doe a little harm it need not be valued in respect of the good it does They doe amiss who give the juice XIX A Woman 45 Years old after a disorderly Diet was taken in the latter end of May with a Tertian ague I neglecting the Ague betook my self to restrain the fierceness of the sharp Salt redounding in the Patient and not without success for when I had given her of the volatile Salt of Harts-horn half a scruple with 6 grains of Salt of Carduus benedictus and 5 grains of Salt of Wormwood but the first time and that one hour before the fit it not onely came later by two hours but held her much more mildly Georgius Sogerus Misc Cur. an 72. Obs 244. Wherefore insisting on this Medicine and when because of its nauseous taste she began to loath it I made it into Pills with a little crum of Bread and I cured her XX. A Gentlewoman was taken with an exquisite Tertian ague she obstinately refused all that I prescribed in the mean time the Disease grew worse and for eight fits it grew stronger and stronger every fit I visited her a little before her ninth fit and when she refused to take any thing inwardly I order bottles filled with hot water to be placed here and there about her to make her sweat against her Will. She on the contrary commands the bottles to be taken away I being not at all moved with the clamour of my Patient order the Maids to observe my commands and to force her to sweat against her Will remembring that of Hippocrates 2 Epid. We must endeavour that anger may be provoked in such as are pale Now said I to my self if anger must be provoked that the bloud may be diffused through the habit of the body and dispell paleness perhaps it may also drive out the Ague and open the inward obstructions the cause of the present mischief Borrichâ—ins Misc Cur. ann 72. Obs 234. Nor did my Augury deceive me the Ague ceased forthwith and though she was outragious angry it stopt and never returned any more XXI In the height of the fit to allay the heat cooling Epithemes of water of Cichory Roses Plantain Vinegar of Roses c. may be applied to the Liver Yet we must have a care that the waters lie not upon the Liver Enchir. Meâ— Pract. when Sweat is at hand for they might hinder its coming out XXII Thoâ—e Remedies that use commonly to be applied to the Wrists are not to be rejected altogether for the opinion of the Vulgar is not onely satisfied with them because they think many are cured with these remedies but also they may doe some good by communicating their virtue to the heart by the large Arteries Riverius which run to the Wrists XXIII The Diet in
eaten on the intermission day I do not grant it From Hippocrates they affirm that a pure Tertian is judged within seven fits that is contains thirteen days but the fourteenth is the term of acute diseases And a thin diet is proper for all diseases that are judged within fourteen days therefore no flesh must be given because it surpasses the limits of a thin diet Moreover in this ague bile as being too sharp uses to heat dry and corrode the parts and it is certain the Stomach and Liver are more affected with these Symptoms than they should be and that their actions are therefore weakned wherefore we must feed them with food of easie concoction which is of a contrary quality And since flesh is not easily concocted nor abounds with a quality contrary to the humour but with a midling one it is ill prepared by the Stomach and Liver whence it comes to pass that a good share of it is converted into the nature of the humour that causes the disease Things therefore must be given which are easie of concoction and which are strong in qualities contrary to the humour We cannot find this in flesh but in herbs fruits and seeds But we use to allow a Chicken or two made ready with Barley Violets Liverwort Prunes and juice of Pomegranate we give this broth in the declension of the Ague and at some distance of time a sorbition of Bread infused one hour in Endive water and on the intermission day we indulge the Patient Chicken broth and we suppose that they who thus prescribe advise well Indeed a man cannot invent a more wholsome diet and which strengthens Nature more and reduces the Body more effectually to a temper the morbifick quality being destroyed Which we demonstrate thus In a pure Tertian there comes a double driness upon the Body the one positive whereby the bile of a dry nature affects the Body the other from the consumption of the natural moisture which has its rise from the Bloud We must help either driness But that the Physician may sooner help the second with chicken broth tempered with cooling herbs and sorbitions of the same than with any herbaceous food is manifest from hence that a great share of this food is converted into bloud and but a little of herbs and fruits And if you imagine that every the least particle of the body has a faculty bestowed on it whereby it attracts what is agreeable and ejects what is troublesome you must understand that Chicken broth or sorbition of it because it is more familiar to humane Nature does much more moisten the exteriour and interiour particles Besides since very little of Meats made of herbs and fruits is converted into laudable bloud it either passes by Urine or vanishes by the habit of the Body wherefore it is but a little that can be converted into bloud and moisten all the particles of the body Wherefore if we would hinder each driness of the body we must not give meat of herbs or fruits alone but together with them things that afford good nourishment supplying indigent Nature for hereby the virtues of the herbs will be more efficacious when they are carried to the least particles of the body And of how easie concoction Chicken broth and a sorbition of it are is well known Besides in the intermission of the fit and before the accession I think aguish persons must not be fed with cooling herbs and meats because the herbs force the febrile heat inwards and the meats retard the expulsion by Nature at which time things that cool and bind the body must not be administred but rather things which drive from the Centre to the Circumference that we may imitate Nature acting regularly We learn this from Galen 8. m. m. who after bathing gave the Patient water wherein Parsly was boiled before his fit On the Intermission day we can doe no harm by giving the flesh of a chicken for between the past fit and that which is coming there are eighteen hours in which Nature resting from her by past labour has gathered strength so as to be able to concoct a young Chicken rightly boiled And there remains the same interval of time to the beginning of the next fit at which time there is no fear that the fit will find the meat then unconcocted for by how much sooner the anticipation is so much sooner will the Ague end in a pure Tertian Besides Meats of herbs and fruits quickly conceive putrefaction from the fervent humour wherefore horary fruits are of right forbid by Physicians in Fevers As for what is said concerning the number of days wherein a Tertian is judged it does not at all hinder for we take the form of the Diet from the constitution of the Disease and the strength of the Patient and we say that he whose weakness is a little urgent must be fed with a grosser Diet than the disposition of his Disease requires We say moreover that they who are of a rare habit of body and have thin humours and are of a hot and dry Nature must have a grosser Diet given them by reason the strength of their bodies is sooner wasted Whence it is manifest that Physicians who in a pure Tertian feed their Patients both days with a thin Diet do cast them that are of a thin habit and of a hot and dry Nature into a Consumption Or if they be of another complexion they do by their giving of cooling herbs and worts cast them out of a pure into a bastard Tertian Both which things the Physician must avoid lest he either make the Disease more dangerous or prolong it And if the sick Person be troubled with thirst it will indeed be much more beneficial Idem cap. 12. if you give him cold water to drink if there be need of it which will quench thirst far better than to feed him with cooling herbs XXX Whether does a Tertian or a Quotidian require a grosser Diet Some think a Quotidian requires a grosser Diet than a simple Tertian because it is longer and seeing the grossness of Diet and its contrary is taken from the distance of the state it must be that these Diseases which are sooner ended require a thinner Diet and on the contrary 2. Greater sickness and Symptoms prohibit meat more than weaker ones But I will shew by three reasons that they are mistaken two of them from the Ague the third from the Cause of the Disease conjunct and antecedent Let us suppose for example two Persons alike in temperature age habit of body c. that one of them were ill of a phlegmatick the other of a cholerick Ague in all respects alike but in their Agues and in the Causes of them the Diet is taken from the strength the Disease not prohibiting and the onely scope of Alimony is preservation of strength where therefore strength is most wasted more food is required to maintain it than where less is wasted if
the greatest part of these humours will go to the urinary passages Idem VI. There are some that maintain all manner of Womens Whites may be cured by diuretick Medicines but they are in a manifest errour The causes must be distinguished and according to the various nature of them different methods of cure must be insisted on This Disease comes sometimes from the fault of the whole body and sometimes of the womb When the whole body is full of an ill habit or cacochymie or the Liver is obstructed or the Spleen or Stomach is weak or the Head supplies excrements then the womb may be thus troubled We must consider what humours abound hot or cold and how they are affected For it shews they are hot when this excrement is sharp and scalding so as it eats whatever part it touches and sometimes causes itching and Ulcers or chaps with a sense of heat besides when it is stinking and yellow It will doe well to consider here the temperament natural and acquisititious the preceding causes the habit of the body and season of the year Contrary signs will indicate contrary humours When therefore the flux in the womb comes from these causes when hot and bilious humours abound I most suspect this method of cure by Diureticks For who can think that a hot Disease can be removed by very hot and drying Medicines for suppose that evacuation made by Diureticks may doe some good certainly greater damage will ensue from increase of the quality Indeed it is my custome to reduce such bodies to a good state Universals premised with a Ptisan well prepared adding the greater cold Seeds And I do profess I have often cured with Asses and Goats milk uterine fluxes that have been given over by other Physicians in thin bodies with sharp humours This is my peculiar method The first four days I give a quart of Milk that the whole Body may be well purged and 10 two quarts for fifteen days but boiled and the days following to forty one in which time I generally found they were cured I give Milk chalybeate A most certain and rare Remedy But if the humours be cold and there be obstructions in the Bowels if there be a cold intemperature of the whole or of the principal parts who will deny Diureticks given according to art Does any one doubt but they have a deobstruent heating cutting and cleansing faculty Augenius VII Hippocrates 2. de morb Mul. vers 116. among divers sorts of Uterine fluxes propounds the yellow flux in which what is voided is like a rotten Egg when the white and yelk are mixt together from a mixture of which a yellow colour arises which indicates vitelline Bile Hippocrates cures this Flux thus First he purges upwards with Hellebore and then downwards that the whole body may be rid of the Cacochymie Secondly he orders a moistning and temperate Diet which may cool and qualifie the hot and sharp humours Then he gives astringent Medicines which may stop the flux and he changes the Diet into a contrary course If the Disease do not give way to these things he returns to the former Diet which he orders to be continued so long till the acrimony of the humours abate which the heating of he Ulcers the abating of the Inflammation and what is voided will shew for then he finishes the Cure by Exsiccants and Astringents Let the Moderns consider this method of cure who go the contrary way to work for they order a drying Diet first and give a decoction of the same faculty to drink And after they have by this their way of Cure brought the sharp fretting humours to the height of acrimony they betake them to a contrary method and turn their whole intention to cooling and moistning For they do not observe that by giving Medicines in the beginning which are actually moist and potentially dry they commit a double errour because they increase the humours by actual humidity which should rather be diminished by evacuations and by the drying and hot quality the hot and sharp quality of the same humours is intended and the hot intemperature of the Bowels if there be any is increased and by this means they give assistence to the Disease and its Cause And when as afterwards they betake themselves to coolers and moistners they commit other two faults for by coolers they clog the body full of sharp humours and by moistners they dissolve the humours which had formerly been dried by the preceding exsiccation Martianus câ—m in cit loc whereby they make the Patient every day worse VIII Astringents must-never be used till the antecedent matter be well evacuated and derived otherwise those humours retained run to the more noble parts and cause grievous symptoms As Galen writes it befell Boëthius his Wife whose Belly swelled with the preposterous use of Astringents the serous humours being retained which used before to be evacuated This also must be observed that while we use Astringents the antecedent matter may be diverted another way and the breeding of it hindred Riverius IX They do not advise ill who in the Whites order Issues in the Hips and in the inside of the Legs for so they affirm the Whites are amended while the serous matter is averted to the crural Veins They are good especially if the Disease be inveterate From Galen 5. Aph. 56. it is evident that among the causes which hinder monthly purgation this is not the least when the humours incline some other way than to the womb like as he said that some excretions whether natural or made by Art as Ulcers do make revulsion of and derive the bloud from the womb and transfer it to other parts The same judgment may be given of vitious humours falling upon the womb Do not we also know from Hippocrates that making much water in the night signifies that one goes but little to stool Quâ—ius de Quaesitis X. I have observed in Women that were never before troubled with the Whites they have followed the taking of a Purge when Nature by taking one has been excited to other excretions and that many Women when they have been bathing have contracted this Disease not by Contagion but because by the constant use of the Bath as Nature discharges the excrements by Sweat so also the same by this excretion expells especially what is too thick to be carried off by Sweat Platerus XI The Arteries of the Nose and partly also the Veins discharge their excrementitious humidities into the spongy parts about the Nose and Jaws for these Vessels are divaricated in the flesh of the Nostrils and Jaws like Spiders-webs and sweat out a kind of dew just as water sweats through earthen ware before it is glazed But how comes it to pass that many void little or nothing at the Nose I answer that very few are found who are of so happy a temper as to be void of excrements This Driness of the Nose and
reason through excessive pain with Inflammation For by violating the heat that is but weak in the part affected Zecchius cons 20. they promote a Gangrene and at length an Inflammation IV. De Vigo adds Oil of Roses Chamaemil and Spike to Plasters Fab. Hildanus But oily and fat things doe harm by obstructing the Pores and hindring Perspiration ¶ Abstain from Digestives that Pus and Putrefaction may be resisted though Hildanus uses his digestive Ointment made with Oil of Roses in a Gangrene speedily spreading all over the body Hoeferus Herc. Med. V. Arsenick neither alone in Powder as Fallopius teaches nor mixt with Vnguentum Aegyptiacum can safely be applied in a Gangrene For Galen reckons it among things septick and such as have a burning faculty Hear what Avicenna says It is a putrefactive Medicine whose property it is to corrupt the complexion of the spirit which comes to the part and the complexion of the moisture of that part with resolution so as they are not proper to assimilate to the part Indeed it proceeds not so far as to burn it and corrode and waste its moisture but it leaves a corrupt moisture in it in which it acts contrary to the natural moisture wherefore it putrefies And this is an instance for Arsenick Now because a Gangrene is the beginning of Putrefaction in the heat and moisture things that act by such a quality cannot be a Remedy But if we must come to potential Cauteries use such as are made of a strong Lixivium of Vine-ashes and quick Lime These ruptorie Medicines operate safely and quickly and with little pain scarce continuing for an hour On the contrary Arsenick torments a Man twenty four hours Hild. de Gangrena yea two days with most grievous Symptoms VI. An actual Cautery that is a red hot Iron is preferred in dignity to a potential one 1. Because the action of the Fire is simple void of all aliene quality leaving onely an Empyreuma behind In a potential one especially in Arsenick c. there is a malignant quality 2. The action of Fire is determined but not of a potential Cautery 3. Because of the efficacy of the Fire it operates in a moment A potential one slowly wherefore in a Gangrene which is an acute Disease it is not proper 4. In a Gangrene there is plenty of excrementitious humours requiring a Medicine hot in the highest degree such as a red hot Iron But Arsenick though it be hot leaves a corruptive humidity after it as Avicenna says 5. The part labouring of a Gangrene being weak and lax requires a Strengthner and Dryer wherein an actual Cautery excells But not a potential one 6. The operation of a potential one is slow and painfull hence comes an afflux of humours The pain caused by an actual one is momentany It is condemned by Virtzius for this onely reason because the Nerves are hurt and contracted by an actual Cautery But an experienced Chirurgeon will not commit such an errour who knows the difference between Nerves Veins and Arteries for these lye near the Skin the Nerves lye deep But though there were danger of some contraction yet this should be preferred before certain Death Yet in bilious Inflammations which are hot and dry by nature we must use an actual Cautery carefully and never but on urgent occasions for by an actual Cautery they are made more dry and grow more malignant But if Putrefaction come to such a height and if the plenty of humours be drawn by the violence of the Pain actual Cauteries may be made use of They are condemned also in a Gangrene from an hot intemperature without fluxion and in one that comes from driness and want of Aliment for great extenuation and driness admits not of a drying Medicine nor must it be used unless Amputation of the Limb be necessary Idem VII Gangrenes produced by an outward Inflammation or Refrigeration are far more easily extinguished and cured than when some venom bred in the body has been the spontaneous cause of them For in these the humour never lies so much on the out parts either of it self or forced thither by the strength of Nature but it always leaves some root and infection of its malignity in the Vessels The Knife will doe little good in them for although after Amputation you strive to extinguish the reliques of the venom with Alexipharmacks yet perhaps you may doe it to no purpose because there is such a kind and individual propriety of venom latent in these cases I think Fire ought to be preferred before the Knife in such a case Yet if it happen that the venomous matter be driven out by a strong Nature to any particular part in this case Amputation is a safe Remedy A thing which I once observed at Newenburgh in a young Maid who upon the coming out of the Small Pox being sent by her hard-hearted Mistress to gather something in a Vineyard in a cold season her little finger of her right hand was gangrened the same day and happily cut off without any Symptome supervening The event was far different An. 1675. in the month of August in a Boy eight years old the Son of a Garrison Souldier who being ill cured of the Small-pox the venomous matter fell upon his Mouth that is his Tongue Jaw and left Cheek and a Mortification arising his Teeth on that side fell out and he died the fourth day VIII As a Bridegroom and Bride were playing one with the other she threw a Handkerchief with a Pin in it at her Husband who was lean and had very broad Veins and she hit him so that the Handkerchief hung by the Pin which stuck into his hand Within a few hours not onely a great pain arose but his left hand was so much swelled that the next day he went to a Chirurgeon who being affrighted at the violence of the dangerous and unusual Symptoms desired that he might have me for his Adviser and that I would join with him I feel the Patient's hand there was no mark of the prick of any Pin all his hand to his very wrist being stiff and inflexible I ask him if he remembred in what part of his hand particularly he was prickt and with his forefinger of his right hand he shewed me the place or region where the third bone of the Metacarpium bears up or sustains the ring-finger which being very much swelled when I tried to bend or extend it good God how he roared In the mean time methought I saw a little mark of a Pin like one of Democritus his Atoms and indeed in that part of the hand where the ring-finger and the said bone of the Metacarpium are articulated yet not in the very joint but a little below it whereabout the bone and its epiphysis are joined together All this time there was no sign of extravasated bloud but some discolouring livid or rather a strange fugacious colour Here was need of
continued for four days Lastly an Electuary made of old Treacle extract of Juniper Confectio Hyacinthi and Crocus Martis Nor did G. Harduyinus de S. Jacobo Velschius Obs 67. commend the decoction of the root of Statice it is a kind of Mountain Giliflower for any one intention more than for that of drying V. We must not stop a Gonorrhoea rashly nor presently or at a venture for it has been often seen that they who have endeavoured to stop such Gonorrhoea's unseasonably and violently especially before the Body has been purged of its filth have had Buboes Inflammations of their Stones and have been troubled with pains in their Kidneys and Loins and with a thousand other afflictions Wherefore before we put our helping hand to the part affected we must provide for the whole Body lest some such thing or worse befall us The best way therefore of cure is that which cuts off every Cause Mercatus beginning with the most prevalent VI. Concerning the cure of that which is said to be caused by watry and thin Seed we must carefully observe whether it be true Seed that comes away although it be watry thin and crude or whether as Langius lib. 2. ep 5. takes notice it be corrupt and vitious humours which being gathered in the Body flow to the Genital parts and are voided by the passage whereby Seed is usually cast out as sometimes vitious humours gathered in the Body use to be evacuated by the Womb which they call the Whites In the first case we must use such things as incrassate Seed make it firm and detain it In the second we must not use incrassating and astringent things but evacuaters correcters of Cacochymy and a good Diet Therefore Langius l. c. says I can safely swear Sennertus I have cured several onely by purging and a spare Diet. VII Sometimes it is caused through abundance of Wind gathering of crudities want of sleep or eating windy things If you endeavour to stop this with Medicines that extinguish Seed you will make it much worse because such sort of Medicines are exceeding cold whereby the intemperature which is the cause of the Gonorrhoea Rondeletiue is encreased VIII The Seat of a virulent Gonorrhoea is in the Prostatae and the Vesiculae seminariae which if it be unseasonably stopt the virulence is communicated to the whole Body or it flows back to the Stones and there causes a Tumour or if it extend to the perinaeum unless it be timely repelled it causes an Abscess and erodes the Vrethra It is not safe to let bloud in the Arm if the heat in these parts be gentle and without a Fever Bloud must rather be let in the Foot because the Saphaena arises near the Groin and imparts two branches to these parts and therefore large bloud-letting does make powerfull revulsion when Buboes break out Few or none besides Palmarius and Fallopius let bloud in the Arm which is suspected for fear of the Venereal Disease Riolanuâ— through a reflux of the virulence into the bowels and habit of the Body IX Now a days some reckon the matter must be purged from the whole yea and diverted to the ways of Urine perhaps after Galen's example who a long time after Hydragogues used Diureticks with success and therefore some give Turpentine washed in Mallow water with Powder of Liquorice But in my practice I never found any good from Diureticks Nor do I give Turpentine except in Contractions and Convulsions of the Vessels and the Penis Wherefore I have seen the cure succeed happily by deriving the matter to the Ambit of the Body by Diureticks and Sweats with the help of some proper decoction Fortiâ— X. Immoderate Venus is commended as indeed it has done good to some the venomous infection being poured out with the Seed while it has not as yet penetrated deep into the substance of the similar parts yet because it draws the humours from all places into the parts affected Enchir. Med. Pract. and causes an Inflammation it must be omitted XI If a Woman's Womb by continual coition be full of Seed she does not conceive till the Womb unburthen it self which stagnating there a long time hence sometimes molae arise the Dropsie Wind and Flux of the Womb like Women's Whites which yet it is not Nor is it a Gonorrhoea which if Women once suffer they are ever afterwards barren all remedies proving to no purpose This excretion is known for a cold matter comes away without pain and emaciation of the body Moreover this Flux must not be suppressed Panarolus but rather provoked XII One came to Spaw to get a Remedy for his impotency because he let go his Seed at the first touch of the labia but it was watrish and very like Whey Because this happened in a sound body and I could imagine no other cause I told him I thought he had an Ulcer in his intestinum rectum therefore the vessels necessary for the preparation and ejaculation of Seed being affected with a putrid vapour did breed Seed which was insufficient for a long tension of the Penis and for a brisk coition Then I ordered a suppository onely of Honey and it was drawn out again besmeared with much thick Pus Then a Chirurgeon was called who with his middle Finger found a great and deep Ulcer To whom when Medicines were applied that manifestly did him good Feers Obs Med. 10. he went his way and neglected the cure XIII Things that abate Seed or Antivenereals either diminish the product of Seed not so much by subtracting the quantity of Aliment which indeed makes much for the diminution of Venus as by hindring the gathering of Seed or by constriction wherefore Saturnines inwardly have the first place especially Saccharum Saturni made by Evaporation which by its intense sweetness stimulates the Tongue but in truth by the parts of the distilled Vinegar joined with the metallick ones it does as it were concentre the Serum for in my judgment Seed is the finest cream of the Serum so that it cannot grow turgid or reach to the genital parts but weakly wherefore given in plenty it emasculates and binds And for this reason Tinctura Saturnina vulgarly called Antiphthisica may by better right be called Styptica and Antivenerea And by dissipating and destroying the Seminiform consistency procuring a difflation of the Spirits such especially are Camphorates and bitter things as Absynthiacks and Aloeticks have partly some respect hither so Vitex and leaves of Rue c. Or they take off the Stimulation Orgasm and Acrimony Such especially are watry things Coolers as Water Lily Lettuce Purslain Emulsions c. For as the heat of the Kidneys or of the bloud rather and the vigour of the Serum make much for the separation of the Seed in the Pampiniform passages and Pores so things which dilute and temper the heat breed a less vigorous Seed Therefore Drunkards who drown their Bodies with too much
bloud taken from him by opening a Vein Upon which that very day revulsion of the putrid humour being made from the Skin to the greater Veins by Venae-section he was taken with a Malignant fever which killed him on the fifth day For in such Diâ—eases I do not let bloud Martianus com in 〈◊〉 loc or in a very small quantity both for the reason above-said or because a Cacochymie prevails rather than a Plethory III. A certain Physician cured grievous Itches successfully which were despaired of by others onely by giving a powder made of equal parts of Sarsa Rheubarb and Senna in Broth for 40 days and anointing the body onely with Vnguentum è succis For such Diseases being near of kin to the Pox do in a manner require the same cure as formerly J. B. Montanus did advise Others commend the like powders as N. Massa p. 1. Ep. 30. does also commend decoctions of Purgatives mixt with â—udorificks whom others do follow though Rondeletius Sennertuâ— and Chalmetaeus disapprove of such Medicines who never used them because they are inconvenient and dangerous by reason of contrary motions which Ballonius reckons may be compared to purging in the Dog-days Vâ—lschius Obs 84. l. 1. Epidem p. 41. Yet experience shews they are usefull IV. A Boy ten years old was afflicted with the Itch which ouzed out an ichorous matter A cold season coming on it was suppressed and the filthy matter was turned upon the Lungs which caused a horrible Asthâ—a Pachequus ad Riverium obs 53. which ceased immediately as the Wind turned to 〈◊〉 South V. Galen 14. meth c. 17. speaking of the Ringworm says that if but a little excrement be repelled to a principal part it does no little harm because this is dissolved by the bowels speaking there of a Roman Matron's Ringworm which would never have been cured by a Medicine of Sea wrack had not Galen by stealth put a little Scammony in her Whey which she drank The reason was because there was a great fluxion to the Part. Repellents therefore before evacuation of the Excrement always doe harm Sanctorius de Remed Inv. c. 15. except in a case where it is but small VI. Leeches did a Melancholick woman a great deal of good in a St. Anthony's-Fire which ate her Leg by drawing the hot and adust bloud from the next veins which till then did constantly supply the stubborn Sore And the bloud being voided what remained was easily cured by Bread soaked in Water onely Tulpius l. 4. obs 13. VII One by reason of heat in his Liver was a little troubled with Pimples in his Face who being about to Marry a second time drove them in with some Medicines A little while after he was taken with the Gout Pâ— Salmuth cent 2. obs 35. then with a Palsie in both his Arms and in a short time he died VIII Sometimes redness of the Face comes from abundance of bloud that is carried by the great vein which is in the middle of the Forehead and flushes on a sudden all over the Face and strikes in again but presently returns An Illustrious Countess sent for me on this account and while she was discoursing with me the Bloud immediately flushed out of that vein all over her Face I observing that great vein in her Forehead to be full of bloud perswaded her to let it be opened I ordered her hair to be shaven a little above the commissura coronalis upon the vein leaving a little hair on her brow under the shaven place that it might not disfigure her face and I ordered a ruptory Medicine to be applied to the vein in the shaven place and I told the Chirurgeon that he should not let it lye on above one hour but he let it lye on two and when it was removed it bloudied all the Chirurgeon's face the effusion was so violent who ought to have pressed the vein from her Nose to the Wound that the bloud which was in that part might have been evacuated and then should have applied a defensative upon the place But he being affrighted immediately stopt the Wound and bound it and the bloud which was in the foresaid place fell down to the Nose which swelled upon it but was cured by applying a Plaster When the Wound was cured Bayrus Pract. l. 7. c. 3. and the Vein that was abscinded stopt she was free and her flushings vanished IX Whether are Spaw-waters good for a red Face and for pimpled and copper-nosed Drunkards I Answer Because these Pimples or Pustules do for the most part depend upon immoderate heat of the Liver and these Waters do greatly heat the Liver as is evident in Hydropicks Cachecticks and such as labour of the Suppression of the Menstrua whose Liver is acknowledged to be cold and we have seen abundance of people cured by heating it with these Waters it is certain that if any Man drink these Waters any considerable time he will go away from the Spaw with a far redder and more Pimpled Face than when he came thither as I have observed in several But because these Pimpled Drunkards do always in a manner from the adustion of their Bloud in the Liver contract an obstruction of the Mesaraïck vessels sometimes more sometimes less Heer p. m. 156. they may safely drink the Spaw-waters about ten days namely that when the obstruction is removed by these opening Wells the Liver may be reduced to its temper by the help of cold things X. Our business must be to carry off by the Centre for to drive out the excrementitious humours of the whole Body to the circumference by Hydroticks in a particular not an universal cutaneous Disease does appear to me not very proper For the crusty affection which seizes a peculiar and ignoble part may become universal all the body over Fortis XI There are two constitutions of Diseases one whose essence subsists in facto not depending any more on a preceding cause From this as also from the procatartick cause no indication for remedies can be taken because it is vanished Another whose Being depends upon the generation of a preceding and efficient cause As the venome communicated by the bite of a mad Dog and diffused all over the habit of the body lies hid a long time till it have infected the nature of the Heart and Bowels then the caninc madness quickly shews it self in the Hydrophobous In like manner the impurity of the menstruous bloud of which the bowels of the Embryo are concrete that the foetus may be nourished with the purer part of it lies hid several years within the bowels till by its contagion and ebullition with the bloud it produce the Small Pox and Measles Hence it is manifest that those Diseases whose Being does not any more depend upon a preceding cause and whose matter does not any farther lye deep in the body mixt with the bloud in the heart and veins but is entirely
cast out to the external habit of the body by the strength of Nature neither stand in need of Purging nor Bleeding unless some portion of the Matter or disposition contrary to Nature do still remain in the body Wherefore Hippocrates 1. aph 20. advised well Things that have had a Crisis and that have had a good Crisis we must neither meddle nor make with them either by Purges or by irritating them any other way but we must let them alone And we find these entire excretions of the noxious humour do for the most part happen in such Diseases as arise with an ebullition of the bloud such as a Fever with Buboes an Ephemera the Sweating Sickness St. Anthony's Fire and children's Exanthemata And it is manifest that this ebullition is made in the bloud as in Juices and new Wine by reason of watry and crude or putrid Excrements For since three kinds of Excrements are contained in the Juices of all natural things one Earthy which in Wine is the Lees another Aerial which answers to the flower or top of the Wine the third Watry and crude which fermenting by time and heat causes an ebullition in the humours and juices Thus since Children's bowels are nourished by and concrete of the Mothers bloud which because of Womens idle living and the weakness of their heat is more watry and less concocted than it should Who is there that does not think the tender body of the Child must be infected with the contagion and filth of it and that it must abound with superfluities Which things when they grow hot in the mass of bloud or in the heart with a febrile heat then Nature like working Must throws off these dregs to the external parts of the body where they become Exanthemata Thus also the bloud in the Liver or Veins fermenting with the Putrefaction of either Choler expells its filth to the ambit of the body whence come Buboes in the Groin and Erysipelata Serpigines Carbuncles and Inflammations in other parts And when the Body by a Crisis is perfectly purged of noxious humours which the Urine the Serum of the bloud being made like to healthy peoples urine does indicate then it were needless for us to purge the bloud either by bleeding or a purgative Medicine but the said exanthemata relicks and symptoms might then rather be easily cured by outward remedies or fomentations Like as in that long Plague which raged at Rome in Galen's time In those saith he lib. 5. Meth. who were to escape death black Pustules which they call exanthemata broke out thick all over the body And it was clear to any one that saw it that this was the relicks of the bloud which had putrefied in the Fever which Nature had cast out to the skin like ashes But saith he there was no need of Medicines for such exanthemata because they went away of themselves Thus also I have above an hundred times seen an Itch and oedemata in the Legs that have risen after a Crisis of other Fevers but especially of Quartane-Agues go away of themselves without any help of Medicines But if then either bloud had been let or a Purge given there had been great danger lest by those veins whereby the matter of the disease had been driven out it might have been drawn back again to the inner bowels For a hungry Stomach can fetch back the Aliment trasmitted to the bowels and limbs by the same ways and can draw other humours out of the bowels into its cavity But since this foul asperity of the Skin vulgarly called the Itch does arise of impure cholerick bloud or adust or faeculent mixt with the liquour of salt Phlegm such as the Liver produces through its dyscrafie or often of meats and drinks of a bad juice which Nature does not throw off all at once but by degrees with the Aliment of the body without any ebullition of the bloud to the parts of the body and infects and alters them with its contagion whence it comes to pass that the successive regeneration of it depends not onely upon the dyscrasie of the Liver as upon an internal antecedent cause but oftentimes upon an obstruction of the Spleen whose office it is to purge the bloud and upon the contagion of the Parts Therefore here it is necessary not onely that the bloud be purged by opening a Vein and giving purging Physick frequently but also that the intemperature of the Liver and obstruction of the Spleen be corrected and opened And then after the Body has thus been well purged it will be worth the while to dry the habit of the Body also with Sudorifick Potions of Treacle or Sulphureous Baths or with Ointments made of Mercury and so you may rid the outer parts of the Plague of this infection which they had taken And seeing the Pustules and Itch of a new Pox have commonly a great affinity with other Exanthemata which the remedies common to them both do argue and since beside the external causes of contagion both of them depend upon the internal infection and filth of the corrupt bloud and humours Who I pray even after the Pustules are driven out to the Superficies of the body will deny Langius Ep. 15 16. lib. 1. that evacuation of bloud by Phlebotomy and Purging is of great moment in the cure of either of them XII Angelica N. had been several years troubled with blackness in her fingers with a little corruption and parting of the Nails She was of a cold constitution heavy and dull The blackness was taken away by Tobacco smoak and Ointment thereof Severinus Med. eff p. 159. for that year But when it returned the next it was quite taken away with a fume of Cinnabor so that it never came again XIII Sometimes Sweating of the Feet does miserably torment Women which they endeavour to stop For which Disease I can easily tell them a speedy remedy D. Panarolus Pent. 3. Oâ—s 16. namely if they put some powder of Myrtle in their Linen Socks But let them have a care they do not fall into worse diseases as I have often seen This excretion preserves from many Diseases and should rather be promoted than checked ¶ A Noble German following the Count of the most Serene Prince advised with a Physician about the sweating and stinking of his Feet The Physician orders him to wear Socks dipt in Red-wine wherein Alume was dissolved and prescribes him Pills of Aloes and other things and an Electuary of drying and diaphoretick Medicines which might keep the body safe from putrefaction and superfluous humidity The Socks gave great and present help for the Soles of his Feet were so thick that no sweat could get out afterwards But the Pills and Electuary did not answer the Physician 's end In a few Months some small faintings and unusual giddiness followed The Count of the most Serene Prince came to Geneva in the year 1674 and he desired a remedy of
me for these troublesome and dangerous Symptoms This Noble person was not against such things as might reduce him to his former state Universals premised two Issues were made in his Legs His Feet were washed for a Month in a Lixivium made of detersives and softners He walked much and by these means his former effluvium being recalled his dreadfull Symptoms ceased XIV Vulgar Physicians debar every contumacious pain that afflicts any part of the body without inflammation the help of bleeding because as they say these Diseases come of a cold cause falling from the brain To which cause they subject not onely the said pains but also all Chronical Coughs concerning all which things the Physicians think they have satisfied their enquiring Patients when they have told them that the remedy proposed can by no means be convenient for them but they must onely purge and keep a low diet and such things But that both the Physicians and Patients are deceived the thing it self and examples do shew Mr. de Varennes 75 years old had a continual lingring pain in his neck and shoulders for many Months which the Physicians endeavoured to cure by giving of Purges and applying hot Ointments By which when he found small benefit I told him I thought Bleeding would doe him good He on the contrary objected that he never used to be let bloud that he was old the Winter was beginning that the Disease came of cold humours and wind But he was forced at last by the increase and continuance of his illness to admit of Bloud-letting I ordered 10 ounces of bloud to be taken out of the Arm on the side affected And in a few days a like quantity on the opposite side with great benefit and then again out of the other and so he was cured Yet in the mean time we did not neglect the use of Purgatives and hot and discutient Unguents In such another contumacious pain in the neck with a heaviness of his head when the Physicians endeavoured in vain to cure the Reverend N. by Purging and other remedies I cured him by thrice bleeding him a pound and an half at a time contrary to the expectation and consent of other Physicians Therefore in cold Diseases or such as we think to be cold to abstain from bleeding is not always good but sometimes hurtfull And in contumacious Diseases although they come of cold matter it is not the part of a prudent Physician utterly to abstain or to bleed less than is proper Seeing it is certain that every part of the body is nourished by that matter which is in the veins which the colder and thicker it is the Disease caused by that matter must needs be rendred more grievous and contumacious Which matter we say Botallus l. de curat per S. M. c. 12. ought partly to be abated by bleeding and partly by purging and a thin diet to the end that when the mass of bloud is purged and renewed the Disease may be cured Haemoptysis or Spitting of Bloud The Contents Whether bloud may be let I. In what place it may be let II. We must have a care of bleeding if it come from bile III. The use of Cupping-glasses IV. The place for Issues V. Whether the Menses may be provoked in Women that spit bloud VI. The cure of one complicated with a Pleurisie VII We must be carefull in using things that dissolve clotted bloud VIII The use of them IX When Posca may be given X. Narcoticks may be given wâ—th safety XI We must not insist long upon internal Astringents XII Hot and thin things must be added to them XIII XIV What Medical Waters are proper XV. Eclegmata doe little good XVI Spirituous and thin things doe no good XVII Tincture of Corals is suspected XVIII Scaliger's Powder XIX Whether Nettle Juice be proper XX. The virtue of Linseed-Oil XXI We must not use every sort of Starch XXII Galen's way of cure is methodical XXIII The method of Purging XXIV When the bloud comes out in abundance we must not stop it on a sudden XXV The dissolution of concrete bloud must be promoted or the concretion of it hindred XXVI Even when the Disease is cured we must persist in the use of Medicines XXVII Medicines agreeable to every individual should be sought for XXVIII The Physician must be sagacious in enquiring the causes XXIX The excellency of Revulsion to the most distant parts for Revulsion sake XXX External Astringents are not always proper XXXI A thin and attenuating Diet is hurtfull XXXII What kind of Air is proper XXXIII Medicines I. THis is a dangerous Disease for the possession of life the bloud is wasted Wherefore here is need of a speedy and strong remedy such is Venaesection Galen let bloud in a young Man who having got cold in his Breast spate bloud Aretaeus is of the same judgment If saith he the veins be distended with bloud one must be opened in every profusion of bloud whether the bloud come by breaking or erosion It is good also when rarefaction is the cause lest a Vein be broken with the Abundance Yet if saith he the Patient be lean and scarce of bloud do not open a Vein Trallianus also prudently advises Heurnius l. de morb Pâ—ct c. 6. We must by all means saith he bleed in the Arm But when they spit out bloud hy erosion avoid bleeding for such Mens bodies are dry and inclinable to a consumption II. Galen 5. meth c. 8. opens the inner vein of the Arm and he opens it again the next day Trallianus l. 7. c. 1. says He did more good by bleeding in the Foot than in the Arm because the revulsion is stronger Mesue and Avicenna for prevention open the Saphoena for the cure a vein iâ— the Aâ—m and they doe well For when the matter is fallen upon the Breast and is still plentifully falling so that an inflammation may be feared a vein opened in the Foot brings help too slowly therefore we must bleed in the Arm. If the bloud come from the Liver we must bleed in the right Arm according to Archigenes If from the swollen Spleen in the left Salvatella as also in the same if it come from the Breast and Lungs without violence But in Women we must have respect to the Menstrua the freedom whereof blesses them with many conveniences And here we must use distinction When it comes at the set time it is good and it is scarce raised at another if the Menses be at hand in a haemoptoïck Woman be they suppressed or not bleed in the Saphoena So the Physician Nature's Servant will help her by drawing the bloud to the Womb whither belongs Aphor. 5.32 If the time of the Menstrua be afar off there is need of distinction for if there be signs of bloud being gathered about the Womb and it does not as then fall with violence upon the Breast let bloud in the Foot If it fall with great violence on the Lungs and
Pistachio's do provoke Urine but things that provoke Urine are good for cold Epaticks whereby both the Liver is strengthened and obstructions are opened Salius in ann c. 82. answers Altimarus his reason To the first it is denied for Almonds and Pistachio's are hard of Concoction But things that are hard of Concoction are so of corruption in as much as all Concoction of Aliment is made by means of Corruption considering the Terminus à quo To the second Obstruction need not be much feared from an oleaginous moisture because whatever is oleaginous is in some measure hot To the third Nor doe they any harm in that they are quickly turned into Bile because nothing need be feared from a cooled Liver Horstius Dec. 7. Probl. 1. For it requires heating and abstersive Food and Physick which Almonds yield VII In a certain Maid there was first a hot Intemperature upon which account she was said to be Hepatick There was extenuation which seemed to tend to a Consumption there was also driness of the Solid Parts which hindred the encrease of the Body Which though it could not be remedied yet it was needfull to hinder the Encrease of it Therefore in a complicated Disease we should have respect to the Cause Her Intemperature was hot and dry by reason whereof because much bilious matter was gathered I begin to purge her with no hot Medicine that is with the Waters they call Villicae given her seven times according to Art Alteration followed Purging which I was minded to make by Juices of Cichory and Sow-Thistle Cichory is most gratefull to the part both in refrigeration and abstersion of the Veins of the Liver and also in astriction which it requires Sonchus has the same virtue but it is more cooling I gave the Juice with Sugar for ten days and all signs of heat seemed to abate Her Diet was cooling she used Sorrel Lettuce Purslain Endive Prunes Cherries Water-Melons She avoided all salt sweet and fat things Outwardly Cataplasms of the same virtue of Barley-flower and the foresaid juices were applied She was anointed with Ceratum Santalinum c. Then to cure her extenuation I proceeded to give her Milk These things did her so much good Jacchinus cap. 50. ad 9 lib. Rhasis that she filled well with Flesh and her colour changed for the better more than one could have believed VIII Three ways the Liver full of hot humours uses to swell up the Hypochondrium in acute Diseases 1. When the humours having got out of their proper receptacles are diffused through the Parenchyma of the part and make a swelling both hard and painfull which is properly called an Inflammation 2. When the same humours filling onely the greater Vessels of the Liver make some distenâ—ion which swells the Hypochondrium 3. When all the Veins running up and down the Liver are so full that they cause a manifest Tumour And as in these Cases divers parts are affected so also the condition of the Tumour and consequent Symptoms are various and therefore the Method of Cure must be various For in the first the humours make a hard and painfull swelling usually of an orbicular figure But when the same humours onely fill the greater Vessels it is done several ways because sometimes they stop there grow hot and putrefie and cause acute and malignant Fevers although they make no swelling in the Hypochondrium apparent either to the Eye or touch Sometimes the humours offend onely in abundance and motion when as they are passing from below to the upper parts they run violently into the Liver whereby it is suspended as by ligaments and they fill the greatest and nearest Veins excessively whereby they being made shorter draw the Liver upwards and so swell the Hypochondrium Which sort of swelling Hippocrates calls a revulse Hypochondrium and it is a sign of the tendency of the humours to the Head This swelling is distinguished from others because it appears most in the upper part towards the Ribs and underneath a vacuity may be felt in the place where the end of the Liver is naturally situated yet no hardness nor pain is felt in the swelling because the affection is not in the Liver which hurts it or swells it up yet a kind of tension may be perceived in the tumid part and then this affection lasts but a while because the humours are but passing that way upwards If the vessels dispersed through the whole Viscus be filled with hot humours the third sort of swelling in the Hypochondrium is caused which is also twofold For the Juices do either simply grow hot and do not contract putrefaction or they putrefie in the Veins If the first way it is done also in a twofold manner for either they remain quiet distending the foresaid Vessels onely with abundance whence comes a swelling which Hippocrates calls 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in manner of distended Veins where a tumour indeed appears both to the Eye and touch but if it be pressed it resists not the Touch not onely because of its softness but also because the matter that makes the tumour being pressed with the hand gives way and recedes to the next place like bloud filling a Vein when it is pressed with the finger which indeed shews that the fault is onely in the repletion of the Veins not in the substance it self because the swelling dissipates quickly and of it self But if these humours filling the said Vessels be in agitation because of admixtion of a flatuous Spirit the same swelling rises soft but with a pulse or Palpitation concerning which Coâ—c Sect. v. 55. A Pulse iâ— the Hypochondrium with Tumult is disturbant of the Mind If finally the same humours filling all the Vessels of the Liver do putrefie farther a swelling arises which causes a soft distension not very painfull usually of a long figure in distinction from an exquisite Inflammation of the Liver which makes a hard and painfull swelling circumscribed with an orbicular figure This swelling comes when putrefaction has siezed all the Veins of the Liver and especially if the Veins themselves be inflamed And the Inflammation is of such a Nature that it will permit no good bloud to be bred which since it is the matter for breeding of vital Spirits of which the animal are made hence a Delirium and Phrensie arise The swelling is soft because the substance of the viscus which first occurs to the touch Prosp Martianus com in v. 34â— lib. 4. Epid. continues as yet in its natural disposition and softness But hardness or tension is felt inwardly when the greater Veins are full and inflamed IX If Bloud be let plentifully the Inflammation ceases in one day so that the Physician may be truly said to have killed the Fever And if the Haemorrhoids be stopt let them be opened If the Menses and the time be near bleed in the foot and afterwards if the Disease continue Saxoniâ— in the arme ¶ A vein must be
concocted it is good to drink especially Beer well boiled and wrought for so the Stomach as Avicenna says is washt the Guts whose moisture is exhausted by the heat of the Liver are moistned and the Belly is loosned the Chyle also penetrates aright into the Veins Crato for drink is nothing but the Vehicle of the Chyle XXIII Avicenna says A Vein must be opened in an obstruction of the Liver when it is old Which must be rightly understood for if we should always tarry till the Obstruction were old certainly it would be so encreased that it would be dangerous Avicenna therefore means some great fault in the bloud Capivaccius and if the Obstruction be from bloud and give not way to gentle Medicines a Vein must be opened XXIV Whether the Liver or Spleen labour of an Obstruction of crude thin and inconcocted humours or of a Scirrhus the Physician may quickly remove the Disease if he carry off the matter by strong Purges But if out of timorousness because of Aph. 22.1 he delay it the bad humours mix themselves with the Mass of bloud so that afterwards there arises a tedious Disease Walâ—us XXV If there be no occasion nor reason to let bloud we must take care to purge the bloud from the pollution of the serous and watry humour by giving things to purge the serous Tumour For which purpose I have learned by long experience that Juice of Seed of Carthamus and an Infusion of Agarick and Rheubarb are good which you must doe at short Intervals namely every third or fourth day for you must in this manner purge the obstructions of the Liver especially them that are in the gibbous or hollow part of the Liver Because to purge more plentifully would either be to no purpose or dangerous seeing it is impossible for a great deal to pass the obstructed cavities but in an obstruction that is not in the passages we may evacuate more liberally When you have done this six times you must betake your self to things that have a virtue to evacuate the humidity of the Liver and to correct its fault and so for six or eight days you must give every morning Confectio de jecore Lupi made into Lozenges also Powder or Lozenges of China and Dock-root with twice as much Sugar or Diarrhoden with powder of Schoenanth Trochiscs of Rheubarb with a little Dialacca and Sugar And so at intervals you must purge what is watry and strengthen the Liver and you must endeavour to open it with the foresaid Medicines Mercatus XXVI Errour is committed by many in the use of Rheubarb If the obstruction come from bile it is approved if from phlegm or melancholy by no means especially when the phlegm is thin But if thick phlegm or melancholy offend it will doe harm for it evacuates Bile which is matter of Health in the Body because by its heat the coldness of the phlegm and melancholy abates it attenuates also and in some measure is detersive This is another errour Because this Disease is of long continuance Physicians prescribe that the Patient do frequently that is every or every other day chew Rheubarb and swallow it but they are mistaken for bile is evacuated which does not offend and the obstruction is increased because it is not administred in infusion but in substance which is thick and stops They err also who order it to be chewed with Raisins to take off the unpleasantness But by this means its substance is carried to the Liver the place obstructed for sweet things serve for a vehicle to others whereby the vessels are more obstructed Capivaccius XXVII It is a good way of cure which evacuates by Urine but we must not use all evacuaters by Urine for things that breed much aqueous humidity do rather give an augmentation to the cause and increase obstructions Wherefore many doe amiss in using emulsions of the cold Seeds for obstructions remaining after acute diseases Therefore I think such things should be used which either have a property to move Urine as Rheubarb Seed of Carthamus or are abstersive as Turpentine and Chalybeate Medicines For things that are properly diuretick as such as put the humours in fusion seem a little suspicious though sometimes they may be usefull Mercatus because they contribute much to the carrying of other Medicines XXVIII Things that dissolve Tartar bred any where in the body do open obstructions of the Liver from what cause soever they proceed For as the obstructions of the Macrocosm so also of the Microcosm are made by Tartar But things may be added to them which are commonly prescribed by Practitioners for though they cannot doe the business yet they are sure vehicles to carry deobstruent Medicines that is things that dissolve Tartar to the part affected and render them more effectual Therefore distilled Waters Apozemes Infusions Syrups c. ought not to be neglected Iron and its various preparations are the principal Medicines in this case Many preparations of it are invented but the simpler they are the better It is admirable how effectual the crude filings of Mars are in such diseases taken twice or thrice a day from half a scruple to half a drachm Hartmannus XXIX We must always take care that some Astringents be mixt with things that open obstructions and attenuate that the substance of the viscus may be strengthned and the aperients being longer detained there may act more effectually For it has been found that the Liver has been not a little hurt by the excessive and continual use of aperients Vallesius XXX They deserve reprehension who give but 1 ounce and an half of Oxymel which small quantity scarce moistens the bottom of the Stomacâ— it is kept partly in the Paristhmia and after it is taken is spit out again and partly in the Gullet wherefore both the quantity and virtue of it are so diminished in the journey before it comes at the Liver that the materia prima of the Oxymel gets not thither I give 4 ounces of Oxymel and sometimes 6 every day but at divers hours that is 1 ounce and an half early in the morning and as much a little before dinner and supper for if it should all be given in the morning it would hurt the Stomach too much Sanctorius XXI In opening obstructions of the Liver we must proceed in this order first the concave then the gibbous part of it must be opened and indeed in the concave preparation must be used with clarified juice of Cichory Liverwort and Agrimony to 3 ounces in a decoction of Cichory Agrimony Hops Asparagus and roots of Grass having first given a Bolus of Pil. de tribus half a drachm with Cassia persisting several days that both the passages may be opened and the gross excrements carried off not omitting a Purge of Agarick Rheubarb Senna c. The hollow part being opened the gibbous part of the Liver must be cured with violent
Eschar when some of the serous humour had run out a great pain but momentany arises suddenly in the bottom of his Belly especially about the right Groin the part affected The night following the Scrotum swelled a little and there was a very hard Swelling more plainly found in the upper part of the Sheath round about the Spermatick Vessels Then the violent and exceeding dangerous Symptoms which I have sometimes known proceed from such openings came into my mind The same thing happened to Griffonius a most excellent Medico-Chirurgeon who when he had opened the Scrotum of a Savoyard besides a Hydrocele there was also found fleshy-matter growing to these vessels which turned into a Malignant Cancer Hildanus cent 4. obs 65. whereto he applied Medicines the Knife and Fire to no purpose XXIV Sometimes a Pneumatocele or Wind-rupture is caused in the four Vessels which nourish the Testicles or in the intercurrent Arteries of the Dartos The former tumour is harder and gives not way to the finger when touched and admits of a cure This latter goes in again and vanishes if pressed with the finger Geiger Chelegr cap. 3. and is scarce curable because of the danger of incessant bleeding ¶ Wind may also be taken away by Chirurgery or Section Yet that which comes from the Arteries we reject as desperate The other before-mentioned we cure like varicous ruptures Idem c. 13. See Sect. XXX XXV Aquapendent goes a safe way to work Pentateuch Chir. lib. 1. cap. 29. if an aqueous rupture be joined with a carnous But if there be no Water you must let alone the operation because whether you cut or no the case is dangerous and perforation onely may cause a Gangrene Silvaticus cent 3. cons 74. You may see before what Hildanus says XXVI The Noble N. complained of a great Sarcocele of his left Testicle which universals premised and a good course of Diet I insensibly dissolved with the following Plaster and Powder of Rest-harrow which Matthiolus l. 2. c. 18. commends Take of Gum Ammoniack Galbanum Bdellium dissolved in Vinegar each half an ounce add of Ducks-grease melted and strained half an ounce yellow wax two ounces Oil of White Lilies the Marrow of a Beef marrow-bone each 10 drachms Make a Plaster Spread it on a Linen-cloth apply it to the Scrotum and renew it every fourth day He took a drachm of the Powder of Rest-harrow in a draught of Wormwood-wine every morning He had an Issue made in his Thigh four inches above his Knee and continued the use of the foresaid Medicines so that in four Months time he was perfectly well Several others have Scultetus by degrees recovered with the use of this Powder alone XXVII Impure bloud is not the cause of a carnous Rupture since even the best may produce it Nor simply abundant since it shews it self even in lean bodies although in these it never arrives at that bigness which it does in others But indeed I believe the true cause of the Rupture consists in this when the Membranes which use to shut the mouths of the Capillary vessels and hinder the nutritious bloud running too suddenly into the part are either eroded broken or dilated whereby it then comes to pass that more bloud runs into the part than is required for its nutrition Nature in the mean time turns the bloud which would otherwise putrefie into flesh It must be observed also that this flesh grows sometimes to the second of the common coats of the Scrotum and not to the Testicles in which it may be taken out without hurting or excision of them In the beginning when the little membranes of the vessels being eroded broken or dilated do permit too great plenty of bloud to pass we doe much with the use of repellent and astringent things But if it begin to grow big these remedies suffice not to root out the evil yet it must be attempted by the means following Make a little hole in the Scrotum rather in the upper than in the lower part through it by help of a rag apply suppurating Medicines that by this means if it be possible that flesh may be taken away But every visit all the Pus must not be let out that the relicks of the flesh may so much the better be consumed But if these things succeed not The Testicle must be taken out with the Rupture Barbette XXVIII Yet the cause ought to be searched diligently before the Chirurgeon set himself to the operation for sometimes the Parastatae are so swelled especially when the Testicles are scirrhous that they might easily deceive you with the shew of a carnous rupture 2. The Spermatick vessels being kept in the Scrotum do often by a lusus naturae exceed the Stones themselves in bigness and cause no other inconvenience but fear which I have found true in more than one Idem XXIX We must observe in a Ligature which is made when the Testicle must be taken away together with the Rupture that it must be made as near as may be to the Tumour for the higher the process of the Peritonaeum is perforated so much the thicker it is observed to be which thing will hinder suppuration Idem and the falling off of the thread XXX A Varicous Rupture is easily known because a multitude of Veins and Arteries appears on the superficies of the Scrotum involving the whole Scrotum with their vast extension as a Vine twists round a Tree The cure of it as also of a carnous one Avicenna says is the cure of hard Imposthumes and oftentimes indeed anointing with asswaging Fat 's and Marrows is sufficient in a varicous Rupture But if those things which are good for a varicous Rupture will doe no good we must proceed to Chirurgery and the cure must be insisted on either by incision or a potential Caustick Incision is performed in this manner When the Patient is fixt in a proper posture handling the Scrotum we drive down the Nerve whereby the Testicle hangs into the lower part which indeed may easily be distinguished because it being firm and strong feels smaller and more solid and renitent than the veins and if it be prest causes greater pain and besides it lies near the virile member which being depressed we take hold of them with our own and our assistants fingers and draw them this way and that and violently extend them then we cut the skin over against the Veins drawing the Knife gently and obliquely then with hooks fixt in we cut the parts underneath and separate them from the Skin and when the Veins are bare we run a Needle with a double thread underneath them and then we tie them with the thread cutting a Sinus in two places where the varication begins and where it ends yet having first made incision lengthway and let out the bloud afterwards we cure it with things that breed Pus till the thread and the veins also fall off
exagitates and thins the mass of Bloud and stirs it to excretion of any thing superfluous and also it irritates the mouths of the Arteries opening towards the Guts so that the humour being rejected by the Bloud may find a passage by these outlets Hereby first of all the Water fluctuating among the Bloud is plentifully washed away then the emptied vessels soak up the intercutal Water and they discharge it partly by stool immediately and partly by urine or sweat In the mean time there is no fear lest as in a Tympany because the fibres in the Stomach and Guts are too much irritated by the Purge these Bowels should be incited to tetaneous extumescencies For while the Bowels are firm and well constituted the particles of the Medicine doe them no prejudice but being thence delivered into the mass of Bloud they do not onely draw Water out of it but by exaigitating its mass they raise the active particles before overwhelmed and dispose them towards a fermentative faculty Willis II. But sometimes it requires Letting of bloud when it arises from abundance of cold Bloud Indeed upon the account of its Coldness it does not stand in need of Heating but because the abatement of its quantity eases Nature so as she may the more easily conquer the Disease It is not contrary but very consentaneous to reason to use Bleeding here And we must evacuate after Bleeding which Bleeding must be tried before any thing else if strength will permit for if it be low though there be abundance of Bloud yet we must not let bloud till strength be repaired Trallianus l. 9. c. 1. ¶ It may very well be administred if stopping either of the Menses or Haemorrhoids have caused it or if there be a bilious Cachexy Yet Bloud must be taken much more sparingly than in other Diseases because of the want of Heat Enchirid. Med. Pract. III. We must carefully observe this that in an Anasarca as also in a Dropsie what days evacuaters whether purgative or diuretick are not given always on those days opening Alteratives and Strengthners of the innate heat of the Bowels especially that the altering and concocting faculty may be strengthned must be given Knoblochius for if these things be neglected evacuaters will doe little good IV. For curing an Anasarca Lixivial Diureticks as has ever been evident from my observation do far excell all other Diureticks For now it is a trite and vulgar Remedy after Purging to take 6 or 8 ounces of a Lixivium made of Ashes of Wormwood or Broom with White-wine and to continue the use of it for several days This Medicine as I have observed in several provokes Urine plentifully so that the Patients to a Miracle recover in a short time But why Medicines endued with a fixt and lixivial Salt do force Urine more than those endued with an acid Alkali or a volatile the reason I think is this viz. in persons affected with this Disease upon the failing of the fermentation and sanguifick virtue of the Bloud watry and crude humours gathered both in its mass and within the habit of the Body after they have tarried a while there immoveable then they as it is the nature of all watry Juices when they stagnate a little grow sowre wherefore the Lixivial particles of the Medicine being poured into the Bloud do immediately ferment with the acid particles of the Water and moreover while they exagitate and ferment them they raise a notable excretive fermentation in the whole mass of Bloud so that farther when all the particles are put in motion not onely the watry and recrementitious separated from the rest are discharged by the Kidneys but also the innate and active particles of the Bloud it self do extricate themselves from the grosser with which they are entangled and at length recovering do begin to resume their fermentative virtue Willis and to sanguifie V. Diaphoreticks often doe much good and are usually more agreeable with this Disease confirmed than in other kinds of Dropsies And although at the first they be not able to cause Sweat because the habit of the Body swims with a floud of thick humours however while they exagitate the Bloud they rouze up its inbred active particles that were asleep and half drowned before dispose them to a fermentation and moreover put all the recrementitious and especially the watry particles into motion so that these running immediately out of their receptacles go off with ease and speed But Hydroticks must be given in a little larger doze for their quantity is very small and their active particles are drowned in the Water before they can be diffused in the Bloud and can begin to exert their virtues upon the Bloud Wherefore Spirits whether Armoniack or of Wine Tinctures also and Elixirs yea and Powders are seldom used for this Disease because in a little dose they doe little good and if they be given in a large dose they by their efferation often hurt the Bowels But some such things must rather be made use of which taken in a larger dose and hot may pass into the Bloud not weakned such especially are Decoctions of Wood and Seeds whose particles being pretty congruous to the Bloud and invincible by it do pass through its whole mass and exert their elastick virtue by putting all the humours in motion Idem VI. Among external Administrations whereby the Water gathered within the habit of the Body is stirred Oil of Scorpions so it be genuine applied by it self or added to Liniments made of Sulphur and divers kinds of Salts and of Quick-lime and other Minerals which being powdered and mixt with the mucilaginous extracts of sharp Herbs may be reduced to the form of an Unguent does oftentimes much good I knew a Boy who was much swelled with an universal Anasarca and was cured by this onely Medicine for his Mother I know not by whose Advice did anoint all his Body morning and evening with Oil of Scorpions rubbing all the parts with her hot Hand very hard Upon doing of which within three days he began to make a great deal of Water and when he had continued for some days so to make Water the Swelling fell by degrees Idem and he recovered VII Baths are scarce proper for any Dropsie but an Anasarca and not for this neither unless in the inclination to it or decrease of it Because when the Bloud is heated and incited by the ambient heat of the Bath and moves the Waters stagnating every where and drinking them up into it self transports them by divers ways there is danger lest as it often happens it receiving them out of the habit of the Body into its mass should presently discharge them into the Brain or Praecordia for nothing is more usual than for Diseases of those parts to wit an Asthma or Apoplexy to seize Hydropicks after bathing Notwithstanding when the conjunct cause of the Disease that is the intumescence is either
of a Cataplasm of Snails XLVIII Cured by a Seton in the Foot XLIX One that follows an Ague not cured till the Ague be removed L. I. FOrmerly the Liver was reckoned the principal Subject of the Dropsie the onely Instrument of venous alimentary bloud ennobled with that Prerogative by Galen 5. de loc aff c. 7. and 2. progn t. 1. where he also reads that it is not always necessary it should be essentially affected at first the beginning of the Disease arising in it but it may also be affected by consent with other parts Yea he judges no Dropsie can arise without some fault in the Liver or without its consent and conspiration Hippocrates has named not onely the Liver but other parts So 2. Progn Most Dropsies begin in the Ilia or empty places or in the Liver By 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 he means Veins by 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the Spleen Mesentery and Womb. The same 4. de Morbis acknowledges a Dropsie from the Spleen when the Patient draws drink out of the Stomach The Moderns do attest that upon opening of dead Bodies the Liver is not affected primarily in a Dropsie A Dropsie is often observed when the Liver is in no fault Oftentimes the Kidneys and Mesentery are found to have an Abscess or Tumour in them when the Liver is florid sometimes it has been observed a little paler because soaked in Water but it turned florid again upon touching the Air. We are clearly against Galen and as we ascribe the royal power of Sanguification to the Heart so we do not deny that it is affected when this operation is hurt Yet we chiefly blame the ministery of the Bowels which wait on the Heart such especially is the Liver the Colatory Seive and Separatory of the Bile the Spleen of cold and dry Atoms and the Kidneys of the serous Atoms While these parts are weak and do not perform their office and the aquosities that are gathered do not pass by the Kidneys and Bladder stagnating in the hollow of the Abdomen or poured into the Habit of the Body or dissolved into Wind do cause a Dropsie and all the sorts of it The immediate cause is the ill tone both of the principal and ministring parts destined to Chylification and Sanguification Chylification of the Stomach and Guts especially if it be hurt because the faculty is hurt by intemperature evil conformation or any common fault or because of some external errour If the Sanguification of the Heart and Arteries succeed not according to desire if the serous Water be not separated by the Lymphaticks and drawn by the Kidneys and Ureters they stagnate in the Body and in an Ascites are poured into the cavity of the Abdomen The ways are not onely the Vena Portae and the Arteries that accompany it and the Branches that are dispersed through the Cawl and Mesentery but the Lymphatick Vessels also for being weary of their load they expell the Water which of it self affects a passage out and they expel it by Anastomasis Diaeresis and Diapedesis and the rarity of the Membrane of the Liver which is open with Hydatides often afford it a passage Bursting of Water out of the least hole of the Liver about the Portae Jecoris where the Membrane is the thinnest Ulceration and Erosion of the Kidneys Gu. Rolfinccius Epit. Meth. l. 3. c. 9. Bladder and Ureters do all deserve the name of Dropsies There are many mediate Causes II. The ordinary Cure sometimes is not proper if namely the Dropsie in a hot and dry constitution be produced by heating Causes which dissipate the innate Heat as it usually happens in bilious and violent Fevers for then cold Hepaticks with Aperients that are not very hot are proper such as are used in tedious Fevers For Drink he may take a Decoction of Cichory and Star-thistle or of other temperate Aperients but in a larger quantity which namely may asswage thirst temper the heat of the Liver and may moisten it when dried Which Doctrine though it be established by Avicenna Trallianus and others yet because it seems a Paradox to some and is of great moment in practice it will not be useless to confirm it by a famous Example related by Baptista Montanus cons 263. I saw saith he at Venice a Religious Man hydropick of an Ascites and a Tympany who was cured There were with me Papiensis Eugubinus Trincavella and others He had a Tympany with an Ascites and a Consumption with a Hectick We must then dry and moisten wherefore we were at great difference I was for having him drink much but such things as might open because he had abundance of obstructions besides I was for having him moistned because he was in a Consumption I ordered him Syrupus acetosus with all things which provoke Urine Eugubinus was not willing he should drink any thing and he told us a story of one that was cured by dry things Papiensis to put an end to the Controversie concluded that he might drink neither plentifully nor yet not at all The Debate continued till night The Gentleman waited upon every Physician to his Boat When Papiensis was there he turned to a great Person and spake his mind freely which he had dissembled before If you will save this Man's life you must follow Montanus his Advice In this case Medicines of Steel Tartar and Vitriol are proper because they open powerfully and provoke Urine especially mineral Waters and vitriolate Spaws Avicenna reports how a Woman was cured with Pomegranates Riverius III. Galen and the rest of his Followers who attribute all to the qualities of the Elements say that the Dropsie arises not from the Spirits but rather from a cold and moist intemperature of the Liver But how aptly for a right Cure you may guess For let them give as hot things as they please for the Liver they doe no good they increase thirst waste strength and feed and increase the Disease But let them break the violence of the spirits and open the stopt passages the Water gathered within will run out and the Dropsie will be cured Which practice has succeeded well with me in all But in some where there is a corruption of substance or at least some suspicion of it I dare not run this course but do judge I must leave them to the Prognostick IV. It seems contrary to the Rules of Art and to Reason to affirm that Bleeding can be convenient in a Dropsie which nevertheless Hippocrates 11. Epid. sect 5. and lib. Acutor n. 62. did commend I know many will say that Bleeding is usually admitted of in this Disease when it as Hippocrates says arises from Inflammation Yet of these many that talk thus when there is no occasion you will see but few either propose it or when it is proposed admit of it when it ought to be done and this to the Patients great damage But if they knew how to use this Remedy in time and in a
that remove the excrements and thrust them down with their weight Fortis VII Several Authours testifie that Quicksilver may be taken without any harm for by its weight it does disintangle and loose the Gut that is as it were tied on a knot thrusting down the hardened and stopping excrements H. ab Heer 's affirms he has often seen it given without any harm when it has been often strained through a leather it being voided in a moment and carrying the excrements along with it After taking of it he presently gave a Clyster of pure Crete Wine by means whereof he has saved several that have been ready to die of the excessive tension of the Colon. ¶ Paraeus says several have been cured by drinking three pounds of it onely in water but so great a quantity is suspicious for there is danger of extinguishing the innate heat by its cold and of the concretion of the bloud in the veins Some give two ounces in a rear Egg but one has had very good success ¶ Petrus Pena as Velschius obs 43. relates cleansed the Quicksilver from the leaden part by boiling it with Wine and Vinegar and then passing it through a leather then he tied it in a bunch with a thread in a thin parchment wherein Gold had been beaten he inclosed an ounce and an half of Quicksilver so purified and covered it with a glew made of Gum Tragacanth and when it was dried in a gentle fir◠he took off the thread and gave the Patient the Pill to swallow dipt in Honey or Syrup so the glew being presently dissolved in the Stomach the Quicksilver purged plentifully One was cured by twice taking such a thing VIII Hippocrates 3 de morbis propounds as the last Remedy blowing into the Belly by a Smith's bellows after which an emollient Clyster with trochises of Alhandal should be given that the excrements may be got out Aurelianus disapproves of this Remedy because the Wind that is forced in with the Bellows may doe harm by its coldness Yet this Remedy is good upon the experience of Amatus Lusitanus cent 1. obs 100. and of Epiphanius Ferdinandus who saved the life of J. Altimarus his Son by it when he was ready to die of the Iliack passion For it does not onely good by untwisting the Guts but by opening a grievous and contumacious obstruction by dilating the Gut IX In the twisting of the small Guts much cold mere Wine must be given according to reason till sleep or pain in the Legs arise Hippocr 2. epidem sect 6. He shews a very fine way of curing an Ileus and one that I have often experienced not of every one but of that which is caused by a gross Wind distending the small Guts or carrying the hard excrements to the small Guts or by a cold Juice settled there For nothing will better cure such an one than mere Wine for it concocts crude things extenuates gross ones dissipates Wind digests and carries it through the Body Wherefore either by concocting or dissipating the cause or thrusting it into another place it cures this Disease For Wine uses to cause sleep or pain in the Limbs and both these things are wholsome in this Disease Sleep indeed because by rest and indolence the faculty is refreshed and the heat being called inwards the cause is concocted The Pain in the limbs or joints because when such an Abscess is made the former Disease uses to cease as we have it very observable in Gouty persons There is scarce a Disease from which they are not freed when the Gout comes upon them For according to Hippocrates it is impossible that all things should be in pain at once Therefore these very Reasons convince us that Wine is good because it causes sleep and pain in the Legs and when it does either of these things it is enough For if in these pains Stupefiers be often usefull because they cause sleep which yet are otherwise hurtfull to the Disease How much better is Wine then which is both sommiferous and of it self good to take away the cause of the Disease Yet it will not doe these things every way but that it may be able to doe them effectually give much of it and mere Wine for diluted or in a small quantity it neither causes sleep nor pain in the Legs Much of it if it be given all at once cannot be kept but will presently be vomited up again or if it were kept it could not be concocted by the weak faculty therefore it would grow sowre and being turned to Vinegar it would increase the Disease Therefore much mere Wine must be given by little and little by frequent and small draughts so it will be kept and be concocted and will help to concoct and doe other good offices Vallesius X. In a Twisting of the Guts from sharp and malignant humours Aetius commends Treacle after Vomiting to whom all his Successors adhere But I should recommend Treacle or other Alexipharmacks onely when the poison is cold for in hot poisons you must rather use Milk or Whey mixt with water of Sorel Terra Lemnia or some other Alexipharmack but cooling Saxonia XI It has been observed sometimes when several Clysters and very strong ones have done nothing that external emollients of the Belly by fomentations anointings c. have done much good Emollient Clysters also may be given Nor would it be useless to take emollient things by the mouth as Oil of sweet Almonds fat Broths with Mallow or Marsh-mallow boiled in them Seeing that Maid in Matthaeus de Gradibus cap. de Vomitu who in the Iliack passion vomited up both Clysters and Suppositories was cured with fat Broths when other Medicines had been used in vain And although such things should be rejected by Vomit once and again yet the taking of them must be continued For so when the fibres of the Guts are relaxed their perverse motion is quieted Sennertus XII In an Ileus from Inflammation I do not at all commend a Bath administred to the whole Body though Rondeletius approves it for if it be cold it drives the humours inwards if hot it melts and colliquates them and renders them inclinable to the place affected As Galen also 12 meth cap. 3. has observed But a Bath is convenient in an Ileus from hardened Excrements whether it be of Water altered with Emollient things or of Oil. Saxonia XIII When the Disease is an Inflammation in the small Guts sharp Clysters are not proper lest the excrements be drawn to the part affected from the remote parts nor over detersive ones lest by irritating they increase the Pain It is hurtfull also when a great quantity is given which reaches almost to the part affected Rondeletius XIV If the Rupture of the Guts be so great that when they are got out at a little hole they cannot get back again by the same hole and cannot afford a passage for the excrements downwards it
occasions an Inflammation and Gangrene which are often increased or produced by fomentations applied amiss and overhot as also by a preposterous and violent rubbing of the swelled part and by the violent forcing back of the swollen Guts Sylvius XV. A young Man twenty four years old of a melancholick constitution fell into the Colick which after many things had been tried in vain degenerated into the Iliack passion with straitness about the Heart he swallowed a leaden Bullet of 2 drachms weight well covered with 1 drachm of Quicksilver and lest it should hurt his Jaws or raise a Ptyalism it was artificially wrapt up After three hours he broke wind and had ease Mâ—lchior Fribe in Misc cur on 1672. obs 96. and the fourth hour there followed two stools in which he voided above six pounds of matter of party colours yet he recovered without any harm XVI A poor Woman after an ill course of Diet fell into an obstruction of the Belly which lasted three weeks so that she brought up the excrements at her mouth as in an Ileus Divers things were used without any benefit At length she often drank the Juice of Bardorffe Apples that were rotten to about six pounds upon which she grew loose and the Woman narrowly escaped Death XVII If the Iliack passion be joined with a Rupture a supervening mortal sign whereof is the vomiting of the Chyle and Excrements when the Gut Ileon is slipt into the Scrotum after the falling down of which Hippocrates never saw any Man recover the onely way of Cure if there be any is as soon as the violent pain of the left side of the Scrotum reaching vomiting and such things have convinced you of the Gut Ileon being slipt Then without delay the very same day the ligament or vinculum inguinis must be cut in sunder with a Razor that is where the peritonaeum is joined with the Groin by a coat Duretus comm in Holletium or the testicle of the same side may be cut out Medicines especially made use of by eminent Physicians 1. A Decoction of Dill is admirable good though Men do vomit after drinking of it Bread must be put in warm water and immediately warm pieces of it must be give to eat Aegineta 2. This gives great ease Let 4 ounces of Wine of Crete and 16 ounces of Oil be boiled together to the consumption of the Wine this given for a Clyster mitigates pain causes sleep softens the excrements Benedictus and breaks wind 3. The Bloud of a Bat anointed on the hypochondria by admirable experience is reckoned to stop the pains of the Twisting of the Guts Joël 4. They that are held of this Disease are wonderfully relieved although they vomit their ordure if they eat pieces of hot bread dipt in oil They will be saved though they were in a manner dead Oribasius 5. Spirit of Turpentine given inwardly egregiously dissolves the Tartar and causes the Excrements to descend and pass the natural way Petraeus 6. If the Disease come from thick and viscid Phlegm a Decoction or Infusion or Water of Radish is highly approved and also strong Wine in which inciding and attenuating Herbs have been boiled Rhudius Inappetentia or Want of Appetite The Contents Phlegm which is the Cause of it must be heated by little and little I. It requires rather the correcting some fault in the Liver than in the Stomach II. Whether Spirit of Vitriol recovers an Appetite III. See Diseases of the Stomach BOOK XVIII I. BILE and Phlegm especially hinder the sense of Appetite Concerning Phlegm it must be observed that it as it is cold indicates heating things yet it must not be done all at once and on a sudden lest the humours being suddenly dissolved breed wind and be distributed into the whole Body and cause obstructions wherefore here we must act with caution and first of all we must take care that the Patient eat and drink sparingly and use an attenuating Diet. Salt Meats also may be given the first mess because Salt has an inciding and attenuating virtue and afterwards things that have a detersive faculty may be used such as the decoction of Cabbage boiled but a little But first of all to attenuate let Oxymel be given with a fourth part of Honey of Roses afterwards that Medicine which is called Diatrion Pipereon and that the simple which is onely made of the three sorts of Pepper for although Pepper heat violently yet it is of thin substance and parts which are therefore quickly discussed and therefore doe the Liver no harm Sennertus II. Loss of Appetite and loathing of Flesh especially follows the excessive heat of the Liver for Physicians are under a mistake who when their Patients loath Fesh so that they can scarce bear the smell of it think the Stomach is onely ill Flowers of Cichory must be given either preserved with Sugar or fresh and the obstructions of the mesaraick Vessels must be helped For Flowers of Cichory do not onely help a hot Liver but they excite the faculty of the Stomach and free from obstructions ¶ Roots of Cichory especially the wild have as much virtue in them and more Crato III. There are some who perfectly abhor the use of Spirit of Vitriol as appears from Sylvaticus controv 48. and others who infer several inconveniences from the noxious qualities of common Vitriol not prepared and not separated from its impurities but to no purpose for it is one thing to consider what Galen and Diascorides say where they onely speak of crude Vitriol another to consider prepared Vitriol of which there is great variety so that it alone to several Hermeticks may seem sufficient to furnish an Apothecaries shop The question here is concerning Spirit of Vitriol which is now-a-days frequently used That it conduces much to check great putrefaction both Experience and Crato apud Scholtzium do testifie though greater caution must be observed in dry Bodies than in moist We likewise daily experience that it does much good in a dejected Appetite then especially when the internal parts of the Stomach are as it were lined and obstructed with pituitous and mucilaginous excrements so that the Spirits which cause hunger that is the innate heat of the Stomach is oppressed and rendred unfit to perform its operation As it contains in it self a penetrating inciding and cleansing virtue so it attenuates digests and consumes the mucilaginous matter and crudities Wherefore consequently it excites the hungry Spirits that before were buried as it were which produce the usual effects in extimulating the sense of the orifice and breed hunger Horstius Infantium Regimen or The Regiment of Children The Contents The umbilical Vessels must be tied neither too strait nor too loose I. Whether Children new born should be washed in hot or cold Water II. They must not be swathed too strait III. Whether the Mother's milk be always best IV. Whether new
Sleep Must be otherwise cured than in grown people CXXIII Whether Saffron be good CXXIV Narcoticks must not be given CXXV Umbilici Tumor Inflammatio or Swelling and Inflammation of the Navel Sometimes a Chirurgical Cure is required CXXVI Whether Oil of Roses be good in the Inflammation CXXVII An Abscess arising must not be opened CXXVIII The Cure of a Swelling from a carnous substance CXXIX If it come from Bloud or arterious Spirit it must not be opened CXXX An effectual Plaster in the rupture of it CXXXI Vomitus or Vomiting It proceeds from several Causes CXXXII Strengthners of the Stomach at what hour they must be given CXXXIII Regimen recens Natorum or The Regiment of new born Children I. SOME unskilfull Midwives use sometimes to tye the umbilical Vessels and Navel-string of Children either too strait that it may the sooner be cut off or too loose so that the ligature is not sufficient to keep in the bloud As it happened to two Infants whose strength was so exhausted by bleeding that they could by no means be recovered Therefore these Vessels must be carefully tied with a thread several times double And for the greater security when they are cut off strew on this Powder with which they must always be furnished Take of Aloes Frakincense Dragon's-bloud each 1 drachm burnt Hart's-horn Terra sigillata Fine-flower each 2 drachms Hare's-down cut very small half a drachm Mix them Hildanus II. Let the Midwife wash the new born Child gently with her hand and let her have swathes and clothes as soft as may be in readiness for either to wash the body much or more than once or to strew on astringent Powders or Salt onely are usually the causes of more hurt than good wherefore the use of them is deservedly left off for it is better to clean the body with warm water at most than either with dry things to condense or to heat or cool or soften the body that is above measure soft as they used to doe of old But if the Child be born cold and full of mucous and viscid excrements it is sufficient to wash it in warm Wine yea absolutely necessary But if it be born lean hot and much extenuated it is the wisest course not onely presently after it is born but for three or four months time to anoint the Child after making it clean with Oil of Sesamum when it goes to sleep But in such bodies it is a very good way to put the Child to a Virgin who must be young fleshy of a good habit and fresh coloured who must cherish the Child with her own heat in bed For I have known several saved by the benefit of this onely Mercatus ¶ Some Northern people washt the bodies of their new-born Children in cold Water yea they dipt them into it to make them strong Galen reprehends the custome because of the sudden change from heat to cold and constipation of the pores of the Skin which may be the cause of putrefaction breaking out and other diseases Nor must they be washt with warm water Fabricius Hildanus cent 14. obs 56. observed that a Child after such washing lived subject to Catarrhs Galen before the Child be swathed if the constitution of its body be without any fault sprinkles it all over with Salt finely powdered lib. 1. de san t. c. 6. He is blamed by Averrhoes because that age cannot bear the acrimony of the Salt and for the danger lest by the astriction of the Salt the vitious juices which perspire by the Skin should be kept in It were better according to Avicenna's advice to wash the body in Wine wherein red Roses have been boiled or in its Urine III. In some Countries and Families Children are swathed too strait hence it often comes to pass that their body grows gibbous and their Limbs crooked or otherways deformed For their bones being yet tender soft and cartilagineous are easily wrested and removed out of their natural posture which when they grow hard keep their vitiated figure Country peoples Children have large Breasts because they are not tied or lay looser in the Cradles They that are swathed tight have their ribs compressed and their Breast grows sharp Maids who lace themselves too strait that they may look slender either die of a Consumption or grow Crooked A certain Midwife as Borellus observes cent 2. obs 59. was accounted a Witch because all the Children she swathed grew either Consumptive or lived weakly which was caused onely by too strait compression Nurses also sometimes tie their heads for comeliness-sake because sharp ones seem finer to them hereby the Skull being compressed and growing long the Brain and its Ventricles are compressed which being so weakned is rendred obnoxious to Catarrhs Such if they grow up are dull of understanding because the spirits are not elaborated aright or their free passage through the windings of the Brain is hindred It is an errour also of the Nurses to carry their Children always in the same Arm whereby they grow left-handed or rest them on their Legs onely whereby they make them lame IV. It is the best way for Mothers to give their own children suck because their Milk is made of the same bloud wherewith the Child was nourished But the Nurses Milk although it be Milk and indeed Humane yet there is not one jot less difference in this than is between the constitution of body and temperament of the Mother and Nurse and no Nurses Milk agrees so well with the Child's body as the Mothers Since therefore every Animal is nourished with things like it self the Mother's Milk must be preferred because it is more like Phavorinus in Gellius l. 12. c. 1. brings many pretty reasons for it but moral ones But because many Mothers are not of a good constitution but diseased and sometimes also of bad manners or because great Persons and others who are weak cannot bear the trouble of giving suck a well-disposed Nurse must be chosen which is not so subject to passion of a composed mind not a Fool Angry Drunken Melancholick Salacious but of a good habit in the prime of her years c. V. Some reckon it a superstitious thing to chuse a new Milk because to speak properly Milk is never old since new is bred every day whose Nature may vary according to the different temper of the Woman and the difference of diet but not because of the act of breeding Milk Yet it were better that the Nurses Lying-in should coïncide with the birth of the Child to be brought up or not differ above a month for a more serous and diluted Milk is proper for new-born children such as Nature has given the Mother when she has newly lain in that it may the better cleanse the filth from the Stomach of the young child But an old Milk is without doubt thicker and therefore not so proper VI. C. à Vega thinks the Milk is made purer if the feculent bloud be
evacuated by a mixture with which in the body before it is polluted He instances them that give suck in whom because they have their Menstrua but seldom a Cacochymie grows in their body One that gave suck in Hippocrates 2. Epidem Sect. 2. had Blisters all over her body but when she gave over suckling they went away in Summer If therefore suppression of the Menstrua even in them that give suck be a cause of Cacochymie Why are Nurses desired who have them not For is it not better to have them every Month than that the bloud should be foul Vallesius replies Since there cannot be an expulsion of the excrements without a separation before all the bloud must of necessity be disturbed every month at the time of excretion which we know from antecedent pains of the whole body and when it is disturbed the Milk must be spoiled It is better therefore to chuse a temperate Nurse and to procure good juices for her than from her menstruous purgation to expect the purging of the bloud with its frequent disturbance Beside there is order in the work of Nature Since therefore menstruous bloud is the principle of generation when it appears nature inclines to another birth wherefore she begins to be unfit for the former and therefore the Child must be put to another Nurse But if there should be no more Nurses to be had but onely one who has her Menses every month while they are upon her let her give suck as little as she can and let her avoid it more a day or two before they come which is the time of secretion than when they are come VII Some condemn little Breasts and not without reason because they breed less Milk And I know not why great Breasts should be counted bad for they afford a large quantity of Milk which may be good And it is not the capacity of the Breasts but their temper which alters the Milk VIII Let the Nurse wholly abstain from Venus for it disturbs the Milk draws the Bloud to the Womb whereby the Milk is spoiled and the quantity of it abated Yet Varandaeus allows it to such as live with their Husbands lest their longing disturb them And we see Mothers who live with their Husbands and lye with them do yet suckle their Children without any harm Bonaciolus writes Primirosius that the Mother's Milk does not corrupt if she conceive by the same Man IX Whether is it good for Children who are taken with any disease presently to change their Nurse as it is for other bodies when they are taken with any acute disease to change the course of their Diet into a more spare one and take another who has a thinner Milk Here first of all it must be considered on what occasion the Child began to be sick for if from an external cause whether Meat or Drink or Air it seems a vain thing to change the Milk that is familiar and friendly into an unaccustomed one at a time when the strength is least able to bear an alteration of custome In which case though in other Diseases it be not necessary to change if the disease be acute in which the accustomed food how friendly soever must be changed into a thinner it is convenient to chuse a Nurse which has a thinner Milk which indeed is not so necessary in diseases that are not so violent nor so acute and because of the gentleness of the symptoms waste the strength but little But in acute diseases or if the Child be ill through some fault in the Milk whether that come from some disease in the Nurse be it from the temperature of the Breasts being destroyed or from the diuturnity of giving suck or from alteration of the diet or life or from her being with child or from a sudden fall or from any other cause either because the Milk is not so pure and choice as it was at the beginning or be not convenient for the Child when grown as it was before then indeed without any delay we must change the Nurse for one who has a Milk like to the former if the Disease be of small moment but if it be an acute one for a Nurse who has a very thin Milk such as the violence of the disease requires for the reasons alledged For when children are ill I cannot commend the endeavouring to correct the Milk in the same Nurse by Medicines or Purges for it will be much more spoiled and in hopes of future health we give the Child far worse aliment And therefore it will be better to change the Nurse than to add one disease to another For it is certain that what diseases come from diet are amended by diet and what do not come from thence do not increase thereby But when the Child refuses to take the Breast any longer then indeed you are bound of necessity to attenuate and correct the Milk in the Nurse her self not indeed by Purgers when the Child is sick but by alteratives towards that quality which is contrary to the Disease or towards tenuity as is necessary in acute diseases for you may extenuate it by feeding the Nurse with Parsly Fenil c. and by moderate exercise But if any salt or bitter taste or the like be predominant in the Milk I should rather chuse to change the Nurse than endeavour in vain to correct it Mercatus X. The usual food of Children when they are weaned is Pap made of Flower Wheaten especially and Milk of a middle consistence between a Solid and a Liquid although it come nearer the former for it cannot be supped Because of its viscidity for which it cannot get through the narrow passages it is the Authour of many diseases especially of Obstructions For if a most tenacious Paste be made of Flower and Water for external use what may not be made of it by addition of viscid and thick Milk It will certainly make a food difficult of concoction and stopping Some endeavour to amend this fault by long boiling to take the crudity off the Flower But by that means the Whey which gave it a little fluidity is exhausted the butyrous part remaining which is viscid and tough and the caseous which is the gross and earthy portion of the Milk Others by mixing it well and stirring it make Pap with a gentle boiling lest the Whey should be lost from whence it has a virtue to permeate and loosen the Belly But neither thus is the mischief avoided for the Flower remains crude incoctible and insuperable And this is the way to make it not onely proper for children but for the use of the Kitchin of which an easie dish may be made by mixing it with Milk Broth c. Take Barley or Oaten-flower put it in a Bag of thick cloth boil it in a Kettle for twelve hours so as that the Water may be always above it keeping down the Bag by laying a weight upon it When the Flower
There are several Medicines 9. χ. Ï„. too violent for young Children Therefore I rather commend Galen's advice 3. Euporist that is to use Smith's-water Idem and Powder of burnt Snails XVIII The same Galen 2. de Simpl. writes that several have written that a Torpedo applied is good for the falling of the Arse-gut But he subjoyns that he had tried that remedy in vain Powder of a Serpent's slough is also very good Idem XIX But if these Medicines will not perfectly cure it the followers of the Arabians commend the making of two cauteries in the end of the Spine that is near the Rump one on each side Which remedy nevertheless I would advise onely to be used in adult ones and when other things will doe no good XX. It is often hindred from going back into its place by the Mucus wherewith it is covered which you must absterge not with brine as some have advised because the sense of the part will not bear it but with Sugâ—red-water especially with Rain-water or with Water of Honey much diluted which you must doe often and wrap up the Anus in clothes wet with water Aphthae or A Thrush XXI Because a Thrush is usually attended with great Inflammation and consequently draws the humours from the body and increases the disease thereby Therefore it will be good to apply Cupping-glasses but to the buttocks or the end of the back by which one may evacuate as much bloud as the age and habit of the body will bear Mercurialis XXII If the Thrush be malignant we must oppose the pravity but we must have regard to the Age and the tenderness of the body We may not therefore in this age use those remedies which an elder might bear And the Medicine may be such Take of Scordium finely powdered 1 drachm Pomegranate Pills finely powdered 2 scruples burnt Alume 1 scruple Honey what is sufficient Mix them Idem XXIII But we must observe whether powders or whatever else be given it is necessary that it be mixt with some thing that is gratefull to the palate for there the Gustatory faculty is placed and we must have great regard to the Taste Wherefore as may be seen in Galen 6. de Med. local the Ancients made up their Medicines for the Thrush either with Sapa or Honey Idem XXIV If the Child be big because it is very material to have the pravity checkt presently lest it grow to spreading Ulcers we must endeavour to take away all malignity immediately with strong Medicines which the juice of Pomegranates and especially of sowre ones does admirably Which Theophrastus says does in a wonderfull manner preserve from putrefaction And though the Pomegranate by Dioscorides be called 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 yet we must not say with Ruellius it is hurtfull to the mouth which is very false but that it is ungratefull It appears indeed from experience that it is unpleasant and ungratefull nevertheless it is very good to stop a putrid Thrush Idem XXV But it often so happens that this Medicine does not suffice wherefore we must proceed to stronger In which case in those of elder years we may use either Aqua Aluminis magistralis or Vnguentum Aegyptiacum or flos aeris corrected with Diamoron all which things must not be used but upon great necessity The reason is because according to Galen 6. χ. Ï„. in the palate there are two wide passages one of which goes to the Lungs the other to the Stomach wherefore it is very dangerous if any poisonous Medicine get into these parts Therefore he said that Vitriol must not be used in Medicines for the Mouth because of the imminent danger if any part of such a Medicine should get either into the Stomach or Lungs Besides when we must use some such Medicines it will be best to use them in such a form as cannot go farther than the Palate as when a malignant Thrush is touched with Oil of Vitriol or of Sulphur or with Sublimate water XXVI Whether is Butter good for a Thrush Idem It is good in the beginning but it may be questioned 1. Because fat things make Ulcers foul 2. By its heat it might increase the Inflammation 3. It does not at all agree with other Medicines which must be used in the progress of the Disease I answer 1. The argument holds good in deep Ulcers which must be deterged 2. Fresh Butter is reckoned temperate because of the serous humidity mixt with it 3. Nor does it hinder that other Medicines are of other qualities because in the progress we dry and deterge more XXVII Horstius A Boy about four years old had a very sharp Fluxion upon his Tongue and Jaws so that he had an infinite number of white Ulcers very painfull with a great inflammation he could swallow nothing he had no sleep but roared continually he was lean and almost quite consumed Honey of Roses with Spirit of Vitriol which did others good did him none He had a plentifull Loosness with much porraceous bile A Bliâ—er did him much good but his pain and roaring continued and a serous sharp humour ran out of his mouth continually the pain and inflammation drawing more and more At length I gave 1 grain of Laudanum in broth whereby the pain was eased a gentle sleep procured which afterwards continued moderate and came at due hours Then his fluxion into his mouth ceased and he began to recover Riverius Atrophia or want of Nourishment XXVIII There are four causes of Leanness in Câ—ildren First Ineptitude of Aliment Secondly Want of Heat whose office it is to concoct it Thirdly Obstruction of the passages by which the Aliment passes to its elaboratories or whereby it is carried from them to the parts to be nourished Fourthly Any cause that is able to waste dissipate and melt the fat and flesh To the ineptitude of Aliment the condition of the Milk belongs which is either afforded in far less quantity than it should or is so thin that it is dissipated by the heat or of its own nature it is of little Aliment because it has but little of the butyrous substance and much of the other Or when it is bitter salt c. which Nature is therefore averse to So want of Innate Heat causes an Atrophy a thousand ways because it is able neither to concoct laudable Aliment or if it be it does not distribute it or does not assimilate it when distributed c. Thus Childrens bodies are also emaciated because the ways chanels and pores of the Elaboratories and the Flesh are obstructed corrugated fallen flat compressed or some way or other straitned Of which cause we must have a great care Then the cause which wastes the fat and flesh is either internal or external internal whatever is unable to contain the substance that should nourish as it happens in fluxes of bloud or of any other good substance or it dissipates by sweat
insensible transpiration by Urine or Stool But these are seldom seen in Children for in them the dissipating heat or consuming drought usually waste the humidity that should nourish The external cause is either the aestuating dissipating heat or the violent cold extinguishing the heat or the use of Salt meats XXIX If the heat appear as it were extinct by a cold disease or humour then indeed Children are usually very hungry although sometimes their stomachs are squeamish that is when Phlegm putrefies or becomes mucilaginous and the more they cram the leaner they grow Moreover they are of a white colour and though their body be extenuated their eyes face and feet swell being forerunners of another mischief You cannot heal this disease by change or increase of diet but by such things as waste and concoct the Phlegm and make the heat more brisk In which case it is good for Children when they are weaâ—â—ed to take a very little Wine with Biscoct-bread or in drink so it be much diluted for it concocts phlegm and crude juices corrects the cold intemperature and excites the heat Aromaticks are also good which if they cannot be given a sucking Child you mix them in all the Nurses victuals for they thin the Milk and make it pass easily XXX There is a Disease very frequent in these Countries in which Children that suck and those that are weaned are consumed with an Atrophy to a Skeleton onely the Belly as if there were a soft Parenchyma lying underneath being swelled and so far like the Rickets but that there is not such a tension of the joints and for the rest it comes without any concourse of Worms or of any other cause but onely through some fault in the lacteal ducts and glands For the method and cure of the common Consumption turning to an Ascites of a Tympany and the like Diseases sometimes used in this case has not been sufficient Nor yet afterwards have the remedies usually prescribed in a more accurate method for Schirrhi and abscesses of the mesentery wâ—ich indeed are rather the products of the inveterate Disease Laxatives Purgatives Aperients and Strengthners and external Anointings Bathings c. been found to satisfie expectation or to hinder those that are so held from being carried off at last by an Hectick with a supervening Epilepsie colliquative Flux Lientery and other Symptoms Within these few years a little Daughter of N. was brought to me than whom in all my practice I have not seen one more Consumptive she had taken an infinite number of Medicines Being much intreated and the case being desperate after I had given the Prognostick I happened I know not how upon Tinctura Martis aperitiva Vitriolata and upon Arcanum duplicatum which it may be might go nearer to the root of the Disease than any usual things for all their known energy Therefore we gave for the first week every day and for the next every other day in the morninâ— 2 drops of the Tincture for every year of her age and at 4 a clock in the afternoon likewise for every year of her age 1 grain of the Arcanum And so in a few days she began to be better in plight and in a short time after Nature recollecting her self of her own accord she was perfectly restored and is at this day brisk and corpulent enough After which Observation being farther confirmed by reason I have after that to this very day cured several in the same manner without the help almost of any other Remedies And this Martial Tincture is made of Vitriol of Mars made with Spirit of Wine and of the Acid of Tartar each 4 ounces boiled sufficiently in 3 pounds of Steel water and insensibly exhaled in stirring to the thickness of Honey which by pouring on 3 pounds of Spirit of Wine is dissolved by digesting little sediment if all things have been done as they ought being left And so the liquour is saturated and after little or no abstraction or exhalation is set by for use and it may be farther tinctured if you please with essence of red Popy Dan Ludovâ—â—i Eâ—â—emâ—r Câ—â—â—m aâ— 3. obs 251. You may have Arcanum duplicatum in Schroder Pharmac l. 3. p. 474. and Hofman in Clavi p. 344. XXXI A Boy two years old was brought to me Anno 1567. the Son of Mr. David Merveilleux Counsellour to the most Serene Prince of Longeville my intimate Friend consumed with a great Atrophy together with a Loosness His Breast was diaphanous if it were held to a Candle He was given over by all especially by a City Pastor who practised Physick I believed he was not desperate because he had a liveliness in his eyes And he was recovered by taking Milk in which red-hot Flints had been quenched adding Sugar of Roses and a little terra sigillata Within a month he throve upon it now he is a lusty Man and follows the Wars XXXII Sometimes Childrens Atrophy comes from Worms which are bred under the Skin in fleshy parts of corrupt nutriment This is an approved cure Take 1 ounce or 2 of Bryony-root boil it in Lye of Oakashes till it grow like pap Anoint the Body of the Child with this either in a stove or in some warm place then the Worms put out their heads at the pores and then presently tâ—e Skin must be shaven with a Razour for so the heads are cut off the Worms and the cause of deficieâ—t nutrition is removed And this operation must be performed once and again namely till it be evident that all the worms are gone Then the Children must be bathed often in Bathes of a decoction of a Sheep's-head and Feet Mallow Marsh-mallow Pellitory and Linseed c. XXXIII And there are not wanting some who affirm that Women witches suck children lean In which matter which I leave for others to discuss it is enough to know that they are emaciated because we find children are bewitched because perhaps they are infected with the Touch Sight and Breath of some infected maleficious Body For their tender bodies are easily made worse by any thing But how comes it to pass that a beautifull and healthy child presently grows worse discoloured and lean You must know that such a sudden change may happen in children either because the child by its innate principles is at the very perfection of health according to the indigence of its Age beyond which it cannot go one degree nor continue in the same then it must needs go into a worse state At which time I think we should use no Remedy but it may be hoped that by a good moderation of life and diet he may be brought to the utmost extent of Age which he is able to live while Nature grows stronger and the body arrives at a more solid state by the same action of Nature For so it happens to us all while we commit no errour in our life otherwise that alteration is a fore-runner of some Disease at hand Or again
put in a leaden Pipe and keep it in What I say concerning the urinary passage being stopt the same may be said of the anus And first we must diligently consider whether the anus can be perforated without danger to the sphincter For if it so happen that the whole Muscle be grown together and so Nature have made a way through the vulva it self as I observed in a certain Girl Perforation must not be attempted because most certainly the Muscle would be hurt and one evil would be followed by a worse But if it any way appear that onely a Skin is grown over the Muscle then the place must be marked carefully and a round Iron must be put into it and we must proceed as in other cases with Medicines and Pipes Mercurialis Labiorum Fissurae Tumor or Chapping of the Lips their Swelling LXXVII The Cure of the Fissure of the Lips consists in two things in restoring the continuative moisture and in agglutination or union of the divided parts But because neither the continuative moisture can be restored nor the parts united unless care be taken that no new matter flow to these parts it seems very necessary that the body be kept clean and to accomplish this end it will be very good unless the Skin of the Head be open to open it gently with vitex or Mustard and then to apply Mallow For as Hippocr lib. de Sac. morb says Whenever childrens heads run any moisture at an Ulcer always the Flux is retracted from other parts of the body which of consequence remain safe Idem LXXVIII It often happens in Children and other tender bodies that gentle things which must be moderately astringent and dry without any asperity but with a little viscousness doe no good Such as in a hot cause are unripe Oil of Roses Tragacanth Juice of Gall Pomegranates old Fat of a Hen Calves Marrow c. In a cold cause Mel rosarum Tragacanth Gum-Arabick Mastick c. We must proceed therefore to such things as are drying but yet among them we must have a care of very dry things Aegineta commends Turpentine with Honey and Hogs Lard And if the things proposed doe no good let a little more drying things be added as half an ounce of washt Ceruss or Litharge more or less If the pain be very troublesome a little Opium may be mixt with the Womans Milk LXXIX I have a Son 7 years old who after obstructions of his Bowels and the Swelling of his Belly had his upper Lip much swelled and scabbed When it refused all internal Remedies I ordered two Issues to be made between his Shoulders with the Caustick stone out of which much corruption ran the Swelling of his Lip asswaged and the Scab fell off Anno 1680. Linguae Fraenum or Tongue-tiedness LXXX In cutting the Fraenum of the Tongue the adjoyning parts and the branches of the Veins must be very carefully avoided yea the Salival Ducts in the sixth pair of Nerves are so near to this string that they might very easily be hurt by deep cutting Barbette whence a continual Salivation is raised LXXXI It is almost a common custome either for Midwives to break the Bridle of Childrens Tongues with their finger as soon as they are born or for ignorant Barbers to cut it with a common Lancet for they think according to the opinion confirmed by the authority of very learned Physicians that the speech will not be perfect if this string should remain whole but they are much mistaken Indeed it cannot be denied that sometimes the string of the Tongue wants correction yet I make bold to affirm that the errour of the Midwives especially is intolerable who try to break it in all when I have known many speak well without breaking it but several who have immediately been almost choaked with bloud and a little after died because an Inflammation arose which causing pain hindred sucking If therefore we suspect any such fault in the Tongue it is expedient to defer the Chirurgery till the time of speaking or to have a skilfull administration of it according to Aquapendent's way Scultetus LXXXII In the mean time it behoves the Chirurgeon to know this that among an hundred Children scarce one can be found which wants this Chirurgery and that those Midwives are silly and ignorant who cut all Children as soon as they are born whereby they deprive Children of their Milk and Barbette other accidents following of their lives LXXXIII A Midwife cut a Girls Tongue after her fashion with her finger Pain and Inflammation followed which hindred her taking of the Breast Her Parents thinking that the Midwife had not done it sufficiently called a Chirurgeon who with equal ignorance to mend the matter cut both the ligament and the vessels of the Tongue from whence the bloud fell into the Aspera Arteria and killed the Child in three days When the Child was dead the Nurse began to complain of a Swelling in her Breasts from some Curdled Milk and her right Breast being ill treated degenerated into an exulcerated Cancer ¶ A Girl new-born when her Tongue was cut was not able to suck the Milk for Pain And the Milk curdling in the right Breast she laid the Child to the left for a while A little after she observed in her Daughter the vertebrae of the Back distorted towards the right-side to which distortion that could scarce be amended Scultetus the laying the Child to one Breast gave occasion Maculae Naevi or Marks and Moles LXXXIV I think Spots and Moles contracted in the Mothers Womb may be cured and I reckon those which Children bring into the World with them not altogether incurable unless they be near the eyes But in cutting Tubercles and Spots we must be very carefull that they be all cut out and that nothing of the skin or flesh Hildanus which is coloured remain for they use to grow again LXXXV Georgius Segerus Ephemer German ann 3. obs 198. disapproves of the way of taking off those Spots by anointing with the bloud of the Secundine He says that a Maid had the Back of her left hand almost all of a fiery-red colour by reason of the Mother's apprehending a sudden Burning when she was with Child the fright making an impression on her left hand She by the advice of an old woman had besmeared the discoloured place with the bloud of a Secundine but it was so far from taking off the Spot that it caused a great Inflammation with much swelling and pain which the Chirurgeon had much adoe to stop the Mark remaining notwithstanding LXXXVI The best way of removing the maternal Marks is by Section which is easie if the Tumour can be tied about the root with a thread and such things applied as may commodiously intercept or make revulsion of the affluent humours But we must have a care that no Artery nor any great Vessel especially a Nerve be hurt for if Nature
easily be drawn into the Stomach and could not well be killed Idem CXII It is worthy observation that Medicines accommodated to the killing of Worms must by no means be violent for besides that the Stomach is offended by them the Worms being disturbed grow more enraged and cruel Idem CXIII The onely time to take all Medicines is when the Stomach is empty because if Medicines be given when the Stomach is full their virtue which is otherwise weak is dulled and almost extinguished Idem CXIV There is no Medicine which is so generally proper for killing of all Worms nor â—o present a Remedy as that they call Coral-wort or Sea-moss For Mountebanks use this Medicine and they doe Wonders with it so that I have seen an incredible quantity of humours sometimes voided with this onely Medicine Idem CXV Our Countrey Women think that all children have the Worms But when none are voided they say they are turned to putrid humours And they are not much out for as Worms inclosed in a Vial glass and covered up in warm Dung do presently turn to slime why may not the same be done in our Bodies whose heat answers to the heat of Dung Pachequur ad Riv. obs 57. when the Worms are killed with bitter Medicines CXVI Sometimes Patients have a Fever with the Worms and sometimes they have none When they have a Fever the coolest Medicines must be chosen When they have no Fever we may use hotter things Mercurialis CXVII And it is sometimes necessary to kill the Worms and stop the Loosness which the Worms cause Wherefore we must use detersive bitter things and not astringent ones lest the Worms when they are killed be retained and putrefie Let therefore Clysters be made of a Decoction of Lentils or Lupines and a Decoction of Colewort to which we may add Roses Myrobalanes or such things Rondeletius CXVIII It may be queried Whether Medicines that evacuate insensibly be proper in these cases as among others a Decoction of Guaiacum Without doubt if we consider the place where the matter of Worms resides the use of such Medicines will be no way convenient for this evacuates matter in the habit of the body Worms are bred in the Guts But notwithstanding since the Wood has a Bitterness in it and the Decoction of it is sharp and very bitter I think it an usefull Medicine for that it not onely by drying may consume the crude humours of the Stomach and Guts but is also able by its great bitterness and acrimony to kill these Animals And therefore a Decoction of the Wood may be usefull both for prevention and cure Mercurialis CXIX Galen indeed forbids Treacle to children because of the thin Texture of their body and the abundance of Heat for fear of dissipating the Spirits Yet I saw at Rome the excellent Dr. H. Savianus give it to children of two years old And I in imitation of him have given it several times to my own children when they were troubled with the Worms Wherefore I think the use of it need not so much be feared Jordanus de Peste Tract c. 7. CXX Quicksilver is good for the Worms in children but it is after they are three years old The dose for these is three grains For the first seven years seven or eight grains For the elder sort half a scruple They that are of a soft and very tender habit of body can scarce bear it but they that are of a fat and gross habit do easily For those in a Fever it is given in Grass-water for them without in Wine It is given alive not killed for so it sticks to the Stomach and Guts and causes cruel Symptoms But it must first be washed in very sharp Vinegar and then strained through a thick Leather Brassavclus Matthiolus and Frisimelica used it so Water wherein it has been steeped does the same and brings no inconvenience Augenius CXXI I know nothing that preserves children so well from Worms as frequently to mix Aloes with their Meat It may be done by gilding small Pills which for the smalness are scarce sensible Give four or five of them according to the nature of the child Augenius CXXII Because children usually are very subject to Worms which are easily bred of Crudities caused by cramming and corruption of the Food Therefore some Medicine which yet may not cause a worse mischief must be made use of for strong things especially in dubious cases must never be used Let therefore four ounces of water distilled off the Juice of Goats-rue suffice or a draught of Rose-water with Juice of Citron or Lemon or Broth altered with Sorrel adding the Juice of Citron Fortis Vigiliae or Want of Sleep CXXIII Want of Sleep in children is a Disease different from want of Sleep in old people because it is an absurd thing to think that this can rise in children from that cause namely because of Driness which causes want of Sleep in grown people Therefore it is well judged by all Physicians when children cannot sleep that it proceeds from nothing else but from Meat corrupted in the Stomach from whence while sharp Vapours are constantly carried to the Brain they piercing the Membranes hinder Sleep therefore the whole stress of the Cure lies especially upon correcting the Stomach that it may not corrupt the Meat and that Sleep may be provoked by all means Mercurialis CXXIV Whether is Saffron good in want of Sleep It seems not convenient because it heats and dries 2. It excites the Senses 3. It causes a mobility of Spirits wherefore it is said to refresh the Senses But note it must not be prescribed alone in this case but mixt with a cooling Syrup to which it adds penetration Therefore 1. It heats and dries alone but mixt with other things it procures Sleep by raising gratefull Vapours 2. Therefore it onely excites the Senses by it self 3. With hot Cordials it revives the Heart by introducing a mobility of Spirits but not when mixt with cold things Horstius CXXV Things to procure Sleep cannot very safely be given children because they dull their Wits Nurses therefore doe very ill in giving them Syrup of Popy that they may provide for their own ease Hypnoticks should rather be given to them than to children but they must be moderate as sweet Almonds Sennertus Lettuce Popy seed c. Vmbilici Inflammatio Tumor or An Inflammation or Swelling of the Navel CXXVI In a Swelling of the Navel from the bursting out of a Gut or the Cawl when external Remedies doe no good we must proceed to cutting or burning About cutting the same way almost is laid down by Celsus and Paulus But we must remember what Celsus says that Sucking children must by no means be cut but more adult children Besides the bodies of all children are not fit for cutting but such as are of a good habit of body
I shall not contend with them but do rather think that both causes should be joined and often are joined so that by the viscidity of any humour in the bloud both the rest of the parts of the bloud may be intimately tied one to another and so be made less fit for their separation and the pores of the Caruncles may be obstructed and so the transcolation secretion Idem and excretion of Urine may be abolished XX. I have often removed small stones got into the mouth of the Bladder by putting in a Wax Candle the way I mentioned before Section XVIII Idem and so I have cured the stoppage of Urine XXI When there is suspicion that a Stone sticks in either Ureter unless by turning the body the head downwards and then by shaking of the body the Stone be got back from the Orifice of the Ureter this disease must be held for desperate Idem XXII Oftentimes the cause of the stoppage of Urine is thought to be in the Kidneys themselves inasmuch as the Natural constitution of the Kidneys and of the Caruncles in them whatever it is and the disposition requisite for separation of the Urinous Serum from the rest of the bloud is spoiled so that the secretion ceases Here we must make haste to cure it while there is some hope This Disease may be cured chiefly by taking Diureticks especially volatile Salt of Amber and other Aromatick volatile Salts By means whereof so grievous and often so mortal a suppression of Urine wherein the sick are sick at the heart Idem is not onely cured but prevented Medicines especially made use of by eminent Physicians 1. Syrup of Crystal is admirable in this case which is made thus Take of prepared Crystal a sufficient quantity dissolve it in juice of Lemons Boil the Solution with Sugar into the form of a Syrup Bikkerus 2. This emulsion is excellent Take of Seeds of Purple Violet half an ounce with a sufficient quantity of Speedwell-water make an Emulsion Crato 3. Fried Pellitory of the Wall applied Jac. Sylvius is an effectual Remedy 4. Root of Knotgrass drank with Water is very good as also the Seeds and Leaves of Trâ—foil boiled in Water and drank I have often experienced the Powder of the Jaw-bone of a Soused Pike Varignana 5. Let two or three heads of Garlick be boiled in White-wine add a little Treacle and Mithridate Give an ounce and an half in drink It presently provokes Urine Villanovanus A GUIDE TO The Practical Physician BOOK X. Of Diseases beginning with the Letter L. Lepra Arabum or The Leprosie of the Arabians The Contents When Bleeding is proper I. What such the Purges should be II. Whether Hidroticks and Diaphoreticks be proper III. Whether Vipers flesh be good IV. Whether Mineral Waters be proper V. Cured by Gelding VI. Contracted by long taking of Guaiacum cured with cooling things VII Asses Flesh cures it VIII Cured by eating Cucumbers IX We must sometimes desist from Medicines X. Cured by Salivation XI I. THE Leprosie must be cured a far different way from what it was of old For when it is distinguished from what antecedent matter it proceeds and how long it has lasted whether it be beginning or inveterate Remedies must be insisted on according to the diversity of the humour which caused it One beginning in which the signs as yet appear but obscurely in whom no Exulceration nor any Swelling appears and about the Face especially will be cured by Bleeding first then by taking an Electuary made of cooling and lenient things it will be cured also by frequent use of Baths hot and cold But that which has manifest signs as where Exulceration of the Nostrils and fleshy Tubercles appear when the Bloud comes out at the Nose must be no more cured as one beginning For in this Bloud must not be let in the greater Veins lest the Bloud that is as yet laudable contained in them which we ought to preserve with the greatest care should be let out because it is a curb to all the Humours by its temper tempering all the rest and reducing them to moderation Wherefore since there is but a little bloud in a Leprosie it ought to be saved by all means possible Rondeletius II. Such Medicines must be used for Purging as particularly purge the peccant humour Such therefore are not sufficient as purge any humour indifferently as Antimony chymically prepared which by vellicating or rather ulcerating the Stomach evacuates what humours it finds If this be given it must be at first before other Medicines to diminish the abundance of Excrements The Dose may be three four or five grains according to the Patient's strength with half an ounce of Sugar of Roses and this must be taken when the Stomach is full of meat and the Body according to Hippocrates his rule in taking Hellebore well stirred before Afterwards a Syrup may be taken which may correct the errour of the Antimony and may purge the humour particularly made of Borage Cichory Endive Scariola Lettuce Violets Lentils Polypody Carthamum Senna Dodder of Time which must be used for several days that the antecedent matter may be carried off by continual and frequent purging and may be averted from the flesh and habit of the body by the inner parts Idem III. Our Practitioners are much to be blamed who having first given gentle Purges do by sudorifick Medicines and by opening and inciding Syrups send the matter to the Skin whenas the Disease is in that part for this is to carry the excrements to the part affected and to increase the Disease it is better therefore to derive the matter by the Inwards This is a Disease of the outer parts of the Skin especially In such cases let the excrements of the body be retracted and be purged by the belly let them be expelled from the external parts to the internal by bathing in cold water for since it is a Disease in the Skin and the Flesh the excrements must be kept away Idem IV. Palmarius upon Fernelius his authority and his own experience disapproves of Vipers because he gave them to leprous persons without any benefi◠¶ Poterius says hâ— has used Vipers in Leprosies without any benefit though taken a long time He says indeed an old Itch has been cured by taking them for a long time V. Many send their Patients presently to the natural mineral Waters but because they dry much much harm often arises from them especially in the beginning of the Disease while heat and driness are prevalent and a Bath of cold water is more proper Sennertus VI. It is proper to hinder exsiccation because the essence of it consists in driness The bloud is serous and salt and therefore cannot be assimilated to the parts nor nourish for the end of nutrition is assimilition Therefore Women Children and Eunuchs are seldom troubled with this Disease for they are moister
fixt parts are elevated Since therefore all the virtue of Guaiacum consists in that oily and resinous part and since strong boiling is required to get it out the gentle heat of a balneum dannot doe it but boiling in an open fire is requisite which nevertheless if there be a convenient quantity of water put to it causes no adustion Idem XII A. Minodaus lib. de Lue c. 4. judges the Decoction must be sweetned especially with Honey for he thinks that a small quantity of Honey if it be boiled with it and scummed does take away the bitterness and that the Decoction acquires a greater virtue in absterging attenuating opening and melting the humours and strengthning the parts Which as we allow to have place in phlegmatick bodies So since Honey easily turns to choler in cholerick bodies we reckon it cannot safely be used in hot and dry ones but we reckon Raisins Liquorice or Sugar may more conveniently and safely be added for the tast 's sake and that the bitterness and acrimony may be taken off we may put them in towards the latter end of the Decoction Idem XIII Some for such as have a hot and dry Liver do towards the latter end of the Decoction add a root or two or a handfull or two of Cichory Endive or Sow-thistle But since such Decoctions must be continued a long time we must have a care lest by addition of such things they be rendred ingratefull and loathsome to the Patient Again seeing enough Decoction is made at one time to serve for several days and because the putting in of such Herbs makes it worse to keep to prevent this we must not put these Herbs to all the Decoction but onely to about one pound at a time Idem XIV The Extract of the Wood in Saxonia's judgment is not strong enough to cure an old and strong Disease but the Decoction is deservedly preferred before it However if any one have a mind to use it it is necessary to take some liquour after it by which vehicle the Extract may be distributed all over the body Idem XV. Chymists fearing lest by a long Decoction which is made to half or to a third part the spirituous and subtile parts should exhale and be dissipated and so the virtue of the Medicine should be diminished they put some dust of Guaiacum in a retort they pour to it a sufficient quantity of Water and set the retort in ashes they fit a receiver then they put fire under it first digest it and then they distill it to a consumption of half of the Water Four ounces of the distilled Water are given But it is the best way to put the distilled Water again to the rest of the Decoction in the retort For so all the virtue may be got out Upon the Decoction remaining in the retort new Water may be poured and digested for twelve hours and afterwards may be distilled and the distilled liquour may be given instead of drink And because sometimes it happens that Children are born with the Pox or infected by the Nurses this Distillation sweetned with Sugar may be given them for a Julep Idem XVI If any Herbs have been added to the first Decoction the secondary Decoction must not be made of its Remainders because it would be loathsome but it must be made more dilute and fresh Some also towards the latter end of the Decoction add a fifth part Wine And Fallopius thinks this should not be done onely when the Patient goes abroad or his Stomach is weak especially if the Decoction be made of Sarsa But though some make a second Decoction of China yet Palmarius thinks it gives its virtue at the first Decoction yea some give the first Decoction at Dinner and Supper because it is not ingratefull to the Palate Idem XVII Some utterly reject Purgatives in the Decoctions and maintain that they should neither be put in a Decoction nor used separately from it because Peoples Bodies use to be well purged before they come to the taking of the Decoction 2. Because Purgatives and Sudorificks cause contrary motions Others would have them mixt that the Belly may be conveniently kept loose and the Bloud be cleansed Others will not have them mixt but will have a Purge to be given once in eight or ten days which is best For although the body be purged before the taking these things yet something may easily remain and now and then be gathered anew And Sweat onely carries off the thinner matter but leaves the thick Nor this way are contrary motions made for that day a Purge is taken no Sudorifick is given Sennertus XVIII Though all we Practitioners use the Quaternion of exotick Medicines China Sarsa parilla Guaiacum and Saffafras yet there are not wanting with us both Roots Woods and Barks which are able to perform the same as powerfully easily safely and pleasantly as these Exoticks which are now and then deprived partly of their virtues and exolete And our Country Drugs are such as these Roots of Prickly Bindweed Roots of Butter-bur Bark and Wood of Juniper together with its Berries Oak-wood and several such things Certainly Exoticks are not to be despised nor home-bred things to be neglected because as they are bred in our Soil so they have the greater affinity with our bodies and are observed to operate more kindly Sylvius de le Boë yea and more effectually upon the same than Exoticks XIX The best way of taking aromatick Decoctions and other Medicines that temper the acid Spirit is to take them often in a day and in a small quantity that they may introduce a gradual and therefore a more laudable change and amendment into the bloud For every sudden alteration especially if it be great is dangerous Nay we may and with advantage mix the same Alteratives with their Food and give the said Decoctions both at Dinner and Supper instead of other Drink to the end that being mixt with the Food they may together with the Chyle which they make much better be more easily kindly and profitably mixt with the Bloud and amend it insensibly As I have often found it to the Patient 's great benefit when I have done this in the Pox Idâ—m and in other Diseases XX. That we may sweat with more success we must take notice that the same Decoctions which were given before onely for the alteration of the humours if Sweat must be procured must either be given in a larger quantity or they must be made stronger Let them be taken therefore in a double or treble quantity and either at once or at several times but at short intervals i. e. within half an hour For so when not onely the strength of the Sudorificks is increased but the liquour it self also is augmented the eruption of Sweat will be promoted But if it be irksome to the Patient to take a great quantity and often the same Decoction
may be made stronger which may be done if less liquour be put to it and if it be boiled a little longer For by long boiling more virtue is got out of Plants and especially out of solid Woods which give their virtues but slowly It is known moreover that a Decoction of any thing is made thin and weak with much water but thick and strong with a little water It conduces also much towards promoting of Sweat if the Decoction be given hot For all sorts of Medicines penetrate far sooner and more powerfully hot than cold or but warm Besides the Heat of a hot Decoction dissolves the viscid Phlegm in the body and tempers the acid Humours which must in this Disease be conquered and expelled But it is good that besides the body be disposed to bear Sweating the better either by composing the body in bed and covering it with clothes or by going into a Stove or by running or any other violent motion of the body For as these alone use to cause Sweat so they cannot chuse but promote it yea when it comes slowly it is good to take hot broth Idem XXI These sudorifick Decoctions work also in many by Urine especially when Diureticks are taken with them Diureticks are more conveniently taken with them if those they call the Opening Roots or other parts of Diuretick Plants Berries Seeds c. be boiled with the Sudorificks For then Sweat and Urine may be promoted at once And I think no man need fear that the operation of the one Medicine will hinder the other since most reckon either Medicine will answer both Indications For Sudorificks do in some measure provoke Urine and Diureticks also promote Sweat Therefore I have no reason to scruple Diureticks in the Cure of the Pox since there is no difficulty in the case The Physician ought carefully to observe whether the Patient upon taking diuretick or sudorifick Decoctions incline more to Sweat or Urine to the end that evacuation may be most promoted which is the easiest to the Patient and from which most benefit may be expected Whenever therefore we observe a Patient sweats with difficulty but does void abundance of thick Urine with a full and laudable Sediment it is not good to force such an one to sweat but to expect the chief Cure from expulsion of Urine onely And it would not be amiss in such a case to increase the quantity of Diureticks in the Decoction or for the Patient now and then to take a Decoction of Diureticks alone For the pituitous humour when it is conveniently severed from the rest of the bloud either in the Kidneys or in the Heart the effervescence in its right ventricle being amended is successfully discharged with the Urine and passes more easily that way than by Sweat Idem XXII Concerning the Decoction of Sarsa parilla we must take notice that they who care not to spare cost and could have the Decoction efficacious do onely take the Bark as being the most efficacious part of the Root and throw away the inner Pith as less effectual yea some reckon it is cold and a little astringent Sennertus XXIII When China Root first came to be known many preferred it before Guaiacum but Experience afterwards abated its fame And Palmarius writes c. 14. that many to their great prejudice preferred this Root before Guaiacum and that he found by Experience that with a very spare Diet it was ineffectual for the Pox. And oftentimes the Stomach grows so moist and the innate Heat is so opprest with the Decoction of it that a grievous Lientery and a great Crudity often follows in whom the innate Heat was but weakly He writes moreover that it causes the pleen to swell and grow hard in them that use it long And he will not also allow it any extraordinary occult quality against the Pox Because after taking of it they frequently relapse who have thought themselves well cured And Fallopius confirms it who writes that he had used this Root three or four times for the Cure of this Disease and could doe no good with it And if perhaps some one who could neither be cured by a Decoction of Guaiacum nor by anointing with Quicksilver recovered his health by a Decoction of China Palmarius thinks this to have been the reason That Nature delights in variety of Medicines and being tired out with strong things was at last relieved by weaker Idem XXIV Some advise not to make more of the Decoction at once than can be taken in one day because when it is cold it easily grows sowre And therefore they order it to be kept on hot Embers But Experience has shewn us that it will last four days Yet whenas it grows sowre that very thing argues the root has something spirituous and alimentarious in it which is the cause of fermentation and thereby of the Sowreness Idem XXV Besides Sudorificks and Diureticks Purgatives also must be used in the kindly Cure of the Pox which must be Phlegmagogues and here Experience does not a little confirm my opinion as well as the consent of all Practitioners which among the common things gives the preheminence to Pulp of Coloquintida and among Chymical things to Mercurial Medicines Now these things are intended chiefly to evacuate a pituitous viscid humour Therefore we did not conclude much amiss that the Venereal Poison was mixt with viscid Phlegm and that Phlegm did both produce and increase it Sylvius de le Boë and is now conveniently evacuated with it but it must first be a little corrected XXVI Coloquintida I say and most Medicines made of Mercury are very proper both for a pituitous viscid humour and for curing the Pox as all experienced and learned Physicians agree To such as like common Medicines best I recommend the taking of Pulp of Coloquintida boiled in part of the Sudorifick Decoction or in some other Apozeme twice or thrice a week to carry off by stool the gross and viscid humours which are not fit to be expelled by Sweat through the Pores of the Body For besides that pituitous humours blended with the mass of Bloud are very difficultly thrown off by Sweat through the Pores of the Body moreover much Phlegm is discharged with the Spittle and the Pancreatick juice to the Guts wherefore it is better to carry it off once or twice a week by stool than by the continual taking of Sudorificks onely to carry it back to the Bloud and so to render the Cure both more tedious and difficult Idem XXVII They that have no mind to take a Decoction of Coloquintida because of its bitterness may take Trochiscs of Alhandal which are made of it in Pills adding things that may incide and carry off the same Phlegm especially Gum Galbanum Sagapenum Opoponax Ammoniack Bdellium Mastick c. I have often prescribed such Pills for those that were sick in the Hospital Idem XXVIII The Phlegmatick humour which
and now restored For then if too great store of them be observed in the Body they must be carried off and evacuated by proper ways and Medicines The proper ways for evacuating pituitous and serous humours are the Mouth whether it be by Vomit or Salivation and the Belly by purging downwards and the urinary Bladder by Diureticks and the Pores of the Skin by Sudorificks It is the safest indeed the pleasantest and gentlest way to cure the Pox by evacuating the peccant humours with Sudorificks Diureticks and things that purge downwards And it is done sooner but more difficultly by Salivation and sometimes Vomiting because it is apt also to promote Salivation And because a Cure cannot always be obtained onely by Sudorificks Diureticks and things that purge downwards sometimes Sylvius de le Boë yea often we are forced to have recourse to Salivation both alone and joined with the others XXXVIII When the Patient has sweat eight days that the humours may be attenuated and the body made clean I reckon nothing is a more present Remedy than anointing with Quicksilver For by the use of this alone I have observed all to recover without any danger yet stopping the violence of the humours towards the Jaws in the foresaid manner And this method of Cure is safe if administred by the skilled in the Art who must prescribe things accommodate to the supervening Symptoms erosion of the Gums swelling of the Tongue and Lips loosness of the Teeth c. which are grievous yet not to be feared not one Man I call God to witness of many that I have fluxed dying under Cure But all of them recovered of the most pertinacious Pox the taking of the Decoction a third or fourth course being in vain But when the Spitting ceases and the Strength is recruited I reckon the same Decoction must be repeated for about ten days with Sweat that all may be evacuated whatever corrupt humours are remaining in the body after fluxing Sylvaticus cent 4. obs 90. XXXIX Before Unguents are prescribed we must diligently consider whether the Disease be in the Skin Flesh Bones Periosteum or in the Head Ribs Legs or Arms. For if it be in the Skin it will cause Ulcers or Blisters or Chapping of the Hands or Efflorescence of the Skin If under the Skin Falling of the Hair If under the Periosteum Pains in the Limbs If in the Bones Exostoses Then the consistency of the humour must be considered whether it be thin or thick For a thin one buds out in the Skin a thick one lies under the Skin the Periosteum or in the Bone Then we must consider whether the humour has corrupted the substance of any part whether it have made an Ulcer in the Flesh or a Caries in the Bone For according to the difference of these divers Unguents must be prescribed For they that cure Ulcers and the Scab must be gentle but dry Things that cure Pain must be hot and more relaxing Things that cure Exostoses must be dissolving and drying It must be observed that we must use Unguents a long time for first all the sound parts must be anointed that the humours may be drawn thither But in the declination onely the parts affected that whatever is gathered in the Part may be discussed exactly And they must be anointed a long time that the humour which lies in deep may by degrees be melted and attracted and the thick may be evacuated with the thin Which few at this day doe and hence it is that usually after the use of Remedies the Disease appears greater or returns or that which did not appear before does then shew it self Rondeletius XL. Decoctions of the Wood Sarsa and China must first be tried especially when the Disease is not much confirmed For I cannot commend the Practice of some Physicians who immediately after purging the Body fall to anointing with Mercury But I am not well pleased with this Practice for it is empirical enough and void of all reason and full of a thousand dangers I tried it sometimes in a Country fellow or two who were impatient and desired presently to be cured One of them could not endure to take Decoctions and he escaped Fluxing with much difficulty several Symptoms supervening upon it yet his body was well purged before and he drank the decoction of the Wood and Sarsa as well as he could even in the time of Fluxing Wherefore as I said we must not in this Disease presently proceed to anointing much less to fuming but never unless on urgent necessity when the Disease is extreme when other Remedies have been tried and have done no good Ep. Ferdinandus hist 17. and when there is no contra-indicant XLI We do not without reason commend crude Mercury mixt with Hog's-Lard and rubbed outwardly on the Joints because it dissolves the Phlegm all the body over and then carries it to the conglomerated salival and pancreatick Glands and causes both a Salivation and sometimes Reaching and Vomiting and a Loosness And because the acid Spirit meeting with the Phlegm easily unites and joins it self with it in the Body they are evacuated and discharged the Body together and the Pox is cured at one and the same time And besides Phlegm occurring in humane Bodies perhaps there is nothing without it with which the acid Spirit does more intimately and easily mix it self with all its might than Mercury it self No wonder therefore when an acid Spirit is naturally mixt with Phlegm according to its very constitution if preternaturally the same acid Spirit be mixt with it more plentifully and easily whenever it abounds in the Body But neither also is it any wonder if by reason of the same acid Spirit 's being both naturally and preternaturally mixt with the Phlegm Mercury it self easily mixes with the same Phlegm upon which the acid Spirit does presently exert its power and by uniting it self therewith does in like manner join it self with the Phlegm mixt with it And I think this is the reason why Mercury does good in curing the Pox. And the same Mercury provokes a Ptyalism because mingling it self with the pituitous part of the Bloud i. e. the salival matter it passes together with the Saliva into the salival Glands and is a cause of the copious secretion of the Saliva which is the cause of a Ptyalism And when the Mercury chances to cause a secretion of the like pituitous matter in the pancreatick Glands then there is a plentifull secretion of the pancreatick viscid humour whereby not onely a Reaching and Vomiting but sometimes a grievous and very dangerous Loosness follows Sylvius de le Boe. XLII What was said before of crude Mercury may be said of the Precipitate or Sublimatum dulce yea or the Corrosive For what crude Mercury does in carrying the Acid dispersed in the Bloud to the Glands the same does Mercury both Precipitate and Sublimate by the acid Spirits For the acid Spirits concentrated in the
follows afterwards III. It is an errour not onely of the vulgar but also of some Physicians that the Hemorrhoids always benefit the Melancholick There are many Hypochondriacal Melancholists and of other sorts to whom the opening of the Hemorrhoid Veins is prescribed amongst the chief Remedies as if those Veins evacuated a thicker bloud than other Veins which I think to be very absurd The Authority of the Ancients and Moderns and mine own experience persuade me to this opinion Amongst the most ancient Hippocrates 6. Epid. sect 3. thought that the opening of the Hemorrhoids not by Leeches or otherwise which few have consider'd but by Nature her self is very profitable for preventing and curing very many Diseases bred of thin bloud as the Pleurisie Peripneumony Phagedoena or fretting Ulcer Biles Leprosie and other such like Yet it is not to be denied that the same profit those mad Melancholists that labour under black Choler according to Hippocrates's opinion Aphor. 11. sect 6. The Hemorrhoids supervening says he are profitable to those who are troubled with Melancholy and the Stone He speaks not a word of provoking them but onely approves of them if Nature unlock them of her own accord Now they flow not onely from a melancholick bloud but also from any other for Nature oft makes use of this flux to purge the bloud if there be any thing faulty in it or if its quantity exceed as in the too great abundance of bloud in women with child or such whose Terms are stopt and in the maimed whence bloud flows plentifully by them Hence Actuarius m. m. cap. 20. observes that besides from melancholick bloud these Veins are opened in those who intermit their usual exercises that use too full a Diet whose accustomed evacuations from other parts as the Nose or Womb are stopt or who have used to be let bloud Later Anatomists have observed that the Hemorrhoids are twofold some spring from the Vena cava and others from the Vena portae that those evacuate a more thin and pure bloud and these a thicker But this they do not doe always for a bloud that is pretty pure is sometimes evacuated by these latter and a thicker by the former Wherefore unless Nature shew that she attempts that evacuation these Veins are not to be rashly opened and if a pure and sparkling bloud come forth they are to be stopt presently for the Melancholick are worse by their evacuation When any opens them he cannot promise himself for certain that a melancholick bloud onely shall be emptied and not that which is pure and sparkling But if any have been accustom'd to them and be upon the suppression of them become melancholick mad nephritical or epileptical it will not be unprofitable to open them again that the humour which has its reflux towards the upper parts may be more safely poured forth by the accustomed ways whose passages are stopt up But if Nature do not affect this way we ought not to make a custome of it as Galen teaches 4. Aph. 25. That we should not accustome our selves to that evacuation that is made by the Hemorrhoids and Hollerius does rightly deny the opening of them if they do not swell and have never flowed before But if Nature incline that way in imitation of her we may open them otherwise by no means For though Nature do sometimes profitably evacuate bloud by the Hemorrhoids yet we may not always imitate her as in Fevers she sometimes carries off the Disease by Bleeding at the Nose or by Sweat but who will dare to open the Veins of the Nostrils or to provoke Sweat before signs of concoction or before Nature have shewn her inclination The same we must think of the Hemorrhoids Yet these things are not to be understood of particular Diseases for in them particular Veins may be opened thus we profitably procure Bleeding at the Nose in a Phrensie or Head-ach because these Veins communicate with the part affected Thus in the Nephritical and Splenical the Veins of the anus may be opened Primiros de vulg err l. 4. c. 51. but never in other Diseases that are more universal unless Nature follow this motion IV. As to Purgers there is says * Apud Scholtz cons 174. Crato in Hellebore a certain poisonous driness and moisture to be corrected of which correction I might say many things unless I remembred that of Mesue That it is a degree of wisedom not to come to strong Medicines save when weak have not benefited And although I know that almost all Practitioners do advise to give the strongest Medicines yet I am persuaded by Mesue that a weak Medicine often repeated does the same thing and with less danger as a strong does at once and together and I have learnt this to be true by the experience of many years I say nothing of how many and whom I have cured that have been ill of this Disease though I could do this truly but I can truly affirm that I never us'd Lapis Lazuli or Scammoniates I know that Senna is not onely safe but moreover inoffensive to the Stomach and gratefull to the Heart Let the Practitioner use it as I have done in melancholick Diseases Thus far Crato ¶ White Hellebore is celebrated by all Writers in Physick for melancholick and maniack Diseases But 't is better so to prepare it that it may work by stool than that it should work by vomit The manner of its preparation is this Boil it in Balm-water to the consumption of half and in the strained decoction boil some Prunes then with some Cassia newly drawn pass it through a Sieve and with Cinnamon and Sugar make an Electuary Or let its root be infused in the Pulp of Quinces and then taking away the root give the Quince Or infuse it in Mesue's decoction of Epithymum which give with the compound Syrup of Polypody But before the giving of it the humours are to be prepared for three days by Attenuaters and Inciders and the body is to be moistned with Meats of good juice in plenty by sleep rest and anointing the Body all over and the Belly is to be loosned by Clysters of Oil or of Milk and Butter See Sect. 11. of Mania V. Of Pills we must chuse those which evacuate gently and without trouble and not those which evacuate strongly Yet potions are to be preferr'd as drying less than Pills for Pills evacuate much and strongly Rondelet c. de Melan. and dry the body beyond measure by which drying the Patient is made worse VI. Melancholy in this place signifies not an humour but a Disease caused by the melancholick humour because many think this humour alone to be the cause thereof and direct all their Remedies to this alone But many things shew that it is not always caused by this humour and by vapours therefrom For we often see that those who labour under this symptome have no signs of this humour abounding yea that persons of any
temper may sometimes be thus affected from the intemperies alone either of the Brain or Spirits Hippocrates when he reckons up the signs mentions onely Fear and Sadness Matthaeus comm in 9. Almans by the authority of Rhasis will have strong and long cogitations to bring on this Passion without changing of the complexion really and that men become sad when they cannot obtain the effect of things they think of We often see how fruitlesly Physicians torture such Melancholicks with Purgings and divers other Remedies who are cured presently after onely by the change of their imagination One that believed he wanted an Head was cured by onely putting a leaden Cap on his Head without any purging alteration c. which could not have been if that clammy and stubborn humour had been present We meet with many such Stories whence 't is clear that such imagining persons are not always to be troubled with Medicines which bring hurt to the body and no relief to the mind for the cause lies not always in the humours but in an intemperies alone or also in the Spirits which being either quieted or sent off far from the Heart and Brain the malady ceases and joy succeeds sadness for nothing can obey such motions but the Spirits An intemperies cannot pass off nor so stubborn an humour be evacuated and lose the destructiveness of its nature so suddenly especially in a malady that is confirm'd by a long tract of time Hence Rhasis 1. contin says That sometimes there is a Melancholy when the humours are good and he that has this disposition needs not any Medicine and this is when any thinks of some fact with great eagerness and is cur'd by onely changing his imagination either by words or some other device Avicen also confesses that it may be caused by an intemperies without matter But besides there is another species of Melancholy that depends not at all on an humour viz. that which is caused by Love to which men of all temperatures are subject especially the sanguine and such whose testicles have a hot intemperies the Melancholick are not so often nor so strongly affected in such cases That this is not caused by any humour as it is an humour appears from hence that it spares no humour and may be what humour soever prevail and besides it invades those who are of a good constitution of humours what such soever those be onely from the apprehension of a lovely object and seldom invades those who labour under a putrefaction or corruption of humours but such as are otherwise healthfull and can be cured neither by Hellebore nor other Evacuations If a Disease at length succeed such a long imagination the Madness preceded the Disease Primiros err vulg l. 2. c. 25. and this depends on that and not that upon this VII Because Melancholists are constant onely in inconstancy they are apt to refuse Medicines in which case I recommend the Flowers of Antimony reputed by Fonseca a specifick Remedy of Melancholy and oft experienced by my self also so to be given to fifteen grains at the least or half a glass of thin White-wine in which six grains of the glass of Antimony have been infused for a night Fortis cent 1. cons 24. that at length we may come to the use of Hellebore VIII Before the giving of Hellebore the body is to be sufficiently moistned drinking every morning for a week a pint and an half of clarified Whey with the Juice of Borage or distill'd Whey with an Emulsion of Melon-seeds The Hellebore is to be given in the form of an Extract beginning with half a drachm with a little Cassia and after an hour giving a good quantity of prepared Whey especially when the Hellebore is biting Idem IX Of what avail the Extract of Coloquintida is in Melancholy is shewn by the example of a Maid that was ill of a dumpish Melancholy for almost a whole year and afterwards upon my giving of her Extract diacolocynth dissolved in a decoction of Prunes returned to a sound mind beyond all hope and expectation It expelled the morbifick matter by stool in great plenty with rumblings and the stools were all mucous and phlegmatick and so slimy and viscid that they would hang together like a Rope After she was come a little to her self she thought that all her body was full of a black and melancholick humour and therefore she diligently viewed her excrements amongst which I got some writing Ink to be poured Another woman that was of a melancholick constitution and barren being afflicted with melancholick Passions expecting now and then the Heads-men and Executioners Ch. Garman misc cur ann 1672. obs 202. was cured by me at length with giving her the Extract of Trochisc Alhandal and by a good wile ¶ I obtained the same effect by an infusion onely of Senna with Tartar in the water of Balm Borage c. given for three days without the addition of any other Purger The Noble young Gentleman Bernas of the Illustrious Family of Wattenville labour'd under a great Melancholy both essential and hypochondriacal He had addicted himself to the Study of Physick and had taken very many Remedies Upon the use of a laxative Ptisan he voided such stinking thick tough black stuff that being fully persuaded that he had expelled pieces of his Guts he got me to be call'd yea a Minister also that might take Care of his Soul I bad him be of good chear and shewed the conquest of the Disease demonstrating to him that that filthy stuff was expelled out of the Mesaraick vessels Spleen and neighbouring vessels and that the Viscera and Guts were not violated at all Being setled in his mind and merry after four days in the year 1658. he returned into his own Countrey and by Letter certified me of his firm health returning me thanks X. Purging inasmuch as it withdraws the Fuel of the Disease from the first ways and removes the Impediments of other Medicines ought to be made use of at the beginning and to be repeated betwixt whiles But whereas some think that for the quicker rooting out the Disease Hellebore and Elaterium are chiefly to be used and alledge the authority of Hippocrates we shall find if we mind the success that these are not so generally convenient but that they do often hurt those that take them very much For strong Purgers do in no wise take away the cause of the Disease viz. the Dyscrasie of the bloud but rather increase it And moreover they do farther weaken and cast down the animal Spirits that are already dejected But Hellebore is therefore prescribed so often by Hippocrates because in his time there were hardly any other Purgers known at least they were not in frequent use But now 't is much better to drain the receptacles of the humours by gentler and milder Medicines and to cleanse onely the bowels and first ways without great commotions of the bloud and spirits Willis
Bowels but onely from the obstruction of the veins that come to the Womb Frid. Hofmannus according to Minsicthus his advice Vomits must be avoided VII The Terms being near in some Viragoes and restagnating because of the narrowness of the Vessels do create a great deal of trouble to the ferment both of the first and second digestion so that thence there arises loss of colour in the face and other symptoms representing the green-sickness in Maids especially if over and above there be an Astral Influx that hinders the Terms the said Symptoms do not onely grow worse but the Cure also proves very difficult In the mean time at the beginning violent Expellers which onely disturb the morbifick matter and doe no good must be avoided but they must be moderately moving and also they must help the fermentation of the first and second Concoction Of which rank are Extract of the lesser Centaury Juniper Mugwort Species Dialaur Minsicthi Extract Splen Bov. Elixir proprietatis Paracelsi Vterinum Crollii if instead of Spirit of Wine Spirit of Baum and Sage be used adding toward the latter end a sufficient quantity of Salt of Mugwort for these things moderately provoke the Terms strengthen the concoction of the Bowels resist putrefaction and are good against Worms Frid. Hofmannus if there be any VIII Galen 5. Aphor. 46. says that if the Mouth of the Womb be compressed by a swelling the Terms must not be provoked The reason is because the swelling would increase and the Disease would be inraged by giving things to provoke the Terms Thus they are in errour who when the Vessels of the Womb are compressed either by a swelling or too much Fatness they do open the Saphoena and they do not see that the swellings increase Therefore the Basilick vein must be opened Sanctorius IX If the Terms flow not for want of bloud as after long Fevers great Evacuations and in any notable extenuation of the body they must not be provoked before the body be recruited with convenient restorative food before a sufficient quantity of bloud is bred and before the Disease the cause of extenuation be conquered which when done the Terms usually come of themselves But if it do not so fall out to the end Nature may be recalled to her duty bloud may be taken from the lower Veins according to the measure of the strength But we must take notice that every extenuation does not denote want of bloud but onely that which succeeds consuming Causes Riverius X. We must never use Remedies to provoke the Terms unless universal Evacuations were premised lest the humours being moved in great plenty to the Womb should increase the obstruction or being much attenuated should fall on other parts and produce much mischief So Schenckius reports that a Physician of Venice gave a Woman for the suppression of her Terms a Decoction before he had evacuated the Phlegm which was the cause of her Obstruction upon taking of which she fell into a Palsie Fortis XI But they must be given in a great quantity because much of their virtue is abated by the way from the Stomach to the Womb. Riverius XII If they be given at the going in or out of a Bath they exert their virtue the more powerfully because the Medicine gets into an open and warm body and yet much more effectually if they were given before bleeding in the foot Idem Some generous Remedies in a pertinacious Obstruction XIII Seeing the suppression of the Terms is caused for the most part by the obstruction and stuffing of the Vessels that go to the Womb and through the Womb we shall pursue this sort most And whereas we have shewn that this said obstruction is produced either by a viscid and glutinous Phlegm or by such a bloud it easily appears that inciding and detersion are indicated and required by the tenacity of the humour for its cure and the provoking of the Menstrua And both Acids and Aromaticks and things abounding with a lixivial Salt as well fixt as volatile and therefore fixt and volatile Salts themselves But because Acids serve to produce a glutinosity especially when they incline to Austerity therefore in curing of this Disease Aromaticks are deservedly preferred which Experience also it self testifies to be better than Acids Whether things be bitter or not but of various tasts they must be called Aromaticks And whoever is conversant in the Chymical mutations of things Natural he will find both far more powerfull things and more easie to be used than these things that are commonly used As Volatile Salts made of infinite things of all Bones Horns Hoofs Hair Bloud Urine Flesh and all parts of Animals whatever that is all Volatile Salts are good though I should prefer Oleous ones before the rest because they doe their work more kindly and successfully Whence also it is manifest that fixt Salts are less to be valued because since they are purer they operate the more violently And the said Volatile Salts may be conveniently used at any time and especially when all the bloud is glutinous at Dinner and Supper in a draught of Wine Beer Broth or any other liquour the Patient shall chuse But when the whole mass of bloud is not glutinous and pituitous though the said Volatile Salts may be used at meal-times yet they may be used to greater advantage at another time and especially when the Phlegm first dissolved by the motion of the body heat of the Air c. and carried to the Womb is by and by coagulated there again by the subsequent Cold for then it is good to take Volatile Salts upon an empty Stomach and also to dispose the body it self to a Sweat for so the virtue of the Medicines will the easilier penetrate to the farther end of the vessels and passages And above the rest I recommend Spirit of Sal Ammoniack to all when a stoppage of the Menstrua happens suddenly and lately upon heating and cooling of the body by benefit of which alone I have very well cured several in a short time by giving 3 4 5 or six drops as it is stronger or weaker in a spoonfull of Wine twice or thrice a day And not onely a Volatile Salt it self but all things also abounding with it whether Sudorificks or Diureticks are very proper It will be usefull also in a suppression that comes gradually to add such things to the Deobstruents that are used towards the latter end For Example make the following Apozeme Take of Root of Parsly Lovage each half an ounce shavings of Guajacum three drachms Saffafras half an ounce Juniper Berries two ounces Bay-berries half an ounce Scordium Penni-royal each half an handfull tops of lesser Centaury half an handfull Millet-seed two ounces Boil them in fair Water to 25 ounces of the Colature add of Syrup of Mugwort Carduus Benedictus each one ounce and an half Tincture of Cinnamon and Castor each half an ounce Oil
after when I perceived my sight fail me I presently used that remedy and I cannot find a more present one Botallus II. Though most Practitioners do strongly torment the body with many Evacuations in a Suffusion especially which they think is a falling down of Water into the eyes Yet we who have demonstrated that the cause is in the eyes and that no defluxion can be carried into the Capacity of the eye do certainly know that Evacuations doe no good Plâ—teruâ— but onely as they keep the body clean III. Wine is the Vehicle of Drying Medicines to the Head and is commended by Hippocrates 6. Aphorism 31. for contumacious fluxions to the eyes as a thing that is able to attenuate and dissolve the rebellious relicks of the humours For which end Wine but small must be prepared for the Table with Ingredients in a little Vessel So that to every Pottle of wine there may be two ounces of red Sanders rasped and one of Rosemary Wood. And in this manner some exiccation of the gross matter contained in the Head and strengthning must be attempted Fortis IV. Almost all Botanists in dimness of the Eyes do extoll Wine wherein some Eye-bright has been steeped to the Skies But it is as its sharp Taste argues manifestly hot and because it stops fluxions of the eyes it is also very probable that it is dry Therefore we must act circumspectly and not use Eyebright Wine promiscuously For we are taught Sect. 6. Aphorism 3. That either drinking of Wine or the Bath or Bleeding or Purging cures Pains of the Eyes But it is not said that onely drinking of Wine cures pains of the eyes So we must reckon that Eyebright-Wine can dissolve some Mists of the eyes but not all Therefore after Camerarius Hofmannus does learnedly maintain That Eyebright does not cure any dimness but onely that which comes of Cold and not every such dimness but that which positively comes of Phlegm For the Taste which has some bitterness in it shews it to be a hot and dry Plant. And they make the matter worse who gather the dry small and short herb and either take the juice or infuse it in strong Wine Therefore I very much suspect the daily use of the Conserve Wherefore since Eyebright-Wine is often taken amiss that is neglecting Indications let no Man admire why Lobelius observes that how much soever some Men commend it it must not be relied on for he says that by drinking it but three months his Companion had almost lost both his eyes and was oppressed with fluxions whereas he had before but a slight Cataphora and wept a little S. Pâ—uâ—â— V. A Seton is an excellent thing in diseases of the eyes First because the Spinal Marrow enters the first Vertebra and the Nerves of the eyes come from the Marrow Secondly all Membranes are terminated at the Vertebrae but the parts of the eye are Membranous Nic. Benzonus Oculorum Dolor Inflammatio Ophthalmia or Pain of the eyes Inflammation Bloudâ—â—ottenness VI. The external Jugular sends out two branches below the Clavicle one of which ascends to the lateral parts of the Head one portion passing behind the Ears which is dispersed to the forehead and Occiput above the Temples in many branches And Fernelius thought that a serous humour was gathered in those places because of the Veins which falling on the parts underneath creates fluxions in the habit of the body And the same party thinks that a Caustick applied to the hollow place behind the Ear does more good to them that are ill of a fluxion than one applied to the forehead because of a Branch of the Jugular that runs to the eye Riolanus VII Whether sometimes also in an Ophthalmia may we not proceed to a Seton in the hind part of the Head The affirmative seems probable because in so doing the afflux of humours is diverted from the part affected and so the peccant matter which feeds the disease long is subtracted from the place affected For since in other cases an Issue draws out the Ichorous Matter which chiefly offends in the Body from the more noble Internal parts outwardly to the Skin and since it is able to correct the preternatural-motion thereof to any part it seems therefore as if with very good reason it might be used here that is when the affluent matter is pertinacious and after universal Correction of the Plethory or Cacochymie it does still stand in need of â—â—me strong Revulsion Setons use to be made in the Occiput says Gavassetius de nat Cauter c. 18. for revulsion of the Matter that flowes to the eyes when the Occipitium is perforated between the first and second or which he approves better of between the second and third Vertebra But all do not agree in what place it may be properly made while some think it must be made in the Coronal Suture others on the contrary rather think it should be made in the Occipitium where the Neck begins and do demonstrate it by probable reason since the region of the Neck is directly opposite to the place affected and the peccant humours do more incline to that place as being declivous and an Ophthalmia does not so easily return from thence as from the Coronal Suture But seeing the place about the beginning of the Neck between the second and third or the third and fourth Vertebra of the Neck is not very fit to bear an actual Cautery of one hole therefore Experience rather commends a Seton when to wit the thick skin of the said place is taken up with a Forceps Horstius and a thread is run through it VIII Avicenna Mesues and Albucasis say That Issues in the crown of the Head and the Neck are very effectual Let two Issues says Rogerius be made in the forehead at the corners of the eyes or one Issue is made in the Neck or two between the Neck and the Nose under the thin part of the Ear. One Man says Riverius in his Observations was a long time ill of an Inflammation in the Tunica adnata and both Eye-lids the Disease was not continual but recurrent Remedies were used in vain At last I ordered him two Issues between his two Shoulders and a Cupping glass to be applied over them both that is when the fluxion was upon him and when he had done this his eyes were well IX An Oculist in Paris got himself great Riches by applying actual Cauteries to the veins of weak and red eyes This often succeeded very happily with him and is taken for a new Remedy which nevertheless is found in Hippocrates Borellus lib. de Visu X. I will not begrudge my Readers a singular remedy for an Ophthalmia which was communicated to me by a friend let the lobe of the Ear on the side affected be bored through and put into the hole a long Tent made of the bark of Spurge Laurel Root turned and rowled up The Tent must be
to treat of the Cure of a Spina ventosa because no Authour has made it his business to explain it The matter of this Disease is Phlegm The place affected always the Joints never the places between the Joints primarily which if they ever be affected it is by Sympathy This is the way of its generation If Phlegm designed for the Nutrition of the Bones putrefie or grow sharp first it corrupts the Bones without any pain and then the Periosteum after the Bones A sign of it is a cutting sharp and pricking Pain so that the Patient says he is as it were prickt with a Thorn whence the Disease is called Spina And while the Patient is vext with this Pain and the Periosteum is eroding there is no Swelling as then But when the Bone is first corrupted and after that the Periosteum the Pituitous Matter having a free passage into the fleshy parts causes a Swelling in the Joint at first soft and lax and without Pain of the same colour with the Skin which being laid open grows harder because more humours flow thither the thinner part of which exhales and the thick remains out of which there comes a serous matter and the Bone appears to be corrupt by a Probe I have observed both Men and Women are subject to this Disease till they are twenty five years â—â—d not elder unless it took them before and was not then cured The Pathognomick Signs are Pains at first like the pricking of a Thorn the Joints being affected Youth a soft lax tumour which gaping pours out a Serosity and if any Pus come out it is bred of the carnous parts The Disease is hard to cure both because of the constant Conflux of Matter and the Corruption of the Bone which the worse it is the more difficult the Cure One beginning is easilier cured than an old one but it will never be cured till the Fluxion is removed and till all the corrupt Bone is taken away either by Fire or the Knife As to the Cure as soon as ever the Patient feels a pricking Pain like a Thorn in the Joints of his Hands or Feet in his Armes or Knees though this be rare or in his Ankles presently though no Swelling appear it must be cut from which we must not take away our Probe till we find the unevenness of the Bone which is a sign that the Periosteum is corrupt Then the first Indication is to remove the Caries of the Bone namely to scrape it off without which neither Ulcers nor Wounds can be healed When the Caries is removed Flesh must be bred and then it must be cicatrized after the usual way But if by reason of the depth of the place abrasory Instruments cannot be got in we must burn with actual Fire When therefore the hole is dilated by Section prepared Sponge Gentian-root or Pith of Elder an Iron Pipe must be put into it then the corrupted Bone must be burnt with a hot Iron till the skilfull Artist thinks it will separate quickly then you must prosecute the rest of the Cure as before But because it sometime happens that the whole space between two Joints is corrupt in a Finger or Toe especially in Children in this case neither Fire nor the Knife will doe but in their stead we must use a small Trepan and bore it in the middle from which with Scissers made neatly for the purpose the sides must be cut off and the whole Internodium must by little and little be taken away with a Volsella and the empty place in time is filled with Flesh which in Children grows hard and serves instead of a Bone though when the whole Internodium is taken away the Finger is shortned because the Muscles are drawn to their Head and the Softness of the Flesh gives way Now if a Physician be called when Solution of Unity is made by the pituitous Matter grown sharp by putrefaction the whole Cure must be directed to the removing of the corrupt Bone by the Contrivances and Cure before proposed in which sometimes two three or more small Bones are taken out But in scraping burning or taking out a Bone we must take heed not to hurt the Tendons for fear of Convulsions This is the topical Cure of this Disease whereto must be premised the Care of the whole body by Medicines that purge Phlegm yea by giving a Decoction of China Sarsa Guaiacum and the like Marcheâ—ti to dry VI. Bones are subject to several Diseases especially to a Caries which because it is bred divers ways These ways deserve notice Preternatural Humours upon whatever cause whether special or general they penetrate the bone sometimes they cause an Ulcerous Hypersarcosis with moistness of the Bone sometimes they produce a Cancer of the Bone or a Spina Ventosa which are Diseases that must necessarily be distinguished And because no Physician has designedly described them I have a mind to communicate what Reason and Experience have taught me The cause of an Ulcerous Hypersarcosis with a moistness of the Bone is Preternatural Phlegm which taking away the temper and hardness of the Bones the Flesh cannot be sustained by this soft foundation whereupon it loses its natural consistence its constant nutriment from the bloud turns to a soft and spongy Sarcoma this by degrees increases and at length Ulcerates whereby the Tendons Ligaments and Nerves are corrupted and the whole Limb is endangered In this case you can doe no good with Medicines till you come to the ground of all the Bone for when the Bone is cured presently the Ulcer will be cured and the Flesh will come to its self Here is occasion therefore for deep Incision to come at the Bone But if the excrescence be too big extirpate it If you find it grow again apply a flat actual Cautery having ever regard to the Bone Barbette VII The cause of a Cancer in a Bone is a sharp Humour corrupting first the Bone and then the Periosteum Here is an Ulcer both of the flesh and skin which cannot be cured till you have first cured the Bone The hole of the Ulcer is very small the lips are pale the flesh is soft and a little swelled but it does not grow again of it self as we said in an Ulcerous Hypersarcosis and here we must cut to the very Bone lengthways and then apply things to correct the corruption as Euphorbium Spirit of Vitriol mixt with Spirit of Wine c. The Powder of Turpentine boiled till it is hard is excellent in this case mixt with Vngu Fel. Wurtz or Aegyptiacum An actual Cautery is also sometimes necessary The cure is hastned also when instead of a tent of Lint Pith of Elder is used because this imbibes the sharp and thin Humours and so an opportunity is afforded to Nature for doing her work more commodiously And since these Diseases do usually depend most upon an intemperature of the mass of Bloud so that when one Cancer is almost cured another
Septalius lib. 6. animad 117. forbids Diureticks in the Palpitation of the Heart if thick Blood offend because they exhaust the Serum of the Blood and make it thicker But when it arises from a warry and serous Humour there is nothing that can more easily conquer the violence of this Disease VII Although we must presently relieve the Heart as a principal part by such things as have a singular virtue to encrease its strength and to discuss the malignity of the Vapours such as are most sweet sented and Aromatick things which by their Balsamick virtue defend the innate heat of the Heart and by their heat discuss and waste the Vaporous Matter Yet if the Womb be the cause of the Palpitation we must abstain from them the Diseased Constitution of the Womb forbidding it For such things presently cause Fits and then the Palpitation is greater For when the Brain is refreshed with sweet sents by the sympathy which is between it and the Womb if this be morbid the latent Vapours are raised which fly to the principal parts especially to the Heart Therefore we should rather fly to those things which have the faculty of discussing that vapid Substance such as some fetid and strong smelling things which by their inimicous quality excite the expulsive faculty to cast out what is noxious Besides they have a virtue to attenuate and violently to dissipate as appears in Castor Galbanum Asa faetida and the like Sennertus VIII If the Palpitation come from Wind Electuaries and other Compositions must have no Syrupus de Pomis in them Rondeletius for Apples keep their windiness to the third concoction as Avicenna writes IX A certain Valetudinary Prince when he had been a long time most grievously troubled with Palpitations of the Heart could find relief by no Medicines A young Physician coming in tells how he found in some Writings of the former Age that a certain kind of Worm sometime breeds in the Heart which by taking a Clove of Garlick Evening and Morning may be killed which Remedy was neglected and accounted despicable But at length when the Disease had killed the Prince his Body was opened a white Worm with a very sharp horny snout was found sticking to the Heart which the Physicians took and put alive into a Circle drawn on the Table with juice of Garlick J. Hebenstrein l. de Peste it crept about and about and was wonderfully tormented but would not touch the Circle At length being overcome with the sent of the Garlick it died within the Circle X. A Noble Matron of Newemburgh 35 years old had been troubled with the Hypochondriack Disease for ten years She was taken with so violent a Palpitation that one would have thought her Heart would have broke her Ribs and leaped out of her Breast When I was called I presently ordered an Emollient Glyster to be given her because she never went to Stool but upon meer necessity This was succeeded by a Carminative one Afterwards an Epitheme was applied of Treacle Confectio hyacynthina and Alkermes without Amber or Musk. Then the following Potion was given her Take of Water of Balm Carduus Benedictus each 1 Ounce Orange-flower-Water half an Ounce Cinnamon Water 2 Drachms Syrupus corticis Citri made according to Zwelfer's Correction and of Betony Flowers each half an Ounce Oyl of Citron rind 2 Drops prepared Pearl 5 Grains Saffron 1 Grain In two hours time it left her and never returned again XI This must be reckoned in the Palpitation which comes from heat and abundance of Blood we must neither use hot things lest the effervescence be increased nor cold ones lest when the efflux of Vapours is stopt the Palpitation grow more violent For it is sufficient to use temperate Mercatus strengthning and odoriferous things XII Issues are very good in the Palpitation of the Heart as I have happily experienced Which since they may be made in divers parts of the Body if the matter falling from the Head cause the Palpitation as Hippocrates says it is best to make Issues in the upper parts and in this case I use to advise an Issue in the right Arm. Mercurialis But if it be essentially in the Heart or come by consent with the lower parts it is much better to make an Issue a little above or below the Knee XIII In this sort of Disease we must insist long on Medicines Ferdinandus Hist 12. for after six months or a whole year the Disease uses to return as I have known several Wherefore we must always be doubtful of it and not be overjoyed because it ceases for a month or two XIV Joh. Praevotius in a years time cured Baron K. of a Palpitation of the Heart Rhodius Cent. 2. Obs 40. and of all the Arteries in manner of an Aneurism from retorrid Bile with drinking of Whey and bathing in fresh Water Fernelius mentions this Pulsation Path. lib. 5. cap. 12. XV. Since the Causes are various the Cure must also variously be insisted on For what some hold that these Remedies which are vulgarly called Cordials do refresh the Heart and are thought to help it as it is laboring this is repugnant to Reason and to ordinary Experience Since therefore we have declared how the Palpitation of the Heart proceeds from some fault in the Blood or in the Arteries that are joyned to the Heart and have shewn the divers ways of affecting both of these an apt method of Cure must be accommodated to every sort of that Disease 1. Therefore if the Disease proceed from some fault in the Blood the primary Therapeutick intention must be to exalt the Blood that is too watry and unfit for Accension and Fermentation to a better crasis and to exalt and increase its active Principles that are depressed or diminished For which purpose Spirituous Medicines also Saline of all sorts Sulphureous and especially Chalybeates are proper Here also we may prescribe such things as are used in a Leucophlegmatia Pica and a cold Scurvy 2. The Palpitation of the Heart which is more frequent and much more violent comes from the Cardiack Arteries and then their fault is either an Obstruction or a Spasmodick Affection The first Disease is usually continual and often incurable especially if it comes from Consumptive Lungs or from a Tubercle at the Roots of the Arteries or some bony Excrescence whereby they are half stopt up or compressed Which causes if at any time they be there and can perfectly be known it would be in vain to endeavour to remove them But rather this only must be done we must give the Patient some ease by an Hypnotick to prolong a miserable Life a little further Nor is it also improbable that the Arteries are in a great measure filled by Polypous Concretions that are used to breed there and sometimes within the Ventricles of the Heart and therefore the free and total exilition of the Blood is hindred As the
Kid dry it stick a few Cloves in it put it in an Earthen Vessel set it in an Oven in which the Heart dissolves into juice Crembs Give it the Sick to drink 5. The following Water is a great Secret Take of Hearts of Hogs of Harts each N. 2. Cut them in pieces Add of Cloves Galangale Seed of Basil each 2 drachms Flowers of Bugloss Rosemary Borage each 2 Handfuls Let the Spices and Seeds be cut and bruised after a gross manner Put to them as much Malmsey Wine as is sufficient Digest them for 24 hours Distil them The Dose Herlicius half an ounce with Sugar 6. A piece of fine White Bread sopt in Wine of Crete Joel and eaten is admirable for strengthning the Heart and stopping its Palpitation 7. In a Palpitation from a cold Cause true Rhapontick is of incredible Efficacy if 2 drachms of it be taken in Wine or if Wine wherein the same Rhapontick Mercatus All-heal Aristolochia rotunda or Faenugreek has been inâ—used be drunk Paralysis or the Palsy The Contents Sometimes Blood must be let I. Vomits are sometimes good II. If it come from Phlegm whether we must purge in the beginning III. At first we must go to work with gentle Medicines IV. Whether Oxymel may be admitted among Preparatives V. Whether Sudorificks may be given VI. Or Treacle or Mithridate VII Why sometimes Sudorificks do hurt VIII How Sweat must be raised when External Pains accompany a Palsy IX Diureticks to be preferred before Hidroticks X. Clysters must not consist of over emollient things XI The use of Bathes sometimes hurtful XII How they do good in that which follows a Colick XIII Insensible Evacuants must be violent XIV Cure by Salivation is not good for every one XV. One cured by Salivation XVI Whether we may raise a Fever XVII When it comes from External Humidity a must quickly be cured XVIII There is no harm in making Decoctions Infusions c. with Wine XIX Whether Confectio Anacardina be safe XX. Sinapisms and Blisters when proper XXI Vrtication good XXII Topical Medicines must be applied to the Original of the Nerves XXIII They must not exceed in heat XXIV A Palsy from an External Cause cured by an easie Remedy XXV Oyly Medicines are not proper for all XXVI The Cure must be varied according to the variety of Causes XXVII It may be caused by Bile and Blood XXVIII That which comes from a Melancholick Juice must be cured with Chalybeates XXIX Ceasing after voiding of Worms XXX That which follows the Colick requires not the Cure of the Origination of the Nerves XXXI How by Pications we may help the Atrophy of the Limbs which follows XXXII The continued use of Infusions is excellent XXXIII Medicines I. SOme mention Venaesection which yet unless there be a Plethora seems not proper because here is not the same danger of extinguishing the Vital Flame as in an Apoplexy But yet if the Blood appear not to circulate conveniently and that from above small Pulse and short Breath I think Venaesection altogether necessary for the same Reasons which we propounded in the Apoplexy See Tit. Apoplexy Book I. And I recommend these two Signs taken from the Pulse and Respiration to be carefully observed by all Men because they are the principal Signs of the Blood 's Restagnation about the Ventricles of the Heart Sylvius de le Boe. and of danger of Suffocation ¶ Although Medical Writers do usually respect Pituitous Matter yet since it is manifest that it sometimes arises from Plenitude of Blood this may be let boldly I speak this because some fear to do it reckoning that a Palsey always comes from Phlegm I know a Woman who when she had been let six ounces of Blood could not be cured but when some pounds had been let she was cured though some Physicians were afraid of so great a quantity And I know two Men who by bleeding in great quantities and at several times were cured Therefore in a Sanguineous Palsy Blood may be let boldly not once only but oftner not in one place but several But if in the Palsy there be not a Legitimate Sanguine but a Spurious Plenitude Blood must be taken away yet sparingly as Aetius Paulus Alexander and Celsus are of Opinion For the last l. 3. c. 27. writes That Bleeding and Purging are good for Paralyticks In this case it must be let sparingly only to about six ounces Yet this must be observed That is the Palsy seize all the Parts of the Body but the Head the Haemorrhoid Veins must be bled If one part be free Blood must be let in that Saxonia II. Vomits sometimes do abundance of good in curing the Palsy namely because they substract Matter from the Conjunct Cause and they do not always drive further the Matter impacted into the Nerves but make Revulsion of it shake it and often break it into pieces so that when the continuity of the Mass is broken the Animal Spirits themselves do easily dissipate the Particles of the Morbifick Matter Willis when they are parted asunder III. There is a Controversie between Rhases and Avicenna whether we may Purge in the beginning Avicenna before giving of Purgatives propounds Preparatives and gentle Medicines Rhases at the very first uses Pilulae Cochiae and consequently strong Purgers I thus compose that Controversie When the Palsy is new through some great fault in the Head as after an Epilepsie or Apoplexy I am of Rhases his Opinion presently to give a Purge The Reason is plain for there is danger of the return of the Epilepsie or Apoplexy which we must immediately prevent by giving a Purge But if the Palsy be old in a determinate part without hurt of the Brain Avicenna's Judgment must be followed first a Lenitive must be given Saxonia and then Preparatives IV. In the Palsy our Ancestors observed this that in the beginning it must be treated with gentle Medicines and not with very violent ones whether taken inwardly or applied outwardly Certainly I have sometimes observed That a Palsy of one side has followed that which was only in a part and sometimes an Apoplexy has followed this the abundance of Noxious Matter being agitated in the Head more than it should be when any one has endeavoured to carry it off by a sharp Medicine And there is a great Error oftentimes committed in that when the Head and Body are not well purged such Medicines are given as by their heat and motion easily get into the Head and there they put the Humour into Fusion and Fluxion which Nature by rest and a good Course of Diet Solenander would have at length overcome and concocted Experienced Physicians know this V. I do not disapprove of Oxymel with other Preparatives although Vinegar be an enemy to the Nerves as they are dry parts but when they are imbued with and full of Pituitous Juice Vinegar is not hurtful Saxonia and especially diluted with
it is not satiated with too many of them Moreover let that fresh Juice consist of such Particles as being mild and thin may be tamed by the Blood and assimilated without Effervescence Wherefore Asses or Goats Milk the Cream of Barley Water-gruel c. will be more agreeable and nourish better than Flesh Eggs Gellies c. 2. The second thing to be produced is that the Acidities that are either bred in the Blood or poured into it from some other where may be so destroyed that the Blood retaining still its mixture or crasis may not be so prone to fluxions or fusions Wherefore 't is necessary that both its own Acidities and those of other Humours mixed with it be destroyed which intention will be the best performed by Medicins prepared of Sulphur which should be taken freely if there be no Fever Vulnerary Decoctions are also good for the same purpose and Decoctions of Pectoral Herbs as also of the Woods taken for ordinary Drink Likewise the Pouder of Crabs Eyes Hog-Lice and of other things endued with an Alkali or Volatil salt 3. And lastly That all the Recrements produced in the Blood be derived from the Lungs to other Emunctories and places of Evacuation which intention respecting the first indication suggests that very many ways of Evacuations are to be made use of Phlebotomy Purging by Urine slight Purgation by Stool Baths Frictions of the Extream Parts Dropaces or Shaving off the Hair Issues Apophlegmatisms c. The second indication in a beginning Phthisis viz. that the Tabifick Matter deposited in the Lungs may be easily and throughly expelled daily is performed by Expectorating Medicins whose vertue is carried two ways to the Lungs either as their active Particles are immediately let down by the Wind-Pipe and procure Expectoration partly by lubricating the ways and withal loosening the Matter that is fixt therein and partly by irritating the Excretory Fibres into Spasms whither belong Lambitives and Suffumigations or as they exert their vertue in coming along with the Blood which are the more powerful for seeing they consist of such Particles as cannot be tamed and assimilated by the Mass of Blood these being poured into the Blood and because they cannot be mixed therewith being thrown out of it again presently penetrate out of the Arteries of the Lungs into the Ducts of the Wind-Pipe where lighting upon the Matter they divide attenuate and so exagitate it that the Fibres being thereby irritated and successively contracted in Coughing the contents of the Wind-Pipe and its little Bladders are cast up into the Mouth Things fit for this purpose besides Sulphur and its Preparations are artificial Balsamicks distilled with the Oyl of Turpentine the Tinctures and Syrups of Gumm Ammoniacum Galbanum Asa foetida Garlick Onions and such like that smell strong of which Lohochs are also made And these operate both ways for partly by sliding into the Wind-Pipe and partly by entring into the Lungs by the Circulation of the Blood they set upon the Morbifick Matter both before and behind and so drive it forth with the greater violence As to the third Indication that the injur'd Conformation of the Lungs or their vitiated Constitution may be restored or amended let those things be used which resist Putrefaction cleanse consolidate dry and strengthen for which purpose the Remedies prepared of Sulphur Balsamicks and Traumaticks are useful Willis II. Galen 1. Epid. comm 17. speaking of a Phthisis says that it proceeds not always from a Fluxion from the Head but that Excrements flow into the Lungs sometimes from other parts Wherefore their ignorance is not to be endured who think that the Recrements which are in the Lungs proceed only from the Head For it may so happen that a Phthisis may be caused by an Humour transmitted from other parts of the Body the Brain being sound In which case whether Stillicidia or droppings upon the Coronal Suture Sanctor l. de remed invent c. 14. or Sinapisms Errhines and Masticatories do any good let others judge III. Those Remedies which respect the whole Body are very necessary at this day they are not rightly administred wherefore few are cured I was lately at Venice and prescribed to a Patient an ounce of the Honey of Roses and another of Oxymel that the Phlegm that was in his Stomach and was the cause of much mischief might be cleansed away The Apothecary by mistake sent ten ounces and the Patient took eight and an half of the Medicin The same acting violently upon the Phlegm was somewhat disturbing to him but afterwards the Phlegm descended so into the Guts and was so expelled Capivace Pc. l. 2. c. 7. that all the symptoms were mitigated wherefore Physicians must be bold sometimes IV. Whether is it fit and strictly necessary upon any occasion to give a Purge to Consumptive People or to let them Blood We have seldom need of Bleeding in a Tabes or Consumption especially when there is an Ulcer already made unless a new Fluxion supervene or unless there be a fresh opening of some Vein or where the defluxion is very fervent and the Liver hot or the Lungs burst on some occasion V. Avicen in a Phthisis gives Pi. Cochiae for the sake of the whole Body Our commâ—n Practitioners give them not but they do ill for we ought to succour the Fluxion presently for we may hope well when the Ulcer is not deep bit it becomes so when the Disease is prolonged which comes to pass through the Matter flowing nto the Lungs wherefore that Matter is to be evacuated Therefore after one loosening of the Belly after two or three Syrups Pil. Cochiae are to be given presently according to Avicen that the whole may be purged and the Head evacuated and so the Fluxion may be remedied What I say of â—il Cochiae the same is to be understood of other strong Looseners for the fault of the offending Humour is vehement and is of the nature of a Causa fine qua non therefore a strong Purge shall be given especially because the strength permitteth which forbiddeth it in the progress of the Malady For at the beginning though it be an Hectick Fever it is in the habitude not in the habit and whilst it is in the habitude the strength in an Hectick Fever hath suffered no mischief as yet Idem VI. In those who have a Fluxion of acrimonious biting and corroding Humours especially if there be also an ebullition and effervescence of the Humours not altogether neglecting the indication of the Consumption for an exquisite or confirm'd Tabes admits not of Evacuaters even in those in whom the Fluxion still remains but only of Diverters 't is certain that it will be very safe and necessary to purge especially with those Medicins which may profit both the Breast and the Ulcer and avert and lessen or bridle the Fluxion Of this nature is Rhubarb believed to be sometimes the roasted mixt with Spikenard and diluted
16. l. 1. de morb because if the Lungs be not perfectly cleansed the same mischiefs will follow XII The Decoction of Guaiacum Wood has a notable vertue to cure the Ulcers of Phthisical Persons and is commended by several very learned Physicians The Decoction of the Root of China is also profitable For though these Decoctions seem to dry the Body yet the profit that accrews from healing up the Ulcer in the Lungs is far greater For seeing the leanness of the Body has its rise from an Ulcer of the Lungs such Dâ—coctions by taking away the cause of the extenuation of the Body by consuming the vicious Humours and curing the Ulcer make the Extenuated Bodies to be well nourish'd again and grow fat as Experience has often taught Sennertus ¶ I know that there want not very great difficulties in the administring of them for to give an hot and dry Medicin to a Tabid and Feverish Body is contrary to all Medical indication Nevertheless because if the Ulcer be not dried neither the Fever nor the Tabes can end hence it comes to pass that the more Learned Physicians have admitted of the use of Driers I declare that about seventeen years ago I cured a Phthisical Person that had gotten the Pox by a Decoction of Guaiacum who is yet alive still If any be afraid of it let him take the Root of China which I used with good success in a Phthisical Woman after a suppurated Peripneumony who is still alive Saxon. prael pract p. 146. See an Example in Riverius cent 1. obs 99. I have learned by Experience that a Decoction of Lignum sanctum is good in this case says Silvat cent 2. cons 36. XIII Among those things which are very much commended is the Sugar or Conserve of Roses which yet some deny to the Phthisical because the Ulcer of the Lungs needs cleansing and bringing forth of the Matter which two things are the chief causes why most Ulcers of the Lungs are incurable Now this Sugar is too weak to cleanse and absterge the Ulcer sufficiently Besides that when it is new it loosens the Belly the Flux whereof is dangerous and when old by drying and astringing it compresses the ways and makes them straiter whence the eduction of the Matter is hindred and the Sanies driven inward yea seeing it is cold it seems inconvenient according to Aphor. 5. 24. But in truth it is to be allowed to the Phthisical for that is profitable for them says the Reconciler diff 194. which cleanses absterges glutinates corrects the intemperies that is introduced and is withal in some sort nutritive all which this Sugar or Conserve does whence we conclude that it ought to be much esteemed as not only the Testimony of Classical Authors but daily Experience also witnesses Yet that is to be â—â—t d wâ—icâ— Mesue admonishes and after him the Reconciler That Sugar of Roses is not to be granted before stronger absterging and mundifying Medicins have preceded and the Ulcer be purged from its Pus at which time there is need of a slight absterging but a greatly glutinating vertue which thing is very well performed by the Sugar of Roses that is betwixt new and old used daily in such form as it can best be taken in Hence it appears what is to be answer'd to the first and second Reasons that forbid it And when Hippocrates says that cold things are hurtful to the Breast he speaks of an excessive coldness Horst dec 4. probl 9. such as is in Ice and Snow ¶ Some Conditions are to be observed in the use of Conserve of Roses 1. That Abstergers and Mundifiers be premised and therefore at the beginning let that which is new be given which has more Juice in it and therefore a greater absterging vertue 2. That it be given in a large quantity and that daily yea let it be taken with Bread and Meat and Drink 3. That if by its use Expectoration be hindred and Respiration become difficult Sennert Expectoraters be given betwixt whiles ¶ Red Roses use to be much commended for consolâ—dating the cleansed Ulcer as also the Conserve that is made of them though hitherto I have seen no good and great effect thereof because when it is taken in a great quantity as the Commenders thereof would have it the Stomach and Guts are filled with much Phlegm whence the appetite is not only dejected but chylification also hurt Moreover there often arises a troublesome coldness in the upper region of the Abdomen and so of the Stomach from which the Patients cannot be freed again in some Months space which I have observed to come to pass more than once Therefore I would prefer a Decoction of red Roses made with a strong Expression Sylv. tract 4. append sect 187 188. and that sweetned with a little Sugar XIV Most have commended the breathing in an hot and dry air for drying up the Vlcers of the Lungs For this reason the Ancients also advised Phthisical Persons to sail into Egypt Galen bade them go to Tabiae Nor must we think that such Air only of Natures making is to be procured but we read in Galen 4. loc aff 8. that an Air for this purpose may be also prepared by Art and Odours Whom Veslingius imitating undertook to cure a certain grown Person ill of a long Phthisis by Suffumigations chiefly such indeed as were moist at the beginning of the Herbs of Agrimony Betony Foal-foot Lungwort Speedwel and the Roots of Burnet and Cinquefoil boil'd in Pottage and afterwards by such as were dry as Benzoin Ladanum Stirax and Mastich received in at the gaping mouth testifying at large that he hath known Phthisical Persons that were very desperate recovered chiefly by a Suffumigation of Ambergriefe Silvaticus cent 1. cons 51. hath commendâ—d the same Bennettus Theatr. tabidor exerc 30. has drawn Instruments fit for Effumation and Vaporation Lud. de Leonibus cured a Phthisical Person who was so lean one might tell all his Bones G. H. Velâ—chius obs 28. by a Suffumigation of Amber See more before concerning the Diseases of the Breast and Lungs in general XV. When leanness hinders the use of Medicins that would dry up the Ulcer I give Asses Milk but with the Oyl of Guaiacum This way six years ago I cured a Phthisical German Nobleman Or you may give a Broth made thus Take of Guaiacum or China if Guaiacum three ounces if China one Infuse them in three quarts of Water Then take of Barley unhusked half an handful Amylum Gum Tragacanth of each two drachmâ— of the Seeds of Sorrel and Plantane of each one drachm of the Seeds of Melon blanched half an ounce of the Kernels of Pine-Apples and Pistach-Nuts of each an ounce and an half the Flesh of Wood Snails two ounces Put as much of them as can be put in the Belly of a little Pullet Let them boil all together till the perfect consumption of the Flesh
a Nobleman sick of this Fever He complained of a pain in his Side and of other symptoms of which the rest did that were taken with the same Disease I Bled him no more than once I applied a Blistering Plaster to his Neck I gave him Clysters every day sometimes order'd him cooling Ptisans and Emulsions sometimes Milk and Water sometimes small Beer I advis'd him to rise out of his Bed and sit up every day for some hours by which method he was recovered in a few days and after Purging was quite well Syden obs circa morb acut p. 362. See the sixth Book of a Pleuritical Fever VII 'T is a doubt whether the Blood flowing from the Womb either in Childbed or out of it hinder Venesection when a Pleurisy happens Before the solution of the doubt I suppose that Bleeding is used upon a twofold account in all Inflammations first to revel the violence of the flowing Blood secondly for derivation that is that by one and the same track we may both evacuate and revel If a Woman thereâ—ore be taken with a Pleurisy whilst her Womb flows we must consider whether the original of the Fluxion be from the Womb it self or the Humours flow thither from some other place Moreover we must have regard to the manner of the Fluxion for it is either large and sudden or slow A sudden Evacuation made out of the Womb answering in proportion to the Fluxion upon the Membrane that invests the Ribs indicates that the business is to be committed to Nature and nothing to be innovated But we ought to help a slow Fluxion that by two Evacuations the one Natural the other Artificial we may obtain our desires For if we shall hesiâ—ate in a great and precipitant Dissease we run great dangers In this case we shall let Blood in the Ham or Ankle or we may scarify the Thighs or Legs if we know there is but little Blood remaining and the Woman look white have soft Flesh and slender Veins But whether one or other kind of Remedy be to be used the nature of the Matter will teach especially the greatness of the Disease and the Constitution of the Patient c. But if the original of the Fluxion shall not be in the Womb the Case will not be so easie I use to clear it by distinguishing thus The Womb at that time does either make plentiful and sudden Expurgations or such as are lingring and slow If the first we shall not let Blood but be content with the spontaneous Evacuation for seeing the Womb has great Veins and Arteries which communicate with the whole Body and a very great consent with the Breast we may hope that there will be made a good Revulsion hereby in what part soever the original of the Fluxion be But the case is not the same when from custom or from any other Preternatural Cause the Womb evacuates Blood very slowly For seeing we need some speedy Remedy that the violence of the Fluxion may be restrained whereas this is very sluggish and slow so that we ought by no means to commit the task to it we ought therefore in such case to Bleed What Vein therefore you will say shall we open Truly I would open some one of the upper 1. because the lower are too far distant from the original of the Fluxion nor can they remove the Fluxion but in a long time which will not do our business 2. seeing we ought to attend that which is more urgent and seeing the Pleurisy is more yea most urgent therefore we must endeavour with might and main that the Phlegmon may not be increased which may be done by opening a Vein in the Arm which we judge to be convenient for Revulsion And though there follow that inconvenience hereby as that the Terms come to be stopt which they may chance to be yet that inconvenience is but small and may be amended at some more fitting time even with ease But if we desire a derivation when there has preceded a Revulsion made either by Nature or Art or also when the Disease has not required it I declare this one thing that whether the Womb have flown or no or also whether it have been plentifully purged or not the inner Vein of that Arm which is nearest to the part affected is always then to be opened and Blood to be let till there appear change of colour for nothing ought to hinder us from relieving the Pleurisy presently which is a doubtful and dangerous Disease For if we must have respect to that which is more urgent there is no doubt but we ought to be far more concerned about the Pleurisy than about the Purgations of the Womb especially seeing these may be provoked afterwards Hor. Augen tom 1 l. 11. Epist 3. whereas the prejudice that arises from the omission of Bleeding can by no means be redrest VIII A lean and very Cholerick Woman salling into a Pleurisy desired earnestly to be let Blood but though a Vein was opened timely enough yet the Blood was drawn so strongly towards the Breast through the very violent pain thereof that hardly any would spurt out of the opened Vein But she being bid to endeavour to drive the Blood from the Breast again towards the Arm by strong coughing I observed it to spurt forth freely and the Woman was shortly eased of her pain Wherefore let any one in the same case fly to the same succour let him presently raise a Cough and by that means the Blood will be repelled to the Arm. Tulpius l. 2. c. 3. This invention I have seen to succeed happily with several since that time IX A true Pleurisy will not invade the Phlegmatick and such as are troubled with Acid Belchings yet there often happens a Pleurisy in these Countreys Holland from a watry and thin Phlegm but that is not true and exquisite For in these cold and Phlegmatick Bodies there often arise grievous pains of the Sides from Flatus which may be mitigated by fomentations if you bleed you will kill I once saw a very beautiful Woman who being subject to Flatus and having supt liberally fell into a bitter pain of her Side in the night and died presently upon opening a Vein Heurn com in aph 33. 6. X. It is observable that there sometimes arises a difficulty of breathing from an ill ordered Diet Idem in which case Physicians do ill to Bleed ¶ Their confidence seems pernicious to me who so long as the Patient complains of pain give not over bleeding without any regard to the suppuration which has not only made some progress but is often also perfected within the first seven days by which importune Bleedings repeated even ten times or oftner they cruelly weaken their Patients by exhausting their Vital Spirits with the Blood though their strength be altogether necessary for a perfect Expectoration of the Pus Car. Piso de colluv seros p. 3 4. which oft cannot
the colour of the Blood let forth and from other signs that there lurks a Cacochymie in the Body which feeds and increases the Disease we must come to purging especially if it be perceived to tend toward the first region of the Body from rumblings of the Belly Vomiting loose Stools anxiety about the Stomach But it is to be done betimes Hippocrates 4. Acut. aph 6. determins the fourth day simply for purging But Galen writes rightly that such things ought not to be injoined the Patient simply according to the number of days but that what Hippocrates hath determin'd ought to be follow'd and therefore we must purge presently in the beginning or afterwards when the Humours are brought to maturity for which cause he writes that he sometimes gave a Purge on the first day or the second or third and sometimes on the fifth Therefore the Humours that abound in the common Ducts and are apt to flow to the part affected are to be purged in the beginning at which time aversion is the most desired but afterwards when the Disease comes to its vigour and the Humours are concocted 't is better to be quiet Sennertus ¶ I deny not that a Revulsive Purgation is sometimes convenient in the beginning though seldom but it must be attempted by mild Medicins and as Vallesius says in Epid. or Galen himself the Fever must not be high Let Blood be let sufficiently and the Humours must degenerate from the nature of the Blood and the faculty must be strong to bear the Medicin and the Constitution of the Patient well known XXII So much as Venesection profiteth in a true Pleurisy so much doth purging hurt though never so kindly and gentle for by moving the Humours it increaseth the Fluxion or if the Fluxion had already stayed it renews it to the great damage of the Patient Add hereto that a loosness is bad in Diseases of the Breast wherefore we must refrain from Catharticks the whole Course of the Cure the Belly is only to be loosened every other day with an hard Clyster Enchir. Med. Practic XXIII Hippocrates 2. Acut. v. 21. advises to open a Vein when the pain reaches up towards the Collar-Bone but to loosen the Belly if it descend under the Midriff for it is no new thing for Pleuritical pains to be felt sometimes under the Midriff For what hinders why when an Inflammation seises upon the Pleura part of the Morbifick Matter that is diffused below through the fleshy parts should not by pain give signification of it self under the Midriff where the Side is soft or in the region of the Hypochondres Surely nothing Hippocrates testifies this 1. de Morb. sect 2. v. 220. treating of a true Pleurisy And sometimes says he it causes a pain in the parts below the Side And he teaches the same l. de loc v. 258. 3. de morb v. 230. And 't is reasonable that that should happen seeing the Morbifick Matter inclines by its natural gravity rather downwards than upwards Attending to this inclination of the Humours according to the vulgar saying We must lead by convenient ways whither Nature tends when the Disease tends downwards he propounds purging by the lower parts but Venesection rather when 't is more inclinable to the upper parts He thought this distinction so necessary that he esteemed him who proceeded otherwise not to benefit but to hurt For as Bleeding takes not away the pain that reaches below the short Ribs so Purgation is unprofitable when the pain possesses the upper parts and extends it self to the Collar-Bone For whilst the Humours which tend upwards and which may easily be evacuated that way are drawn downwards by Stool Expectoration is hindred than which nothing is more hurtful in a Pleurisy that extends upwards For seeing the Matter contained in the Breast is not brought forth by the Purge the Spittle as Hippocrates says being retained and sticking in the Lungs causes difficulty of breathing and not long after the Patient dies of Suffocation Now 't is easie to give a reason why we should Bleed when the pain extends upwards and Purge if it descend below the Midriff for as often as a Pleurisy depends upon a Plethora and is fed by it a pain and weight seises upon the upper parts because there are Veins there which are joined with the Veins that are dispersed through the inflamed part whence those being filled that are in the place of the inflammation and cannot contain all the plenty of Blood the upper that are continuous to these must needs be filled and extended whereupon the bordering parts happen to be pained and grieved But some will say Why does not that happen in the inflammations of other parts where we see only those parts to be pained wherein the inflammation is I answer It is peculiar to these parts viz. the Sides as being Membranous and not Fleshy not to be so capable of a plenty of Humours as the Fleshy whence when Humours flow thereinto the Veins thereof are so filled that their extension is communicated to the neighbouring parts whence there happens a dilatation of the pain Therefore because a dilatation of the pain supposes a plenitude towards the upper parts which can be taken away better by no Remedy than by Venesection Hippocrates does therefore advise Bleeding in this case But when a Pleurisy depends upon a Cacochymie the pain is not communicated to the aforesaid upper parts because the Veins are not so filled that their distention should reach to the upper parts yea inclining to the lower it infests the parts under the Midriff for every Humour except the Blood uses to tend rather downward than upward because it partakes less of Spirits by whose vertue the Humours in the Body seem to have neither lightness nor gravity for Blood alone wants the motion of gravity or levity because it is governed by the Spirits which it is plentifully endued with but the other Humours do descend by a natural gravity rather than ascend unless some cause concur that may raise them to the upper parts or may hurt by Vapours as otherwhere we have said does happen to the Bile which being in the Stomach causes pain in the Side Therefore because a pain descending to the Hypochondres indicates the Pleurisy to arise from a Cacochymie whose Remedy is Purgation therefore Hippocrates approves of this in stead of Venesection not only in this case but as often as it happens that a Pleurisy arises from a Cacochymie Whence 3. de morb v. 284. he says If the sick Person be naturally Cholerick and being not purged be taken with a Disease you shall purge Choler well for these things concurring a Cacochymie must needs prevail Seeing therefore Hippocrates hath left us this practice approved by long Experience and confirmed by evident Reason I cannot sufficiently admire at Galen's boldness who perverting it durst write that it was always safer to Bleed but much more at the Physicians of our time with
more than they hurt and Nature joins her self as a Companion with the Medicins against the Morbifick Causes which being banished the Spirits and Faculties are restored XIII Concerning a Bath Avicen thus admonishes But if superfluities be multiplied in them 't is fitting they bathe often But indeed it is naught unless towards the later end of the ninth month for it dejects the Spirits softens and loosens the bands that contain the Foetus breeds Crudities and which is worst provokes the Terms by unlocking the Vessels and fusing the Blood But to sit in a Bath is profitable for those who are near their labour for by it the Womb is dilated the neighbouring parts are softned and an easy passage is granted to the Foetus XIV As often as a Woman with Child is struck with some violent affection of mind a fright anger or sadness whereby there is danger she should fall in Travail before her time first a Vein must be opened in her Arm especially if she be Plethorick and a small quantity of Blood taken that is if her strength and Spirits permit otherwise let her drink a Glass of Wine c. Secondly Let the Spirits and Humours that are disturbed and rossed all the Body over be allayed by Anodynes and Opiates administred prudently sometimes Aromaticks and sometimes Acidish Medicins being added according to the diversity of the Disease Thirdly If any other Disease as Fluxes of the Belly Vomit c. follow let such Remedies be used as are proper for them Sylv. XV. A very thin Diet is not to be prescribed to Women with Child in Acute Diseases lest the Foetus be defrauded of due nourishment and yet we must not pass to that which is very thick lest the Fever be increased thereby Therefore we must keep a mean and a thinner Diet is to be prescribed in the first months and a thicker and somewhat more plentiful in the last months for the necessity of the Foetus If we err any way 't is safer to err in too full than in too spare a Diet for health is to be expected from the strength of tâ—e Mother and Foetus XVI I have more than once obsâ—rved that the use of Butter has been hurtful to Women with Child P Borell obs 26. cent 3. as also to those who are subjâ—ct to Fits of the Mother wherefore I advise them to abstain from it XVII Some disapprove of Exercise because it hâ—ats dissolves the Spirits raises a Fever causes thirst and procures abortion by precipitating the Foetus But these things are to be understâ—od of too much or unseasonable Exercise otherwise that which is moderate discusses the Excrements that are collected by idleness relieves the Faculties that are oppressed by the plenty of retained superfluities diffuses the Blood and Spirits to the Members whereby the whole Body becomes vigorous But let it be omitted in the first month because the Foetus is then contained but by weâ—k bands In the second let it be seldom and slow In the third more brisk In the fifth sixth and beginning of the seventh more frequent In the later end of the seventh the eighth and to the middle of the ninth abate of it Whether it may be granted when her full time is at hand see the Title Partus XVIII Women with Child that labour of a Pica or depraved Appetite are not to have the same things prescribed them which are convenient for others for neither Purgers nor other Medicins that absterge violently are to be used for fear of miscarriage For seeing this symptom happens chiefly in the first months it follows that we must proceed warily especially seeing Hippocrates forbids purging about that time And in the fourth month about which time it would be safer to use Medicins the Malady ceases of its own accord the Matter being either spent by frequent Vomitings or much alter'd by the concoctive faculâ—y seeing such Women eat little because of the loathing that is joined with it the stronger attraction of the Foetus helping which through its growth draws and spends much Blood at that time Therefore this Malady is no otherwise to be remedied but by a convenient Diet ordered for attemperating of the offending Matter by a slight abstersion and gentle provocation to Vomit namely if Nature incline that way not neglecting those things which may serve to strengthen the Stomach inwardly and outwardly Horst probl 6. dec 19. ¶ The Pica of Women with Child admits of neither Purging nor Vomiting but only requires those things that Corroborate the chief of which are the Water or Salt of Cinamon and of Orange or Citron rinds with the magistery of Corals and Perls If the thing they long for cannot be got Hartm prax Chymiatr c. 133. that the Foetus may suffer no prejudice presently give her to drink some of the Water of white Vine or Briony XIX The Vomiting of corrupted Meat and of other Humours cannot hinder Bleeding Johan Raymund Fort. consult 60. centur 4. seeing it self is the Remedy of Vomiting See before Sect. IV. XX. If Nausea and Vomiting be very urgent and be very afflictive to Women with Child so that there be fear lest some greater mischief supervenâ— Opiats and Narcoticks may be used as both tempering the acrimony of the Humours and also bridling their vitious Effervescence likewise dulling all sense and so powerfully restraining and staying over great and troublesom Vomiting and by the help of these they are reduced to a convenient tranquillity and their Stomach and small Gut are strengthned by which means both other altering Remedies and also even Aliments themselves may be taken with the better success For indeed all these things are taken in vain while a violent loathing and vomiting continue Sylv. de le Boe Prax. l. 3. c. 6. which is to be wholly allayed before either Aliments or gently altering Medicins can be retained XXI We must act cautiously and with premeditation in stopping of Vomiting for we must not do that unless in case of evident necessity Fortis cons XXII If a Flux of Blood happen to a Woman with Child that is hastening to the time of her Travail by which she is much enfeebled the mouth of the Womb is to be closed without delay lest the ambient Air draw forth a greater quantity of Blood and the Spirits that are spent are to be recruited that she may be able to bear the pains of her Travail Now her Travail is not to be promoted either by things taken in at the mouth or by Clysters for by these the flux of Blood would be increased but 't is necessary to pull forth the Foetus by force putting your hand up into the Womb. The weakness of the neck of the Womb whose Ligaments are relaxed favour this operation so that the mouth thereof gapes as if often pains had preceded Unless the Waters break forth of their own accord the Membranes that contain the Foetus are to be gently burst by
great deal of Pus were cured in a little time by this Remedy In both out of the hole made in the Skin by Section there flow'd in three or four days time pure Pus and from that time their spitting such Matter diminished And after that Efflux increasing daily had continued for some time the spitting ceased wholly and the Patients grew quite well II. A Gentleman of a middle Age that was robust before and always healthful without any manifest cause grew to be betwixt well and ill as it were for being without Pain Vomiting or Cough at least that was any thing considerable he became in a little time languid without appetire uninclinable to sleep thirsty and hot about his Heart After that divers methods of Cure had been tried in vain the Disease shewed it self at length for whilst one night being more restless than usual he turned himself strongly in his Bed an Abscess breaking of a sudden in his Lungs he expelled by Cough a vast quantity of very stinking Pus The Vomica being burst such Medicins were diligently given as might cleanse and heal the Abscess might purify the Blood and clear the Lungs and deliver them from an imminent Tabes as my Tinctura and Spiritus Diasulphuris together with Pectoral and Vulnerary Decoctions and distilled Waters Likewise Linctus and Balsamick Pills were taken from day to day in a constant method and betwixt whiles Clysters and gentle Catharticks and Diureticks were interposed First Vaporations then Suffumigations both Sulphureous and Arsenical were used morning and night After that these had been used long and diligently without benefit he consented at length to the opening of his Side On the left side of his Sternum there appeared a Tumour betwixt the fifth and sixth Vertebra In stead of a Caustick I applied hereto a Suppurative Plaster and in three days the top of the Tumour became red and soft out of which being opened the next day there first flow'd a thin Ichor and a while after yellow and concocted Pus and afterwards it continued to flow more plentifully From that time his stinking Spittle decreased and in fourteen days quite ceased the Morbifick Matter finding both a more easy and more convenient exit by that hole Though by the effect it was manifest that the Duct of that Orifice did lie open inwardly into the Breast and perhaps to the middle of the Lungs yet no Liquor that was injected by Syringe could penetrate or be driven thither so secret and very intricate are the passages which Nature forms for her last relief that no hurtful thing can enter in by that way whereby the Morbifick Matter is expelled That Aperture of his Side was at length changed into an Issue and a Pease or Wooden Pill being put in it every day it continued to pour forth Ichor plentifully for half a year and the Nobleman in the mean time getting quite rid of his Pectoral Infirmity and recovering his robust habit of Body became quite well in every respect At last the Issue being translated into his Arm he carried neither the Disease nor the Issue any longer in his Breast Idem An Intermitting Pulse The Contents The cause depends sometimes on the irregular motion of the Animal Spirits I. An instance of a Pulse returning upon the voiding of a Worm II. I. THere are two distinct Reasons of the breeding of this Affection for though the Pulse intermit sometimes because the Heart for that time ceases from motion yet when we judge by our feeling it seems to intermit sometimes in the Wrist whilst the Heart is felt to beat very frequently and incessantly in the Breast because when that passion its tremor urges only a very small portion of Blood is cast forth into the Aorta in every Diastole Wherefore the Aorta being empty and flaggy and wanting a load to promote that it may nor act often in vain it sometimes intermits its contraction Moreover in Malignant or deadly Fevers if at any time the Pulse be frequent and weak it now and then also intermits not that the Heart ceases sometimes from motion for it does then especially labour incessantly but in as much as the Blood is not poured forth into the Aorta in a sufficient quantity at every Diastole so that this having not enough to bestow its labour upon idles sometimes But moreover the Pulse does sometimes intermit because the contraction of the Heart it self is suspended for some turn or its pause is twice as long which indeed any one shall easily perceive in himself or in another by laying his Hand upon his Breast yea those who labour under a weight or oppression of their Breast do plainly perceive of themselves how often their Heart ceases from motion Moreover this Affection does every where seise upon not so much the languishing and those who are ready to die or are dangerously sick as those who are strong enough and in most regards very well Wherefore it ought not according to the Vulgar Opinion to be taken always for an altogether destructive sign From what has been said I think it appears that the cause of this Affection depends not on the mixture or crasis of the Blood but only on the irregular dispensing of the Animal Spirits out of the Cerebel into the Cardiack Nerves and from thence into the Tendons of the Heart For we may suppose that through those Nerves being somewhat obstructed the Animal Spirits descend not to the Tendons of this Muscle in a sufficiently full stream or Influx wherefore when their store is a little defective the Pulse of the Heart ceases now and then for one turn till being by and by recruited with a fresh store of Spirits its action may be renewed Though this Affection do oft want present inconvenience or danger and requires no very hasty Cure yet for preservations sake lest more grievous Diseases follow some Remedies and Curatory Method ought to be used at least let the Diet be rightly ordered in every regard during the remainder of the Patients Life Moreover let a light Course of Physick be prescribed to be observed solemnly every Spring and Fall namely to the end that as much as may be any Morbid Seminaries cast into the Brain or apt to be bred there may be taken away and prevented Hither we refer the Preservatory Method and Medicins which use to be prescribed against Fits of the Apoplexy Willis II. Mr. N. a Man of sixty was ill of a Dysentery for many days and afterwards of a Tertian Ague and at length when he seem'd to begin to recover his Pulse appeared to be intermitting for three or four days with anxiety of mind and dejection of his Spirits The Cause betray'd it self which was a Worm as thick as ones Finger and half as long as ones Arm upon the voiding whereof the Pulse returned to its former state River cent 3. obs 3. A GUIDE TO THE Practical Physician BOOK XV. Of Diseases beginning with the Letter R. Rachitis the
Rickets The Content The Description Cause ' and Cure I. THE Rickets are a Disease proper to Children and peculiar almost to the English Nation The signs thereof are a swelling of the Belly about the Stomach especially on the right side under the region of the Liver the Epiphyses of the Bones at the Joints are too bulky for their Age or in comparison to the rest of the Body especially those of the Arms and Legs The Bones themselves are flexible almost like Wax so that they cannot sustain the weight of the Body and therefore their Legs and Thighs as also often the Back-Bone become crooked Their Head grows too big in proportion to their Bodies and their Chest is strait and their Breast-Bone at first deprest but afterwards sharp The containing Cause is a too thick clammy viscid obstructive moist and cold alimentary Juice in the Bowelâ— namely in one word the Cheesy part of the Bâ—â—od and the more serous part of the Blood in the Bones and Cartilages in the more notable Cavities and External parts And the Disease it self seems to consist in the position of a thicker Cheesy and obstructive Blood in the Bowels and also in a defect of Nutritious Juice owing to the Bones and External parts and in an afflux of serous Humour in lieu thereof The Antecedent Cause which makes and moves the containing is the weakness of the Pulse or a weak Circulation of the Blood which doth not sufficiently irradiate the mass of Blood with an influent heat for the preservation of its Heterogeneous parts in perfect mixture but they are coagulated and heaped up in divers parts The Procatarctick causes are either in the Parents oâ— Nurses or Infants In the Parents the Causes are a Gonorrhoea the Scurvy Kâ—ngs Evil the Lumbago or other long and especially cold and moist Diseases of the Brain and Genitals In the Nurses all such things may be causes as make their Milk thick viscid and obstructive And to the generation and hastening of this Distemper may contribute the bad custom of hiring Nurses to suckle the new-born Infants whose Milk as being old is oâ—t fibrous and thick whereas the serous Colostra or first Milk of the Mother were far better for the tender Infant who has need of Purging as well as Nutrition For the new-born Infant abounds with Phlegmatick Excrements in its Belly and requires a Medicamentous Miâ—k such as the Mothers is for the first Months which may both purge and nourish The Procatarctick Causes in the Infants are to be â—etched from our thick and moist Air and from the peculiar manner of nourishing and treating our Infants For no where that I know of is Flesh granted to Infants so largely and so soon as in England This Disease is most frequent amongst the Children of Persons of Quality next amongst those of the poorest sort and least amongst those of a middle Condition The cause of the first I reckon to be the intemperance of the Parents and because hired Nurses have the care of their Children and of the second besides bad Diet want of Fire long soaking in their Excrements and the use of cold and not well dried Clouts As to the Prognostick such as are born Ricketry or fall into them presently after they are born die all There are more Girls have them than Boys but the former recover sooner and more surely Those whose Sutures do not close but their Brain feels like a Quagmire generally die Those that can go are more easy to cure When the Neck can hardly bear the Head or where there is a great difficulty of breathing they seldom escape but when the Lungs are suppurated never The whole Cure is performed by satisfying these Indications viz. the thick and clammy Humours which obstruct and retard the Circulation of the Blood are to be prepared and evacuated the serous Humours are to be carried off the Circulation of the Blood or the influent heat is to be increased in the outer parts and lastly the External Symptoms are to be taken away by appropriate Remedies These are reckoned to be Specificks in this Disease the Root of Osmund Royal the Livers of Rooks dried in an Oven after the Bread is drawn and poudered also Frogs Livers Our Women anoint the Spine and all the Limbs every day once with this ointment Take of Salt the Leaves of Chamomel Rosemary Sow-Thistle and Lavender of each two handfuls of Wormwood and Laurel of each one handful of black Snails bruised a pound boil them in May Butter till they are all slabby and then strain them Then they sprinkle some of the Pouder of the Root of Osmund Royal in all that they eat or drink Lastly they give twice a day some of the decoction of the said Root and of Speedwell Yarrow Harts-tongue Raisins Lykyrrhize and Anisâ—eâ—s If you will observe a Methodical Cure Purge with Syrup of Roses Syrup of Succory with Rhubarb the Augustan Syrup the Syrup of Roses with Agarick the infusion of Senna and of Rhubarb the Pouder of Rhubarb But thâ—ir tender Bodies are not at the beginning to be toiled with frequent Purging seeing the Matter is so clammy that it will nor follow them therefore after a gentle clearing of the first ways we must come to appropriate and Experienced Preparers amongst which the following is much commended Take of Rosemary half an handful of Liverwort Scabious Agrimony Maidenhair of each an handful of Speedwel three handfuls of the Root of Osmund Royal four ounces of Corinths an handful of Aniseeds four spoonfuls Boil them in six pints of Spring Water to three pints Add to the strained Liquor of Sugar Candy as much as suffices to sweeten it and let lie in it two drachms of yellow Saunders grosly poudered and tied up in a Rag. Let the Patient drink a draught hereof in the morning at four in the afternoon and in the evening After seven days unless a Purgation fo low of it self add to the former Decoction two drachms of Rhubarb and of the Syrup of Roses with Agarick as muâ—h as suffices of which let him drink for seven days more and then return to the former Decoction D. Whistler in disp Med. inaugural de morbo vocat the Rickeâ—s where you have particular Remedies for all the symptoms See also Dr. Glisson's accurate Tract of the Rickets Then make one Issue or more especâ—â—lly make one in the Neck Let him be kept warm and dry Raucedo or Hoarsness The Contents A Pertinacious one cured by help of a Seton I. The efficacy of the Syrup of Hedge-Mustard II. When caused by Exhalations and Vapours it requires a different way of Cure III. I. ONe was ill of a Hoarsness and Erosion of the Almonds of his Ears by reason of a saâ—t and sharp Catarrh He committed himself to a Physician who advised him to have a Seton made for revulsion and evacuation of the sharp Humours but another Physician withstood it and in the mean time the Disease increased At length he
Chesnuts Apples Rice boyled in Milk Pine nuts c. make the Spirits thick Rondeletius p. 1002. V. A certain Nobleman came to me to request a Remedy for his Impotency He was able to lye with elderly Women but was insufficient to get a Maiden-head because at the very first touch he lost his Seed but it was weak and watry like whey He was of a good habit of Body and Fleshy I said because I could not in so healthy a body see any other cause of his Impotency that I thought he had an Ulcer in the Intestinum rectum and that from thence the Parastatae and the other Vessels necessary for the preparation and ejaculation of Seed being continually blasted with a putrid vapor were not sufficient to breed so much Seed as was sufficient for a long tension of the Member and a florid coition While they wondered that I should mention such a cause I told them I had formerly seen the same case in Italy and that I remembred I had read of the like in Hist Mirah Marcel Donati I immediately ordered a Suppository only of Honey and it came out besmeared with much Pus Then I ordered some brine to be injected by a Syringe which he said after several injections that is when the Ulcer was cleansed made him smart much I judged when the Ulcer was healed H. ab Heer 's Spadac Obs 10. that he would be well But he neglected the Cure and died VI. I have learned from Soldiers that while they were led through Rivers so as that water came up to their genitals Ph. Salmuth that they were thereby made more Effeminate VII They are not to be harkened to who after over much Venus forbid bleeding Of which opinion I was formerly whilest I follow'd my Masters rules to a tittle from which I immediately declined when I begun to act my reason with Judgment and to the great benefit of several who either immediately or the next day after coition have fallen into grievous Feavers and tedious pain in the Kidneys From whom truly I did not take much less blood then if Coition had not preceeded taking my Indication rather from the nature of the Disease and its greatness and from the fulness of the Veins than from a false opinion of superfluous evacuation Because the languidness of strength which follows coition is not caused so much by evacuation of the sanguineous matter although Seed be bred of Blood as from the wasting the strength of the Body by the toil and heat which necessarily attend Coition But admit that not only the vital Spirits but also the animal and natural be spent sooner and in greater plenty by superfluous Venus than by any other laborious exercise of the Body Whether therefore is there so great an evacuation made of the matter that is in the venous kind that if Inflammations arise in the Kidneys which are often caused by too much Coition blood should not be let when the said Inflammations are raised by afflux of hotter Blood into the said parts and the Loins that are heated with too much motion Certainly no yea it ought to be taken away immediately while it is fluid lest being by long staying fixt to the part it cause an abscess Nor must we spare Bleeding if a Feaver take one without pain of the Loins if the greatness of the Disease require it since they that are given to Venus for the most part fair high Botallus to enable themselves Medicines especially made use of by eminent Physicians Against Salacity 1 Glow-worms which shine in the Night if they be eaten take away Venus wholly ¶ It is a peculiar Remedy if 3 drachms or half an ounce of Coriander be taken with a little water and Sugar 2. Omitting purging this Decoction is very much commended Take of white water Lilly 1 ounce and an half Purslain Lettuce Mint each 1 handful Rue 3 drachms seed of Agnus castus 1 drachm and an half flowers of white water Lilly 1 pugil boyl them in water P. Forestus To one pound of the Colature add of Syrup of Poppy of water Lilly each half an ounce mix them 3. Destilled Oyl of Rue is excellent taken inwardly and applied outwardly Hartmannus in a few drops 4. The use of Salt Nitre in the water of water-Lilly morning and evening is admirably good Hofmannus in too great Salacity 5. This is an excellent Remedy Take Oyl of Roses 1 drachm and an half Chamomil half an ounce juice of Nightshade or Housleek or Purslain half an ounce Argenti spuâ—a and Ceruss each 2 drachms a little Wax and Vinegar Mix them N. Piso make an Unguent 6. The immersion of the virile Member in cold water makes it immediately fall Fel. Platerus Against Impotency 1. Take the Patient's Urine as much as you please boyl it in a pot covered Joh. Agricola and if any one have bewitched him he that did it will be in great anxiety will discover himself and take off the Inchantment 2. If a live Mullet be suffocated in Wine and a Man drink of it J. Caes Baricellus Athenaeus holds he will be unable to use Venery 3. Take of Mel Anacardinum fresh Butter each half an ounce Boyl them together till they grow thick stirring them well The dose is the quantity of a Pease as you go to bed It excites Venus wonderfully 4. If the right great Toe be anointed with Oyl in which Cantharides have been dissolved P. Bayrus it will cause an admirable erection 5. Orchis Root whose Root is cover'd with a red skin but is white within Crollius does powerfully excite Venus especially given in Wine 6. The continual use of Essence of Amber is of admirable efficacy in curing Impotency to Venus Pet. Joh. Faber For there is nothing more effectual for restoring the innate Spirits 7. Extractum Diasatyrionis is most excellent in this case Rod. à Fonseca yea and the Extract of the Roots of Satyrion it self if a Pill of it be given is excellent to excite coition 8. Partridges dung dissolved in its Gall Grulingius and anointed on the Glans does wonderfully encrease Venus 9. The sperm of a Stag killed in Coition is a great arcanum to provoke Venus Hofmannus 10. Take of Oyl or Essence of Saffron 8 or 10 drops a little Aurum fulminans well edulcorated let it be given in Malmsey Wine when the party goes to bed It strengthens Venus to admiration Cunrad Kunrath ¶ Essence or Tincture of Salt impregnated with Sol is an excellent strengthener in Impotency 11. Nettle seed boyled in Butter and given for 3 dayes powerfully helps in Coition Joh. Marquardus 12. This is a most effectual Unguent Take of Oyl of Elder 1 drachm Pyrethrum Euphorbium each 1 drachm Musk 5 grains let the Palms of the Hands Hieron Mercurialis the Soles of the Feet and the Genital be anointed 13. Nothing is found more
corruptive Ferment to which moreover an addition of Putrefaction is made by the Blood in like manner depraved Thirdly if perhaps these causes be wanting so as the Glandulous humour of the Skin has contracted no fault neither from the Blood nor from its own stagnation yet it is certain that the virulent infection communicated from without does nevertheless render it prolifick as to these Diseases This is exceedingly manifest from vulgar observation inasmuch as they that are best in health and have as good a Constitution as can be scarce ever sleep without harm in the same Bed with an Itchy Person or where an Itchy Person has lain nor only so but Itchy Persons Linnen washed in the same washing with other mens often impart their infection Certainly the Infection of no one Disease is more easily and certainly propagated the Plague only excepted then this of the Itch. Willis II. Whether is Bleeding convenient The Conciliator answers affirmatively but with a limitation that is when the matter of the Itch is yet contained within the Body for when the matter of it is blood mixt with sharp humours it follows that bleeding is a convenient Remedy Besides the effect is not taken away till first the cause be removed which may this way properly be done Yea for an Universal Disease such as the Itch is an Universal Remedy such as letting Blood is seems convenient But when nothing more of the peccant humour is in the Veins there is no need of Bleeding Distinguish therefore between the Itch that is already come which is not increased by any further afflux of matter and one that is but in coming III. Two primary Indications occur concerning the Cure of the Itch The first Curatory which respects two things That the Glandulous humour its corruptive ferment being utterly extinct may be reduced to a right temper Secondly that the Pores and passages of the Skin being freed from the Ichorus Concretions may recover their former strength and thorough passage The second Indication which is Preservatory has a care of two things First to prevent the Impurities and Corruptive Infection of the Itch as they fall from the Skin while the ferment is in subduing from regurgitating into the Blood and Nervous Liquor and not only from causing disorders in them but moreover as it is often usual from bringing some more grievous mischief upon the Brain and Heart Secondly to endeavour that the Infection of the Humours and noble Parts first contracted from the Itchy matter while the faults in the Skin are amending may be eradicated All these intentions of Cure may be complicated together by using inward and outward Remedies both at once or they may be used first one and then another namely that the Morbifick matter being disseated may not be able to run any whither and lye hid in any hole but may totally be removed out of every corner by Medicines aimed at both inwardly and outwardly Therefore Purges ought both to begin and make an end of this method of Cure Although Helmont treats a Cathartick Medicine with high disdain and as it were leads it in Triumph because of it self it does not Cure the Itch yet we may affirm that this Disease is scarce ever easily Willis but never safely Cured without this sort of Physick IV. A certain man who was troubled with an exceeding Itching washed his Body with an infusion of Sublimate but within a few hours there were Blisters raised all over his Body in a little while after he was so troubled with faintings and swoonings Borellus Cent. 2. Obs 92. that he was very nigh death but being rubbed with Cordial things he escaped ¶ A Monk neglecting Universals killed the Itch with Oyntments presently upon which defluxions of Salt Humours supervening and falling upon his Lungs he spate Blood at times and at length an Hectick coming upon him he died Velschius Obs 65. When he was dead his Lungs were found altogether corrupted and most of them hardened into a Scirrhus V. He that would Cure the Itch must first of all cleanse the Blood for it lodges in the Saline Vitriolate and Aluminous impurities thereof And Mercurius dulcis and Vitae Arcanum Corallinum Extractum Panchymagogum Hartmannus and the like exterging things perform the Cure VI. But if there be any Obstruction it must first be removed before you purge Idem without which an inveterate Itch will scarce give way VII If the Itch be contumacious and itch very much sweats happily Cure it given for 20 dayes one after another raised with the white fixt flowers of Antimony in a decoction or spirit of Guaiacum Thus I cured a student in Physick Idem and a certain Bohemian VIII Yet we must abstain if the affection come from a hot and dry intemperature of the Liver for by the administration of hot things it grows more effervescent a greater adustion of atrabilarious humours succeeding A certain Student being troubled with a dry Itch all over him whose body was of a hot Constitution by the use of this decoction Take of China Salsa parilla each 6 drachms wood of Sassafras roots of Rhodium Cichory Scorzonera each 1 ounce infuse them in 12 pounds of water boyl half away was so inflamed all over his Body that he was forced to desist from his Cure Besides I have observed as bad an event of Cure in other Itchy Persons Augustinus Thonerus Obs 3. l. 4. and them that were troubled with the Lepra Graecorum although so great an excess of hot things were not committed IX A Senator of Vlm while he tarried at Geneva was infected with the Itch by the advice of the Physitians 18 Cupping Glasses were set at one time to divers out parts of his Body When Mr M Mullerus was infected with the Itch while he lived at Venice 24 Cupping-Glasses were by the advice of his Physicians applied to him and both of them were made free of their nastiness with good success But though these Cures succeeded according to desire nevertheless if any Physician should attempt to go upon such a process of Cure among us he must never expect Idem Obs 2. that his advice would be followed X. When I could Cure the Itch in the hands Glanderpiâ—â— especially in the right by no Medicines I took it away by making an Issue in the right Arm. XI Empiricks make a Girdle two inches broad of a list of Cloth anointed with crude Mercury killed the vulgar way and Hogs-lard to be girt about the naked Loins for them that are infected with the Itch and who would in their Travels be free from Lice A lusty Matron of about 40 years old fat and of a moist constitution of Body when in the Month of February she had put on such a Girdle for a small Itch and had worn it for three Weeks night and day she indeed was rid of her Itch but there followed a Salivation exulceration of the Gums heaviness in the
In the performance of these tasks necessary to Sleep the order is not alwayes one and the same for sometimes the Animal Spirits do first and of their own accord forsake these spaces the Nervous juice running immediately into the vacant places And sometimes the Nervous juice mixt plentifully with the Serum first invades these passages driving thence the Spirits though against their will and forcing them inwards But the operation of Coffee seems contrary to both these effects for immediately upon drinking of it its adust Particles that are very nimble and restless being carried into the Blood do put its Liquor a little in fusion and force the serous Liquor to the Kidneys and habit of the Body Moreover when they arrive at the Brain they easily open its Pores which by their mobility they keep very open whilest they joyning with the Spirits despoyl them of all their other Particles as well Sleepy as Nutritious and so being light and fleet do put them every where into motion and cause them to be expanded through the whole compass of the Brain when it is free from all gravative oppletion and obstruction Yet in the mean time while the Spirits are in this manner constantly and unweariedly exercised the Nervous juices are deprived of access and assimilation their stores are not sufficiently and after their wonted manner recruited indeed the old Spirits are rendred more nimble and unwearied but the recruits of new ones are diminished Hence it may most easily appear that this drink though in common use and in some cases very useful and medical perhaps in others is hurtful and not so wholesome And that the matter is so not only reason but vulgar observation does commonly shew in as much as excessive Coffee-drinkers oftentimes grow lean and subject to the Palsie and impotency to Venus The first effect is so frequent and every where known that we only therefore forbid them the drinking of Coffee because it inclines to leanness Because when the Blood by continual and too frequent use becomes sharp and retorrid it is therefore less fit for to nourish As to the Diseases of the Brain and Nervous kind I reckon that when I am sometime called to cure them no man prescribes it to be drunk so frequently as I for it is my custome to send them more to the Coffee-Houses than to Apothecaries Shops Truly in most Cephalick Sicknesses that is Head-ache Vertigo Lethargy Catarrhe and the like where there is a moist Brain but a slowness and torpidness of the Animal Spirits with a cold constitution or not very hot and a watry Blood Coffee is often drunk with advantage for drunk every day it clarifies and illustrates both parts of the Soul and dispels all mists of the Functions whatever But on the contrary they that are lean and of a Cholerick Constitution or Melancholick who have a sharp and retorrid Blood a hot Brain and too eagre and restless animal Spirits ought altogether to abstain from that drink because it further perverts the Spirits and Humours and renders them altogether unapt and unable to undergo any Functions For I have observed many who have not had sufficient plenty of Spirits and besides troubled with the Vertigo palpitation of the Heart trembling of the Limbs or numbness have been worse as to those Diseases upon drinking of Coffee and have presently perceived an unusual languidness in their whole Body Willis V. A Maid about 20 years old was about the beginning of Autumn held with a double Tertian for 12 dayes and was cured of it by Remedies Her Fits returned again but some new Symptomes came in the Fit namely much Sleep redness of Face prominence of Eyes a pricking pain in the left side and a great difficulty in swallowing I suspected an hysterick affection was complicated with the Ague fit and I prescribed her hysterick Remedies notwithstanding which the Disease continued After a few dayes the Symptomes returned without the Ague which confirmed my opinion for the pain of her left side went to her right sometimes pricking pains appeared in divers parts of the Abdomen with a pain in the Stomach and loathing and sometimes a Fit of the Mother Before the Fit came she took by my advice 4 little Pills of Laudanum and a little after the Fit came but within 2 hours when the Laudanum began to work all things abated she was well the whole Night whereas the foregoing she had been tormented Riverius Cent. 2. Obs 20. Hence this Paradox may be gathered that a Sleepy Disease may be Cured by the use of Laudanum VI. In a Coma our chief endeavour must be to prevent the efflux of new morbifick matter into the Brain and to discuss and get out what is got thither already Moreover the animal Spirits must be awakened and all torpidness and sleepyness taken from them To this end we must Purge Bleed Cup Blister make application of revulsives and discutients give Cephalick Medicines and such especially as are indued with a volatil Salt and use several other wayes of Administration But if this Disease follow some other Sickness or come upon any Man whose Body is already much wasted his Blood vitiated or much depauperated we must first consider well of Bleeding and Purging before we do either nay for the most part we must abstain from them yet sometimes that the conjunct cause of the Disease or the matter fixt in the Brain may be put in Motion it may be convenient to take away a small quantity of Blood either by setting Leeches to the Fore Head or Temples or by Cupping and Scarifying the Shoulders Willis VII I saw a lusty young Priest taken with a Coma after a relapse into a Fever with a tremor in one side without sense for want of Strength in the Parts When he had taken a very sharp Clyster with 3 drachms of Coloquintida and 2 ounces of Honey of Roses and Salt in it without any effect Praevotius ordered him 7 Blisters which doing little good J. Rhodius Câ—nt 1. Obs 36. they proceeded to make a cautery in his Head behind upon which he amended VIII The strong scented stillatitious Liquor of Lavender rubbed on the Forehead and temples revives those that are taken with a small Catalepsis a Hemiplexia and now and then with the falling Sickness and oftentimes with Swooning But where there is plenty of Humours especially if they be mixt with the Blood the use of this is not safe nor of any composition drawn off Wine in which such Herbs Flowers or Seeds and certain Spices have been macerated which most People give indifferently For by the use of these hot things which fill the Head the Disease is increased and the Patient indangered especially when Bleeding and Purging go not before I thought fit to give this caution because commonly some unlearned Physicians and over bold Apothecaries do immediately give such Compositions and things of the like nature not only to Apoplectick Persons but also to those
reason whereof the Womb is made lax or dried up by application and the Pain be eased and the part made softer that it may with less Pain be reduced to its place without Inflammation Therefore you must first purge the Body and use fomentations and emollient Things then have the Womb reduced by the Midwife's fingers and last of all let her rub her Hands this way and that over all her Belly towards the Navil with Oyl all over the region of the Womb with a gentle compression till you find the Womb separated from the Part to which it sticks and reduced to its former Seat Yet have a care in this Work that the Menstrua be not near nor great store of Humors in the Womb lest something worse grow upon the evil was there before You must have first a care of this and then anoint the Belly with Oyl of Rue white Lillies Orice Chamaemill Bayberies strowing some of the Powders of the same Things c. To accompany with a Man will be good Mercatus whereby the Neck of the Womb is better untwisted VII Fumes are good for such Women as through Cold have little or no Menstrua especially if it be joyned with an aqueous humidity Fumes of Spices saith Hippocrates bring down the Muliebria But Steams are good for them the Mouth of whose Wombs is stopt with Cold so that they cannot receive the Seed Yet all of them have this quality to abate the Cold of the Womb Mercatus that the Seed be not exstinguished VIII Hippocrates lib. de Natur. Mulier § 19. bids us attenuate and give a Medicine that purges downwards and apply to the Womb things that purge it downwards and that cause Flatulencies But you cannot extenuate the Body before you have often purged the Body and Womb by which Purging I suppose all discussing and drying up of the Humor must be understood Nor is this to be slighted and that cause Flatulencies for it must be believed that whatever things do dilate and any way distend the Womb and lay the Passages of it more open which are pressed with Fat and the Cawl are good Medicines for the Womb which without doubt I think is done by such things as cause Flatulencies because they are apt to distend the Part where they are Mercatus IX In cold and moist Women this Electuary will be proper whether the Moisture be in the whole Body or only in the Womb. Take of the conserve of Eryngo and Citron rind each 1 ounce conserve of Rosemary and candied Ginger each 1 ounce and an half ashes of a Bulls pizzle and ashes of a Hare's Womb each half an ounce Pulvis diagalang diamosch dulcis diambr. each 3 drachms Pine and Hazle Nuts each 3 drachms a little Sugar with a sufficient quantity of Syrup of Citron Peel make an Electuary Of which take the quantity of an Hazle Nut a good while after Meat when she goes to sleep This Conserve is most proper for such as are cold and moist all their Body over for if the Womb only were cold and moist it were better to dry it by receiving a Fume through a Tunnel And it may be made of odoriferous Driers and light obstringents The Electuary will be proper for such if the Dose of the Pine and Hazle-Nuts after they have been steeped in Milk and a little Honey mixt together be increased now and and then renewing the Milk that it grow not sowr Such an one will restore the dried Body and breed store of Seed In these Electuaries many other drying Things are used which if they were taken dry by themselves would rather do harm than good but because they are mixt with Syrups and tempered with sweet things are proper as shavings of Ivory Goat's-horn seed of Hartwort pith of Ash seeds they call it Birds tongue and Sparrows-brains may be added but they are better taken with Meat than Mixt with the foresaid Things for they do good because they breed much Seed which they cannot do if they be taken in a small quantity It were better to take the brain of a Pig or a Hog well boyled with some wild Marjoram and after to eat it fryed in a Frying-pan for it nourishes much and increases Seed Electuaries for salacious Women must be made of gentle astringents and things that breed store of Seed not very hot as Take of preserved Myrobalans Emblici and Chebuli each No 2. Citron Peel candied with Sugar the rest with Honey 1 drachm Pine Nuts steeped in Milk seed of Ash so steeped each half an ounce with Syrup of sweet-smelling Apples make an Electuary adding of shavings of Ivory and Goats horn each 2 drachms They that are not propense to Venus may wear Amber or Musk about them and perfumed Gloves and they may lay them at Night especially under their Pillows unless they be subject to Fits of the Mother Rondeletius for then it were better to tye these sweet things to the Hips X. If Sweats be frequently provoked in moist Women because they evacuate the whole Body it will be very good for them Upon which account they may sometime drink a Decoction of Guajacum sparingly after the usual manner Which while a Woman used by my Prescription Platerus she was with Child before she had done taking it XI The use of drying Natural Bathes for a Month's time and above is the last refuge of Barren Women To which they go on that account and sit several hours in them and Sweat Which will be more effectual if they be by Nature also actually hot as those that are Aluminous and Nitrous and smell of Lime called Lead-Bathes which are common Sulphureous Bathes also which because they have a very emollient Faculty are the last Remedy in the natural hardness of the Womb which make sound Women Barren and because they dry they will also be good for others the Salt Water of the Sea also and of Wells heated by Art and used will do good either by themselves Idem or with some convenient decoction XII When the Woman has been prepared by Medicines that she may more easily Conceive several things should be observed First that the time most opportune for Conception is when the Woman is well cleared of her Menstrua that is when they cease for then she more easily receives retains and cherishes it But if the Woman be thin and have little Blood it is better to lye with her before they come or in the time of interval So Aetius must be understood when he writes that a Woman must be laid with when her Menses are at hand Secondly it should be considered concerning Coïtion that it should be after Meat and before Sleep for succeeding Sleep relieves the Weariness and helps retention of the Seed Hippocrates indeed advises to Venus after Sleep Primirosius de m. m. l. 4. c. 1. Labor Meat Sleep Venus all Moderate But he has respect to Health not Conception XIII After the Womb is
such a Body is either Plethorick or Cacochymick or otherwise full of ill Humours I accommodate my Medicines to evacuate them especially if they be the cause of it and when there is a great mass or pravity of Humours Platerus and the Kings-Evil is bad and breaks out in many places then I give stronger Purges ¶ As to evacuation unless there be other occasion for it it ought not as commonly it is to be so much insisted on for one Swelling as if the Body were full of the Scroffles especially since otherwise there is small hope of Cure Idem III. I find divers opinions concerning Vomiting Aetius whom Avicenna follows commends Vomitiâ—g but others wholly condemn it I find some who go a middle way and say it is not good before Purging but after But I am of opinion that none should Vomit in the Kings-Evil and I am of this opinion for this reason Because though the antecedent matter may in some measure be diminished by Vomitting yet the impacted matter is so far from being thereby removed that it is rather the more exasperated Besides it is certain that the Head is extreamly filled with Vomiting For look but on those that Vomit and you may see the jugular Veins strut and the whole Head swell and grow hot so that without all question the Head is filled with Vomiting Which made Hippocrates lib. de loc in hom greatly to condemn vomiting in Diseases of the Ears and Eyes and for the same reason why it is not proper for Diseases of the Ears Mercurialis it may not be proper for Diseases near the Ears IV. To stop the matter which is in Flux Frictions Cuppings Vesicatories applied to the Head are proper and as soon as I observe Swellings arise in the Necks of Children I find no more present Remedy than to exulcerate the Skin of the Head for this is the most proper diversion and evacuation But we must have a care not to draw Blisters in Childrens Heads with Cantharides for as I have often observed in this age they often cause great torture and pissing of Blood But it is better to do it with Mustard Nettles Hony-suckle Idem yet with great moderation and prudence V. But whether in stopping the matter which is in flux may we use astringent and repelling Medicines Galen ad Glauconem speaking to him tells him that he gave astringent Medicines for the Kings Evil and as Akakius interprets it repellent From which place any one may gather that the use of them is proper but never except in the beginning Besides in Rhases lib. de Apostem it is found that Plantain is very good in the Cure of the Kings-Evil But now Plantain is a Medicine that binds and repells Wherefore the use of such Medicines seems convenient in curing the Kings-Evil But there are reasons on the contrary side because whether we have regard to the matter or the places suffering we are very far from any reason for ever using them for the matter is cold thick and impact and therefore can by no means be repelled and in respect of the place they are not convenient because if we find the matter subtil and hot since it is the place of the Glands and next to the Brain it self the matter must never be repelled from these places lest it be forced from a more ignoble part into the Brain Therefore Galen 3. 3. K. T. sayes we must never use repelling Medicines in the Parotides And he in 14. m. m. sayes in express terms that no other cure should be used in the Kings-Evil than such as is good for a Scirrhus and hardened Tumours in which he advises to act only by emollients and dissolvers and all Physicians have followed this way yea Aetius sayes that the Kings-Evil beginning in Children must be softned dissolved and discussed so that no scope is left for them who think that the use of Astringent Medicines may be convenient in the beginning of the Kings-Evil But they that understand Galen speaking in his own Language may easily remove this Scruple because all Interpreters have been mistaken in this place For the word which he uses 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 they have very ill translated to astringe for it rather signifies to restrain or diminish or make smooth so that Galen's opinion in that place is that he gave Medicines which restrain and keep down the Scroffles and this may easily be gathered to be true because in the same Bâ—â—â— cap. 4. he uses â—he very same word and the iâ— erpreter has translated it very right in that place It mâ—â—â— not therefore be thought that clear-sighted Galen â—â—â—â—ld be mistaken in so plain a case as to use astringents in the Kings-Evil But what shall we say to Rhases I say that Plantain may be used either green or dry In the green the abstersive faculty is almost wholly drowned in the moisture but in the dry it is great Which when Galen 6. Simplic med cap. de Arnoglossa would teach us he says that the Leaves and Roots of Plantain dried are good to open obstructions in the Liver and Kidneys Therefore when Rhases commends Plantain he means the dry because it cleanses dissolves and discusses Idem ¶ Yet Rondeletius pract l. 2. c. 4. affirms that he has cured several of the Kings-Evil beginning by laying Cypress nuts upon the part according to Dioscorides his precept ¶ Wharton also Adenogr c. 40. sayes that the external cure of the Kings-Evil which is managed by repellents and discutients is not without hazard because the matter may very easily recur to the inner parts and breed there more dangerous Swellings of the same sort or may encrease these that were bred there before VI. Sometimes Sweating is proper if abundance of Scroffles dispersed up and down the Body do show there are excrementitious ill Humours especially in Phlegmatick and moist Bodies But in hot and Cholerick Bodies sweating is not so proper for it only more inflames the Body and Humours In which case Surgeons rashly think to cure by this one Remedy as they think they can all external Diseases and so they often emaciate Mens Bodies to no purpose Platerus VII As we find that Narcoticks outwardly applied have a great dissolving faculty so also if applied in the Kings-Evil they will do much As leaves of Mandrake Henbane Poppy bruised or roasted a little under Coals or boiled or used any other way by themselves Also Mandrake root or powder added thereto c. The rubbing also of the Scroffles till they grow red does also conduce something to the discussion of them And if it be used before the application of Topicks it better disposes them to receive their virtue Idem VIII By a potential Cautery which making an eschar in the Skin without pain opens the Scroffles I have often got them out Or I have laid them bare that they might be better suppurated by applying Medicines But it is dangerous to
by Cohobation He commends above all others Spirit of Sal Ammoniac inwardly and outwardly mixt with a due vehicle Medicines especially made use of by eminent Physicians 1. Drink every day out of a Mans Skull and the Kings-Evil will then vanish ¶ The Mushrome that grows on a Birch-tree put in Wine and drunk has a singular Virtue in gradually curing and wasting the Kings-Evil Agricola 2. It has been observed that Scroffles and other Tumors fall if the Part affected be rubbed with a dead Man's Hand for so the Swellings gradually vanish Th. Bartholinus as the dead Body rots by degrees 3. Root of Vervain hung about the Neck of one that has the Kings-Evil gives wonderful and unexpected relief ¶ They say Silver-Knapweed is marvellous good also red Poppy steeped in Wine and bruised and the Mucilage applied to the Swelling is a Medicine that does good by tempering and has those Virtues which we require in Medicines for the Kings-Evil over drying things being excluded Paricellus 4. Three Toads boyled in Oyl Olive in a glazed Earthern Vessel make an excellent Oyl for the Kings-Evil but the Fumes of them while the Oyl is in making are dangerous Therefore keep that Vessel close and have a care First they apply Arsenick to the Scroffles and blister them then corrode the Part with sublimate and use the said Oyl which will be yet better if you infuse the salt of Toads in it Borellus 5. This Potion has been often tried which not only takes away the Kings-Evil but all Mucosities of the Throat Take of Broom-flower Water 3 ounces drink it warm with Sugar in the Morning The Powder of Broom-flowers does the same mixt with Honey of Roses Sebast Cortilio 6. The lesser Celandine has 4 or 5 grains like Wheat growing to its root which are used to draw out the Scroffles with great success Crollius 7. Their Cure depends upon the Meazles of Hogs which may be calcined and sprinkled on them and Oyntments may be made of them which are very good for the Cure of these Swellings and these Unguents may be fortified with distilled Oyl of Hogs-Lard or distilled Oyl of Hogs-Meazles which is a specifick against the Kings-Evil Joh. Pet. Faber 8. If the Kings-Evil must be taken away by causticks there is no better Medicine to take them away than sublimated Arsenick but you must have a care Guil. Fabricus that the Parts near the Swellings do not Putrefie or Inflame 9. An excellent Electuary to take away the Kings-Evil is thus made Take of the Bones of a Hen the flesh whereof has been boyled off dry them and powder them Take of this Powder and Seed of Sesamum each alike as much as you will with Honey make an Electuary Take a drachm at a time Morning and Evening all the decrease of the Moon till the new Rod. à Fonseca and then repeat it the following decrease of the Moon 10. The use of the Powder of Sponge will cause it to decrease if you drink as much as you can take upon a Knife's point in Cinnamon-water The Sponge must not be burnt Grembs for then its seminal Virtue is destroyed 11. This is admirable for the Kings-Evil Throat-rupture Parotides and all hardness Take the leaves of Cypress neither the tenderest nor the hardest reduce them to powder Sprinkle them with strong Wine and turn them till the Body of them turn to dreggs Lay it upon the Scroffles or Rupture and the third day take the Medicine you will find the place contracted which must be squeezed out with the Fingers Let this Medicine be repeated and on the Seventh or Ninth day at farthest the Kings-Evil will be gone to a Miracle Hollerius 12. Take of root of Fern Spleenwort Dwarf-elder each 3 ounces cut them and boyl them in the best Wine then pour away the Wine bruise the Roots and add of live Sulphur 1 ounce ashes of Cockle-shells 2 drachms With equal parts of Honey and Vinegar reduce them into the Form of a Cataplasm lay it upon the Scroffles it consumes them wonderfully Fr. Joel 13. There is scarce any Plant of so great Power in softning and discussing Swellings in the Kings-Evil Laurembergius c. as the bulb of Cornflag and Hogs-Lard outwardly applied 14. It has been found by experience that burnt Allum powdered if half a drachm of it have been given in Wine alone or mixt with other discutient and drying Powders Platerus has done much good in this Case 15. Root of Figwort eaten for 10 dayes every Morning fasting cures the Kings-Evil Arnold Villanoanus Stupor or Numbness The Contents Sweat must be promoted if it be from a Melancholick Humor I. Some is cured by Bleeding II. It is to be cured especially by Bathing III. The Numbness of the Thighs ending in the voiding of Stones IV. I. WHen the whole Body is evacuated the matter comprehended in the Nerves must be digested to which end Sweating is reckoned altogether necessary for the portion of the Melancholick Humor which is the cause of Numbness is serous and acid rather than thick and may therefore be got away by Sweat But you must be very careful in composing the decoction so that it may be drying in the passive and temperate in the active Qualities Wherefore Sarsa may be the basis of the decoction to which may be added China Mastich-tree wood of Rosemary and Tamarisk making the infusion in Chicory and Betony-water and when it is almost boyled add an handful of Ground-pine II. Hippocrates cured Stimargus his Maid of Trembling by plentiful Bleeding So I have several times cured Plethorick Bodies of Trembling and Numbness by repeated Bleeding Idem III. Pumping requires the Head should be exactly Purged a Sheeps-skin can but make lax and resolve a little The putting a Limb into an Ox new killed is good rather for shrunk Sinews than for such as are lax and full of Moisture But here is occasion for some Medicine that is of subtil Parts very penetrating and dissolving but not hardning because the Nervous kind is hard and dense Such as is Sulphur wherefore sulphureous Bathes are a Remedy of great use used for several dayes And because they penetrate and dissolve the Humors but do not streng hen the Parts therefore afterwards a strengthning Bathe must be used Idem IV. I lately had a Nobleman under Cure who brought the Advice of the Physicians that had by common consent prescribed him Medicines for the Palsy When I predicted to him that within four dayes he would be eased by voiding fragments of a Stone he laughed at me and my Prediction because no Body else had told him of any such thing nor had he ever voided any Gravel Yet at length with much ado he was perswaded and found that I foretold truth And the Cause is this the Branch of the vena cava descending one goes to the Kidney another to the Thigh and a
liquid Amber But she replied that nothing could come more grateful to her I ordered therefore the Galbanum Plaister to be pulled off and to apply in its room another sweeter scented of Tacamahaca and instead of Hysterick waters smelling of Castor I recommended to her Citron Cinnamon water usual in this place in a spoonful or two of which I gave a scruple of faecula Bryoniae and indeed the Symptomes abated till she applied the following Liniment taken up in Cotton to her clitoris Take of black Balsome of Peru Oyl of Jasmin not rank each 2 dramchs the best Civet half a scruple Upon the use whereof her most urgent Symptomes as the Inflation and rumbling of the Hypochondria and of all her Belly Vertigo difficulty of Breathing Swooning c. ceased yea she was free 6 whole Months whereas before now and then she was taken with them and especially when her Menses were at hand The latter History contrary to the former is thus Once when I went into the Country it happened that I turned into the Royal Mannor of Ipstrup and there I found some of my familiar Friends making merry being admitted into the Parlor where the Women were and holding in my left Hand the Herb Monorchis or Orchis odorata moschata Jo. Baubini which smells of Saffron and Musk tied in a Nosegay lo all the rest being silent one of them all on a sudden began to complain of the fragrancy of my Nosegay and desired me to put it away affirming she could not bear it and I readily obeyed her fearing that she being Barren for Barren Women and old Maids it is plain are subject to uterine Symptomes might fall into Fits Therefore they that practise Physick must avoid sweet scents S. Pauli Quadr. Botan class 2. tit Angelica when for the most part the weaker Sex is easily offended with sweet scents but not at all with strong ones VI. Whether it be lawful to use Titillations and Frictions and so to irritate Nature to void the Seed let Divines inquire It is no absurdity to believe it lawful because then the Seed is voided against the Womens will and without their consent and such Seed is not at all prolifick but the poyson of the Body not only an useless but also a noxious excrement as we take away Blood the matter of Seed and all Morbifick matter And the Cure cannot otherwise succeed Why may not it be lawful in the like manner to evacuate Seed when it proves the cause of so dangerous a Symptome A Castro as we do other Morbifick causes VII It is an usual thing also for some to stop the Mouth and Nose and to stop the Breath that so Nature may be excited which is said to have been the opinion of Haly which yet to me seems dangerous for when Breathing is almost abolished it cannot be wholly stopt and intercepted without hazard of the animal Some think this Remedy is not of use in the Paroxysm but just before it comes because by the retention of the Breath the upper Parts force their excrements to the lower as appears in making water and going to stool and in such as have a Rupture for by holding ones Breath they are expelled with more violence It is probable also that the same happens to the Womb. Yet Vallesius approves of it in the Fit so the holding ones Breath be but short gentle and interpolated for so the innate heat being strengthned disperses Hysterick Vapors and drives the Womb to the lower parts But Sylvius is so far from thinking that the Breath should be held that he rather thinks it the best way to blow in ones Nostrils for he sayes that makes the Womb go down immediately Primirosius VIII A certain healthy and corpulent Woman after she had taken a Medicine to make her Conceive was taken with a pain in her Belly and with griping in the Guts and she swelled There was shortness of Breath and perplexity of pain and she swooned five times so that she seemed dead nor did her present pain or difficulty of breathing abate by giving her a Vomit with cold water But about 30 Amphorae of cold water were poured on her Body and truly this only seemed to do her good and afterward Bile came plentifully downwards Hippocr l. 5. Epid. But while the pain lasted she could not go to stool and she lived About 30 Amphorae of cold water were poured on her Body A wonderful thing and which could never have been attempted but by a generous Physician for an Amphora holds eight Congij Vallesius a Congius holds six Sextarii and a Sextarius holds twenty ounces IX Chymists commend Vitriolum Martis for this Disease and they give a grain or two of it with a double quantity of Sugar for many dayes in Wine or some proper Liquor yea it may be given to 12 grains with some proper Conserve Cream of Tartar given frequently is very good to cure this Disease These two Medicines do good not only by opening but by cooling For in this Disease there is often a hot imtemperature fixt to the Womb arising from Blood retained within its Veins and heated As Galen sayes there is an Inflammation of the Hypochondria in Hypochondriack Melancholy from the Blood retained therein by obstructions and over heated Therefore things which may cool the Womb are most proper here such as Semicupes Vinegar and water taken in at the Mouth and by way of Clyster and such like A Cholerick Woman 20 years old when she was oppressed with a Fit and had her Face red was immediately Cured by a Clyster of Vinegar and water A certain Maid was suddenly taken with a most grievous pain which afflicted her Right side and Loyns so cruelly that she was forced to roar out continually Because there was no Fever I believed it was an hysterick affection I therefore immediately gave her a Glass of Oxycrate which within a quarter of an hour she Vomited up again with much Phlegm When her Vomiting was over she drunk another glass of Oxycrate and her pain immediately vanished and she was perfectly cured ¶ Here the History may be added related by Harvey in his tract de partu of a Woman who was long sick of Hysterick Symptomes that would yield to no sort of Remedies who after many years at length recovered her health by the falling out of the Womb Because the Womb being exposed to the external Air was cooled and so its inflammation and hot intemperature was abated X. The following Pills are very good in a very violent fit and use certainly to stop it Riverius Take of Assa foetida 1 scruple Castor 6 grains Laudanum 3 grains Make 3 or 4 Pills let her take them presently ¶ Horstius tom 2. p. 398. advises well that in making up Laudanum opiatum Hoeferus Herc. Med. l. 7. c. 2. part of it be kept without Saffron that it may more safely be given which has often cured sick Women to
a Miracle XI Blisters applied to the Hips are of use to prevent Fits But I have often observed that Sinapisms applied to the Hips 2 or 3 hours before the Fit have diverted it Fortis which is a Remedy of less trouble XII Like as where the said Suffocation is urgent Castor is deservedly preferred before many other things and its Tincture with rectified Spirit of Wine and Spirit of Sal Ammoniack so where Cold is very urgent as well outwardly as inwardly as in a Syncope and Diseases of that nature above all things that I have hitherto yet known I commend the destilled oyl of Cloves which is not ingrateful nor do I disapprove of the oyl of Turpentine which is less grateful seeing mixt with Spirit of Vitriol it raises an effervescency accompanied with great heat Let this mixture serve for an example Take of Water of Penny-royal 2 ounces Theriacalis simplex 6 drachms Tincture of Castor 2 drachms destilled oyl of Mace of Amber each 3 drops Syrup of Fennil half an ounce Give it by spoonfuls it is good also in Hypochondriack Diseases One scruple of Spirit of Sal Ammoniac may be added to this mixture which will make it much stronger or a narrow mouthed Glass containing the said Spirit Sylvius de le Boe. prax l. 1. c. 19. may be held to the Nose for by its sharp smell People are got both out of Fits and the falling sickness XIII I observed in a Matron a most grievous Aphony often returning with Convulsions She had been Barren many years and upon the approach of her Menses was taken with a most grievous Fit of the Mother then with a small Epilepsie at length with partial Convulsions of Hands Feet Back and horrible ones all the Body over She upon using of proper foetid uterine Medicines fell into more grievous Symptomes for which cause we fell to Perfumes Musk to wit and Amber and we gave them in a small quantity with other Cephalick strengthening things with good success Which should also be observed in other Hysterick Women that is in such whose Head and Nervous kind has been weakned in their youth by Epileptick Fits Horstius ◠1. Obs 26. or some other cause XIV A Woman was afflicted with most cruel Symptomes Head-ach Belching contraction of the Body pain in her Groin gnashing of her Teeth sometimes falling to the ground speechless her Mouth shut so that she could not open it and all these things from the fault of her Womb. She having tried many Medicines to no purpose an old Woman coming in gave her 13 grains of Musk and as many of common Dragon's blood in 4 drachms of Orange flower water she was cured and never after had any Fits Solenander Sect. 5. cons 5. §. 10. I have given the same Medicine in the like case and it alwayes did good I have given it several times XV. In the cure of a pregnant Hysterick Woman we must take great care that Remedies be prudently administred and that violent and very foetid things be not given lest abortion be caused And the business must be done more by external than internal things Riverius XVI Aetius well advises that a Woman when she has recovered her health should not wholly be neglected but for preservation sake she should use Medicines at certain intervals especially at suspected times so that the use of them should not wholly be left off but the quantity abated XVII I and Dr. Dobritius had a Woman under Cure of Fits of the Mother who had a very foul Body She was taken about Night especially with a straitness about her Stomach her Heart was oppressed and almost all her Limbs had a tingling in them her Head also aking Various things were tried by us the Humours were prepared evacuated strengthning things were given yet we did no good At length through my perswasion we gave her Antimonium diaphoreticum upon taking of which she began by degrees to amend We continued it for a Fortnight in which time she was so much relieved that because she was better and grew weary of Medicines she had rather commit the rest to Nature than longer insist on Medicines I ascribe her recovery chiefly to the Antimony She indeed is well now but not without complaints of a weariness in her Limbs Doringius XVIII We often meet with Women who think they are ill of the Spleen when they are Hysterick By Hysterick Affections I mean these Symptomes that happen not in the Womb it self but in other Parts which have a Sympathy with the Womb for the Womb has some Sympathy with all the Parts especially with such as are contained in the Abdomen to which it is joyned by its Veins Arteries Nerves Membranes and by its Ligaments from whence because of some vitious Blood Seed or other Humours foul vapours expire into other Parts And there is a very great Sympathy between the Spleen and Womb by the Arteries whence come Hypochondriack Ails rumblings and pains of the Belly And this Sympathy is so frequent and familiar that many say they are only Sick of the Spleen Trimirosius when the Disease is in their Womb. ¶ A Maid of a Melancholick nature had for several years been troubled with violent Fits that returned often Most Physicians thought this mischief came from Malignant Vapors bred in the Spleen and rising to the Diaphragm It so happened that the Patient was held almost a whole Night with so violent a Fit that they thought she would dye every moment I suspecting it to be a Fit of the Mother gave her compound Balm water which is much in use among us I poured 2 or 3 spoonfuls of it into her Mouth she came to her self to a Miracle Thonorus Obs 2. l. 3. p. 185. and all her difficulty of Breathing ceased Whence we knew it was an Hysterick Fit XIX I was called to a Matron who was dangerously ill of Fits I found her lying with her Eyes shut and speechless I immediately prescribed her Aqua matricalis de Melissa Composita instead whereof through the Apothecaries mistake Aqua matricalis camphorata was sent a spoonful of which when I had poured into her Mouth she began to complain as well as she could What do ye do Then all her Head burnt as hot as Fire But when the other de Melissa Composita was brought and given the Sick Woman she immediately recollected her self began to open her Eyes and to speak and was recovered to her former health Now though Camphire in some Hysterick cases be no ignoble Medicine yet you may find many Women to whom it is an Enemy especially such as have a hot Head for by reason of its volatil Spirits it presently flies to the Head Idem Obs 3. This Patient was of a Sanguine Complexion and ruddy Countenance XX. Laudanum is admirable in Vapors that Sympathically annoy the Brain especially in Fits of the Mother mixt with Hystericks Madamoiselle de la Font after
the Serum and other recrements of the Blood being derived from the Lungs may be evacuated by other wayes is performed by Diaphoreticks Diureticks and by gentle purgatives which must be used by turns Therefore after Bleeding them give and sometimes repeat a purge Let roots of Chervil Butchers-broom Elecampane and other things that move Sweat and Urine be put in Pectoral Decoctions Millepedes volatil Salt of Amber and some fixt Salts and testaceous powders made into Pills with Turpentine are often given with success The third Indication that the Lungs and their Passages may be defended from fluxions of Humours and meeting wirh Cold which is vulgarly called stopping of a Catarrh is performed by Licks and other private Remedies and it respects two things especially namely that the mouths of the Vessels and Glands which open into the Trachea that they may not discharge too much Serosities into it may be shut with moderate Astringents And Secondly that the sides of the ducts of the Trachea may be sufficiently suppled and smoothed that they may neither be offended with the pouring of sharp Serum upon them nor by meeting with the external Air and so not be continually irritated to Cough and moreover that when these Passages are sufficiently lubricated the spittle which sometimes sticks fast to their sides may more easily be raised and coughed up For the former intention it is that Conserve of red Roses Olibanam Mastich Lohoch de pino Syrupus jujubinus de ro sis siccis and other Astringents are prescribed For the Second intention Liquorish with its various preparations Willis is counted so famous a Remedy against any Cough what ever II. You shall see very few Physicians have recourse to Blood letting in a dry Cough because they think this either comes from a dry intemperature without matter for which they will have the Lungs smoothed and moistned with Becchicks or from thin Phlegm or Serum falling as they perpetually talk from the Brain upon the Lungs and then they will have the matter incrassated and the impurity of the Body evacuated by Clysters Purges and Sneezing Which Remedies though we think them not to be despised yet we affirm that all these should rather wholly be omitted than altogether to abstain from letting of Blood especially if the Disease be stubborn both to cure the affection that accompanies the Cough and to hinder more grievous mischiefs Borallus de Sanguin Miss c. 13. which may follow as Inflammations bursting of Veins Ulcerations ¶ It is judged that Blood must be let in a dry Cough if it cause a Fever If there be a sharp and vitious Humour within the Veins If the Liver be hot or swelled and so raise a Cough If a thin and sharp Humour fall from the Head If the Stones be affected Mercatus l. 2. c. 3. and a dry Cough therefore arise for Hippocrates 4. Epid. orders such to Bleed in the Foot III. In a Cough you must purge gently by turns and at intervals and with mild Medicines or such as have their strength some way abated lest a greater fluxion be caused by sharp ones But when the defluxion is cold and thin you may purge often without premising any preparation but if it be thick you must prepare a long time and let it be late ere you purge Idem IV. Vomits if not alwayes yet for the most part cure a Cough whether new or inveterate if procured by Aqua benedicta for this way the first region of the Belly is freed from all impurities and destillations are stopt so that if convenient Pectorals be used after them inwardly and outwardly it seldome returns Hartmannus V. In a thin Catarrh falling from the Head upon the Breast Trallianus lib. 5. cap. 4. commends Diacodium for them who have a thin defluxion running down from the Head upon the Aspera arteria which will not suffer them to sleep because of the Cough following it It is also convenient in an afflux of matter by the Vessels out of the whole Body Trallianus his caution being used that it be given with great care and circumspection not alone but with other things not when the strength is low or when there is store of recrements lodged in the Breast and bronchia For though it may seem to stop the Cough and to cause Sleep yet it augments the straitness of Breast so that it choaks many as sure as the halter therefore he mixes it with Oxymel or Syrup of Horehound Helmont commends Laudanum Opiatum Paracelsi but he adds a Vomit followed in the Morning I find by experience that in the Morning it causes vomiting and I much value the benefit of this Medicine The reason why it Vomits is not yet known Rolfinccius VI. The various pituitous matter that is voided in Coughing by old Men especially and in Winter time does not alwayes come from the Head But it arises also from excrements continually gathered in the Lungs for as the Brain by reason of its store of Vessels is alwayes full of superfluities especially if the Blood be impure so the Lungs also because they consist of innumerable Vessels do much abound with Blood If there be a Cacochymy of the Body they continually gather such excrements and discharge them out of the lesser Vessels into the larger Branches of the Aspera Arteria out of which together with the excrements that are brought thither by the defluxion they are afterwards brought up by Coughing Platerus VII Roots of Goats beard are commended for a hot intemperature of Stomach Liver and Kidneys Tabernaemontanus also commends them especially with the purple flower for Diseases of the Breast Cough and difficulty of Breathing But in my opinion it is a Succedaneum to Cichory but only that because it is sweeter it more remisly frees the Vessels of the Liver from the stoppage of Humours whose obstruction the fore-cited Symptoms do attend by Sympathy which Symptoms Practitioners who are ignorant of Anatomy do ascribe to the Breast or Lungs as if they were affected by Idiopathy So it is to no purpose if you should cure Hydropick Coughing People with sweet things Becchicks Simon Pauli who want Medicines to purge water and to free the Liver from stoppage of bad Humours ¶ The Noble Lord J. Antonius à Seva after his return to Geneva out of Flanders had got a Cough from an unusual moist Air and his unaccustomed drinking of Beer which was followed with a swelling and hardness of Belly The Physicians had long striven against the Cough and Catarrh not so much as touching or taking any care of his Hypochondria When he was committed to my care he took things to open and strengthen his Liver laying aside Becchicks which had swelled his inwards Thus in a Month's time he that was near threescore was rid of his Cough which as the Belly fell and grew soft by degrees abated VIII A Woman upon swallowing the kernel of a Hazle nut as she was laughing fell
into a violent Coughing which troubled her for two Months time with a Fever and emaciation of the whole Body A Physician who was called suspected a Consumption But the judicious J. D. Sala observing that her Fever was not continual nor her Spittle Bloody or streeked with pus pronounced her free from a Consumption After many inquiries when he knew the cause after a Vomit of Honey of Roses with common Oyl to no purpose he added a lambitive of Oyl of Sweet Almonds to irritate the expulsive faculty and enlarge the Passages Bartholinus at length she spate up the kernel and recovered IX One was ill of a troublesome short Cough and when no Medicines would do him good after he had born it a long time he asked my advice I gave him every day the juice of Hore-hound with Honey and at times to lick Honey of Squills Ant. Benivenius till a worm came out of his Breast with Coughing which restored the Man to health X. I knew a certain Person who fell into a Cough by reason of a defluxion of a bad and noxious Humour into the Breast coming from a cold intemperature and when he made him some Cauteries in his Head he was perfectly free of all his Symptomes so that the plenitude of the efficient Humours being exhausted his Cough ceased Trallianus l. 2. c. 5. and he recovered his health by benefit of his Cauteries XI Being moved thereunto with the urgency of the business we resolved to open an Issue in one of his Arms Mercurialis whereby without any other help the Cough began to abate XII In a troublesome Cough and a thin defluxion upon the Breast if what falls escape the straining of the Lungs and is not discharged Laudanum is the best Remedy which incrassates and by procuring sleep or rest at least strengthens Nature and promotes the concoction of the crude Humour Mayerne tract m. s de Laudano Upon the experience of Monsieur de Sigon and President Ripant XIII I was Physician to a certain Student who had been subject to a Cough from a Child He seemed to be of a Melancholick constitution and indifferent healthy but that his Lungs which were originally weak did suffer upon every running of the Blood into Serosities In Summer time while he transpires freely he lives healthy enough in Spring and Autumn when the Blood alters its temper and either of it self or upon any the least occasion suffers serous fluxions he easily falls into a Cough Especially when there is a Constipation of the Pores and errors in his way of living a cruel and a pertinacious Cough is raised In this state his best Remedy and one that he has often tried with success is to drink pretty freely of some generous Wine and very sparingly of any other Liquor for so the acidity and fluor of the Blood being suppressed and free transpiration procured he is much relieved Willis and sometimes recovers in a short time XIV I advise young Physicians that in correction of glutinous Phlegm they take great care not to use much Sugar or Sugared Medicines seeing thereby Phlegm is not so much amended and dissolved as it is encreased and made every day more glutinous than other Wherefore many Physicians have a bad custome in every Cough that is protracted for any time and threatens a Consumption to amend the matter and to maintain it when produced to abuse Conserve of red Roses by devouring a great quantity every day whereby not only the Ulcer is not cleansed dryed or healed but moreover a sense of weight and intolerable Cold arises in the region of the Stomach with loss of appetite XV. The same must be understood of Emulsions which are ill used in this case because they ought not to be used but for the asswaging of some Symptomes Sylvius de le Boë thus Experience the Mistress of Fools has shown the matter to be XVI Whatsoever is unexperienced and new to us as long as we are ignorant of the cause and reason of it uses to breed admiration in us as it happened to me for I observed and indeed in my self first that a Cough which followed a Catarrh gave way but slowly to ordinary Medicines which used to cure such a Cough easily and that it troubled us most upon going to Bed Now this observation being made in my self yet infirm and in others seemed strange and made me curious diligently to enquire the cause and reason of this event And having observed that Wind troubled me at the same time I fell to take things to discuss Wind first in Bed and then a little before I went to Bed Whence it came to pass that when I had belched up Wind sometimes in a short time the Cough that was almost dry was stopt which otherwise tormented me a quarter of an hour and sometimes longer From this experiment happily made with like success in others I thought I got the reason following to wit That great store of Phlegm meeting in the small Guts was by the heat of the Feathers dissolved and by the sharp bile then also disturbed reduced into Wind which was by and by carried to the Lungs by which the Lungs being irritated did Cough and by Coughing did shake all the rest of the Body and the Brain and the Humours contained therein which falling upon the Throat made as if all were produced there till having observed Wind and the ascent of it the cure of this Cough was easie by Oyls called Carminative taking a few drops of them in some convenient Liquor before one laid down in Bed Idem ¶ Coughs oftentimes followed Rheums but the Coughs gave way with more ease and success to things that discuss Wind than to such as temper Salt briny Humours Wherefore I showed that they had their rise not only from a Salt briny Humour falling from the Head upon the Throat and Aspera Arteria but and especially from store of Wind with a slight Fit of a Fever carried from the small Guts by the lacteal Veins and the Thoracick Duct into the upper Vena Cava and thence into the right Ventricle of the Heart and by and by into the Lungs irritating the same to Cough and that it troubled People most as they went to Bed But as soon as I observed this first in my self and then in others the cure for this Cough was easie by taking Aromatick Oyls that discuss Wind as Oyl of Orange Peel Idem Citron Anniseed Fenil seed c. So I remember above ten years since the Illustrious and Generous Monsieur de Verasse Kinsman to the Illustrious Bernardus Budaeus did commend to me and others upon his own experience a Decoction of Anniseed whereby he affirmed he had often cured a Cough XVII Blood falling from the Head upon the Lungs and raising a Cough must be stopt in its Flux and indeed by Bleeding if a Plethora concur or any notable effervescence of it or a suppression of
of it self so that the Pustules came out very thick all over his Body Whey with Marygold flowers and other things usually boyled in it also Juleps and all Cordials though temperate which cause but a gentle breathing did most certainly set him a bleeding Wherefore I prescribe such a course of Diet as I did before § LXXIII upon which he was better However at the very height of his Disease for when the Small Pox are fully come out a Fever usually returns in all People because transpiration is stopt this Sick man fell into plentiful Bleeding so that after a large profusion of Blood the Small Pox began to grow flat After he had in vain tried many Remedies to stop Bleeding at length a bag with a Toad in it that was dried in the Sun and bruised was hung about his Neck and at the very first he immediately found benefit by it for his Bleeding was presently stopt and it returning no more for he carried this Epitheme constantly ever after in his Bosome the Patient still continuing his cooling diet Idem perfectly recovered LXXV I visited a young Gentlewoman of a florid countenance and hot constitution when she was 4 Months gone with Child she was troubled with grievous Vomiting a most violent pain in her back and extream heat and thirst Her Pulse was very quick strong and vehement Although the Small Pox were no where thereabout yet these Symptomes gave me no small suspicion of this Disease However the excessive effervescency of the Blood did indicate the letting of it therefore I presently took away about 6 ounces then the heat abated a little yet the Vomiting and pain in her back continued still At the hour of Sleep I gave her a Cordial Bolus with half a grain of our Laudanum upon which quiet Sleep succeeded with a pleasant Breathing and a ceasing of all the Symptomes The next Morning the Small Pox came out which although she had them very full yet she recovered without any dangerous sickness or fear of miscarriage and went her full time Idem LXXVI A Woman was brought to Bed and the same day her Children in the same House were taken with the Small Pox and she her self as it seems had taken the Infection for the second day after her delivery they began to come out with a Fever and pain in her Loins which indeed in 3 dayes her Lochia flowing moderately did rise well Although she cleansed well all that time she was very full of the Small Pox all over her Body and not only upon the out side of her Body but they filled her Mouth and Throat so that she could scarce speak or swallow The sixth day after she was brought to Bed her Lochia flowed immoderately upon which the Small Pox immediately growing flat she was taken with Swooning frequent Convulsions and other ill favored Symptomes which threatned sudden death I prescribed her half a drachm of this powder to be taken constantly once in 3 hours in a spoonful of the following Julep that is Take of Tormentil root powdered 2 drachms Bole Armenick 1 drachm Species de hyacintho half a drachm Make a Powder Take of Aqua Scordii composita water of Dragons Meadow-sweet each 3 ounces Treacle Vinegar 1 ounce Syrup of Corals 2 ounces burn Harts-horn half a drachm Make a Julep I ordered also Tormentil root to be boyled in all her Broths and drink by these Remedies her Uterine Purgation wholly stopt and the Small Pox ripened by degrees without any more grievous Symptome and fell off This was a difficult case indeed and was managed with great hazard to wit it was dangerous to keep in either the Lochia or the Small Pox and yet a full eruption of either one of them hindered the others motion As long as they both proceeded moderately the case being left to Nature was moderate But when one exceeded the help of Art was required Thus it was convenient to use the curb to the Lochia and the spur to the Small Pox. Idem LXXVII As to meat the Arabians teach that no Flesh no not a Chicken is proper in this Disease yea they condemn yolks of Eggs before the Fever be over and the Pustules be suppurated and scale off Which seems to be a bad rule for Children are often Sick who according to Hippocrates want much nourishment Besides before they begin to scale off 10 or 14 dayes are usually over But to keep Children so long a time without some good food were very pernicious Wherefore I can by no means follow the Arabians advice But when I see the Sick are out of all danger I use to feed them more liberally so as their strength may be supported and the solid parts restored and then I give them yolks of Eggs in broth with Verjuice or juice of Lemons And by this way of cure I can attest Mercurialiâ— not one has died in my Hands since I practised Physick LXXVIII The Measles and Small Pox agree in this that the Pustules in each are caused by the ebullition of the Blood while Nature separates the bad from the pure and forces it out to the Skin wherefore one may easily gather that Nature must not at that time be diverted from such expulsion by gross or much food or that is hard of digestion But that Nature may do her work the better and may drive the noxious Humours from within towards the Skin more conveniently and lest some Humour might be detained in some of the inner parts we must give them meat that is a little cooling and gently astringent for such as this strengthens the parts that they can more strongly drive out what is troublesome besides it has a virtue to repel hot Humours Wherefore the broth of Spanish Lentils with the herb Sorel green Coriander Oyl Vinegar and Salt is very good Also Gourd boyled with Purslane Oyl Vinegar and Salt Ptisan as we prepared it in colliquating Fevers is very good for them All things must be avoided Bâ—â—dus de victu febricit l. 3. c. 22. which increase Blood or add to its ebullition Wherefore in the beginning while they have strength chicken broth and all sweet and unctuous things must be avoided LXXIX But when they begin to go off it is good to mix such things in meat as loosen the Belly as Prunes Violets Borage and the like But Prunes that have an Astringent Faculty as French and Spanish may be used all the time boyled with black Maiden-hair or Purslane or Plantain And let the drink of such as have the Small Pox or Measles Idem be Barly water boyled with black Maiden-hair and Pomegranate LXXX There are some who give Lettuce boyled in Vinegar and the pulp of Citrul and water-Melon And some give water of water-Melon to drink But as I think these Meats do more hurt than good Because they hinder Nature's expulsion and by their excessive coldness retard the comeing out of the Pustules for such expulsions as
the future safe from the bites of those Creatures I answer It is not confirmed by experience that if any man have taken the foresaid powder he is free from the bites of the said Creatures since it has been often tried that they who haâ—â— used this prophylactick have nevertheless when they have been bitten in a Nervous place and very deep by Vipers or Serpents provoked to anger and chafed violent Convulsions and other dire Symptomes immediately arising ended their dayes in Groans and Sighs Besides if this assertion were universally true it would follow that when a Viper bites a Viper and one man another there would be no danger in biting one another since all the bitten Viper consists of the matter of the Viperine powder and so would be above the activity of the Symbolical Poyson But it has been tried that a Viper bitten by a Viper has died and also that a Man bitten by another enraged Man has been in danger of his Life Therefore in Italy when Men are bitten by Vipers they are cured not only by taking the powder or flesh of Vipers but by speedy Ligatures Scarifications Cauterizations attrahents and by expellers and Alexipharmacks given inwardly And whereas some can handle all sorts of Serpents as they list without danger though they never took any powder of Serpents I think this comes 1. From some peculiar gift or property granted by Nature to this or the other Man and sometimes to some whole families 2. From some mens singular boldness joyned with a great dexterity in handling them Besides provident Nature has implanted a certain dread and fear in Serpents of Men that pursue them boldly for all those who employ themselves in that business do confess that the Serpents are so affraid of them before they see them and slide away so fast that they can scarce overtake them or lay hands on them It happens quite contrary if timorous men meet Serpents being moved with hatred they set upon them and do them what mischief they can Which very fear may much exaggerate the Poyson received from the biting of these Animals and disperse it all over the Body and by consequence cause sudden death which Poyson of its own Nature is not so very mortal just as it happens in the Plague where the timorous are in far greater danger than they who are of a fearless mind I will easily also grant that they who have taken the viperine powder may take heart and strengthen their confidence from thence so that thenceforth they may not from such hurts be in so great danger of their lives for they will slight the hurt and therefore will be but slightly yet caeteris paribus thereby affected Zâ—vefferus XXVIII Pliny sayes that Scorpions in Italy are sometimes harmless nevertheless at Padua I have observed their strings to swell much and be very painful Petrus à Castro observed the venome to return in himself and a hen a year after For when the Sun was passing the Sign Scorpio a black and very Venemous Scorpion stung him in his Fore finger of his right Hand he presently felt a pain and chilness in his Arm and a heaviness in his Finger The Scorpion was taken and bruised and applied to the wound and other Alexipharmacks but all to little purpose He thrust his Finger into a Hen's breach and his pain ceased in an hour and an half the Hen swelled and was half dead yet upon swallowing a little Treacle she recovered but halted Upon the return of the very same moment of time the next year the Hen was convulse and fell down trembling and lifeless till she was restored by taking a little Treacle That Excellent Person felt the pain in his Finger return at the same time with a Phlegmonous tumour who after sharp and yellow pus had been evacuated and Antidotes given he was perfectly well after it Rhodius Câ—nt 3. Chs 90. H. Furenius and I have observed at Padua that Tobacco is a Remedy for them XXIX It is observable that Acids correct most vegetable Poysons as Monks-hood Deadly Night-shade which besides other Symptomes close the Throat so that Men cannot swallow Hellebore c. which is a manifest token that their misâ—hief must be ascribed to a volatil Salt and to a Sulphur that is immature indigested and inviscated with much mucilage wherefore when they are either communicated to the Blood or are still floating on the Stomach they are apt to obstruct the Pâ—res of the Nerves and vellicate them to destroy the frame of the Blood and to cause death XXX Vomits are good for all who have eaten Poyson except such as have eaten Mushromes and are in danger of strangling for they must be carried downwards as may be proved from their Antidote the wild Pear and other Astringent things Therefore they must be carried down with Clysters and purging Medicines and the Mouth of the Stomach must be closed with Astringents Rondeâ—etâ—us p. 917. as with Quinces wild Pears c. ¶ Their Alexipharmack according to Sanctorius is Oyl of Citrons XXXI Hemlock according to Dioscorides Mâ—t. med l. 4. c. 79. is a Poyson that kills because of its coldness Which saying seems to have given Physicians the occasion to determine that its temperament was cold without any further search But on the contrary many Histories of such as have eaten of it either by chance or through mistake do show that it acts on our Bodies rather by hot sharp fierce or otherwise efficacious particles than by obtuse and torpid ones Histories of several in Smetius his Miscel p. 599. who eat of the Roots of Hemlock boyled instead of Parsâ—eps prove that it is hot and does hurt by its hot particles for they were all mad Then it has a nauseous loathsome scent with it like wild Parsnep Galen 5. de s m. fac c. 18. calls it even aliene and adverse to Man while it is yet whole then it pricks the Tongue with a certain Acrimony and it is manifest that its sharp taste is hot Some of it was given to a Dog he vomitted and was very convulfe when his Body was opened his Stomach was found contracted and corrugated the mucas being wiped off the inner superficies appeared redder than it ought and there were red and livid Spots in the bottom of the Stomach It created a certain anxiety in the Dog by gnawing and convulsing the Nervous parts of his Stomach Convulsions are an effect of no dull and cold cause the red superficies of the folds â—how it to be hot and almost cauftick Therefore caution must be used in reading and imitating those who give Alexipharmacks promiscuously before the use of evacuaters or when the Hemlock is not discharged out of the Stomach Many advise generous Wine but according to Galen and Pliny drunk with Wine it sooner kills because its Acrimony is encreased by the Wine and more easily carried to the Vitals Therefore let Vomits be given presently to discharge it and it is not
the Body it does no harm but if it be resolved into minime Parts especially by the admixtion of Salts and by their means be fastned as it were to the Body and penetrate into it both outwardly and inwardly used it causes most grievous Mischiefs as either sublimate or precipitate doth shew Nor must the corrosive Virtue be attributed to the Salts for in the Fume that exhales in gilding of Silver there is nothing of Salt and yet it is exceeding mischievous Nor can that little Salt that is mixt with sublimate or precipitate do so much damage seeing Salt though given in a great quantity does no such thing As for prepared Mercury many indeed extoll Mercurial Medicines some call the precipitate Powder Angelicus otherwise prepared Mercurius vitae Some judge that Mercurius dulcis rightly prepared is as gentle a Medicine as Manna Tamarinds or Cassia But these praises are too high and their rashness is to be blamed who give Mercury in any Diseases whatever for there are many Examples of such as have perished or been in great danger of their Lives by the use of such Medicines Therefore Fabricius Hildanus calls Mercurius vitae either Mercurius mortis or vitae aeternae It is certain that Mercurius dulcis Sennertus which yet is reckoned the mildest may sometimes do mischief ¶ Although Quicklver as quick and moveable be not Poyson nor have any affinity with Poyson so that it has been experienced it may be taken safely inwardly yet the Physician must be very cautious in this lest it be adulterated or ill prepared and that he give it not to Hypochondriacks Spleneâ—icks and others that have too acid a Ferment in there Stomach or a Blood abounding with strong acid and corrosive volatil Salts which might render Mercury of the Nature of precipitate For that Mercury resolved whether precipitate or sublimate is a Poyson the dire Symptomes common to other Poysons which it immediately causes in the Body Hofmannus as soon as it is taken do evince XXXVIII But Precipitate Arsenick and Metallicks of the like Nature c. as they act plainly by a manifest that is by a corrosive Quality so Treacle which is properly designed for the Venemous bitings of Animals and was invented therefore will scarce alone do these any good but Obtunders and Asswagers fat Things Oyl of sweet Almonds common Oyl c. serve instead of an Antidote Therefore they who on the Stage do commend their Treacles by taking Mercury precipitate or Orpiment do first fore-arm themselves with store of Butter Then Praecipitants of mountain Crystall and other things are given which of themselves in a slight case might do good for though they be given in a large Dose and Nature do not ease her self by spontaneous Vomit they are in vain For neither a proportion between the Agent and Patient can easily be found nor can the Antidote be so well actuated by the Stomach if the Stomach be ruined and a mortal Eschar and a Gangrene be caused therein Saturnines taken inwards as leaden Bullets do turn into a kind of Saccharum and are corroded by degrees Wedelius upon taking Acids XXXIX Mercurialis writes that to drink Water plentifully is admirable good for such as have taken Arsenick He proves it first from the example of Dogs which he put into Caverns where Arsenick was and when they were taken out lifeless he poured Water into them and they revived Secondly from Mice which they say escape if they drink Water But as I do not dislike Water so Forestus lib. 30. obs 5. seems well to disapprove of drinking cold Water because it checks not the Poyson but seems rather by its coldness to retain it in the Body warm Water Senâ—ertus drunk till one vomit seems more convenient XL. It is quaeried whether crude Cinnabar may be given D. J. Michaëlis approved of it but depurated which is to be valued in the most desperate Diseases with a multitude of Symptomes for though directly and of it self it be not a Diaphoretick yet it is an useful Exalter and a most present and safe Alexiterick But Cinnabar of Antimony say some dissolved in warm Water turns to a white Powder of the same Nature with Mercurius vitae The native is easily turned into running Mercury and so that back again into Cinnabar And therefore since both of them retain their pristine Nature they may cause the very same Symptomes as Mercury either crude or prepared But these Arguments do not at all deter me from the use of it for first of all that mechanick one of the transmutation of Cinnabar of Antimony with hot Water into white Mercurius vitae is false Then grant that Mercury may easily be got out of native Cinnabar what then Mercury tied up with the Sulphur of Antimony in the Cinnabar is not at its Liberty but being tied with the Fetters of the other is then wholly free from these grievous Disturbances which either at liberty or entangled with corrosive Salts it uses to raise and it has those illustrious Qualities which resist contagious and epidemical Diseases and the Plague it self by a singular propriety if it be worn outwardly And though this Cinnabar when taken yield not to the digestion of the Stomach nor can be received into the oeconomy of our Body yet as long as it stays in the Stomach Hofmannuâ— it variously and admirably affects our Archeus by alteration XLI Many have taken notice what grievous Symptomes may arise from curdled Milk but the Question is whether a Vomit be convenient to get it out of the Stomach Matthiolus denies it and rejects a Vomit because if one should endeavour to bring it up it might easily stick in the Throat and choak a Man But Sennertus 6. pract p. 8. c. 34. prescribes Vomits but after Things have been given to dissolve Milk as Oxymel Mummy Sperma ceti c. XLII In a certain Village three had eaten of one Thing and they were all Poysoned and were taken with a violent Pain at the Stomach One of them sent his Urine to me which when I looked on it was thin of Substance and of a green Colour which gave some suspicion of Poyson For a green Urine according to Avicenna l. 1. fen 1. s. 2. doct 2. signifies a Convulsion in Children or that Poyson has been taken And if there be an Hypostasis or settling in it there is Hope of Life otherwise there is danger When he that brought me the Urine had told me the Story he increased my suspicion Therefore I prescribe him a Vomit and that he should also take fat Things whereby as I afterwards understood he was presently freed of his Pain and was cured but another before he could take any Advice died suddenly and the third when he understood that I had cured the former did after some delay send his Urine to me I prescribed him a Vomit also of a decoction of Rhadish and Oxymel and after he had taken
Treacle he was well For Treacle is a common Remedy against all Poyson I could not prescribe a proper Antidote because I knew not what Nature the Poyson was of but by these means their Pain in their Stomach ceased and both of them were cured Forestus ¶ Cardan cured some that were dying of an unknown Poyson by giving them Milk to drink XLII It is found by experience that a Mule when his Guts are taken out has such an attractive and dissolving Virtue that it is able to extract and dissipate Poysons As it was proved in Valentine Borgia Pope Alexander the fifth his Son who being enclosed in a Mule which had its Guts taken out immediately overcame the violence of the Poyson Claudinus ¶ In the year 1629. Falcini an Illustrious Patavine having by Gods mercy escaped great treachery had a present of Wine sent him which when he had tasted he was long tormented with an Ulcer in his Stomach and by Sylvaticus his advice after Valentine Borgia's example he escaped after he had been inclosed in a Mule whose Guts were taken out the Poyson being drawn from within to the out parts of the Skin And an accident showed that the Wine was poysoned with Mercury sublimate for as many as drank of it found the Poyson one of his attendants among others after he had pissed Quick-silver which however it be prepared Rhodius Cent. 3. Obs â— is restored to its former shape by dropping some Spirit of Salt upon it escaped XLIV A Nobleman had a Son who consumed away and at last died After his Body was cut open a certain hard mass like unto horn was found in the bottom of his Stomach which was sent to his Father He in memory of his Son caused a spoon to be made of it which he often used at the Table It happened that when this Spoon was put into a Sallet of Water Cresses and Vinegar it dissolved Hence we may easily conjecture that Water-Cresses has no common virtue against a Philtrum Schenckius XLV We must know there are three sorts of Diseases which are held to come from Witch craft The first is no way Witch-craft but when the Devil observes any one will be taken with a Disease as he is well skilled in natural things he perswades Witches and Wizzards that if they will but do what he orders them the Man will fall into such a Disease into which notwithstanding he would have fallen had the Witches done no such thing And in the mean time the Witches think the Disease was caused by their power Secondly there are other Diseases which indeed are not caused by the Devil but by natural causes while he changes the natural constitution and corrupts and alters the Humours Thirdly there are Diseases which are simply caused by the Devil without the Mediation of natural Humours As to the first sort of these Diseases it is most manifest and without doubt that it may be cured with natural Remedies But the third cannot be cured by natural Remedies because natural things can have no influence upon the Devil who is a Spirit And natural Medicines are good to cure the second sort however they are not sufficient alone but besides there is need of a divine cure For since in such Diseases two causes concurr the Humours and such things as are in a humane Body and the Devil besides although the former cause be removed yet unless the Devil cease from acting and hurting a perfect cure cannot be expected And these natural Medicines are either such as evacuate those vitious Humours which the Devil uses in causing Diseases or alterâ—tives and Alexipharmacks contrary to the dispositions caused by him amongst evacuants Vomits are chief by which it is evident many stubborn Diseases have been cured whose cause lay in the Stomach Mesentery and thereabout Therefore Rulandus cured Demoniacks by giving Vomits for these vitious Humours being taken away the Diseases which by their means the Devil had caused to cease Nor indeed must Purgatives be neglected H. ab Heer 's obs 13. tells how one who was hurt with a Philtre was purged by Urine and so cured Aâ— to Alteratives and Alexipharmacks we must obsâ—rve that the word Veneficium is sometimes taken for Inchantment and an action absolutely magical s metimes for a Disease caused by Philtra Therefore when in Authors you find that this or the other Herb is good against veneficia they are for the most part to be understood of secret Poysons rather than of magical actions For since there are common Alexipharmacks they may very properly be used in these Poysons whose natures are for the most part hid Yea perhaps one may use them with success even in Diseases caused by the Devil seeing he also is able to cause poysonous Dispositions in the Body which may be conquered by such Medicines Yet in all these natural Medicines both outward and inward this must be observed if we may use them because often in occult Diseases we may try various Remedies that they be used without all manner of superstition ceremony pronunciation of Words and the like Sennertus and that we rely only on their natural Powers and leave the rest to God XLVI Because they say that in these Mountains there is no small number of Witches and Wizzards by whose Witchcraft several are oftentimes bewitched I will therefore describe a true and proper Alexiterick to drive away such a Poyson which I tried at Geneva with admirable effect in a certain Girl of Lions originally about 6 years old who had been long since bewitched by a certain Witch she was almost quite emaciated dumb destitute of her motive Faculty very voracious who upon taking a certain Alexipharmack twice or thrice and repeating it begun both to Speak and Walk A little while after her Father signified to me she was perfectly well And this Antidote is Dogs-tongue yet not the common but that which is described by Dioscorides l. 4. And we have hitherto used the Leaves not having yet tried the Roots Now the Witch who divulged this Alexiterick gave nine leaves to drink in Water but we neglecting the number of Leaves ordered an handfull to be boyled in half a pint of Water till half were boyled away then we gave the Decoction to the Patient on an empty stomach Afterwards one gave to another Girl at Geneva bewitched almost in the same manner half a drachm of Moibanus his Antidote in white Wine with good success with which within a little time after she had been purged upwards and downwards at last she recovered Because the virtue of this Alexipharmack is so great against almost all manner of Poysons I think it not amiss to describe it Take of root of Valerian half an ounce root of Swallow wort 1 ounce Polypody of the Oak Marsh-mallow wild Angelica each 2 ounces fresh Garden Angelica 4 ounces Bark of the Root of Spurge Laurel 1 ounce and an half All these Roots must be digged up
are in the bottom of the Stomach rise up and affect the Mouth of the Stomach In others the Pain encreases while the meat is concocting because sharp and biting Vapors are elevated from the morbifick matter by encrease of the heat in the Stomach at the time of concoction In others 4 or 5 hours after meal because the meat is corrupted after ill concoction and being corrupted it vellicates the Stomach And in some the pain is encreased after sleep and that is caused by a Catarrh the Humour flowing from the Brain in sleep which being gathered in great plenty produces pain when waking And sometime the pain is asswaged after meat Riverius because the acrimony of the Humour is sweetned with the kindliness of the meat XLII If the Blood be not transmitted by the Liver it being distended with plenty of Blood will press upon the Stomach and will cause a most grievous pain in it and especially after meat it will be so complicated that the pain can be eased neither by Remedies taken inwardly nor outwardly As I saw it happen to N. who could not be eased of such a pain after all had been done that could be done otherwise than by the benefit of Nature For when he was grievously afflicted with it immediately after meal behold all on a sudden he vomitted up much Blood which presently eased his pain For which ever after as often as he 〈◊〉 troubled with it he was let Blood and it curâ—â— him The History in Hippocrates Epidem is not unlike this of a Man 〈…〉 who in a violent pain of his Stomach could be eased by no other Remedy but by Bleeding XLIII A certain Matron who had complained two years of a pain at her Stomach and could be cured by no Remedies at last upon taking a Vomit she brought up a piece of Bacon skin Fabr. Hildanus which she had eaten two years before and she was well quickly after XLIV Concerning Hiera which Galen commends in pains of the Stomach arising from cold matter or wind we must observe that it operates slowly and while it acts upon the viscid matter cleaving to the coats of the Stomach Wind being thereby raised it causes the Belly to swell and the pain to encrease therefore it is advisable to mix some other purgative Sennertus which may encrease the strength of the Hiera and quicken its operation XLV In pain of the Stomach where there is need of Purging J. Naevius according to Scholtzius gives a Purge with corrected Opium mixt with it For so he eases pain by causing Sleep And the Medicine carries off with it the bad juices contained in the Stomach which caused the pain and he sayes it was formerly Lud. de Leonibus his secret Frambesarius also in cons. f. 362. in grievous pains where there is need of Purging out the continent cause commends the giving of Narcoticks in Purges Riverius commends this Take of Diaphoen half an ounce Philonium Romanum 2 scruples Hoëfâ—â—â— with Chamomil water make a potion XLVI I opened the Body of a Monk who was said to have died of Colick pains and enquiring into the cause of the Disease I found the bottom of the Stomach not only inflamed but corroded also to the middle of the coat For the cure of such an Inflammation and Erosion of the Stomach Spigelius said that nothing had been better than the often taking of terra sigillata as being a thing which sticking firmly to the eroded coats of the Stomach as firmly as ceratum diachalciteos applied to the inflamed foot would have dried up the erosion I after tried the worth of his saying twice in extreme pains of the Stomach to my admiration when they could neither be laid by taking any Medicines inwardly or applying any outwardly Sculterâ—â— except terra sigillata mixt with Syrup of Comfrey XLVII When once a Person had taken a Purge of an unskilful Physician who to hasten the working had mixt some sharp corroding things with it there arose so great a pain in his Stomach that for three Weeks space he could take nothing in at his Mouth without cruel pain in his exulcerated Stomach and was almost starved with hunger When the Physicians laboured in vain he at length used Tragacanth a thing which his own reason and experience suggested to him mixt with Rosemary flower water by the tenacity of which Tragacanth the Ulcer healed Bartholinus and afterward he lived in health for several years XLVIII Galen shows that a Cupping-glass applied to the Stomach eases pain quickly and to admiration Yet have a care that there be no crude Humour in the Stomach for if there should it would encrease the pain Mâ—rcatus XLIX In puffing up of the Stomach drying and astringent Plasters adding the 4 hot Seeds and Sulphur must be applied For these astringent Plasters hinder the great dilatation of the Stomach and so the Wind is better discharged upwards or downwards They are made of Emplast pro matrice de mastice and contra rupturam We add seeds of Cummin Seseli Parsly Caroway and other strong smelling things as Galangale Cyperus and astringents unless pain hinder For then upon the account of the Pain we must use other discutients that are a little relaxing But if it be without pain the constriction must be encreased for the parts that are once distended or made lax by distension never come to themselves again unless they be kept swathed or some other way straitned For this reason in such Diseases after some evacuation and discussion we order to bind the region of the Stomach by degrees and gently which may be done conveniently with a swathe over the Plaster Rondeletius L. In the cure of a weak Stomach we must observe whether being swollen with wind it can bear Fomentations and such Remedies For if there be any inflammation in its coats being irritated by the application of hot Medicines it puffs up distends and is most grievously pained Which they also do by disturbing corrupt Humors and upon this account Mat. Martinâ— they rather increase the heat than cure LI All the back part of the Stomach lies upon the Spine with which at the first Vertebra of the Loyns it is knit together Whence it happens that whenever the Stomach is violently distended with wind those parts that are joyned to that part of the Stomach which is distended do partake of the pain Wherefore when the hind part is distended with wind then the pain lying most upon the Spine and Loins invades the region of the Kidneys very sharply just as if one were troubled with the stone in the Kidneys Which thing often imposes upon the most skilful in the Art so that they often think â—â—â—us they have the stone who are only ill of wind LII In an Inflammation of the Stomach Bleeding must often be repeated in both Arms as much as the strength will bear Thus though because of swooning and coldness in
is less suspicious especially where the case is desperate Instead of which our Art has found a Remedy of no less moment and much safer namely an Issue behind in the Head or a Seton there Which Remedy though it be very effectual in this evil yet it should only be used by them whom the Vertigo casts down and makes fall in the Fit For seeing it is certain that the Ail is communicated to the hinder Ventricles of the Brain it may be feared that the Patient might fall into an Apoplexy Epilepsy or at least a Palsie But when all the Ilness consists only in a Vertiginous circumvolution or dimness of fight a sign indeed of hurt in the fore parts of the Brain I think it far better to make an Issue in the Arm or a Seton thereabout But if it so happen that the Liver Womb or Haemorrhoids are stopt or any other evacuation by Ulcer or Fistula which often happens be suppressed also when any swelling in the Lower Parts falls without doubt I think it necessary either to recall the former fluxion or instead of it to open an Issue in the Leg by which Nature may transmit what she used to expel other wayes Mercuâ—â—us VIII Beside other Remedies I have observed Issues made in the Legs have done much good And though they be properly convenient where the Vertigo comes from the Spleen Liver or Womb yet I have likewise observed that Issues in one or both Legs have done a great deal of good Mercuâ—â—alis when it comes from the Stomach IX That Vertiginous Persons should be purged especially upwards is proved from 4. aph 17. and lib. de affect n. 2. But if pain and the Vertigo sometimes the one sometimes the other come upon the Head indeed these things used do good that is the Remedies prescribed among which Purging of the Head is reckoned He confirms this lib. de veratri usu This opinion may be proved from 18. sect 4. aphor and from Reason because if the Vertigo arise from bile floating upon the Stomach without doubt it must be excluded But Hippocrates 1. Prorâ—het num 9. excludes the Vertiginous from Purging They that Vomit black matter loath their meat are delirious pained about their pubes who have a fierce or closed Eye purging Physick must not be given to them for it is pernicious nor to such as are swollen or vertiginous Damocles 5. Epid. 80. having the Vertigo was not purged nevertheless If the Vertigo arise from a weakness in the Head it will be made worse by purging If from a mass of Humours in the Brain they will be more disturbed whence the Vertigo will encrease Besides in an acute Fever a Vertigo often comes from the concourse of Blood critical or symptomatical but this is cured by Haemorrhagy not by purging This may be reconciled considering that Hippocrates 4. aph 17. speaks of a Vertigo a stranger coming from bile floating on the Stomach which cannot be discharged but by Vomiting as the Stomach is next to it and it has a tendency that way And that he speaks of a Vertigo coming from that cause the Diseases joyned there do shew And an inbred Vertigo proceeding from a Malignant Cacochymy in the Brain without doubt requires purging not by emeticks because vomiting fills the Head but downwards for the foul Humours being carried off whereby the animal Spirits are disturbed the Vertigo also will cease because when the matter is discharged no more caliginous Spirit will be bred But a Vertigo that has neither a Plethory nor a Cacochymy for its cause but a fixt and bad disposition in the Brain will not give way to purging but only to Alteration The place quoted out of Prorrhet must be understood of this though Galen in his commentaries thinks it is only prohibited by weakness What if we say that Hippocrates in that place judges the Vertiginous should not be purged because of a concurrence of Symptomes attending For he sayes Neither the Vertiginous nor swollen nor that cannot walk nor loathing their food nor discoloured For it is clear that such are very ill and cannot bear Purging Lastly a Vertigo that is the effect of a weakned Brain Sinibaldus Antiph pag. 174. and of exhausted Spirits such as befalls new married People requires only Restoratives not further evacuation X. Strong Purges must wholly be avoided Crucius de Quaesitis for they heat too much and cause vertiginous motions in such as are not subject to them XI Vomits often do good for besides Authors testimonies it appears from common experience And moreover because the vertiginous do often vomit hereupon many have grounded an opinion that the cause of this Disease does almost ever lye in the Stomach Now the reason why Emeticks do good in this Disease is because by this sort of Physick there is both a great revulsion made of the Humours in the Brain and the disturbed Spirits are soon composed When the Membranes and Fibres of the Stomach and Parts thereabout are vellicated divers Humours that is the Nervous Serous Lymphatick Pancreatick and Bilious are drawn to those Parts and so carried off so that the Brain is free from the afflux of them Willis and easily discharges many that were settled there already XII After universal evacuations we may proceed to particular ones of the Head by Sternutatories Errhina Masticatories and Apophlegmatisms Errhina indeed are suspected by some for they fear lest by that motion the Humours and Spirits in the Brain be more disturbed and so a Vertigo be caused Sennertus but if convenient evacuations of the Head have preceeded we need fear no such thing XIII In a Vertigo if fumes be observed to ascend by the outer Vessels Repellents have place but if they ascend by the inner they are so far from doing good that they do hurt seeing they do not repress fumes Frid. Hofmannus but retain them there when ascended The case is the same in the Head-ach XIV If the Vertigo arise from turning the Body round to the right or to the left the turning the contrary way cures it soonest In which lying on ones back is good Platerus But if it come from an internal cause or from Drunkenness this causes it Medicines especially made use of by eminent Physicians 1. This is a most effectual Remedy in a Vertigo by Sympathy if Southernwood powdered be drunk in Wine warm Donatus ab Altomari or with Oxymel that is not sharp as Marcellus sayes 2. Oyl of Box as in the epilepsy so in the Vertigo is reckoned an excellent Medicine inwardly and outwardly anoynting the Arteries of the Temples behind the Ears and at the Wrists and the Soles of the Feet Inwardly thus Take of Conserve of Rosemary flowers 4 ounces Oyl of Box Nutmeg Mint each half a drachm with Syrup of Citron rind make an Electuary The Dose half a drachm yea if 8 or 9 drops of Oyl of Box be given with three ounces of
preparations of Antimony whose vertue as it is admirable in separating all Metals so its faculty is observed to be the same in Purging all corrupt humors as Quercetan has observed Among other cathartick forms of it Platerus in several places of his Praxis commends the calcination of it He tells of a certain Empirick who for breakings out of salt Humors filthy Itches and tedious and pertinacious Diseases mixt calcined Stibium in a Decoction of Sarsa parilla and did admirable things Severinus V. The edges of Ulcers difficult to cure must be taken greater care of than the middle for the fault always comes from the upper and higher Parts and there also it begins first to heal Which edges if they be exasperated and cut out according to Hippocrates his rule l. de loc We must first make old Diseases new it is consentaneous to reason that the sore abate forthwith when the virulent and bad blood which fed and made the sore worse is gone And it has in very deed been found that it abates just as Plants when the moisture is withdrawn do wither And so they that have Ulcers and are daily under my Cure do confess to me that they find they are eased of their old pain and are bravely relieved Idem VI. Simple Dysepulotick Ulcers that is such as are difficult to heal up if when you have tried all Medicines if the Ulcers come not from a Rheum you can do no good they must be conquered by fire This is my invention by Spirit of Wine which in tenuity of substance and aptness to take fire is most proper a Linen Tow or Coton dipt in this and set on fire as far as the Ulcer goes will quickly turn and draw out the mischief by its gentle motion If once be not enough you may do it three or four times or as often as you please If you have any delicate Person under Cure you may put a linen cloth underneath spread with killed Mercury the Mercury side to the Ulcer so as to touch it and having applied this lay on another and give fire to it It is certain that those who have great sores will bear this often and with patience Sometimes I have filled pipes of brass or reed with hot Embers and rowled them athwart the ulcerous Parts and so I have burnt and cured those sores which would not give way to any of the strongest Medicines In the same manner also you may treat all intemperate Ulcers and such as run a thin Ichor and sharp Sanies But there is no need of fire for such as are dry and squalid One who had been laid up ten Years of such an Ulcer was burnt by me first with an Iron unknown Idem and sometimes with hot water and was cured in 40 Dayes ¶ M.N. had a carcinomatous Ulcer athwart his Tongue obliquely which much afflicted him on the upper part of it I applied a Silver spoon heated in the Fire to it upon which he was free of his pain and could speak freely as though he had been cut for the Tongue-â—y which before he could not do Wherefore having found out this Remedy I invenâ—ed a particular Instrument to heat the Tongue conveniently And all the help that accrews to Ulcers which would otherwise eat through or off the Parts is because nothing comes nearer to the innate heat which governs the Aeconomy of the Body than this external heat Aph. 5.22 Hippocrates also testifies there that it is good for Diseases coming of hot Causes Idem that is for eating herpetes which proceed from a bilious and hot Humor VII Sometimes a Spontaneous Ulcer arises in the empty spaces between the Muscles and in the cavities of the other Parts which has cured some other more grievous Disease in the Body Therefore an outlet must be left there for some time I indeed advise you to it Idem because I have often found it a thing conducible and reason perswades the same VIII A man of sixty a great drinker whose Face was all Sauce-phlemed had a Pustule arose in the upper part of his Chin covered with a thick Scab at first about the bigness of a large Pea increasing more and more every day and spreading to the middle of his Chin very painful ouzing out in several places at little Pores a very sharp bilious Ichor Because of the great store of cacochymy in this intemperate Man and the sponginess of the part affected some feared lest in tract of time it should turn to a cancrous Ulcer The suspicion encreased because when it was anointed with a Balsame that had done much good in others it grew worse in a moment The cause whereof I thought might be for that all the Ingredients of the Balsame applied were sulphureous and so further exasperated the enraged bilious sharp Ichor Wherefore I thought of checking it with Acids and not without success For Sal prunellae being dissolved in the white of an Egg and linen clothes dipt therein and applied often in the day the Pustule in five days time vanished Thiermair Cons 9. l. 2. leaving no Scar behind it IX I have often with admiration considered the incredible effect of Balsamus sulphuris anisatus terebinthinatus c. in the cleansing and healing of Ulcers if a little of it be dropt into the Ulcer for the generation of new pus is presently so abated that oftentimes by the help of this Balsame alone they have been cured in a few days in the Breasts and in other parts after inflammations and notable imposthumes From this experiment I reckoned that the cleansing and healing of Ulcers which follow Imposthumes consists in the correction of the Acid and Corroding Pus which sticks to the Ulcerated part and corrupts and turns into new pus in some measure at least the Blood designed to nourish that Part And that the Pus is corrected by the Balsame of Sulphur especially upon account of the aromatick Oyl which abounds with an oyly volatil Salt whereby the acid Spirit that abounds in the Pus and corrupts the blood every day into Pus is not only made dull but so sweetned and amended that the affluent blood quickly repairs the Parts formerly consumed Sylvius de lâ— Boë and perfectly heals them up X. A Medico-Chirurgeon had a Matron under Cure who had contracted a Fistula in her Leg after an Imposthume which he had had six Months under Cure At length when M. J. Griffonius had searched it with a Probe and knew the only cause which hindred the healing of it up was the thinness of the Skin covering the Ulcer he quickly put her in heart Therefore when her Body was Purged and prepared he eroded the thin Skin with a caustick and of a Fistula made an oblong Ulcer after the fall of the Eschar and the Ulcer was cleansed with oyntment of juice of Smallage in three Weeks or a Months time he successfully cured it Hildanus cent 5. obs 79. XI I have
Grate-Iron and having suffered about eight Weeks under ill Chirurgery was commended to my Care The Ulcer was with loss of substance and sanious with some pituitous swelling in the Lips and Parts about it I dressed it with unguent basilicon mixt with Praecipitate 1 drachm of it to an ounce of the Unguent I applied over it a Plaster of diachalcit sprinkled with a little Vinegar and a Compress wrung out of Oxycrate then rowled it up with the expulsive Bandage the Cure indeed consisting mainly in the well rowling the want of that causing frequently crudity in the Ulcer By the use of it both the Influx was restrained and the member strengthened and with the help of the Unguent aforesaid it was digested as the Lips flatted by virtue of Compression it incarned and by Vnguent tutiae and Pledgits dipt in Lime water cicatrized in few dayes without Purging or Bleeding XXXIV A Gentleman of about twenty years old of a good habit of Body put himself into my hands for the cure of an Ulcer on his right side the breadth of the palm of the Hand It was occasioned by a burn and had been bigger The cause why this remaining part of the Ulcer did not cicatrize was most evident it being over-grown with loose Flesh I applied Pledgits of a mixture of unguent basilicon with two parts Aegyptiacum upon it with Bandage but observing it not to yield to that so soon as I designed I levelled it with the Caustick stone and after separation of the Eschar digested the Ulcer with unguent basilicon and Mercury precipitate and afterwards cicatrized it XXXV A young Man by some accident bruised the back of his Hand it inflamed and apostemated and after some while terminating in a sinuous Ulcer and underneath corrupting the Bone I was consulted and advised the way of dressing it but that method not being observed other Bones of the Hand became carious and the Hand in great hazard of being lost Upon which he was commended to my care Sir Alex. Fras being present I took off the dressings made a search with a Probe and felt the Bones leading to the two middle Fingers bare rough and as I suspected rotten The Orifice being small I applied a Caustick large enough to make way for the taking out those bones then divided the Eschar and dressed up his Hand with Digestives Emplaster and Bandage Sir Alex. Fras prescribed him a vulnerary decoction and left the prosecution of the cure to me As the Escar separated I saw the Bones leading to the two middle Fingers black and softned with putrefaction I laid hold on the one with my forceps and pinched it into pieces with much ease bringing part of it away I fomented the hand with a Decoction of Wormwood in Wine dissolved a little Aegyptiacum in some of it washed the Ulcer and applied a Dossil dipt hot in it upon the Bone and unguent basilicon over the Escar I then pinched out what was most rotten dressed the remaining ends of them with a mixture of unguent Aegyptiacum Spirit of Wine and extract of Scordium actually hot with an armed Probe applied Pledgits of the same upon the Bones rubb'd the loose flesh in the Ulcer with a Vitriol stone and laid unguent diapomphol upon Pledgits over the tender edges of the Ulcer By this way of dressing I deterged the Ulcer and at several times pinching out those rotten Bones that led to the two middle Fingers disposed the rest to cast off During which I laid the Ulcer higher open to the joynt of the middle Finger which knuckle I also found rotted to pieces and took out what would come easily away then dressed the remaining Calies as the other in the Hand and after some time made a separation of the Caries there Having the while digested and healed the Ulcer I first laid open I also cicatrized this part and dismissed the Patient well cured as I thought But some while after he came to me again with a Tumour upon that Knucle of the middle Finger from some remaining splinter of a Bone I laid it open and took that out While I was curing this I observed a small opening with a Tumour near it as big as a small Hazle-nut upon that part of the Bone which led to the Fore-finger I opened this by Causticks and discovering part of the Bone black pinched it off and dressed the remaining end with Aegyptiacum scalding hot upon an armed probe I kept the Ulcer open with Dossils prest out with Spirit of Wine till I made separation of it then cured this Ulcer also And from that time which is more then 5 years he hath continued well and his Hand is firm and strong Nature having supplied that loss of Bones with Callus But he beareth the Marks of the Disease Idem p. 188. which will assert the truth of what is here delivered XXXVI A Daughter of a substantial Citizen laboured under an Abscess in the Region of her left Kidney and was long treated by a bold Empirick who promised Cure but after all his endeavours the Child languishing under the Ulcer sometimes by the great discharge of matter by Urine and other times through the suppression of it great pains were stirred up within the Body and outwardly in the Abscess I being consulted observed the external Abscess took its Original from the Ulcer within the Kidney and required another manner of dressing its Cure being the work of time I proposed the laying it open to the very part where the matter passed forth from the Kidney To which purpose I applied a Caustick upon the Sinus below divided the Escar and dressed it up with Lenients Then after separation and digestion of the Ulcer searching the same with my Probe I found the Sinus run up above the Orifice which being also laid open I discovered the passage into the Kidney and felt the side of the last short rib bared by the matter in its passing our I dressed the Ulcer with mundif ex Apio and healed up the remaining Sinus's above and below to the very Arpeture While I was doing this work Doctor Barwick was consulted to help us in the Cure by Internals who prescribed a Traumatick decoction of Sarsa c. with the more temperate Plants and balsamick Pills to contemperate the Humours During my disposing of this Ulcer to retain a Cannula the Matter discharged by Urine in great quantity and the Patient was as sorely afflicted and had the same Symptome that others have who are diseased with Ulcers or Stones in their Kidneys but after vent was given by a short Cannula oâ— Lead she recovered Having continued the use of the Cannula some months I removed it and kept a Pea just in the opening and by red Sparadrop and compress retained it on then left her to her Mother to dress and only called sometimes when they gave me notice of their wants After a year or thereabout that she had kept this fontanell open the internal pains and discharge
When it was grown inveterate and could as it seemed be cured by no Remedies he came to me His Toe was swelled and inflamed On the outside of it there was an excrescence of Flesh as big as a Bean which covered almost half the Nail The Barber-Surgeons had several times wasted it away with causticks but to no purpose for whatever they wasted in the day it grew up again like a Mushrome in the Night I enquiring out the hindrances of cure found the Nail under this Flesh extuberant and separated from the Flesh underneath which therefore did prick the sound Flesh continually towards the root of the Nail caused pain and attracted the Humours plentifully When the cause was known I put the Patient in hope of a speedy cure Therefore having purged and bled him on the same side I strowed some burnt Alom powdered upon the excrescence of Flesh And I applied to his Toe and to his whole Foot a cooling and anodyne Cataplasm Take of Bean-flower 2 ounces powder of red Roses Pomegranate flowers and Cypress-nuts each 2 drachms Saffron half a scruple Boyl them in Plantain and Rose water and a little Vinegar Add towards the latter end the yolk of an Egg and a little Rose water Apply it warm With this the pain and swelling abated much the excrescence of the Flesh was a little wasted so that the Nail separated from the Flesh underneath which the excrescence of Flesh had covered came into sight I cut it away as carefully as I could with a Pen-knife and Scissers and when I had strewed on it a drying powder aad applied Diapalma plaster he quickly recovered Hence let Chirurgeons learn how much it concerns them Hildâ—â—â— to know the cause of a disease XLVI Frequently after the cure of an Ichor and a Meliceria we find the joynt so stiff and hard that it can be bended neither one way nor other Here oftentimes Chirurgeons labor a long time to mollify the joynt Ligaments and Nerves but in Vain for that Ichor which flows from the whole Body to the wounded joynt and has such acrimony corrodes and wasts first of all the ligaments and tendons which encompass the joynt and then the Cartilages which cover the joynt Hence it comes to pass that the Bones being divested of their Cartilages and Ligaments do as firmly grow together by a Callus which I was the first that observed as if there had never been a joynt there Idem XLVII Why is a full and a moist course of Diet bad for all Ulcers and a thin and dry one good Whether because a moist Diet makes the matter of the excrements more fluid for moisture is terminated by any thing but it self and driness by it self Or is it because moisture opens a passage for Moisture makes lax the passages which driness stops up And they flow especially when they are sharp and when the moisture of meat and drink abounds And a passage easily succeeds by these parts which of their own Nature are apt to receive the excrements of the whole Body Or is it because the Skin among all its other uses has this remarkable one to retain the Humours and Juices which run from within to the habit of the Body and to stop them as it were when otherwise they would easily run out and be discharged So therefore as the want of Skin is the cause why the serous Humour ouzes out it will be much more in sick Persons like as in Plants and Fruits when the bark of them is cut the useful Humour runs out so an Ulcer ceases not to run till it be crusted over nor does it cease running in Plants till the Cut close up Wherefore Hippocrates lib. de Vlceribus sayes The dry is next to the sound the dry is sound Or is it because of weakness for which the part does ill receive much adventitious moisture whether excrementitious or useful and wasts the moderate heat and is distempered so that it can neither concoct nor assimilate the same Wherefore it is said by Arnaldus doct 5. cap. 18. Aliment attracted and not incorporated turns to sanies and therefore superfluity of Aliment hurts wounded persons Or is it because by how much more aliment comes to the parts by so much more Excrements are bred And this being poured in plentifully infects and spoils the place Moreover Hippocrates writes l. de nat human that when an Ulcer cannot be healed of a long time Moisture is the cause of it It is necessary therefore that the whole Body be dry and that the part be dry for the agglutination of an Ulcer Or is it because an Ulcer that is moist by Nature is encreased by the accession of a moist diet as withered Plants when they are watred afresh grow green again But not only the Ulcer but the parts about it grow moist and stiff with an inflamed or some other Tumour without the soundness of which the Ulcer can neither dry nor heal These are Reasons sufficient to reject a moist Diet. Now a slender Diet is approved of in Ulcers as Eustachius Rhudius has observed to the end Nature may be more desirous to distribute that which is scarce sufficient for it self For an Empty Stomach attracts from all the parts round so as that by long consequence the circumference of the Body is emptied And that ill Humours may be corrected by Nature's constant evacuation of them which would be hindred and diverted by plenty of victuals Therefore Hippocrates lib. de locis p. 47. sayes Whatever Diseases turn to Vlcers and are eminent above the rest of the Body they must be cured by Medicines and Abstinence And a little after Proud and rising flesh must be brought down by Diet. But otherwise when the Bodies of ulcerous Persons abound Cacochymy they will find huge inconvenience from a full and moist Diet. For 2 aph 9. Impure bodies the more you nourish them the more you hurt them Wherefore I use to say Severinus that by a spare Diet much mischief which would ensue is retrived XLVIII If you would clearly know how hurtful an ill course of Diet is for Ulcers I will propound to your consideration the evidence and experience of Apparencies which have informed me when the Patient has been any way irregular For the Sores continue a long time and sometimes putrid and fungous caruncles breed in the Ulcer sometimes callosities and other filth and tumors grow in them sometimes there is a troublesome pain and sometimes an Inflammation about the part and an internal one too To say nothing how ill sometimes the Ulcer looks and what a strange colour and stench sometimes uses to follow The Patient must needs suffer these and such like things who indulges his Appetite and crams his Gut and has no command of himself On the contrary he that can rule himself and his Appetite will both quickly be cured and will feel none of those things I have spoken of For as Celsus l. 2. c. 16. sayes Nothing
about a Room I would have the Masters of Wounds to know this Alex. Benedictus that they may take away Blood if it cannot be had conveniently from the wound XII If the bleeding of wounds do not stop with Medicines some use Causticks and thereby close up the orifices of the Vessels but this is no safe way Because how much of the part is burnt into a Scab so much natural flesh goes off the Part in a Scab and then the orifice of the Vessels is left open again and destitute of Flesh and often a new Haemorrhagy which cannot easily be stopt is raised Of these Medicines they may the safeliest be used which being burnt have got a Caustick virtue and not burnt have a very astringent one but little burning such a Medicine is crude Vitriol which some strâ—w crude in powder on wounds others dissolve it in water and wet Linnen Clothes in it and apply them to the wound And Vitriol especially either in powder or dissolved in some convenient liquor is good in wounds when the orifice of a Vessel can be stopt neither by compression with the Finger nor with the fuss-ball called crepitus Lupi and vitriol dissolved especially in Liquor does penetrate the hurt Vessel But we must have a care that the Nerves if any be there be not hurt therefore in deep wounds if there be Nerves other things of the like virtue Sennertus must rather be injected XIII Some are against Purging in Wounds and they fear lest the Humours being disturbed thereby should flow more to the wounded part But Hippocrates l. de affect de fract c. 48 and Galen 4. Meth. 4. and 6. approve of it And Reason perswades it for if hot thin and bilious Humours abound in the Body they fit the Blood for motion they easily grow hot with pain and waking and give occasion to a Fever and such Humours especially must be Purged and it must be done at the beginning before a fluxion of Humours and the coming on of the Fever But if the Fever be come you annot conveniently or certainly not without danger give a Purge And we must abstain from hot Purgers lest a flux of Humours be raised and they should dispose the part to Inflammation Sennertus Manna Syrup of Roses c. are sufficient XIV For making a Cicatrice dry Powders are used without any preceding humidity both because we would dry and because the Powder sticks well enough to the parts for the parts that are not covered with skin are ever moist and that Moisture retains the powder that is strewed on it well enough And 〈◊〉 Powders which are truly and properly Epulotick are made of things that bind close and condâ—nsate the flesh and harden and dry it like a â—â—â—lus such are the â—ark of Frankincense tree rind of Pomegâ—â—â—aâ—e Galls burnt Oyster shells and burnt Coral Also Myrrh Litharge Diphryges burnâ—â—â—per burnt Alume Vitriol and other things which waâ—t and eat the flesh if they be powdered exactly fine and be only laid on the part affected with a gentle touch of the end of a Probe for if one should use them in a greater quantity or courser they would bite and waste the flesh and hollow the Ulcer And here we must observe that aes ustum squamma aeris and flos aeris must be washt to cause a cicatrice that they may lose some of their caustick faculty and may be a more Epulotick Medicine And you may use such Medicines in dry bodies Rondeletius and parts that are not very sensible XV. Sowing must not be used before the wound be well cleaned within as Celsus l. 5. c. 26. sayes namely that no concrete Blood may be left there for that would turn to Pus cause Inflammation and hinder the closings of the wound I say it is not so well to sow up the wound presently as soon as they look on it as most Surgeons commonly do But this inconvenience of grumous Blood happens most in venous places and not so much in others 2. But that the wound when it is sowed up may discharge its necessary sanies dayly many put in a tent above and below a thing which is contrary to sowing and is inconvenient to beauty 3. We must lay a small thread made of clean Cotton dipt in Honey of Roses or in some other vulnerary liquor half way in all along the wound then we must pass a needle and a thread through the Skin over this and make a knot and so do as often as there is need of any more Suture Severinus XVI A Boy was cut for the Stone and the wound could not be healed for the edges of it were a callous stone the Urine being voided that way Therefore the crusty Lips were made bloody again by the industry of another Surgeon and when the stony edges were cut off Kentmannus de Calculis c. 11. it afterwards closed up well and the Urine came by the proper passage XVII Sometimes it chances that a Wound is reduplicate Now I call it a reduplication of the Wound when there is only one Wound in the Skin and two in the Muscles or which I remember I have seen three This reduplication happens either because of the tremulous hand that inflicts the wound or because of the motion and agitation of the Wounded person Such wounds are dangerous if the Surgeon be either ignorant or negligent A Fencing-Master going to part two Noble Men who were quarrelling was run with a sharp Sword into the left Arm When the bleeding was stopt at the perswasion of his friends he only used a Traumatick Decoction At first the cure succeeded as well as he could wish But about the third day an Inflammation arose violent pain a Fever reaching to Vomit c. Wherefore when I was called to his assistance I found all his Hand and Arm swelled the muscles also of his breast Sympathizing Having put in my probe I found a wound a span long reaching towards his elbow and treated it according to Art But after several dayes when the Symptomes did not abate I reckoned there must something more there than yet I knew be in it therefore I search the wound again with a silver probe and I find a Sinus but not of the same depth reaching from under the cephalick vein toward the Median In the Superficies therefore there was only one wound but in the Muscles there were two Therefore when I had discovered this wound I put a tent into it anoynted with a proper unguent I anointed the Arm c. and I happily finished the cure with Sarcoticks and Epuloticks Eilâ—anus XVIII A lusty Man of Seventy had received a contused wound with a Club on the upper part of his Shoulder with bitter pain and lividness of the Part. A Vein was immediately opened and Emplastrum de Cumino applied the next day he took a gentle Purge The pain persevering the part was frequently anointed with oyl of Wax
Salt what then is this like to do in a Morbous condition of the Stomach where all things are governless In a nidorous Crudity it will be changed like Proteus into sulphureous dross in an acid it will pass into a corrosive Salt where there is no doubt but that the preternatural scorbutick acid Salts are exalted by those of the Sugar and that thereby there is given a greater occasion for the obstructions of the Viscera also that febrile Ferments are encreased hereby To which account H. ab Heer Lib. 1. Observat 5. long ago subscribed It is certain says he that those who in Fevers have often taken Syrups Conserves and other Sugared Medicines which most Physicians have used to prescribe have many of them died for I am certain that by the Sugar which easily turns to Choler fuel is added to the Fever whence Avenzoar writes as Mercurialis cites him that those who often use sweet things can hardly be preserved Shall that which it self is always prone to ferment Hofin m. m. l. 1. c. 19. hinder other things from corruption and fermentation III. The more frequent use of Alexeteries is hurtful lest by custom Nature come to receive no benefit by them N. Bocca Angelinus cap. 32. ¶ Great caution is needful that men indulge not themselves too much in the use of Cordials For I have known many eminent both Men and Women from the more frequent use of these fall into this bad custom that it has become necessary to take a draught often in a day either of some generous Wine or Spirit or of some Strong water yea moreover inasmuch as Nature being a little accustomed to Extraordinaries remains not long content with the same to encrease them daily and to repeat them oftener so that at length the Stomach could bear or digest nothing moderate but still desired stronger and hotter But the other Viscera and especially the Liver have been so dried and parch'd thereby that the Blood being lessened as to its quantity and depraved as to its Crasis a morbiferous Cacochymie or shortning of life has superven'd There are sundry occasions that bring men into this bad custom of sipping Cordial Liquors for in sudden Faintings which are perhaps occasion'd by great Grief toylsome Labour vast Sweats or acute Pain also when one has eaten something that agrees not with his Stomach but causes a weight and a Nausea or when a swooning or stupor seems to be impendent through a Spasmodick disposition yea for many other causes it is usual to guzle vinous Spirits and then after that such Cordials being taken some time begin to be agreeable and delight the mass of Blood being a little more freely expanded and more accended by every taste of them the whole Hypostasis of the Soul is thereby amplified and excited into a kind of Ovation which subsiding again the Soul remembring that complacence and being not content with her present state affects the same again and craves after more Wherefore upon every trouble of Body or Mind assoon as the Spirits quail a little a Cordial draught is presently desired to raise them again and so by the often unprofitable spreading of the sails of the Soul the Fabrick of the Body it self as of a ship is shattered Nor does this evil custom prevail only among drunken Companions but sometimes learned Men and fine and ingenious Women that they may the more improve and exhilarate their Genius by often sipping of hot Spirits and Waters or of Aqua Vitae although it be but improperly called so undermine and often overturn their own health Willis IV. When the Stomach languishes thick Alexipharmacks are more commended than liquid that they may stay there the longer When the Heart is affected liquid are better because they penetrate more speedily as Praevotius has experimented Rhod. in Septal p. 147. V. They are not convenient before an universal state of the Disease lest they move the crude humors unseasonably or carry them to the Heart * Baldus p. 3. or lest by drawing them to the inner Parts they increase the Obstructions Alsar à Cruce Prophyl Cons p. 72. â— shortness of Breath or Putrefaction therefore let them be given after Concoction is finished VI. Some say that Cordials may be made to exert their vertue by the means of the circulated Blood without taking them in at the mouth The manner of Administration is this Let the Arm be tyed above and below then having emptied the Mediana infuse a Cordial liquor through a Pipe made of a Lark's Bone one end of which is fitted to an Oxe's Bladder and the other put into the Mediana or some fair vein of the Foot squeezing the Bladder when the liquor is injected shut the hole remove the bandages and the substance and virtue thereof will be carried to the Heart by means of the Circulation VII The most Serene Prince Christian Marquess of Brandenburgh died very old His Corps being opened the Heart being dissected sent forth a very grateful Odour altogether like those Emulsions and Juleps viz. Confect Alkermes Cinamon water c. which had been given him some days before he died An infallible Argument that Medicines which are taken stick not in the first ways but by a continued use they may penetrate to the very Heart with their vertue almost intire J Sigismund Esholt M. C. an 76. Observ 225. and retaining their qualities at least partly VIII In Hypochondriacal cases Cordials are sometimes to be used Fortis consult 7. Cent. 3. yet let Powders and Earths alone as encreasing Obstructions IX The Ancients mixed crude leaf gold with many Medicines but to what purpose I pray unless to please the Eyes for its substance is too solid and compact to be resolved and brought into act by our heat Nor does it suffice that some determine the Effluvia of the Heart and Gold to be Sympathick and therefore they give leaf-gold for besides that this supposition may be destroyed with the same facility as it is asserted without Reasons it might be applied outwardly in greater plenty and without doubt with greater profit and less or no loss Schrod Phâ—rm l. 3. c. 8. ¶ But I think it is without doubt that being Chymically resolved and prepared it has many vertues seeing Experience testifies it But whether it have also a notable power of comforting the Heart and refreshing the Spirits in an occult manner I leave every one to think what he will It is safest that every one conclude in this case not as he has read or heard but as he has himself experienced But that Gold has many other vertues is certain but what those are all say not alike for there are some who take it almost for an universal Remedy but although it cure many and those very dangerous Diseases yet it removes not all and those which it does remove it will not do it alone but there is need of other Medicines But it is especially profitable in
great Horns through the volatile and extensile Nature of its Balsam and hence it is believed to be a great Cordial and a true secondary Bezoardick for by its Spirit which is altogether of the same Nature with that of the Blood it recreates the Heart by its sweet Balsam it cherishes the radical moisture by its Armoniack Salt it penetrates and attenuates tartareous Matters provokes Sweat and Urine and therefore opposes a pestiferous Air And by its drying vertue which remains in its Earth it drives away Putrefaction kills Worms helps Fluxes of the Belly whence for divers Indications divers Preparations also of Hartshorn are to be used Thus in an Ethereal Plague and Poisons I use the Spirit and armoniack Salt of Hartshorn as a notable Diaphoretick In malignant Fevers as the small Pox where the whole mass of Blood is not only accended but also putrefied I use secondary Preparations that are derived from its whole substance namely Decoctions of it Sam. Clossaeus ad Gr. Horstium Decad 1 â—robl qu. 4. where there are several Preparations of it Gellies and Extracts for Swooning I use the Water distilled from the typhi or snags of fresh Horns for a Phthisick and retarding old Age I use the sweet Balsam thereof for Worms and Diarrhoea's I use the Horn vitriolated XV. Here the negligence or unskilfulness of some Apothecaries is to be noted that burn Harts-horn not in melting Pots but simply among the Coals this indeed is a compendious Preparation but such as is hurtful to the Patient seeing Coals have a malignant vapour in them Fabr. Hild. l. de Gangraena c. 12. which is manifest in those that draw it in with their Breath in a close place XVI Although those Animals be not known from whom the Horns call'd Vnicorns-horns are taken yet their vertue is not therefore to be denied which is only known by Experience for let any one that would make tryal of a piece of this Horn give some Poison to a Whelp or Pullet and if he find that by giving a little of this Horn in Powder the Animal escape he will find reason to esteem it as a good Medicine If we approve of Hartshorn why should the same Faculty be denied to other Horns Therefore I would not morosely inquire whether they be the Horns of the Unicorn or of some other Animal so long as they are good and effectual for it is certain that both Elephants Teeth and Whale-Bone and the Teeth of the Sea-Horse and common Horns adust and Horns digg'd out of the ground Primiros de vulgi error l. 4. c. 38. and other factitious ones are often sold for the true Unicorn's-Horn XVII If Treacle be taken daily to a Grain it makes the Body Poyson-proof without inflaming as Galen reports it happen'd to King Mithridates I have seen many who have been subject to Swoonings without evident cause cured on this manner and it is an excellent Remedy where we have suspicion of any poisonous matter lurking in our Bodies Panarol fascie 1. Arcan p. 212. XVIII Let Children abstain wholly from Treacle for their Age is too weak to indure so potent a Medicine and it colliquates their Body and wastes their Primigenial heat like as the light of a Lamp is extinguished by pouring too much oil into it I have seen a Boy that died through the unseasonable use of Treacle He had been feverish a long time and his Body being wasted his Strength was gone his Guardian compelled me against my judgement to prescribe him some Treacle which he could not concoct when he had taken it for it was above the strength of the Boy and dissolv'd the habit of his Body c. so that he died that very Night Gal. lib. de Theriaca c. 17. Whether it be altogether to be denied to Children See Galen Tit. de Morbis Infant Lib. 9. XIX As we must guess at the degree of the Poisonous infection of the Blood and Heart so also at the Dose of the Alexipharmack Remedy a little quantity cannot resist the great Malignity in acute Fevers or the Plague as suppose one or two small Doses of Treacle or of a Sudorifick Bezoardick Tincture Such plenty is to be prescribed as may drive out the Poison by large Sweats Thus was a Sanguine Countrey-fellow being of a good habit of Body freed from the Plague by taking a Drachm of Treacle Rolfinc m. m. lib. xi S. 3. c. xi and laying so many Cloaths upon him as made him sweat Yet let not the quantity be too great One being struck with fear in the time of Contagion took a little Treacle whence Sweat followed on the Night the day after he took some more he repeated it the third time believing that some Contagion lay hid so that in all he took at leâ—st four or five Drachms on the Night following he was taken with a most burning Fever and Pustules also arose Treacle seeing it is hot in the second and dry in the third degree by reason of its driness must not be given to above a Drachm though in respect of its heat we may ascend higher Salmuth Cent. 1. Obs 51. XX. Whether is there a Cordial vertue in Precious Stones and their Magisteries Many laugh at their vertues others suspect them hence are many Compositions amongst which Confectio de Hyacintho is famous being noted for many vertues Avenzoar Mindererus and Zacutus attribute great vertues to the Emerauld But the simple Preparation of Stones ought to be more esteemed than their Magisteries seeing 't is doubtful whence these latter have their vertue whether from the proper form or from the Menstrua or Dissolvents if from these latter they will do more harm than good and seeing the weight of the Magisteries is often greater than that of the matter to be extracted was before it breeds a suspicion that therefore part of the Menstruum whether it be vitriolate tartareous or have the Nature of any other Salt insinuates it self into the Magistery and is to be washed out of it by no Art The weight indeed is increased in the simple Preparation of them but that happens from another cause namely because the Air contained in their Pores whil'st they were whole vanishes upon their grinding or because by the long agitation of them upon a Marble something parts from it and mixes with the prepared Medicin but this is less hurtful than the corroding Menstruum added to the Magisteries Laur. Hofman writes That the Bishop of Breslaw often drank the Magistery of Perls and that when he died the coats of his Stomach appear'd black and corrupted Libavius shews by some examples that many have faln into a Consumption by the use of the Magistery of Perls and Corals and that many have died thereby the coats of their Stomach and Guts being plainly eroded by their acrimony XXI One Drachm of Magisteries rightly prepared can do more than an Ounce or more of the vulgar unprofitable and unwholsom precipitated Magisteries
seeing these being taken into the Body do only like slak't Lime as it were whiten over the Stomach and Guts and oppress them by sticking long upon them undissolv'd or if they glide out of the Stomach by obstructing the Mesaraick Vessels and hindring Concoction they are apt to cause at length grievous Diseases I will confirm this by an Instance A Nobleman complained of a weight of his Breast and Stomach of a nausea want of Appetite with a lingring but continual Fever though he used a very good diet and Cordial and Cephalick Powders Although he were naturally weak yet I thought good to begin the Cure with some general Remedy and suspecting from his nausea that some crude matter stuck in his Stomach and its upper Orifice I got him to consent to take a gentle Vomit which wrought very gently twice upwards and thrice downwards In the afternoon I found him pretty well and he told me that he found great ease about his praecordia His Lady bringing out a Silver bason shewed me what he had Vomited which was about a quart of thick and viscid Phlegm in the bottom whereof there was a Powder like white ashes a Fingers thick for a sediment Looking upon his Stools also they likewise lookt just as if they had been mingled with a great deal of ashes Now several dayes before he had taken daily a precious Powder almost of the same colour made of the Magisteries of Perls and Corals of Harts-horn burnt and prepared and an Epileptick Powder Zwelf append ad animadv in Pharm Aug. p. m. 92. c. ¶ It is to be noted that the greatly cryed up Magisteries prepared of Coral Perl c. especially by the Oyl of Tartar answer not the promises of their Authors seeing by such preparation their vertue to temper fix and concentrate acids Franc. de le Boë Sylvius Pract. l. 1. c. 7. is broken if not quite abolished It is therefore better to use them only reduced into a fine Powder than so prepared or rather corrupted XXII In the dissolution of Perles it is a common errour to pour distilled Vinegar upon them For it is sure the Liquor that ascends in distilling of it is insipid and altogether unfit for dissolving of Perles and that which remains in the bottom after distillation by its corrosive vertue dissolves both Perles and other things and reduces them into a powder as it were and calcines them now this is not to draw out the Spirit of perles but to corrupt their whole substance The Bishop above-mentioned took often of such magistery of perl as this and when he was dead the coats of his Stomach appeared black and corrupted Marquess John's Lady had the same hap in whom the Coats of the Stomach were plainly eroded There is indeed hardly any Glass that it is kept in Monav. in Epist Scholtz Ep. 163. so firm but it will erode it and turn it to ashes XXIII Among Alexipharmacks Tormentil and Bole are worst for those who have a dry Belly Dunc Liddel l. 3. c. 5. for by their earthy adstriction they cause obstruction and putrefaction XXIV Lest those who are accustomed to the use of the Volatil Salt of Vipers find unexpected effects of it and such as are contrary to its Nature I would admonish them that they carefully avoid the mixing any thing with it that is very acid especially Spirits such as are those of Salt Vitriol Sulphur and the like M. Charras tr â—tat de vipera c. 9. for by those it would be fixed and its operation wholly hindred XXV Sulphureous Spirits kindle the Sulphur of the Blood Volatil Vrinous ones rarefie it and Acid Spirits tame and dull or blunt it All these used inwardly restore the heat and motion of the Blood encrease and vigorate its balsamick oleous parts whence Apoplectick Hysterick Cordial Spirits and the like revive the Spirits remove fainting and recall the languishing faculties But seeing both these and the rest are very active they are all of them to be given warily For being given unseasonably 1. they fill the head and intoxicate 2. they deject the appetite which yet being used moderately they are in their own Nature rather apt to restore by exciting the heat of the Stomach 3. they make men Phthisical and Hydropical the former by consuming the dewy Nectar of the parts the Serum and by making the Humours more acrimonious the latter by destroying the tone and temperature of the Viscera Whence Hofman in his Preface De medic Officin writes rightly that our Countrey Brandy whether it be made of the Lees of Wine or of Wheat or Spelt or of Juniper-berries is so hurtful to the Liver that in two or three months by bringing a colliquation it causes a Dropsie that is deadly to all that fall into it I have often observed the same thing my self that all those stout drinkers of Brandy have at length become phthisical or Dropsical or both But Vrinous Spirits rarefie the Blood and by making the Serum halituous and fluxile provoke sweat whence whensoever there is need of volatilising let these be at hand for they promote motion and heat far more powerfully than the Spirit of Wine they expell also whence they are very powerful in driving out the small Pox they drive away drowziness in the Apoplexy Epilepsie and fits of the Mother hence they are good in malignant diseases if any be but we must take heed that by too much rarifying we do not dissolve the Blood and hasten death Hence those admirable effects are to be referred hither that are here and there ascribed to them as Hartman relates of the Spirit of Soot that it has raised to life again those that were even a dying Neither yet is there any reason why we should so much esteem the Spirit of Vipers and Soot that is more stinking and ungrateful so as that we should attribute more to them than to others for as good as any are of the more Sulphureous and Bezoardick the Spirit of Ivory and Harts horn and of the purer the Spirit of Sal armoniack Lastly seeing Acids tame and blunt the Sulphur of the Blood acid Spirits do this in general yet these also vary in regard of special effects and qualities thus Spirit of Vitriol is hurtful to the Breast the Spirit of Nitre is an Anticolick the Spirit of Salt performs all the offices of an acid in the first degree as it were and indifferently Wedel Pharm p. 201. The rest are to be referred to these XXVI Such Gellies are to be chosen as are 1. new for old grow rancid and have an ingrateful and musty taste 2. such as are tender and whitish not the black dusky hard like horn or such as are not at all grateful or agreeable to the Stomach hence when not many years ago a very great quantity of Harts-horn Gelly was given to a Child of a noble Family lying ill of the small Pox by the advice of an eminent Physician
remain so little of Excrements that it may be drawn aside by the Bath it is better to let alone the Diarrhâ—a that is ready to cease of it self than to vitiate the whole Body for a thing that is not at all necessary But neither does he grant a Bath to those who are too Costive and adding and was not loosened before he shews the Cause namely some are costive after a great loosness as men are generally after Purging Physick in which case bathing is not prejudicial but if the Belly be bound and no evacuation went before it then contains a great deal of Excrement and Filth and we said before that we must not bathe when the Belly is full of Meat how much less when it is full of Excrements and in such case therefore one must not bathe unless his Belly be first loosned namely if upon any account we be compelled to bring such to the Bath we must first draw down the Excrements with a Clyster as we are wont to do for letting of Blood Nor must those bathe whose Faculties languish namely this Remedy is a pretty strong evacuator and therefore it requires strength to bear it Now that the evacuation is great that is caused by a Bath is shewn in the next Paragraph Yet we will not on this account keep the Hectick from Baths but according to their strength we will bathe them more or less gentlier or stronglier and some indeed not at all Neither those who are troubled with a Nausea or belch somewhat that is bilious these namely are the signs of a great Cacochymie which we have shewed to be a sufficient hindrance of bathing Nor those who Bleed at the Nose unless they bleed less than they should do for if they bleed less it is good to bathe whether the whole Body receive benefit from the flux of Blood more than by any other Remedy as in those that labour under a Plethory of the whole Body or the Head only be profited as in those who have only a Plethory thereof The cause whereof doubtless is that a Bath promotes the flowing of the Blood liquating of it and loosening the mouths of the Veins But it is clear that this is meant of a Bath of hot or tepid water for immersion into cold water stops fluxes of Blood which Women have learned by daily Experience who therefore when their Terms flow shun cold water We know also that by pouring on of cold water or by dipping any Parts of the Body into it bleeding at the Nose uses to be stopt and so from whencesoever the Blood issue the using of cold water profiteth unless it flow out of some internal Part and especially if out of the Lungs for then the Blood fleeing back toward the Heart it may chance to abound more about the Lungs But an hot Bath increases all evacuations of Blood and therefore it is to be avoided unless when an evacuation is seasonable Idem and the Blood proceeds not accordingly as is requisite VII There is no reason why a Physician should slight that evacuation that is caused by a Bath as small and not worth mentioning for from one long-continued lotion in the water of a Bath that was made with violent pourings on of the water I have seen more filth and tough and thick Phlegm such as might not be seen only but also drawn in length by the fingers or a piece of a stick drawn out this way than is used to be by the most plentiful Blood-letting not unlike to that which is wont to appear in the bason upon bleeding in the Foot Idem VIII Whether must we not forbear bathing till the Disease be wholly cured I answer by distinction If the Patient perceive the Bath to agree with his Strength and Nature and that the Disease lessens daily let him continue the use thereof till it wholly cease If he be little or nothing benefited let him take his leave of the Bath because his Distemper is greater than can be overcome by it But note that although the benefit be not manifest if so be the Patient be not weakened he must not presently desist because as Experience testifies many that have perceived no benefit all the time they bathed have some Weeks or Months after their return home been either wholly cured or at least much helped because Nature the strength being recruited by a good and orderly diet is wont to obliterate all the footsteps of the Disease says Aretaeus IX Those err who make the term of staying in the Bath to be till the Fingers and Toes become wrinkled for all have not the same habit of Body in some it is rare and lax in others hard and dense the Humors that are dispersed through the Flesh are few and thin in some in others many and thick and perhaps such would sooner faint away than their Fingers and Toes wrinkle Others expect sweat upon the Forehead but the same causes will make it to break forth more easily or more difficulty in several Persons They who define a certain space of time are deceived for respect is not to be had so much to the hours as circumstances and the endurance of the strength is the just bound for old Women the cold and moist the robust those that have a dense and compact habit of Body the fat those that are accustomed to bathing do endure it longer especially in the Spring and Autumn than Young men boyes old men the hot dry rare weak lean or People unaccustomed to Baths For the former are less dissolved and are not so subject to fainting as the latter To which add that some Baths are more generous and effectual than others and such require a less stay in them and that some Diseases are more rebellious and fixed than others and such require a longer bathing From all which it is clear that no certain number of hours can be prescribed for bathing in so great variety of circumstances X. I have observed that washing or abiding in sweet and hot water is not without danger A man of Seventy years old lusty for his Age coming out of the Countrey towards Evening and finding himself somewhat weary commanded a Bath of common water to be presently got ready Wherein having hardly stayed an hour and perceiving a fainting Fit a coming he betook himself to bed in which being presently taken with an Apoplexy he died that very Night Another having heated himself in such a Bath a Swooning and a great and long Disease followed with a very great weakness Hence it appears how full of danger washing in water is whether it be Simple or Medicinal by Nature or Art unless the Body be first prepared for by bathing especially in common water the Body is made slippery the Pores and all the ways are widened the Viscera are heated the Blood boils in the Vena cava and hence the Humours are diffused this way and that way c. Fabr. Hild. Cent. 6. Obs 96. XI
IX The way to make a Fontanel in the Coronal suture X. Those Issues are best that are made by excision XI Whether is best to make them with an actual or a potential Cautery XII We must proceed warily in the application of a Potential Cautery XIII We must take heed of mistaking the place where the Caustick should be applied XIV How deep the Caustick should eat XV. It must not be applied to a weak Part. XVI Issues must not be made in Persons that have a very ill habit of Body XVII Whether they cause Barrenness XVIII They are not to be rashly dried up XIX Why they sometimes run nothing XX. How their Operation is to be helpt XXI A supervening tumour not to be ascribed to the mistake of the Physician XXII Let not Causticks be made of Astringents XXIII Those Issues that break out of their own accord are not to be stopt XXIV If the Body be foul apply not a Caustick XXV A Compendious way of making a Seton XXVI When we make it we must take heed of hurting the Tendons XXVII It is best making a Seton with an heated Instrument XXVIII In Children it is to be preferr'd before an Issue in the Neck XXIX Whether a Seton is to be made lengthwayes or breadthwayes XXX Let not the ligature upon Issues in the Arm be too strait XXXI The best Issues are in the Thigh if convenient Ligature can be made XXXII The Profitableness of Inustions XXXIII The difference of them according to the different intention XXXIV How the Arabians make their Inustions XXXV Whether Inustions of the Abdomen that were in use amongst the Ancients be to be approved XXXVI There is a Cautery without Pain XXXVII I. FOntanels as well as Vesicatories drain out whatsoever Humours are fixed within the Skin though in a less compass or that are drawn through it both from the Blood-Vessels and Nerves But they do not only like Vesicatories proritate and milk as it were the outer surface of the Skin but by perforating the Skin also they convey outwards all that exsudes from the sides of the hole by the broken vessels and that also which is sliding from other places under the bottom of the hole Wherefore there flow to Fontanels or Issues not only those Humours that are heaped up within the Pores of the Skin or the Glands or which are sent thither by the Arteries and Nerves but moreover the serous Excrements under the Skin that use to creep from place to place by the interstices of the Muscles and Membranes do from every hand tend towards them and find an exit by them Besides an Issue being placed in the way anticipates the Morbifick Humours that are wont to be carried to other Parts that were before weak and long afflicted and so frees sometimes one Part sometimes another from their incurse and like a Bulwark defends them from the Enemy Hence the matter whether Arthritick or Nephritick or Colical yea sometimes the Paralytick or otherwise the Scorbutick as it passes out of its Fountains to its nests or diseased Parts is often intercepted by Issues and so is carried out with the escaping of the usual invasions of the Disease This Emissary or Outlet also like water-furrows made to drain the ouziness of the Earth does by little and little drain out the Humours that are setled in any part or region of the Body and are there doing harm and so they either prevent or cure a morbid Disposition Willis II. From these various ways of helping whereby Issues are wont in general to profit it is easily gathered for what Diseases they are chiefly requisite for though there be almost no Disease to which this Remedy is either hurtful or unprofitable yet it seems more necessary in some cases than in others It is commonly prescribed for almost all Diseases of the Head both internal and external for the Convulsive motions of Infants and Children for their Ophthalmie and strumous Tumours Nor is this Remedy in less repute for Diseases of the Breast as also for those of the lower Belly Nor is there any Gouty or Cachectical Person but has his Skin as full of holes as a Lamprey But truly this Remedy howsoever profitable and benign of it self is not agreeable to all For there are two sorts of Men who although they were diseased may be excused from Fontanels inasmuch namely as this Emissary evacuates too much in some and in others less than it ought and in the mean time is very painful 1. It is not convenient when it too much evacuates or spends the moisture or spirits I have observed in some that an Issue made in any Part of the Body pours out an ichor immoderate in quantity and vicious for quality out of it namely very frequently if not always there ouzes in great plenty a watry thin and stinking Humour often colouring the Pease and Coverings black and by the too great efflux hereof the Strength and Flesh are wasted The reason whereof seems to be that in some who have their Blood and Humours ill disposed when a Solution of continuity is made and hindred from healing it shortly turns into a stinking and ill favour'd Ulcer the sides whereof put on the nature of a corruptive acid Ferment whereby namely the Portions of the Blood that are continually driven thither are so tainted and dissolved that the Serum having its Sulphur loosned and being imbued with other defilements is rejected of the Veins and so issues plentifully out there Moreover this corruptive taint of the Issue being communicated to the Blood doth in some sort deprave its whole mass and thereby as also through the too great loss of the serous Humour renders it at least less nutritious And from the Sulphur of the Blood 's being dissolved on the sides of the Issue and flowing out with the Serum does the ichor that flows oâ—t stink so and blacken the Linnen Sometimes the Fontanel pouring out no immoderate quantity of ichor does yet unduly consume the Spirits and Strength which indeed is known by the Effect and sometimes only a Posteriori inasmuch namely as some while they have one or more Issues open continue languid and lean but these being stopt they presently become more brisk and fleshy Moreover 't is a vulgar observation that many upon having an Issue made near their Head have been taken with some defect and weakness of Sight so that they have been forced to close it again presently which seems therefore to happen because where the store of Spirits is small and their consistence very thin small expences of them or of the juice out of which they are bred if so be they be constant are hardly born But 2. Fontanels as also Vesicatories are forbidden some or are warily prescribed on another and indeed a different regard namely because when they evacuate almost little or nothing they vex and pain very much the place in which they are made For such as being of a Cholerick or otherwise
part to which it is prejudicial Merc. de Ind. Med. l. 1. c. 16. XVII It should be none of our least cares to see that the Person who is to have the Issue made be not Cachectick that is be not of a corrupt habit or vitiated viscera moreover that he be not full of ill Humours and unpurged for in such Bodies this Remedy is apt to produce Malignant Ulcers Seâ— Medic. effic p. 256. XVIII Some in England are stifly of opinion that an Issue whether one or more disposes to Barrenness on which account married Women and such as desire Children are strictly forbid the use of this Remedy though it might otherwise conduce never so much to their health for which interdict yet no reason is given but only some stories of certain Barren Women that had Issues are alledged when it were as easie to relate more that have been Barren without them and many fruitful with them And indeed I am wont to retort this argument chiefly against that opinion seeing there is no need to confute it otherwise Willis XIX A Woman having for many years one foot very much ulcerated had an Issue in the other being wearied with the trouble of them she got them healed up upon which presently ensued a difficulty of breathing yet without loss of appetite At length there followed a swelling of the Face and of the whole Body through the Humours stagnating and having no vent and a little after death Horst obs 15. Lib. 9. Being opâ—ned there was found an abscess in the left side hard by the Spleen XX. As luxuriant flesh sometimes grows on dismembred Limbs so also in the cavity of Issues nor must we believe that that mucor or proud flesh as 't is commonly called proceeds from the excrementitious Humour that we would have evacuated but that Humour is turned into such matter which if the part were intire would pass into its nourishment Hoefer Her Medic. lib. 1. cap. 4. And hence some wear Issues without any benefit Sometimes it happens that an Issue like a spring dried up pours forth little or no Humour either because the hole being not deep enough penetrates not through the whole Skin which is easily cured by making it deeper or the Ulcer though deep and large enough yet remains without liquor because the Serum through the too strict compages of the Blood does not easily and plentifully enough separate from its mass and then the only Remedy is to wear in the hole such solid things as irritate much and notably twitch the mouths of the Vessels For which purpose Pills of Ivy or Box or of the Roots of Gentian or Hermodactyls are made and used with good success Willis XXI Where a Cautery is applied to attract the matter creeping upwards as in a sympathick Epilepsie after the falling of the Eschar let a Cupping-glass be often applied River Pract. lib. 1. c 7. XXII Having premised such things as were necessary I applied a Seton and a potential Cautery to a man of sixty that was troubled with an old and great pain in his Head Four dayes after a Phlegmatick tumour rose in his Arm which waxed so that all his Arm swelled from his Shoulder to his Fingers ends like the Legs of Hydropical Persons I used Remedies to prevent the extinction of his natural heat and at length the swelling was quite scattered Twelve dayes after the like tumour seiz'd upon the same Parts which afterwards wasted away in a good part though not wholly Many were of opinion that these things happened by reason of the Cautery's being applied upon some Nerve but it appears by Anatomy that they were mistaken for the Nerves lie deeper there than to be toucht by a Caustick moreover it was not laid upon the tendon of the deltoides Muscle but much higher After three Months his Arm being swelled like the Legs of Persons in a Dropsie he died of a lingring Fever There was no Gangrene lividness or pain except a little lumpishness But I refer the cause of the swelling of the Arm to an hard inveterate immoveable painless and livid Scirrhus that lay hid in his Arm-pit and was fasten'd to the Ribs Cl. Chaphusius ad Fabr. Hild. Cent. 4. obs 73. and not to the application of the Cautery though I doubt not but his death was in some manner hasten'd thereby XXIII In preparing Causticks this one thing is to be noted that those things be made use of that want an astringent vertue such as is quick lime for those Causticks that are made of Vitriol and the like seeing they have an astringent vertue the Eschar that is made by them is longer a falling off Mich. Gavassetius l. de nat cauter c. 12. wherefore we should rather use these where we would stanch the Blood that bursts forth upon the erosion of Vessels XXIV Sometimes there has risen a spontaneous Ulcer in the interstices of the Muscles and in the cavities of other Parts which hath helped and removed some great Distemper of the Body In that place therefore there is to be left an Issue for some time 'T is a thing which I have experienced to be profitable and therefore I advise it Sever. Med. effic p. 235. yea and reason it self also perswades it XXV If the Body be foul and full of Humours an Issue is not to be made till provision be first made against the accidents that use to happen by some general Remedies for grievous things are sometimes raised from a small cause There is a late example at hand In the middle of April 1681. Constantine M. our chief Gardener being about Sixty came to ask my advice I am afraid says he I shall fall into an Apoplexy for I have a heavy pain on the left side of my Head with drowziness yea and my Tongue sometimes faulters and therefore I think I have need of an Issue I consented if necessaries had preceeded lest there should be a hasty irruption of Humours upon the part wherein it should be made He replies that it was not long since he had been purged and so goes outright to a Surgeon The next day a flux of Humour fell upon his Lungs and upon that Arm to which the Caustick had been applied hereto did a Loosness joyn it self with a Fever I being sent for said that the fluor was to be let alone and that there was no thinking of Bleeding which he prest for until his Loosness were stayed yet he slighted my advice and made himself be let Blood in the other Arm which came forth corrupt and putrid altogether like to that which is taken from Peripneumonick and Pleuritick Persons to wit cover'd with a white greenish and thick Mucilage He refused Clysters which I would have had him use to recal the fluor He was let Blood again and the Blood was no better than the former I was afraid his Arm should Gangrene but a third Bleeding averted the danger of that as
shaking or to be feverish at all But it is certain that this happens seldom or scarce ever but in those that are very hot and dry by Nature Valles m. m. l. 1. c. 9. for it seemeth to be agreeable to this nature only ¶ Oribasius speaking of old Men says that when they have Agues they must necessarily have food allow'd them in the very Fit for they abound with a glassie Phlegm which in them passes not into aliment and therefore they must often and importunely be refreshed with meat See Zacut. P. H. p. 539. though there be instant danger of death II. Some Practitioners prescribe Ptisan a very convenient aliment which tempereth the Blood and Choler cuts and detergeth viscid matter allayeth thirst takes away the roughness of the mouth and in general of all the Pneumatick Organs makes the Breath easie c. I say they prescribe ptisan with sweet Almonds bruised yea at the same meal they allow an Egg Panada and Flesh against Galen's opinion l. 2. de v. ac who sayes that manifold meats and such as are of different faculties cause a pertubation of the Belly But 't is answered those things which are given either all of them come under the notion of meat or at least one Then the Fever is either short and then 't is bâ—tter to give simple meat or at least to mingle meats together that are of a simple faculty or Chronical and then it is best to give fewer sorts of meat at the same time yet because the Disease is long and the Patients cloy'd and queasie-Stomach'd several meats as Eggs Panada Flesh Fruits may be allowed at several times Or some of them come under the notion of sawce which may be mixed with the meat for the aliment keepeth its proper vertues and by the sawce is made more pleasant to the smell and taste Capivâ—â—c lib. 6. c. 2â— and more effectual against the morbifick matter As to the quality of the food Hippocrates declareth aph 16. lib. 1. Moist food is good for all febricitant people c. For seeing a Fever is an hot and dry Distemper by the rule of contraries it reâ—uires coolers and moistners fâ—r according to Gâ—len lib. m. m. cooling is most proper for Fevers inasmuch as heat is wont always to offâ—nd in them but driness is not always troublesome and Hippocrates himself lib. de morbâ—s in several places directs to cool a Fever as quickly as we can Seeing this is manifest to all he makes no mention in the aforesaid aphorism â—f a cooling but only of moist food because it is not so plain that moistning is convenient for Fevers By moist food we may either understand that which is moistening or that which is liquid and may be supp'd That which is moistning is very profitable for Fevers both because it corrects the driness which the febrile heat accelerates and also because it tempers the preternatural heat for driness is the file of heat and moisture blunts it That which is liquid and may be supt is alwayes prescribed by him Galen asserting both because it is the most easily concocted in the Stomach and also more easily enters into the rest of the Body and into the remoter Veins for the natural heat being tainted by an extraneous concocts more weakly nor is it to be wearied with more solid meats lest if they remain crude they be corrupted and thence encrease the Fever for which cause we must beware of either roasted or boiled Flesh which although perhaps they may be potentially moist yet their substance is too hard to be well enough concocted by the weak heat of febricitant persons whence Flesh-broth is better than Flesh it self But though the food ought always to be such as may be supt yet it should not always be cooling and moistning for in regard of the cause which is joined with the Fever or of some other Disease or Symptom it should sometimes be hot sometimes dry as in Fevers proceeding from Phlegm and Quartans Pepper is allowed also if the Fever be accompanied with a Dropsie the Colick or obstruction herein we must not use moisteners and coolers Primiros lib. de feb p. 153. but hot openers according to Galen's comment on the foresaid aphorism IV. Whether are their meats to be seasoned with Salt Capivaccius is against it l. 6. c. 28. and altogether rejects Salt but I think it may be granted if it be so administred as not to make the meat Salt or powder'd but to take away its unsavoriness and unpleasantness First because that which relisheth nourishes according to Avicen and most meats are unsavory without it whence they do not only not nourish but they also cause a nausea whence other harms spring Secondly Salt Meats according to Galen 3. de al. fac cause dejection and open obstructions Himself 7. m. m. in the cure of a dry Stomach grants salted Bread and by a stronger reason it is agreeable for febricitant persons Add hereunto Aphor. 2. 38. V. Whether is Milk to be granted It seems to be hurtful both by reason of its cheesie substance which turns into nidour encreases thirst fills the Head with vapours encreases the fervour and causes obstructions and also of its Buttery part which is apt to be inflamed through its fatness Bilious proceeds from fat says Hippocrates 6. Epid. 5. 14 and lastly of its serous part which partakes of a nitrous quality Milk is either used as nourishment in which sense it is condemned by Hippocrates aph 5. 64. or as Medicine especially that of Asses for this being more watry may be drunk even in a burning or continual Fever according to the prescription of Hippocrates l. de rat vict or it is used for refrigeration or for evacuation by stool but in a great quantity for so it descends more quickly and makes no stay in the Stomach so that hence it is neither concocted nor assimilated It washes down the choler purges out the fifth of the Guts moistens and greatly cools VI. 'T is doubted whether Fruits be good Avicen sayes they all do hurt by their ebullition and corruption in the Stomach Galen writes that no Fruit almost is of a good juice but that the fugaces or horary have plainly a bad juice so that unless they be quickly cast out by stool or if they be corrupted in the Stomach they breed a juice not unlike to poyson others on the contrary grant several Fruits especially the cooling as Melons and the like But we must know that if any fruits are granted they are granted rather as Medicine than Aliment And it cannot be denied that most of them are easily corrupted especially in a Stomach indisposed by a febrile heat and that vicious Humours are thence generated that very much encrease the Fever And by how much any fruit is otherwise the apter to be corrupted by so much the easilier is it corrupted in Fevers for most of them do not transpire well yea hinder transpiration
Fevers for which Wine is not at all ill especially for those which have their seat in the Stomach if so be such Wine be given as disturbs not the Head though in a pretty quantity it sometimes effects a cure according to Primrose l. 3. de vulg err in Med. cap. 18. The same person adds The propriety of a man has great power in the cure of all Diseases and there are some so very much addicted to Wine that even in the extremest Sicknesses they cannot abstain from it Add to these Canonherius of the admirable vertues of Wine who Lib. 1. cap. 3. § 18. writes thus We may use Wine in Fevers and as Aliment and § 25. Wine procures Sweat and by it not a little of the serous matter is carried fourth by Vrine Let the Reader compare with these Costaeus in Tract de Potu in morbis lib. 2. Hippolyt Obicius Hipp. Antonellus in apparatu Animadv upon the same XIV Hippocrates greatly disallows of Water for ordinary Drink and as much commends it as a Medicine namely when drunk in a large quantity Now he says it hurts in ordinary drink because it is thick passes not through the Hypochondres and in cholerick Persons easily turns into choler for being conquer'd by the febrile heat it easily Putrefies otherwise because it is cold and moist it is wholly contrary to the Fever and therefore is good for it In those therefore who are used to drink Water I see no reason why it may not be granted but it will be better if it be corrected with the mixture of other things yea it may be boiled to make it the thinner Some will have it distilled and then to be temper'd with the mixture of cooling and opening Syrups some would have Bread so soaked in it that it may a little imbibe the vertue of the Ferment Primiros de febr p. 146. others would have Cinamon infused in it c. XV. Beer although it be small yet it always has some faculty to heat and make drunk although that vertue be less and weaker in small than in strong whence it is not so good for those that are in acute Fevers and whose Head achs because it inflames and causes thirst if it be drunk plentifully as Febricitant Persons use to drink that are very dry You will object that Beer is only Barley-water nor does it acquire any quality that is adverse to a Fever from the addition of Hops seeing Hops are usually prescribed to depurate the Blood But Experience teacheth that there is a great difference betwixt Barley-water and Beer seeing the Water cools and drink as much as you will it never inflames nor disturbs the Brain nor causes thirst which cannot be said of Beer even though it be small And the difference depends upon this that Beer is not made of simple Barley but of Mault which is Barley steep'd and dried and dry Hops are added which heat sufficiently then it is fermented whence it acquires an hot quality which is not in Barley-water nor Ptisan and therefore it seemeth to me not so good Yet its use is better to be born with than that of Wine because it is less hot and is Diuretick Add that a Spirit is drawn even from small Beer Idem XVI In giving Drink to People in acute Fevers 't is fitting to use a measure lest on the one hand by too much moisture which is improper for Febricitant persons there spring either a greater crudity or a fouler and longer Putrefaction or on the other side by too much driness the accidents be increased and the Body consume Yet this one thing is worth noting that Drink being mixed with Meat is easilier concocted doth sooner refresh and doth less burthen weak Nature whence it comes to pass that on the first day of an acute Fever we may forbid all moisture unless the Patient be so weak that on that account Food is necessary but on the last days when driness and burning are urgent we must give Drink more freely Merc. lib. Praeâ—d 1. c. 2. especially if there shall be manifest concoction XVII Drinking in the Fit of an Ague is very hurtful for hereby just like as when Water is thrown upon a red hot Brick Valaeus m. â— p. 1â—0 there is caused such an ebullition of Humours as that both the Disease and the Symptom thirst are increased ¶ And yet we ought not pertinaciously as some do adhering to the indication from the cause neglect the intemperature for it is better sometimes to let the Disease be prolonged Valles 1. 2â— p. 41. than that a man should be presently burnt up ¶ I have found by Experience that hereby there have often sprung continual and mortal Fevers of intermittent ones and such as have been void of danger Heurn Aph. 62. 7. XVIII In continual burning Fevers the effect is commonly more urgent than the cause the Symptom than the Disease when therefore burning and troublesom thirst are grievous to the Patients in those Diseases it seems reasonable to give them their Drink cold and in that plenty that it may temper the boiling Humours and extinguish the fervour of the Spirits To this Hippocrates has regard whilst in many places he commends cold Drink thus l. de vict ac both in the Causus or burning Fever and Quinsey he gives cold Water In lib. 4. Epid. he says that in acute Fevers 't is profitable to give cold Water In 2. de morb On the second day after the beginning of the Fever you shall give him as much cold Water as he 'l drink again 3. de morb he prescribes cold water even that hath been exposed to the open air But l. de Loc. he says For Drink you shall give warm water and water and Honey and Vinegar with water for if the drink be not received in cold being and remaining warm it will detract from the sick Body or either will eject by Vrine or will dry There namely he is more intent upon the cause of the Disease For drink is given in Fevers upon a double account either that it may be a vehicle for the food and quench thirst which is taken with the food it self and this should be cold or for the alteration or exclusion of the Humours and here warm drink is commended as also if the Body have not been accustomed to cold or if the Stomach be cold XIX Give cooling potions to drink in burning Fevers when you will says Hippocrates 3. de morb v. 69. Note that Hippocr said not when the Patient will but when you the Physician will that is according to the regulated will of the Physician and not the perverse will of the Patient Now these potions are of different operations for some cause pissing others going to stool some both some neither some cool only like as when one pours cold Water into a Vessel of boiling Water or exposes the Vessel it self full of Water to the open air Therefore you shall give
divers Portions which Avicen also approved of but that in Winter it was sufficient to eat once or twice a day Gr. Horstius Exerc. 4. de feb qu. 3. because in that Season it is better concocted and the Excrements are generally fewer XXIV Concerning Sleep we must note 1. That Sleep is always hurtful in the beginning of a Fit because then the faculty is strong and the cause of the fit intire and not evacuated as yet nor lessened wherefore it neither needs retraction of the heat nor union nay if the heat be then withdrawn the faculty is more oppressed through the multitude of the Humour and the heat is made more preternatural and is defiled through the commerce of the Humour and vapours and by this means the Fever is prolonged because its cause is not dissolved yea it remains in the Body too fixed and rooted when it does not exhale to the outer parts But in the declination it is always good for the faculties being dissolved and wearied from the foregoing terms viz. the beginning augment and state they desire rest and firmitude moreover the cause of the Fit is now overcome dissolved and turned into vapours which when they are dispersed to the outer parts and are distant from the principal parts are not so easily retracted If sleep therefore come upon the Patient then it refreshes the faculties seeing now that the load is taken off they are not oppressed yea by the Blood and Spirits retiring to the inner parts the faculties being collected and more brisk end the Fever or stoutly shatter the reliques of the Humours Sleep in the state is doubtful for it sometimes does good sometimes hurt which flows from the various disposition of the Body and diversity of the Fever for if the Body be hot and dry and prepared for resolution then sleep is profitable in the state of the Fit for it moistens refresheth the faculties and makes the fit shorter On the contrary if the Body be hot and moist of a dense habit sleep is unprofitable for then there is neither need of refection nor moistening yea if it come the resolution of the morbifick cause is hindred and the state and declination are prolonged In like manner we must think as to the diversity of the Fever for if the Humour do more offend in quantity than in quality such as are the Phlegmatick the Melancholick or the bastard Tertian then sleep profits not but hurts On the contrary if the Humour offend and urge more in quality than quantity as a bilious Ague that springs from sincere choler so that by its thinness heat and Acrimony it presses and wearies the faculty then sleep is profitable The same is to be said of the last part of the augment which 't is certain represents the nature of the beginning We must Note 2. That this doctrine is to be understood not only of the particular termes of every Fit but of the universal for in the beginning because Nature is oppressed Sleep is not so convenient but 't is more convenient in the augment and far more in the state but most of all in the declension for by its help the Spirits are refreshed and the reliques of the Humour are concocted and wasted This is the cause why the longest Sleep is granted in the declination in the beginning very short and in the middle terms indifferent But if sweat be at hand or break forth in the state Zacut. Pr. Hist p. 545. See more there Sleep helpeth greatly if signs of concoction go before for Sleep hinders all evacuations except sweat which it promotes Diaphoreticks See Alexipharmacks and Sudorificks The Contents How they act I. Such as absorb II. Such as make the Serum fluxile III. Such as hinder its coagulation IV. A Diaphoresis is not to be procured by externals alone V. The same are not convenient in all cases VI. The more temperate are sometimes the more availeable VII They are sometimes hurtful VIII They are to be avoided where the Serum is either too little or too much IX What things hinder their use X. Acids help the vertue of Sulphureous IV. I. DIaphoreticks and Sudorificks differ from one another in degrees the former discuss halituous excrements by insensible transpiration and promote the same transpiration and ventilate the Blood the latter do this also but leave a more manifest effect by a dewy sweat And they operate inasmuch as they fuse the Blood and procure a separation of the Serum from it that it may be expelled through the pores of the Skin in the form of Vapours II. Both 1. by absorbing and resolving that which binds the serum and makes it more fixt as the more fixed alkaline and earthy Medicines for instance Antimonium Diaphoreticum Shells Harts horn burnt the Bezoar stone Bole-Armene Bezoardicum minerale c. these do greatly precipitate the fermentation of the Humours and set insensible transpiration free and at liberty III. And also 2. by making it fluxile whether by rarefying of it and inducing a new fermentation on the Blood Thus 1. lixival and nitrous Salts Salt of Wormwood Carduus Bened. Centaury which both absorb and also make the serum fluxile thus 2. Volatils the Spirit of Harts-horn of vipers of Ivory do very powerfully drive forth sweat or by yielding an halituous vehicle and volatility such as are 1. the aqueous as divers distilled waters and especially some decoctions that enjoy also a certain volatility also 2. those that are easily resoluble because of their watry and Gummy substance as the rob of dwarf-Elder Elder c. but chiefly 3. those that are indued with a volatil Salt intimately mixt with a Sulphur the bitter resinous c. so card bened opium Camphor the Wood Guaiacum and amongst compound Remedies Treacle Mithridate and the rest mentioned in the first class these promote the sluggish motion of the Serum and put nature upon discussing superfluities opening the Pores and vigorating the mass of Blood And these have place chiefly in a Rheumatism or any flux whatsoever of the Blood and Serum for instance in the Inflammations of the Pleura fluxions of the Joynts c. whence they are good in the Pleurisie which has often its Throat cut as it were by some eminent Sudorifick in the beginning in the Gout which is helped most of all by the same sweats in Tumours of the Groins Tonsils Armpits and the like in Fainting Swooning both solitary and hysterical and when the Small Pox or Measles come not out well IV. Likewise 3. by inciding the curdled serum and promoting the fermentation of the Blood also by this very means Those Medicines that perform this are chiefly acids and alkalines also after their manner to wit in a different respect hence vinegar as likewise other acids are deservedly reckoned among sudorificks For it is an observation not to be slightly esteemed that Sulphureous Medicines by the accession of acids do far more readily act and procure sweat more than when left to
antecedent cause viz. viscid and clammy Humours and so open and respect the ways but also help the rarefaction and fermentation of the Blood so that the flux returns on the very day whereon the Purge is taken And amongst other things Aloes also helps here whence Frid. Hofman relates that he had a Maid whose Terms could be no other ways promoted but by the use of pil Ruffi V. Or they restore and recruit the Blood it self and so make it fluxile whither belong Restoratives and a full Diet for it would be absurd if it fail in quantity to promote its motion Hence as women have a more serous and fluxile Blood namely such as is apter for turgescency and on this very account acquire a serous Plethora so we must also wholly provide for this VI. Emmenagogues are not to be given to women with Child whence they are always warily to be prescribed to those we suspect for whores when they complain of an obstruction of their Terms for though unless when there is a disposition to abortion they often drink the decoction of Savin c. in vain yet in a doubtful case we must not ascend above Steel-Remedies and moderate Aperients Neither are too hot Medicines to be given to Women with Child such as heighten the rarefaction of the Blood for as Women with Child through such preternatural rarefaction and fermentation or being seized upon by burning Fevers use for the most part to have their Terms preternaturally and consequently to suffer abortion so we must much less intend that by Medicines which also is the very reason why Purgers are not so convenient VII Aperients alone or provokers alone are not to be used indifferently Physicians often err egregiously who gives Term-provoking decoctions yea the distilled oyls of Juniper or Savin the Spirit of Sal Armoniack and the like all day long and indifferently thinking these to be Specificks whereas those are chiefly to be esteemed for such which satisfie this or that more special intention VIII 'T is therefore the best to begin with Aperients and to subjoin Provokers or drivers both internal and external Hence for a week or two before the accustomed time are wont to be given Aperients moisteners digestives preparers yea Purgers themselves and Blood-letting upon which the hinge of the matter turns G. W. Wedel de s m. fac p. 189. are not to be made use of at another time for if they be the whole curation will be to no purpose and ineffectual Frictions The Contents Whether they be convenient when a crude juice abounds I. They are suspected in hot and cold Diseases II. Whether they evacuate all the Body III. Scratching supplies the place of Friction IV. I. FRiction or chasing may seem to some to be inconvenient for those in whom is heaped up a plenty of crude juices because * 4. deruend valerud Galen writes that those who have but little good Blood and abundance of crude Humour must neither be bled nor purged nor must they use exercise or bathing and therefore neither friction seeing it also moves the Humours and because he forbids bathing which hath the same vertues as friction seeing both draw towards the Skin Galen also in * â— Meth. c. 4. another place in the cure of Fevers that arise from obstruction forbids to cleanse the Skin before the evacuation of the whole Body lest a crude abstersion draw to the Skin whence there will be a greater obstruction of the pores which same thing will happen upon friction But Galen is indeed of a contrary opinion for in lib. de s m. c. 6. he says thus of this affection that those who are so affected are not to be evacuated by Bleeding but by frictions and indifferently heating unctions c. And 12. meth c. 3. he cures those who fall into a swooning through the abundance of crude Humours by much and strong friction of the whole Body yet he denies bathing to the same persons which though it have the like vertue as friction yet differs there from in that it rather melts the Humours than incides and attenuates them whereas friction does the contrary Hence it comes to pass that bathing causes fluxions those Humours flowing which are melted I say it causes a distribution of crude Humours which friction does not do as attenuating more than melting wherefore where there is need of moistening Galen uses bathing rather and where of opening obstructions friction rather But friction also draws towards the Skin wherefore it will also encrease obstructions I said that friction as it draws does likewise attenuate and seeing it draws less than bathing and extenuates more it is the far more profitable of the two in this affection and besides what is already said if by chance it should cause something of obstruction by extracting the crude Humours that might be amended by anointing with some oyl that is moderately heating and concocting so that friction and unction ought to be used by turns but not bathing at all as also neither Exercise because it causes a distribution of crude Humours from the inmost parts In Fevers that spring from obstruction we abstain from cleansers of the Skin till we have evacuated the whole because in that case the obstruction of the Skin is a great part of the malady and such as ought to be removed before the Fever it self and in the mean time we may use great evacuations but in this affection we speak of the evil is least at the Skin for it has its seat principally in the viscera Swooning hinders great evacuations to be used Valles l. 8. contr c. 7. and therefore we are glad to fly to frictions II. Frictions in hot and acute Diseases such as the Pleurisie have always been suspected by me for 't is certain that the Blood and Humours wax hot thereby are rendred more Acrimonious and therefore rush with the greater violence to the part affected In cold Diseases as Apoplexy Epilepsie Palsie and the like they may seem to have place but because thereby the Blood and Humours wax hot and like a vehicle carry the crude and cold Humours to the part affected we must use them warily Fabr. Hild. Cent. 5. Obs 30. especially in the beginning of the Disease and while the matter is yet in fluxion III. Galen 4. aph 2. teaches plainly that by much friction the whole Body is not diminished nor evacuated Yet it is most true that as to the external parts and such as are next to the Skin the whole is exhausted as far as the vertue of the friction can reach as the same person hath explain'd himself 14. meth c. 7. and Hippocrates himself 6. Epid. where he hath written that friction in a great compass doth heat and dry the Body and thereby empty the Spirits And indeed seeing the Veins and Arteries are heated by it and thereupon an heat is both excited and called out by little and little we must hold that the whole Body is
coloquintida in them whereby Nature may be solicited to expurgation and if the Purge stop let it be called out by an acrimonious and provoking Clyster Observe this carefully when you give Narcoticks with Catharticks Idem XLVII In the Plague it is a principal Remedy being mixt with Cordials namely because by its congealing vertue the Arsenical Spirits that are most deadly to the Heart are fixed as it were and the matter which is most pernicious while it is in flux is staid and remains almost unmoved whence it comes to pass that Nature recollecting her strength can the more easily apply to her self the vertue of the Remedy and Alexipharmacks For in the Plague it provokes sweat especially if mixt with Cordials As for example Take of the water of Scabious Meadow-sweet Carduus bened scordium of each an ounce of the Electuary of an Egg a scruple of the Salt of Wormwood and Card. bened of each eight grains of Laudanum two grains Make a Potion which is to be given especially when a Phrensie and burning Fever rages This was tried in the Daughter of Guesnault the Apothecary See Gesner in his Epistles and also above Book 6. under the Title of Pestilential Fever and the Plague who uses Opium for a Sudorifick in the Plague A Doctor of Physick being sick of the Plague Phrenetick and exceeding Cholerick by taking Laudanum came the next morning to himself the Malady returning again towards evening to which the same Remedy brought the same ease He was let Blood twice or thrice Cordials were given him especially Contrayerva About eleven his pulse was tremulous all signs of death were present Spots like Flea-Bites broke forth there was a great Carbuncle about the os sacrum Laudanum was given him he slept and at last recovered Idem he took it six times commonly in a day XLVIII In continual Fevers especially the burning it is good to cool the heat allay thirst appease inquietude procure sleep strengthen Nature and to promote its Critical motion and endeavour It often happens that on the very day or the next day after it is given the Fever is extinguished without return But observe not to give it the day before solemn Remedies See above Idem § 36. 45. XLIX It is sometimes profitable a little before the Fit in Tertian Agues the Body being first well Purged Whether is it because the motion of the morbifick cause being appeased or rather hindred as it were its ascent up to the Heart was hindred and intercepted and therefore the causa sine qua non of the Fit it self was extinguished or laid to Sleep Idem L. But if it be given in Agues to interrupt the course of the Disease let the Body be very well Purged afterwards Idem LI. I approve not of that Laudanum which has Henbane in it because it disturbs the mind Idem and makes Men stupid dull and giddy for some hours Lac augentia minuentia or things encreasing and lessening Milk The Contents The same things increase Milk which increase Chyle I. Or which make the wayes open II. Or which promote an afflux to the Breasts III. Those things which provoke the Terms do not increase Milk IV. Those things lessen the Milk which soften and loosen the wayes V. Or which hinder restagnation VI. Or which hinder a further afflux VII Fat things are not to be applied to the Breasts when there is a restagnation VIII Repellents are not always to be used IX Things that repel the Milk are better applied to the Heart X. The curdling of the Milk is to be hindred by any means XI I. IT seems an easie request for Women to desire the increase of their Milk yet the Physician often finds it great enough if he will undertake to gratifie it As for the things that increase Milk they either 1. Increase the Chyle and the more serous and chylous parts of the Blood not only alimentous things that are eafily convertible into chyle and blood as rear-Eggs Almond milk or Pottage plentiful drinking Cows Udders which are better reckoned among Aliments than Medicines because they easily contract an hogo but also Medicamentous which have oily parts that communicate and are immersed with watry which is very suitable to the chyle and milk which is nothing else but the substantifick oily parts mixt with the watry such as Carduus seed c. Other temperate oily things have the same effect also as the Seeds of Fennil Parsnip c. II. Or 2. They open the ways and free the Pores so that the Milk may freely flow to the Breasts whence Langius says that all Sudorificks Miscel Curios p. 46. to wit the kindly and temperate work that effect namely absorbers that hinder coagulation and by their alkaline Nature as Salt is the interpreter of the conjunction of oily Parts with watry procure this commixture Thus the same Person commends as a secret the decoction of dried Elder flowers in Cows milk as a most approved Experiment Likewise Crystal prepared Earth-worms prepared and before all Lac Lunae Periwinkle also is good taken any way III. Or 3. They promote the afflux of the Milk to the Breasts as Frictions and fomentations of Decoctions fresh Burnet laid between the Breasts is commended Among Minerals Crystal and especially Quicksilver is powerful as appears by the tryal of the Women at Padua who when their Milk fails buy for themselves of the Apothecaries a filberd shell that has the kernel got out of it through a little hole bored in it and fill'd with Quicksilver the little hole being stopt with wax and hang it about their Necks to restore their Milk which falls out according to their desire * Praâ—t Med. p. 858. H. Saxonia gives a double reason of its manner of acting 1. That the Women are of opinion that it is good for fascinations and that when the Milk is lost by bewitching it is restored by this means 2. That Quicksilver has a vaporous substance in it and is of so thin parts that it cannot only insinuate it self into all the thinner parts but can also dissolve and digest gritty Tumours whence he argues that it therefore profits in the failure of Milk because it can fuse and attenuate the thick Blood which for its thickness and clamminess could not enter into the Venae Mammariae and Glands We have advised the same thing with success but the effect in this case is rightly ascribed to the Quicksilver because it makes the Humours viz. the Bood and Serum more fluxile whence it is more strongly stirr'd up to motion and Milk is collected in the Breasts according to Nature IV. Those things that provoke the Terms do not increase Milk for they are both contrary indications and opposite motions Now though it may be alledged to the contrary that by Experience the flowing of the Terms and the presence of Milk may stand together and that some things as Fennil promote both yet if the thesis be
Sea and Pit salt Idem Praxeos l. 1. c. 6. § 11 12 13 14. See more lib. 1. tit de Aphthis and most salted things is wonderfully corrected by Lime made of burnt Flints or Shells which no prudent Physician will be any longer afraid of but may be used with very good success for very many Diseases under the form of a Lye LIII We must take great heed that in curing one offending Humour we hurt not another For though it appear from Experience that the Medicines which are taken act chiefly on the offending Humours when they are most proper for correcting them yet it is also manifest that the Medicines that are fit to alter several different Humours do in some measure also operate upon the Humours that do not offend when they are either taken in too great a quantity at once or for too long a continuance Though therefore there arise not always presently any notable hurt from the use of such Medicines that are not in every respect accommodated to the offending Humours yet the same shews it self by degrees to such Physicians as are diligent observers of all the changes that happen to their Patients which Physicians when they foresee any thing that will hurt do prudently provide for the same Idem Append Tract 6. § 257 258 259. and change those Medicines from which they see not plainly that their proposed scope is to be hoped LIV. Both effervescence being vitiated in the small Guts and Heart and being joined with a troublesom heat is bridled and reduced to a moderate and temperate degree partly by acid and sowr Medicines especially being joined with Opiats to which doubtless the fixed Sulphurs of Minerals and Metals are to be preferred which if any one cannot have in an excellent perfect degree let him at least endeavour to make them sweet such as will neither provoke Vomit nor Stool For those Sulphurs so long as they are volatil and combustible use to provoke Vomit and Stool which in this case is hurtful namely when we have a mind to bridle a too great effervescence and to reduce it to a laudable mediocrity for the Humours are disturbed by all Purgers and the effervescence promoted and not restrained Now for want of such Sulphurs as are sufficiently fixt we may successfully use Opiats joined with acid and sowr Medicines whence on this account the extract of Opium with distilled Vinegar is better than that made with Spirit of Wine seeing by such Preparation it is fitted for tempering the too great effervescence of the Blood The same effervescence is much bridled by an emulsion of Barley Idem Append Tract x. Sect. 7 8. of white Poppy Seeds yea of sweet Almonds LV. The Pancreatick juice abounding too much in the Body indicates its diminution and that by Stool Where note that seeing it is naturally subacid it is good to prepare it a little first for the more easie carrying of it forth by further tempering its acidity and in a sort concentrating of it which is best done by volatil Salts and afterwards using Hydragogues seeing the liquor is of it self thin enough clear and subacid and therefore coming nearest the consistence of Serum though now and then it become preternaturally glutinous Idem Meth. Med. l. 1. c. 16. and so incline more to the nature of Phlegm LVI Seeing all the Humours ought to be fluid they offend variously as often as they lose that fluidity either in whole or in part or have it more than they use or ought to have it The Blood loses its fluidity wholly when it curdles and coagulates into clods and this is done either by the external cold of the Air Water c. or by eating or drinking acid and sowr things especially or glutinous or earthy also by sadness of mind or affrightment or by sluggishness and rest of the Body or lastly by too much sleep Now according to the diversity of the cause is the diminished fluidity of the Blood to be cured diversly for when its fluidity is diminished from the external cold of the Air or Water then not only It is to be restored but also the diminishing cause is to be expelled forth by the same way it came in Thus besides volatil Salts and divers things derived from Animals as Crabs eyes Mummy Sperma ceti c. the more grateful and acrimonious aromatick Plants are likewise good especially such as may at the same time drive forth Sweat and therewith also the mischief induced by the Air. When it is coagulated more than usual by acid things taken inwardly let such things be used as both infringe concentrate and enervate an acid and also dissolve the coagulation it self and so make the Blood fluid again Things infringing the force of an acid are Chalk Corals Crabs eyes Perles c. Aromaticks make the coagulated Blood fluid Volatil Salts do both When the consistence of the Blood is increased and its fluidity lessen'd by austere or sowr things it is harder to restore but no Remedies that are commended by any for this can be compared with volatil Salts as both powerfully correcting austerity and happily taking away and curing the hurtful effect thereof add that most things that are received into use are derived from Animals and contain much Salt Hither are to be referred the more gentle Aromaticks When the Blood is not fluid enough through the abuse of glutinous things things profiting are 1. Spirituous acids 2. The more acrimonious Aromaticks 3. Pickles and Medicines prepared of a mixture of both 4. Volatil Salts When the consistence of the Blood is increased from earthy things used amiss in the Green sickness it very difficultly and that but slowly yields even to the best Remedies for which purpose I have hitherto found volatil Salts the best When the Blood is made less fluid through sadness of mind or some great fright then both the mind is to be comforted and confirmed and the fault that is introduced upon the Blood amended which because it is like to that which is caused by sowr things is to be corrected with the same If from too much rest of the Body the Blood be made more sluggish in its motion that mischief will be repaired by the motion of the Body When from too much sleep it will be corrected by waking longer Idâ—m Meth. Med. l. 2. if so be these changes viz. of the motion of the Body and waking be made by degrees not all of a sudden Purgation The Contents One may Purge when there is neither concoction nor turgescence of the Humours I. What is to be understood by Concoction II. A perfect one is not always to be tarried for III. We must take heed how we Purge when there are signs of Concoction present IV. What an orgasm or turgency of Humours is V. Cold Humours are sometimes turgent VI. Whether turgent Humours are always to be Purged VII Whether we must Purge in the beginning of a Disease VIII
matter to withdraw it by little and little if it may be Valles comm in lib. de vict acut p. 203. and not to take care to keep it all for one Critical evacuation but rather to prevent Crises by Art as is often done XXIII I begun to find fault with that common errour of our vulgar Physicians when they bid us drain all the choler out of the Body for from hence there ensues this mischief that by taking away the principal condiment of Concoction many have lost all appetite to their Meat then have become Cachectick and at length have died Dropsical One man had three Sons that died Consumptive which being dissected there was not a drop of choler found in the Gall-Bladder though the viscera were unhurt Moebiâ—â— ex Anonym fundam Physiolog c. 16. wherefore I laid all the blame upon the Diagridiate Medicines that had been frequently given XXIV When choler offends let the Dose of Purgers be small in the beginning lest the choler that is very fluxile of it self and turgent in a manner should grow furious and produce a cholera morbus or at least a great Diarrhaea For unless it appear that Phlegmatick and tough Humours do withal abound in the Body in Purging of choler it is always safer to use Cholagogues in a less dose and that for fear of superpurgation Add that though when Purgers are given in a less dose they perhaps evacuate nothing the same may be repeated and the operation of the former promoted by giving others after a few hours also in a small dose which same thing where there is no urgent necessity may be done the next day only seeing Purging Medicines have not only a vertue to evacuate vitious Humours but also to alter and correct the same Fr. Sylvius Pâ—act l. 1. c. vii and to prepare them for a fit expulsion Now I diligently commend this precept to younger Physicians r. XXV Where there is a tough Phlegm water hinders the operation of any Purgers on this account Purges are most conveniently prescribed in the form of Pills because Gums may be easily put in them which are the fittest of all Medicines to cut tough Phlegm and are not easily dissolvible in any liquor and thus at once the offending Humours may be both alter'd and expell'd As for example Take of Gum-Ammoniac or Galbanum c. Prepared with Vinegar half a Drachm of Mastich a Scruple of trochisc Alhandal the resin of Scammony of each twenty five Grains mix them make twenty five Pills of which give five or seven in the Morning with some Broth. Idem XXVI An acid Crudity will be cured by giving Medicines that temper or concentrate an acid Spirit carefully abstaining from Purgers before the acid Humours are temper'd and brought to the nature of serum which then being superfluous may easily at length be drawn forth by Hydragogues Idem XXVII Though Spring and Autumn be the Principal times for evacuation of Humours for Preservation yet let us Purge every one indifferently either in the Spring or Autumn but let us see what every ones Nature and the Diseases that they are subject to indicate For those who abound with thick Humours are to be Purged in the beginning of the Spring For such Humours being collected in the Winter are liquated or melted in the Spring time whence unless they be evacuated they may be easily diffused over the Body and create great Diseases But those in whom there are thin Humours do well endure Purging in the end of the Spring lest those Humours be inflamed in the following Summer and cause Fevers When the Autumn draws on acrimonious salt adust and scorbutical Humours are to be expelled Frid. Hofman m. m. lib. 1. cap. 7. and that is the fittest time of evacuation for such as are distemper'd by tartareous Humours XXVIII Whether may we Purge on critical dayes I answer if there were no indication before we may Purge on the 4. 7. 11. 14. and 20. day and also Bleed for they will not prove Critical But if these days be like to be Critical we must observe whether Nature be about to attempt an evacuation on those days or no If she make a perfect evacuation let the Physician do nothing But if she make an imperfect Crisis mind whether she do it by Vomit Sweat Hemorrhage of the Nose Fundament or Womb and then indeed we may assist vomiting with a gentle Vomit Sweat by chafing Bleeding by fomenting with warm water or with Leeches for these are in our power and may be stopped But if Nature attempt an imperfect Crisis by Stool it will be better for the Physician not to assist this motion lest there be made a greater evacuation than is fitting seeing a Purge once taken cannot be recalled nor can we remove it For Nature has this custom sometimes to move leisurely at first and by and by more violently Wherefore it will be better to Purge the next day that that which is left by the Crisis may be expelled But if Nature be hindred from making any Crisis on a Critical day if the matter be mitigated by Pepasmus or Concoction let the Physician use Purging or Bleeding if he know for certain that Nature will not do it But you will say according to Hippocrates that nothing is to be moved on a Critical day but he is speaking of such a day as Nature moves in for the Faculties are wearied on that day by the force of the Symptoms Sâ—â—â—â—â—us l. de 〈◊〉 c. 14. XXIX That the influence of the Stars has great efficacy upon our Bodies because of the circuit of the whole terrestrial Globe and evaporation of moisture seems to be intimated by Hippocrates 4. Aph. 5. In and before the Dog-days Purging is difficult Indeed in our more temperate Climates there needs not so much scruple as in Greece nor need we be so fearful of the barking or biting of the Dog yet this curiosity is not to be altogether slighted nor its foot-prints to be worn out ¶ Fr. Bencius who was the chief Physician in Italy of his time as Menardus relates it l. 2. Ep. 1. never observed any thing of the Heavens but as often as opportunity urged he prescribed both Purging and Bleeding in the very conjunctions of the Sun and Moon looking more upon the Urine than upon the Stars and observing the beating of the Arteries rather than the configuration of the Stars Whence it came to pass that being concerned in the Cure of a Person of Quality together with Hieronymus Manfredus a famous Astrologer of Bononia and there happen'd to be at the same time a necessity of Purging and a Conjunction of the Luminaries the Astrologer gainsaying and prognosticating Death to the Patient Bencius order'd a Purging potion to be given Rolfinc l. de febr cap. 85. by which the Patient recover'd of his great Sickness ¶ In the year 1643. in the Dog-days about the beginning of August three Children of
waste of the Roses for a far less quantity will serve to make it Purgative And if any being not so desirous of the Purgative vertue of the Roses do rather by repeating so many infusions as are requisite to spend so large a quantity of Roses endeavour to increase the cooling vertue such an one certainly is much mistaken for the oftner the Roses are infused so much the bitterer will the infusion be and bitterness is not the offspring of cold but of heat therefore this infusion will not cool so much Not to mention that it has been observed more than once that by giving this Syrup that has been prepared of so frequent infusions Zwelf pharm classe 2. Febrile-heats have not only not been diminished and allayed but even encreased and a double Tertian made of a simple one This happens chiefly from a large exclusion of the Serum for this Syrup is an Hydragogue which is a bridle to the Choler LXI Mesue cap. xi simpl notes that Violets cannot endure much boiling as if he had said that they are of thin and volatil parts For this is to be observed that the more fragrant any flowers or fruits are by so much the apter generally is their fragrancy to vanish because of the great volatility of their Sulphurs and Salts Nor is there any reason but this why the Syrup of Violets made by many infusions being given from one Ounce to three does more irritate the Belly than the juice given from two Ounces to five and is far more fragrant than that made of the juice S. Pauli Quadr. Botan class 2. than which Syrup no Medicin can be devised more convenient for the Pleuritical LXII I will admonish all Practitioners in Physick that they do not like the Vulgar too highly commend Worm-wood-Wine indifferently to all persons but only to those who labour not of a bare intemperies of the bowels alone but in whom these are full of slimy and cold humours Therefore let us cease to wonder how it comes to pass that the greatest part of great drinkers who guzle freely every day either Wormwood or Burnt-wine die before their time Consumptive melting away as it were by degrees Wherefore let Wormwood-Wine only gently move the belly prepared with or without Aloes and Centaury and other Abstergers yet you will not upon tryal find these and the like infusions made of such things to be so very safe especially for Old men and in a dry constitution of body Take these elegant reasons of Hofman and Galen himself We must be much more careful of Cautions having spoken before of the corrections of Aloes lib. 1. de med offic c. 3. The greatest of these is the same that is delivered by Galen 7. m. m. XI 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 2. Let it not be given to those who labour under a bare intemperature without matter such need not evacuation much less so strongly drying a Medicine and which instead of evacuation causes a tabes on the contrary it is given with great benefit to the cold and moist The Second is from the same fountain 1. de sanit tuend c. 11. Give it not to Old men nor to such as are dried from any cause unless in case of necessity Which necessity says Helidaeus is when humours abound To which I object That Old men are all of them excrementous Therefore it is better to use others especially such as moisten concerning which consult Galen himself The Third is from 3. aph 15. Let not the use thereof be too frequent nor so daily as some make it for those are Golden words of Galen The evacuation of superfluities says he that is made by purgers is profitable to those that need it much and have done so for some time but the evacuation of those superfluities that are generated every day deserves not so effectual a remedy And if any will use that evacuation twice a Month for fear there should be heaped up a multitude of excrements besides that it will do harm it will also bring the Body to an ill custom Let those hear this that use long decoctions or purging Infusions for months together For supposing that the Body is throughly Purged thereby yet the Viscera are miserably tormented And such as value and have a care of health will take these things as spoken to themselves for it often happens that the unwary destroy the causes of Life for Lifes sake that is by the unseasonable and preposterous use of Purging and drying Medicins do imperceptibly hasten on Old Age For unless we grew dry we might promise our selves a long Life It is therefore a true saying It is often the best remedy to use no remedies Nature her self being the best Physician And indeed those are the most diseased that are ever and anon depending on the Box and Coffer of the Apothecaries Who ever saw a Water-man unless he were a fool stuffing his Boat with Pitch and Tow when it gaped not Yet we industriously continue to corrupt our Body whilst we are in perfect health with many Medicins divers Pills c. Whereas we should not follow this custom but for the aforesaid weighty reasons follow the course of skilful Surgeons who know that in the curing of wounds endeavour is to be used that they be not cleansed too much if we would heal and skin them for if any do otherwise together with the purulent filth he deterges the thick clammy glutinous Blood of the wounds which is nearest the being converted into Flesh and so the closing up of the wound is unwarily hindred Those therefore who by swallowing Pills especially those of Aloes do every or every other day excite the small Guts above to excretion or dilute the thick Guts below by Clysters these verily through their unskilfulness in Anatomy do by many harms kill many For seeing the most perfect concoction of the natural bowels either cannot be finished without a previous and decent fermentation and fermentation is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or windy or the Chyle by means of it is said to grow spirituous or seeing the things to be concocted in the Stomach and Guts by secretion are resolved also either into Spirit or Flatus yea and skilful nature hath for this purpose annexed to the other Guts an empty sack as it were called the blind Gut that it might be a natural receptacle of Flatus as the Gall bladder is of the Gall I say seeing things are thus a Clyster is not presently required as soon as the Belly rumbles which it often does without any trouble or we perceive our Guts to be moved gently with a motion that is most natural to them but hitherto taken for preternatural Flatus c. lest to speak with Celsus we consume in our health the remedies of sickness It is known also that Doctors of Anatomy teach us that besides the proper whether coats or membranes the Guts are naturally lined also with a crusty fungous and mucous substance that the excrements may
setled in a part V. Mercurial Salivation is performed by internals and externals VI. In what form to be used VII To what parts Mercurials are to be applied outwardly VIII They root out rebellious Diseases IX Salivation is not therefore to be rejected because it is a dangerous remedy for it is safe enough if rightly administred X. Sylvius's way of raising a Salivation XI What diet is fittest in a Salivation XII I. WE must suppose 1. That this evacuation is owing to the Serum whether we call it Lympha or Saliva or Spittle or Phlegm or by any other name 2. That the glands are the receptacles of the Serum or its frequent lodgings chanels and stay and so that it is ordinarily partly collected by this mean and partly expelled for the uses of the Body but that extraordinarily that is preternaturally it stays therein is too plentifully collected tends to Coagulation and causes a tumour 3. That in the Lips and Fauces there are not only infinite Miliary glands but also many longer pores whith gape into the Mouth partly with a Thousand holes letting out their Liquor and partly by branches or ducts truly Lymphatick but from their special use or rather name called Salival out of which according to the quantity of the Lympha it self or its plenty and abundance quality thinness fluidity or coagulation clamminess or motion there destills ever and anon more or less Liquor into the Mouth which is destin'd to proper uses 4. And so that the Mouth or Palate is an indifferent space for the reception of the Liquor that destills and which it dispenses either by swallowing and then it serves for a Menstruum to the Meat or by spitting of it out Hence we say that Salivaters do Operate both By opening the Floud-gates and by dilating the Pores that they may gape the more and let go from them what they retained such as are those things that Operate partly by motion partly by heat Hence if one either roll a little Pebble only under the Tongue or only move the Tongue it self to and again the Saliva is drawn more plentifully forth and that with a froth Hence also in burning Fevers Crystal is put into the Mouth for asswaging thirst as it uses by its actual coldness to allay burning and heat that exhausts as it were all the dewy humour which humour the Crystal being moved up and down in the Mouth draws thither Likewise Mastich is very convenient for this purpose because it both strengthens the glands and affects the Palate by its grateful odour and being in round pieces it is very fit for rolling to and again in the Mouth whence we use only the granulated Mastich with the greatest benefit which draws forth Saliva if there be occasion to some Ounces yea a pound in a few hours Yea what things soever we chew the same do also promote spitting by their motion if there be any Saliva at hand II. Likewise by fusing melting and inciding the serous humours that stagnate about the Fauces so that they become apter for motion and exit such as are hot and subtil things whether Saline as Nitre Lapis prunellae Nitre Antimoniate and Nitrous things in general For this may be observed as a rule That all Nitrous things and Salts also in general make the Serum fluxile whence these very things are not so convenient when the Serum offends in motion Or Sulphureous resinous mixed with Acrimonious Volatil Saline Particles whether more explicit or implicit Whence hither belong Tabaco bastard Pellitory Cubebs Lignum s whether in a dry form or in a Liquid Watry as Decoctions or Spirituous as Apoplectick waters for instance in loss of Speech c. In like manner by fusing and draining the same humours in the whole Mass of Blood and so in the whole Body that they may tend towards the Mouth and there find an exit such as in specie are Mercurials used divers ways Indeed the manner of the Operation of these is in general the same and wholly falls in with the rest inasmuch namely as they render the Serum Fluxile and provoke it to those excretories namely the Fauces but in particular there are found in Mercury Saline Acetous and Sulphureous volatil parts which being received intimately are actuated by the heat and acquire a vehicle as it were in the Serum or Lympha which therefore they more incite to motion separate and fuse so that by a restless motion as it were it seeks an exit for it self and finds it chiefly in the Fauces as being the most Glandulous parts Hence Mercury purges and promotes a Salivation which is as it were proper specifick and peculiar to it self while it is volatil or possesses as yet a fumous Nature but not so when fixed into a very day Pouder because the heat whether of the Stomach or even of the external members if it be daubed upon them made up into an Ointment seems to loosen somewhat of its fumous substance which ascending gently in its passage provokes and calmly incites to motion the Phlegmatick humours impacted in the Viscera and quietly setled there And being once made Fluxile their motion is furthered by the heat of the Stomach Mesaraick vessels Liver or other Viscera and members and they are expelled Nor is this to be wondered at for seeing by a gentle heat the same Proteus is willingly amalgamated joyned and coagulated with Metals why should it not when communicated to our vital heat that is far more tender and when rubbed upon our delicate Flesh penetrate even to the Bones as it were and insinuating it self in at the Pores shew its efficacy very manifestly III. Hence Salivation by Mercury is become so famous that being turned out as it were from the number of particular evacuators it is advanced to the rank of universal which may be granted so far as the whole Body by a certain consequence deposits its ooziness in these quagmires the Glands whence it may be called an universal Apophlegmatism Yet it is not admitted into this rank save secundum quid or in some respect and therefore before the use and execution of this Salivation it is adviseable to provide for the whole Body according as the case is either by Purgers or Bleeding or which is better by both IV. Now Salivaters evacuate the conjunct cause and relieve the neighbour-hood or they are chiefly owing to those faults of the Mouth it self wherein the Serum restagnates and is inclined to stay whether in order to be heaped up or to a slight Fluxion Which thing happens in the tooth-ach for which purpose Empiricks are wont to hold artificial Stones betwixt the aking Teeth whence we may draw a corollary as it were That Apophlegmatisms and Masticatories are very good in the Tooth-ach Likewise they are of excellent use for Scorbutical Gums and swelling Glands So moreover which is the other member of the Axiom Salivaters relieve the head chiefly The former are more gentle these stronger V. But they are more
be unloaded or however from that which is next to the part affected or is most fit Therefore in a Cachexy that is an ill habit of the whole Body purgation is indeed necessary but not only that which is done by Catharticks but rather that which we attempt by Bleeding For that the Blood may be purged by opening a Vein the effect it self teacheth seeing we observe that thereby many cachectick persons have been restored to a good habit of Body from a very bad one and have been continued therein for many Years None was ever seen to abound with a greater and more stubborn Colluvies of humours than my Brother who was freed beyond hope from a very grievous Palsie and a Convulsion of another part twenty four years ago and presently after being seised on by a Malignant scab from which he could be freed neither by Purgings nor Baths nor Anointings c. he was not only cured of his Scab by Bleeding often repeated against the advice of his Physicians but brought to a better habit of Body than he had before I my self also being so cachectick from a Quartan Ague that I was not a little afraid of a Dropsie was restored by no other remedy though I first tryed to do it by Purgings Apozems and Diet but by repeated Bleeding My servant Henry escaped from a pestilential Fever by being thrice let Blood by my direction but a languid sweating Fever remaining which seemed to tend to a Leucophlegmatia I let him Blood four times taking a pound each time whereby he was recovered in about twenty days and is now in good health and Married There was so great a Colluvies in his Blood as I never saw before for in one medical pound there were at least ten ounces of Serum and more than an ounce and half of thick and very tough Phlegm swimming a top and about half an ounce of very black and corrupt Blood subsiding I have handled several in like manner to whom many Physicians thought that Bleeding would by no means be beneficial but Purging according to the common opinion that purging is owing to a Cacochymy which opinion were true if they added not and not Bleeding Yet from the Instances alledged I would not have it inferr'd that all Bodies that are Cachectick and of impure Blood are to be so treated for the impurity of the humours that reside in the Intestins ought by no means to be comprehended under the name of a Cachexy But as I would not that these examples and others should be esteemed as Laws so neither is it fitting that they should be rejected as unprofitable and estranged from art especially seeing all art proceeds from experiments and universals themselves are derived from particulars Wherefore if this opinion of mine that is said to be repugnant to Galen be to be received it ought to be confirmed and strengthened by the chief Authors of art by Galen himself Hippocrates and others of any note In what I pray does Galen seem to contend more against Erasistratus than in shewing his evil mistake that Bleeding was profitable only in a Plethora He himself used this remedy in his practice for 9. m.m. c. 5. l. 11. c. 15. he bids us cure all putrid Fevers by Bleeding and if they be continual as the Synochus putrida he bids us Bleed freely Now it were foolish to think that in these a Plethora only offended And when he said that Blood might be let even in those putrid Fevers both on the seventh day and twentieth and later if other indications were answerable did he think that these Bodies were Plethorick Moreover did he think that Woman Plethorick of whom he speaks 6 Epid. comm 3. that was spent and wasted by a long Disease And yet he says he let her Blood thrice three days one after another and gave her no Purgers He hath confirmed the same by precepts for XI m. m. c. 5. says he If in an hot and dry constitution with the offending of some humour there be raised a Fever through many thick and glutinous humours Blood is to be let that the offending humour may the more easily transpire Further If the Body be straitned and the little passages condensed and withal there be many and clammy humours lurking in such a complication of causes as this it is convenient to begin with Bleeding And 9 meth cap. 10. he says that a large evacuation of Blood is dangerous if it be made altogether the faculties being weak with a corruption of humours wherein he says when the indications are so cross to one another we must evacuate by little and little what is vitious and by degrees also fill up its room with that which is wholsome Which form of cure Celsus describes accurately thus lib. 3. c. 22. If there be a bad habit of Body which the Greeks call a Cachexy we must first use a spare diet then Purge and if other things do no good we must Bleed but by little and little and daily And in the chapter of Blood-letting he affirms also that it is profitable in a bad habit of Body and he says In an abundance of Blood or in the corruption of it the sick can be relieved by no remedy better than by Bleeding yea by Bleeding till the Blood come out pure Now let us hear Rhasis If Melancholy says he be accompanied with a pain and inflation of the Belly and the colour of the Body be vitiated if there be a bad concoction vomiting acid belchings and plenty of flatuosities we shall begin the cure by opening the Axillar Vein or the Vein by the little finger in the left hand A Cacochymical Body cannot be described more clearly Who will not call Splenetick persons inclining to a Dropsie Cacochymical yet Hippocrates lib. de affect num 21. says that the Splenetick Vein is often to be opened in such Therefore Galen did not do well to conceal Bleeding when he propounded the remedies of a Cacochymy especially seeing you will hardly find any chronical disease though very small or any acute or new one that is great without a Cacochymy For sick bodies when they have occasion to be Physick'd abound with vitious excrements Add that almost all the bodies wherein Hippocrates commands Bleeding are to be esteemed Cacochymical not Plethorick as may be known by the instances If the Blood therefore be unprofitable as Galen says 9. m. m. 11. when it keeps not its proper quality exactly nor can any longer nourish the Body as it did before Bleeding is not only not to be contemned in a Cacochymy but to be greatly commended But yet it is so to be divided that by often repeating the same as Galen and Celsus teach that which is corrupted in the Veins may be drawn forth the greatest part of it without injuring the faculties I say the greatest part because it is neither convenient nor possible to art to take away all But the residue as Galen often says Leon Botallus lib. de curat per
are come out Thus he determins that the same does stop a looseness because it first draws from the lesser Veins to the Cava from which consequently the Blood is let out by Venesection On the contrary nothing is of more constant Practice than when the humours especially the Bloody flow to the internal parts to make a revulsion to the external by opening a Vein 1. In asmuch as the Veins that are emptied draw from those which are fuller and the fuller afford their help and being loaded with plenty do readily deposite their burthen into the empty Veins the fluidness of the humours not a little assisting 2. In an inflammation of the Liver Lungs or Pleura Hippocrates and Galen bid us open a Vein in the Arm to revel from the internal parts to the external 3. And therefore 1. de vict acut that in a Pleurisie Blood is to be let so long till by its colour we can discover that to come which was flown to the part affected 4. How should there often be a strong revulsion if there were always a fresh afflux from the circumference 5. Why does Galen 4. de tu San. C. 5. dissuade bleeding to those in whom crude and vitious humours possess the internal parts For a further clearing of the matter Sylvat contr 37. notes that in letting of Blood it is to be supposed that there is in the Veins a plenty of Blood either convenient or not If there be a greater plenty than is agreeable to Nature when Blood is withdrawn by Venesection there ensues not a vacuum but the Veins subside as we see to happen in a Leathern Bottle or Bladder when part of the Liquor is poured out Hence it is concluded that in Venesection the Blood is compelled to retire to the centre if the Veins that are in that place be deprived of their Natural quantity of Blood either in whole or in part but it will return back again to the circumference either because it flows from the Bulk of the Body out of the neighbouring Spaces into the Veins or because the Veins that are next to it are emptied some part of that which is contained in the Veins succeeding that which is evacuated To the Arguments 't is answered to the first The consequent is denied because when the Blood is diminished the Veins concide of their own accord To the second There is not always a paleness but when there is it happens through too large evacuation fear recourse of the Spirits to the Heart c. To the third An internal Phlegmon is sometimes increased not by reason of the Blood that is let but through a new afflux which would afflict more grievously if a revulsion were neglected To the fourth 'T is granted because the abounding cacochymy in the first ways is first to be taken away that vitious Blood may not be generated afresh To the fifth Avicen's Reasons rather prove the contrary For because Poison is inimicous to Nature therefore at first we must take diligent heed that the Motion of Nature to expel the Poison be not hindred by Venesection But when it is dispersed in the Body it is lessened by even a plentiful bleeding Namely if there be an indicant for Bleeding that so part of the Vitious Blood being taken away that which remains may be the sooner discussed Thus also the expulsion of the small Pox is not to be hindred by another Motion of the Blood Horst Inst med disput 18. q. 7. which Venesection may do as it is likewise granted in a Flux of the Belly XXXIX Those Physicians err who following Galen open a Vein in any Flux of the Belly in an opposite or most remote part for revulsion For I will affirm that when Bloud flows immoderately and Symptomatically to bleed further is besides Hippocrates's intention who for revulsion of the Blood flowing immoderately to the Womb bids us affix Cupping-glasses to each Breast but forbids taking any Blood away 2. de mor. mul. vers 36. And if by such evacuation the sick be observed not to be notably hurt because we take away but a little Blood yet I think they reap little or no profit thereby For what good do we think can the letting forth two or three Ounces of Blood do for revelling the Blood that is rushing into any part Which evacuation hardly makes a motion in the Blood Therefore because the strength will not bear so large a Bleeding as might possibly make a revulsion and a small does no good therefore Hippocrates thought it better to abstain from Bleeding and to flie to other remedies You will object that lib. de steril vers 422. he bids a Woman to be Bled who doth not conceive when the mouth of her Womb gapes and by consequence her Terms flow more plentifully I Answer That is another case for the Terms flow not so plentifully as that it can be called a flux nor is there that weakness as will not admit a moderate Venesection which he commands not for the sake of the menstrual flux but for the cure of Barrenness You will object again that l. de humor and 1. de morb he opens a Vein in them that spit Blood I Answer His intention is not to make a Revulsion of the Blood that is flowing but to take away the Plenitude which may hinder the closing of the broken Vessel and to avert the imminent inflammation of the Ulcer For he opens a Vein in spitting of Blood no less when some Vein being pulled asunder pours forth a little and blackish Blood than when the Blood flows hastily and plentifully out of a bursten Vessel He plainly shews his meaning by adding And let him use a diet that may make him very dry and Bloodlessâ— Martian comm in versic 36. l. 2. de morb mul. Which words make it apparent that he opens not a Vein for Revulsions sake to hinder the course of the flowing Blood XL. Whether can Bleeding be helpful to the too cold of constitution Galen l. de rigor c. says In a disease which requires heating none have dared to Bleed And 5. meth c. 6. But if there be none of these things but it be winter or the climate be naturally cold and the person also himself be of a colder constitution by Bleeding in such a case the whole Body is both greatly cooled and there happen some Symptoms that lead to a dangerous Refrigeration If the coldness of the climate or season hinder Bleeding much more does a cold intemperies seeing the Blood does not only afford nourishment to the Body but the natural heat also is sustained and continued by it Yet 8. meth 4. he bids us Bleed hastily in an Ephemera from obstruction of the skin which the external cold often causes Reason persuades the same because obstruction hinders transpiration from this ariseth a redundance of the multitude of the humours from which proceed obstruction and putrefaction But we must thus distinguish the matter If the distemper we would cure be
cold as if for example any labour under a cold intemperies he must use hot things only and abstain from Bleeding which is a cooling remedy But if the disease be hot and Refrigeration be only as an antecedent cause while we extinguish the Fever by Bleeding we shall do no harm for the procatarctick cause has no indication belonging to it Yet when refrigeration hurteth even the Viscera Valles contr l. 7. c. 6. Bleeding is most of all to be shunn'd ¶ Those things which are alledged against Bleeding are only to be understood of that which is made for evacuations sake and make us take heed that by letting Blood there follow not a crudity of cold humours and intimate that the quantity is to be moderated Add hereto that the Authors of approved medicin have often practis'd Venesection in diseases meerly cold as in a Dropsie from the retention of some usual evacuation Hippocr 4. acut 11. For when the heat is suffocated by Blood that is too cold through its plenty Bleeding is a present remedy Likewise in palpitation a cold disease lib. de rigore c. c. 5. In a Priapism 14. meth c. 7. In a suffocation by cold Water Dioscor l. 6. c. 4. Paul lib. 5. cap. 66. Zacut. princ med hist 8. l. 2. In stubborn diseases proceeding from a cold cause to abstain altogether or more than is meet from Bleeding is not the part of a prudent Physician seeing 't is certain that every part of the Body is nourished by that matter which is in the Veins Which the colder and thicker it is by so much the more grievous and stubborn does it make the distemper that is raised from the like matter L. Botal de s m. cap. 12. Which matter we say is to be diminished partly by Bleeding partly by Purging and an attenuating diet that the Mass of Blood being cleansed and renewed the disease may be cured XLI Others proceed further who in all Fevers let forth the harmless Blood excepting neither the spotted Fever nor the Plague nor Poison Thus freeing themselves of much labour and trouble which otherwise the many sorts of Fevers would create them But because the nature of poison and malignant humours chiefly consists in this that they forthwith set upon the heart and quickly deject the strength of the most robust and seeing Bleeding does both likewise not only diminish the strength but also draw the malignity to the Heart and impells that back again to the oppression of Nature which she had driven forth for her own easement I cannot but pray and admonish all Artists that they will not proceed to Venesection either in the Plague or other malignant Fevers or also in all those accidents whereby men are Poison'd inwardly or outwardly especially if they love and seriously aim at tranquillity of mind and the health of the Patient that desires their help The French Italian Spaniards and Portugueze those fierce contenders for Venesection will reply to me that Nature by Venesection draws Air as it were and is unloaded in some manner that she may so much the more easily cast forth the remaining malignity And this seems true for the Blood draws the Air that its Spirits may the more readily fly away and it may be eased of those faculties that it necessarily wants When these things are finished the Patient changes life for death and very well knows how to draw tears from the Eyes of the by-standers Giving no other reasons they do moreover rely upon their experience but I wish they relied well upon it for I have found such Patients who in the morning were in no danger after Bleeding five or six ounces taken away in the evening by cold and rigid death Hence therefore we may rightly gather what it is they name Experience namely If the Patient by chance escape the honour is given to Venesection but if he die as he does commonly there was malignity in the case Therefore I oppose experience to experience thanking God greatly that he hath exhibited and demonstrated a far certainer and better remedy to all those who rightly consider diseases without envy passion or being inslaved to anothers opinion Others that they might seem more moderate in this matter admit of Venesection in the beginning of the disease before the malignity manifest it self externally and herein I will readily assent to them if it be done 1. In hot Countries 2. In a full Body 3. When the humours ascending to the head cause grievous accidents there In such a case I think Bleeding in the Arm or Foot will do a great deal of good But those who will prescribe Venesection in all Bodies and without difference in these cold and moist Countries such shall certainly find no good success thereof Yea they can hardly give a reason which will be received by art as genuine especially seeing themselves do freely and ingenuously confess that they sometimes meet with such cases wherein they dare not order Bleeding which they cry up so much Barbette Chirurg part 1. cap. XI performing the cure to their desire by Sudoriferous and cooling potions XLII Avicen Fen. 4. l. 1. c. 29. Bleeding often causes a Fever and many times putrefaction Venesection through the ebullition of the Spirits causes diary Fevers and if it be too large by debilitating Nature causes putrefaction the innate heat being weakned it generates an Hectick if it be done in Bodies wanting Blood the lean hot dry A weakly man being in no disease caused himself to be Bled in the midst of Summer being lean and weak he begun to be Feverish thereupon and complaining of an inflammation in his Liver the Physician not considering his weakness nor thinking upon Coolers and Purgers that were then necessary Zacut. prax admir lib. 3. obs 53. Bleeds him more than once Whereupon the Blood wherein heat has its perseverance being evacuated his flesh wasted and he died of a tabid Fever XLIII When there is occasion for repeated Bleeding whether ought the second to be larger than the first Galen l. 4. de sanit tuend seems to make the second larger But l. de venae sectione he bids us add half the quantity the second time Which many understand so as that only half as much is to be let forth as was before but I think he means as much and half as much more Namely if six ounces were taken the first time then nine are to be taken the second Though there is a contrary place lib. de venae sectione c. 17. where Galen took three pound the first time and after an hour one pound But there as I suppose the case was so urgent as to compel him to take more the first time Yet the matter is thus to be weighed namely That where nothing hinders and necessity is not very urgent it is better to begin with a small quantity especially when we have not experienced the strength of the Patient But when we have and find it consenting when necessity
carried into wider they fill the whole Body with crudities and vitiate the Blood or cause both and doubtless these ought to be concocted or evacuated before bleeding For which reason believing that the Belly can be cleared of crudities no other way they Purge always before venesection whereas Hippocrates 1. de vict acut 41. 4.36 thought that in a manifest satiety it was enough to pass one day without eating or to use a Clyster whence all others almost now adays take always care to empty the Guts by a Clyster an hour or two before bleeding namely lest the thin parts of the faeces should be derived into the Blood and taint it Which though it be more tolerable than while the Vessels are yet full to disturb the whole Body by Purging yet besides that it is undertaken to no purpose save where the Guts appear manifestly full and there is a sense of weight in them it is not without harm and sometimes such as is very great For many being not sufficiently evacuated by the Medicine newly taken the Belly is disturbed in the very bleeding and they faint away unseasonably so that the bleeding is hindred and the faculties very much weakened Wherefore I use no such Clyster unless when there is a peculiar and manifest necessity thereof as when any of the aforesaid things is present and if I be to use it I cause it to be administred not near the bleeding but a long time before namely that the motion which it raises may first have been layed especially seeing bleeding it self uses to move the Humours of the Body which often are carried of their own accord into the Belly Which motion being added to the former which the Clyster had raised becomes too great and before the bleeding is ended brings the said dangers Wherefore I think it far more adviseable where the weakness of the faculty hinders not to use a Clyster presently after bleeding that when the bleeding has been manag'd well that which has been moved and agitated by it may be drawn into the Intestins and evacuated by them which we have often seen to succeed so well that a man is evacuated and purged without taking a purging Medicine But then let the faculty be firm for if either the Guts be not manifestly burthened or the faculty not very firm I will use no Clyster neither before nor after Valles m. m. lib. 4. cap. 2. contenting my self with bleeding alone that day LXXII Fernelius gives good advice l. 2. de s m. cap. 4. Nor do I after the manner of the unskilful presently command bleeding if the Nose do but drop a little Blood or the Vrine look ruddy for the Blood is apt to burst forth not only from Plenitude and because Nature attempts that evacuation but from many other causes For such as have the mouths of the Veins eaten asunder or in whom the viscera and especially the Liver is grown weak and scirrhous often bleed at the Nose as hydropical Persons use to do LXXIII Some observe certain days to be unfortunate and unhappy both for purging and bleeding But I have oft found by Experience that such observations are nothing worth First because the Heaven is an universal cause which acts not unless the particular causes be well disposed Secondly because Astrological Judgments are very uncertain various ambiguous and deluding those that make them through the diversity of the nearest causes Hor. Augen de Veâ—â— Sect. l. 8. c. 18. Therefore 't is rash to admit of an Astrological Judgment in a sick Person when occasion is very urgent ¶ Seeing the course of the Moon for the most part causes damages and detriments unto infirm Bodies it may be brought into dispute whether a Vein may be opened in that part wherein the Moon abides For most are fearful in this thing nor dare they attempt any such thing be the Disease never so urgent and require such a Remedy never so speedily But I think that it ought to be attempted maturely without trepidation and with great confidence of relief and driving away the Disease for acute and swift Diseases admit of no truce or delay Levin Lerun l. de occ Natur Mirac 4. c. 15. Seâ— more in Arâ— de Villanova Guido â—oubertus Botallus Heurnius Claudinus c. Nor ought any one to be deterred or desist from his undertaking though he attempt it while some Planet is adverse or malignant Thus in a Pleuâ—isie Quinsie Inflammation of the Lungs and Liver neglecting the scrupulous Observation of the Stars and Aspect of the Planets we must hasten maturely to venesection even in that Part which the Moon is possest of LXXIV 'T is ridiculous that some will let Blood only from seven till twelve For says Galen l. de sang mis c. 10. Fear not to let Blood even in the night yea on what day soever you find indications for bleeding do it though it be the Twentieth day from the beginning if so be the faculty consent And cap. 11. he bids us open a Vein at any hour of the day or night Heuâ—â— m. ad Prax. l. 3. c. 9. if so be in Fevers or Agues it be done in the remission of the Paroxysms LXXV Though necessity urge if the Patient have newly eaten let bleeding be deferr'd a little till the fresh juice of the Victuals be past into the Blood for the Veins being emptied will snatch into themselves the Chyme that is not only crude but oft incongruous and unproportionate to the Blood whence not only its motion is disturb'd but the vital flame also is sometimes in danger to be smother'd I have known some that having been let Blood after drinking too freely of vinous Liquors have faln into terrible fainting Fits that have lasted very long till the vital Spirit being half overturned hath recover'd it self again Willis LXXVI Assoon as the quantity of the Blood to be let is resolv'd upon then the next care ought to be that by making a large orifice the same may flow out equally mixt in as little time as may be for otherwise if it shall issue forth at a little hole either drop by drop or in a small thread the mass of Blood fermenting will sever into Parts and that which is subtil and more spirituous will spurt forth the thicker and seculent part staying behind Whence we may observe that if Blood be at any time let out of a large orifice with a full stream and be stopt a little by laying ones finger upon the hole and then be suffer'd to flow again a little after the Blood that comes out at the second time will be far purer and brighter than that which came forth at first namely because in the interval of the efflux the more subtil Particles being extricated out of the thicker and united together have prepared themselves for flying out Wherefore if Hippocrates's Precept to let Blood till it change colour be to be observed we must see that it run out speedily
very crooked towards the point Sever. Med. Eff p. 67. I use daily to practise this Piece of Surgery both ways XCI If the Orifice in Venesection be too strait it must be widened as in stoppage or constipation that must be removed which stops or constipates But to amend the straitness there is greater skill and pains requisite than if the Vein had not at all been medled with because the Blood is presently diffused betwixt the Skin and the Vein and driving the Skin higher separates it from the Vein Assoon therefore as the Skin about the Orifice rises into a Tumour it must presently be gently pressed by your left Thumb that the violence of the running Blood may be mitigated and the rising Tumour depressed then draw off your Thumb gently so far as till the Orifice appear and you have room enough for the Launcet and the hand you hold it in then put the Launcet gently and warily into the first Orifice which make as wide as it ought to be But in this operation we must take heed that the Skin alone which is usual be not widened without the Vein for then both the pains and pain would be to no purpose Put the Launcet therefore moderately into the capacity of the Vessel it self and enlarge the Wound as much as is sufficient If the efflux of the Blood be hindred from the recourse of the Skin it is gently to be drawn back to the same place in which it was when the Vein was cut that the division of it and of the Vein may hit together and it is to be held there till the Blood have issued out as you desire Leon. Botal de §. 11. ¶ But it happens also that the Skin or rather all that which lies above the Vein sometimes covers the orifice in the Vein when yet the same was not removed out of its place and that happens when the Surgeon thrusts his Launcet over slopingly into a vain that lies deep and lifts not up its point but draws it out again the same way he thrust it in In this case to make the Blood flow if the Vein be cut wide enough the Skin is to be raised up by putting a slender probe or the head of a pin under it or the Vein is to be lightly deprest with the same probe or pin till the Blood shall have flowed out to your liking for by this means the vein being thrust from the Skin or the Skin raised from the Vein the Blood gains a passage Idem §. 12. XCII When a fillet is tyed about any member and the Vein that uses to be found in that part does not appear but something that is round is felt deep under the Skin of which you doubt whether it be a vain or not presently loosen the fillet and if it be a Vein it also growing lax will fall down and be no longer perceived by your finger till you bind the member again but if when the fillet is loosened that which you touched feels as it did before when it was tyed then use not your Launce◠for it is not a Vein but a tendon or the Head of a muscle or something beside a Vein And the Arteries beat where they are whereby both their situation and depth become manifest to even a meanly experienc'd Artist Idem §. 19. XCIII Patients often ask what Vein of the Arm they should have opened because they have heard something of the distribution of the Veins in the Arm one of which they allot to the Head another to the Liver a third they make doubtful profitable to both the cavities Belly and Head Physicians introduced this opinion before Anatomy was so well cultivated as now it is and many adhere to it still But it is certain seeing all the Veins of the Arm spring forth of the same Branch that they evacuate from the same parts And that which is allotted to the Head empties no less from the Liver than that which is called Basilica though the Cephalica because sometimes it receives a little Branch from the Head is believed to profit more in the Diseases thereof yet both do equally help the Diseases of the internal viscera and do equally withdraw Blood out of the Vena cava and 't is to no purpose to pitch upon one more than another for they all draw Blood from the same fountain Of this opinion are Vesalius Anatom l. 3. c. 8. Bauhin in Theatro Fallopius Bartholin Horstius tract de Scorbuto and others Primiros de vulg err l. 4. c. 26. ¶ If the rule of late dogmata be consulted the circular motion of the Blood takes away the choice of Veins there is no prerogative of order amongst them all the Veins enjoy a common fate The Blood always ascends by the trunk of the Vena cava and changes not its course upon the opening of the Veins of Arm or Foot but that which flows out issues from that part of the opened Vein that is below the orifice that is made in it and that Veins's twigs in the extremities of the Hands and Foot do again receive the Arterial Blood Therefore the parts affected are not emptied directly No fruit can directly be expected from the opening of a Vein in the Arm or Foot viz. of the Cephalica in Diseases of the Head though it be joyned by a particular Branch with the external Jugular or of the Basilica in Diseases of the Breast as the Pleurisie though the same be joyned to the Thoracica in the Arm-pits Rolfinc c. 15. l. de febr ¶ 'T is all one which Vein you open so it be plain yet this caution should be used That if the lower parts be ill a lower Vein be opened if the upper an upper The Kidneys they otherwise place for the center of the Body as to its longitude but this is better referr'd to the Heart Walaeui m. m. p. 80. Bleeding on the same side with the part affected is better than on the opposite the cause lies in the Arteries not in the Veins XCIV Hippocrates 5. aph 68. propounds the opening of the fore-head Vein but the Body is to be diligently purged first otherwise it may become hurtful seeing it is a local Remedy A man of thirty years old being troubled with a long Head-ach and Epileptick fits by the advice of a Barbar suffered himself to be let Blood in that Branch of the Vein of the fore-head which in some bends a little to the left side without any preceding preparation of the Body But what came of it His eye in that very moment lost its motion and became fixt unmoveable and shut an Inflammation arose in it the pain in his head increased Hild. Cent. 5. obs 18. and at length losing his speech he was with great difficulty recovered by the Physicians of Basil XCV The Ischiadick Vein which is found in the outer ankle ought not to be cut but with the strictest and fullest knowledge of
and that Galen is to be understood of that which is soft and gentle XVII When the Blood stagnates and stops in its Vessels motion is most happily procured to it by Sudorificks sometimes by Venesection by the help of those the Blood is not only made more fluid and moveable but the same is moreover actually moved and more and more rarefied by the volatil Salt that is in them and by its stay alone does by degrees loose the Blood more or less concreted by its own acid Spirit and therefore agitates it Whence a more frequent and greater pulse uses to be the companion of sweat for whilst the volatil Salt of Sudorificks arrives at the right ventricle of the heart and the Blood there becomes more rare and does not only of its own accord seek an exit for it self but by further widening the ventricle of the Heart it excites the same to both a more frequent and stronger contraction of it self Sylv. de le Boë pract l. 1. c. 34. §. 29. and therefore moves the Blood more that before was somewhat deficient in its motion and promotes its course every way from the Heart XVIII Not only Medicines taken inwardly yea and hot drink drunk freely provoke sweat but many external things also Thus the air alone heated by art and making a dry bath in a stove or sitting by a good fire powerfully draw forth sweat and when a watry humidity is redundant in the Body it is driven forth by sweat this way easily and happily enough but so is not a sowr or acid or Salt Muriatick Humour though a glutinous Humour may thus also be both attenuated and expelled by sweat if so be it be continued long enough lest the same Humour being dissolved by the fire and driven all about be again coagulated in the capillary Vessels and there breed obstructions and many mischiefs that follow thereupon Idem m m. l. 1. c. 11. § 27. XIX Bezoardicum minerale is prepared of the Butter of Antimony by pouring thereon the Spirit of Nitre or aqua Stygia Where it is to be observed that whilst these two liquors are mixed together the Salts meeting by and by with one another are strictly combined and in the mean time the Sulphureous particles which are in great plenty being utterly excluded fly away carrying some saline Bodies with them raise an heat and very stinking smoak these being driven away the saline that are left are more strictly combined with some earthy ones of the Antimony and at length having undergone the fire that the Emetick Sulphur may wholly exhale and the corrosive stings of the Salts may be destroyed they make an excellent Diaphoretick inasmuch namely as the different Salts of the Medicine do meet with the Salts of our Body with which being joined the compages of the Blood and Humours are loosened Willis â—harm rat p. m. 208. so that there lies open a free passage to the serous recrement The dose is from a scruple to a drachm XX. Though a certain preparation of Antimony be called Diaphoretick I know not to what sort of its particles this vertue can be attributed and I have often in vain expected such an effect from this Medicine It is often profitably given to stay fluxions of the Serum or Blood because this earth being deprived of its proper Salts does imbibe strange acid Salts which it meets with by chance in the Body which kind of vertue Crocus Martis prepared by a reverberatory fire seems to obtain from the like cause XXI Antimonium diaphoreticum is rightly given with the species de hyacintho pulvis ruber Pannonicus and others for the promoting of expulsion But we must note that it ought to be rightly and newly prepared for as it grows old it returns to its own Nature and Emetick vertue Wherefore I advise never to mix Antimony with those Powders but at the time when you are about to use them Ign. Franc. Thiermair cons l. 1. c. 7. for till then 't is best to keep them apart XXII Let Physicians be mindful that those who are engaged in a Diet of Guaiacum if they be not Purged every 8th or 10th day and unless they go to stool every day once Heer de Acidulis p. 100. do incur very grievous Symptoms XXIII Most now esteem that Paradox for truth that Decoctions of Guaiacum Sarsa Sassafras China and the like make People fat Which Horat. Guargantius in his resp medic p. 235. thus explains These Decoctions do attenuate indeed and dry up naughty and excrementitious Humours but leave the good and profitable untoucht Therefore they bring no hurt to the wasted and emaciated For seeing leanness and a fleshless habit proceed from bad nutrition and bad nutrition from acrimonious and salt Humours which consume the sweet and profitable Blood and hinder the Fat from being agglutinated therefore it follows that when those vitious juices are consumed by the foresaid Decoctions the Body is of course rightly nourished and fatned Thus far Guargantius Arcaeus's way of curing Phthisical People by a Decoction of the Wood is well known whereby he affirms they are not only hurt but also grow fleshy XXIV There are some who with an hydrotick Decoction give a Bolus of Turpentine and Ground-Ivy c. but I like not the raising of two motions at the same time therefore rather make a Bolus of the powder of Harts-horn Fortis Cent. 1. Cons 65. Vipers and some appropriate Salt XXV Besides Opium Salts promote Sweat namely by their fusory quality but 't is necessary they should be depurated whence common Salt and sal gemmae promote it not at all All Herbs that contain much Salt in them drive forth also much sweat as Wormwood Carduus bened being given in a sufficient Dose XXVI It is an error of the Moderns to use Decoctions with water for fluxions seeing it is clear that whatsoever Remedies are taken under the form of drink though they be of a dry Nature yet they alwayes increase moisture in the Body especially if they be taken at Meals Now I guess that the Physicians our predecessors were deceived by the Diet that uses to be prescribed to them who use hydrotick Decoctions Who having observed that some troubled with long continued destillations were cured thereof by a Decoction of Guaiacum or sarsaparilla or the like which they had taken for the cure of the French Pox brought in Decoctions of drying Woods and Roots which had not at all been used for this purpose before for the cure of Destillations and the cure succeeded happily as long as they observed that exact Diet of thoroughly-baked Bread or Bisket with Raisins limited to a certain quantity and wholly abstain'd from drinking of Wine But after that our Physicians indulging the complaints of their Patients began to allow them Flesh Eggs and Wine it has been seldom observed that Destillations have been cured by these Decoctions which is an evident argument that the Catarrhs were cured
the things aforesaid XLIV Let them for whom it is expedient to fly prudently beware that they be not forced to make their journey through a Pestilential Air because it has so fared with many that while they contrived to prevent danger by their flight through a Pestilential Air as soon as they came to their desired Countrey they immediately died or because while they make their journey with more haste than usual they are tired and weakned and the humours are immoderately moved and troubled whereby they are the readier for the susception of a noxious quality There happens also from their travel a necessity of breathing oftner and larger by reason whereof the poisonous Air such as it comes is more plentifully received Besides every sudden change is grievous to nature and the humours in several plethorick and cacochymick persons are heated beyond measure in their journey and when they are hot they put on a noxious quality But he that withdraws himself from the infected Air must go before the Calamity overrun all his Countrey into some part differently situated from that where the Plague begun Joubertus but a gentle pace for fear of the foresaid disturbance XLV I remember that the Chirurgeons in France in the time of the Plague put on a singular Habit not made of Cloth or Wool wherein the seeds of the Poison might easily stick but of Line compressed and smooth which they put off at their return from their care of the infected sick The Italians use the same artifice and I am told that in the late Pestilence at Rome which destroyed the City Anno 1656. the Physicians were clad in a singular habit They carried a Staff without a knot in their left hand as a mark of their conversing with infected persons They had a Mask covered with Wax all over their Face and their Head too that their Hair might not take the Infection They had Glasses before their Eyes and their Nose was inclosed in a long Shout full of Alexipharmacks and good scents In this necessary and safe rather than decent Habit Physicians visit the Infected and Chirurgeons safely handle Buboes and feel the Body when it is full of Spots and if they found the spots bunch out and the Hick up come upon them they foretold certain death which was a certain sign of death in the Plague in our City Anno 1619 Th. Bartholinus â—ent â— obs â— as a Chirurgeon who was hired to cure the sick affirmed to me ¶ To these things you may add one thing more wonderfull if those that visited the Infected did constantly carry in their hands burning-Torches or live Coâ—ls they were safe from the Contagion as Marsilius Ficinus affirms Epâ—d antidâ—â— cap. 24. XLVI Let the place in which the Patient lies have a hole open above that the Pestilential Vapours may fly out especially while he sweats This hole may be opened and shut by turns for when proper Fumes are made with Camphorate Rose-water and other things the place may be shut Montanus and then opened again Sydenham's way of curing a Pestilential Fever XLVII As for the cure of these Fevers the first place indeed is owing to curatory Indications which in general must be this way directed that either following Nature's Guidance exactly in exterminating the disease we may lend it a helping hand or not at all relying on that method which Nature is accustomed to use in subduing this intestine Enemy that we may go upon a different one If any one reply That the business may be done by Pestifugous Alexitericks Yet it is doubtfull whether the good they doe should be ascribed to their manifest quality by which in causing Sweats they also open a way for the morbifick matter or to some occult disposition which Nature has bestowed on them to extinguish the pestilential Infection Wherefore first of all let us consider the former Intention which has this tendency that Nature may be helped in her own way and usage to exterminate the morbifick matter We must observe in the true Plague that Nature if she be neither forced nor do err does her business by some Abscess breaking out in the Emunctories whereby a passage is made for the matter But in that they call a pestilential Fever this is done by the whole superficies of the body by means of Sweat and Transpiration Whence we may gather that according to the different way and course that Nature foreshews you a different method of cure ought also to be taken Namely if one endeavour to discharge the matter of the true Plague by means of Sweat he goes a way contrary to Nature which endeavours it by Imposthumes And on the contrary he that tries to discharge the matter of a Pestilential fever any other way than by Sweat he takes a course not at all agreeable to the dust and inclination of Nature But in the true Plague it does not as yet appear with what proper and certain sort of remedy the ejection of the morbifick matter that is the breaking out of Imposthumes may be promoted except one should think that a strengthening Diet and Cordials might conduce to it Which yet I should much doubt whether they might not cast the Patient who is too hot already into a far greater heat I have by experience found it certainly true that Sweats in this case are to no purpose although I cannot deny that after great Sweats of three or four hours continuance and then broke off the Swelling does appear which I do not think proceeds from the Sweat because while it lasts no sign of Breaking out appears indeed when the Sweat is ended it may by accident appear that is when Sweat has taken away some part of the burthen which loaded Nature more than it should and when the body is put in a violent heat by taking of things to cause a Sweat But how fallacious and treacherous the extermination of this peccant matter by Imposthumes forced out in Sweats is I call to witness the tragick ends of such as have been thus treated of whom scarce the third Man escapes the danger of the cure and the Disease But on the contrary many who have had their Swellings break out in a laudable manner have recovered their health in a short time But that the Crisis of this Disease by tumours is very hazardous is manifest from hence that sometimes a Bubo which at first broke out laudably and with the abatement of the Symptoms does afterwards all on a sudden disappear and instead thereof Purple Spots most certain tokens of Death do succeed The cause of whose striking in seems of right to be attributed to those great Sweats that are designed to promote the Eruption because they by drawing and dissipating do disperse another way by the habit of the body that good part of the matter which should fill and keep up the bulk of the Swelling However it is this at least is most certainly sure that out of God Almighty's great
benignity there is a certain way to remove the morbifick cause in other diseases but in this the way is but slippery and inconstant From hence it follows that the Physician who in the cure of other diseases is bound to follow Nature's duct and propensity very close must here refuse its guidance Wherefore since it is by no means secure to tread in Nature's steps in exterminating this Disease we must now look about us by what means we may satisfie the second intention that is of endeavouring another and a different solution from the natural And this I think may be done two ways that is by bleeding or by Sweating As to the former I am not ignorant that many make conscience of Bleeding But not to heed the prejudices of the Vulgar I first of all appeal to those Physicians that stay'd in London in the time of the late Plague whether any of them observed that plentifull and repeated Bleeding before any Swelling appeared proved mortal to those that were sick of the Plague We need not at all wonder indeed that the letting of a little bloud when the Swelling begins to appear is always hurtfull Because when onely a small quantity of bloud is taken hereby the management of the affair is taken out of Nature's hand which applies her whole strength to the protrusion of the tumour nor is there any other way of evacuating the morbifick matter efficacious enough substituted in its stead And when the Swelling already appears and bloud is then let seeing it draws from the circumference to the centre it causes a motion quite contrary to the motion of Nature which is from the Centre to the Circumference But that bleeding in the Plague is convenient many grave Writers have long ago adjudged But there is onely one that I know of who places the whole business of the cure such as we require in bleeding plentifully that is Leonardus Botallus a most famous Physician of the last Age I saith he think there is no Plague for which this may not be more wholesome than any other remedies so it be used opportunely and in a convenient quantity And I think it has sometimes proved useless because it was used either later or less than was necessary or because there was an errour about using it in both respects And a little after But in so great a timidity and spare detraction how can any one rightly judge what good or harm it does in a Pestilential Disease For the Disease for whose cure the taking away of four pounds of bloud was necessary in which onely one is taken if it kill a Man does not therefore kill a Man because bloud is let but because it was not let in a just quantity or it may be not seasonably All which he confirms by experience and goes to examples of cures But here I will relate a very rare history of a matter as it was acted with us in England When among the calamities of a Civil War the Plague also raged in several places and by chance was brought from some other place to Dunstur-Castle in Sommersetshire after some of the Soldiers had died suddenly with Spots and it had seized several others a certain Chirurgeon who was returned from travelling in far Countries who at that time among others served for pay asked leave of the Governour of the place that he might doe his best to help his Fellow-soldiers who consenting he took immediately from every sick Man at the first coming of the Disease before any Swelling appeared a great quantity of bloud till their feet began to fail them for he bled them standing and in the open Air nor had he any Porringers to measure the bloud in this being done he sent them to lie down in their huts and although after bleeding he used no remedy at all yet of abundance whom he treated in this manner which is a wonderfull thing there died not one Man But although I am not onely sensible of the benefit of this practice in my judgment but have long since found it so indeed by experience yet the dissipation of the Pestilential ferment by transpiration pleases me upon several accounts better than Evacuation by Bleeding because it does not so much weaken Patients nor expose Physicians to the danger of Infamy But this also does not want its difficulties for first of all Sweats are difficultly procured in several people especially in young Men of a hot constitution Which sort of Patients the more you endeavour to raise a Sweat by strong Hydroticks and heaping on much clothes on them the more danger you bring them into of a Phrenzy or which is of a sadder portent being held so long in expectation at last instead of Sweat you will produce the Tokens For seeing the principal fault in this Disease consists in the more spirituous part of the mass of bloud wherefore the exagitation of the more gross particles is for the most part more languid than in other inflammations and this thinner portion being put in a greater rage by the accession of new heat does at length by its assault wholly break all the fibres of the bloud distended beyond the measure of their texture from which dissolution of the fibres of the bloud I think the cause of the Tokens may be fetched For just as the Marks that are inflicted upon some musculous part of the body by a violent blow so they at first appear very red in the Skin and in a short time after appear black and blew But then in bodies that are apt to Sweat if the Sweat be broke off sooner than it should that is before all the morbid matter be dissipated the condition of the Buboes which indeed began to come out well enough towards the latter end of the Sweat becomes worse afterwards for part of the matter being subtracted which ought to raise them they either easily strike in again or they never come to legitimate abscesses as it usually happens in the Small Pox whenever the Patient has Sweat violently in the first days and then at length the cruel enemy being received within the walls a commotion is raised in the bloud by means whereof oftentimes Spots the Tokens of imminent death are forced out And I continued this custome of bleeding freely to which also the use of Ptisane and such cooling Diet was added in many Patients with wonderfull success till at length failing of the wonted success in managing of some out of the wilfullness of some By-standers who were possessed with vain Prejudices and would not suffer a due quantity of Bloud to be let to the Patient 's great damage from whom at least while the scope of Cure turned on this hinge either Bloud was not taken in a sufficient quantity or not at all I perceived a great stop put to my endeavours and therefore I reckoned another way of opposing this Disease than Bloud-letting if it could be found would be of great use First if the Swelling did not yet
of the antecedent causes IV. Rhenish Wine alwayes did me good in the Strangury caused by drinking new Beer If I could not get Wine and was forced to drink new Beer I was eased of my trouble by taking Nutmeg When some had fallen into that mischief they cured themselves only by anointing their Navil with the fat of a Candle Others cured themselves by taking only a spoonful of Oxymel But I have experienced that the smell of the leaves of black Currant Trees and much more a Decoction of them mends this fault Forestus V. If you find that no Remedies will do in this sort of Strangury you must make an Issue in one Leg by which the Phlegm imbibed by those parts may run out Mercatus which uses to be a present Remedy Medicines especially made use of by eminent Physicians 1. One drachm of the flesh of a Hedge-hog dried in the Sun and given in Wine brings away much Urine without trouble Aetius 2. Salt of Antimony is a secret in the dysury and Strangury De Bry. 3. Spirit of Turpentine quickly takes away all difficulty of Urine The Dose is from 9 or 10 drops to 12 in Cinnamon water Grembs 4. I have often seen them that were Sick of the Strangury relieved of a violent pain by taking a drachm of the powder of Crabs Eyes in White Wine 5. A little fat of a Goat put into the Navil easily cures the Strangury ¶ Oyl of Mastich dropt warm into the Navil takes it away quickly ¶ Amber especially the white powdered and given in Wine or boyled in Beer is good for the Stone and Strangury for it presently opens the passages and expels the calculous matter ¶ Several have been cured in the manner following Grulingius Take Rose-water beat up with the white of an Egg and give it to drink 6. I have learned this that Spirit of Spanish Salt drawn in the extreme Heat of a reverberatory with Potters clay taken in white Wine that was drawn out of the Vessel a day before does not only take away the mortal Stranguries of old Men and because it is wholly diuretick hath cured several but moreover they that have had an extraordinary Stone fall out of the Kidney and stayed some Months in the Bladder have at length voided it in small pieces by Urine And it is made of Salt first melted and then freed by the Fire from its superfluity then the Salt is beaten and dissolved among slices of Radish and then dried again Van Helmon and then distilled with as much Potters Earth in a violent Fire of reverberatory having a care that nothing expire Hooferus 7. To anoint the Belly with Beef tallow takes away the Strangury caused by drinking Beer 8. A glass of the clarified juice of Pellitory of the Wall is admirable if it be from a Stone or thick matter 9. Rulandus his certain experiment for the Strangury Take Sheeps Wool carded and made into the form of a Plaster to which add some Goats dung mixt with a Boy 's Urine apply it below the Navil it never fails 10. Outwardly to temper the Acrimony of the Humours and heat of the Bowels a Bath of sweet water is very good in the Morning before Dinner Sennertus especially with leaves of Violet water Lilly Lettuce Mallows Nightshade c. 11. This is excellent good against difficulty in making water Stokkerus Take 2 ounces of Privet water Morning and Evening 12. One found great benefit by 6 drops of rectified oyl of Amber in 3 spoonfuls of Parsly water Thonâ—ruâ— or Cock broth 13. I successfully cured the Strangury through the resolution of the Muscle in the Neck of the Bladder by putting a Woman in hot Oyl in which the leaves of Laurel Betony Sage Rosemary wild Marjoram Penny-royal Flowers of Chamomil and Cassidony were boyled after she had sate in it I made her an admirable Oyntment of Oyl of Worms Lily and Fox in which fat Whelps were boyled till the Flesh came from the Bone when I had strained it I put in Styrax Calamita Benzoin Oâ—oponax Olibanum Mace Nutmeg rectified aqua vitae Valleriola Goose grease and Wax which when she had used some Months she was cured Welkardus 14. Powder of dryed Acorns given in Wine is a present Remedy for the Strangury Strumae Scrofulae or the Kings-Evil or Scroffles The Contents How it may be distinguished from hardned Glands I. What sort of Purging is proper II. Whether a Vomit be proper III. The efficacy of Vesicatories applied to the Head IV. Whether Repellents are proper V. In what Sudorificks should be used VI. Narcoticks and Frictions waste it VII Wasted by a potential Cautery VIII What gives way to Suppuraters IX Dispersed in the Neck by Medicines X. The Cure by cutting out XI Upon what the difficulty of the Cure depends XII When it is Cured it nevertheless returns XIII Inward Medicines that consume them XIV Medicines I. BEcause there is a great likeness between the Kings-Evil and hardned Glands for they are alike both in place and matter therefore we must do our endeavour to distinguish the one from the other They differ first because the matter of the Glands is more subtil and thin of the Kings Evil more gross and viscid and more contumacious and hence it is that whenever a thin and subtil matter is incrassated of Glands they become the Kings-Evil Which is Galen's meaning 1. de loc aff 3. when he sayes that Glands sometimes turn into the Kings-Evil Secondly because indurated Glands are more separable from the adjoyning Flesh so that by the touch you may easily know it from the Glands But the Kings-Evil is so propagated into the adjoyning Flesh that it is a very hard thing to distinguish it 3. Because the Kings-Evil has a Coat but the Glands are alwayes without one Rogerius the Surgeon advises to take Ivy Leaves and Citron and pound them together and lay them to the Swelling and if the Swelling fall in 3 dayes time he says it is a sign they are Glands and not the Kings-Evil but if they grow worse with the application Mercurialis l. 1. c. 5. so as to be red and ake it is a sign they are not Glands but the Kings-Evil II. We must observe concerning Purging of Children since Infancy is very infirm it must be treated with very gentle Medicines and it is my advice rather to Purge often gently than to give strong Medicines For so I Cured a Noble Boy of the Kings-Evil Therefore they that commend Pilulae foetidae de Euphorbio and such Medicines for Children are not to be heeded I confess they are tolerable in grown People Idem ¶ Physicians for the most part accommodate their usual Purges in the Kings-Evil to Phlegmatick defluxions whence they reckon it arises not only if it be in the Neck but in any other part of the Body and direct them chiefly to purge Phlegm But as