intestine which happeneth to women MAny women that have had great travell and straines in child-birth have the great intestine called of the Latines crassum intestinum or gut relaxed and slipped down which kind of affect happeneth much to children by reason of a phlegmaticke humour moistening the sphincter muscle of the fundament and the two others called levatores For the cure thereof first of all the gut called rectum intestinum or the straight gut is to be forented with a decoction of heating and resolving herbes as of sage rosemary lavander thyme and such like and then of astringent things as of roses myrtills the â—â—ds of pomegranats cypresse nuts galles with a little alome then it must be sprinkied with the pouder of things that are astringent without biting and last of all it is to be restored and gently thrust into its place That is supposed to bee an effectuall and singular remedy for this purpose which is made of twelve red snailes put into a put with â„¥ ss of alome and as much of salt and shaken up and down a long time for so at length when they are dead there will remaine an humour which must bee put upon cotton and applied to the gut that is fallen downe By the same cause that is in say of painefull childe-birth in some women there ariseth a great swelling in the navell for when the peritonaeum is relaxed or broken sometimes the Kall and sometimes the guts slippe out many times flatulencies come thither the cause as I now shewed is over great straining or stretching of the belly by a great burthen carried in the wombe and great travaile in childe-birth if the fallen downe guts make that tumour paine joyned together with that tumour doth vexe the patient and if it be pressed you may heare the noise of the guts going backe againe if it be the Kall then the tumour is soft and almost without pain neither can you heare any noise by compression if it be winde the tumour is loose and soft yet it is such as will yeeld to the pressing of the finger with some sound and will soone returne againe if the tumour be great it cannot be cured unlesse the peritonaeum bee cut as it is said in the cure of ruptures In the church-porches of Paris I have seene begger-women who by the falling downe of the guts have had such tumours as big as a bowle who notwithstanding could goe and doe all other things as if they had beene sound and in perfect health I think it was because the faeces or excrements by reason of the greatnesse of the tumor and the bignesse or widenesse of the intestines had a free passage in and out CHAP. LXVI Of the relaxation of the navell in children OFten times in children newly borne the navell swelleth as bigge as an egg because it hath not bin well cut or bound or because the whayish humours are flowed thither or because that part hath extended it selfe too much by crying by reason of the paines of the fretting of the childes guts many times the childe bringeth that tumour joined with an abscesse with him from his mother wombe but let not the Chirurgian assay to open that abscesse for if it be opened the guts come out through the incision as I have seene in many and especially in a child of my Lord Martigues for when Peter of the Rocke the Chirurgian opened an abscesse that was in it the bowels ranne out at the incision and the infant died and it wanted but little that the Gentlemen of my Lords retinue that were there had strangled the Chirurgian Therefore when John Gromontius the Carver desired me and requested mee of late that I would doe the like in his sonne I refused to doe it because it was in danger of its life by it already and in three daies after the abscesse broke and the bowells gushed out and the childe died CHAP. LXVII Of the paine that children have in breeding of teeth CHildren are greatly vexed with their teeth which cause great paine when they begin to break as it were out of their shell or sheath and begin to come forth the gummes being broken which for the most part happeneth about the seventh month of the childs age This pain commeth with itching and scratching of the gummes an inflammation fluxe of the belly whereof many times commeth a feaver falling of the hair a convulsion and at length death The cause of the paine is the solution of the continuity of the gummes by the comming forth of the teeth The signes of that pain is an unaccustomed burning or heat of the childes mouth which may bee perceived by the nurse that giveth it sucke a swelling of the gummes and cheekes and the childes being more wayward and crying than it was wont and it will put its fingers to its mouth and it will rubbe them on its gummes as though it were about to scratch and it slavereth much That the Physitian may remedy this hee must cure the nurse as if she had the feaver and shee must not suffer the childe to sucke so often but make him coole and moist when hee thirsteth by giving him at certaine times syrupus alexandrinus syrup de limonibus or the syrupe of pomegranats with boiled water yet the childe must not hold those things that are actually cold long in his mouth for such by binding the gums doe in some sort stay the teeth that are newly comming forth but things that lenifie and mollifie are rather to bee used that is to say such things as doe by little and little relaxe the loose flesh of the gummes and also asswage the paine Therefore the nurse shall often times rubbe the childs gummes with her fingers anointed or besmeared with oyle of sweet almonds fresh butter hony sugar mucilage of the seeds of psilium or of the seeds of marsh mallowes extracted in the water of pellitory of the wall Some thinke that the braine of a hare or of a sucking pig rosted or sodden through a secret property are effectuall for the same and on the outside shall be applied a cataplasme of barly meale milke oyle of roses and the yelkes of egges Also a sticke of liquorice shaven and bruised and anointed with hony or any of the forenamed syrupes and often rubbed in the mouth or on the gummes is likewise profitable so is also any toy for the childe to play withall wherein a wolves tooth is set for this by scratching doth asswage the painfull itching and rarifie the gummes and in some weareth them that the teeth appeare the sooner But many times it happeneth that all these and such like medicines profit nothing at all by reason of the contumacy of the gums by hardnesse or the weaknesse of the childes nature therefore in such a cause before the forenamed mortall accidents come I would perswade the Chirurgian to open the gummes in such places as the teeth bunch out
too short it cannot cover the glans This happens either by nature to wit by the first conformation or afterwards by some accident as to those whom religion and the custome of their nation bids to be circumcised The cure is thus The Praepuce is turned up and then the inner membrane thereof is cut round and great care is had that the veine and artery which are there betweene the two membranes of the Praepuce be not cut in sunder Hence it is drawn downward by extension untill it cover the glans a deficcative emplaster being first put between it and the glans lest they should grow together Then a pipe being first put into the urinary passage the praepuce shall be there bound untill the incision be cicatrized This cure is used to the Jewes when having abjured their religion full of superstitions for handsomnesse sake they would cover the nut of their yard with a praepuce and so recover their cut off skinne CHAP. XXXII Of Phymosis and Paraphymosis that is so great a constriction of the praepuce about the Glans or Nut that it cannot be bared or uncovered at Pleasure THe prepuce is straitened about the Glans two waies for it either covers the whole nut so straitly encompasses the end therof that it cannot be drawne upwards and consequently the nut cannot be uncovered or else it leaves the Glans bare under it being fastened so stiffely to the roots thereof that it cannot bee turned up nor drawn down or over the Glans The first manner of constriction is termed Phymosis the latter Paraphymosis The Phymosis happens either by the fault of the first conformation or else by a scarre through which occasion the praepuce hath growne lesser as by the growing of warts Now Paraphymosis is often occasioned by the inflammation of the yard by impure copulation for hence ulcers breed betweene the praepuce and Glans with swelling and so great inflammation that the praepuce cannot bee turned backe Whence it is that they cannot bee handled and cured as you would and a gangrene of the part may follow which may by the contagion bring death to all the body unless it be hindred prevented by amputation but if a scar be the cause of the constriction of the praepuce the patient being plac'd in a convenient site let the praepuce be drawne forth and extended and as much as may be stretched and enlarged then let the scarre be gently cut in three or foure places on the inner side with a crooked knife but so that the gashes come not to the outside and let them be an equall distance each from other But if a fleshy excrescence or a wart shall be the occasion of this straitnesse and constriction it shall be consumed by the same remedies by which the warts of the wombe and yard are consumed or taken off But when as the praepuce doth closely adhere to the Glans on every side the cure is not to be hoped for much lesse to be attempted CHAP. XXXIII Of those whose Glans is not rightly perforated and of the too short or strait ligament bridle or Cord of the yard SOme at their birth by evill conformation have not their Glans perforated in the middle but have only a small hole underneath toward the bridle ligament of the yard called the cord Which is the cause that they do not make water in a strait line unlesse they turn up their yard toward their belly neither by the same reason can they beget children because through this fault of conformation the seed is hindred from being cast directly into the wombe The cure is wholly chirurgicall and is thus performed The praepuce is taken hold of and extended with the left hand but with the right hand the extremity thereof with the end of the Glans is cut even to that hole which is underneath But such as have the bridle or ligament of the yard too short so that the yard cannot stand straight but crooked and as it were turned downewards in these also the generation of children is hindred because the seed cannot be cast directly and plentifully into the wombe Therefore this ligament must be cut with much de xterity and the wound cured after the manner of other wounds having regard to the part Children also are sometimes borne into the world with their fundaments unperforated for a skinne preternaturally covering the part hinders the passage forth of the excrements those must have a passage made by art with an instrument for so at length the excrements will come forth yet I have found by experience that such children are not naturally long lived neither to live many dayes after such section CHAP. XXXIV Of the causes of the stone THE stones which are in the bladder have for the most part had their first originall in the reines or kidneys to wit falling down from thence by the ureters into the bladder The cause of these is twofold that is materiall and efficient Grosse tough and viscide humours which crudities produce by the distempers of the bowels and immoderate exercises chiefly immediately after meat yeeld matter for the stone whence it is that children are more subject to this disease than those of other ages But the efficient cause is either the immoderate heate of the kidneys by meanes whereof the subtler part of the humors is resolved but the grosser and more earthy subsides and is hardened as we see bricks hardened by the sun and fire or the more remisse heat of the bladder sufficient to bake into a stone the faces or dregges of the urine gathered in great plenty in the capacity of the bladder The straightnesse of the ureters and urenary passage may be accounted as an assistant cause For by this meanes the thinner portion of the urine floweth forth but that which is more feculent and muddy being stayed behind groweth as by scaile upon scaile by addition and collection of new matter into a stony masse And as a weeke often-times dipped by the Chandler into melted tallow by the copious adhesion of the tallowy substance presently becomes a large candle thus the more grosse and viscide faeces of the urine stay as it were at the barres of the gathered gravell and by their continuall appulse are at length wrought and fashioned into a true stone CHAP. XXXV Of the signes of the stone of the Kidneys and bladder THE signes of the stone in the reines are the subsiding of red or yellow sand in the urine a certaine obscure itching at the kidneys and the sense of a weight or heavinesse at the loynes a sharp and pricking paine in moving or bending the body a numnesse of the thigh of the same side by reason of the compression caused by the stone of the nerves discending out of the vertebrae of the loynes of the thigh But when the stone is in the bladder the fundament and whole perinaeum is
midst of the wine yet so that they do not mixe themselves but the one take possess the place of the other If this may be done by art by things only naturall to be discernd by our eyes what may be done in our bodies in which by reason of the presence of a more noble soule all the works of nature are far more perfect What is it which we may despair to be done in the like case For doth not the laudible blood flow to the guts kidneyes spleen bladder of the gall by the impulse of nature together with the excrements which presently the parts themselves separate from their nutriment Doth not milke from the breasts flow sometimes forth of the wombes of women lately delivered Yet that cannot bee carryed downe thither unlesse by the passages of the mamillary veines and arteryes which meete with the mouthes of the vessels of the wombe in the middle of the streit muscles of the Epigastrium Therefore no marvaile if according to Galen the pus unmixt with the bloud flowing from the whole body by the veines and arteryes into the kidneyes and bladder bee cast forth together with the urine These and the like things are done by nature not taught by any counsell or reason but onely assisted by the strength of the segregating and expulsive faculty and certainely we presently dissecting the dead body observed that it all as also all the bowels thereof were free from inflammation and ulceration neither was there any signe or impression of any purulent matter in any part thereof CHAP. L. By what externall causes the urine is supprest and prognostickes concerning the suppression thereof THere are also many externall causes through whose occasion the urine may be supprest Such are bathing and swimming in cold water the too long continued application of Narcoticke medicines upon the Reines perinaeum and share the use of cold meats and drinkes and such other like Moreover the dislocation of some Vertebra of the loines to the inside for that it presseth the nerves disseminated thence into the bladder therefore it causeth a stupidity or numnesse of the bladder Whence it is that it cannot perceive it selfe to bee vellicated by the acrimony of the urine and consequently it is not stirred up to the expulsion thereof But from whatsoever cause the suppression of the urine proceeds if it persevere for some dayes death is to bee feared unlesse either a feaver which may consume the matter of the urine or a scouring or fluxe which may divert it shall happen thereupon For thus by stay it acquireth an acride and venenate quality which flowing by the veines readily infecteth the masse of blood and carryed to the braine much molests it by reason of that similitude and sympathy of condition which the bladder hath with the Meninges But nature if prevalent easily freeth it selfe from this danger by a manifest evacuation by stoole otherwise it must necessarily call as it were to its aide a feavourish heat which may send the abounding matter of this serous humidity out through the skinne either by a sensible evacuation as by sweat because sweate and urine have one common matter or else disperse and breath it out by transpiration which is an insensible excretion CHAP. LI. Of bloody Urine SOME pisse pure blood others mixt and that either with urine then that which is expelled resembles the washing of flesh newly killed or else with pus or matter and that either alone or mixed with the urine There may be divers causes of this symptome as the too great quantity of blood gathered in the body which by the suppression of the accustomed periodicall evacuation by the courses or haemorrhoids now turns its course to the reins bladder the fretting asunder of some vessell by an acride humour or the breaking thereof by carrying or lifting of some heavie burden by leaping falling from high a great blow the falling of some wait upon the loins riding post too violently the too immoderate use of venery lastly from any kind of painful more violent exercise by a rough sharp stone in the kidneys by the weaknesse of the retentive faculty of the kidneys by a wound of some of the parts belonging to the urine by the too frequent use of diureticke and hot meats and medicines or else of things in their whole nature contrary to the urenary parts for by these and the like causes the reins are oft times so enflamed that they necessarily impostumate and at length the impostume being broken it turnes into an ulcer casting forth quitture by the urine In so great variety of the causes of bloody urine we may gather whence the causes of this symptome may arise by the depraved action of this or that part by the condition of the flowing blood to wit pure or mixt and that either with the urine alone or with pus For example if this bloody matter flow from the lungs liver kidneies dislocated Vertebrae the streight gut or other the like part you may discerne it by the seat of the paine and symptomes as a feaver and the propriety of the paine and other things which have preceded or are yet present And we may gather the same by the plenty and quality for if for example the pus flow from an ulcer of the arm the purulent matter will flow by turnes one while by the urine so that little is cast forth by the ulcer then presently on the contrary the urine becomes more cleere That purulent matter which flows from the lungs by reason of an Empyema or from the liver or any other bowell placed above the midriffe the pus which is cast forth with the urine is both in greater plenty and more exactly mixed with the urine than that which flowes from the kidneyes and bladder It neither belongs to our purpose or a Surgeons office either to undertake or deliver the cure of this affect It shall suffice onely to note that the cure of this symptome is not to bee hoped for so long as the cause remaines And if this blood flow by the opening of a vessell it shall bee stayed by astringent medicines if broken by agglutinative if corroded or fretted asunder by sarcoticke CHAP. LII Of the signes of ulcerated Kidneyes I Had not determined to follow or particularly handle the causes of bloody urines yet because that which is occasioned by the ulcerated reines or bladder more frequently happens therefore I have thought good briefly to speake thereof in this place The signes of an ulcer of the reines are pain in the loines matter howsoever mixt with the urine never evacuated by it selfe but alwaies flowing forth with the urine and residing in the botome of the chamberpot with a sanious and redde sediment fleshy and as it were bloody fibres swimming up and downe in the urine the smell of the filth is not so great as that which flowes from the ulcerated bladder
from unordinate diet especially in the use of meat drink exercise and Venerie Lastly by unprofitable humours which are generated and heaped up in the body which in processe of time acquire a virulent malignity for these fill the head with vapours raised up from them whence the membranes nerves and tendons and consequently the joynts become more laxe and weake They offend in feeding who eat much meat and that of sundry kindes at the same meale who drink strong wine without any mixture who sleep presently after meat and which use not moderate exercises for hence a plenitude an obstruction of the vessels crudities and the encrease of excrements especially serous Which if they flow downe unto the joynts without doubt they cause this disease for the joints are weake either by nature or accident in comparison of the other parts of the body by nature as if they be loose and soft from their first originall by accident as by a blow fall hard travelling running in the sun by day in the cold by night racking too frequent venery especially suddenly after meat for thus the heat is dissolved by reason of the dissipation of the spirits caused in the effusion of seed whence many crude humours which by an unseasonable motion are sent into the sinews joints Through this occasion old men because their native heat is the more weak are commonly troubled with the gout Besides also the suppression of excrements accustomed to be avoided at certaine times as the courses haemorrhoides vomit scowring causeth this disease Hence it is that in the opinion of Hippocrates A woman is not troubled with the gout unlesse her courses faile her They are in the same case who have old and running ulcers suddenly healed or vaâ—ices cut and healed unlesse by a strict course of diet they hinder the generation and increase of accustomed excrements Also those which recover of great and long diseases unlesse they be fully and perfectly purged either by nature or art these humours falling into the joynts which are the relicks of the disease make them to become goutie and thus much for the primitive cause The internall or antecedent cause is the abundance of humours the largenesse of the vessels and passages which run to the joynts the strength of the amandating bowels the loosenesse softnesse and imbecility of the receiving joints The conjunct cause is the humour it selfe impact and shut up in the capacities and cavities of the joynts Now the unprofitable humour on every side sent downe by the strength of the expulsive faculty sooner lingers about the joynts for that they are of a cold nature and dense so that once impact in that place it cannot be easily digested and resolved This humour then causeth paine by reason of distension or solution of continnity distemper and besides the virulency and malignity which it acquires But it savours of the nature somtimes of one sometimes of more humors whence the gout is either phlegmonous or â—rysipilatous oedematous or mixt The concourse of flatulencies together with the flowing down humours and as it were tumult by the hinderance of transpiration encreaseth the dolorificke distension in the membranes tendons ligaments and other bodies wherein the joint consists CHAP. IV. Out of what part the matter of the Gout may flow downe upon the joints THE matter of the gout commeth for the most part from the liver or brain that which descends from the braine is phlegmatick serous thin and cleare such as usually drops out of the nose endued with a maligne and venenate quality Now it passeth out by the musculous skin and pericranium as also through that large hole by which the spinall marrow the braines substitute is propagated into the spine by the coats and tendons of the nerves into the spaces of the joints and it is commonly cold That which proceeds from the liver is diffused by the great veine and arteries filled and puffed up and participates of the nature of the foure humours of which the masse of the bloud consists more frequently accompanied with a hot distemper together with a gouty malignity Besides this maner of the gout which is caused by defluxion there is another which is by congestion as when the too weak digestive faculty of the joints cannot assimulate the juices sent to them CHAP. V. The signes of the arthritick humour flowing from the braine WHen the defluxion is at hand there is a heavinesse of the head a desire to rest and a dulnesse with the paine of the outer parts then chiefly perceptible when the hairs are turned up or backwards moreover the musculous skin of the head is puffed up as swolne with a certain oedematous tumour the patients seem to be much different from themselves by reason of the functions of the minde hurt by the malignity of the humour from whence the naturall faculties are not free as the crudities of the stomack and the frequent and acride belchings may testifie CHAP. VI. The signes of a gouty humour proceeding from the liver THe right Hypocondrie is hot in such gouty persons yea the inner parts are much heated by the bowell bloud and choler carry the sway the veins are large and swoln a defluxion suddenly falls down especially if there be a greater quantity of choler than of other humours in the masse of the bloud But if as it often falls out the whole bloud by meanes of crudities degenerate into phlegme and a wheyish humour then will it come to passe that the gout also which proceeds from the liver may be pituitous or phlegmatick and participate of the nature of an oedema like that which proceeds from the braine As if the same masse of bloud decline towards melancholy the gout which thence ariseth resembles the nature of a scirrhus yet that can scarce happen that melancholy by reason of the thicknesse and slownesse to motion may fall upon the joynts Yet notwithstanding because we speake of that which may bee of these it will not bee unprofitable briefly to distinguish the signes of each humour and the differences of gouts to be deduced from thence CHAP. VII By what signes we may understand this or that humour to accompany the gouty malignity YOu may give a guesse hereat by the patients age temper season of the yeare condition of the country where he lives his diet and condition of life the encrease of the paine in the morning noone evening or night by the propriety of the beating pricking sharpe or dull paine by numness as in a melancholy gout or itching as in that which is caused by tough phlegme by the sensible appearance of the part in shape and colour as for example sake in a phlegmaticke gout the colour of the affected part is very little changed from its selfe and the neighbouring well parts in a sanguine gout it lookes red in a cholerick it is fiery or pale in a melancholy livid or blackish by the heat
the gums by acride vapours rising to the mouth but the lips of Leprous persons are more swolne by the internall heat burning and incrassating the humours as the outward heat of the Sun doth in the Moores The eighth signe is the swelling blacknesse of the tongue and as it were varicous veins lying under it because the tongue being by nature spongious and rare is easily stored with excrementitious humours sent from the inner parts unto the habit of the body which same is the cause why the grandules placed about the tongue above and below are swolne hard round no otherwise than scrophulous or meazled swine Lastly all their face riseth in red bunches or pushes and is over-spread with a duskie and obscure redness the eies are fiery fierce and fixed by a melancholick chachectick disposition of the whole body manifest signes whereof appeare in the face by reason of the forementioned causes yet some leprous persons have their faces tinctured with a yellowish others with a whitish colour according to the condition of the humor which serves for a Basis to the leprous malignity For hence Physicians affirme that there are three sorts of Leprosies one of a redish black colour consisting in a melancholick humour another of a yellowish greene in a cholericke humour another in a whitish yellow grounded upon adust phlegme The ninth signe is a stinking of the breath as also of all the excrements proceeding from leprous bodies by reason of the malignity conceived in the humours The tenth is a hoarsnesse a shaking harsh and obscure voyce comming as it were out of the nose by reason of the lungs recurrent nerves and muscles of the throttle tainted with the grossenesse of a virulent and adust humour the forementioned constriction obstruction of the inner passage of the nose and lastly the asperity and inequality of the weazon by immoderate drynesse as it happens to such as have drunk plentifully of strong wines without any mixture This immoderate drinesse of the muscles serving for respiration makes them to bee trouled with a difficulty of breathing The eleventh signe is very observable which is a Morphew or defaedation of all the skin with a dry roughnesse and grainy inequality such as appears in the skins of plucked geese with many tetters on every side a filthy scab and ulcers not casting off onely a branlike scurfe but also scailes and crusts The cause of this dry scab is the heat of the burning bowels humours unequally contracting and wrinkling the skin no otherwise than as leather is wrinkled by the heat of the Sun or fire The cause of the filthy scab serpiginous ulcers is the eating and corroding condition of the melancholy humour and the venenate corruption it also being the author of corruption so that it may be no marvell if the digestive faculty of the liver being spoyled the assimulative of a maligne and unfit matter sent into the habit of the body cannot well nor fitly performe that which may be for the bodies good The twelfth is the sense of a certain pricking as it were of goads or needles over all the skin caused by an acride vapour hindred from passing forth and intercepted by the thicknesse of the skin The thirteenth is a consumption and emaciation of the muscles which are betweene the thumbe and fore-finger not onely by reason that the nourishing and assimulating faculties want fit matter wherewith they may repaire the losse of these parts for that is common to these with the rest of the body but because these muscles naturally rise up unto a certaine mountanous tumor therefore their depression is the more manifest And this is the cause that the shoulders of leprous persons stand out like wings to wit the emaciation of the inner part of the muscle Trapezites The fourteenth signe is the diminution of sense or a numnesse over all the body by reason that the nerves are obstructed by the thicknesse of the melancholick humour hindring the free passage of the animal spirit that it cannot come to the parts that should receive sense these in the interim remaining free which are sent into the muscles for motions sake and by this note I chiefly make tryall of leprous persons thrusting a somewhat long and thick needle somewhat deep into the great tendon endued with most exquisite sense which runs to the heel which if they do not well feele I conclude that they are certainly leprous Now for that they thus lose their sense their motion remaining entire the cause hereof is that the nerves which are disseminated to the skin are more affected and those that run into the muscles are not so much therefore when as you prick them somewhat deep they feel the prick which they do not in the surface of the skin The fifteenth is the corruption of the extreme parts possessed by putrefaction and a gangrene by reason of the corruption of the humours sent thither by the strength of the bowels infecting with the like tainture the parts wherein they remain adde hereto that the animal sensitive faculty is there decayed and as often as any faculty hath forsaken any part the rest presently after a manner neglect it The sixteenth is they are troubled with terrible dreames for they seeme in their sleep to see divels serpents dungeons graves dead bodies and the like by reason of the black vapours of the melancholie humour troubling the phantasie with black and dismall visions by which reason also such as are bitten of a mad dog feare the water The seventeenth is that at the beginning and in the increase of the disease they are subtle crafty and furious by reason of the heat of the humours bloud but at length in the state and declension they become crafty and suspicious the heat and burning of the bloud and entrailes decaying by little and little therefore then fearing all things whereof there is no cause distrusting of their owne strength they endeavour by craft maliciously to circumvent those with whom they deal for that they perceive their powers to faile them The eighteenth is a desire of venery above their nature both for that they are inwardly burned with a strange heat as also by the mixture of flatulencies therewith for whose generation the melancholick humour is most fit which are agitated violently carried through the veins and genitall parts by the preternaturall heat but at length when this heate is cooled and that they are fallen into a hot and dry distemper they mightily abhor venery which then would bee very hurtfull to them as it also is at the beginning of the disease because they have small store of spirits and native heat both which are dissipated by venery The nineteenth is the so great thicknesse of their grosse and livide bloud that if you wash it you may finde a sandy matter therein as some have found by experience by reason of the great adustion and
Chirurgion denied it and said that they were the bitings of fleas But I perswaded them to consider the number of them over all the whole body and also their great depth and depression into the flesh for when we had thrust needles deep into the flesh in the middest of them and so cut away the flesh about the needle we found the flesh about the needle to be blacke moreover his nostrils nailes and eares were livid and all the constitution of his body was contrary and far unlike to the bodies of those that died of other sicknesses or diseases Also it was credibly reported unto us by those that kept him that his face was so altered a little before he died that his familiar friends could hardly know him Wee perswaded by these proofes revoked our former opinion and sentence and made a certificate to bee sent unto the Governours and Masters of the Hospitall setting our hands and seales unto it to certifie them that hee died of a pestilent Carbuncle CHAP. XXXIIII Of the cure of a pestilent Carbuncle BY the forenamed signes of a pestilent Carbuncle and especially by the bitternesse of the paine malignity of the venemous matter and by the burning Feaver that is therewithall annexed I think it manifest that very hot emplastick and drawing medicines should not bee applyed to this kind of tumour because they prohibite or hinder the exhalation or wasting forth of the venenate malignity because that by stopping the pores of the skinne they increase and cause a greater heat in the part than there was before Therefore it is better to use resolving medicines which may asswage heate and resolve the pores of the skinne Therefore first the place must be fomented with water and oyle mixed together wherein a little Treacle hath beene dissolved leaving thereon stupes wet therein you may also use the decoction of Mallowes the roots of Lillies Linseeds Figges with oile of Hypericon for to make the skinne thin and to draw forth the matter and the day following you must apply the Cataplasme following Take the leaves of Sorrell and Henbane rost them under the hot ashes afterwards beate them with foure yolks of egges two drams of Treacle oyle of Lillies three ounces Barly-meale as much as shall suffice make thereof a Cataplasme in the form of a liquid pultis this asswageth heat and furthereth suppuration Or Take the roots of Marsh-mallowes and Lillies of each foure ounces Linseeds halfe an ounce boyle them beat them and then straine them through a searse adding thereto of fresh butter one ounce and an halfe of Mithridate one dramme of Barly-meale as much as shall suffice make thereof a Cataplasme according to Art those Cataplasmes that follow are most effectuall to draw the venemous matter forth and to make a perfect suppuration especially when the fluxe of the matter is not so great but that the part may beare it Take the roots of white Lillies Onions Leaven of each halfe an ounce Mustard-seeds Pidgeons dung Sope of each one dram sixe snailes in their shels of fine Sugar Treacle and Mithridate of each half a dram beate them all together and incorporate them with the yolks of egs make therof a Cataplasme apply it warm Or Take the yolkes of sixe egs of salt poudered one ounce of oyle of Lillies and Treacle of each halfe a dramme Barly-meale as much as shall suffice make thereof a Cataplasme Take of ordinary Diachylon foure ounces of Unguentum Basilicon two ounces oyle of Violets halfe an ounce make thereof a medicine Many ancient Professors greatly commend Scabious ground or brayed betweene two stones and mixed with old hogs grease the yolkes of egs and a little salt for it will cause suppuration in Carbuncles also an egge mixed with Barly-meale and oyle of Violets doth mitigate paine and suppurate A Radish root cut in slices and so the slices laid one after one unto a Carbuncle or pestilent tumour doth mightily draw out the poyson The juice of Colts foote doth extinguish the heat of Carbuncles the herbe called Divels-bit being bruised worketh the like effect I have often used the medicine following unto the heat of Carbuncles with very good successe it doth also asswage paine and cause suppuration Take of the soot scraped from a chimny foure ounces of common salt two ounces beate them into small powder adding thereto the yolkes of two egges and stirre them well together untill it come to have the consistence of a pultis and let it bee applyed warme unto the Carbuncle In the beginning the point or head of the Carbuncle must bee burned if it bee blacke by dropping thereinto scalding hot oyle or Aquafortis for by such a burning the venome is suffocated as touched by lightening and the paine is much lessened as I have proved oftentimes neither is it to bee feared lest that this burning should bee too painfull for it toucheth nothing but the point of the Carbuncle which by reason of the Eschar that is there is voyd of sense After this burning you must goe forward with the former described medicines untill the Eschar seemeth to separate it selfe from the flesh round about it which is a token of the patients recovery for it signifieth that nature is strong and able to resist the poyson After the fall of the Eschar you must use gentle mundificatives as those which we have prescribed in a pestilent Bubo not omitting sometimes the use of suppurative and mollifying medicines that while the grosse matter is cleansed that which is as yet crude may bee brought to suppuration for then the indication is twofold the one to suppurate that which remaines as yet crude and raw in the part and the other to cleanse that which remaines concocted and perfectly digested in the ulcer CHAP. XXXV Of the itching and inflammation happening in pestilent ulcers and how to cicatrize them THE parts adjoyning to a pestilent ulcer oft-times are superficiarily excoriated by reason of ulcerous pustles which here and there with burning and great itching pricke and vellicate the part The cause may happen either externally or internally internally by a thin and biting sanies which sweating from the ulcer moystens the neighbouring parts But externally by the constipation of the pores of the skinne induced by the continuall application of medicines To remedy this the place must bee fomented with discussing and relaxing things as aquafortis which the Gold-smithes have used for separating of metalls alome water the water of Lime Brine and the like But ulcers left by Carbuncles and pestilent Buboes are difficulty cicatrized by reason of the corroding sanies proceeding from the cholericke or phlegmaticke and salt bloud which being in fault by the corruption of the whole substance causeth the abscesse Besides such ulcers are commonly round and therefore more hard to be cicatrized for that the quitture hath no free passage forth so the sanies of its owne nature acride
kindled by the beames of the sunne others by the force of lightnings penetrating the bowels of the earth others by the violence of the aire vehemently or violently agitated no otherwise than fire is strucke by the collision of a flint and steele Yet it is better to referre the cause of so great an effect unto God the maker of the Universe whose providence piercing every way into all parts of the World enters and governes the secret parts and passages thereof Notwithstanding they seeme to have come neerest the truth who referre the cause of heat in waters unto the store of brimstone conteined in certaine places of the earth because amongst all minerals it hath most fire and matter fittest for the nourishing thereof Therefore to it they attribute the flames of fire which the Sicilian mountaine Aetna continually sends forth Hence also it is that the most part of such waters smell of Sulphur yet others smell of Alom others of nitre others of Tarre and some of Coprosse Now you may know from the admixture of what metalline bodies the waters acquire their faculties by their taste sent colour mud which adheres to the channels through which the water runnes as also by an artificiall separation of the more terrestriall parts from the more subtle For the earthy drosse which subsides or remaines by the boiling of such waters will retaine the faculties and substance of Brimstone Alume and the like minerals besides also by the effects and the cure of these or these diseases you may also gather of what nature they are Wherefore wee will describe each of these kinds of waters by their effects beginning first with the sulphureous Sulphureous waters powerfully heat dry resolve open and draw from the center unto the surface of the body they cleanse the skin troubled with scabs tettars they cease the itching of ulcers and digest exhaust the causes of the gout they help paines of the collicke and hardened spleenes But they are not good to be drunk not onely by reason of their ungratefull smell and taste but also by reason of the malitiousnesse of their substance offensive to the inner parts of the body but chiefly to the liver Aluminous waters taste very astrictively therefore they dry powerfully they have no such manifest heat yet drunke they loose the belly I believe by reason of their heat and nitrous quality they cleanse and stay defluxions and the courses flowing too immoderately they also are good against the tooth-ache eating ulcers and the hidden abscesses of the other parts of the mouth Salt and nitrous waters shew themselves sufficiently by their heat they heat dry bind cleanse discusse attenuate resist putrefaction take away the blackenesse comming of bruises heale scabby and maligne ulcers and helpe all oedematous tumors Bituminous waters heate digest and by long continuance soften the hardened sinewes they are different according to the various conditions of the bitumen that they wash and partake of the qualities thereof Brasen waters that is such as retaine the qualities of brasse heat dry cleanse digest cut binde are good against eating ulcers fistula's the hardnesse of the eye-lids and they waste and eat away the fleshy excrescences of the nose and fundament Iron waters coole dry and bind powerfully therefore they helpe abscesses hardened milts the weaknesses of the stomacke and ventricle the unvoluntary shedding of the urine and the too much flowing termes as also the hot distemper of the liver and kidneyes Some such are in the Lucan territory in Italy Leaden waters refrigerate dry and performe such other operations as lead doth the like may bee said of those waters that flow by chalke plaster and other such mineralls as which all of them take and performe the qualities of the bodies by which they passe Hot waters or bathes helpe cold and moist diseases as the Palsic convulsion the stiffenesse and attraction of the nerves trembling palpitations cold distillations upon the joints the inflation of the members by a dropsie the jaundise by obstruction of a grosse tough and cold humour the paines of the sides collick and kidneies barrennesse in women the suppression of their courses the suffocation of the womb causelesse wearinesse those diseases that spoile the skinne as tettars the leprosie of both sorts the scabbe and other diseases arising from a grosse cold and obstructing humour for they provoke sweats Yet such must shunne them as are of a cholericke nature and have a hot liver for they would cause a cachexia and dropsie by overheating the liver Cold waters or baths heale the hot distemper of the whole body each of the parts therof and they are more frequently taken inwardly than applied outwardly they help the laxnesse of the bowels as the resolution of the retentive faculty of the stomacke entralls kidneies bladder and they also adde strength to them Wherefore they both temper the heat of the liver and also strengthen it they stay the Diarrhaea Dysentery Courses unvoluntary shedding of urine the Gonnorrhaea Sweats and Bleedings In this kinde are chiefly commendable the waters of the Spaw in the country of Liege which inwardly and outwardly have almost the same faculty and bring much benefit without any inconvenience as those that are commonly used in the drinks and broaths of the inhabitants In imitation of naturall baths there may in want of them be made artificiall ones by the infusing and mixing the powders of the formerly described mineralls as Brimstone Alume Nitre Bitumen also you may many times quench in common or raine water iron brasse silver and gold heated red hot and so give them to be drunk by the patient for such waters doe oft times retain the qualities and faculties of the metals quenched in them as you may perceive by the happy successe of such as have used them against the Dysentery Besides these there are also other bathes made by art of simple water sometimes without the admixture of any other thing but otherwhiles with medicinall things mixed therewith and boiled therein But after what manner soever these bee made they ought to be warme for warm water humects relaxes mollifies the solid parts if at any time they bee too dry hard and tense by the ascititious heat it opens the pores of the skinne digests attracts and discusses fuliginous and acrid excrements remaining betweene the flesh and the skin It is good against sun-burning and wearinesse whereby the similar parts are dried more than is fit To conclude whether we be too hot or cold or too dry or be nauseous we find manifest profit by baths made of sweet or warme water as those that may supply the defect of frictions and exercises for they bring the body to a mediocrity of temper they encrease and strengthen the native colour and by procuring sweat discusse flatulencies therefore they are very usefull in hecticke feavers and in the declension of all feavers and against raving and