vomit There will then be ninâ—teen ounces requisiâ—e for the fit of a Tertian Whereof if you take about the one half suppose it eight ounces of Choleâ— 8. It is refelled by Arithmetick made daily and consequently about double as much Phlegme there will be seventeen ounces of it and more four ounces at the least of Melâ—ncholy daily and daily so much bloud at least as was of Phlegme that is seventeâ—n ounces these being added will amount unto 46 ounces daily in a Patien sick of a fever though he be abstenious Ph. Fine fables if a man could credit 9. Coâ—cluded out of the former suppositions that in a fever there cannot be a fulness two days together or beleeve them I would gladly hear of that Musician who out of these Pipes would make an harmony But what conclude you from hence Py. I conclude at least that out of these supposed dreames of the Schools neither bloud letting nor purgatives ought in fevers to be used though such a quantity of humors were bred in the Febricitants seeing the same quantity is consumed in an abstirent patient because though appetire digâ—stion and meat be wanting yet will this quantity of necessity be supplied out of the whole mass of bloud Therefore emptying is not to bee ordained in a Febricitant who â—ath been abstinent two dayes together Ph. But for Gods sake whence knew 10. Petitio Principii in Galinists Galen that there is so much Choler made in two dayes as there is Phlegme made in one day and Melancholy in three dayes Py. You may well ask especially seeing it concerns him whâ—â— Vesalius Prince of 11. Galen ignorant of Anatomy wrote many books of Anatomy out of others Anatomists doth in a hundred and six places prove never to have anatomized or lookâ— into â—n humane body Ph. What if Galen wrote this without proof or trial Py. Then were not the Schools tied to subâ—cribe unto his madness Ph. But what if he learned this as being taught by fevers themselves Py. Then could he not assuredly bring this same thing to be the effect and cause together of one thing For it mâ—st of necessity have contained an absurd and â—ond fallacy called Petitio principâ—i to produce the same thing to be cause and effect of it self Ph. Good Sir suffâ—r me to digest this passage a little better supposing first he saith that a Teâ—â—ian comes from putrefiâ—d Choleâ—â—very other day and a Quartan from Melancholy putrefied every third day by reason that thâ—re is so much Choâ—â—â— made in two dayes as there is Melancholy made in three dayes Py. I hope you understand him thus far now go on again and tell me how he proves the verity hereof Ph. He sayes that a Tertian every two dayes and a Quartaâ— every three dayes because so much Choler is made every other day as there is of Melancholy in three dayes Py. And are not these very miserable Theorems 12. Unhappy theorems of â—uring invented by the devil to the ruine of mankind of Cuâ—ing to be taught unto the flowr of youth to be upon command obeyed by patients and to bee till this time by the Schools adored Ph. It seems they are but what ensues of them Py. Unfortunate curing of diseases daily 13. An argument against theÌ„ taken fro the vessels follow them to the dâ—struction of the Christian world and salvation of Souls But at least if Choler â—hould surmount Mâ—lancholy two in six and the Spleen exceed six times the bag of Choler if then that be ratified which the Schools do teach as well as Galen that there is so much Gall or yellow Cholâ—â—r made every other day as there is black Choler or Melancholy made in three dayes and that the Spleen be the receptacle of Melancholy and the Gall bag receptacle 14. Yellow black choler not lodged in the spleen and gall-bag of the Choler either the Creator erred in his ends making of those receptacles of them otherwise then Galen hath appointed or the Gall and Spleen were not Butlers or keepers or containers of these tables of the Schools of Physick Ph. Were all Physitians satisfied with these iâ—ventions of Galen about the Circuits of servers Py. No and therefore some of them ran for help to Astrology by reason that a fever 15. Against Astrologians attributing the Circuits of fevers to the Stars made returns at hours appointed But these are dasht against other dangers while fevers have at all â—ours their beginnings and sometimes they come slower sometimes sooner yea and sometimes they sleep out their turns and are silent Whence it was not sufficiently ratified that humane nature was constrained to obey the pleasure of Stars nor that there was any Syngamie between the Stars and feverish matter Ph. It should seem then these were trash and vain tinglings which credulous ears did hearken to But sought they any other ways to satisfie this quâ—stion Py. They did for some at last affirmed 16. Similiâ—udes taught in Schools square not that they had satisfied it by similitudes saying that sevâ—rs are like other seeds whereof some come forth soon as Nasturtium or Crâ—sses some much more slowly as Paâ—sley Ph. Did this affiâ—mation please you Py. No because that example is invalid which resolves a quâ—stion by a question For seeds which are more slowly resolved in moisture in respect of their gummy oyliness sprout up more slowly as other get up more readily which have a slâ—miness nearâ—r unto the juyce of the earth Whereupon this sâ—miliâ—ude no wâ—y concernâ—th levers whose fits they will not have made by â—n easie or a difficult resolution but by a sparing or a copious affluence of putred humors Otherwise 17. Some arguments against the doctrine of the Schools Phlegme most alienate from putresaction would scarce afflict every seventh day whereas Melancholy which is deemed most like unto flesh or to a carkass would in the mean time putrefie much sooner But at least during the doctrine of the Schools about the shakings and Circuits of severs a Tertian must of necessity be cured by exhaustion of the matter in the fit and by defect of new Cholet requisite for the next Paroxism if the Patient shall abstain from meat and drink for two whole days together But the consequent is false therefore the Galenical Thesis is false also Ph. But what if the Schools shall teach and say that then new Choler is liquefied out of the Bloud Py. This were to feign that Nature were more solicitous to maintain the fever then to preserve the life and bloud which is the treasury thereof And to conclude this Chole separated or brought out from the bloud if it be putred why is it not together with the Choler of the precedent fit banished by the veines which was formerly detained with the bloud in the veines Or whether did this remaining putred Choler peradventure know there should be a contingent abstinence of two dayes that it should forsooth
inevitable argument that hitherto the Adept of curing hath been unknown Therefore God gave it not the Paganism in former ages nor to the Schools which followed those blinde conductors And the correlative of this is that whosoever assenteth not to the doctrine of the Pagan Schools is secluded from the true principles of curing Th' Assumpt I shall God willing demonstrate in a large Volumn viz. That the principles of the knowledge of causes and roots in diseases remedies and appropriations have remained unknown The consequent is cleer of it self unless they can shew that every good guift is derived from elsewhere then from God For to the establishment of the guift of curing it should suffice that though that guift be so near to the nature of the understanding that for the propinquity and alliances of natural objects it be customarily attributed to natural Sciences apprehended by a simple understanding yet at least in that it includes the guifts of prudence councel c. which are Charismata or gracious guifts of the Holy Ghost doubtless the guift of healing should be derived brought and expected from such a beginning as is altogether scituate above the Orb of Nature For oftentimes a man that 's drowned in the depth of dreams upon a suddain conceives a knowledge which while he was awake he never obâ—aned For Nox Psal 18. 3. 19. 〈◊〉 nocti indicat Scientiam And so a man often reades a place oft read before without fruit from whence at length he takes a resolutiton to amend his life And do not these things descend from the Father of Lights Ph. It should seem they do Py. Then are these Sciences without doubt infused though they be not of the more excellent orders of them I mean they are Talents whereon a well formed understanding afterwards buildeth profitable doctrines Dan. 12. 3. For Docti as such fulgebunt before or above the unlearned in regno Câ—lorum if for doctrines cause their souls shall have habilitated or made themselves fit to or for the greater Charismata For Almighty God pleased himself in the diversity of mansions chores brightness and understanding of Angels likewise of men as their associates At least it makes in favour of the guift of curing that among the seven Spirits nearest to the Throne of God one is called Medicina Dei and he is above Principalities Raphiel Tobit 12. 15. Thrones Powers and Dominations And yet the inhabitants of Heaven are not diseased nor need they Physick Neither is this Medicina Dei to be taken metaphorically Tobit 6. 6 7 8. 1â— 11. 12. 3. as knowing the proprieties even in the gall of fishes But now let us fall upon this business in our following Dialogues THE FIRST MEETING OF PHILIATRUS AND PYROSOPHILVS About the examination of the definition of a Fever according to the ancient Physitians Ph. A Fever is a familiar disease and accompanies goes before or followes most infirmities and the ancients have written much and often of it Can more be said thereof then hath been hitherto Py. I confess the disease is but too familiar for it above all other keeps our Church-yard fat and depopulates our Armies yet much more may be said of it then hath been Ph. It 's easily taken notice of even from the beginning of it Py. Yet our Physitians hitherto know 1. The roots of a Fever hitherto unknown nothing of its causes the manner how it is made the seat thereof or of its remedies as in our following discourse I shall plainly make appear either to you or any else that is instructed in Phylosophy Ph. You shall do me a favour worth acknowledgement for I long to hear what you say of it Py. To satisfie your longing let us first 2. The definition of a Fever according to the Schools examine the definition of a Fever which the Physick Schools define to be a preternatural heat kindled first in the heart and then dispersed through the whole body I add moreover by their own consents that it hutteth many of our actions Ph. And is not this a good definition Py. The point of the business is that they 3. A prime clause omitted also about the requisites of the Ancients make the Genus of the thing defined or the essence of a Fever to be heat and not every heat but that which is preter-natural and is in its degree hurtfull And by that meanes seeing this heat is essential to a fever that a fever cannot mentally be conceived but this heat must be its individual companion Ph. Well suppose it be so is there any false doctrine herein Py. I pray judge you but first the leaguer fevers have of late objected themselves against it which are without thirst or manifest heat That is they act their tragedy from the beginning of the fever to the end of life without heat Ph. Whay if they say that these fevers 5. A vain evasion of the Schools were unknown unto the Ancients and that therefore they are not comprehended under their definition Py. Then I at least conclude that these fevers are no fevers or the essence of fevers is 6. Some doubts following thereon not necessarily tied to heat but by accident onely And that therefore the definition of fevers anciently delivered and at this day also kept in Schools is not adjusted to the nature of a fever And thirdly whosoever shall for some hours feel an intrinsecable penetrable cold in the beginning of fevers and should for all that perswade himself his fever is begun or that it is present on him but some other disease hitherto nameless and though he chatter with his teeth shake with cold and have his lips blew therewith and yet perswades himself that notwithstanding these inconveniences those beginnings are no beginnings of fevers nor that hee which dies in such beginnings which commonly falls out in intermittent fevers dies of a true and real fever Beleeve them who will for me for I am not wont in contingies known by the sense of feeling in that I am so stupid that in things sensible I stand unto no other judgement then that of the senses Ph. But some hold that grouling cold and 7. Other evasions shakings are not the beginnings of fevers but the beginnings of the fit Py. These are such who sticking closer to the opinion of the ancients then others creep into corners that they may maintain the sense of Galen but Galen himself shakes these men off saying We first understand by the name of Paroxism the worse part of the whole fit or accâ—ssion Which is as much as to say a fit and a fever are fynonima's Well go to now If he could tell us the beginning of a fit and not of a fever an accession shall at least tell us of an approaching fever and so of necessity the beginning of the fit or accession shall bee the beginning of the fever Ph. But are there not yet others who say 8. Others deny
reserve it self against this defect to continue the sever which should otherwise perish through the penury of Cholâ—r Or whether did Nature please her self in the custody of a putred Choler But if this Cholâ—r flowing out of the veines be not putred then Nature should be mad and surious to dissolve the bloud that she might have something for the continuation of the suture sever But the Galenical Schools confess it putred and that a putred humor is every fiâ— powred out by the veines and carried into the slender extremities of them and that that is the cause of the trembling of the fit and of the exceeding cold thereof the putrefâ—ction of which humor while it is there more increased should presently after be the cause of heat in such extremity Ph. How relished you this Py. I esteemed these as dry stubble unworthy tales miserable old wives fictions and ignorances most pernicious to humane Nature Ph. But did not Fernelius fiâ—st detect this ignorance of the Schools Py. He did so and therefore Rondeletius 18. The merit of Ferâ—elius and his fellow Galenists inveighed against Fernelius as a desertor of the Schools and an Apostata But Fernelius was the first that smelt out the nest of intermittents to be about the stomack and next Gut unto it called Duodenum and about the Pancreas also which we call Sweet-bread as likewise he established the seat of continual fevers about the heart But he had not the boldness to decline from the old way of curing fevers He began indeed openly to dispute against the precedent Schools about the nest of fevers but he afterwards hid himself amongst his abdita and not able to shake off those straw-made shackles of putred humors he suffered both the knowledge and the essences of fevers also to be taken from him Ph. But what saith Paracelsuâ— to this business Py. Paracelsus being terrified by the rigor 19. The rashâ—ness and inconstancy of Paracelsus of fevers perswading himself hee had the knowledge of all fevers sure enough tickled by his own invention of an allegorical Microcosme defines a fever to be a disease made of Sulphur and Nitre And in another place that it is the earth quake of the little world â—â— if Sulphur and Nitre should be made much colder then themselves as bâ—ing drawn out of the mud or slime which he cals Limus or Limbus of the Microcosm which afterwards should of their own accords be set on fire by the burning Etna Now as Galen in the search of causes stumbled every where and therein shewed himself to be no Physician whose name he saith is Iventor Occasionis so Paracelsus with a wonderous liberty is faln in his Microcosmi Parâ—emius unworthy a Physitian Ph. It would prove an hard law to precipitate 20. Man no Microcosm if we obey the Scripture a man nakedly to have a relation or a reference to the Microcosm in the miserable necessities of all diseases Py. I therefore rejoyce with my self that I bear the Image of the living God and not of the world Ph. It should seem then that this good man was deceived Py. Nothing more certain In that hee knew not that fire burneth no where unless 21. Paracelsus deceived it be first kindled neither knew hee any flint in us or steel or any thing to strike them one against the other in the point or instant of the beating of the flint howsoever he dissemble the business and indeed there was no necessity of them no nor of gunpowder to produce a feverish heat unless we were to be burnt up the first stroke and torn in pieces Therefore the matter of actual Sulphur and Salt-peter are wanting in us So is the connection of them both together neither is there actual fire within us And in fine there wants a body which could tolerate this burning though it were but for a moment Wherfore the causes and originals of fevers in the Schools are trifling songs and very fables THE FOURTH MEETING OF PHILIATRUS AND PYROSOPHILVS About the Examination of Bloud-letting in Fevers Ph. GOod Sir let mee hear your opinion of Bloud-letting in fevers Py. You shall but before I go on to further scopes intentions or purposes I should repeat what I have elsewhere in a large Treatise demonstrated viz. That there are not two Cholers and a Phlegme in Nature as parts whereof the bloud consisteth Ph. No That were worth the hearing Py. It were and the rather because in this place where there is no mention made of any but putâ—ed humors those would of themselves be destroyed In that a putred 1. One reasoÌ„ against humors the rest elswhere animal is no longer animal But this discourse of fevers requires a more succinct brevity of me Ph. Use your pleasure Py. I will therefore onely examine two generâ—l helps in curing Ph. What are those Py. Bloud-letting and Purging Ph. These are as it were the two Pillars of Physick if you should dealâ— otherwise then well with them the whole house would of its own accord fall upon the heads of Physitians For if these helps should be taken away Physitians must forsake their Patients as not having other medicines then such as doth diminish stâ—engâ—h and body 2. Galen's universal prâ—position for Phlebotoâ—y Py. These therefore I will touch upon in general For by the consent of Galen bloud-letting is required in every fever except an hectick Ph. What arguments bring you against the Schools and the destructive custome of these times in this occasion Py. Such as follow viz. Bloud letting 3. A Syllogism against him where there is no necessary indication thereof that is where there is no proper use of it is unprofitable But in fevers there is no necessary indication thereof therefore bloud-letting in fevers is unprofitable Ph. What if they deny your Major Py. I prove it thus becâ—use the end is the first director of the causes and disposer of the means unto it self wheresoever therefore the end shews not a necessity of the means those means not being requisite to that end are impertinently used Especially where a contrary indication tels us that we cannot let bloud without dejection of our strength or forces Therefore these means are foolishly appointed which are by the end declared to be used in vain unprofitably and with diminution of those forces Ph. How prove you your Minor Py. Horatius Augenius proves it by three books written to that purpose wherein he teacheth by consent of the Academies that onely a Phlethora or too great fulness of the veines that is too great aboundance of the bloud is that which shews when bloud-letting is to be used Noâ— that directly for the curing of fevers but for the evacuation of that fulness but there 's never any Phlethora in fevers Therefore there is never any need of bloud-letting in fevers And consequently iâ— is altogether unprofitable Ph. I must confess the conclusion is new and paradoxical and therefore it should be proved
which is remaining impure and tainted by puâ—refaction as they suppose of preserving it self from an imminent purrefaction Again let them teach against the Holy Text that the life and soul are rather and more willingly in the defiled residue of bloud then in the puter taken away by bloud-letting Otherwise regularly the drawing out of the good includes an increased proportion and an unbridled liberty of the bad remaining Ph. But what if at last the bloud in the fever and veins be bad and they say ' â—is good as a signe and effect that in the letting of the bloud the bad comes out and that they think that so much at least of the bad is taken away Py. First let them prove that bloud which they suppose hurtfull to be truly hurtfull as I have formerly proved it guiltless And then let them teach that by the hasty and full emission of this bad bloud there is no prejudice brought upon the forces and that in the residue of the defiled bloud the forces being now decreased the taking away of the bloud will be cause why the corruption of that which remaineth is of less power to go forward And whether they hope at any time that in the bloud howsoever once infected viz. by this privation a regress may be given in Nature to perfection For let them shew that it contradicteth not that it 's proper to a fever to pollute the bloud and 38. A vain hope in the changes of bloud drawn by Phlebotomy that this property is taken away a posteriori viz. by removing what is purrefied For if first the impurer bloud be drawn out of the veins and they again open the vein and in the mean time deject and trouble or disturb the forces and by this means take away the hope of a Crisis what if it then come out more red then formerly Ph. They will then certainly cry out as if all the quantity of the bad had been taken away by the first effusion and that the seat of the fever was extended from the heart unâ—… the arm onely and that the good had its residence about the Liver Py. But in a Dropsie I have noted that the evacuations of the last excrements were alwaies to be feared and much more therefore in the naked drawing out of bloud which leads away the vital spirits from the heart in a direct course thorow the wound whether it be deemed bad or good or neuter Ph. You have first proved that they offend in a fallacy as well as in those things which are supposed of a Synachae or burning Petitione principii fever both purred as of those which are conceived of the emission of a purred bloud Now therefore to our purpose what think you of the helps are gotten in lieu of the forces which are taken from us Py. I always found them full of deceit that for so little a help the strength should be infeebled by bearing the burthen of diseases for it is as drink in â—he beginning of a fever which seems for a while to give a refreshing but is any man so mad as to drink if he knew that drink did rob him of his forces Ph. You conclude then that the help of cooling by bloud-letting is trustless fraudulent and momentary But now what say you of that neuter bloud which is nor good nor bad in letting Py. Of this it is best to say nothing in that what is denied in dis junction may be denied also in copulation For if that be neuter which consists of a commixture of good with bad supposing that bad which is not Or that whereinto a neutral alteration is introduced what is formerly said may satisfie the event in either of them Ph. Have you not yet done with Co-indications Py. I shall at length when I have cut off the hope which is in revulsion and so I shall equally take away all co-indications as the poor and miserable sculking-holes of perversness It is a mad remedy to let bloud for 39. Co-indication of Phlebotomy in fevers Menstrue for Revulsion a vanity to this end they draw a great quantity whether it be in fevers or in the menstrues for revulsion in that the feverish matter swims not in the bloud or floateth up and down the veins but sticks within unto the vessel as I shall tell you in its own place when I speak of the occasional matter And for the Menstrue likewise in that the separation therof is made out of the whole and not without the separating hand of the Archeus But Phlebotomy separates nothing of things separable because it works without a fore-knowledge of the end and therefore without election But the nearest always runs out first and as soon as the vessel is open away goes the innocent bloud which because after by a continued thread others follow for fear of vacuum therefore the Menstrues about the womb or Mother collected there by the industry of Nature and of set purpose are drawn from thence by bloud letting and retire back again into â—â—e whole what though Phlebotomy may sometime in a full and well complexioned woman finde success yet certainly in many others it hath given a most miserable catastrophe Ph. But what if the menstrous bloud should offend onely in quantity while it is now gathered together and set apart in the veins about the Mother Py. In this case supposed I shall willingly admit an individual indication of Phlebotomy But if Menstrue flow in a womb that 's well conditioned it will abundantly satisfie and do its own business And in this case revulsion is useless though the Hypothesis suppose an impossibility For Phlebotomy is nothing but a meer and indistinct powring out or ensptying of the bloud But the emptied veins presently recal unto themselves what bloud soever and whence soever for as they are the greedy receptacles of the bloud so they are impatient of emptiness And therefore the menstrue being destin'd to it's departing that is already once written 40. Derivation in topical diseases somtimes profitable But impertinent in fevers or inrold by Nature in the catalogue of Excrements is drawn or sucked by the empty veins But derivation because it is a sparing letting of the bloud so it be done out of fitting veins was wont often to be profitable in many topical diseases but in fevers ' â—is impertinent Ph. But they insist upon this that bloud-letting 41. Bloud lettin hurtful in Pleurisies in a Pleurisie is so necessary that it is enjoyned upon pain of death to be made use of For they say that unless this bloud which hath recourse unto the ribs be called back by much effusion thereof it is to be feared that the Pleurisie will presently kill the man by sâ—ffâ—cating of him Py. But I never let any man bloud that is sick of a Pleurisie and this kinde of curing is safe certain solid and commodious None fail that run this course whereas by Phlebotomy many of them perish through