the moderate use of Venery is healthful his excrements must be voided iâ— due time and if Nature be deficient herein Arâ— must be used his sleep must be moderate and his minde pleased Of Rheum RHeum in Latine called Catarrhus is a distillation commonly taking a deflux of humors and excrements from the head or brain into the other parts of the body and because thâ— brain is of a cold and a moist nature and dotâ— want plenty of nourishment by reason of thâ— largeness thereof so likewise it doth breed many excrements and the slight distemper being cold and moist will further it for vapors senâ— from the lower parts get up thither and these being thickned by reason of the brains thinness are entertained and even as these superfluous humors are sent back again to some one or other part of the body oftentimes in the first Ventricle if they do not offend much in quantity and then they are soonest purged by the Pallat sometimes they spread through divers places when they flow too much and then they are voided at the Nose Pallat Ears or Eyes and they do often fall into the Stomach and Lungs from whence several diseases are occasioned The Brain is most affected as may appear by those things which are voided at the Mouth Nose and Pallat and then it is a more continual disease neither is any hurt of any other part perceived whereby it may be cherisht but while it is caused by other parts of the body it will the better be known by its proper signs This is an affection which is caused by moderate excretion if the excrements of the head fall on the Lungs it doth cause for the most part hardness of breathing and a great Cough and Hoarseness bringing pain and soreness to the aforenamed places the hot distemper of the brain is sometimes the cause the great weakness thereof being oftentimes the cause sometimes it is occasioned from the brains cold and moist distemper for then the nutriments conveighed to the brain are not well digested whereby many superfluities are gathered and store of excrements lodged in the brain Surfeits and too much fulness encreases this Disease or by too much sleep also by the weakness of the digestive and expulsive faculty of the brain If the humor fall from the head to the nose it is but a small grief if to the throat worse if to the lungs worst of all for the lungs are in danger of being exulcerated from whence comes a Consumption the Winter season is very obnoxious to this disease because of the uncertainty of the weather The air the Patient lives in should be moderately hot and rainy weather as also Northern and Southern blasts must be avoided his meat must be very easie of digestion and such as breeds good blood his sleep must be moderate and sometimes in the day time his head must be so covered that neither too much cold nor too much heat offend it his body must daily either by art or nature be emptied of excrements he must use moderate exercise and shun the passions of minde Of the Pain of the Stomach THe pain of the Stomach called Cardialgia is a painful sense of the mouth of the stomach caused by a biting matter This distemper hath an affinity with the Disease called Cardaica passio which is in like manner a Disease oâ— the mouth of the stomach caused by corrupt humors and such as are biting and violent which either came from some other place or else werâ— there generated and gathered together Thâ— Cardaica passio differs from this Disease becausâ— this is caused by biting humors but that is caused by virulent humors venomous and so malign that a very hot and sharp Feaver accompanies it The mouth of the Stomach is primarily affected the heart being hereby hurt because of the nearness a pinching pain with biting and fretting being felt under the Breasts grissels In this Disease there is a gnawing biting and pricking of the stomach there is an oppressing pain there whereby the Patient breaths with difficulty sometimes the belly doth cast out the chollerick stuff and sometimes he doth vomit choller a Feaver seldom comes with this In this Disease the appetite is abated the Patient is in more pain before then after meat this Disease is often caused by sadness for by those causes Choller comes into the stomach whereby bitings and gnawings are caused sometimes by inflamation or by sharp or phlegmy humors if this Disease comes without a Feaver it is less dangerous Let the air the Patient lives in be cold either by art or nature his meat easie of digestion and such as is least subject to corruption rest asswages the pain his sleep must be moderate â—is belly must be rendred answerable to nature â—erturbations of his minde are to be shunned especially choller Of the Gout THe Joynt-Gout is a feebleness of the Joynts and pain coming upon them at several diâ—â—ances of time for the most part it is caused by 〈◊〉 Flux which windeth it self betwixt the Ligaments Films and Tendons of the Joynts for in this disease the Joynts do first receive the Humor which at length doth insinuate into the Films adjoyning sometimes there is a Gout in the fingers sometimes in the knee sometimes in the hips from whence it spreads it self to the Thighs Calves of the Legs and to the end of the Feet yet this Gout sticks not in the Hip but is fastned above the Hip at the toâ— of the Buttock if the Gout stick in the feet ' tiâ— called Podagra or the Feet-Gout whether it bâ— in the ankles soles of the feet or great toeâ— joynt sometimes it seizes on the shoulder-joynts and turning-joynts of the Back-bone oâ— Chine sometimes not any knitting of thâ— bones is free from this pain The parts affecteâ— are the joynts tendons ligaments films of thâ— parts of the body which either knit or inviron the bones are here affected and sometimes thâ— Membranes are filled and stretcht the Patient iâ— tormented for a long space when this Diseasâ— doth first surprize him yet the pain is but little by the use of evil diet almost all the joynts oâ— his body suffering alike sometimes not one parâ— of the body being free from this Disease In thâ— Feet or Hip-Gout for the most part no swellinâ— doth appear but in the Hand and Knee-Gout swelling redness and heat by extream pains aâ— easily to be perceived sometimes an inflamatâ—on is caused and then the appetite is lost anâ— the Patient is troubled with watchings and Feaver The cause of every Joynt-Gout is foâ— the most part great store of phlegmatick humors or some other humors overflowing in the greater Veins the Liver and Head so that the parts are therewith surcharged and that these parts may likewise be free of this burthen they do cast these excrements upon the joynts ligaments and tendons and films whereby they are filled stretcht and weakned There are four causes of these superfluities of humors the
is the most convenientest I will speak first of it This kind is no other then a certain descending down of the Intestines in Scrotum the cause of the which is when the Peretoneum is broken or relaxed in the place where the Spermatick vessels do pass which comes commonly by some vehement strain as by vehement running leaping lifting or vehement crying and such other like the signes to know when the Intestines is descended into Scrotum is when he lies they will easily be put up again without any manner of trouble or may be reduced the Patient standing with ones hands and in the reducing you shall hear a gurguling or noise and by this you may know it from Zirbus because that when the Zirbus is put up it makes no noise and also it is not so painful the other signes shall be declared when we come to speak of the Herni Zirbale When this kind is not very farre gone and that it be not compleat the best way is to cure it by Medicines as well to be taken inwards as to be applyed without that is to say with emplaisters and so by convenient trussing and boulstering steept in the Juyce of Herbs convenient 〈◊〉 Ruptures which are of astringent and glutinative â—aculty I have seen many by these aforesaid Medicines have been perfectly cured yet nevertheless if for the oldness of it that it be not to be cured by these means then you must come to the last remedy which is by cutting for the executing of the which I wish all men to chuse an expert Chyrurgeon and not to trust too much to these Runners about and as for this kinde it may be cut without taking away of the Testicle Of Herni Zirbale HErni Zirbale which the Greeks do call Epiplocele is another thing then the falling of Zirbus which is a grease that covereth the Guts into Scrotum the which most commonly falls within Didimes but yet sometimes by the breaking of the Didimes it falls out the causes as well inward as outward are the same which cause Herni Intestinale for look how the Peretoneum is broken or relaxed in the other even so doth it in this the signes are much like also saving that it is much more softer for in the touching it handleth like Wool and is also less painful and it is more difficult to put up then the Herni Intestinale and in the reducing makes no noise this kind is less dangerous then the others by reason that the pain is less and also because that the excrement is not in it as it is in the Herni Intestinale Now here is a special thing to be noted in this kind which the common cutters do use that is they do use to cut away the Zirbus which is discended within Didime without either tying or cautrising and so there followeth a flux of Blood which having no issue but is retained in the belly there doth corrupt which causeth most perilous accidents and most commonly death Of the relaxation of the Peretonium called Herni Inguinale HErni Inguinale is a descending of the Intestines or Zirbus into the Groins which the Latines call Inguina the which sort doth never go further then the Groin for when the Intestines or Zirbus doth pass thorow the Peretoneum then it is either Intestinale or Zirbale for this kind is nothing but a relaxation of the Peretoneum The causes are as of the others aforesaid and it is easily to be known by the roundness and it will be more easily reduced then any of the others you may know when the Intestines is descended by noise that it will make though not commonly yet most oftennest as hath been said of Enterocele but if it be the Zirbus it makes no noise and is much more softer and not so painful Of the kinds of Hernies which be by similitudes or improperly called WE have spoken of those three kinds of Herni which are properly called now it remains â—o speak of the five kinds which are by similitudes and first we will begin with the Aquose which is no other thing then a certain watrish tumor of Croton increased by little and little and for the most part lies between Heritroides and the Spermatick vessels howbeit sometimes it may be contained between Dartos and Heritroides and between Dartos and the Scrotum as many learned men have written the signes are that the Scrotum doth wax big by little and little and for the most part without pain and the tumor is heavy and glistering and hard principally when the Scrotum is filled it waxes in length and doth not return as doth the Intestinale and Zirbale but remains at one stay This kind if that the water have long lien there and so corrupted the Testicle it must be taken away Of Herni Charneuse HErni Charneuse which the Greeks do call Sarcocele is a tumor against nature in the Scrotum which there doth grow to a certain scireuse flesh and doth much resemble the Verequeses or Swelled Veins the causes of the which are by the gathering together of abundance of gross humors which nature cannot rule because of the weakness the signes are unequable hardness and inflamation which doth alwayes remain in the part that is to say the Didime and doth alwayes increase with pain being unequal and not even wherefore Guido saith that this kinde and Vanqueuse are very dangerous Hernie Verequese HErnie Verequese is an appearance of Veins not accustomed about the Testicles and other parts contained within Scrotum The causes are gross humors gathered together as melanchollick blood and such like which nature cannot disperse because of weakness The signs are repletion of the Veins about like to the twigs of Vines with softness of the Testicle or Dideme This kinde if it be not very great and far gone it may be healed by solutive Medicines The Hernie Ventose HErnie Ventose is a tumor of the Cods increased by winde and from the imbecillity or weakness of the part affected it is known by the swelling of the Cods and Yard which glistereth like unto a slikt paper it comes suddenly and is round and light if that there be not another humor joyned with it It is to be cured with Carnificatives as Oleum Nucum Oleum Anethinum Costinum c. And there may be added too of Seeds and Herbs as Semen Anisi Carvi Faeniculi Agni casti Ruta Calaminta Origani c. Hernie Humorale HErnie Humorale is an Aposthume contained likewise in the Cods which is ingendred of humors hot and cold not much declining from the natural habit which may lie between Scrotum and Dartos or between Heretroydes and Dartos or onely within Heritroydes as for the causes the signs and curation are like to other Aposthumes Now that I have declared the definition causes and signs of Hernies it shall not be amiss to expound in few words those parts which must be opened when any of these kindes are cured by handy operation and this is
Eggs and Milk is not good for him he must abstain from eating of fresh Beef and from eating of Goose Duck water Fowl and Pigeons and in no wise to eat Venison not Hare-flesh and such like Diet for those that are troubled with the Falling-sickness WHosoever hath any of the kindes of Falling-sickness he must abstain from eating of white meats especially of milk he must refrain from drinking of Wine new Ale and strong Ale to eat the fatness of fish nor the heads of fish the which ingenders Rhume shell fish Eels Salmon Herring and Viscus fishes are not good for Epilentick persons also such must refrain from eating of Garlick Onions Leeks Chibols and all Vaporous meats the which do hurt the head Venison Hare-flesh Beef Beans and Pease are not good and if they know that they are infected with this great sickness they should not resort where there is great store of company as in the Church Sessions or Market places if they do the sickness will infect them more there then in any other place or at any other time they must beware they do not sit too nigh the fire for the fire will overcome them and will induce the disease they must beware of lying too hot in bed or to labour extreamly for such things cause the grief to come the ofter Diet for the Head Ache MAny sicknesses or infirmities and impediments may be in a mans head wherefore whosoever hath any distemper in the head must not keep the head too hot nor too cold but in an equal temper to beware of ingendring of Rhume which is the cause of many infirmities there is nothing that doth ingender Rhume so much as doth the fatness of fish and the heads of fish and surfeits and taking cold in the feet and taking cold in the nape of the neck or head also they which have an infirmity in the head must refrain from immoderate sleep specially after meat also they must abstain from drinking of wine and use not to drink Ale and Beer the which is over strong vociferation hallowing crying and high singing is not good for the head all things the which are vaporours or do fume are not good for the head all things the which are of evil savour as carrion sinks wide draughts piss-bowls snuff of candles dunghills stinking channels and stinking standing waters and stinking marshes with such contagious Airs doth hurt the head the brain and memory all odoriferous savours are good for the head the brain and the memory Diet in a Consumption HE that is in a consumption must abstain from all sowre and tart things as Vinegar and Alegar and such like and also he must abstain from eating of gross meats the which are hard and slow of digestion and use cordials and restoratives and nutrative meats all meats and drinks the which are sweet and that sugar is in are nutrative wherefore sweet wines are good for them the which are in consumptions moderately taken and sowre Wine sowre Ale and sowre Beer are naught for they fret away nature and let them beware that be in a Consumption of fried and burnt meat which is over rosted and in any wise let them shun anger and pensiveness These things following are good for a Consumption a Pig or a Cock stewed and made in a Jelly Cockrels stewed Goats Milk and Sugar Almond Milk in the which Rice is sodden and Rabbets stewed c. Diet for those that are short winded SHortness of winde cometh divers times of Impediments in the Lungs and streightness in the Breast opilated through viscus Phlegm when the head is stuffed with Rhume called the Pus stoppeth the breath of his natural course wherefore he that hath shortness of breach must abstain from eating of Nuts especially if they be old Cheese and Milk is not good for such no more is Fish and Fruit raw nor crude Herbs Also all manner of meat which is hard of digestion they must refrain from eating of Fish especially from eating Fish which will cleave to the fingers and is viscus and Phlegmy and in any wise to beware of the skins of Fish and of all manner of meat the which doth ingender Phlegm Also they must beware of cold and when any house is a sweeping to go out of the house for a space into a clean air The dust also that riseth in the Streets through the vehemence of the wind or otherwise is bad for them smoak is evil for them and so is all things that are stopping Wherefore it is expedient for them to be kept laxative Diet for the Palsie THey which have the Palsie universal or particular must beware of anger testiness and of too much passion whether of fear or otherwise for through anger or fear divers times the Palsie doth come also they must beware of Drunkenness and eating of Nuts coldness contagious and stinking and filthy airs of lying upon the ground the savour of Castory and the savour of a Fox is good against the Palsie Diet for Mad Folks THere is none which hath any of the kindes of Madness but they ought to be kept up for divers inconveniences that may otherwise happen to be confined in some close house or chamber where there is no light and that he have a Keeper the which the mad man doth fear See that he hath no knife nor shears nor other edge-tool nor that he have no girdle except it be a weak list of cloth for hurting himself Also the chamber or house that the mad man is in let there be no painted clothes nor painted walls nor pictures of man or woman or fowl or beast for such things maketh them full of fantasies let the mad persons head be shaven once a moneth let them drink no Wine nor strong Ale nor strong Beer but moderate drink and let them have three times in a day warm Broth and a little warm Meat use few words to them except it be for reprehension or gentle reformation if they have any wit or perceiverance to understand otherwise they must be kept under with sharper correction Diet for the Dropsie THe learned agree that the more one drinks that hath the Dropsie the more he is a thirst for although the sickness doth come by superabundance of water yet the Liver is dry whether it be Alchites Iposarca Lencofflegmancia or the Timpany They that have any of these four kindes of Dropsies must refrain from all things which be constupate and costive and use all things which are laxative Nuts and dry Almonds and hard Cheese are poison to them Of ordering of Surfeits GAlen declaring on Ipocrates Aphorisme of eating too much meat saith More meat then agrees with nature is called Repletion or a Surfeit A Surfeit is taken as well by gurgitations too much drinking as by epulation of eating of crude meat or of more meat then suffices or can be truly digested Or else Repletion or a Surfeit is when the stomach is forced or stuffed or repleated with too
fore-part of all manner of beasts and fowls are more hotter and lighter of digestion then the hinder parts are The marrow of all beasts are hot and moist are nutritive if well digested they mollifie the stomach and take away the appetite wherefore one should eat Pepper with it The blood of all beasts and fowls are not wholesome but hard of digestion All the inwards of beasts and of fowls as the heart the liver the lungs tripes trilibubs with all the entrails is hard of digestion and doth encrease gross humors The fat of flesh is not so much nutritive as the lean it is best when lean and fat is mixt one with another The tongues of beasts are hard of digestion and of little nourishment The stones of a Cockrel and stones of other beasts are very nourishing Of roasted boiled bak't fried meats BEyond Sea at the Universities boiled meat is used at dinner and roast to supper as boiled meat is lighter of digestion Broiled meats are hard of digestion and naught for the Stone fried meat is harder of digestion then broiled it ingenders Choller and Melancholly Bak't meat buried in paste is not praised in Physick All manner of flesh which is inclined to humidity should be roasted and all flesh which is dry should be boiled Fish may be sod roasted broiled and baken every one after their kinde and use and fashion of the Countrey as the Cook and the Physician may agree and devise For a good Cook is half a Physician Of the Roots of Borage and Bugloss THe Roots of Borage and Bugloss sod tender and made in a succade do ingender good blood and a wholesom temperance Of Elisaunder and Elina Campane THe Root of Alisaunder sod tender and made in a succade is good for to destroy the Stone in the Reins of the Back and Bladder the Roots of Elina Campane sod tender in a succade is good for the breast for the lungs and for all the interial members of man Of Parsley and Fennel THe Roots of Parsley sod tender and made in succade are good for the Stone and to make a man piss Fennel sod is good for the lungs and the sight Of Turnips and Parsnips TUrnips boiled and eaten with flesh augments the seed if they be eaten raw and moderately they provoke a good appetite Parsnips sod doth encrease nature and are nutritive and expels urine Of Raddish and Carrets RAddish roots doth break winde and do provoke urine but they be not good for those which have the Gout Carrets sod augment and encrease nature and cause urine Of the Roots of Rapes RApe roots if they be well boiled nourish if they be moderately eaten immoderately they ingender ventosity and offend the stomach Of Onions ONions provoke to Venery and Sleep and if a man drink sundry drinks they rectifie and reform the variety of the operation of them they cause a good appetite Of Leeks LEeks open the breast and provoke urine cause and encrease bad blood Of Garlick GArlick of all roots is much used in France and some other Countreys it opens the breast and it doth kill wormes in the belly which the Lumbrici Ascarides and Cutuibicini which are small little long worms that tickle in the fundament it also heats the body and desolves gross winds Of Cabbage CAto in his book De re rustica writes too highly in praise of Cabbages as he judges them to be a sufficient medicine against all diseases some are of opinion if they are eat raw before meat with Vinegar that they preserve the stomach from Surfeits and the brain from drunkenness this I am certain of that if they are constantly eat they injure the sight except the eyes are very moist they cause and break winde the opinion of most writers is that they are not so wholesom as Lettice being hot in the first and dry in the second degree Of Asparagrass NO kinde of Herbs nourish more being freed from their bitterness and eaten hot they are temperately moist and exceed not in heat the first degree they increase Venery strengthen the Liver and help conception Of Musk Melons MUsk Melons are not so moist or cold as the ordinary sort of Melons are they ingender better blood and descend more speedily into the belly fruits of this kinde are dangerous not to be eaten presently out of the ground but rather let them lie a week though that they are ripe that there watrish moisture may be abated Garden Pompeons and Melons may lie in a warm Kitching till Christmas Of Potata Roots POtata roots nourish mightily either Sod Bak't or rosted the newest and heaviest are the best they ingender much flesh blood and seed Of Raddishes RAddishes cause rank belchings are hardly digested they burn the blood ingender Lice cause Leanness spoil the eye-sight and corrupt the whole mass of nourishment Of Skirret Roots SKirret Roots have a long string within them which taken away before they are sod makes them eat exceeding sweet they are of a milde and temperate nature agreeing with complexions did we know all the vertues of them they would be more nourished then they are in our Gardens Of Borage and Bugloss BOrage doth comfort the heart ingender good blood and causeth mirth so doth Bugloss which is taken of more vigour strength and efficacy Of Artechokes and Rokat THere is nothing usually to be eaten of Artechokes but the heads of them when they are almost ripe sodden tender in the broth of Beef or with Beef eat them at dinner they increase nature and provoke Venery Rokat doth increase the seed stumulate the flesh and doth help digestion Of Succory and Endive SUccory doth help the Stomach and keep the head in temper and qualifie Choller Endive is good for them which have hot and dry hot Stomachs Of white Beets and Purslane WHite Beets are good for the Liver and for the Spleen are abstercine Purslane doth abate the ardor of lasciviousness and mittigates heat in the inward parts of the head and eyes if preserved in brine it heats and purges the stomach it is cold in the third degree and moist in the second Of Time and Parsley TIme breaketh the Stone desolves winde and causeth Urine Parsley breaks the Stone causeth Urine is good for the Stomach and causeth a sweet breath Of Lettice and Sorrel LEttice extincts Venery causeth milk in womens Breasts it is good for a hot Stomach provokes sleep increases blood temperates it Sorrel is good for a hot Liver and also for the Stomach being sod it looseth the belly in the time of the Plague taken fasting sucking or chewing some of the Leaves it preserues against infection the seeds thereof brewed and drunk with Wine and water are good against the Chollick and the stopping of Fluxes excellent against overcharged Stomachs Sorrel possets are soveraign in sundry distempers This Herb is cold in the third and dry in the second degree Of Marigolds MArigolds the Herb and Flowers are of great use with us amongst other
English it is as thâ— Latine word soundeth we may call it Herb Aâ—gel or The Angelical or Angel-like Herb. 〈◊〉 what occasion this excellent name was first giâ—â— unto it I know not unless it were for the â—â—cellent Vertues thereof or for that God made 〈◊〉 known to man by the ministry of an Angel I suppose the former cause rather to be true howsoever as I am not able to prove the other so I think no man can give any good reason to the contrary For this we know that God hath made his Angels ministring Spirits to serve us for the safeguard of our souls and also of our bodies But upon what occasion soever the name was given it is excellent and so are the properties Angelica is hot and dry at least in the third degree All the later Writers agree upon this and experience proveth the same that it is gooâ— against Poison pestilent Airs and the Pestilence it self The Practicioners of Germany writâ— thus of it If any man be suddenly taken either with the Pestilence or with any Pestilent Ague with too much sweating let him drink of the powder of the root half a dram mingled with a dram of Tâ—eacle in three or four spoonfuls of the water of Angelica distilled from the roots and after his going to bed covering himself well â—t him fast at the least three hours after which if he do he will begin to sweat and by â—he help of God he shall be cured of his disâ—ase For lack of Treacle one may take a whole â—ram of the Root of Angelica in powder with 〈◊〉 much of the distilled Water as aforesaid 〈◊〉 â—ill have the same effect The Root of Angelica well steeped in Vineâ—â—r and smelt to in time of the Pestilence 〈◊〉 the same Vinegar being sometime drunk â—â—ing preserveth from infection But in my â—â—dgement it is better to take an Orenge or â—emon cut off the top pick out the meat prick full of small holes put into it a piece of spunge 〈◊〉 fine linen cloth dipped in the foresaid Vineâ—â—r and smell unto it The water distilled out of the roots of Anâ—â—lica or the powder of the same is good against â—â—awing and pains of the belly occasioned with â—â—ld if the body be not bound withall It is â—od against all inward diseases as the Pleurisie 〈◊〉 the beginning before the heat of the inflamaâ—â—â—n be come into the body for that it dissolveth 〈◊〉 scattereth abroad such humors as use to cause â—â—e Pleurisie Moreover it is good for the disâ—ases 〈◊〉 the Lungs if they come of a cold cause and 〈◊〉 the Strangurian if from a cold cause or of a â—â—pping It is good for a woman that is in traâ—â— It expelleth winde that is in the body and â—eth the pain that cometh from the fame The 〈◊〉 â—t may be sod in wine or water as the nature â—he sick requireth The juice of the root put into an hollow tooth taketh away the ache the same effect hath the distilled water being put in at the ear The juice and water of Angelica quickens the eye sight and breaks the little films that cover the eyes causing darkness of the sight Of the roots of Angelica and Pitch may be made a good Emplaister against the bitings of mad beasts The water the juyce or the powder of this root sprinkled upon the diseased place 〈◊〉 a very good remedy against old and deep foreâ—â— For they do scour and clense them and cover the bones with flesh The water of the same in a cold cause is good to be laid on places diseased with the Gout and Sciatica For it stancheth the pain and melteth away the tough humors that are gathered together The seed is of like vertue with the root The wilde Angelica that groweth here in the low woods and by the water-side is not of such vertue as the other is howbeit the Chyrurgeons use to seethe the root of it in Wine to heal green wounds Thesâ— properties I have gathered out of Germanâ— Writers I have not as yet proved them all mâ— self but divers of them I have proved and havâ— found them to be true I have set down thâ— pill of an Orange or Lemmon the meâ—â— whereof is also commended by Physicians to bâ— both a preservative good against poison anâ— the infection of the Pestilence Late Writers affirm that the roots of Angelica are opposite to all poison and infectioâ— If any be infected with the plague or poisoneâ— they give him immediately to drink a dram of the powder of this root with Wine in the winter and in summer with distilled water of Carduus benedictus then get him to bed and cover him until he have sweat foundly The same root being taken fasting in the morning or but held in the mouth doth keep and preserve the body from the evil of the air The leaves of Angelica pounded with the leaves of Rue and Honey are very good to be laid to the bitings of mad dogs presently taken after the hurt the Wine being drunk wherein the root or leaves of Angelica hath been boiled To conclude I have thought good to write of these Herbs Carduus Benedictus and Angelica either because they are not known to many or else that Artists would have their secret vertues concealed But I do not think it fit that any thing should be secret which may be profitable for my Countrey For God hath not made any thing for the use of a few but for the commodity of all men And we that are the children of God ought to frame our selves so that we may be like affectioned unto our Father who is beneficial to all men who hath made his sun to shine and his rain to rain upon the wicked as well as upon the good that is to say who feedeth all both good and bad by heat and moisture which proceed from the Sun and the rain all things grow upon the earth whereby our lives are maintained I conclude that forasmuch as Almighty God is good unto all men we ought to be like minded and not to keep secret nor to hide any thing that may profit one another I wish all men rightly to use the good creatures of God and to give him hearty thanks for all his benefits Fragmenta Aurea The first Golden CENTURY OF Chymicall and Physicall Judiciall APHORISMES AND Admirable Secrets BY Nich. Culpeper Gent. late Student in Physick and Astrology LONDON Printed for Nath. Brook at the Sign of the Angel in Cornhill 1659. Fragmenta aurea The first Golden Century of Chymical and Physical Judicial Aphorismes and admirable Secrets 1. THe Hoofs of the forefeet of a Cow dryed and taken any way Mizaldus increase milk in Nurses the smoke of them being burnt drives away Mice 2. If you fry Earth-worms in Goose-grease and drop a drop or two of the Grease warm being strained in your ear helps the pains thereof I suppose you had best first slit them and wash them in white wine 3. The
Pains of the Spleen trouble a man most after meat 32. Egg-shells dried and beaten into powder and given in white wine break the stone 33. Mizaldus Mice-dung with the ashes of burnt Wasps and burnt Hazel-nuts made into an Ointment with vinegar of Roses do trimly deck a bald-â—ead with hairs being anointed with it 34. Six cloves of Garlike stamped and strained into a draught of Rhenish wine and drunk up is a present râ—medy for the stone strangury and chollick 35. Gather Elder-flowers on a Midsummer-day dry them and beat them into powder and take a spoonful of it in Borage-water every morning and evening it restores Youth and conserves it 36. Burn horsleaches into powder and mix them with vinegar and therewithal rub the place where you would have Hair grow no more and you shall have your desire 37. Drinking much Butter-milk makes one laxâ—â—ive 38. The stone of a Swallow beaten into powder Petrus Hispanus and given in drink to such as have the Falling-sickness cures them 39. Mingle two spoonfuls of water with one spoonful of clarified Honey and give it to a woman when she goeth to sleep if she feel gripings and pains in her belly she is conceived with childe else not 40. Green Nettles steeped in the urine of one that is sick twenty four hours Mizaldus if they remain green and fresh the sick will live else not 41. The berries of white Thorns taken in white Wine are of great force to break and expel the Stone 42. Plantane is given with good success to such as have the Plague 43. Wormwood stamped with the white of an egg and applied to the eyes by way of a Plaister is a notable way to take away the redness and bloodiness of them 44. A Garland made of Ivy-leaves Mizaldus laid to the breasts of women that hang flagging gathers them up together decently and makes them round the like will Ivy-leaves do if they be beaten and applied to them 45. Mizaldus If you wash wounds with Wine wherein Agrimony hath been sodden it cleanseth them of their filth and putrefaction 46. Also stamp Agrimony and apply it to wounds that are ill knit or joyned and it will open them again 47. Mizaldus The juyce of Rue mixed with clarified Honey and a drop dropped into the eye at a time takes away dimness of sight 48 A head of Garlick the skins being pulled off bruised and applied in equal parts to the foles of the feet where they are hollow helps them with speed that are pained with the Tooth-ache especially if it come of a cold cause and lie in the nether jaw 49. Mizaldus If you rub Warts with the leaves of a Fig-tree and bury the leaves in the earth the warts will insensibly consume away 50. Briony-berries dried and beaten into powder and drunk in the decoction of Water-cresses doth wonderfull help the Strangury 51. Benedictus Victorius Faventinus Emp. Take of venice Treacle one scruple of liquorice and Cinnamon in powder of each three grains of White Wine an ounce and an half mix all these together and make of them a Potion If a Woman take such a drink as this is every other morning about a fortnight or three weaks before her delivery it will make her labour very easie My Authour saith she will bring forth her childe without any pain at all 52. Take of Yarrow and Plantane of each a like quantity beat them and strain the juyce of them into red Wine a good draught of which being drunk morning and evening will stop a bloody Flux 53. If a Woman desire to know whether she be with childe or not Mizaldus let her make water in a clean copper or brazen vessel at night when she goes to bed and put a Nettle in it if the Nettle have red spots in it next morning she is with childe else not 54. Oxen Kine Bullocks or Horses Absertus will not be troubled with any disease if you hang a Harts-horn upon them 55. Put two or three of the seeds of Oculus Christi into your eye and within a while after you shall not feel them whereby you will think they are not there at last they will drop 〈◊〉 of themselves compassed about with slimy 〈◊〉 which doth hinder the sight If you 〈◊〉 this now and then it will clear your eyes wonderfully 56. Warts rubbed with a piece of raw Beef and the beef buried in the ground the warts will consume away as the beaf rots in the ground 57. Take the inner rinde of an Oak-tree and boil it well in fair water then bathe any sore with it whether new or old three or four times morning and evening and then anoint it with fresh butter and flour of brimstone well mixed and you shall see a speedy cure 58. Take a Bur-root the bigger the better and scrape it clean then put it in a Pot of new Ale and the Ale will boyl let it stand twenty four hours close stopped and then let one that hath the yellow Jaundies drink a good draught of it and in doing so two or three mornings he will be cured 59. Let him that hath the Strangury drink a draught of small Ale wherein the inner Rind of the young branches of a Hazel-tree hath been boiled first in the morning and last at night and it help him in few dayes 60. Lay a thin piece of raw beaf to the forehead of them that have lost their voices and remove it not all night and in two or three nights it will help them 61. Take the bones of Horses and wash them clean then dry them in the sun then break them and boil them in a Caldron of water a long time and save the fat which cometh from them which is an excellent Oyntment either for Gout or Palsie 62. The ashes of burnt Snails put into the eye take away the spots thereof 63. A piece of raw Beef of an indifferent thickness put in steep all day in good Aqua vitae and laid at night to the temples and let lie there all night stops the waterings of the eyes and all rheums that flow down from the head 64. Draw a coard through the tail of a Water-snake and hang her up Hollerius a vessel of water being under her into which she may gape and after a little time will she vomit up a stone which will drink up all the water this stone being tied to the navil in a piece of fine linnen of one that hath the Dropsie quickly draws out all the water 65. An Egg that is laid on a Thursday the white being emptied out and the empty place filled with salt and gently roasted by the fire without burning till it may be beaten into powder and cankered teeth being rubbed with it kills both canker and worms that eat the teeth 66. White Copperis the quantity of hâ—â—f an ounce dissolved in a pint of water kills all Tetters and ringworms that are washed with
9. Of the Diabetes WHether the cause of this disease be the immoderate attraction of the Reins or the weakness of the Sphinater Muscle of the Bladder or both of them we will not dispute the point out here howsoever this is certain there follows as well great thirst as pissing against ones will 2. Against this disease give the Patient the Bladder of a Goat or of a black Sheep or else of a Bull beaten into powder let him drink half a dram of it in any convenient liquor at night going to bed 3. I suppose the Sphinater Muscle of the Bladder were sufficient if it were converted into Mummy and beaten into powder for it will be found to be a very difficult thing to beat the whole Bladder into powder besides it is the Sphinater Muscle which is in fault in our Bladder therefore if that onely of the Sheeps or Goats Bladder be used the Remedy is agreeable to the Disease 4. I remember once I cured a great Lubber that could not lye all night without pissing a bed nor remain a quarter of an hour in the day time without pissing by onely advising him to drink no other drink then what had been tied up twelve hours in a sheeps bladder and as â— have been since informed he is perfectly cured by it 5. Give him for three dayes in the Wane oâ— the Moon the Bladder of a fresh-water fish 6. The Brain of a Hare converted to Mummy and given in Wine to drink causeth the Patient to hold his water 7. Galangal taken inwardly is a good remedy to stop the involuntary flowing of the water if it come of a cold cause as I am of opinion it alwayes doth 8. The Lungs of a Kid bound warm under the Navel withholdeth the distillation of urine saith my Authour yet my opinion is that if they be medicinable for the disease the best way is to apply them to the Neck of the Bladder 9. My own Childe was troubled with this disease when very young whom I cured with these remedies First I got Alehoof and chopped it very small but washed it not and having sprinkled it with strong white Wine Vinegar applied to her Wrests Then I took three Holly-leaves the fullest of prickles I could get and boiled them in her drink These medicines I learned of an Italian which indeed cured her CHAP. 10. Of swelling of the Cods THis disease cometh sometimes of humors falling down into the Scrotum and sometimes onely winde gathering there 2. Take Bean-flour make it into the thickness of a Poltiss with juyce of Dwarf-Elder and common Oyl and apply it warm to the Cods it will presently allay the Swelling 3. A Poltiss made of the bark or leaves of Elder or dwarf-Elder will do the like 4. Goats-dung dissolved in Wine and the Cods bathed therewith takes away the swelling 5. The decoction of Marjoram also doth the like if it be used in like manner 6. But before all these I prefer the decoction of Vervine and Plantane to bathe the place with CHAP. 11. Of the Priapismus THe Priapismus or continual standing of the Yard is a disease exceeding painful and dangerous proceeding usually from a superabundance of hot and moist windy vapors possessing the seminal vessels 2. Let such as are subject to this disease use cool and moist diet especially let them eat much Purslane and Lettice 3. Hemlock bound to the Privities presently asswageth the disease 4. Let such as are subject to this disease avoid all Venerial thoughts for nothing in the world stirs the body to action more then thoughts do CHAP. 12. To provoke the Tearms A Plaister made of Galbanum and applied to the Navel doth mightily provoke them 2. Herbs medicinal to provoke them are Calamint Penerial Betony Sage Marjoram Savory Mugwort c. 3. The powder of Calamint works very violently upon the Feminine parts and therefore a dram of it taken in white Wine every morning is a very probable remedy to provoke them onely have a special care you give it not to women with childe because it destroyes the fruit of her Womb. 4. One caution let me give you before I go any further whatsoever you give to provoke the Tearms give it the Moon encreasing and the nearer the full the better for you will finde it an Herculian task to bring them down in the Wane of the Moon especially in such as never yet had them 5. The root of a white Lilly roasted soft in the embers and stamped with Oyl and applâ—ed to the Matrix it mightily openeth the passages thereof and brings down not onely the Tearms but also the dead childe 6. A Pessary made of Wool dipped in the juyce of Sage is a very good remedy to provoke the Tearms and indeed so is Sage taken any way and it is very probable that the use of drinking Sage-Ale took its rise from hence 7. It is good to make a bathe of all such things as provoke the Tearms and having put it in a Close-stool let the diseased party sit over it 8. Cinnamon and Cassia Lignea provoke the Tearms exceedingly and would be more used were they not so common 9. Bitter Almonds stamped being first blanched and used as a Pessary not onely to provoke the Tearms but also cleanse the Womb of ill humours 10. Half a dram of the powder of Steel given in the morning in white Wine will bring them down 11. I knew once a young Virgin in Service in London who was broken out all about her body her face and all in rough bunches not much unlike those of the French Disease and she lay under that scandal that she had that disease I was sent for to see her and examining the matter found that she never had the Tearms I presently conceived that to be the cause and by administring onely such Medicines as provoke them cured her in a short time 12. Once I had a Patient aged about thirty a Widow in whom they were stopped by reason of grief and when I could provoke them no other way about the full of the Moon I advised her to drink a gallon of Posset drink made with white Wine in two hours time before she went to bed I think she drank a pottle at least within the time and the next day they came down the reason is clear CHAP. 13. To stop the Tearms BEfore I come to Medicines I thought good to give notice of this that those things which strengthen the Womb both provoke the Tearms when they are stopped and also stop them when they flow immoderately such be stinking Arrach Cinnamon Cassia Lignea c. 2. Therefore the extract of Arrach made into Pills with the powder of the same Herb is excellent good both to provoke them and also to stop them 3. If the cause of their immoderate flowing be some vein broken as sometimes it is then to take the syrup of Clounswound-wort inwardly is an excellent remedy 4. Neither do I think the syrup of Comfrey or
kinde of Excrement is common to all living Creatures as well Beasts as Men for which cause Nature as a wise Mother hath provided that every concoction hath its excrement or superfluity the Stomach sends out dung the Liver Urine the Veins Sweat so after the third and last concoction which is done in every part of the body that is nourished there is left some profitable blood reserved by Nature for Procreation which blood we call the Generative Seed the timely evacuation whereof avails much for the bodies health for by it the body is made light and disburthened of Phlegm and other superfluous humors which otherwise would wax rank as may be observed in ancient Maids and some chaste Schollers for besides their secret flames and imbridled affections which dispose their mindes to extravigant imaginations we see them also ill complexioned by reason of such vaporous fumes which ascend up towards their cloudy brains To pass over other inconveniences they are subject to as the Green-sickness the Night-mare the Spleen the palpitation and trembling of the heart and their polluted dreams the best advice I can give such persons is to marry in the fear of God and chiefly those are required who are Sanguine or lean for such persons abound with blood Physicians hold the Winter to be the best time for Carnal Copulation and in the Spring-time when Nature is desirous without the help of Arts and Drugs and at night when the stomach is full and the body somewhat warm that sleep immediately after it may lenifie the Lassitude caused through the action thereof In the Summer in May and July when the Spittle thickens on the ground it cannot be so wholesome nor in frosty wâ—ather Immoderate Venery weakeneth the strength hurts the brain extinguisheth radical moisture and hasteneth on old age and death the Spâ—rm or Seed of generation being one of the greatest comforters of life which being wilfully shed or lost hurteth more then if he should bleed forty times as much That Batchelors and Maids may drive away their unclean dreams at nights let them refrain from Wine and Venerious Imaginations not use to lie in soft Beds let them read the Bible and moral Philosophers use exercises let them eat Agnus Castus in English Park and they shall finde a strange effect to follow Of Bathing BAthing in cold Water so that the same be clear clear from Rain or a silver colour'd Brook in the summer time before meats doth wonderfully delight nature provoke the appetite and is very good against Rhumes the Dropsie and Gout and causes digestion you shall finde it wonderful expedient sometimes to bathe the head with hot Lee made of ashes after which you must cause one presently to pour three or four quarts of cold water then let the head be dried with cold Towels the suddain powring down of the water stirs up the natural heat of the body quickneth the memory keepeth from baldness In the summer washing of the hands often doth much avail the eye-sight In the Winter time when the Water is cold and Frozen this kinde of artificial Bath is very expedient and wholsome take two pounds of Turpentine four ounces of the Juyce of Wormwood and Wilde Mallows one ounce of fresh â—â—cor one dram of Saffron mingle them and seethe them a pretty while and being hot wet four Linnen cloathes therein and therewith bathe your self or else make a Bath after this manner take Fumitory Enula Compana Leaves Sage Fetherfue Rosemary and Wormwood of each a handful or two seethe them in a sufficient quantity of water till they be soft and put as much as a Walnut of Allom and a little Brimstone powder and therewith bathe the affected places of the body he that uses these bathes in convenient time may live healthfully for by them superfluous excrements are extracted in sweat But with this caution I commend Baths that no person that is distempered through Venery Gluttony Fasting Watching or violent Exercise do enter into them Diet for a Feaver and Ague I Do advertise every one that hath a Feaver or an Ague to eat no meat six hours before his fit doth take him and in no wise as long as the Ague doth endure to put off his shirt or dublet nor to rise out of the bed but when need shall require and in any wise not to go nor take the open Air for such provision may be had that at the uttermost at the third fit he may be delivered of the Feaver Let the Patient beware of casting his hands and arms at any time or to spraul with his Legs out of the bed it is good for the space of three fits to wear continually Gloves and not to wash the hands He is to eat little and those temperate meats to refrain from Wine Beer and Cider and all other things whatsoever that are not of a very light digestion Diet for the Chollick and the Stone THe Iliack and Chollick are ingendred of ventosity the which is intrused or inclosed in two Guts the one is called Ilia and the other is called Colon for these two infirmities one must beware of cold and it is not good to be long fasting and necessary to be laxative but in no wise to be constupate These things following are not good for those which have these aforesaid infirmities new bread stale bread new ale they must abstain also from drinking of Beer of Cider of Red Wine and Cinamon also refrain from all meats that Honey is in from eating of cold Herbs Beans Pease Pottage beware of fruits and of all things the which do ingender winde For the Stone abstain from eating of Red herring Martilmas-beef and Bacon salt fish salt meats Beware of going cold about the middle especially about the Reins of the back and make no restriction of wine and water nor seege that water would expel Diet for several kindes of the Gout They which are troubled with the Gout or any kinde of it I do advertise them not to sit too long forgetting to exonerate the bladder and the belly when need shall require and also to beware the Legs hang not without some stay nor that the Boots or Shoes be not over strait Whosoever hath the Gout must refrain from drinking of new Ale of Beer and Red Wine Also he must not eat new Bread Eggs fresh Salmon Eels Fresh Herring Pilcherds Oysters all shell fish he must avoid the eating of fresh Beef of Goose of Duck and of Pigeons he must beware of taking of cold in his Legs or riding or going wetshod Beware of Venerous acts after refection or after or upon a full stomach from all things that ingender evil humors and are inflative Diet for the Lepors HE that is infected with any of the four kindes of Leprosie must refrain from all manner of Wines and from new drinks and strong Ale let him beware of riot and surfeiting let him abstain from eating of Spices Dates from Tripes Puddings and all inwards of Beasts Fish
Pot-Herbs the flowers either green or dried are often used in Possets Broths and Drinks as a comforter for the Spirits and to expel any malignant or pestilential quality gathered near thereunto the Syrup and Conserve made of the fresh flowers are used for some purposes to the same effect Of Pennyroyal and Hyssop PEnnyroyal purges melancholly and comforts the Stomach and Spirits Hyssop cleanseth viscus Phlegm is good for the Breast and Lungs Of Rosemary and Roses ROsemary is good for Palsies for the Falling-sickness and for a Cough good against cold Roses are a Cordial they comfort the heart and brain Of Fennel and Annis THese Herbs are seldome used but their seeds Fennel-seed is used to break Urine good against Poyson Annis-seed cleanses the Bladder and the Reins of the back provokes Urine and causeth a sweet Breath Of Sage SAge is good to help a woman to conceive it provokes Urine and sleep it is good in an Ague or Feaver and against the Falling-sickness this Herb is of excellent Vertue Of Violets VIolets comforts the brain preserve against drunkenness the syrup of them cools the Reins and is very good against the Falling-sickness Of Watercresses WAtercresses are very wholesome in the Spring-time they comfort the Sinnews and are hot and dry Of Tansie TAnsie purges the Ague dries the Sinnews and is good against the Worms Of Rue THere are two kindes of Rue the one of the Garden another of the Field it is good against Infection abates Lust is excellent for the Sight that of the Field is hot and dry in the fourth degree that of the Garden is hot and dry in the second degree Of Wormwood THere are several sorts of Wormwoods those of the Sea are not of that goodness in quality as the common and aromatical bitter sorts are nâ—vertheless because they are not so bitter as the common sorts which renders them more acceptable to many persons that desire to please their pallates rather then to be cured of their diseases by bitter medicines our Physicians and Apothecaries feeding their humor for their own profit and to please their Patients There are many other Herbs used in Pottage Broths Possets Sallets Sauces Tansies c. from most of which small nourishment is received Of the vertues of those which are of the highest concernment having already discoursed of in the first part of this Volume I shall here omit them Of Figs. A Vicen writes that Figs nourish more then any other fruit when they are eaten with blanched Almonds they are good roasted and stewed they cleanse the Breast and the Lungs open the opilations of the Liver and the Spleen they provoke to Venerious acts as they augment and encrease the seed of generation they cause sweating wherefore they ingender Lice Of great Raisins GReat Raisins are nutritive especially if the stones are out they make the stomach firm and cause a good appetite if a few of them be eaten before meat Of small Raisins of Currâ—â—â— SMall Raisins of Currans are good for the Reins of the back they do provoke urine howbeit they are not good for the Spleen they cause opilation Of Grapes GRapes sweet and new are nutritive and stumulate the flesh they comfort the Stomach and the Liver avoid opilations but they do repleat the stomach with winde Of Peaches of Medlers and Cervices PEaches mollifie the belly and are cold Medlers taken superfluously ingender melancholly Cervices are of the same operation Of Strawberries and Cherries STrawberries are praised above all Berries they qualifie the heat of the Liver ingender good blood eaten with Sugar Cherries mollifie the belly and are cold Of Nuts great and small THe Walnut and Banock are of one operation they are slow of digestion yet they comfort the brain if the pith or skin be pulled off they are nutritive Filberts are better then Hazzle-nuts if they are new taken from the â—ree and the skin or the pith pulled off they are â—utritive and encrease fatness if they are old they should be eaten with great Raisins New Nuts are better then old for old Nuts are cholâ—erick and naught for the head and evil for old persons as they ingender the Palsie in the Tongue immoderately taken or eaten ingender corruptions as biles blains and such putrefaction Of Pease and Beans PEase which are young are nutritive Beans are not so good as Pease they are more windy although the skins or husks be ablated yet they are a strong meat and doth provoke Venery Of Pears and Apples PEars which are mellow and not stony doth encrease fat and ingender waterish blood they are full of ventosity Wardons roasted â—tewed or bak't are nutritive comfort the stomach especially if they are eaten with Comfits Apples are good after a frost hath taken them â—or when they are old especially red Apples and those of good odour and mellow they should â—e eaten with Sugar or Comfits or with Fennel-seed or Anniseed because of their ventosity they comfort the stomach and cause good digestion especially if they are roasted and bak't Of Pomegranates and Quinces POmegranates are nutritive and good for the stomach Quinces bak't the coar pulled out mollifie the belly help digestion and preserve a man from drunkenness Of Dates and Milons DAtes moderately eaten are nutritive but they cause opilations of the Liver and of the Spleen Milons ingender bad humors Of Gourds of Cowcumbers and Pepones GOurds are of bad nourishment Cowcumbers restrain Venery as they are cold and moist corrupt the stomach and if they are not well ordered and moderately eaten ingender thick and gross humors and are within few degrees of poison to persons of a weak digestion Of Apricocks APricocks quickly corrupt and ingenderâ— chollerick and whayish excrements cause pestilent Agues stop the Liver and Spleen and breed ill juyce Of Barberries BArberries preserved refresh hot stomachs kept in pickle they serve for Sallets and the garnishing of Meat Of Citrons and Lemons CItrons the juyce of them are good against poison and qualifie humors putrefied in the body cause a sweet breath and cure burning Agues Lemons approach their nature is cold and dry in the third degree their seed temperate the juyce eat alone causes gripings of the guts but the peel with the pulp as nature hath united them together the heat of the one corrects the rawness of the other and both of them comfort the heart Of Mulberries MUlberries are hot in the first degree cold in the second best before meat they please the stomach cause a looseness of the body and provoke urine Of Raspis RAspis are like the Black-berry or Dew-berry but not so astringent cold stomachs cannot convert them into good juyce Of Goose-berries GOose-berries ripe are as nourishing as they are sweet they should be eaten first not last because they are so light a fruit The red Goose-berries are more cold dry and astringent by one degree because those in our countrey are not sweet Of Prunes and Damsins PRunes are used in medicine for
little cynamon and seed of Annis white wine mixt with water musick is good in this disease and such means must be used as may cause sleep Of Melancholly of black Choller THis disease is a kinde of doting without a feaver arising from such maligne and melancholick humors which distrub the seat of the Minde The signs of melancholly are fear and sadness evil thoughts without any cause proceeding from such vapors of black Choller as darken the mind and over-cloud the brain Melancholy which seizes on the essence of the brain and continues there long is altogether incureable The Air where the Patient resides must be of a wholesom smell moist and temperate his diet moist but of good juyce easie of digestion Let him drink white wine and exercise himself moderately his sleep should be somewhat longer then ordinary he is to be cherisht with mirth and good hopes perturbations of minde being wholly avoided Of the overflowing of the monethly Tearms THe superfluous flux of moneths is when it doth tend to be the hurt rather then the good of the woman by reason that they are purged more then they should but in such women as are of a moist constitution that have good diet and much ease the moneths may be suffered to flow more then ordinarily they use The womb is the part chiefly affected sometimes the whole body sympathizeth this affection is an accident which appertains to the immoderate excretion it is not altogether against nature as it is in the bleeding of the nose and other bleedings for here onely too great a quantity of the monethly flux is unnatural This distemper takes away the appetite hinders digestion breeds crudities weakens the whole body the colour of the face is changed feaverish heats arise in the body sometimes the feet are swelled and a dropsie follows one cause is by reason of the heat thinness or abundance of blood more then is requisite or else because of the continual motion for when these concur Nature is defeated Immoderate fluxes caused by the birth of a large Infant are less dangerous because they will stay of themselves This disease is to be feared if the body be weakned or the colour of the face changed the woman being reduced to such coldness faintness of heart swoundings and sometimes death The Air that this Patient lives in should be temperate the meat binding and thickning exercise is forbidden her rest and sleep must be moderate her minde pleased Of the suppression of the Moneths AS the overflowing is dangerous so the retention on the contrary is as dangerous and unnatural if they be of age unless they have conceived the womb is chiefly affected in regard of the fatness thereof whereby the veins are crushed together and so the flux is hindred In this disease the forepart of the head is pained spreads it self to the neck shoulders and loins her appetite is taken away her minde unquiet her stomach queasie she loathes meat her face discoloured she is troubled with phlegm and taken with a trembling her urine is thick red and muddy sometimes blackish with a red watry substance in the bottom the chief cause is gross and phlegmy matter mixed with blood which stops the veins leading to the womb whereby the straitness of the veins doth happen or else from the inflammation of the womb if the Tearms are stopt other diseases must of necessity follow The Air she is to breathe must incline to heat her meat must be heating she must not sleep too long her minde must not be disquieted Of the Obstruction of the Liver THe Obstruction of the Liver is a binding or straitning of the Veins or Liver passages The Liver is the Store-house of blood from which all parts of the body draw nourishment and together with purer blood gross and slimy humors are generated in the Liver seeing that the branches of the hollow Veins are knit unto the Vena Porta in such sort that the knitting and combination doth not come within the compass of our sight as also that all the nutriments of the body must be conveighed through the port Veins and the hollow Veins ends which are very small where they end in the Liver substance so that it is no wonder that by reason of the passages and straitness Obstructions are oftner caused in the Liver then in any other Bowel This Disease doth breed in the extream parts of the vessels of the hollow part and Veins and they are terminated in the Livers substance with thin ends knit one into another with little bones the universal nourishment of the whole body being to be made through these This Disease is to be discerned by a heaviness and stretching pain in the right side then most to be perceived when the Patient is exercised presently after meat The narrowness of the Liver and Veins passages is the cause of this Disease The air for the Patient must be hot and clear his diet such as may heat not stopping he must shun bathing and exercise after meat his diet moderate he may sleep in the day time but not too long at night not at the most above seven hours his belly must be kept loose and his minde delighted The Hicket THe Hicket called Singultus is a violent or vehement motion of the Stomach whereby it doth endeavour to expel such things as rest in the Tunicles and in the Body and also such as do stick fast thereto The Hicket though it much resemble vomiting yet this Disease is rather stirred up then vomit when the humors are strongest the part affected is the mouth of the Stomach sometimes the inflamation of the Liver This Disease comes often for the most part by fits as the Cough doth with a swooning the cause of the swooning in this disease is the straitness of the passage of the air which is contained in the stomach it being often caused by fulness and superfluous moisture by which the Patient is either loaded â—or in a manner shrunk together If this disease be caused by fulness if a sneezing come the Patient will soon be rid of it if it be accompanied with wringing in the guts commonly called Illiaca passia it is a bad Omen but if it follow doating swooning or convulsion it is mortal A temperate air is best for the Patient his meat must be such as doth heat and dry a small quantity of Wine may be permitted Of the Stone THe Stone of the Kidneys is a hard substance bred like a Sand-stone in the Reins from whence by the force of the Urine it is often conveighed through the straight pipes into the Bladder if it be not too great which doth so stretch the passages of the Urine that great pain doth follow the settled pain is in the Veins and sometimes the right side or the left is affected or both at one time even as the right or left Kidney is affected for the gravel is bred in the mouth of the Kidney or substance of them This Disease is
the tears that flow from the eyes are salt and hot The Patients air must be dry cold and obscure his meat somewhat cooling and little nourishing he must eat little in the first dayes of his cure his sleep must be long his belly evacuated and his minde kept pleasant Of the Night-Mare THe Night-Mare called Incubus is a Disease in which one doth think that a great weight lies on him in his sleep it differs from the Falling-sickness as the cause of it is venomous so is not the Hag or Night-Mare there being no Convulsion as in the Falling-sickness The part affected is the Heart-walls or part of the Midriff the sense of the Patient in his sleep is stupified he supposes himself to be stifled insomuch that he cannot speak a word he groans and his fancy is so disturbed that he thinks a Spirit is there whence the anguish of his minde is caused so that he desires to cry out but cannot from hence is caused the heating or rather boiling of his blood so that his spirits being attenuated and his pores opened the Patient suddenly starteth up This Disease is caused from gross cold Phlegm as also from melanchollick blood settled about the Heart and Veins of the Breast from whence cold vapors are belched out He that useth a slender diet is seldom troubled with the Night-Mare but doth frequent those that have many crudities They that lie on their sides are very seldom troubled with it If this Disease be of any long continuance it doth threaten the Falling-sickness or the Apoplexy Madness or Hypocondraick Melancholly and other Diseases The air where the Patient lives should be temperate hot and bright his meat easie of digestion of good juyce not windy he must eat sparingly especially at supper he must not sleep in the day time his belly must be kept loose and his minde quiet Of a Convulsion A Convulsion called Spasmus is a Convulsion or shrinking of the Sinnews an effect of which doth force them and the Muscles unwillingly to that disposition of body which they did enjoy by the benefit of the animal faculty when they were in perfect health this being an involuntary motion in the part which did usually move of its own accord The Brain is first affected and chiefly and then the face with the whole body is taken with a Convulsion which doth happen to those that have the Falling-sickness in which accident the roots of the Sinnews are hurt the brain being shrunk doth joyn all its force together for the expelling of that which is hurtful The brain is sometimes first affected and then the face with the whole body is shrunk up together but for the most part a Convulsion doth happen to the Muscles in determinate parts whereby the part affected doth plainly shew that the Muscles are grieved The signs of this Disease are the stretching of the Sinnews which if long with the Patient do exceedingly waste the strength while all parts under the head are annulled The efficient cause is either fulness or emptiness fulness is caused by blood and then a Convulsion happeneth suddenly it is also caused by a phlegmy humor which doth winde it self as the blood doth into the Sinnews and Muscles this causes a Palsie The emptiness of a Sinnew takes more deliberation in growing upon a Patient this is occasioned by the Ague Hunger Melancholly violent Sweating Vomiting excessive Venery or Inflamations in the sinnewy parts A Convulsion which is caused by a Wound and of Heleborus is mortal This Disâ—ase is also incureable if it be caused by emptiness Let the air of the Patient be hot and dry his diet rather roast then sod instead of Wine when the Disease first seizes he may be permitted to drink honied water wherein Sage and Cinamon are boiled exercise must be avoided the neck and back-bones of the sick person must be rubbed his sleep moderate his excrements answerable to his belly his minde quiet Of Choller CHoller is an immoderate perturbation of the Stomach and Bowels whence malign humors break forth upwards and downwards This Disease is often so violent that it deprives one of Life within the space of a day or two without a Feaver the substance of the body being consumed by vomits and stools for excrements come often out with such force that the spirits are expelled with the humors the upper and lower part of the stomach is primarily affected the bowels being distempered by the stomachs disburthening of it self through them The signs that make known that these parts are affected are vomits and evacuation a chollerick sowre and stinking matter is vomited upwards and downwards for many hours as if the Patient had drunk great store of such stuff This Disease is gathered together in all the body or in the Gall Bladder Misentery or Bowels This Disease is sharp but the strength of it is dissolved in a short time The air the Patient lives in must be cold and bright if he be strong a little quantity of meat will suffice him he should forbear eating for two dayes he may drink then strong Wine in this Wine thin plates of Gold should be quencht he must sleep very gently and shun the passions of the minde Of the Head Ache. THis disease is sometimes caused from the location of the Head sharp Vapors and Swelling humors ascending from the lower parts assaulting the Head because as the brain is of a cold and moist temperature superfluity of excrements are therein generated which if they encrease and are not avoided by the expulsive faculty in time disturb the Head with Aches the Head-Ache occasioned by an ague quaffing or some other external cause is by the Latines called Cephallalgia the Films of the brain is much troubled with this disease which by reason of their tenderness the least pains are sharp and tender to them but the substance of the brain is more grosser so that the pain that seizes thereon is duller and more loading this disease is sometimes caused from cold and Phlegmy matter this matter by the grossness and sliminess doth stop the narrow passages of the Head the pain that comes by a hot is more vehement then that which comes by a cold distemper an old pain caused by cold matter is hardly to be cured especially in old men a Head-Ache continually vexing is the forerunner of madness especially if the Vomit appear somewhat rusty it also presages other diseases The Air where the Patient lives should be hot and dry roast meat is better then boiled exercise and sleep must be moderate let him lie with his head raised up and somewhat covered he must avoid Vomiting and discontents of mind Of the Cough CAlled Tussis is a violent breathing causing much breath or spirit speedily to break forth as it endeavours by its force to discharge sharp excrements which do molest the Lungs and hinder the passages or which do any other way offend the body this motion is caused by nature which doth force the
must receive the dregs of blood and his more earthy and impure parts This Disease so stops the Midriff that it cannot be raised up or thrust down when it should serve for breathing whereby great sighings are caused in the sleep as also great difficulty of breathing The part affected is the Spleen which may be perceived by the loading pain in the Spleens region This Disease is plainly discerned by the loading pain in the Spleens region and by reason of the plenty of matter This Disease is for the most part caused by melancholly humors which are the dregs of the blood and are caught into the Spleen by the dregs of the body and there remain for a long time or else are caused because the Veins of the body do flow with such melanchollick blood at the first whilest the tumor is increasing the cure may be performed but if it be once ripened it is incurable The air the patient lives in must be clear and bright his meat must be such as hath an opening force that is soon concocted and breeds good blood his diet must be sparing his exercise before meat his sleep moderate and his minde pleased Of the Lethargy THe Lethargy called Lethargia is such a necessity of sleeping as cannot by any means be avoided or it is an oblivious Disease caused by a cold imposthume of the brain the substance thereof being affected chiefly the hinder part but not the ventricles as may appear by the offended functions of the brain It is such a Disease whereby Reason Memory and the Imaginations of the other Senses are annoyed in this Disease as hath been said an urgent necessity of oblivion with sleeping doth possess the Patient together with a lingring and continual Feaver The causes of this Disease proceed from a cold and a moist distemper of the brain and abundance of phlegmy humors so putrefied that they bring a Feaver with them This Disease speedily kills the Patient if it be not met withal in time for the space of seven dayes he is in danger of death if he escape them there are hopes of recovery The air he lives in must be hot and dry if otherwise it may be rectified with Juniper-wood Rosemary and Bay-leaves his diet must be such as may extenuate his sleep must be hindered as much as may be with pricking and pulling of his â—air or with smoak of Brimstone Beaver-stone Galbanum Sagapenum placed under his Nose that he may be forced to draw it up his Nostrils to which pupose his Nose must be rubbed and chafed with Vinegar the excrements of his body must be brought down with a Glister or Suppository instead of exercise frictions and ligatures of the exterior parts viz. the hands and feet must be used Of the Yellow Jaundies THe Yellow Jaundies called Icteritia is an effusion sometimes of yellow Choller sometimes black sometimes both over the whole body and this is incident to Maids also this chollerick blood is spread over the whole body with the blood because the excrements are not daily or not at all voided In this disease the same place or part is not alwayes affected for sometimes the Liver is in fault when it is too hot or else imposthumed and then both the Urine and the Stool are stained with a yellow colour Sometimes the Feaver doth concur with a certain pain in some obscure place of the Liver whereby the colour of the face is changed sometimes the bladder of the gall is affected and then heaviness is felt in the right side of the Heart-walls This Disease is manifested to the eyes by the colour the Patients appetite is diminished a bitterness increases in his mouth because of heat and yet for the most part it is without a Feaver but looseness and Head-ache of the body ensue the Urine is like to Saffron also muddy and thick and sometimes it is stopt the excrements are white if the bladder of the galls passage is stopt little is voided and that little by little and little This Disease comes sometimes by encrease of Choller through the Livers too hot distemper for hereby such store of Choller is generated that the Gall cannot contain it sometimes this Disease is caused by the Inflamation of the whole Liver in which case the whole body is stained with gally excrements by reason of the great heat of the blood If this Disease continue long it threatens the danger of a Dropsie The air the Patient lives in must be temperate his diet such as may cool moisten and extenuate the humors and easie of digestion such as binde and multiply Choller are to be avoided Baths and Frictions in the Winter time are good his exercise is to be small his sleep moderate his excrements voided in due season his minde is to be furnisht with pleasing objects Of Giddiness or the Vertigo GIddines is a Disease whereby the head and all other parts of the body seem to be turned circularly about so disturbing the brains and senses that the Patient oft tumbles down unless he be held up by some stay near at hand This Disease is of near kin to the Falling-sickness onely herein they differ that the giddy party is not deprived of his senses neither is he burried this way and that way as Convulsions afflict their Patients The chief part affected is the Brain which doth appear by the functions which are hurt for the animal faculty is grieved but the brain is affected the Head-ache the forerunner a heaviness and dulness thereof with an annoyance of smell and taste and a ringing in the ears A sign of this Disease is that the Patient cannot endure those that turn about in their sight being so depraved that all things seem to turn round This Disease is caused by the abundance of spirits and boiling blood if it be not voided at the Nose when it is ready to run out this Disease is also caused by crude raw venemous humors often generated in the head or in some of the inferiour parts especially in the stomach If this Giddiness lasts long it is next to an Apoplexy and Falling-sickness The air the Patient remains in should be temperate bright and clear his diet such as breeds good juyce pleasing to the stomach and not windy his exercise and sleep moderate for the head the voiding of his excrements if they come not from him naturally must be furthered by art his minde in no case to be disturbed Of the Palsie THe Palsie called Paralysis is depriving of senses and motion not in the whole body as in an Apoplexy but when one side or all parts of the body under the head or any other limb is deprived of sense or motion as the Jaw Hand Lip Feet Arm. It also falls out that some part is deprived of the sensitive faculty the motive faculty not being hurt Contrarywise the motive dies when as the sensitive is found sound sometimes it happens that sense or motion is not quite taken away but onely was
dull and is benummed Physicians call this an imperfect Palsie the Harbenger of a Palsie why the sense doth sometimes perish and motion abides this happens because some parts do participate of a two-fold kinde of Sinnews this Disease hath great affinity with the Apoplexy and sometimes is caused by a weak Apoplexy and then it is called Paraplexia herein they differ the Apoplexy seizeth upon all the parts of the body depriving them both of sense and motion The Palsie seldom or never leaves the head without motion or sense but the other parts of the body lose both motion and sense and that in a different manner for if the beginning of the marrow of the Back-bone be affected all parts under the face do sympathize with it if but one half of the back be affected all parts that have relation also suffer but if the before-mentioned parts are not hurt but some particular Sinnew of some part of the body is loosed that part whereof this nerve is joyned shall also lose sense and motion In this disease as hath already been said the marrow of the Back-bone is affected which is the original of all other Sinnews wherefore the Practitioner ought to take pains in Anatomy to know where this mischief keeps its first residence One evident sign in this Disease is that if the palsied part be lifted up it falleth back again it is soon cool and in time withers the Patients urine is for the most part white and sometimes inclining to redness when this mischief is at the full height the Pulse is faint slow little and soft it is caused by a cold and moist distemper sometimes by an Imposthume or some other tumor crushing the sinnews by a wound a fall a fracture too strait a ligature laxation of bones in the back by a stroak but for the most part it is caused by thin and waterish humors derived from the brain which do insinuate into the pores and substance of the Sinnews and so the Sinnews being made too soft are loosened and slackned and do suck in so much moisture that they stop the head of the Sinnews whereby the passage of the animal faculty is hindred which hath its original from the brain A Palsie which is caused by the cutting of a Sinnew overthwart is incurable A Palsie caused in the Winter and in old men is seldom or never cured because natural heat is deficient in them The air wherein the Patient lives should be hot and dry procured by a fire if the season of the year require it or by a perfume of Cloves and Rosemary his meat must be such as heat and dries his diet must be slender till the fourteenth day for it is very good for the Patient to be abstenuous his drink must be small he must avoid sleep in the day time and trouble of minde Of the weakness of the Liver THe weakness of the Liver comes by distemper without any manifest evil in that Bowel the proper and principal faculty of the Liver is the blood which doth come to it by the property of its own substance and cannot be weakned of a suddain by any distemper for the distemper must needs take deep root before it hurt the substance of the Liver or dissolve the strength thereof but by what distemper soever this is caused the Liver doth not perform its proper duty except it be by halfs In this disease as hath been said the Liver is chiefly affected as will appear by its own functions hindred the blood is not well digested and then the blood which is voided by stool is watrish which shews that the nutrement was well concocted in the Stomach and began to be concocted in the Liver but not perfected because of the Livers weakness This disease scatters the Spirits native heat dissolves the strength and actions of the Liver 't is most probable that a cold distemper is the cause of the Livers weakness if the distemper be but light the colour of the face is white the Excrements stink a little few are voided the Patients Urine is thin there are many other conjectured causes if the weakness of the Liver hath been of a long continuance it is scarce to be cured and in time is changed to be an evil habit of the body from whence a general weakness is caused or else it turns to the Dropsie A temperate air is good for the Patient meats that are easie of digestion and do moderately heat his drink may be thin and Odoriferous Wine his sleep must be moderate his minde cleared from discontents Of the Chollick THe Chollick is a continual passion of the Bowel which is called Colon there follows it a difficulty of voiding of the Excrements and winde at the lower parts a grievous pain and sore pricking comes by fits because this bowel is thick and sinewy whereupon if any hurtful thing creep into its Tunicles it is not presently driven out this disease hath affinity with the Iliaca passio but in the Iliaca passio the pain is more vehement the looser Gut called Colon is chiefly affected the pain of this disease is vehement as if the person were bored through with an auger it is stirred up in the inside of the Bowel this pain is inconstant for sometimes it doth pinch one side and then another though it doth chiefly molest the right side and from thence is carried to the left The Chollick is eased by Lenitive glisters and fomentations there are many causes of this disease a several matter running to the Guts because of their wideness or else it is caused from an inflamation of the same part or by a sharp biting humor or by slimy and gross humors or by a thin Phlegm that is in the Film of the Colon and because that Bowel is the receptacle of winde the Chollick is often caused by them when great plenty of them is gathered together in those places or else it is caused by slimy and gross Phlegm sticking in the common passages or from a tumor remaining in the Bowels whereby the Guts are strongly pressed that the winde can hardly get forth the Chollick doth often turn into a resolution or looseness of the Sinews into a Joynt-Gout into Iliaca passio or a Dropsie of all Chollicks that is the worst which is caused by an inflammation The air the Patient lives in must be temperately hot inclining to driness yet the native heat of the outward and former parts of the belly must be kept hot with warme cloaths his meat must be easie of digestion such as doth generate few superfluities it must be moist not windy nor slimy his drink may be strong Wine exercise is good before meat and rest afterwards they may sleep in the day time Of the Pleurisie THe Pleurisie is an inflamation of the thin and small skin which cloathes the Ribs on the inner side called in Latine Pleura from whence this disease takes its name there are many pains of the side but in this place I
shall onely treat of that pain that doth follow asharp disease by the inflamation of the inner skin for if the inflamation be in the outward Muscles or if the pain be great because of windiness this is but a basterd Pleurisie and the Patient is without a Feaver The signs of this disease besides the difficulty of breathing and a vehement Cough is a pricking pain which plainly doth demonstrate that the membranes and some other tender parts are affected this pricking pain sometimes spreads it self over the sides and breast sometimes to the short Ribs to the Channel-bone of the Throat so that the Patient is forced to breath short and thick also there is a continual Feaver because the inflamation doth border on the heart the Pulse is thick not too great hard and unequal and by that means tough and like to a saw a cough also cometh withal the first day and then nothing cometh at length spettle is voided and comes up coloured according to the nature of the excrements and it is also moister there are many other signs the cause for the most part is blood running from the hollow Veins into the Ribs thin Veins sometimes it is caused by Phlegmy blood and then the disease is longer of continuance and the spettle frothy and white sometimes the blood is Chollerick and then a sharper disease is caused The suppression of the Hemrhoides or monethly tearms will cause a Pleurisie this disease is dangerous to old men to Women with childe and such as have been sick twice or thrice of it it vexes the Patient more in the night then day time whosoever is sick of a Pleurisie and is not cleansed in fourteen dayes they turn to supuratiâ—â— This disease kills by choaking or too mâ—ch pain or by the translation of the matter into the Lungs whereby the Consumption of them is caused and also Ulcers The air the Patient lives in must be temperate somewhat inclining to heat his meat easie of digestion he is not to drink Wine till the disease be abated he may be permitted longer then ordinary sleep his belly must be kept loose Of the Bleeding at the Nose THe Bleeding at the nose called Hemorrhagia doth signifie a Bleeding at the Nose whether it doth come immediately from the Nostrills carried thither by the Veins of the palate through which for the most part nature doth expel the superfluous blood of many or else whether it comes from the Veins of the Head further off but in general it doth signifie any bleeding whether it be of Nose Womb or any other part of the body when blood comes forth moderately in the beginning of a Pleurisie Impostume Squinancy Burning Feaver Small Poxs it is alwayes for the best yet this Bleeding in some other diseases is Critical foreshewing death the Nostrills are chiefly affected but not alwayes the essence of the Nostrils but they are affected by the consent of some other part the Veins by which this blood is cast out at the Nose run from the palate and Mouth into the Nostrills and sometimes from the head when too much blood is voided the colour of the face waxeth pale the body is of a leaden colour the outward parts are cold and a swooning follows and many times after death Oftentimes bleeding at the Nose is caused by nature which doth by this means expel the excrements and which is troublesome to the body Sometimes it is caused by the evil affection of the Veins wherein the blood is contained and the blood runs out of the Veins the Veins being opened by the plenty of blood which they could not contain There are sundry other causes If bleeding have continued long swooning weakness and too much cooling of the Liver Lachexia or the Dropsie is to be feared Bleeding at the Nose without coldness of the outwards parts is mortal The air the Patient should live in must be somewhat cold his meat must be such as doth nourish well and easie of digestion he must avoid exercise and speak little he must avoid all passions of the minde especially anger Of the Falling-sickness THe Falling-sickness is a Convulsion of all the parts of the body not continual but that which cometh by distances of time the minde and senses being thereby hurt This disease doth either happen when the brain hath the cause of the disease in it self which is usual or by the evil effect of the mouth of the stomach or from some other part underneath by which the venemous effect creepeth into the brain through secret passages the Patient feels the cause of this Disease like a vapour of cold winde to be carried to the brain by the continuity of the other parts from the part of the body wherein the Disease is chiefly seated the cause of this Disease being for the most part a venomous vapour carried up from some lower part of the body into the brain and then the Patient doth suddenly fall with a Convulsion The brain is the part affected either by it self or by the consent of the stomach or by some other parts The fit comes oftentimes suddenly with much foam which because it is slimy may be drawn out at length yet in a gentler Falling-sickness this doth not appear when the Patient is deprived of his senses he falls to the ground with a violent shaking of his body his face is wrested his eyes turned upwards his chin somewhat driven to his shoulder and oftentimes he voids seed and ordure against his will his Muscles are loosened all these are signs of a strong fâ—t Sometimes their teeth are so fast closed together that they are in danger of stifling paleness of the face inordinate motion of the tongue pain and heaviness of the head forgetfulness sadness troublesome dreams are ushers to this Disease the Patient being taken with a giddiness sometimes darkness and divers dim glisterings appear before his eyes This Disease is for the most part caused by abundance of melancholâ—ck and phlegmatick humors from whence corâ—upt venomous and stinking vapors break out whereby obstructions are caused in the passages â—f the brain and the passages of the spirits are â—â—ereby hindred by this means the brain and the roots of the Sinnews shrink and as it were tremble in the expelling of that which is obnoxious whether it be vapor or humor This disease frequents children because they are of a moister brain then yong men next to these men oâ— a full growth and old men least of all This Disease is more incident to men then women and usually it doth stick close to the Patient unless it be taken away by medicines in the minority If the Disease be vehement and come often on the Patient it is incurable but if a quartane Ague or any longer Feaver surprize him iâ— portends health The air wherein the Patienâ— lives must be hot and dry his meat mixed with such things as do dissolve and extenuate the humors exercise of the body and frication of thâ— head are prevalent
ounce Olibanum two ounces Aloes Hepatique Mastick Cloves Galangal Cinnamon Saffron Nutmegs Cubebs one ounce Gum of Ivy five ounces beat what can be beaten into very fine powder and still them in an Alembick with a gentle fire The first water will be clear and white when it begins to change colour take away the first water and receive the second The second water will be of the colour of Saffron and thick when the colour changeth again take away the second water and receive the third The third water will be like Honey then distil the feces dry The first water cureth Fistula's and noise in the ears a drop or two being put into them * Mark the quality of the disease and give the hottest water in the coldest disease or at least qualifie them one with another The second cureth infirmities in the eyes they being washed with it The third water cureth ulcers and scabs in any part of the body and swellings of the eyes it presently easeth pains of the teeth it resisteth cold poisons as Toads Spiders Serpents Scorpions c. Neither can any sting hurt one a drop of this Oyl being warmed and applied to the place it cureth all ulcers lie they never so deep in the flesh nerves or bones and that without any tent in nine days be they never so foul fistulated or cankered it cures wounds with a stone or fall or shot a linen rag being wet in it and laid upon it it strengtheneth the nerves and sinnews helps swellings of the Legs Joynts or any place coming of a cold cause or corrupt blood It is so hot in operation that nothing can be found hotter and of such a piercing quality that warm a drop thereof and lay it on your hand it will presently soak in and you shall not feel it If you would try the vertue of it take a Capon or any other Fowl the feathers being plucked off and the guts being taken out then heat him so hot as you can well hold him in your hand then anoint him with this Oyl and lay him in the Sun two hours to dry then anoint him again and dry him as before then lay him where you will he will never putrifie Chap. 4. A Precious Water TAke of Aqua vitae many times distilled over a gallon Sperma caeti Ambergrease Rheubarb two drams Musk one dram put the Aqua vitae in a glass then tie up all the aforesaid species in a linnen cloath and hang the Nodulus in the water by a string it being close stopped lest the spirit evaporate with Wax and Parchment putting a little Cinamon into the Nodulus so shall you have an excellent water of the colour of Gold This is indeed a precious water and I am of opinion that if an Astrological time were observed for the beginning of the business it would be ten times better It expelleth Poyson a drop of it being taken in any convenient substance resisteth both pestilence and putrefaction if any be infected with the pestilence or any other Feaver coming of putrefaction or inflamation of blood or humors as most Feavers if not all do six or seven drops given in any cordial cures them Chap. 5. An Apprehension worth experience TAke of the Juyce of Chelondine which was gathered when the Sun was in Leo which is called his own house let him be free from Malevolent Beams and if he apply to the aspect of Benevolents 't is the better let the Moon be strong applying to the Sun and encreasing in light let the Angles of the Heavens be clear from the bodies of Saturn Mars or the Dragons tail from this Juyce draw the Elements apart and rectifie them all severally the triplicity the Patient was born under and his Disease being known and discretion in the administration accordingly used why may not it alone cure all Diseases though not in all people Chap. 6. A Balsam TAke of Turpentine one pound Oyl of Bayes four ounces Galbanum three ounces Gum-arabick four ounces Frankinsence Mirrhe Gum of Ivy Wood of Aloes of each three ounces Galanglal Cloves Comfrey-roots Nutmegs Cinamon Ginger Zedoary Diptany of Creet one ounce Musk Amber-greece one dram the things being in powder which may be beaten put them into a Retort and put to them Aqua vitae six pints then wet a rag in Aqua vitae and set fire to them let it burn stopping it close and after nine dayes still it in sand first with a gentle fire At the first will come out a clear water with Oyl amongst it let the fire be gentle till you see it begin to look black When it changeth colour then change your receiver and separate the Oyl from the first water then increase the fire and perfect the distillation Keep the last water also apart which being suffered to stand and settle will have a liquor which may be separated from that which is called the Balsam it self The first is called water of Balsam The Oyl is called Oyl of Balsam The last water mother of Balsam And the residence in the bottom of the last water is the Balsam it self and is the most precious of all The first water cleanseth the eyes causeth a clear sight the face being washed with it makes it fair it preserveth Youth breaks the Stone in the Reins brings forth Urine stopped by carnosity or fleshiness it marvellously cureth all sort of wounds being washed with it and a Lint dipped in it and put into them it also helpeth Hecktique Feavers and Coughs The Mother of Balsam helps Scabs Itches Tetters Ring-worms and Leprosie The Oyl of Balsam helps many Diseases as Wounds in the Head though the Skull be broken a drachm of it at a time being drunk in water helps Pleurisies wonderfull speedily The Balsam it self is the wonder of the world two drachms of it being taken easeth any pain it helps Coughs Hoarseness infirmities either hot or cold being used in unction it pierceth to the utmost extream parts curing thereby old Aches and bruises it cures Quartane Agues all the body being anointed with it once a day Chap. 7. A Balsam for the Stone TAke of Turpentine a pound old Oyl six ounces Oyl of Bayes four ounces Cinamon Spikenard of each two ounces Bricks well burnt eight ounces still them altogether in an Alembick It provokes Urine breaks the Stone kills Worms helps noise in the Ears the Palsie Gouts of all sorts all pains in the Joynts either by drinking of it or anointing with it but you must use but very little of it at a time inwardly mixed with apt things for the disease you take it for Chap. 8. A Balsam for the Palsie TAke of Galbanum a pound Gum of Ivy three ounces bruise them and still them in Balneo mix the liquor with Oyl of Bayes one ounce Turpentine a pound still them again then separate the Oyl from the water and keep the Oyl for your use For the dead Palsie Convulsion Apoplexy Shaking-palsie or any disease of the
Brain Chollick Winde in the Bowels c. lay the Patient upon his Back and pour a little of this Oyl being warmed upon his Navel and you shall presently see the wonderful operation appear more divine then natural Chap. 9. Of the Quintessence of every Simple Matter WE are in the first place to learn what is the Quintessence of every thing or simple matter which being known the other secrets of this Art will more easily manifest themselves unto us for every thing which hath its institution from another thing ought to have its definition declared that the original may be understood Know therefore that Quintessence is the fifth part of every thing having forme and substance and a most subtil spirit drawn from its body as from a more gross and crasse matter and superfluity of four Elements by a most subtil and extream distillation as we shall hereafter teach But let it not seem wonderfull to any one that this Art hath for the most part lien absconded and shut up from the common knowledge and vulgar capacities of men for many of the Ancient Philosophers have so laboured in this art that thereby they have nourished and preserved the life of man to an extream old age and have spun out the thread of life to the end of nature and ultimate time ordained and appointed by God Qui statuit omnibus semel mori But as by a corruptible Medicine life cannot alwayes be preserved incorrupted so a Medicine having neer affinity to incorruption may preserve the power of nature to an extream old age And the best Antidote conducing hereunto is the Quintessence which is no elementary thing but a certain secret soul drawn from its body so that whatsoever it is admixed withal seems in a manner incorruptible for it comforts and restores all the powers and spirits of mans body by the excrements of the Elements evacuated and wasted and it is a spirit of life for it digesteth all indigestible things and cutteth away and digesteth all superfluous qualities For it preserveth flesh from corruption it comforts the Elements restoreth decayed Youth vivifies the spirit soft things it hardens hard it mollifies thick and gross things it rarifies thin substances it conduces and makes thick the lean it makes fat fatness it extenuates it cooleth the hot and heateth the cold drieth up moisture and moistneth driness and repelleth every complexion adverse to the body Further it extinguishes all the noxious matter of superfluous humors and restoreth natural heat so that the greatest Philosophers never found out any thing more conducing to the sustentation of life Now although the Quintessence may sometimes have the complexion of some other thing adjoyned unto it for unto what complexionated thing soever it be joyned it draweth the complexion thereof unto it self yet solely by it self it hath none of the four qualities in it to wit Airy Watry Fiery nor Earthly which could be discerned or discovered by the judicious inquisition of the most skilfull Philosophers Lastly know that the Quintessence hath not in it any thing of the earthly Element Cold or Dry because it cures melancholly diseases which are cold and dry Therefore for a conclusion observe that it is neither hot nor cold nor moist nor dry but is a thing of a temperate nature exceeding all the Elements which are under Heaven For when it is administred unto any one it maketh that body temperate neither doth it recede from its temporancy by assuming any Qualities or Complexions Neither doth it follow that it is a Medicine for cold infirmities because it is hot nor that it cures hot diseases because it is cold for two contraries cannot exist in one body because one contrary is expelled by the other Therefore we see it ought not to be called hot or cold nor dry or moist because it cures such as are Physical which are hot and dry and the Hidropical which are moist and cold but all the four qualities are in it corrupted and altogether sublated And although it is not an Element nevertheless it is a temperate Matter purified by the Elements themselves and extracted from the Feces of the four Elements which are the most powerful causes of the corruption These Feces therefore are segregated as a most gross body from its matter as it were from a most subtil soul by the Science and Art of distillations And because the Quintessence is the Commune vocabulum of all things which have a form and species to extract it from and although chiefly it is to be understood of Wine yet nevertheless there are very many other things from which it may be drawn and educed as from all mettals from all fruits from flesh eggs roots and many other things as we shall shortly declare and it excelleth all other things because of its great subtilty and therefore by very many Philosophers it hath been called Coelum Philosophorum For the Heaven is of it self distinct towards the four Elements so the Coelum Philosophorum viz. The Quintessence hath it self against the â—our qualities of humane bodies which are composed of those Elements It is called also by some Aqua ardens a burnâ—ng water because untill it be brought to its perfection and utmost distillation it burneth in the fire leaving no superfluous humidity in the vessel By some it is also called the soul of Wine for as the soul is more noble then the body so is the Quintessence which is extracted by true distillation more noble then the body of Wine from whence it is educed It is named also by other Aqua vitae or the Water of life because it doth conserve humane life from corruption as we see when it is administred to those that have the Syncope passion and because it is divers wayes and from divers things extracted we shall begin with the first in order Chap. 10. How the Quintessence of Wine is to be extracted by a distallatory HAving delivered what the Quintessence is and to what it conduces we are now to perpend and consider by how many wayes it may be extracted and from what things and because it is drawn from things moist dry hot and cold we shall in the first declare how it may be drawn from moist things as from Wine after this manner Take of the best red Wine a little inclining to sweetness and which is perfect naturaâ— without mixture or sophistication not too neâ—â— nor too old but of a temperate age or if yoâ— cannot get red Wine take white Wine the besâ— what quantity you please and place it in a Câ—â—curbite so that two parts may be full and thâ— third remain empty then put it upon a Liâ—â—beck with a head and receiver and let theâ— be all well luted with lute made of paper maâ—â— defied or meal and whites of Eggs mixed tâ— the thickness of Honey It may also be madâ— according to Raymund Lully with Olibanuâ— or Mastick mollisted or with powder of Calviva incorporated with the white of an Egg. And
when the vessels are thus Luted thâ— the animal and vegitable virtue cannot exhaâ—â— from the matter to be distilled then set a trâ—vet over the furnace with a vessel or Caldroâ—â— like Balneum Mariae which vessel fill halfâ— two parts thereof with water and underneat make a gentle fire increasing it by little and little and when the Cucurbite waxeth hot iâ—crease not the fire any more but alwayes imâ—tate nature as much as is possible to do Foâ— Nature as saith Gallenus and Lully cannot suffeâ— any violence without corruption of the primâ— vum or first matter Now according to Avicenna there arâ— four degrees of heat according to the four coâ—plexions the first whereof is warme as warâ— water so far calefied that it cannot hurt anâ— member immited into it The second degree 〈◊〉 so hot as it may be suffred by an humane member without lesion The third degree is so hot that if any member be immitted into it it is offended with its calidity and this degree is next to ebulition The fourth degree of heat is so vehement that it cannot be endured because it exceedeth in heat and this degree is ebulition or boyling Some also call the fire of a Bathe the first degree of fire and the heat of Ashes the second degree and burning fire the third degree but the fourth degree they deny And according to other Artists the fire of a Bathe is the first degree the fire of Ashes the second degree and Sand the third and sometimes proceed to a fourth but he who desires to be a perfect Master in the Art of Distillation ought to observe that in all Distillations whatsoever the fire never ought to be increased to the fourth degree because the fire will be more violent then the nature of the matter to be distilled can bear And by consequence Nature her self will be violated through the violence of too much heat and therefore of all Artists the fourth degree is to be rejected For Nature her self was so ordained by God that she cannot suffer any violence or vehement thing without the corruption of her self as by the judgement of many Philosophers may be proved Therefore I counsel all Lovers of this Art that they do not undertake to intermeddle with this excellent work given unto us by Divine Providence for the preservation of our humane lives unless they have the perfect knowledge of these four degrees of heat and know how to temperate them and the fire in alâ— things as they ought It is therefore to be understood that the degrees of heat are alwayes to be diminished afteâ— the first distillation because in the first distillation the matter is most gross so that it will noâ— easily yield to the distillation because of its impurity and crude substance which is not in thâ— subsequent distillations Therefore in the first distillation the fire is tâ— be exalted from the first degree to the last parâ— of the third degree so that the bathe be verâ— hot yet it ought not to boil In the second dâ—stillation we may work with a more gentle fire because by the first the grosseness of the matteâ— is somewhat attenuated so that there needs noâ— so great a fire and so alwayes by descending 〈◊〉 little in every degree you shall extenuate thâ— fire because as we have often said if you dâ—â— force or too much compel the matter whicâ— ought to be distilled Nature her self will bâ— corrupted Chap. 11. How a rude matter ought to be putrified and madâ— fit for Distillation WE must diligently weigh and accurately consider what substance the matter 〈◊〉 of that is to be digested whether it be hard oâ— soft gross or subtle how and by what Art iâ— may be putrified and digested that it may bâ— the better brought to yield to the distillation and that the pure may be sequestred from the impure and the gross may be the better separated from the subtle In the progress whereof observe these degrees of putrifaction Whatsoever it is out of which you would extract a Quintessence by distillation first of all let it be putrified and digested two moneths in Horse-dung and between the first and second distillation one moneth between the second and third three weeks between the third and fourth fifteen dayes between the fourth and fifth eight dayes between the fifth and sixth four dayes and between the sixth and seventh two dayes And further observe that the dung ought alwayes to be of the same equal heat for if the heat be deficient the circulation of the water is corrupted And by conseqence the matter it self which should be reduced into the Quintessence will be separated in the heat of Heaven as you may see in a Diameter Line which divideth the Quintessence which is the superiour part from the feces which is the inferiour part And here note that these degrees of digestion and putrifaction of the matter is so to be attributed as it is before declared concerning the degrees of heat Therefore there is required a longer time of putrifaction before distillation then afterwards and when the first distillation is made the matter contains not in it self so much grossness as before and is become more apt to receive the Quintessence then before it was And therefore after the first distillation the putrifaction is made in a shorter time then at the first because the matter is become more subtil And therefore it is worthily to be perpended that there ought to be made seven digestion or putrifactions as also seven distillations The manner also of digesting after the opinions of the Philosophers is delivered after this manner Every one that will endeavour to performe such a work let him cause to be made a pit oâ— hole of five foot deep and two foot wide or a little more Let the pit be made in some moist place as in a Celler which being done let the bottom bâ— covered with quick lime about the thickness oâ— half a foot Let there be another laying oâ— horse-dung which is not much putrified nor very new upon which place the vessel wherein yoâ— put the matter to be fermented and then fill thâ— pit with dung round about the vessel which being done let the dung be madefied with hot water according the magnitude and quantity of the pit untill you can feel the heat about the vessel or cucurbite and this is usually done in thâ— space of half an hour but if in that time it bâ— not done then proceed powring on more hoâ— water and do this three or four times in a weeâ— and when the Calx and Dung waxes old let iâ— be removed and new put in the room This is the method which is to be observed iâ— all things that you would distill and thereforâ— it is made digestion because gently and without any vehement motion of nature action or mutation a gross matter is made subtil and obedient to distillation Digestives are also ordained diversly according to the four degrees of heat so
afterwards circulate it in a pellican forty dayes and reserve it for your use others distil it oftner and it is the better Chap. 21. To make an Aqua vitae Composita for men of a cold Complexion or Region HAving already discoursed at large of Aqua vitae Simplex we now proceed to give you the way of preparing several compound waters and first of such as ought to be administred unto men of a cold complexion or unto such as labour under any disease proceeding from a cold cause which is this Take Zuiziberis albi Cinamomi Cubeb Recent Gariâ—ph Nucis Muscati Macis electi Cardamomi Zedoari Galangae Piperis longi of each equal parts bruise them grosly and to one part of these Species adde six parts of simple Aqua vitae put them in a long Cucurbite placing thereon a blinde Alimbeck and let it stand to digest fourteen dayes afterwards distil in Balneo Mariae with a gentle fire then put the feces again upon the distilled matter and let it digest eight dayes more It may also be distilled without an Alimbeck but that way is not so good And when it hath been distilled three times the first water is called Aqua benedicta the second Aqua vitae composita and the third Aqua balsami Some also adde to the composition hereof Fol. salviae Rutae Castorei recentis Corticis Citri Baccarum lauri Florum Lavendulae Florum Rorismarini ana two drams these are all to be distilled with the aforesaid species alwayes adding to one part of species six parts of simple Aqua vitae This water is good for all diseases of the head proceeding from phlegmatick humors to be taken in the morning the quantity of two drams in one ounce of the best Wine Some use to dip a crust of bread in this water and others to anoint the head with this water adding to half an ounce hereof Betony water one ounce But beware that you do not give this water in any disease or grief of the head proceeding from a hot cause unless some cold Medicine be mixed therewith which may temperate the heat of this water This water doth strengthen the memory being drunk fasting the quantity of half an ounce mixed with Rosemary water and the hinder part of the head being anointed or washed therewith and let dry of it self it is good also against madness if you cut off the hair of the head and apply to the head clothes wet in this water mixed with water of Marjoram and Rosemary you shall perceive a wonderful operation It is also good for the Palsie being mixed with Sage-water and the members often bathed therewith and it being drunk upon an empty stomach with water of Lavander-flowers It is good to take away all spots of the face and all infirmities of the eyes It hath a marvellous operation to take away all pains in the Teeth A Comb being dipped herein and the head combed therewith it adorns the hair and preserves them from becoming hairy it cures all scabs in the head recovers lost hearing Bombast being dipped therein and applied to the Ear. Wounds being washed therewith it heals them wonderfully and suffers no putrified flesh in a Wound Being taken fasting it is powerful against all Poyson against all Cankers Fistula's and the Dropsie and the Stone in the Bladder it helps Conception in a Woman being taken fasting if the obstruction thereof proceed from a cold cause Being drunk with Galangal and Gentiana and Bombaste wet therein and applied to the Matrix provokes the Tearms If this Water be put upon Fish Flesh or any other Meats they will not corrupt nor putrifie neither will flies blow thereon If the body be fomented therewith it is good against the Jaundies and all trembling of the Members and against all filthiness of the mouth and nose A Cloath being dipt herein and applied to the Stomach wonderfully helps digestion A Cloath wet therein and applied to the Stomach helps Convulsion fits Let those who labor under the Iliack passion drink often thereof it is good also against the Falling-sickness and the Hemerhodes It is much praised by Albertus Magnus for its wonderful operations in the Palsie Chap. 22. An excellent Compound Water used by the Emperour Frederick the Third TAke Aq. Vita simp rectificat four pound vini opt four pound Cinamomi three ounces Garioph nucis moscatae ana one ounce Zuizib albi one ounce and half Macis half an ounce Zedoariae half an ounce Galangae 2. drams Cubeb Hys an half an ounce Radicis benedictae 1. ounce Salviae florum Lavendulae an half an ounce Melissae iris Balsamithae an one ounce Rosarum albarum one ounce and half Bruise all these and put them in a great Cucurbite which will hold fifteen or sixteen pound adding Zachari albi three ounces Passular ficuum pinguium an six ounces Camphorae half an ounce Aquar Rosarum Endiviae florum Sambuci an two pound put them altogether into the Cucurbite luting it well and set it in the â—un twenty dayes viz. ten dayes before Midsummer day and ten dayes after Then strain out the water and distil it by an Alembick and keep it in a dry place it is a soveraign Cordial for a cold stomach and wonderfully preserves the whose body in health The Dose is the quantity of half a spoonful but let it not be given to a Woman when she hath her Menstrue Chap. 23. An excellent Compound Water against all Vlcers and Poyson c. TAke Salviae twelve ounces Nucis Muscat Gariop Zuizib albi Gran. Paradisi Cinamomi an four drams Ol. Laurini one ounce Castorei recentis one dram Spinae Indicae Rorismarini an half a dram florum Rorismar one dram Folior Rutae one ounce Fol. Majoranae one dram Corticis Citri two drams Let all these be new if you can get them but if you have them not new then take the old dried flowers and pulverize them and put to them the best white Wine you can get then set them in a digestive to putrifie a moneth This digestion may be made in Balneo Mariae in the first degree of heat afterwards distil it by an Alimbeck in Balneo Mariae then adde the water again to the Feces and distil it in Balneo again twice over afterwards distil it in ashes and reserve the water carefully in a glass close stopt The Vertues of this Water ANy Meat wet in this Water retains an excellent sapour and odour It is good against pestilentious airs and expels the venom thereof out of the body it cures all infirmities of the Eyes and defects of the Sight It marvellously cures Wounds they being washed therewith it dryeth up all hidropical humors It is good against all diseases of the Lungs Spleen and Milt of the intestines and of the head it takes away all spots out of the face filth of the Mouth and Nose mitigates the pain of the Teeth procures good digestion purifies the blood and consumes corrupt blood and