this Caution and good cause there is also for it that these Oyls and Fat 's are warily and carefully to be made use of For in regard that the Gout hath often some kind of alliance with the Erysipelas as to the cause thereof and that it is a thing generally wel known how that all fat things that stop up the pores in the Erysipelas do more hurt than benefit the very same seemeth likewise to be feared in the Gout lest that the Pores being stopt up by these fats the humor being detained within the pain may be augmented and this even very experience testifieth And it was related unto me by a certain honest Neighbor of mine that he himself in the asswaging of the Gout pains in his own Body found nothing to be better than Cheese of Sheeps Milk new and fresh made and laid on but often renewed For no sooner did the Cheese begin being made hot by the heat of the part to become fat and to drop forth butter as it were but as he said his pain was thereupon very much increased Take the Pith of wheaten Bread half a pound and boyl it in as much new Milk as wil serve to make a Cataplasm and then add of the mucilage of Marshmallow seeds two ounces the meal of Linseeds and Fenugreek of each two drams Powder of Camomil flowers and Melilote of each one ounce Saffron one dram Oyl of Roses and Camomil of each half an ounce and mingle them wel together Or Take Milk newly come from the Cow one ounce and half Crumbs of white Bread five drams Barly meal one ounce and half the common Hermodactyles six drams Saffron one dram Oyl of Camomile as much as wil suffice and make hereof a Cataplasm Or Take white Bread six ounces Milk as much as wil suffice and mingle them wel at the fire and then add the Yelks of two Eggs Electuary of Roses two ounces Saffron one scruple and mingle them Or Take the Meal of Barly of Beans of the bitter Vetch Orobus of each one ounce of Linseed six drams the Powder of Camomile flowers three drams of Melilote two drams of Saffron one scruple boyl them in a sufficient quantity of the Water of Camomile flowers then add the Yelks of two Eggs Oyl of Camomile and Roses of each one ounce and mingle them Or Take the soft Crumbs of Wheaten Bread one ounce Powder of the Mullein flowers two ounces boyl them in Milk and then add of the flower of Cassia one ounce and mingle them Or Take of Linseeds and Fenugreek seeds equal parts of each let the Mucilage be drawn out of them with Rose-water and then add the yelks of two Eggs and a little Vinegar and then sprinkle in Bean Meal and make a Cataplasm Or Take Meal of Barly of Linseed of Fenugreek of Beans Powder of Camomile flowers of each half an ounce Marsh-mallow Roots one ounce Oyl of Roses and Camomile of each one ounce and half Yelks of three Eggs the Rob of Wine one ounce mingle them and make a Cataplasm Or Take the flowers of Mulleyn as much as you think fit infuse them in a sufficient quantity of Red Wine for two months and then let them be distilled let the place be fomented with the distilled water and then after anoynted with the Oyl or Liquor of Mulleyn flowers that is in the Summer time collected by the Sun-beams in a Glass close stopped Or Take the yong and tender buds of the Hazel Tree press the Oyl out of them after the same manner as it is wont to be made of Linseed The Body of it that remaineth after the pressing forth of the Oyl let it be burnt and out of the Ashes let there be the Salt drawn forth with pure spring water and let this be mingled with the aforesaid Oyl The Oyl when it is mingled with the Salt let it be clarified by pouring and passing it through a Box of Wood as Painters are wont to clarifie the Oyl of Linseed for their own use and so it becomes a very excellent Medicament for the mitigating of pains But now these very Anodynes themselves may be somwhat varied according to the quality of the humor and in a humor that is more hot there may be added some certain things that are cooling as Roses and the Water that cometh from them Plantane Water and the like But in a cold Cause the Flowers of Camomile and Melilote Wormwood Linseed and Fenugreek may be added Narcoticks If Anodynes be not sufficient for the aforesaid purpose Narcoticks then Narcoticks are to be made use of which in regard that they bring a certain kind of numness upon the part they do not only forth with asswage the pain but they likewise by their heat which they obtain do also withal resolve the humors and so with benefit and safety and without any danger at al as it is thought they may be made use of as Platerus writeth in the 2. B. of his Practice and therfore he as likewise many others have done much commendeth the Leaves of Henbant and Mandâ—ake and Poppy if while they be new they be first bruised or boyled and so laid upon the part and their Oyls are also very useful and so is the Juyce also that is pressed forth of them and used for a fomentation as likewise the Root of Mandtake and Henbane seed applied together with other things in the form of a Cataplasm The new and fresh Leaves likewise of Tobacco bruised and laid upon the pained part do asswage the pain And the same Platerus as likewise other Authors have here recourse unto Opium also and they mingle it together with other Anodynes and unto two ounces of these they add a dram of Opium And he writeth also that if it be dissolved in the infusion of the Spirit of Wine alone or the infusion of Saffron four ounces of the yellowest of it and one scruple of Camphyre with a dram of Opium and the part where the pain is be wel washed or bathed with the said Liquor it is a most efficacious and soveraign Remedy And so likewise the Opiate Antidores as Treacle Mithridate Philonium may be added while they are new especially in case the quantity of the Opium may be augmented And yet notwithstanding we are not to continue long in the use of these Opiates in regard that they are enemies unto the native heat and Nerves And yet nevertheless the same Platerus tels us in the first B. of his Practice Chap. 5. of the burting of the Touch that he could never find that the Skin could be made stupid and sensless of pain by any external Narcotick applied thereunto albeit that so he might know somwhat of a certainty he had applied a Mass of Opium when he had first softened it unto the part pained with the Gout But the truth indeed is that Narcoticks when they are administred do very easily asswage the pain but then withal it being so that they hinder the motion
Oxycrate then add the Yelks of two Eggs Saffron one scruple and mingle them Or Take Mucillage of the Seed of Fleabane extracted with Rose Water two ounces Mucillage of Marsh Mallow Seeds one ounce Barly Meal as much as will suffice the yelk of one Egge and so make a Cataplasm Or Take The water of the Sperm of Frogs four ounces Water of Nightshade of the flowers of Elder and of Plantane of each two ounces Camphire half a scruple and mingle them well together If you think fit the Mucillage of the Seed of Fleabane and of Quinces of each one ounce may be added Or Take Juyce of Henbane Sengreen Lettice of each two ounces Barly Meal one ounce the Yelk of one Egg and Oyl of Roses two ounces Mingle them well together Or Take Red Roses â—ne handful the Meal of Fenugreek Seed Beans and Barly of each one ounce Red Sanders one dram and half Camomile flowers one pugil when they are boyled and throughly bruised you are to add the Yelks of two Eggs Vinegar four ounces Oyl of Roses as much as will suffice and make a Cataplasm Or. Take Water of Night-shade of Plantane of the Sperm of Frogs of each two ounces Oyl of Roses and Camomile of each one ounce Cows Milk three ounces the Meal of Beans Marsh-Mallows and Barly of each one ounce or as much as will suffice Saffron one scruple the yelks of two Eggs Smallage two scruples Make a Cataplasm Some there are that steep Harts-born burnt and prepared in the Water of Mulleyn flowers or else they boyl it in the same Water and in the streyning they wet and soak Linen Clothes and these they lay upon the part that is pained Or Take Mulleyn new and fresh gathered six pound Wine one Quart Let them be Macerated for three whole daies and then afterwards let them be destilled Or Take The Flowers of Mulleyn and fill a Glass bâ—ttle ful of them and then stopping the month thereof very close set it in the Sun for so they dissolve as it were into a liquor wherein you are to wet a Linen Cloath and lay it upon the part affected for the asswaging of the pain If you judget sitter to make use of Oyls Then Take Frogs five of them in Number Earth-worms washed in Wine three ounces boyl them in the Oyl of Roses and strain them Discussing Medicaments But now when the force and violence of the fluxion is once past and gone Discussives and the part become swoln then those things are withall to be mingled which do cal forth the Humor and gently discuss the same and so take away some part of the Cause But now here Physitiaus are wont for the most part of them to be very long and Tedious in reckoning up and distinguishing the several Medicaments which of them are fit and proper in a hot Cause and which of them when the Cause is cold yea and which of them are most convenient for all kind of Humors But although we deny not but that we are in some kind of manner to have respect unto the Condition of the Humor that floweth in unto the Joynts yet nevertheless our chief and main Care ought to be that the ferous and sharp wheyish Humor which is the nighest and most principal Cause of the pain may be called forth of the more deep and close parts in the Joynts unto the external parts and that they be insensibly discussed and yet that this may the more conveniently be so done we may likewise as we said but now have some regard unto those Humors that the aforesaid serous and sharp Humor forcibly draweth along with it and which by Reason of the pain are together attracted to the part that is pained and which are very commonly taken for the highest and most immediate Cause of the Gout Yea and moreover that very serous Humor it self the prime and principal Cause of this Evil is in some more and in others less hot And therefore if the flowing Humor be more hot then the discussing Medicaments ought to be so ordered that they may indeed gently disperse the Humor but yet so that they give no occasion at all for any new afflux And such a like hot Humor inregard that it is withall moveable and thin is easily discussed neither needeth it any stronger Medicaments But if the Humor be less hot or somwhat cold then we may very safely administer Medicaments that are more hot Neither will there be any Cause to fear that then a new flux may easily be excited and therefore for the dispersing of such a like Humor there are necessarily required such Medicaments as are more hot then ordinary But now with what Medicaments that wheyish and as it is so called by the Chymists Tartarous Humore is to be drawn forth and discussed we are here and that for very good Reason diligently to make inquiry For we have elswhere told you viz. in our Tract of Chymic Confil. Diss Chap. 15. that the Medicaments ought in their own kind to be like unto the Cause For there is not any thing that suffereth from every thing neither is there any thing that may be united unto every thing Gum Arabick and Tragacanth and the Gum of Cherry Trees are dissolved by Water because of the neer alliance and agreement in their Natures but but so is not Sulphur and other things of a Sulphurous Nature and those things that are Oyly Sulphur is dissolved by Oyl but not by Aqua Fortis although the said Water is able to dissolve silver and other Metals The hands when they are all foul with Pitch or Turpentine are not to be made clean with Water but with Oyl or some thing else that is fat In burnings we use not to administer cold Water but Linseed Oyl Vernish and the like that may draw forth that fire and burning are to be applied And so in the Erysipelas or other wise called Rosa we ought not to impose those things that are fat and Oyly but ley tempered with Oyl and Sope that is dissolved in Elder Water and the Like which do not at al shut the pores but yet nevertheless they draw forth and discuss that subtile and hot Humor And the very same is the case in the Gout and since that it hath its Original not from a Watery Humor neither yet also from that which is Oyly or Sulphurous as the Chymists speak but from a Humor that is sharp and Salt for the drawing forth and dissipating of this Humor those things that contain in them a volatile and flitting Salt are rather to be administred then those things that are fat and Oyly And experience hath already taught many that the Gout pains are increased by such things as are fat And hence it is that the Chymists do so much commend and not without cause Salt Armoniack oftentimes sublimated dissolved in Wine or some other convenient liquor and so imposed upon the pained part Others commend the Salt of Urine
of the Ancients in regard that there is here no worm that lieâ—h underneath The Westphalianâ— for the Cure hereof use as a peculiar Remedy Earth-worms of which see Wierus in the place alleadged But we shall add no more touching this affect in regard that it doth not properly apperrain unto Arthritis of which we are now treating And yet by the way I think it not fit to pass over in silence what I find mentioned in the Hâ—stories of those that were troubled with the Arthritis which Forestus bringeth in his 29. B. a nd so likewise in his 14. Observation where we find mention made of one Hugo Cornelius twenty eight years of Age who over wearied and tired out in the imployments of his Husbandry and very sleepy as he was laid himself down upon the Ground and there he slept for some certain hours at length awaking in his left hand about the wrist he felt an intollerable pain which at length seized his whole Arm insomuch that he was not able to move his Hand or so much as to stir his singers which were now grown stiff as it were and soon after he was troubled with the same pain about the Foot unto which was added likewise a very strong and violent Feaver Of all which not withstanding by purging and altering Medicaments and by the administring of Topicks he was cured in seven daies times or less Where he likewise maketh mention of another who very drunk as he was lying all night in his Garden upon the cold ground when he awoke was immediatly taken with a violent feaver and most intollerable pains of which in a very short time he died But as it seems to me those affects were not properly Arthritick but rather acute feavers contracted from Vapours exhaling out of the Earth which they both of them received by sleeping thereon in which feavers Nature thrust forth part of the vitious Humor unto the extream parts of the Body and so from this Humor there were not only pains excited in the Joynts but also in the whole Arm the Membranes of the Muscles being there affected and so great was the pravity of this Humor that it likewise snatcht away one of these two by a sudden Death Seeing therefore that neither a naked and bare distemper Whether a Humor and what kind of humor it is and whether al the four Humors may be the cause of Atthritis neither yet a windiness alone can be the cause of Arthritis most Physitians indeed therefore agree in this that it is some Humor that causeth the Arthritis but what kind of Humor this is herein they greatly differ Some of them think that all the four Humors to wit Blood Choler Flegm and Melancholly may be the cause of Arthritis and this they endeavour to make good more especially from hence that in Arthritis there appear many different colors of the swellings divers kinds of pains and various accidents the term of the declination not one and the same and a much different way and Method to be observed in the Cure according to the variety of the Causes To wit that I may use the very words of Petrus Salius Diversus in his sreatise of the Parts affected Chap. 16. in some the Colour is much inclining to be red in others yellow and in a third sort white The swelling is now and then of a considerable bigness and somtimes again it scarcely appeareth And as for the pain it is somtimes indeed very troublesom but yet not so but that it may well be born but then at other times according to the Humor the cause thereof it is most sharp and intollerable And then again this pain is somtimes soon gone and vanished but that continueth a long while But oftentimes also divers evil Symptoms do follow as an extraordinary great heat and burning in the place affected But somtimes again either there is present no heat at all or on the contrary there is a coldness that greatly troubleth the party some of these persons being offended by the Air when it is over hot and others by an Air too cool The way and course of Curing is somtimes also very varâ—ous because in some of these such Medicaments as heat are found to be most beneficial and in others those benesit most that cool the pains in those being the more enraged by things that are cold but in these they are heighthened by such things as are hot And then again some of these pains are appeased by the Evacuation of the Blood some by the purging forth of Flegm a third sort from the emptying forth of the Choler and the last kind of them by the Evacuation of Melancholly are very much mitigated and allaied All which seemeth to denote thus much unto us that the cause of the Arthritis is somtimes hot and now and then cold and somtimes the matter thereof very various and different But these Reasons do not sufficiently prove that which they ought For although that according to the various treasuring up of Humors divers kinds of Humors may flow unto the part affected yet these are not the prime and principal cause of the Arthritis but together with the Serum or Whey they are foreibly carryed unto the part affeâ—â—ed or else they are drawn thither by the pain And that that Humor which breedeth the swelling is not the principal Cause of Arthritis appeareth even from hence that in the beginning before the part swelleth the pain is most intense and violent but as the part by degrees swelleth up so the pain more and more remitteth Neither indeed is this opinion agreeable to the truth For many there are who although they be troubled with a Plethory and Cacochymy yet notwithstanding they are not at all taken and seized upon by the Arthritis Whether the bâ—ood may cause 〈…〉 〈◊〉 And in special as for what concerneth the Blood it doth not at any time any manner of way generate the Arthritis by its abundance For the blood is the Treasury of Nature and therefore although it doth abound yet nevertheless Nature doth not easily and upon all occasions expel it unto any part whatsoever but more especially those parts that are void of blood such as they are that are affeâ—â—ed in the Arthritis And then again if the blood should also happen to be driven forth thither seeing that it is milde and harmless it could not possibly stir up soâ—great and vehement pains which yet are alwaies present even in the beginning of the Arthritis before such time as the part begin to swel and grow red And iâ— the Arthritis were from the blood why should not the Tumor then be suppurated since that there is no Humor so easily brought to a suppuration and converted into Pus as is the Blood And as for Melancholly the Case is likewise very plain Whether Melancholly may be the cause of Aâ—thriâ—is and there are but few that will have this Humor to be the cause of
the water how much time wil be spent in boyling away six or eight pints of water if taking but the half quantity viz. half an ounce of China with six pints of water we suffer the half to wast or two thirds which wil be consumed in less than two houres space the water being less able to resist the action of the fire nor let any one dare to say that we may prevent this inconveniency by making a less quantity of fire and if it he boyled by a slower fire for to extract this vertue out of a more solid substance there ought also to concur a due quantity of fire Out of the remainders another drink is prepared by some for dinner and supper The Second decoction as out of Guajacum Yet Palmarius thinks that al the vertue of that root is transfused in the liquor at the first boyling and therefore for ordinary drink he boyles three ounces more of the root in eight pound of water til two pints are consumed and he ads raisons and liquarish nay some also drink the first decoction at dinner and supper whenas it is not unpleasant to the tast Some also do admonish us that we provide no more of the decoction at once than may be spent in one day whenas it quickly growes sour when 't is cold therefore they command also that it be kept on warm ashes but experience hath taught us that it wil last four dayes Yet because it growes sour that very thing tels us that this root hath in it somewhat spirituous and alimental which is the cause of fermentation and hence of acidity Consult concerning this with Amatus Lusitamus centur 1. curat 98. and especially centur 2. curat 31. CHAP. XVI Of Sassafras wood THey use also for the cure of the Veneral disease that wood which is connonly called sassafras which is imported form the Island called Florida Sassafras-Wood it is of an aromatical taste like fennel 't is hot and dry in the second degree of a thin substance and endewed with an opening discussive and attenuating faculty Its vertues and therefore is commended by them who have sailed to the Indies against long tertian feavers evil habit of the body and dropsie and to strengthen the stomach and against nephritical paines it is comended also for the gout to move the courses and many other diseases to treat of which is not proper to this place 't is used also for the cure of the French pox yet most physitians agree that 't is less effectual than Guajacum and sarsaparilla and the decoction of it is prepared almost as that of Sarsaparilla Chap. XVII Of Sope-wort Last of al sopewort is commended by some physitians for the cure of this disease which is bitter Soapwors accid and endewed with an abstersive and opening faculty and is praised for the French pox and contumacious paines which cannot be over come by other remedies 'T is reported to be the invention of Zapata a spannish Empirick t is used both in the decoction and in substance the decoction is prepared after this manner Take of green sopewort two handfuls It s decoction infuse them al night in eight pound of water than boyl it â—â—l the sâ—pewort is boyled enough then strain one pound of it with half a pound of water and the harbs now boyled and squeez them and reserve it for a mornings dâ—aught to provoke sweat taking seven or eight ounces But that which remains sweeten with raisons or sugar for drink at meales in summer and Cholerick bodies you may add one handful of Sowthistle or basterd Navel-wort But t is a remedy unpleasing to the tast Eustachius Rudius takes of soap-wort six pugils or more and infuseth it in twelve pound of water and boyles it to the consumption of half But as Septallius hath observed t is too great a quantity of water to so sinal a portion of soap-wort But the Root Cheifly is used in substance The pouder and Rudius doth very much commend it in ancient french pains and out of it he prepares this pouder Take of ground pine two ounces of white dittander one ounce and half of Zedoary six drams of the root of soapwort three drams of pearl prepared half a dram Make a pouder for 9. doses but who can take for one dose almost four drams of pouder and the other medicines do far exceed the soapwort which notwithstanding ought to be the basis CHAP. XVIII Of Compound Alexipharmaca BUt though al the medicines hitherto reckoned up Compouond Alexiphbrmaca in the Veneral disease are good to destroy this disease yet some are more effectual then others and besides some have other qualities for the which they are useful sometimes for this sometimes for that end as was said of the simples and therefore seldom one of these medicines is used but for the most part many of them together Indeed if the disease be simple and none of the bowels be affected nor there is no eminent distemper in any part which may hinder the use of Guajacum that wood is the most excellent of al because it resists this disease both by its occult and manifest qualities but if any disease be joyned with it t is oftentimes most profitable to add sarsaparilla and China and there are added by some manny altering medicines of which whenas we spake before in this place we shal ad nothing of them but this that we must have a care least by the mixture of Succories and endives and cooling medicines which are added to moderate the heat of Guajacum which yet is not so much to be feared they hinder sweating which is only to be desired and which brings more benefit then a little heating can do dammage next of al least by the admixtion of other things the drink be made ungrateful and nauseous therefore passing by these that we may speake somewhat of the mixture of alexipharmaca if the nature of the patient be very hot and dry and the humors violently fal from the head on the lungs breast or other parts Guajacum wood is not commodiously given alone whenas it doth farther heat and dry the parts and by its heat make the humors run and move but then sarsaparilla is safer and China more comodious which doth at once moderate the heat and hath an astrictive power by which it stops defluxions on the contrary if the strength be feeble and there be a weaknes of the sight sarsa is not commodious whenas it loosenss the stomach and duls the fight if there be a great consumption if so be it hath not its original from the Venereal disease for then this disease being taken away as the cause that wasting also ceaseth and the body begins to be nourisht better Guajacum and sarsaparilla are not safe But then china is far more profitable as that which moistens substantifically as they speak Yet Ludiciptalius commends Sasaparilla above al the rest against a consumption lib. 7.
alone can wholly Extirpate the Roots and whol malice of the Venereal poyson nor so weak that it can perform nothing without the help of others that by the use of that only the Humors be wasted al Symptomes wil at length be allaied and wholly lie hid but yet the taint of the disease which hath already taken possession of the solid parts cannot in most bodies be wholly overcome and extinguisht by that remedy Rondeletius Rondeletius his Treacle Water doubtless followed these men also who de morb Itali commend his Treacle water which provokes sweat in the inveterate Italian Disease and takes away the pains the description of which is this Take of Treacle one pound of Sorrel three handfuls of the flowers of Chamomel Peny-royal Pomegranates blessed Thistle of each two ounces Mix them al in white wine and distil them Of which water give three ounces to drink with three ounces of Sorrel and Bugloss water when the Patient goes into his bed or hot house Platerus also thinks that it is confirmed by experience that the decoctions of other plants besides Guajacum Sarsaparilla China Sassafras can performe the same in this disease as they do and therefore fals into this opinion but evilly That the late mentioned Medicines which are accounted alexipharmaca of this disease do work rather in the cure of this disease by moving sweat then by an occult quality and therefore he thinks that not only a decoction of box wood Juniper Cedar Cypress and Savin Agallochus Rose-wood but also the decoction and Treacle water which are given in Pestilent Feavers are profitable also here Aurelius Minadous de lue Vener cap. 53. Whether treacle be good in the Venereal disease when he had spoken many things in the praise of Treacle at length concludes that Treacle also may be used against the venereal virulency as a most excellent Alexiterum not as if it were to be numbered amongst them which of themselves are said to expel this virulency but amongst them which expel it by accident in as much as it doth strengthen the spirits by a Conformable proportion to them so that they being now made strong are able as the principal agent together with the Treacle as their instrument to overcome the malignity of the venereal virulency The same Author cap. 44. Trochisks Cypheos commends Trochisks Cypheos in this Disease as being such which do principally strengthen the Liver which in this Disease is chiefly affected and free it from Excrementitious Humors which are collected in this Disease being powerful to concoct cleanse and dry up the Excrement and therefore as Galen thought this Composition was to be preferred before al other Medicines written by Asclepias Andromachus and other most Famous Physitians for the affects of the Liver so he thinks the same is to be used and Magnified beyond al others in this Disease But as I wil not disswade any one from the use of such common Alexipharmaca in the cure of this Disease whenas in other cases it is a custome when any one hath drank poyson or any waies taken it and knows not what it is to give treacle and common Alexipharmaca so I wil counsel no body that he confide only in these Medicines and neglect those proper ones And I see it done by very few Physitians as being taught by experience that this Disease cannot wholly be extirpated without Guajacum Sarsaparilla and the like neither doth it follow that therefore because some sick of an incurable French Pox could not be cured by Guajacum wood that we must place more hope in these Medicaments For they that could not be cured by those proper Alexipharmaca wil much less be cured by these common ones CHAP. XXI Of the Cure by Quick-silver ANd this is the chief kind of Medicine for the cure of the Venereal disease Of the cure by Quick-silver and this is the chief manner of curing it For there is also another way of curing the same Disease by quick-silver which was first brought into use by Chyrurgions and barbers afterwards also was applyed by learned Physitians For whenas as was said before by Fracastorius certain Barbars had found out amongst the Medicines of our ancestors for the filthy scab joyned with the pains of the joynts unguents compounded of Mercury and Sulphur other Medicines profiting little they began to use them The use of which being not altogether unsuccessful afterwards quick-silver was used in the cure of this Disease by many learned Physitians But though it be not my purpose in this place to treat of quick-silver which the Chymists cal Mercury but rather of the use of it in curing this disease yet I shal admonish you of a few things in general Quick-silver is reckoned amongst the mettals and 't is called Silver from its color in which it resembles silver Quicksilver whence so called It s wonderful Nature but quick because t is alwaies moveable and its Nature is altogether wonderful which many learned men admire and which hath tortered the wits of many Chymists and deluded their pains For though it be mortified fixed or what way soever it oftentimes seems to be changed yet it is easily reduced to its former quick Nature And though it be reduced into the smallest bodies and transmitted through leather or be otherwise reduced into atomes and a strong form yet it retaines in them its whol Nature and essence and returns to its former quick body Naturalists and Physitians differ concerning its temperament Whether Quicksilver be hot or cold whiles some hold it to be cold others hot Matthias Vnzerus hath collected the arguments of both in Anatom Spagyr Mercu. to alleage al which at large in this place is not our intent for you may consult with him on that business in the alleaged place yet by and by we shal make mention of some of them but Vnzerus himself cap. 12. goes the middle way and holds Matthias Vnzerus his opinion that some natural things have oftentimes in them diverse and wholly contrary vertues and faculties and some of them are manifest others occult and that these depend on the specifick form those on the first qualities of the Elements which he proves by the examples of Wormwood Rhubarb Vineger and others and he thinks Mercury is to be reckoned in the number of these which may be considered both as crude and as prepared the crude he thinks hath mixt qualities and is partly hot partly cold and that diversity is to be attributed to the divers parts of the matter of which it consists some of which are very thin Subtile pure and Spirituous but some are thick earthy and feculent but he thinks that Mercury prepared hath no longer any cold quality but they are wholly taken away by the outward help of fire or by the Application of the menstrua and therefore that it is very hot Hercules Saxonia Hercules Saxonia holds the same de lue Vener Cap. 39. Whiles he
teacheth that this Medicine doth exulcerate and cause heat and inflamation on the other side it causeth numness Palsies and other cold affects and that it proceeds from the inequality of its temperament and because 't is an imperfect mixt body and if it be prepared by calcination that the cold substance doth fly away and that which is left is fire But these authors erre very much The authors opinion indeed it cannot be denied that there are many Medicines which have Heterogeneous parts by vertue of which they produce divers effects which parts also may be separated by the help of art But that Quick-silver hath such parts is fals neither was there yet ever found any Chymist who could show the diverse parts in it and separate them by art for the whol is Homogeneous if there be any thing so in Nature and either it al flies away or al remaines and what way soever it is prepared Quicksilver is Homogeneous at last it al revives wholly Homogeneous and whatsoever Chymist can show any Heterogeneous parts in Quick-silver as in Rhubatb shal be in my esteem a great Apollo Neither is precipitate of another Nature then that which is crude neither doth Quick-silver loose any thing by its preparation and that prepared does differ from the crude only in external form which is caured by the admistion of other things which somtimes are Salt parts as happens in Mercury Sublimate and Precipitate somtimes only watry as when Mercury is reduced into water by a retort without the admistion of any other thing as the same Vnzerits teacheth Lib. 2. de Anatom Mercu. cap. 2. n. 4. for this water is nothing else but the Quick-silver resolved into the smallest bodies or Atomes by the strength of the fire and mixt with watry Vapors or the moist Air. Yet in that there appeare no effects of cold but rather of heat and that very water as other mercurial waters wil dissolve gold in like manner Saxonia is mistaken for Quick-filver is no imperfect mixt body but a body that hath the most perfect mistion and cannot be destroied by any art of the Chymists but every where retaines its form neither whiles it is calcined or rather exposed to the sire for Quick-silver cannot properly be said to be Calcmed do the cold parts fly away and the fiery stay behind but if those parts which are raised up be received they are of the same Nature with those that remaine as is wel known to the Chymist Therefore whenas this Reconcilation is of no force Quick silver is hot let us see who is in the righter whether those who hold Quick-silver to be hot or those that say 't is cold But I think that they are altogether of the righter judgment who think it to be hot for that appears by its great penetrating and corroding vertue so that it penetrates and Eats into Mettals and the flesh nay the very bones are corroded by Mercury precipitate and sublituate And Libavius writes in tract de igne natu cap. 30 that he knew by the relation of a most learned Physitian that a certain Chyrurgion dying by the too frequent use of Mercurial Medicines had his bones plainly britle or frangible But whenas they object first of al The answer of the reasons against it that whiles 't is quick and whol it doth not corrode the cause of that is because it cannot infinuate it self into the body and worke upon it whenas al its parts are most closely knit together nor cannot be mixed with other bodies but the Medicines prepared out of it as Mercury sublimate Precipitate Oyl of Mereury and it there be any more of this kind have a great power to burn and corrode not only by the reason of Salts commixt which is very little but because 't is resolved into the smalest bodies and being mixt with the Salts it can adhere to the body and by the benefit of things admixt most intimately insinuate it self into it Secondly whereas Quick-silver appears cold to the touch that is common to it with steel Brass Lead Wine things of their own Nature hot which by accident feel to be cold Thirdly whereas some also from the effects would collect quick-silver to be cold in that they are very much deceived and they attribute those effects to cold which have their dependance elswhere Truly they that drink the waters infected with quick-silver on the Alps are sick of divers fluxes and are taken with a bronchocele Goldsmiths and others who often deal with quick-silver are seldom healthful and long lived but are obnoxious to numnesses tremblings palsies convulsions lethargies suffocating catarths and appoplexies Thus Fernelius relates of a certain Goldsmith that imprudently admitting the vapour of quick-silver only presently became stupid drowzy and wholly speechless Ferdinandus Ponrertus relates that the same happend to another lib. 1. de vene cap. 3. And Forestus lib. 8. obser 5. writes That a certain yong man learning the Smiths art upon the atching of a Cup with quick-silver had all the hair of his head fell off and that his face became extraordinary pale and all his body tremulous and many others have observed the same And Jacobus Oethoeus in his observat reports That a certain yong Noble man troubled with Crab-lice in his Privities used Mercurial Oyntment to drive them away upon which his Yard grew cold and sluggish and unfit for Venery But here is a fallacy of the cause for quick-silver doth not do these things by cooling but because it hath a peculiar and occult quality that is an enemy to the Nerves and Brain as appears in many other stupifying poysons Fourthly That which is Objected is easily Answered to wit That the damage brought upon mans body by quick silver is cured by the use of hot things as Sage Hyssope Origanum Clary Rue Castor and the like For those Medicaments are not therefore applied to the preternatural affects caused by quick-silver only because they are hot but because they are friends to the Brain and Nerves and furthermore as they themselves grant by a specifick property are enemies to the Mercurial virulency and that such things are not therefore applied because they are hot but because by a peculiar vertue they are friends to the Nerves it appears by this because other hot things as Ginger Pepper and the like which have no specifick property freindly to the Nerves do not perform the same But concerning the Occult Vertue and Propriety of Quick-silver we chiefly meet with two doubts First of all Whether it be poysonous next of all Whether it be rightly applied for the Cure of the Venereal Disease Concerning the former Question Whether Quick-silver be Poysonous Whether quick-filver be Poysonous we have already treated before in tractat de Chym. Aristot consens dissens cap. 19. where we speak of Mercury and we said there That Matthias Vnzerus de anatem spagyr Mercu. did endeavour to prove at large That Mercury is not
and stony pipes and shal subsist apart by it self it is not then any further to be dissolved in Water From all which it appeareth that the Gout is not generated without Salt and without doubt the sharpest and most extream pains in the Gout are from Salt but yet we say not that Salt alone pure Salt doth this since that there are Wines in many Regions that have Salt also and yet for all that they do not generate the Gout but there concurreth moreover a matter that is Clayish Limy Marly or some Mineral which the Vine had attracted out of the ground together with the nourishment concocted it and mingled it with the Alimentary matter and so communicated it unto the Grapes and hence the Wine also that is pressed forth of the Graps receiveth and reteineth it And hereupon it is that we see how that in the Joynts of such as are troubled with the Gout there are somtimes generated hard knobs and knots and that there is as it were Lime taken forth of them which indeed is nothing else but that same Mineral Matter which the Salt of the Wine drew along with it and which at the length as altogether unuseful and unfit for the nourishment of the Body is thrust forth unto the Joynts Now therefore that we may come unto the Question why some Wines do generate the Gout and others do not so the more any Wine hath of this matter what wines they are that do more generate the gout and what less and this throughly mingled with it by the smallest Atomes by so much the more powerful it is for the generating of the Gout Which cometh to pass in the first place by Reason of the soyl to wit where the Wines grow whether in a Muddy ground or that that is Clayish Limy Marly or any other Mineral Earth And furthermore in the Second place if the Wines shall not be wholly purifyed and freed from their Tartar but still remain as it were thick and turbid and this happeneth first of al in Wines that are new and not yet wrackt by turning them from Vessel to Vessel and then Secondly in some certain Wines that wil never be altogether cleer such as are those of Hungaria c. And Thirdly if that Tartarous matter be so throughly mingled with the Wine in the smallest Atomes that it cannot be separated from our bodies neither in the first nor yet in the second Concoction which for the most part happeneth in Generous and strong Wines and such as grow in places hotter then ordinary For Wines that are not strong and generous although that even these may contain in them some of the said Tartarous matter yet notwithstanding in regard that the heat of the Country was not so powerful that it was able either in the Vine or in the Grapes to mingle this Tartarous matter with the Spirit that is in the Wine it is thereupon also afterwards either in the first or in the second Concoction more easily separated and driven forth either by the Belly or by Urine But if by the Air of a hotter Country that doth concoct more powerfully that same Tartarous matter be exactly mingled together with the Salt and spirit of the Wine it then refuseth to be severed by the separating faculty and so penetrateth it self into the whole Body with the Alimentary part But yet because that it is altogether unfit to nourish the Body it is at length by Nature thrust forth unto the Joynts and there it generateth the Gout And that this is so we are taught by the experience we have even of the Hungarian Wines For although as experience it self testifyeth they be most apt of themselves to generate the Gout yet as we told you a little before it is observed in the destillation of the Hungarian and Renish Wine that there was more of the Tartarous matter collected out of the Renish then out of the Hungarian Which happeneth for no other cause but this to wit that in the Wines of Hungary that Tartarous matter is by the smallest Atomes so exactly mingled with the spirit of the Wine that together with the said spirit it may likewise pass through by the Alembick whether meats that are moist and waterish do breed the gout Carolus Piso amongst those Causes from which the matter of the Gout is heaped up in the Veins putteth likewise moist and waterish meats for one as broths raw fruits and the like But he doth this upon a false Hypothesis or Supposition whilest he mistakingly determineth that the Serum or whey is a meer and pure Water whereas yet notwithstanding Experience it self teacheth us the contrary and there was never any man yet known to get the Gour from the alone use of moist and watry meats neither indeed can waterish humors possibly excite such great and so sharp intollerable Pains That which likewise maketh very much for the generating of the Gout is the suppression of the wonted evacuations Thesuppression of the wonted Evacuations And hence it is that Hippocrates in the sixth of his Aphor. Aphor. 29. writeth that Women are never troubled with the Gout but when their Courses fail them of which notwithstanding we intend to speak more hereafter in the ninth Question And so the same Hippocrates writeth Epid. 6. Sect. 8. text 55. that at Abdedera Phaetusa the Wife of Pithous having been before while she was yong very fruitful in bearing Children upon a very long absence of her Husband from her her Monthly Courses left her whereupon afterwards pains and rednesses arose about the Joynts And the very same saith he happened also unto Thaso the Wife of Namylias Gorgippus And from hence likewise it is that oftentimes those Persons are wont to sal into the Gout who have had old Ulcers in their Legs or Fistulaes in the Arse suddenly consolidated or nealed up and the Fluxes likewise of other places wholly suppressed For those humors that are wont to excite those long lasting Ulcers of the Legs and Fistulaes of the Aâ—se are themselves also falt and therefore if they be suppresseâ— they may produce the Gout And here there are very many that are wont to be long and tedious in the â—â—cital of the Causes external and internal who wil not pass over in silence any one of those things we cal not Natural whether every Error in things not Natural may produce the gout Venery one great cause of the gout But although that every Error whâ—â—â—â—et in the 〈◊〉 of the things not Natural may produce a Cacochymy yet we deny 〈…〉 power to produce the Gout And of the rest 〈◊〉 those things that are not nactural there is hardly any of them that of it self doth produce the Gout but 〈◊〉 that by 〈…〉 motion Anger and Fear the Paroxysm is excited and 〈…〉 also make very much for the producing of the same and if the Person◠〈◊〉 long accustoâ—â— unto those sweats the retention and suppression of them is an 〈…〉 very
more conveniently also given in Autumn then in the spring time and therefore in Bodies that are more hot Succory is wont to be intermingsed with the Mersicament and as touching Succory Adrian Spigelius likewise writeth that he had been taught by experience how that in a hot Cause there was nothing more convenient then the Leaves of Wild Succory gathered in the month of May and dried in the shade and then given one dram thereof for the Dose And yet nevertheless the Roote of the said Succory are likewise very useful if they be pulled up in the first beginning of the Spring and the same may also as well as the Leaves be mingled together with those other Medicaments that we mentioned before But now in what manner these pouders and Artipodagrick Medicaments commonly called Antidotes do benefit those that are troubled with the Gout is well worth our consideration and as touching this very thing Thomas Erastus moveth a Question How the Antipodagâ—ick Medicaments do benefit such as have the Gout which is this viz. how those Medicaments can correct the cold and moâ—t disten pee of the Head or dissipate humors bred therein But the truth is he moveth the Question one of an Anticipated Opinion and Hypothesis whiles he presurposeth that the humors the Cause of the Gout do fal down out of the Head which that it is false we 〈◊〉 thew you in the seventh Question Whosoever he be that righth understandeâ—â— the Cause of the Gout may easily perceive what the Physitians main scope is here in the 〈◊〉 of the Antidotes For seeing that those Tartarous humors are generated in the first and secutal Concoction and then are derived in to the Veins and at length in their own time 〈◊〉 forth into the Joynts in the administring of the Medicaments the 〈◊〉 the 〈◊〉 here propoundeth unto himself is this to wit that he may promote and help forward the Concoctions of the Stomack and Liver and if there be any excrements guterated in the Stomack as Erastus also confesseth that there are and in the parts heer adjoyning â—o wit the Meseraick Veins the Spleen and the Liver these do cleanse them away 〈◊〉 them and dissolve them into exhalaâ—ons and evacuate them by Sweats and thines and â—â—rolus Piso writeth most truly that the potes and breathing places of the Skin whether sensible or else even insensible is so greatly to be accounted of that in it alone 〈…〉 to be placed the whol business of preventing all kind of Arthrick fluxions And this 〈◊〉 excellencly done by those Medicaments if they be continued But now here it may not without Cause be demanded Whether the Decoction of Guajacum and the like do perform the same that the Antipodagrick Medicaments de whether or no the very same may not be performed by the Drcoction of Guajacum Wood Sarsaparilla China and the like seeing that even those also do exceedingly provoke Sweats whateupon the 〈…〉 these Decoctions is by many prescribed in this Disease of the Gout But yet leaving every man to enjoy his own Opinion for my own part I am altogether unsatiâ—fied in this point For as Crato saith truly in his 25. Epist those Sudorifiques especlally such as are made of Guajacum Wood if they be frequently administred do very much consume and wast the Radical moisture which is not in the least done by any of the afore cited Medicaments which do only cleanse the humors and discuss them by a moistness and dewiness all the Body over in the morning or by a gentle and light Sweat or else also disperse them insensibly And besides such Decoctions as these when they are taken in a great quantity do very much dry the Bowels which of themselves are for the most part over dry in those that are afflicted with this Malady Add to this that those Antipodagrick Medicaments before spoken of are most of them bitter and thereupon they obtain a virtue and power of cleansing away those tartarous humors and Cholerick Ichores that are collected about the Liver and Spleen which virtue and faculty these Deoctions last mentioned do want since they do only extenuate dry scatter the humors and provoke Sweats And hence it is that Johaâ—â—es Crato in his 253. Consil not without good Cause tels us that to follow the Vulgar Opinion is no less to be deceived than by placing any hopes and expectation in those potions of China Sarsaparilla and the like Decotions For if they at any time seem to benefit and yield any help this they do by means of the exact and strict Dyet that is then observed and the most of those Persons of quality that have â—o often drunk those Decoctions have been greatly deceived by the perswasions of others and therefore they may do wel to see to it that they may stumble no more at the same Stone And therefore at all times it there be any vitious Constitution in the Bowels and a power generating that humor we ought carefully to look to it lest that by the use of such like Medicaments that aforesaid power should be augmented as it is most certain that that disposition unto the Stone that is in the Reins may be greatly increased by hot and dry Medicaments unsousonably given to break the Stone And Monardus likewise in the 16. B. of his Epistles writeth that Guajacum doth wonderfully dry and therefore must needs be very hurtful for such as are of a dry tempetature The Chymists do here likewise commend their Medicaments and some of them write that the Arcanum or Secret of Tartar doth remove and by the very Boots take away the Gout Now it is made in this manner Take Salt of Tartar depurated The Arcanum of Tartar or partified from this draw away a distilled Vinegar again and again alwaies receiving the new until such time as it leave behind it no more at all of its sharpness and Tartar And then unto one part of this Salt add three parts of common Bole and so distill from thence the Spirit by a Retort of Glass wel Luted and sitting thereunto a Vessel to receive and let this be big enough Vnto one part of this Spirit pour in two parts of the Spirit of Wine an eighth part of the Oyl of Sulphur and a sixteenth part of the Oyl of red Vitriol All of these being wel mingled together in a Glass Sealed after the Hermetick manner let them for three months be continually circulated Fryar Basil Valentine doth with great Praises extol the Spirit of quick or unslaked Lime But as the Composition of this is very difficult and troublesom The Spirit of quick Lime so we have likewise just Cause to fear and wel to consider whether or no it doth not easily offend the Bowels seeing that there is in the Salt of quick Lime a notable and manifest Caustick quality which appeareth even by the potential Cauteries that are made out of the Ley that cometh from the said unslaked Lime And so indeed
Arthritis for it being a very thick and dull Humor it cannot easily insinuate it self into those most streight and narrow passages But as for Choler there are some who upon very good ground will have the Arthritis to proceed from it also and not only from the flegm and this they endeavor to prove even by those very signs that appear in the Arthritis For the pain is for the most part extream sharp and violent and not unlike unto that pain that is pricking and shooting and the Diet that went before was dry and hot or at least very much tending thereunto the excercises also were over-violent and the habit of the Body thin and spare And the very truth is that this is not indeed to be denied that those things do somtimes befal the sick persons and that oftentimes also the pain is so sharp that it cannot possibly by any meanes be referred unto that Crude Humor Flegm but argueth rather a hot Humor But now a Question may be here made whether or no every preternatural hot Humor may be called Choler and we think that we may well deny this to be a truth and we determine with Carolus Piso that there may be a Serous or Wheyish Cacochymy although he doth not rightly explain it and that there may likewise be a Serous Humor that may be most hot and that under it there may also be comprehended those sharp Ichores of which we sind Hippocrates and Galen making mention and of which we shal have occasion to speak more anon or if you had rather speak as do the Chymists that Tartarous Salt or the spirits of Tartarous Salts Neither are all that are troubled with the Arthritis of a thin and lean or slender constitution of Body and a Cholerick Constitution and temperament Fernelius in his 6. B. of the Diseases of the parts and the Symptoms Chap. 19. Whether or no Flegm according to Fernelius may be the Cause rejecteth all the other Humors and he there determineth that not blood nor Choler nor Melancholly but only the cold pituitous or Flegmatick and Serous Humor may be the Cause of the Arthritis and that every Arthritis is cold and proceedeth from a cold Humor And in this indeed his Opinion is right and agreeable to the truth that of one Disease there is but one only cause but in this he is very much mistaken when he tels us that this Humor is cold since that almost all the Symptoms that befal Arthritick persons teach us the Contrary to wit that most acute and sharp pain burning heat sudden motion and the rest of them For although when this Humor first beginneth to be moved there may arise some kind of coldness by which the whole Body may be extreamly Chilled and made to shake yet notwithstanding this is no sure and certain sign of a cold matter since that even the hot Humors also when they are moved through those parts that have their fense and feeling may by little and little produce a coldness or chilness and horrour as it is also very manifestly to be seen in Cholerick Feavers And then Secondly he erreth likewise in this that he accounteth flegm and the Serous Humor for all one Humor as likewise in this that he will have the Serous Humor to be simply a cold Humor For albeit that in the Serous Humors there are many parts that are waterish yet there are also many parts therein that are sharp and Salt by which it differeth from simple and pure Water But Fernelius seemeth to have taken this his Opinion from Galen in his tenth Book of the Composit of Medicaments according to the place and 2 Chap. where he writeth that the Humor which exciteth the Arthritis is fomtimes indeed the blood but for the greatest part a Flegmatick Humor or mixt Humor partly Flegmatick and partly Cholerick or likewise of the blood mingled together with those aforesaid Or if any one would speak more exactly as concerning it he may say that it is not a flegmatick humor but that the Humor which most an end is called Crude and indigested and is for the most part predominant about the Joynts is now and then very thick and like unto the thicker sort of Pus but when it hath for a while continued in the joynts it is then rendered not only more thick but also viscid and clammy There are very many other Physitians that in this follow the Opinion of Galen and Fernelius and they account the Flegmatick Cold Crude and Serous Humor for one and the same and withal they teach us that it is the cause of Arthritis But in this they are al of them mistaken seeing that neither can so sharp a pain proceed from such a cold and crude humor and because that the Arthritis invadeth the sick person suddenly and then oftentimes lieth hid again for a while and is removed into another place for the doing of which the thick and dul flegmatick humor and that humor likewise that so neerly relembleth thick Pus is altogether unfit And moreover seeing that even in the very beginning when there is no swelling as yet appearing the pain is most vehement and exquisite this is sufficient to shew that it is caused by a humor both subtil and sharp and this also penetrating into the most streight and narrow passages and pricking the Membranes and that it proceedeth not from any thick and cold humor Neither do those Tophi that are generated in Arthrâ—â—ick persons sufficiently evince that Flegm is the cause of Arthritis because that those Tophi or hard knots before spoken of do rather proceed from a humor that is Tartarâ—â—s and neerly allied unto Earthy Minerals than from a crude and raw flegm Thomas Erastus indeed in his fourth Disputat against Paracelsus writeth that he never but once saw the Gout bred from a pure and meer flegm and this was in acertain noble person of Helmsâ—adt who was sick without any pain at al if he kept but his hands and feet quiet there was no redness to be seen but a white swelling loose enough although that his joynts were not without hard knots but had many of them and that for many yeers before he had not been able to stand upon his feet But that Affect at this time was not indeed the Gout truly and properly so called but only an Oedematous tumor with the which the feet by reason of a long and lasting afflux of the humors were much troubled But now that in the very beginning the blood with the flegm or rather indeed a serous humor flowed down into the Feet and corrupted them this is confessed even by Erastus himself Carolus Piso in his B. of Diseases from a Wheyish filthiness Whether or no the serous filth he the cause of Arthritis according to Piso in two of his Consilia touching Arthritis will have the serous and wheyish uncleanness to be the one only cause of Arthritis Which Opinion if it be