parts of Libya and Egypt in Sommer are farre cooler than places more remote from thence Plutarch seemeth likewise to favour this opinion who affirmeth that it is not necessary to prescribe any remedies for the preservation of the teeth of such as dwell neere the sea and that in regard of the dry quality of that aire and wind strengthening and corroborating their heads Againe that the sea-aire is hot appeareth in that Pliny writeth that no snow falleth in the maine Ocean but what may then be the reason that in may places of Italy the sea aire is so bad The reason many be in the first place because perhaps this wind bloweth sometimes too violently and so in too great abundance drawne in by the inhabitants or else by reason that by the sea aire divers marshes or stincking standing pooles and ponds or yet salt water mingled with fresh or any the like occasion which causing the water to putrifie sendeth forth such ill vapours and exhalations as are altogether hurtfull to the health of man And by reason this is ordinarie in most places of Italy hence have we this evill report and slander raised upon the sea aire and wind which notwithstanding is onely accidentall being in it selfe most healthfull and without any hurt at all Hence is it also that the Philosopher affirmeth that the sea creatures are farre more vigorous and of a greater stature and Averroes affirmeth that they are longer lived As concerning that which was before alleged out of Aristotle seeming to maintaine the contrary opinion was spoken of creatures living in the water the word Water taken in a generall sense but is not meant of the sea in particular Hence also commeth it to passe that the Venetians hemm'd in on every side with the sea breathing in no aire which doth not partake of the qualities of their so neere bordering neighbour are so lively and vigorous that many of that republique attaine very nigh the hundred yeere of their age and this was verified in that noble and renowned Champion and sea Captaine Andrew Dore Admirall of the fleet of Charles the fift Emperor and who spent in a manner his whole life upon the Sea as the aforesaid Author averreth And this opinion seemeth yet more probable in that both the snow which falleth neere the sea-coasts yea even in the most Northerne parts of this Iland both falleth often in a small quantitie and lieth a shorter while than in the places further remote from the same and the corne is also sooner ripe caeteris paribus and no other let or rub come in the way and yet further to confirme this truth we see most commonly that sea-faring men seldome need any sauce to provoke their languishing appetites I have a little the longer insisted of set purpose upon these winds blowing from the sea by reason of our new colonies now planted and planting in these remote regions that they may neither be afraid to settle themselves neere the sea coast if all other things be answerable nor yet any such as are there already seated be by any needlesse future fears discouraged by reason of this aire And now being arrived into these remote regions ere we return a word or two of the nature and property of som of these winds blowing in those far distant contries Acosta the Iesuit relateth that upon all the coast of Peru it bloweth continually with one only wind which is South and South west contrary to that which doth usually blow under the burning Zone being by nature the most violent tempestuous unhealthfullest of all other yet in this region it is marvellous pleasing healthfull agreeable insomuch that we may truly attribute the habitation of that place thereunto Now the Northerne wind is not usually cold and cleare in Peru and beyond the line as here In some parts of Peru at Lima and on the plaines they find the Northern winds troublesome and unwholesome and all along the coast which runnes above 300 leagues they hold the Southerne winds for healthfull and coole and which is yet more most cleare and pleasant yea with it it never raines contrary to that we see in Europe on this side the line The Solanus or Easterly wind is commonly hot and troublesome in Spaine and in Murtia it is the healthfullest and coolest that is for that it passeth thorow that large champian and sweet pleasant orchards In Carthagena which is not farre from thence the same wind is troublesome and unwholesome The Meridionall is commonly rainie and boisterous and yet in the same Citie whereof I speake it is wholesome and pleasant In a region containing fiftie leagues in circuit I put it thus for example the wind which bloweth on the one part is hot and moist and that which bloweth on the other is cold and drie And Pliny reports that in Africke it raines with a Northerly wind and that the Southerne wind is cleare And Acosta tells us yet more that there is a certaine wind of such a quality that when it bloweth in some countrie it causeth it to raine fleas and that in so great abundance that they trouble and darken the aire and cover all the sea-shore and in other places it raineth frogs There are winds which naturally trouble the sea and make the water thereof looke greene and blacke others make it looke as cleare as chrystall some comfort and make glad others trouble and breed heavinesse Such as nourish silke-wormes have great care to shut their windowes when as the South-westwinds doe blow and to open them to that opposite to it having found by certaine experience that their wormes die and languish with the one fatten and become better-like by the other The same Authour reporteth that in some parts of the Indies he hath seene grates of yron rusted and consumed that passing it betwixt your fingers it dissolved into powder as if it had beene hay or parched straw the which onely proceeded from the wind corrupting it and it having no power to withstand the same But before we conclude this chapter we must take notice that without the Tropicks from the twentie seventh to the thirtie seventh degrees the winds are said to be for the most part Easterly as some thinke by a repercussion of the aire even as we see waters being incountred with more force returne with an eddie in a manner backe This which is said of the Easterly wind is to be understood of the sea for at the land though winds be as hath beene said certaine and set yet that which is the generall wind of one countrie is not generall to all yea in the same countrie they have a set wind for the day and another quite contrary bloweth for the night also neere the coast they are more subiect to calmes in this burning Zone than further off in the sea the grosse vapours which arise out of the earth and the divers
grossely ordinarily nor easily but frameth all his actions according to the square and rule of right reason whereas the ignorant unskilfull Empericke Physitian erreth ordinarily and usually not being able to square his actions according to the former rule And therefore no wiseman that hath his eyes in his head but may easily perceive the great ods betwixt these two Besides the vulgar often yea for the most part judge amisse of the Physitians best actions accounting them often erroneous where to a rectified and wel refined understanding there is not the least seeming shew of error Againe where the ignorant erreth most grossely then is he often thought of them to be most free therefrom so that by the vulgars verdict the judicious and learned Physitian is often condemned and the ignorant acquit But long to insist upon these and divers other sorts of such ignorant and unwarranted Physitians as Apothecaries Practisers by spels Ephemerides masters Wizards figure-flingers and the like forbidden trash is not my purpose in this place but because the female sexe also hath proved too pragmaticall and practicall we will consider whether their action bee warrantable and say something also concerning this point Women then not onely assume unto themselves a lawlesse liberty to prescribe diet for the diseased and whispering about the sicke traduce the laudable actions of the most honest able and learned Artist suggesting often idle and needlesse feares into the weake and feeble fancies of the sicke apt enough often of themselves by reason of weaknesse both of body and minde to entertaine such needlesse feares and controlling at their pleasures satis pro imperio the prescriptions of the most learned Physitians howsoever back'd both by sound reasons and by the manifold experience of many hundreds of yeeres but also against modesty and decency befitting that sexe as also against good order and against the lawes of God and man being altogether unfitted for so waighty an imploiment and with the neglect of that place and calling whereunto by their Maker they were ordained like busie bodies intrude upon so sublime a profession in administring physicke to the sicke and to others by way of prevention the which how dangerous and pernitious it is there being no lesse danger than of the losse of so noble a creature who carrieth ingraven the stamp of the image of his great and glorious Creator I leave to the judgement of the judicious understanding Reader But how should they ever attaine to this skill and sufficiency as hatn beene already proved to be true in other Emperickes I know the common thredbare objection that they have many times attained to the knowledge of some Probatum est or medicine experimentally tried upon some one or other individuall body and that most cōmonly casually or hab nab as we say as the blind man throwe his staffe and even in this where they thinke have experience they are commonly deceived and neither they nor our ordinary Empiricks can tell what is the true nature thereof Now the true nature of any experiment to make it such a one is not sufficiently proved by this that after once or twice triall thereof there hath insued some seeming good effect for this is but a meere Paralogisme ascribing often that effect to such a cause which was not the true cause thereof they often erring because they are oftentimes deceived in things even subject to their outward senses the cause of their erring proceeding from this that in severall sicke persons there are divers and various conditions natures affections c and each of these may alter and vary the manner of curing and therefore since neither women nor yet any other sort of Empiricks doe ordinarily observe neither are they therefore ever able to derive their remedies from true experience Now the causes of these varieties are the particular constitutions of the partie Diseased the age time of the yeare the countrey wherein one liveth the present temper of the time strength of the sicke custome former exercise the disease it selfe the cause the part affected the symptomes like diseases the manner motion repletion the structure of the parts the motion of the pulse the manners or condition of the sicke things helping or hindering without the distinct knowledge of which conditions we can never attaine to any true experiment concerning which we shall hereafter have occasion to discourse more copiuosly And a medicine may at one particular time fit some one and not another although ceized with the same disease and so in all these particular circumstances might be easily proved all occasioned by reason of the variety of such considerable circumstances And therefore the very same medicine which once might have produced a good and laudable effect may againe at an other time even in one and the same individuall body at some other time faile of this effect the state of the body upon divers occasions altering and divers circumstances often inducing the skilfull Physitian to betake himselfe to some other more appropriate remedy or else to adde or detract from his former prescription according as in his discretion he seeth indicated by these aforementioned circumstances in such a case required And from hence is also detected and evinced the error of some who having at sometimes used the counsell of some understanding Physitian for some preventing Physicke this same Physitian afterwards either absent or perhaps dead and it may be neither yet often either by ignorance a sordid tenacity or both procure the same medicines againe by the Apothecary to be prepared according to the former prescription without either addition or detraction of the former ingredients little considering the alteration of the body which might according to new occurrents demand new counsell But to returne to our Women againe some of this sex thinking to mend the matter well answere thus for themselves that if they do no good yet at least they doe no harme I answere that even in not doing good or administring that which in probability with Gods blessing was like to have done good they doe evill for in that they are unfurnished of that sufficiency of administring such fit and generous remedies as are likely to eradicate and root out the disease they commonly trifle away the time and lose that golden time and opportunity in doing good in dangerous and acute diseases which once being lost can never againe be recalled and recovered Ante capillata post est occasio calva What inevitable danger the neglect or protracting of fit and opportune time of Phlebotomy in a burning Fever a Squinancy or Pleurisie or some such dangerous acute disease doth often produce I wish it did not by wofull and daily experience too evidently appeare There lived of late yeeres here in Northamptonshire one of these Women-physitians and much sought unto not onely by those of ordinary education but even also by some of better breeding I can but pitty their simplicity and ignorance who would
And of this simple there is a spirit quintessence distilled But beware of imposture if thou beest not well acquainted with the preparation Marjoram is a sweet pleasant and well smelling herbe hot and dry in operation and little inferior to the former in this respect It comforteth all the noble parts especially the stomacke and may with good successe be used to further concoction comfort the stomak discusse wind It much comforteth the brain also and as the precedent so is this good against all cold diseases of the braine and nervous parts But this as all other hot plants excelling in strong smell are most appropriate for phlegmaticke constitutions cold and moist braines and stomacks Hot cholericke bodies are thereby offended And very hot braines are offended with any strong smell I have knowne some whom the smell of a Damaske rose would presently make their heads ake Of the soveraine vertues of Sage few are ignorant and the singular good opinion the world had alwayes of this simple did minister occasion to aske the question why any man dyed that had sage growing in his garden To which it was as truely againe answered that against death no Physicke was to be found The qualities for heat and drouth doe much accord with those of the plants last spoken of It is above all others most effectuall against all cold diseases of the braine and nervous parts and therefore good for those who are obnoxious to Palsies and Apoplexies It is good also to strengthen all the noble parts and very good against wind It is very good to comfort and cleanse the cold and moist womb and fit it for conception And being of an astringent and corroborating quality it is good to prevent abortion in such as be thereunto subject as also good against womens immoderate fluxes The country people in Germany thinke themselves free from poyson all that day after if they eat in a morning three leaves of sage with a little salt well dried and taken in a pipe as is usuall to take tobacco it would produce a farre more safe and certaine effect in cold and moist braines and so might prove an excellent preservative against Apoplexies Epilepsies and all manner of cold rheumaticke defluxions commonly called by the name of colds And I am perswaded that if it were to us unknowne and brought from the East or West-Indies or som other remote region and so begunne to bee taken by some of our Shagd or Slasht Mounsieurs we should quickly have it thus used in the country for we are all now for the new cut Bawme is a soveraine good cordiall herbe and is very good against melancholy strengtheneth the braine and helpeth the memory where the defect is from a cold cause It is more used for Physicke than for food and yet it may wel be used in broths and in sallets mingled with cooling herbs especially when it is yet tender and young There is a strong water stilled out of it very good in palpitation of the heart and other such infirmities especially where there is no great heat It is hot and dry in quality about the second degree Betonie is no lesse hot and dry than the former a very good herbe howbeit in greater request for Physicke than for food and yet may it well be used in broths It is a soveraine good herbe for many both outward and inward diseases It is esteemed principally good for the braine and cold infirmities of the same It is likewise good against inward obstructions and is good also to cleanse the kindneies and all the urinary passages with many other vertues which were heere too long to relate and shall suffice to have reckoned up the principall There is an herbe called Tarragon as hot as any we have yet named of a pleasant and delectable smell and comfortable both to head and heart whereof is also sometimes made use in the kitchin and is used in sallets being used with cooling herbs It may be used of cold and phlegmatick nauseous stomacks and so it both warmeth the same and furthereth concoction Hyssop is sometimes used in broths or pottage although in a small quantity being hot and dry about the third degree or not farre off it being also of a thinne attenuating and cutting quality It is good for the head but principally for the breast and obstructions of the pipes of the lungs and singular good for attenuation and expectoration of tough phlegmaticke humors Phlegmaticke cold obstructed bodies may freeliest use it Time a soveraine good and usefull herbe is as hot and dry if not more than hyssop and is in no small request both for food and physicke being especially good in cold infirmities and phlegmaticke constitutions against the wind colicke weakenesse of stomacke and may also conveniently be used against melancholy and for many other infirmities which for brevity I here passe by Savourie is much of the same vertue that Time and appropriated for the like infirmities It is used amongst other pot-herbs howbeit alwayes in a small quantity and mingled with many cooling herbes And this is alwayes in the use of pot-herbs to be observed that there be a small proportion of these hot and dry herbs used to a greater quantity of those of a cooling quality Besides the herbes themselves some of them bring forth a frâ—utâ— which is in no small esteeme among many We will beginne with the garden thistle which although it beareth not properly any fruit yet is it answerable thereunto for before it flowre it sendeth forth as it were a fruit which is in no small request and used by most people It is most commonly eaten boiled with butter vineger pepper and salt The young and tender stalkes used after the same manner are nothing inferior to themselves The Italians eat Artichockes raw while they are yet young and tender with pepper and salt which is a food nothing worth ingendring crude grosse and evill nourishment Galen saith it ingendreth but bad nourishment boiled and dressed much more than raw But being used moderately they will not offend the body They are accounted hot and dry howbeit I thinke ours doe not exceed the first degree They are esteemed flatuous and to excite lust and are with all diureticke provoking urine and cleansing the passages of urine There are three sorts of these fruits of herbs which have som affinity among theÌ„selves especially two of them The first is by the Latines called Cucurbita Citrullus by the French Citroulle and in English a Gourd and by som a melon It is cold and moist ingendring no good humors in the body and never to be eaten raw but boiled or rather fried with butter or oile and onions or the like which may correct this cold and moist quality It is of it selfe insipid and therefore the French use to adde to it vinegar or verâ—uice as some use here in England also It may
all cordiall juleps where cooling especially is required They are to bee eaten before other food the which is in all these short-lasting Summer-fruits to be observed There is yet another small fruit not much unlike the former either in forme or operation and in no small request both for food and physicke And although some preferre the Strawberry before the Raspe yet is not this the judgement of all this being accounted more cordiall than the Strawberry And indeed the smell and taste me thinks doe insinuate no lesse unto our senses which occasioned most of the Apothecary shops of Germanie to be alwaies well furnished with the sirup of this simple in imitation of that great Gesner who had it in so high an admiration And although it bee accounted as cooling as Strawberries yet I incline rather to thinke it temperate if not inclining to some moderate heat Howsoever neither of these fruits nourish much and moisten apparently their siccity being very small This fruit is also esteemed good against the inflammations of the mouth and tensills and fluxes of the belly If either of these fruits be eaten in excesse they ingender Fevers The Mulberry as well as the former fruits is of two colors red and white the white is of an unsavory taste and therefore we will leave this tree to the silke-wormes The Poet reports that Mulberries were at the first all white but that afterwards they were died red with the blood of the two true lovers Pyramus and Thisbe They are also to be eaten before meales or with an empty stomacke although antiquity used them after meales as witnesseth an antient Poet. If eaten with a full stomacke they ingender many dangerous diseases And because of their cooling and moistning quality they are best in hot and cholericke bodies young persons and the Summer season and they loosen the belly also much moisten the inward parts are good against thirst and roughnesse of the throat and by some are thought to provoke urine especially our Arabian Physitians and besides are thought to cleare the blood from all corruption for the which cause some have been of opinion they were good against the gout And a learned late Physitian relateth a story out of an old Author that in his country for the ful space of twenty yeers together the Mulberrie trees bare no fruit at all and that for this cause during all that time the gout did so rage that not only men and women children and eunuchs contrary to Hippocrates his rule but even whole flockes of sheepe and goats also were so therewith assaulted that scarce the third part of them escaped free But what should be the cause that Mulberries should either cure or yet prevent the gout I confesse I could never yet finde out and all the colour I can finde for it is that by meanes of loosening the belly they may scowre away superfluous humors the cause of this disease and so may many other simples farre more effectually so that in this it will come short of many others so farre is it from obteining any prerogative above them And why may not this learned mans opinon granting that this story were yet true be a fallacie a non causa pro causa assigning that for a true cause which is none at all Another learned Physitian troubleth himselfe much to find out a cause of it but is faine to leave it as he found it even so must we where none is to be found as I am of opinion there is none Of this fruit is made a sirup for sore throats called Diamoron It is best that is made of Mulberries before they be full ripe which are both more cooling and astringent in this case much requisite There is a bramble growing every where wilde in the fields the berries whereof before they be full ripe may be used in defect of the former The Goose-berrie was not knowne it seemeth in antient times howbeit now with us in frequent use Green Goose-berries are of a cooling and astringent facultie and in stead of verjuice are used as a soveraine sauce to divers sorts of meat and although they yeeld small nourishment to the body yet are they good to sharpen the appetite and against thirst and choler much resisting putrifaction Goose-berries full ripe are not so cold as the former yea rather inclining to a meane temper The full ripe are not usefull for sauces and being eaten in abundance they ingender corrupt humours and in hot cholericke constitutions are quickly converted into choler The unripe eaten raw of hot stomacks keeping within compasse will coole the same but are safelier used being boiled and as they use to speake scalded and a little sugar and rose-water with them they prove a dainty dish for this effect Of Goose-berries not yet full ripe our Ladies and Gentlewomen know how to make a daintie marmalade and many other things fit to refresh the appetite of a weake and languishing stomacke which for brevities sake I here passe by That little berry which the vulgar call Currants although it have no affinitie with them and by the Arabian Physitians called Ribes is of two sorts both red and blacke although the red is most with us in request best knowne and most effectuall both in Physicke and food It is indeed most ordinarily used for physicke although it may well be used also for sauces The ripe Ribes agreeth much in vertue with the unripe sowre Goose-berry howbeit I thinke it rather exceedeth the same It is cold moderatly not exceeding the first degree but exceeding the same in moisture participating of some siccitie and a notable astringent qualitie whereby it strengtheneth a weake stomacke and exciteth a weake and languishing appetite It is exceeding good as the other against all fevers inward inflammations maligne diseases proceeding of putrefaction of humours as also in hot cholericke constitutions and young age But in old age cold constitutions and diseases in the breast and lungs it is not so good the which is also to be observed in other acide and sharpe liquours and fruits Of it with sugar is made that composition commonly called Rob of Ribes Of the like nature and vertue is that berrie which is commonly called Barberries and in vse for the same purposes as fevers hot stomackes fluxes c. They are used both in conserves and also preserved Gerard in his Herball maketh mention of severall sorts of whorts or whortle-berries blacke red and white all of an astringent faculty and are called by a generall name Vaccinia They stop fluxes and casting of choler coole the body for the which purpose the black be the best There is another berry which at London they commonly call Bilberries and in the Northermost part of this Iland Bleaberries well knowne by the blewish violet colour wherewith they die the lips and teeth of the eaters They use commonly to eat them with creame and
overthroweth the appetite howbeit the leane of fat meat is better than that which is altogether leane but the meane betwixt both is the best There is againe some difference in regard of the preparation for rosted flesh and fried is harder of digestion yet nourisheth better and is drier than that which is boiled And this is still to bee understood of one and the same kind as rosted mutton is drier than boiled mutton c. Baked in an oven smothered and suffocated within picrust is esteemed for health the worst of all others Salted meat and afterwards hung up in the smoake is farre worse than fresh meat and ingendreth melancholy and is very hard of digestion howbeit a good shooing horne for a cup of good liquor although beefe and porke a little powdered are good and wholesome food for good stomacks and wholesomer than altogether fresh And the moister the flesh is the more dayes may it endure to be thus corned or powdered and it is properly for daies or a weeke or two at most not for moneths or yeeres to bee salted I meane for ordinary use and wholesomest diet But now we will proceed to the severall sorts of flesh and will first begin with Hogges flesh for the likenesse and resemblance it hath to mans flesh and for the high commendations the antient Physitians gave of this flesh Hogges flesh of a middle age neither too fat nor too leane a little salted hath alwaies beene accounted one of the best nourishers amongst all other forts of flesh By reason of the superfluous moisture it is better rosted than boiled It is best for strong stomackes and such as use exercise but not so fit for students and such as lead a sendentary life and aged people Bores flesh of a middle age reasonable fat and killed in a convenient season to a good stomacke is no evill food especially accompanied with a cup of muscadine as is the common custome But in my opinion it were farre better to use it when there were fewer other dishes on the table than as is the ordinary custome to use it at the beginning of great feasts A pigge the younger it bee the worse it is for health and ingendreth more glutinous and and phlegmaticke humors and by consequent is a great furtherer of obstructions and is not to bee eaten unlesse it be of some indifferent age and is the best way of dressing according to the common custome to rost it and make a sauce with sage and currants and if the skin were not eaten it would be far easier to digest by a weake stomacke although I am not ignorant that this is ordinarily of highest esteeme Pigges in regard of their moisture are best for dry and chelericke bodies And for the same reason it is not so good a dish for phlegmaticke people moist bodies and old age Next we are to speake of beefe which hath been by Galen branded with an aspersion of an evill meat and ingendring grosse and melancholicke humors and so hath raised an evill report upon this noble dish so usefull for every man This flesh as divers others differeth according to age Beefe that is young indifferent fat and a little corned either of an oxe or Cow is very good and wholesome meate for any indifferent good stomacke a savory nourishment and with the which the stomacke will long agree without any loathing It is best that exceedeth not two yeeres or three at most Old Beefe especially long salted is both harder of digestion and ingendreth grosse melancholike humors being no wise fit for choice weake stomackes students and such as lead sendentary lives And therefore that which is called Steere or Heyfer-beefe is the best Besides this is yet to be observed that the younger the beefe be the better it may bee rosted and the older better to bee boiled Very old tough leane beefe is only for strong labouring people that in a manner can turne Iron into nourishment especially Bull-beefe which is the worst of all others Veale being indifferent fat and of a reasonable age above a moneth at least is a meat of very good nourishment and yeeldeth not to kid it selfe how highly soever commended The best way of preparation is to rost it howsoever it be also often boiled especially with bacon which to a good stomacke may not be hurtfull howbeit a weak one may therewith be offended Veale is especially good for those who are not of a very moist and phlegmaticke constitution of body that which is very young especially within the moneth is in no case to bee used if wee either regarded health or policy and the good of the common-wealth Otherwise Veale such as we have described it is a very good wholesome nourishment and is of easy digestion not being burdensome to the stomacke at all And as for excellent good Beefe and Veale there is no countrie in the world that can parallel farre lesse exceed our beeves and veale here in England whatsoever some talke of Hungary and Poland Goats flesh yeeldeth no good nourishment to the body but rather a tough and melancholike for the which cause they are not with us in use Their young ones called kids are notwithstanding every where in very great request and yeeld to the body a very good and wholesome nourishment and nothing so moist and excrementitious as Lamb. The Arabian Physitians did so highly esteeme this flesh that they would have it farre exceed any other Wee are content to give it the due commendation but yet we will not yeeld too farre to superlative comparisons They are best in the Spring and beginning of Sommer Lamb if of an indifferent age and not too yong is a good and wholesome food It may seeme strange perhaps to some of our dainty palats that I should insert this not too young it being now ordinarily accounted the best that is yongest and many great folkes think nothing of that which is common and ordinary people easily may come by And therfore the youngest sucking Lambs are by them in highest account and estimation But by their leaves they are farre deceived that so thinke For beeing so young they are very moist for the which cause they ingender crude phlegmaticke humors wherewith they pester the stomackes and bodies of such persons apt enough of themselves by reason of ease idlenesse and dainty fare to accumulate superfluous humors This flesh would not at least be eaten before it be six weeks or two moneths old if not more And therefore it were a very good policie if neither Lambs nor Calves were killed so young as most commonly they are And as such flesh is hurtfull so to the phlegmaticke constitutions especially and old people and such as are of a moist constitution of body and is best for cholericke hot bodies and in the midst of Sommer Mutton of a middle age especially of weather not above two yeeres old reasonable fat is a
Africans And this is both by Pliny and many other Authors witnessed How the Aethiopians catch them with smoake and salt them up may be seene in Authours this being their chiefe food whereon in these countries they most ordinarily feed They use either to boile them or else to dry them in the Sunne and beat them to powder and make meale of them And that they were used of the inhabitants of Arabia Foelix whereunto Iudea adjoined or was not at least farre distant from it is apparent by Iohn Baptist his diet Now by the way by occasion of mentioning Iohn Bapttist it is to be observed that Iohn did indeed feed upon such beasts and not upon the buds of certaine herbs as some would have him drawing the Greeke word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 to their owne interpretation which notwithstanding in any antient Author is not found in such a signification as they would have it And it is againe reported by Epâ—phanius that some Iewes desirous to be lye the truth 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 read 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 signifying thereby certaine junkets made of hony or oile whereof mention is made Exod. 16. and Num. 11. But these and many others which for brevity I passe by are but frivolous and farre fetcht and therefore let us rest upon this that Iohn Baptist did indeed feed upon such a food contenting himselfe with this austere kind of diet Locusts and wild hony Now this same late alleged author tells us that this need not seeme so strange untous since that even of late yeeres some Germane souldiors even in so great an abundance of all manner of provision yet used ordinarily to fry Silke-wormes and eate them with no small delight and that not without good reason for such things as are indued with no noisome smell or taste depend onely upon opinion which is a good rule to be observed in the use of uncouth food And the Italians eat another worme differing from the other but in colour to outward appearance it being black and the former of a reddish colour and yet are such with them esteemed as greatest dainties although ingendred of putrefaction and not of Egges as both the Locusts and Silke-wormes are Now that the Locust was a food and used to be eaten even among the Iewes themselves at least some sorts may by the 11. chap. of Levit. appeare where foure sorts of Locusts were allowed to be eaten and therefore called cleane and other three sorts forbidden and called uncleane Of these creatures I could make a long and large discourse relating their severall names and natures together with divers histories of their hurt done in severall Countries at several times with many other things to them belonging which I willingly passe by Whoso desireth to know more concerning these creatures Let him read Pliny and others even our late alleged Author But besides all the sorts of creatures usefull for mankind as though this were not yet sufficient and that our bountifull God had abridged us of necessary provision for the sustentation of this fraile life mans boldnesse hath yet extended it selfe to strange and prodigious dishes So that now we are not contented to feed on Sheep and Cattell Hens and Capons and other such creatures usefull for the maintaining of the life of man and fit them for our tables but prodigious gluttony hath now devised to feed upon the excrements of the earth the slime and scum of the water the superfluity of the woods and putrefaction of the sea to wit to feed on frogs snailes mushroms and oisters And that this custome hath beene very antient may by Pliny appeare who writeth that they used to feed snailes in warrens as they did other creatures And it seemeth that such creatures were at the first used either as Physicke or in the defect and want of better food And it seemeth that some antient Physitians used frogs in Consumptions and wasting away of the bodie as also in that oppilation of the pipes of the lungs called isthma But this was never their meaning that they should be either of them or any other as an ordinary food but rather Physicke or at least physicall food alimentum medicamentosum But to speake the very truth both frogs and snailes are now adaies rather used for wantonnesse and to please our curious palats than for any necessity or defect of other food And thus are they ordinarily used in France and some other countries although yet not in frequent use with us howbeit one of these daies these dishes may become as common as our new French fashions of apparell To enter upon a large discourse of the nature properties and preparation of frogs and the manner of using them is not here my purpose and therefore leave it to them that have more leisure and purpose to feed upon them If any have a purpose to use them let them beware of those that are venomous And my advice shall bee rather to abstaine from such things wherein there may be either danger or doubt and to make choice of that which is free from either where there is such choice and variety And this I would have also understood concerning mushroms whereof some thing hath been said already and the like As concerning Snailes they are used for food both in France and other neighbouring countries and for this purpose as the antient Romans fed them in their warrens so doe some even at this day feed them in their gardens Now some are of opinion that Snailes are of a very nourishing faculty and for this cause our women doe often ordinarily indifferently exhibit them in Consumptions of any kind whatsoever sometimes in milke and sometimes in broth even as their owne fancie leadeth them But by the way if Snailes be so nourishing I wonder why our Papists use them so ordinarily in the time of Lent when as they will not allow so much as a bit of Porke or powdered beefe They may well answer they may as well be allowed as wine and I thinke so too and farre better and nourish farre lesse and with lesse speed I am sure than wine and divers other things they use The reason why they are esteemed of so alimentall or nourishing a nature is by reason say som that in Winter they are able to sustaine themselves with their owne substance and that for this same cause Galen appointeth them in Hecticke Fevers and consumptions But the truth is that these creatures by reason of their viscidity and glutinous tough substance and the imbecillity and want of naturall hear loose little or nothing of this their tough and glutinous substance and by consequent need no reparation of the same And as for the exhibition of them in Hecticke Fevers it is rather by way of humectation and refrigeration than for any strong alimentall quality hee acknowledgeth in them And that they participate of such a slimie glutitinous substance may from hence also evidently appeare saith the late
permitted And this was the opinion of Hippocrates and so hath beene held by all our Physitians that in Winter wee are to feed most liberally in Sommer very sparingly and in the Spring and Autumne to keepe a meane betwixt both the former whatsoever any say to the contrary The region wherein any one liveth is likewise not to be neglected for in cold countries where people feed more plentifully there the sicke is to be allotted a more liberall allowance than in hot countries as Spaine Egypt and the like And mee thinks that besides all the premisses the calling or course of life one leadeth is worth the consideration for the which cause schollers and others accustomed to a sedentarie life in their health as then their diet ought to be more sparing and easier of concoction than for other people so falling sicke the like caution must be observed And here women come also to be considered who for the most part use lesse exercise than men and have the pores of their bodie lesse perspirable and often a colder complexion and this is chiefely of the better sort who live in ease and idlenesse Influence and abundance of all things to be understood In the next place wee come to rules of diet desumed from the disease it selfe which was the second head wee here proposed to handle And these rules must be understood by dividing them into their proper ranks and must be illustrated by accommodating them to fevers few diseases without a fever ceizing on the body of man and therefore in this discourse wee have of them a speciall regard though other diseases also shall not be neglected All diseases then are either acute and of a shorter continuance and for this cause called acute or else chronicall or of longer continuance Acute and short diseases require a slender and sparing diet and the shorter and sharper the disease be the more sparing should be the diet Againe in chronicall and long continuing diseases the diet must be allowed more liberall lest in a long journie nature being toiled and tired out before shee be at her journies end faint and succumb under the burthen of the disease Now of chronicall diseases some are of a longer continuance than others and therfore as to them that continue long wee allow liberall allowance so to the longer wee still allow the more liberall allowance and on the contray since among short and sharpe diseases some are shorter and sharper than others as the acute and sharpe requireth a sparing so the sharper a more sparing and the sharpest of all the most sparing diet of all which approacheth neerest to that strict diet of Hippocrates having all this while a principall regard to the strength of the patient and other cicumstances already nominated Now besides the difference of the nature of the disease no lesse carefull and circumspect ought wee to be in the observing the times of the disease both generall and particular The generall time I call the whole course and continuance of the disease the particular the paroxysmes or exacerbations of the same and in fevers commonly called fits Now in both these times as well generall as particular wee are diligently to observe the beginning the increase the heighth and the declining many in the beginning of the disease if they foresee the disease like to be of long continuance doe use to feed the sicke liberally But according to Celsus in the beginning of the disease the sicke should suffer hunger and thirst for if corrupt humours abound the best food is but by them corrupted Foule bodies saith Hippocrates the more thou feedest the more thou hurtest Wherefore in the beginning if strength permit wee are by degrees to withdraw their food untill the heighth of the disease in the which if it be an acute disease they are more sparingly to be fed In diseases therefore that very speedily come to their heighth a very thinne and slender diet is to be used But where it maketh not so great hast to the heighth then are wee in the very time of the heighth as also a little before to withdraw some part of their diet and before permit to them more liberall allowance that the sicke may the better hold-out But there being so many severall circumstances herein to be observed and the severall and individuall constitutions being so various it is very hard to set downe any certaine rule concerning this particular In diseases which give no intermission as continuall fevers beware of feeding the sicke in the exacerbation or worst time but wait for some remission when the sicke findeth some alteration In intermitting fevers as tertians quartanes c. except their fit should prove very long and their strength feeble feed them not in their fit but wait for the remission or declining of it or else prevent the fit certaine houres lest it surprize the sicke with a full stomacke and so prolong it But if it should come to passe that the sicke were not able to attend this appointed time then were it better to take something in the beginning or increasing of the fit and no waies towards the heighth of it and yet if strength should faile it were better to yeeld to an inconvenience than to a mischiefe And there Galen diligently observing the strength of his patients fed some of them in the beginning some in the vigor and very heighth of the fit which occasioned some to mocke and deride him But with us women many times must have their will although it cost the patient his life and what they apprehend to be right the Physitian may often spend his breath but doe little good I wish people therefore to be wise when they see especially it lieth them upon their lives and if they will learne wit of no body else let them learne some of Satan Skinne for skinne and all that a man hath will he give for his life CHAP. VII What things in prescribing Diet for the diseased are to be observed OF the three severall sorts of Diet fit for the diseased to wit a sparing slender or thinne a liberall or full and a meane diet betwixt both wee have already discoursed Each of these diets is so called in relation to the aliments which nourish sparingly liberally or in a meane maner Now in each of these aliments we are to consider the substance quantity quality the fit time for feeding the sicke the order and the preparation or manner of preparing the same The substance of food is either solid or liquid of easie or hard degestion yeelding to the body good or bad nourishment That aliment which is appropriated for the sick ought to be easie of digestion of a good and laudable juice and nourish much in a small quantity and liquid or solid according to the nature and variety of the disease Hippocrates used to feed the sicke of fevers with suppings And Aristotle wisheth
lose a farre greater quantity of blood than the former No more is the changing of the colour of the blood especially in inflammations and many more cases besides any certaine signe of the true quantity Now this change of colour is either to be observed in the fluxe or after in the fluxe it is hardly discerned and after it is to small purpose and we see oftentimes that after a double or triple reiteration the blood is still bad and yet were it not safe to goe on still untill the blood appeare better for so sometimes we might exhaust all the blood of the body And this is diligently to be observed of covetous or ignorant surgeons either in the City or the country many being often too ready to exceede the limits of reason as little certainty is there to be found in the changing of the face eyes And in the streame or impetuosity of the fluxe of blood there is yet as litle certainty as in the former the which many waies faile before a ful evacuation howbeit none of these are to be slighted neglected We are then to judge of the competent quantity principally by the ease ensuing and the patients easie enduring of the same Now although sudden alieniation doe not alwaies ensue yet were it better againe and againe to reiterate the same than proceed too farre at first as we have said already although the antients proceeded to an excessive quantity as 6. or 7. pounds at a time and a late Writer relateth strange stories of prodigious and stupendious evacuations in this kind which I had rather beleeve than make triall of the like Our Brittaine bodies I am sure would never endure such vast evacuations But I hold the rule of the learned Celsus far better that it is good to be sparing in the use of those remedies which evacuat strength the preserver and gardian of our lives and in stead of credit purchase often disgrace to the Physitian Now when as wee cannot at once evacuat a due quantity then as said is we come to reiteration And this both in evacuation revulsion and derivation is a very effectuall remedy and the oftner this reiteration be used the more effectuall is the revulsion saith Galen Now in reiteration if necessitie urge us not much and we not so well as yet acquainted with the patients strength it is better to beginne with the lesser quantity but if necessity constraine us and we assured of the patients strength it is better at first to beginne with a greater quantity and more the second time than the third If we are to let blood in any inflammation wee are to reiterate it the same or the next day and out of the arme Reiteration by way of preservation may bee deferred untill the third or fourth day Now before we proceed we must say something of a point whereof some ignorants make a scruple for oftentimes it commeth to passe when the physitian not without great need prescribeth this so lawfull and use full a remedy that some are afraid to venture on it not out of any present feare or faint-heartednesse but for feare say they lest our bodies looke for it againe every yeere To this the answere is easy that if there be the like occasion the yeere after I see not why thou maiest not with as good reason as before yeeld to the use thereof If there be no need I warrant thee from incurring any danger for this omission Some againe use to bleed twice a yeere and feare some great danger if this be neglected and it may be demanded whether this be well done or no blood being the treasure of life and the fountaine and originall of all the spirits I answere I would wish thee to bee well advised how thou partest from such a Jewell yet because some may have more need than others as namely sanguine complexions with large and ample veines living in ease and idlenesse may with good counsell be bolder than others Some doe this meerely out of custome as many of our country people will without any occasion or good counsell bleed in the Spring many covetous country-surgeons and I wish there were none in the City also will sooth them up in this erroneous opinion and bleed them without any necessity at all yea although it prove oftentimes the cause of many after-ensuing dangerous diseases But such as have without any need for a long time inured themselves to so base acustome I advise them by degrees to change this custome into a better and if they be such as have been accustomed to live in ease and idlenesse and to feed liberally I wish them to bee more frequent in their exercises and more sparing in their Diet so shall they both live longer and injoy better health No certaine perpetuall rule can here be prescribed to all bodies yet will it prove alwayes the safest especially in a businesse of so great a weight and moment to establish thy thoughts by good counsell for feare of a too late repentance There is yet another erroneous opinion for want of the knowledge of naturall philosophy and ignorance of anatomy hatched in the braines of some ignorant people to wit that when as they perceive any palpitation by reason of some inclosed aire either in the muscles of the temples jawes or any other place they are of opinion that the life is then in that place and by consequent if the blood should at that same instant be let out of that place that the party would instantly be deprived of life And a learned Germane Physitian relateth that some ignorant Surgeons after the falling of the blood out of the vein into the vessell perceiving it sometimes by reason of some flatuous matter mingled therewith a little to move or tremble made the party presently to drinke up this warme blood affirming that this was the very life whose sottish ignorant and erroneous opinion the same author doth there learnedly confute on the which I cannot now insist having now yet many other things to handle both concerning Phlebotomy and other matters But I hope our people will be wiser and leave many of their foolish idle ignorant and superstitious opinions both concerning Phlebotomy and other points of Physicke As for this flatulent windy matter the letting of it out if there be not therewith too great an abundance of blood will rather doe thee good than hurt and as for the life it is not confined to any particular part but diffused thorow the whole parts of the body although it be more principally or as we may say radicativè in the more noble and principall parts the Braine Heart and Liver according to the seats of the three principall powers or faculties animall vitall and naturall CHAP. VIJ. Of the fittest time for evacuation by Phlebotomy both generall and particular both of election and coaction as also whether wee may safely let blood
often very truely verified many times for a little land they take a foole by the hand But because it is an easie matter for an ordinary understanding to make a large coÌ„ment upon this Text I here leave it wishing people to be wiser and not so much wrong their children as is now adaies the custome which oftentimes brings the gray-haires of the parents to the grave with sorrow and a too late repentance had I knowne so much c. The antient heathens against this used mans blood against this intoxication and histories make mention of Faustina daughter to the Emperour Antoninus Pius and wife to Antoninus the Philosopher who fell so farre in love with a sword-player that this Emperour asked counsell of all his wisards what was the readiest and speediest way to cure this strong and violent affection and they being instructed by their Master Satan a murderer from the beginning advised him to put to death this sword-player and that afterward Faustina should drinke up a good draught of his warme blood and then get her to bed to her husband which accordingly was performed of the which copulation was ingendred that cruell Emperor Commodus who with his frequent sword-plaies and slaughter of his subiects had almost quite over throwne the whole Roman common wealth And howbeit this woman was thus freed yet is this no warrant for the use of such a remedy although some of the antients have set downe this as a remedy both against this and the Epilepsie The Paracelsists promise wonders of mans blood as Paracelsus himselfe promiseth by a secret made of mans blood to cure all Epileptick diseases And one Ioh. Ernestus Burgravius maketh a lamp of mans blood called brolychnium or lampas vitae mortis Of this lampe of life and death hee promiseth wonders to wit that it shall burne as long as the party of whose blood it was made continueth and goe out at the same instant that the party dieth and withall that as this lamp burneth cleare and quietly without any sparkling the party shall live with freedome from any infirmity either of body or minde but if otherwise it sparkle or the light be dimme and obscure and the flame be sometimes lighter than at other times then it is a token of anxiety heavinesse and the like Credat Iudaeus apella Let them beleeve it who list It is not unknowne how Satan hath from the beginning thirsted after mans blood hence have wee so many sacrifices of mankinde as in antient stories recorded so even unto these our times so many still continue as our Spanish narrations make mention of the Westerne parts of the world And hence was if also that hee suggested to his ministers so many remedies composed not onely of the blood but of divers other parts of the body of man and as our Magicians still teach their too too credulous disciples as an antient Father well observeth But now it may be asked whether one may die of love inseeming not to offer that violence to nature as to extinguish this lampe of life â— I answer that this passion as we have heard may emaciat dry up and exhaust all the radicall moisture of the body And so although it doe not worke such a sudden impression upon the body whereby it is in an instant overthrowne yet doth it by degrees so extenuate and debilitate the whole body that it is thereby often cast into an irrecoverable consumption And with histories in this kind it were easie to make up a great volume Schenchius maketh mention of a maid who being by her parents crossed of a match intended betwixt her and a young man pined away and died many I make no question can instance of many in their owne experience as it were easie for my selfe to doe also but that I hasten to other matter And besides because I thinke few of judgement will make any doubt thereof I will therefore leave it To this place also we may referre iealousie called zelotypia being nothing else but the excesse of love with a continuall feare of being deprived of that they love or at least of having any corrivall which often maketh a man or woman to lose the use of reason insomuch that the minde is never at rest And this feare is merely imaginary I meane without any just cause and sometimes there is too just cause ministred It behooveth therefore both man and woman to be carefull in their choice and afterwards to give no just occasion to bring their reputation in question Some instances of jealousies both justly and unjustly conceived a r famous late Physitian setteth downe A certaine Merchant of a chiefe towne in Switzerland a man of good account and esteeme in that place being divorced from his former wife married another being a maide who bare him divers children After certaine yeeres perceiving his man too familiar with his Mistresse conceived a strong iealousie of his wife which caused him the more narrowly to observe her carriage Vpon a time he fained himselfe to goe a iourney into the countrie about some earnest businesse and yet in the evening conveied himselfe secretly into a chamber next adioining to his owne bed-chamber where he might easily observe what passed and within a short space esâ—ies his man come boldly to his Mistresse where he killed them both in the very act of adultery and then as is the custome of that country laid certaine pieces of mony upon their dead corpses which was a signe that they were taken in this filthy act and might therefore lawfully be killed the matter being afterwards examined hee was acquitted of the fact The same Authour maketh mention of a Doctor of the civill law in the South part of France who was very iealous of his wife and not without iust cause and suspecting her familiarity with a Scrivener so narrowly observed her actions that one day hee comes rushing into the roome where shee and this Scrivener were together being in his owne house masqued and accompanied with many schollers students in law where he first bindes him hand and foot then cut off his nose his yard and afterwards cut his hamstrings and so let him goe the same maimed Scrivener sayth mine Author I saw afterwards at Montpelier going upon crutches and in a miserable and wretched case drawing his lame leggs after him A just recompence for adulterers and it were to be wished we might see some such exemplary punishment inflicted upon such as thus neigh after their neighbours wives since especially Moses law that the adulterer should dy the death which in all the Germane countries is in force is not here with us in force The â— same Authâ—◠〈…〉 yet mention of another evâ—n me jealous of his wife and yet with out any cause This was a scholler newly returned out of France who married Doâ—â—â—â— of physickes daughter with whom a long time before hâ—e had been 〈◊〉 love 〈◊〉 Doctor had a
par liâ— 6. in epid evidenter vigilans calicâ—or eâ—tertus c. Best form of beds for the sicke to lie in Bed he lieth on and whether feather beds be best Wood-beds and matâ—â—â—ces Beds of straw and câ—affe Bed filled with water With 〈◊〉 Hanging beds Erroneous custome of too much covering the â—ead Difference of clothes according to the seasons Downe and feather-beds hurtfull for hot livers kidnies and the stone Parents much to bee blamed for the toe too nice and tender education of their children Qualitie of the clothes about the sicke that they bee sweet and cleane e Lib. de medico The sicke ought to be often shifted f Eib. 1. de sanit tuend Obiections of the vulgar Answere Three concoctions in the body of man with their severall excrementâ— Inconveniences and harmes by not shifting the sicke g Laurent loubert des erreurs populaires partie 2 cap. 5. Whether the â—ed â—ee to be warmed Anâ—wâ—â—e Whâ—â— or it â—e fit for healthfuâ—â— people Answere Whether in sickenes the haire is to be â—ut Answerâ— Effoeminate customâ— of our age Disguising of the head with perwigs h 1 Cor. 1â— 1 i Fraâ—caâ—â— Grandâ—u Cure de l' 〈◊〉 degrate de 〈◊〉 S. Ioan â—aptistee aâ—gers an liure da de â—ruition de â— orgued â—oadaâ—â— c. k M. Prin. of Love-locks l I 〈…〉 pilorum affâ—â—â—u 〈◊〉 aliud est aâ—â—m 〈◊〉 o vel 〈…〉 defâ—â—xiouâ— ad aâ—â—aâ— nartes 〈◊〉 gravissime tar queri Maximam partem foeminas invadit Eos etiam qui porriginem capitis quam vulgus tineam voâ—aâ— medicamentis repeâ—â—utientibus represserunt Praeterea foeminas quae menstruis temporibus non satis purgantur Quis non novum mirabâ—â—e horridum putei capillos ex propria naturâ planos demissos ac simplices sponte sua sub coelo admodum frigido incâ—â—spari paulo post erigi involvi atque indissolubiliter conjungi varias recipere figuras quandoque maximi cuiusdam anguis aliquaudo pluâ—â—um minorum serpentum uâ—dique vermes spurcitiem foetoremque redolere quodque omnium maximum est a seculo in â—â—ditum acâ— perpuâ—ctos vel transfixos sangumem effundere Hercules Saxonia praxeos suae lib. 10. cap. 1. Horridum quoddam iâ—â—pexum adeoque intricatum capitis atque barbae capillitâ—um apud nostros haud infrequens caeterum veteribus cuiuscunque aetatis medicâ— incognitum oâ—servare liâ—et Quo affecti praelongas capillorum tricas cincinnos mirifice intricatos digitisaepe crassitiae ex re◠〈◊〉 capiâ—â— barbae capillitio ad bumeros pectus aliquando ad umbilicum usque demissos propendere videas aspectu plane monâ—â—â—ico Gorganeum caput praeserente Quos illi magna religione incultos nec ferro praescindere nec pectine explicare sustinent Persuasi omnino gravissima capitis morborum fomenta velut Apoplexiae Paralyscos Maniae comprimis Cephalalgiae pertinaces consimiliumque maâ—eriam iâ—sdem alenâ—is absumi Qua sine superstitione sine multa hominum observatione ducts quidvis petius quam corundem culturam aut perfectionem velut prorsus infaustam lethalem admittunt Factisque de experimento historia perteulis sententiam suam mordicus tuentur Ioana Georg. Schenckius Schenck E. Hagenones medicus observat mâ—dic lib. 1. observ De Tricis Iâ—cuborum Abstinence fourefold Naturall In health In sickenesse a Nausea a navibus navigatione quod navigantibus praesertim in marinausea oberiri soleat Voluntary abstinence fourefold Physicall Politicall or civill abstinence b 1 Sam. 14.25 Our Lent fast a politicall not religious nor superstitious fast c 5. Q Elizab. 5. Religious fast and is either moral or ceremoniall Morall ordinary or extraordinary Ordinary Extraordinary Extraordinary religious tâ—st publike or private Ceremoniall abstinence d Matth. 15.11 Acts 10.34 Colost 2.14 1 Timoth. 4. c. Superstitious abstinence or fast e Lib. 7. de civit Dei cap 2. lib. 18. cap. 25. Plutarch 8 sympos probl 7. f Lib. 2. advers Jovin g Lib. bello de Jfide Osyride h Caesar comm aâ— bello Gall. lib. â— i Joseph de bello Judo lib 2. cap. 7. Philo. lib. peculiari de eorum vita k Epiphanius tom 2. lib. 1. l Tertul. in catalog haeres m Idem lib de â—eiunia adversus Psychos lib. de cultu foeminar n Lib. 6. contra Faustin cap. 6. lib. 3. cap. 5. lib. de haeres o Idem contra Faustin lib. 30. cap. 5. p Bernard sermon 66 in Cantica q Synod ancyrana circa annum Domin 318. can 14. Total 1 can 21 Eraccarensi prima celebrata in Hispania anno 690. can 14. 32. Gangrensi can 2. damnara fuit r Sigismund Baro in comment rerum Muscovit Voluntary miraculous abstinence Involuntary or forced abstinence True abstinence and the excellency of the same Abstinence from certaine kâ—nds of meates by Scripture condemned Å¿ 1 Tim. 4.1 2 3. Popish abstinence or fast as they use it a meere mocking of God Popish fasting Diet as nourishing as ours and iuciceth as much to lust as ours if not more Wine nourisheth cherisheth more suddenly and speedily than any flesh Great gluttony and disorders among the Romanists at Shrovetide Insolency in Rome it selfe â—qualling oâ— exceedinâ— the heathenish Baâ—câ—â—naâ—â—a t And although Jtaly be the country of al Christendome nearest to the Romane church yet is it most certaine that in â—t there is of all others least religion and piety to be found and that by reason this holy court doth nothing else but sow distention and breed all manner of disorders And if any make a doubt of it and that he may assure himselfe that all this mischiefe proceedeth from the church of Rome let him but transport for a certaine time the Papall chair into the country of the Switzers an honest and peaceable people and in a shore time thou shouldst see them as bad as any of their neighbours Machiavell in his booke of the Prince part 1. maxime 4. intituled That the church of Rome is the cause of all the calamities that have befalne Jtaly a Comment in lib. Hip. de victu acut Three sorts of Diet. Absolute thinne and spare diet Thin and slender diet Hippocriticall Diet too rigid and strict for our climat b Mercur. variar lect lib. 6. A full and liberal dieâ— c Comment ad partic 1 lib. 1. de vict acut Whether a thinne slender or a full and liberal diet be better d Flavius Vopiscus in eius vita e Aph. 4. 5 lib. 1. f Lib. de victu acut g Comment in eundem lib. alibi Answer to the former question h 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Apo. 9 lib. 1. Rules or Lawes from wheÌ„ce the diet of the diseased is desumed reduced to two principall heads In the diseased what things to be observ'd 1 Rule or iudication from the strength a Vnum illud semper ubique servendum est ut aegri vtres subtude assidens in alâ—us
situation thereof being the cause of these differences Many other strange effects of winds may in these Authors be seene which here I willingly passe by having dwelt somewhat the longer upon this point to acquaint such as shall travell into this new world with the condition of the aire and winds of those remote regions CHAP. VI. Of the foure Seasons of the yeere and how they affect the body GOD of his infinit goodnesse to man-kinde after that great and terrible deluge and inundation of the universall world made man a promise that from thenceforward should not faile the severall seasons of the yeere Sommer and Winter Seed-time and Harvest which hath hitherto accordingly come to passe Now these seasons according to severall climats and countries doe much vary and differ Vnder the Line and betwixt the Tropickes they continue more constant and lesse deviation from their ordinary course is to be observed Without the Tropicks there is a greater difference and irregularity therein to be observed Now these seasons therefore according to their unconstant course must needs diversly affect the body of this Microcosme man both in sicknesse and in health and therefore will not be impertinent to say something of this subject Wee will threfore begin with the naturall temperature of the seasons of the yeere as they are commonly seene and observed with us here in Europe The naturall temperature of the Spring then with us here in Europe ought to be hot and moist of the Sommer hot and drie of the Autumne or Harvest cold and moist of Winter cold and drie These among innumerable others are the chiefe alterations incident to our aire and by the which the seasons of the yeere are with us ordinarily divided and distinguished and these seasons are occasioned by meanes of the exaltation or declining of that glorious prince of Planets Now the further these seasons decline frō the afore-mentioned qualities the more intemperate and greater enemies to the health of mankind they prove Our Hipporcrates defines not these seasons after this manner but according to the rising and setting of certaine starres and the chiefe times by him observed are these following the two Solstices the one in Sommer about the eleventh of Iune the other in Winter about the eleventh of December then next the two Aequinoxes the one about the eleventh of March the other about the eleventh of September These times because of dangers about these seasons this old Father would have us to observe The Sōmer Solstice he accounteth most dangerous and the Harvest Aequinox The same Authour againe observeth the rising and setting of certaine starres as namely of the Pleiades Vergiliae rising the five and twentieth of April and setting about the first of November and againe the rising of Arcturus about the one and thirtieth of August and setting about the beginning of March. Besides this same Authour observeth also the rising of the Dog-starre the ninteenth of Iuly and setting againe the twenty seventh of August and with these also he observeth the blowing of the West-wind And this is all the Hippocraticall spheare comprehending such starres and seasons as he thought fit for Physitians to observe But now againe as concerning the temper of these seasons whereas I say the Spring is hot and moist it may be objected that in it selfe it is rather temperate To this I answer that howsoever it be so accounted yet in comparison of the other seasons it may be called temperate And againe it may be called temperate as some say effective by producing the best temper It may againe be demanded if heat and drouth be proper qualities befitting Sommer and cold drouth approptiated for Winter whether the hottest Sommer be not the healthfullest as likewise the coldest Winter To this I answer they are not so simply and absolutely considered Nam omne nimium vertitur in vitium The extreme hot Sommer inflames the humours of the body making it subject to hot and acute diseases and the extreme pinching cold accompanied especially with sharpe piercing Northerly winds disposeth the body to rheumes and rheumatecke diseases as likewise to Apoplexies and many other such like dangerous infirmities The humours in the body of man have pre-eminence and dominion according to these foure seasons for in the Spring blood most abounds in the Sommer choler in the Harvest melancholy and in Winter phlegme and the parts of our civill day answer likewise to these seasons the morning to the Spring the noonetide to Sommer the afternoone to autumne and the night to Winter Now these anniversarie or yeerely seasons doe much differ according to the climat For within the Tropicks the seasons are much warmer than without and under the Equinoctiall Line then Winter is when the Sorrow is perpendicular over their heads by reason that then it doth more powerfully attract and draw unto it selfe divers moist exhalations which descending againe in great abundance upon the face of the earth doth plentifully refresh water the same and this season they therefore call their Winter But againe when the Sun declineth a little the beames not darting downe so perpendicularly as before there not being now that forcible attraction of vapours and by consequent as fewer clouds and lesse raine so heat to the outward appearance being then intended and of greater force than before and this time they call their Sommer as being fairer and warmer than the former quite contrary to that which befalleth us here without the Tropickes as in particular may be observed in the country of Chili in the West Indies Now the situation of places as hath before beene mentioned often altereth the nature of this ambient aire and by consequent altereth the seasons in those particular places although the elevation of the Pole differ little or nothing the which is evidently seen in Peru whereas the whole breadth of the countrie not much exceeding forty leagues in the plaine it neither snowes raines nor thunders and in the meane time upon the Sierra or hils the seasons have their courses as in Europe where it raines from the moneth of September untill April and in the Andes it raines in a manner all Winter And even here in Europe no small difference may thus be observed that oftentimes the high hills are infested with terrible cold tempests when as the adjacent vallies goe many times scotfree as travellers can testifie And of this my selfe was once an eye-witnesse when as in the yeere 1610 travelling from Misnia towards Prague and passing over the high hills which encompasse Bohemia round about on Easter eve at night falling then about the midst of April as likewise all Easter day and the three next daies after it snew continually without any intermission accompanied with so nipping a frost and North-Easterly wind that I have seldome at any time observed a sharper season the next day after the snow fell no more and comming downe into the plaine of Bohemia about