red yet saith Galen all are coloured with a greater or smaller portion of bloud therewith mingled Neuerthelesse that this same colour of vrine is procured by the mixture more or lesse not of bloud alone but also of an high coloured choller ioyntly or seuerally according to the greater or smaller quantitie thereof is not by a small number of learned Physitians maintained as also that this same colour of vrine is often and vsually seene in hote and acute diseases is not vnknowne to the very vulgar and vnlearned sort of people Now a many causes may bring foorth this effect this colour of vrine higher or lower appearing in a many hote and acute diseases which would puzzle a good Physitian by the bare sight of such an vrine to know what disease it were But yet is not this rule so infallibly true that it admitteth of no exception as is the opinion of many And therefore most erroneous and dangerous is the practise of such as vpon the bare sight of an high coloured vrine presently without any further deliberation or enquiry of circumstances both prescribe Phlebotomie and administer all maner of cooling medicines to the great ineuitable danger and preiudice of the patient from the which errour also the learned Arabian Auicenna is not free as our learned late writers haue well obserued And as I deny not but that this may often prooue true so on the other side it is most certaine that the vrine may be of such a colour and yet either proceed from a cold cause or else from some imbecillitie and weakenesse as cometh somtimes to passe in Dropsies c. But lest this should seeme stuffe of mine owne braine and hatched at home heare from the mouth of a worthie Author something concerning the same purpose It is not seldome obserued that the vrine by reason of a commixtion of bloud with it doth appeare of a red colour but by reason that it is either thicke or clotted it is no great difficultie to discerne the same But that so thinne a bloud should bemingled with it that not the substance of the vrine but the colour onely should be altered is but seldome seene Such a case befell a young man of 28. yeares of age or neare by This young man voided an vrine of an high red colour and thinne substance for many dayes together being very like to the vrines made in hote acute feauers The aforesaid patient had vsed the aduice of diuers ancient learned Physitians who had appointed him such meanes as are vsed for the cooling of hote Liuers At length he repaired to my selfe at that time but a young Physitian Looking on his vrine and withall seeing it of so high a red colour as also perceiuing him who was there present free from any feauer I asked him whether heretofore he had complained of any which he denyed adding moreouer that for some moneths by-past he had felt a chilnesse and coldnesse together with a great extenuation or leannesse and shortnesse of breath ioyned with a generall decay of strength as also that hitherto he had found no benefit by such meanes as he had vsed All which hauing attentiuely heard I thought good to keepe by me the said vrine vntill the next day and then to view the residence thereof the which was of a colour like vnto bloud as being indeed nothing else but bloud the vrine aboue it being but very little dyed with a pale yellow colour shewing no signe or token at all of any feauer For the which cause I did then collect that there was no exorbitant heate in his Liuer but a great weakenesse in the kidneyes by reason whereof the ends of the small veines being opened and loosened let some part of the bloud passe away And therefore I tooke a new course for curing of the same by vsing such meanes as were fit for the corroborating and strengthening of the kidneyes and veines not omitting fit and conuenient diet and among other things goats milke And so at length the vrine came to its owne naturall colour againe his bodie also enioying the benefit of nourishment as it was wont in former times and thus in a short time recouered his vigour strength and former perfect health againe Such an excretion of bloud which cometh thus to passe by reason of the loosenesse and widenesse of the mouthes of the small veines or yet of the thinnesse of bloud is commonly called Diapedesis that is as much as a streining through It cometh also to passe that some bloud is voyded by vrine many other wayes sometimes some great stone fretting the passages betwixt the kidneyes and the bladder called Vreteres bloud doth also accompanie the vrine but withall it is blacke and clotted The stone continuing for some certaine space in the bladder prooueth likewise sometimes the cause of this inconuenience and that especially after riding or some other violent motion of the bodie In women also some part of their menstruous fluxe is sometimes intermingled with it Sometimes againe the bloud issuing out of the gummes being suddenly stopt doth search for it selfe a passage through the bladder The kidneyes being wounded first doth bloud issue out by the vrines and afterwards matter mingled with it as it befell that woman which was stabbed in the loynes with a dagger first voyding blouddie vrines then afterwards mingled with matter vntill such time as both the wound and the kidneyes were cured And that this was a wound in the kidneyes did plainly appeare by some portion of the same taken out of the wound The exulceration of the kidneyes is also accompanied with bloudie vrine after the which vnlesse remedie be in due and conuenient time procured matter doth follow It is likewise sometimes seene that decrepit old men do voyd vrines mingled with bloud which are of a blackish colour accompanied with some red the which doth declare that the vigour and power of the kidneyes is almost quite abolished But I wish thee yet to lend thine eare a little to the same Author yet againe in a storie or two more which will adde not a little light to this matter The vrine doth appeare of a reddish colour not onely when the Liuer is surprised with a Gangrene or the bodie with any hote or acute disease such as are Tertian agues burning feauers inflammation of the internall parts but often also in the debilitie weakenesse and coldnesse of the Liuer or stomach proceeding from long and lingring diseases The like tincture it receiueth now and then in the extreame pinching Collicke passion when as some tough and clammie humours possessing the guts do hinder the passage of the faecall excrements A Gentleman of account saith he voyded vrine of a very high red colour howbeit free from any feauer being at the same time much tormented with the Collicke accompanied with a retention of the faecall excrements After the iniection of an anodine or mitigating glister the paine was much eased and withall
reason and experience keepeth alwayes an orderly and methodicall course in all his proceedings and if he may sometimes erre as being a man and not a God how much more then an ignorant Empiricke a shee-Physitian such a one as now liueth in Northamptonshire and in whom I wonder that any that hath any braines in his head can see any sufficiencie that I say nothing of a medling Minister that neuer was trained vp in that profession shall they I say be obnoxious to error in so intricate an Art wherein they haue no interest as being meere vsurpers vpon other mens right Besides the vulgar not being able to iudge of the sufficiencie of the learned Physitian preferreth often the paines of some ignorant Empiricke soothed vp it may be by the successe of some casuall cure before the labors of the most learned honest artist But my meaning is here of an ordinary erronious course of practising eueÌ„ against the rules of art the very grounds principles of this physicall profession Of such errors I could haue set downe a multitude besides those few which I had by relation either from the patients themselues or else from some of their most familiar friends and acquaintances who haue protested that they will be readie to iustifie the same vppon their oathes Neither yet let this suffice that some of their proctors pleade for them a number of happy and successefull euents since that thus we may often magnifie the most vile wizard and most ignorant old wife in the countrey this argument taken from issue and euent being a meere Paralogisme a fallacie and deceit taking that often for a true cause which is no cause indeed as in the conclusion of this discourse shall more plainly appeare And in this I appeale to the learned and honest Artist not to such a persons parasite who taketh for good and current coyne what soeuer commeth out of his mint nor yet their otherwise honest yet in this point too partiall patients in this particular blinded with the mist of ignorance or a preiudicate opinion of such mens supposed sufficiencie they themselues not being able herein to discerne betwixt right and wrong Now that this hath bene no vnusuall custome to brow-beat and ouerthow errors euen in this profession and for the maintaining of truth to pleade against imposture might easily as well by ancient as later authorities be euinced which would be too tedious here to relate But amongst many one late writer I cannot passe by the learned Libauius I meane who hath wrestled with many such monsters as namely Michelius Hartmannus Scheunemannus the impudent Priest Gramauâ—s and that famous I meane infamous impostor Ambaldus author of that counterfeit Panacea like our Aurum potabile supposed good against most if not all infirmities who notwithstanding for his ignorance not being able to vndergo the triall and examination of the Physitians of the Citie of Ausburg was most iustly by the Magistate banished the same and so his fame after a while turned to fume or smoke And haue we not of late dayes had here at home some maintainers of truth and opposers of imposture some liuing euen at this day And against this same abuse in particular besides Forest Euritius Cordus published in Latine a learned booke so did likewise Guilielmus Adolphus Scribonius the learned Langius in some of his Epistles and many others also as hereafter shall appeare But I am not ignorant that whosoeuer will publâ—sh any thing in this last and learned age cannot chuse but vndergo the censure of many iudges as witnesseth the worthie â—erome Some will perhaps say the stile is too meane and plaine and others if there were any elegancie in it would cry out he playes the Orator perhaps odious in handling vrines not the Physitian And some preoccupied with a partiall and preiudicate opinion like the diseased of some cholericke feauer to whoÌ„ the sweetest things seeme bitter so whatsoeuer fruite groweth in some mens gardens be it neuer so good will giue no content to some mens ouer curious nice relishes so hard a thing is it to practise this one point Omnibus placeto Howsoeuer kinde Reader if thou come with a desire to submit thy selfe to the rules of reason to haue thy iudgement rectified if erronious and with an earnest desire to be fully informed of the truth let not my labour be lost but peruse I pray thee this tractate wherein thou mayest perhaps finde something for thy satisfaction And howsoeuer perhaps the cookerie may not giue thee full content yet remember the matter is but meane in the which I haue had a greater regard to the matter it selfe then to the curious manner of deliuering the same and a greater care to satisfie the simplest vnderstandings for whose cause I haue principally published these may paines then with the ornaments of an Orator to please the eares of the most learned Optimum condimentum fames A good appetite needeth no sauce The Germanes in diuerse places of Saxony in stead of currants bake their cakes with blacke Poppy seeds and in stead of stewed broth boyle wilde or horse radishes with their beefe The French findeth a good rellish in his soure sauces and a Spaniard maketh often as great account of a Lemmon as an English man of a pecce of powdered beefe Whatsoeuer it is and howsoeuer liked yet my principall purpose was and is to profit the publicke If I should pleade a priuiledge from backbiters and immunitie from malignant tongues I should suâ— for that which hath bene denyed the greatest and worthiest personages of ancient and later times And some varlets haue bene found who would rather fire the famous temple of Diana then not minister matter to talke of them And as for my selfe I deny not but I shall find some of the offenders here mentioned who will snarle and grumble at my so plaine and vnpartiall reprouing of their faults Some who should haue shewed better example conscious to themselues of their owne guiltinesse haue broken the ice already as I am informed haue much repined at the Preface of my former tractate If I haue spoken euill be are witnesse of the euill but if well why smitest thou me If they can iustifie their actions let them publish their apologie and let the Reader iudge But if they can do nothing else but maligne other mens labours and themselues loyter I wish them to be filent Carpere vel noli nostra vel ede tua Bring forth thy birth or barke not thus at mine But all they can say moueth me no more then the barking of a dog or the yelping of a foxe as knowing that Obsequium amicos veritas odium parit Flatterie gets friends but truth oft enuie finds It is for thy sake therefore kind and vnpartiall reader who hast learned to value vertue at her highest worth that I haue vndertaken this taske which I acknowledge to be so far froÌ„
the humours in the veines to the end that in feuers they might find out the times of the same and so might more easily foretell the time of the future crise whether the same were like to be hopefull and healthfull or dangerous and deadly and withall to find out the fittest time for purging The which Galen Hippocrates his true interpreter doth intimate vnto young Physitians in these words The vrine giueth notice of these parts to wit the liuer kidneyes bladder and the strength of the vessels which containe the bloud and the weakenesse of the same as also that facultie which engendreth the humors but as concerning the infirmities of the braine the chest and lungs there be other signes and symptomes of the same whereby their diseases are discerned All these things therefore the wise Physitian is to enquire search and find out from the sicke himselfe and not from the vrine For this cause well said Damascenus in his Aphorismes Concerning diseases pronounce not rashly thine opinion neither yet looke thou vpon the vrine vntill such time as thou hast first seene the sicke and of him demanded and found forth euery circumstance belonging to the disease With him doth Rhazes an Arabian Physitian agree in his Aphorismes in these words It becometh the Physitian to aske diuerse questions of his patient to the end he may attaine to the internall cause of the disease that by such meanes he may afterwards be able to pronounce sound iudgement according to reason neither yet let him be ashamed to aske of the patient whether the disease be within or without the veine But our Physitians being like vnto the lazie sedentarie Physitians of Alexandria lest they should be by the vulgar people who do commonly beleeue that the Physitian knoweth all by the vrine taxed of ignorance are ashamed to aske of the patient the causes and symptomes of his disease And to the end they may the better accommodate themselues to the foolish humor of the simple and more ignorant sort they are not a whit afrayed to prate of diseases by the inspection of the vrine onely But would to God the truth were with them in greater esteeme then any popular applause and that they would be warned by the Poet Persius If troubled Rome do too much dispraise any thing then not to rest and relie vpon her iudgement and that they would both ingenuously confesse and tell the people how fraudulent and deceitfull pernicious and lying is this manner of inspection of the vrine brought in by some Physitians and impostors of later dayes to the great mischiefe of mankind Then for certaine would they be more carefull and diligent in searching out the natures of diseases by their causes the hurt and hinderance of the action as also by the Paâ—hognomonicke signes and then without all doubt should they cure a great many moe as also by this meanes should their names become a great deale more famous both among their owne friends and acquaintance and among strangers And by this meanes also should these wandring and cozening rogues impostors apostaticall monks perfidious Iewes enemies to all Christians the ignorant Parish-Priests alchymists and all the rabble of such rake-hels but I had almost forgotten those old trots fortunetellers be thrust out from professing physicke all the which offenders not hauing learned so much as the first grounds and principles of naturall Philosophie or Physicke do without controll or punishment trie their desperate remedies by the death of many a man Wherefore there could nothing be deuised more profitable and beneficiall for the good of the commonwealth then that at length all Christian people were freed from the tyrannie and mischiefe of these cruell impostors who by meanes of the secret obseruation of the vrine vnknowne to the vulgar sort do conceale their owne ignorance and haue as drones do into the Bec-hiue crept into this profession By the premisses I hope thou hast heard what is the cause that Physicke and the Professors of the same are not of so high an esteeme in these our countries at this time Of the differences of signes by the which Physitians do discerne and know diseases and do presage the future issue of the same As I heare these barbarous and wicked persons falsly assuming vnto themselues the name of Physitians do mutter and grumble against me because of condemning their mad rash and foole-hardie finding out of diseases by meanes of the vrine onely for whose slanderous backbiting I care not a rush For such as cannot helpe I see not how they can hurt me No more can I conceiue what the Physitian can performe as concerning the cure of the disease being ignorant of the nature and estate of the same For this cause the ancient Physitians did with great labour trauell and industrie search out the cause the nature and substance of the disease from the which the indications of remedies are deriued and not from the vrine onely but from the signes called Pathognomonicke and from the whole concourse of the symptomes or accidents who did likewise deuide Physicke principally into two parts to wit that which we commonly call Therapeuticke whose most large and common scope is to cure diseases by contrary remedies and into that part which we call Diagnosticke whose most common scope is to discerne the whole and sound from the like and the sicke and infirme from the whole being vnlike the one to the other And this part of Physicke doth farre excell the other to wit the Therapeuticke the which without the Diagnosticke is of small vse or profit And because it did lay open the perfect and absolute knowledge of the disease by meanes of the signes Pathognomonicke proper and peculiar to euery disease together with the concurrence of accidents which the Empiricks called 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 which were nothing else but the collection by obseruation of certaine accidents and circumstances of diseases the later Physitians therefore gaue it the name 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or that part of Physicke which handleth the signes of diseases Wherefore we cannot but much wonder at Galen a man of so great learning who besides two hundreth and fiftie bookes written of diuerse sciences and of all the other parts of Physicke aboue foure hundreth all being likewise written in so good order and method that notwithstanding he hath not brought to full perfection this so noble a part of Physicke called Diagnosticke but onely dispersedly here and there especially in that booke called the Constitution or ordering of the Art of Physicke hath as it were sowne some seeds of the same But yet Auicenna Rhazes and other Arabian Physitians and such among the Greeks as haue written of late after Galen as Paulus Aegineta Aetius Actuarius and Alexander Trallianus following the footsteps of the ancient Empiricks did collect and gather together in euery seuerall Chapter which did discourse of the disease a great number of the signes and seuerall accidents of the same but so
with a desire of such things as engender little good nourishment they engender great store of crudities which may plainly be seene by their vrines the which are also common to all such as abound in crudities To the former we will adde yet a late writer of the same nation because he speaketh so plainly and to the purpose The booke was first written in the Italian tongue and since translated into French out of the which I haue translated this parcell Truth it is that we must not altogether relie vpon the vrine to know whether a woman be with child or no. For the vrine can giue thee no further assurance of the same then by the retention of her accustomed monethly course and by the which we do commonly collect some presumption of conception Now it may easily come to passe that a woman may be surprised with many infirmities which may hide and darken the principall signe of conception if any there were in the vrine such as be headach any cold especially being accompanied with a cough cruditie or indigestion of the stomacke great paine in the kidneyes c. And which is yet more the eating of raw fruite sallets milke porke pease sperage cabbage artichocks mushromes and many other such kind of food not being ordinarie or vsuall to the partie are sufficient to alter and change not the colour onely but the contents of the vrine also Moreouer the vrine doth most properly and assuredly declare vnto vs the infirmities of the parts from whence it commeth and through the which at length it passeth For the which cause it is more then manifest that there is no assured knowledge to be had by the vrine concerning the conception no more then by the retention of her monethly course sinâ—e that without conception the foresaid retention and stopping is found as well in maides as in married women The last and most certaine signe of conception is when as the child beginneth to stirre and moue Mercatus a learned Spaniard after he hath set downe a number of other signes at length addeth these words As concerning the vrine howbeit in this case it doth affoord vs but a very vncertaine iudgement yet may we sometimes draw some certainty out of the same But how I pray thee By obseruing her seuerall vrines at diuerse times beginning with the first moneth of supposed conception and so obseruing the seuerall alterations vntill the time of her deliuery approach Then withall setteth he downe all the seuerall trials which the famous Hippocrates hath left vnto vs all which were needlesse and superfluous if the vrine of it selfe were sufficient for this purpose Now let vs adde yet one storie of the deceitfulnesse of this signe in conception recorded by a learned Germane Physitian Franciscus Emericus Doctor in Physicke and of the chaire in the Vniuersitie of Vienna in his discourse entituled whether the obseruation of the pulse or of the vrine doth affoord vnto the Physitian more certaine and assured foreknowledge of the life or death of the patient and printed anno 1557. relatetâ— that in the yeare 1555. in the Citie of Vienna a certaine friend of mine saith he called Georgius Rithamerus a man of singular learning being very desirous of issue came to one of the Physitians of the Colledge of best note bringing with him his wiues vrine to know whether she were with child as he deemed or no. The Physitian vpon the bare sight of the vrine onely did peremptorily affirme that she was for certaine with child and that of a boy After the which time Rithamerus began quite to distaste me and that onely by reason that vpon the sight of her vrine together with diuers other signes and circumstances thereto belonging I had deliuered my opinion that she was not at all with child And besides he prouided with all expedition both midwife nurse and all other things belonging to that businesse It was afterwards constantly and confidently euery where noysed abroad that she was with child The women her attendants by reason of some accidents wherewith she was now and then troubled appointed her diuerse baths by meanes whereof being surprised with the falling sicknesse she was in a very short time freed from all the miseries of this mortall life Of whose death being aduertised I did very earnestly intreate the aforesaid Rithamerus that both in regard of that ancient bond of loue and amitie betwixt him and me as likewise to finde out the whole truth of this matter he would be pleased to giue way to the opening of the dead corps The which at length being ouercome as well by my earnest suing vnto him as for the great and earnest desire he had to be resolued of the truth of the matter he did willingly yeeld vnto In making the incision we began first with the muscles of the neather bellie discouering such parts as before were hid afterwards ripping vp the peritonaeum we proceeded to the place where the wombe was situate and although we did perceiue it to be but very small and to containe nothing within it yet to the end we might the more clearly see the truth with our eyes we ript it vp also and found it cleane and empty of any thing within it Now in her life time she was of a whitish bleake colour and of a cachecticall disposition and had neuer in all her life time borne any child from whence I did by very probable coniccture collect that she was troubled with some other infirmitie For the which cause we proceed still in our incision towards the stomacke whereas betwixt the peritonaeum and the guts we found good store of water which did according to the motion of the body fall sometimes to the right and sometimes to the left side and from hence arose this erronius opinion of the supposed motion of a liue child This being after this manner finished I spake after this manner My good friend George you see now after what manner your wife proueth with child And he seeing the case so plaine did ingenuously acknowledge that he had wrongfully and vndeseruedly bene offended with me and withall did freely acknowledge his errour Witnesses with me at this incision were Doctor lacobus Walch companion with me in my Italian studies as also Andreas Perlachius a great Mathematician being also the onely man who had so stedfastly maintained that she was with child Now with two instances of mine owne experience I will finish this point A Gentlewoman dwelling neere Northampton some yeares ago sent me her vrine which in euery respect as well in colour as contents resembled the vrine of an healthfull yong man Hauing found out by some circumstances that it was a womans I began to suspect that which afterwards proued true that she was with child The messenger demanding whether she was not entred into a Dropsie I replied I rather enclined to the opinion that she was with child the which proued to be true The
may make it to stinke 4. The qualitie either of diet or drugs as hath bene said of the good smell of vrines may likewise procure vnto it an euill smell Looke at large what Sauonarola saith of this point if thou be disposed to see further But what certaintie doth the smell of the vrine affoord vs whosoeuer shall thinke to helpe his vncertaine coniectures by the same should leape out of the frying pan as the prouerbe saith into the fire In the first place it is to be obserued that as well in sicknesse as in health vrines may offer no pleasing smell to the nose and yet the party may be free from any danger at al. But because healthfull folkes seldome send their vrines to the Physitian we will let them passe and come to the sicke I will let Scribonius speake for me Concerning the sicks vrine saith he most do teach vs that stinking vrines signifie putrefaction of humours in so much that by the difference of the smels they take vpon them to iudge of the seuerall humours so putrified O wise woodcockes I willingly yeeld to them that stinke or strong smell doth argue putrefaction in such vrines but of which parts shall this putrefaction be whether of the bladder onely or of the Liuer also of the chest or other members Nay so farre off is the stinking smell from giuing vs any particular notice of the disease that it cannot so much as affoord vs any certaine generall knowledge of the same For many sweet smelling simples saith Montanus may cause a most stinking vrine Cholericke and hote complexioned men void often very strong smelling vrines howsoeuer free frō any disease as I haue often obserued in my selfe And by what meanes I pray thee shouldst thou from the stinking smell of the vrine know putrefaction or how can this putrefaction procure this stinking smell If this were so then would it necessarily follow that whosoeuer were seised with a feauer proceeding from putrefaction of humours should voyd stinking vrines the which is most false The truth of this assumption may from hence appeare that for the most part among an hundred sicke of such feauers scarce shalt thou find one of their vrines so to smell nor yet their bloud at the opening of a veine And for this cause well said Sauonarola in his treatise of Vrines that there are other signes also to be obserued in the annoying of putrified members if we purpose well and orderly to examine trie and finde out any skill concerning vrines And indeed a thousand causes there are which may alter and change their smell By the smell then onely there can neuer be any certaintie collected to informe our iudgements concerning any disease But I am afraid the Reader will take it ill that I so long detaine him among so vnpleasing smels and my selfe begin to waxe wearie of so vnworthie a thing and as I neuer tooke any pleasure in the same so here I leaue it to them that like it better But if I should yet enter vpon the tast I feare I should be worse taxed I can tell no man their tast by mine owne experience Salt they haue alwayes bene counted as the teares likewise If any be incredulous I will not hinder him If our vrinemongers had no better beere allowed them they would not so much adore the pissepot as some of them do But yet if any purpose to practise this point I wish him to go to the Arabians who haue written so curiously concerning this point and it may be in regard of their aromaticall drugs their vrines may be of better taste then those of our Europaeans who feed on grosser food As for the other two qualities the sound and touch we will send them all in one ship to Arabia with their fellowes and now we come to the colours CAAP. III. Of the colours of Vrines how deceitfull they proue and first of the colour commonly called palew or light saffron IF euer vrine proued a strumpet it is of all other parts of the vrine most apparently to be seene in the colour For as sometimes some of the most infamous stewes strumpets infected it may be with the poxe do most curiously decke and adorne by curious painting sumptuous apparell and such other enticing trickes their lothsome and filthie carkasses to the end they may more easily deceiue such as will be caught in their snares doth it not often fare euen so with the colour of the vrine For oftentimes when they make the fairest shew doth not euen death knocke at the doore My purpose is not here to make any phylosophicall discourse concerning the causes of colours in generall and then to apply the same to vrines in particular and so to insist vpon each seuerall colour for this might proue too tedious and perhaps not so pertinent to the purpose we haue in hand And yet notwithstanding I will say something of each of the chiefe and principall colours by the which it may more easily be conceiued that the like deceit may be seene in the others like vnto them Now my purpose is to begin with that colour which is the best of all others being as it were the rule and square whereby we do discerne and iudge of the failings and defects of all the rest This colour is called in Latin Subrufus subaureus or subcroceus and in English palew or light saffron This colour our Physitians do generally account the best of all others and that it best betokeneth exact concoction Neither yet must this first and best colour arguing good concoction be simply and in it selfe so considered but restrained to flourishing age For in old men women and children whose vrines especially childrens do commonly decline towards white and pale it doth betoken that their bodies are too hote either by reason of diet exercise or some other meanes But if one should bring vnto thee such an vrine how couldst thou tell whether it were an old or a yong mans a womans or a childs the messenger not acquainting thee with the particular circumstances It may be thou wilt say the contents will make the case cleare I answer that many causes may depriue them of contents in part or altogether as hereafter shall appeare in the contents and how the substance may alter hath bene said alreadie The common opinion is the higher the colour is the greater heat is argued which opinion to be most false erronious shall hereafter in other colours appeare Besides may not a little extraordinarie watching fasting rheubarb saffron madder roots or such like colour the vrine without any excesse of heat And will the seuerall seasons of the yeare produce no alteration in the vrine that I say nothing of an infinite number of other causes which may in like manner alter them But one signification of such a coloured vrine I cannot here passe by which I remember I once read in an English vrine booke to wit that a maide
crude or raw humours And not so onely but in the infirmities of the kidneyes also Hippocrates in his Aphorismes affirming that such vrines do both signifie infirmities of the kidneyes and the long continuance of the disease But from the froth we come to the smoke or vapor in the vrine of the which an Italian Physitian maketh mention as is forced to be beholden to the Arabians for the same Smoke or vapor saith he is sometimes to be seene in the vrine and cannot be by euery one conceiued It is engendred sometimes of a thicke adust matter and then with the continuance of strength signifieth the long continuance of the disease sometimes of an hote adust matter and with the decaying of strength prognosticateth death sometimes also of raw phlegme somewhat adust and signifieth the prolonging of the disease And if it continue all the time of the disease it portendeth death or raw phlegme which may be discerned from matter by the stinking smell But because our sight is not so sharpe in this Iland we will leaue these smokie vrines to the sharpe sighted Italians and Arabians But if any such smokie stuffe be found in any English vrines it must needs be best obserued in our cōmon Tobacconists whose vrines it is a maruell that they are not wholly conuerted into smoke But of this frothie and smokie stuffe sufficient this being likewise so idle an opinion that of its owne accord it vanisheth away into smoke howbeit I thought good to acquaint the Reader with all the hid mysterie of the imposture and abuses concerning vrines But now something concerning the fat swimming on the top of vrines Such vrines haue this fat swimming on the top sometimes in a greater and sometimes in a smaller quantitie and sometimes againe like oyle and sometimes also couering all the ouermost part of the vrine like a spiders web These fat vrines also signifie sometimes a wasting of the whole bodie if there be a feauer ioyned with the same or of the kidneyes onely if without it This feauer is sometimes very speedy and swift in operation wasting suddenly not the fat onely but the solid substance of the body also called therefore by our Physitians Febris colliquans and such are often Pestilentiall feauers It is againe sometimes an Hecticke which endeth in a Marasme vnlesse it be first preuented But how shall one be able by the bare sight of the vrine onely to discerne all these seuerall circumstances and differences But this is yet worth the obseruing saith Roganus that when as these wasting or consuming feauers haue welnigh wasted away the whole bodie then are no more such wasting excretions which he calleth syntectica excrementa either fat vrines or faecall excrements to be seene For the fleshie parts being hardned and dried vp that which melteth and wasteth away falleth now no more into the guts or the passages of the vrine but passeth away like a vapour This Galen setteth downe by a very prettie and pertinent comparison taken from flesh broyled on a gridiron Now if any one should conceiue some better hope by reason that this fat matter did no more appeare should he not misse the marke the case being now farre more dangerous then before The words of Scribonius make not a little to cleare this point in hand By these fat vrines saith he some do teach vs that we may easily discerne and know all the kinds of a feauer Hecticke by reason it signifieth a wasting and melting of the parts of the bodie But whatsoeuer reason we render of the same Galen notwithstanding in expresse words affirmeth that the vrine of such as are surprised with a feauer Hecticke hath no certaine signification Experience also doth teach vs that some being of a cholericke constitution of body as also such as haue eaten fat meates or haue fat kidneyes vse often to make fat vrines What reason is there then to pronounce either a feauer Hecticke or yet any wasting or consumption thereby This is not erronious onely but full oftemeritie also The truth of this assertion may also in this more plainly appeare that many haue dyed of such consumption and wasting who neuer notwithstanding had any fat swimme on their vrines Sometimes it hath bene also obserued that the vessell wherein the vrine hath bene carryed to the Physitian hath before contained either oyle or some other fat matter which hath by this meanes bene communicated to the vrine It is therefore the Physitians part diligently to enquire concerning all the circumstances of the disease and not by the inspection of the vrine onely peremptorily to pronounce any thing Thus farre our author Many of my friends and patients haue voyded vrines with this fat like a spiders web floting on the top for diuerse yeares together and yet were neuer subiect to any consumption or wasting either in the whole bodie or their kidneyes And how easily one may be deceiued in these fat vrines may by this which followeth appeare It is not yet full three yeares since I had vnder my cure in Northampton towne a countrey woman diseased of that infirmitie which we call Lienteria or the fluxe of the stomacke whom one day visiting and viewing her vrine I perceiued some fat like vnto some drops of oyle swimme on the top of it which was againe the next day after to be seene after the same manner she then seeing me narrowly view the same told me that the vrine was vnaduisedly made both the dayes in a vessell wherein some oyle had before bene contained What then if such an vrine had bene brought out of the countrey either to my selfe or yet to any other Physitian without any further information But we proceed now to the rest CHAP. VIII Of the cloud swimme or sublimation together with diuerse sorts of grounds or residences and the vncertaintie of their significations IN the first place we are to obserue that all vrines are not accompanied with contents but many depriued of them which may proceed from diuerse causes As namely in case of cruditie and the concoction being good yet may some obstruction hinder any contents to passe The like may be by fasting procured and want of food which may also make the vrine of an higher colour The inflammation of any part of the bodie by drawing of the humours thither may produce the like effect In lasks also or fluxes of the bellie as the vrine shall be the lesser so shall the contents be few or none at all Some certaine constitutions also gather no setlings in their vrines and such as are in present health and eate much haue a more copious residence and in Winter it doth more abound then in Sommer Laborious and very painfull people may also haue little or no contents at all in their vrines The time of the sicknesse in which this cometh to passe is also narrowly to be obserued for in the beginning and increase of acute
diseases then this want of contents argueth great defect of naturall strength and vigour In the declining of the disease it is not a messenger of so bad newes yea although it were in the vigour and strength of it And moreouer that many diseases are brought to a happie and expected issue without any contents at all is no vncouth thing What certaintie then can be collected either by the presence or yet by the absence of the contents Now howbeit heretofore some contents on the top of the vrine haue bene mentioned yet are these last mentioned most commonly and constantly to be seene ordinarily in vrines and therefore are more properly called contents and so to be vnderstood by that name Now all these three cloud swimme and grounds haue one and the same materiall cause and their generation is also alike differing onely in place and situation according to the weight of the matter and the concoction of the disease When the disease is yet crude and not concocted yet in some forwardnesse thereunto then appeareth that which is commonly called a cloud for the proportion and analogie it seemeth to haue with the clouds of the aire When the disease is yet in a better forwardnesse then is to be seene in the vrine that which is commonly called the swim or sublimation hanging as it were betwixt the ouermost and neathermost region of the vrine But when nature hath now gotten the vpper hand of the disease then doth this which we call ground settle to the bottome of the vrinall My purpose is not here to enter into a large discourse concerning the engendring of this substance and farre lesse yet the controuersies about the same which I leaue to be discussed in the schooles my intent here being onely to discouer the vncertaintie of iudgement which these contents do affoord vs. Now when thou seest the cloud swim or residence what canst thou pronounce but some generall and indefinite verdict concerning the cruditie or concoction of the disease but what this thy disease is thy vrine will neuer reueale vnto thee nor any of the rest of the signes and circumstances to be obserued in diseases And howsoeuer the materiall cause of all these three be one and the same differing onely in circumstances yet may sometimes the one be without the other Whersoeuer there is a swim saith Scribonius there is also a ground or residence which may also be vnderstood of a cloud howbeit the ground may be without the former to wit if it do not containe such a flatuous matter as raiseth the same vp according to the testimonie of Galen Moreouer the best and most healthfull vrine is accounted such as hath no such cloud nor swim in it as witnesseth the same Galen And moreouer if they be present the iudgement by them is yet vncertaine For who can tell whether this cometh to passe by way of crisis or otherwise vnlesse he weigh in the ballance diuers other circumstances according to the which criticall dayes are accustomed to be tried And besides the premisses all vrines do not suddenly settle and they assigne vs seuerall times for the vrine to settle in some assigne vs halfe an houre some the sixt part of an houre c. But better it were when they are setled then to giue out our iudgement of them For I haue often let vrines stand by me and could see no setling till the next day Now what couldest thou haue iudged of such an vrine the first day especially if the messenger according to the common custome had hyed him home What couldest thou haue said concerning the same And yet is this a case which cometh not seldome to passe Moreouer these contents do sometimes suddenly vanish away and that after an houre or two after the voyding of the vrine Iâ— may then plainly by the premisses appeare saith the same Author what counterfetting iuggling and deceit they vse and how wicked their practise is who without any other coiudicant signes do by the vrines onely giue out sentence concerning the infirmities of the bodie of man their causes and beginning their subiects adiuncts c. Now something concerning the seuerall sorts of grounds or contents in the vrine must likewise be said that the errours and impostures in this point as well as in other parts of the vrine may be layd open to the capacitie of the most ignorant As in the colours therefore so in the contents we will begin with the best of all others That then is â—â—â—unted the best sediment setling or ground which is white duly knit and stable and that continually all the time of the sicknesse and that which declineth from the foresaid laudable conditions is accounted worse and that so much the more as it doth decline from them It is generally agreed vpon among Physitians that great store of yellow grounds argueth great store of yellow choler in the bodie and the lighter coloured it be it argueth the lesse the higher coloured the greater excesse Now besides that thou canst not tell what particular disease proceeding from choler there being diuers it may signifie as whether an Ague or some other disease and againe if an Ague of what sort or kind continuall or intermittent so much lesse art thou able to tell the time of it which notwithstanding maketh not a little to informe thy iudgement concerning the vrine For if at the first there be either small quantitie of choler or yet none at all and then it after increase abundantly which is knowne by changing from a white thin to a saffron coloured ground it is a signe and token that nature doth vnburden it selfe of this heauie ballast of choler and so consequently that health is like shortly to ensue But if after a saffron colour it change to a white it is a bad signe especially without signes of concoction for the which cause it will be requisite that thou obserue the seuerall alterations of the vrine and then be well acquainted with the state and nature of the disease of the patient The like may be said of red residence the which in the beginning of diseases doth not portend any good and that by reason it argueth great store of cruditie which hindereth the concoction of the bloud and such are commonly seene in bastard Tertian Quotidian Agues But yet such Feuers as are incident to Plethoricall and Carechymicall constitutions oppressed with abundance of bloud and bad humors if they attaine to their expected issue must needs be accompanied with such or the like residence The bare inspection of the vrine onely will neuer acquaint thee with the particular Sometimes both the afore-mentioned contents are to be seene in one and the same vrine which is sometimes deadly and sometimes againe proueth a fore-runner of safetie and â—â—â—uritie I will instance in two examples of mine owne experience to make the truth of this appeare About some three yeares ago or a little aboue a
And those who attended him can testifie that one glister by me prescribed gaue him more ease then all your Physicke But let vs come to your Prognosticke you hoped the worst was past Vpon what ground Because now the Iaundise came foorth Cuius contrarium verum est The case is quite contrarie you ought therefore to haue deemed some danger Fie master Parson such a Rabbi as you thinke your selfe whom the vulgar adore like the Image of Diana which the foolish Ephesians thought came downe from Iupiter Old Hippocrates could haue told you that such a Iaundise seldome portended securitie And howsoeuer he and some others make mention of some who in such a case haue recouered yet do all our Authors hold the case to be very dangerous At my first coming to our patient I found apparent danger not onely by reason of this accident but of diuerse other dangerous and deadly signes wherewith I at that instant acquinted his friends And if you please to reply that your absence could not see so much as my presence might discouer I do not denie it yet was not this Iaundise concealed from you nor that it succeeded or came after a blind Ague as you call it and that before the seauenth day as hath bene prooued And the messenger was an vnderstanding young man able to relate some other dangerous accidents and besides he had no small interest in our patient But what was wanting by information might haue bene supplyed by your owne presence the which howbeit earnestly desired yet could not be obtained saying that your directions were sufficient And yet it was told me that coming to his house to speake with some at the Assises you promised him great kindnesse Now is the time of triall your friend in danger of his life requesteth and earnestly intreateth your ayde and best assistance with your personall presence he entrusts you with his life and yet will you not affoord him your presence Your golden promises produce scarce leaden effects Is this the kindnesse to your friend Why vndertooke ye the cure of him whom you had no purpose to see if intreated Besides the patient was of sufficient abilitie to giue you satisfaction If there be hope of a good bootie your presence will not be wanting witnesse your voyage into Leicestershire in Sommer 1623. to a patient of yours who howbeit he died before your coming yet were your fees more then doubled and yet master Parson must not be called couetous Now besides the Iaundise the Hicket in acute diseases euen in the iudgement of the vulgar and most ignorant but especially after so vnseasonable a vomit must needs presage some great euill to ensue And suppression of vrine concurring with other dangerous signes maketh the danger yet apparent And yet the Parson hopeth the worst is past But how came it to passe that all your twelue houses in the heauens forgot you at this time and made you become a lying Prophet Where were all your maligne aspects Luno Lucinafer opem Will neither Mercurie nor the Moone who are nearest come to your aide And where was old frostie father gray-beard Saturne I meane and angrie Mars I adhere to none of your iuggling Genethliacks and yet besides the former signes I could reade death in our patients eyes yea and in some motions of his hands c. better then the vrine and all the caelestiall Orbes could tell you But many other such pranks are played by your selfe and others that are partakers with you in the same offence wherewith I would be loth to enlarge this Treatise But master Parson make more account of mens liues and discharge more conscionably that calling from which you take the denomination and yet busie your selfe too little about it I haue neuer heard much commendation of your diligent preaching not so much as in season farre lesse yet out of season And as for your care in this other profession this our Patients friends and this whole Corporation haue no great cause to magnifie it But it is not much to bee maruelled at that he who setteth so light by the soule makes as small account of the body but for his owne benefit And how many of yours and others such beneficed mens errors are buried in the bosome of the earth howsoeuer your adherents may cry out Great is Diana of the Ephesians Let the iudicious Reader iudge then whether all Physicks sufficiency be couered vnder a Clergy mans Cassocke But we hope the Reuerend Fathers of the Church will confine you within your owne Orbes or at the least enforce you to resigne the one wholly and betake your selues to the other A Prelate of prime note of late yeares as I am informed and yet liuing and long may he liue gaue one of these Pragmaticall Ministers his choice to which of the two he would betake himselfe and he hauing found in his owne experience this to be true Dat Galenus opes being forced forsooke his Pastorall charge which affoorded him not aboue fiftie pounds yearely comming in But now to the maine matter in hand againe The second branch of the manner of pissing is inuoluntary pissing which commeth to passe either in sicknes or in health And in sicknesse it commeth to passe by reason of the hurt weaknesse or decay of the retentiâ—e facultie of the passages of the vrine as kidneyes bladder c. as commeth to passe in the Palsie Apoplexy and Falling sicknesse And in the pissing euill called Diabete this commeth likewise to passe And againe when the Muscle Sphincter shutting the necke of the bladder or sinewes helping thereto are hurt either by a fall a wound or some such other occasion and sometimes againe in reasonable good health they are weakned by meanes of some cold distemper or too much moisture as commeth to passe in children and moist constitutions Drinesse sometimes is likewise said to produce the like effect in old age And some perturbations of the mind as great and sudden feare and astonishment make men often void not the vrine onely but other excrements also against their will And yet were our Pisse-Prophets neuer able by any such vrine onely to finde out the true cause of any such infirmitie That this proueth also often a dangerous if not deadly signe in acute diseases I could by many instances both of my owne and other mens obseruations make it appeare but that now I feare I haue too much abused thy patience courteous Reader and therefore I hasten to the conclusion if thou wilt giue me leaue to talke a word or two by the way with Master Alchymist CHAP. X. Of the fond and foolish opinion concerning the distillation of Vrines of the water of separation together with the vncertaintie of iudgement by such meanes THE Aschymists well perceiuing this vecertaintie affoorded vs by this signe haue set their wits a worke another way One of their great Masters Thuenheuserus by name to the
the least if not of murther and therefore is not a thing so slightly to be passed ouer as many may idlely imagine But me thinkes I heare some of the vulgar sort who thinke it a prettie thing to heare one prate ouer an vrine obiect That our censure seemeth too sharpe since that daily experience doth not deny that some haue from the inspection of the vrine often attained to the knowledge of that they desired Now as I denie not but that sometimes one may through hap as we say hit the naile on the head so on the other part that this manner of casuall coniecture hath euer bene allowed of by the learned and more iudicious I do vtterly denie If Christians would hold their peace yet will the heathen pleade on my side The Poet wished them a bad successe whosoeuer iudged of an action according to the issue or euent Besides that it is often a fallacie a non causa pro causa making the ignorant beleeue they see that in or by an vrine which neuer had allowance of any learned authoritie And may not any ignorant Empiricke a cozening Quacksaluer or any old woman now and then guesse aright at an vrine and by cunning interrogatories and some other shifts learne of the vnwarie messenger as well the substance as the circumstances of the disease at least as farre as they are able to relate And this to be true hath bene sufficiently prooued alreadie Besides that oftentimes the messenger himselfe cannot sufficiently informe the Physitian concerning the particular circumstances of the disease and againe his owne ocular inspection often bringeth that to the eyes of his vnderstanding which neither the messenger nor yet the patient himselfe were euer able to relate and farre lesse the vrine make knowne What hast thou then gained when one of these vnsufficient persons hath told thee some truth by the vrine To wit that then thy conceit carrieth thee howbeit most erroniously and falsly to apprehend some extraordinarie sufficiencie in that person as being best able to free thee from thine infirmitie Thus then we see Vno dato absurdo mulâ—a sequuntur One errour draweth on another The prosperous euent sometimes seconding their bold attempts inuolueth the vulgar daily in this dangerous errour But arguments taken from euent haue neuer had allowance where the rules of reason might take place And if this argument from euent may take place then will this absurditie thereon ensue that we shall be forced to allow of many vnlawfull things Many Witches and Wizards haue sometimes performed such cures as haue often astonished some of great vnderstanding that I say nothing of our Spelmongers curing by characters figure-casting with a world of other forbidden trash Are we therefore warranted by these actions to turne our backe vpon God and make a couenant with his enemie The diuell himselfe no doubt as well in the ancient Oracles as of later dayes hath sometimes told truth I should be too tedious to instance in examples But did not that counterfeit Samuel to wit the diuell himselfe tell Saul the whole truth both concerning the euent of the battell and his owne wofull and wretched end But who will notwithstanding maintaine the lawfulnesse of asking counsell at the diuels Oracles but he who meaneth to haue his habitation with him in hell Farre sounder was the opinion of a Noble man of this kingdome in these words Examples which fall out by chance were neuer currant where the cause is to be iustifyed by reason And therefore till a man can as readily produce a certaine ground to make his guesses good as score vp a register of blind euents we may rather commend his lucke then his learning Reasons and arguments saith a Heathen must be produced for the confirmation of mens courses and not examples of euents both casuall and vncertaine So farre were the ancient Aegyptians from maintaining this opinion and so carefull of mens liues reiecting this coniecturall casuall and Empiricall manner of curing diseases and iudging of the sufficiency of the Physitian by the euent or issue of the disease That at their owne cost and charges they maintained many sufficient and skilfull Physitians and moreouer set downe an inuiolable law and or dinance That if any Physitian following the precepts and rules of art recorded in the bookes of the learned in that profession yet could not attaine to the height of his hopes the Patient through the violence of the disease yeelding to fatall necessitie he was then freed from all danger of law On the other part if he recouered his Patient yet neglecting the aforesaid rules and meanes his punishment was no lesse then the losse of his life What if saith mine Author this wholesome law were brought in amongst vs as it were good reason it should where could we find so many executioners condignely to punish such Impostors Empiricks Women-Physitians busie-bodies c. Thus farre our Author Now as concerning such remedies thus casually and vnskilfully administred howsoeuer at sometimes they may either doe or at least seeme to doe some good which I will not deny yet I am sure they do often more hurt then good more hurt then on the sudden is perceiued many often praising them for the Authors of their health who haue bene the instruments of their vtter ouerthrow ruine for howbeit the Patient reape some present ease yet is his body by meanes of such medicines vnskilfully exhibited left more infirme and becommeth afterwards more crasie their cure being imperfect accidentall vncertaine and voyd of rule and reason And howbeit I could make this small Tractate swell vp into a big and voluminous booke if I should instance in a many of these casuall cures performed by Empiricks and such others which for feare of tediousnesse and prolixitie I am loth to go about yet before I make an end I will offer to the Readers view two or three Stories During my abode at Paris one Master Robin ouer-seer of the Garden of Simples related vnto me this which followeth A few yeares agoe saith he the plague of Pestilence preuailing daily more and more in this famous Cittie of Paris whereof no small numbers especially of the meaner sort died daily the learned Physitians did their best endeuours when their counsell was craued and the ignorant Empiricks also were not idle Amongst the rest was a certaine countrey Clowne carried on the wings of Fame for his extraordinarie supposed skill in curing this disease who was said to haue cured more then some of the most expert Physitians The Duchesse of Longueuille being acquainted with these occurrents sendeth for her Physitian desirous to know the cause of so happie successes by so meane a person performed which howbeit alwayes aymed at yet are not alwayes attained vnto by men of greater merit The Physitian well knowing the insufficiencie of this fellow yet not fully acquainted with the particulars and withall knowing how much is
commonly attributed to these casuall euents answered onely in generall at that instant that many things seeme often otherwise then they are indeed and false fame maketh some men famous whose names deserue rather to be buried in obliuion and after some further discourse concerning that subiect all which notwithstanding would not satisfie her more then nice curiositie he taketh his leaue for the present A few dayes after causing carefully to watch and obserue the actions of this Aesculapius he was obserued to go to a certaine place within two little leagues of Paris called Bois de Vincennes that is Vincence wood and there to dig vp certaine rootes The Physitian therewith acquainted resorteth thither with speed and finds that it was nothing else but a certaine kind of Spurge whereof there grew in that place and about no small store whereof this Clowne had at seuerall times digged vp great store easily discerned by the holes there round about that place some being but new digged After a narrow search he found that most of those whom this new Aesculapius was said to haue cured either died after a certaine time of a bloudie Fluxe this violent medicine hauing procured an excoriation in their guts being especially exhibited without any preparation of the ill qualitie or obseruation of the due dose or quantitie or else that they liued a languishing life worse then a speedie dispatch by a sudden death from whose mercilesse clawes notwithstanding this former Purgatorie was not able to free some of them The Physitian repairing againe to the Duchesse acquainteth her Grace with these seuerall circumstances as also that it seemed most of those people were able strong and cacochymicall bodies who would preferre the counsell of this Clowne before that of the learned and iudicious Physitian The issue notwithstanding did make it appeare that if any did recouer it came not to passe through his skill or sufficiencie which as seemeth was none at all but by the strength of nature able to expell both the Plague and the poyson of the medicine The learned and iudicious Physitians againe met for the most part with thin and tender bodies brought vp in ease and idlenesse and for this cause aptest to receiue the poysoned impressions of the pestilentiall aire and therefore the disease prouing greater then the meanes were able to ouercome the patients were often forced to faint vnder the burthen Neither were such dangerous or râ—ther desperate meanes as this Empiricke vsed in their opinions to be administred to any much lesse to persons of qualitie and weake constitution The Noble woman hauing heard the Physitians apologie was afterwards better pleased with her Physitian and after that time conceiued a better opinion both of the Art and the professors of the same I was likewise informed during my abode at Leua in Germanie of many rare cures seemed to be performed by that medicine which they call the Philosophers stone Aurum potabile and many other such hyperbolicall medicines exhibited by the Paracelsists of those parts And yet most of them to whom they were exhibited before the full period of a twelue moneth went to visite their friends in another world and little better successe for the most part had their maister Paracelsus himselfe Some few yeares before my coming to this towne of Northampton a certaine Empiricke and Irish by nation was accounted one of the most famous vrine-mongers in all the countrey about but especially in telling whether women were with child or no. And yet his skill in Physicke was confined to one forme of purge composed of a certaine portion of the Electuarie DiaphoenicoÌ„ mingled with so much powder of Diagridium as he could take vp betweene his finger his thomb which were his ordinary weights and scales as I 〈◊〉 since by our Apothecarie informed by which his butcher like boldnesse he cast many into most dangerous laskes accompanyed sometimes with diuerse other euill accidents as I haue heard since from some of themselues and this chiefly was then to be seene when this medicine was exhibited to thinne and weake bodies Now howbeit I could instance in a number of other examples all tending to the same purpose yet fearing too much to offend the Readers patience referring them to some opportunitie I thinke it is now high time to turne my sailes towards the shore and to cast anchor for the present And the assembling of so many sage Senators according to the ancient and laudable custome of this kingdome to apply fit salues to the festered sores of the same putteth me in good hope of some redresse as well of the abuses here complained of as of diuers other disorders I am not indeed ignorant that affaires of high consequence are to be handled in this honorable assemblie And yet I hope the life of man is not a matter of smallest moment Agitur de corto humano Skinne for skinne and all that a man hath will he giue for his life Let this Gangrene therefore in time be looked to lest it grow to a greater euill Since therefore errors of this kind are so full of danger as hath bene both in the precedent now in this present discourse plainly prooued both by a great and smaller enquest of such persons with whose worth the delinquents I am sure dare not compare I wish it may not be forgotten Sed verbum sat sapienti A word yea a nod is enough to a wise man And therefore I leaue it to your Honourable considerations CONSIDER THE MATTER CONSVLT AND GIVE SENTENCE FINIS Faults escaped Pag. 5. line 2. for would reade could p. 13. l. 29. r. stincking vrine p. 16. marg note l. 8. r. victu p. 21. l. 12. r. deliration p. 23. l. 17. r. pot-dropsie l. 29. r. retaining and marg note l. 2. r. Fo rs p. 33. l. 13. r. of a high p. 33. marg note l. 20. r. à vitiosa p. 39. r. an absurditie p. 55. l. 29. r. foure pounds p. 70. l. 36. r. winie colour p. 77. l. 5. diseases alone * The honorable Court of Parliament The right vse of vrines Foolish custom of the countrey people The pulse in many diseases to be preferred before the vrine Quandâ—que bâ—nus dormitat Hâ—merus Horat. Casuall cures sometimes succeeding do not proue a sufficiencie in the parâ—ies thus practiâ—ing a An vsual ordinaâ—ie custome to browbeat ouerthrow errors and imposture and to pleade for truth b This Panacaea was a certaine medicine made of saffron quick siluer vermilion antimonie and certaine sea shels made vp in fashion of triangular lozenges stamped and sealed with certaine strange characters and sold at a very deare rate the very name importing asmuch as a medicine against all diseases and was in as great or greater esteeme among the Germanes as euer Aurum potabile once here amongst our selues Liban contra Ambald defens syntagm aâ—can chym contra Henuingum Scheunem c D. Gwin D. Raâ—igh against aurum potabile D.