Physician a Drying and Sweating Diet he endeavoured to dry his Head with Bags Plasters c. he used Apophlegmatisms Sneezing yea and made an Issue behind in his Head all in vain At that time I was following my Studies at Paris he sent me a Description of his Disease to shew it to some famous Physicians I consulted severally with Monsieur Carolus Buvardus Chief Physician to Lewis XIII with Monsieur Curaeus de la Chambre Physician to the High Chancellour and with Monsieur Hurduynus de S. Jaques Physician to the Hospital of Charity They well considering the Constitution of the Patient declared The Disease was Sympathick arising from Fumes ascending from the Hypochondria affecting the Top of the Chimney i. e. the Gullet and that the tempering and exclusion of Melancholick Humours must be lookt after they prescribed him Spaw Waters the use of Chalybeates an Issue in each Leg and stopt up that in his head they order'd Leeches to the Haemorrhoids and other things to conquer the Melancholick Humours The Patient consented who a little after was rid both of his Melancholy and his Quinsey XXIII In this Controversie I think we must take great notice whether the Body abound with Bloud either naturally or because of the manner of living or of some accustomed Evacuation stopt for then I think we should bleed in the Ham or the Ancle and the same day if the Disease be urgent or the next to Breathe the Jecorary or Cephalick Vein and if the Disease abate not we must proceed to Bleed under the Tongue But if there be no such great plenty of Bloud Septalius Animad vers lib. 6. Sect. 113. I think it better not to meddle with the Veins of the lower parts but presently to open a Vein in the Arm and afterwards to bleed in the upper Veins XXIV But Bloud-letting in the Arm must be repeated not onely because it makes better Revulsion and causeth less weakness but because it is often observed that there is new afflux to the Part affected either from some other Part transfusing Matter Idem Ibid. Sect. 114. that it may ease it self of the burthen wherewith it is oppressed or by the Part affected drawing by reason of its pain and heat XXV And seeing some either in the Working of their Physick or that they naturally abhor it are apt to vomit it up again it is better always to give Potions than Pills or Bolus's for if they should happen to Vomit either a Bolus or Pills when they are suddenly and with great Violence forced to the Passage straitned with the Inflammation Idem Ibid. Sect. 115. there is no small danger of Strangling XXVI Bags that are made up with drying Powders to discuss in Inflammations of other parts must never be made use of in the Quinsey because by thickning the outer Skin Idem Ibid. Sect. 116. they rather hinder the Cure Therefore we must rather work with Moistners Medicines especially made use of by eminent Physicians 1. Aetius Tetrab 2. Sect. 4. c. 47. I have used in an Inward Quinsey a Gargarism of Mustard and have often delivered my Patients from danger 2. If the Swelling in the Neck will not soften J. Agric. Chirur. parv p. 802. burn an Owl in an open Pot to Powder a little of which you may blow into the Throat The Swelling will soften to admiration and break This is a Singular Secret 3. Bartoletus l. 5. part 2. c. 16. Duke Ferdinand's Powder is a great Secret in the Quinsey It is made of Mineral Crystal Cream of Tartar and Sugar For every half ounce of Crystal 1 ounce of Cream of Tartar and 2 ounces of Sugar are taken Tho. Bartholinus cent 4. hist 73. Blockwitius anat Samb Sect. 3. c. 12. 4. A Purple Thread wherewith a Viper hath been strangled is highly commended for the Quinsey 5. Let the Water or Decoction of Elder Flowers wherein is mixt a little Elder Honey and a few Leaves with one or two Jews Ears be Gargled This is recommended by experience Claud. Deodatus 6. Spirit of Nitre with Water of the Anodyne Salt Gargled hot is most excellent to allay the Inflammation Hartman prax chim 7. Take of Houseleek a sufficient quantity bruise it and strain it Take of this Juice 1 pint Sal Ammoniack half an ounce leave it in a moist place till the Salt be dissolved Distill it by an Alembick Wash your Tongue often with this Water 8. Galen Aetius Orobasius and all the Ancients commend Dogs-Turd White poudered and dried mixed with Honey and laid to the Throat Platerus 9. The Juice of Tree-Ivy swallowed gently from 3 drachms to half an ounce doth much good by repelling and digesting Eust Rud. Art Med. l. 1. c. 42. 10. This is an Excellent Remedy Take of Swallow's Nest 3 ounces Sapa 1 ounce Pulp of Cassia newly drawn 1 ounce and an half Mix them and apply it outwardly For it digests and asswages 11. This also is admirable which is made of the crum of a Loaf Milk Flowers of Roses and Chamaemil mixt together and applied after Bloud-letting Idem ibid. by virtue of which Medicine they use to spit plentifully and be much relieved Scultetus Armamen Chir. Obs 32. 12. This Gargarism is highly commended in all dangerous Quinseys especially in the beginning if the enflamed Jaws be often washed therewith Take of Saffron powdered 1 scruple and an half of the sharpest Vinegar 1 ounce Plantain Water 3 ounces white Sugar 2 drachms Mix them and make a Gargarism M. Joh. Wittichius Cons Med. 23. 13. Sennertus commends the Decoction of Berberry wood or of the inner Rind of the Hazle 14. Oil of sweet Almonds new drawn given with Sugar and a little of the Powder of a Boar's Tusk is the most present Remedy for the Quinsey and Pleurisie Anorexia or Want of Appetite The Contents It s Cure must be various according to the variety of Causes I. Food must be actually cold II. Fasting must sometime be injoyned III. It s Cure in Women with Child IV. It s Cure when caused by Choler V. When by Phlegm VI. In Consumptive Persons VII When Cured of its own accord VIII Medicines I. WOmen about sick persons desire nothing more than to remove this fault but they reckon that which is onely a sign of Health to be the Cause For this reason oftentimes the Physician is forced to provoke an Appetite It is lost 1. Because the Powers are weakned and the Bloud is not well concocted 2. Because for the former reason the acid Humour cannot be separated because of the thin Humours that are admitted We see this in them through whose Arteries noxious Humours together with the acid Humour are poured into the Stomach which often deceives Physicians while they ascribe the cause to the Intemperature of the Stomach or because it is corrupted and too thin That the loss of Appetite is to be ascribed to the fault of the
been dismissed by their Physicians For after pus is made and the Pain and Fever are greatly abated many are thought to have come to an end of their Disease and to security who have pus gathered inwardly in some Imposthume Some of whom by the benefit of a strong Nature are cured by breaking of the Imposthume and voiding the pus Others die consumptive when the pus putrefies malignantly and with it the internal parts or of a constant Fever which putrid Vapours carried from the part to the Heart do cause Or the Imposthume breaks but too late and when the strength is too low to bear a discharge of the pus Therefore it behoves us much to know the signs of an internal Inflammation turning to pus And many do not know them because they are not able to discern internal Inflammations and laying aside all care of latent Ails they consider nothing almost but what they can comprehend by their Senses without any ratiocination how to know the parts affected and to be able to distinguish them from other dolorous Diseases or the great from little ones For whether they will cause an Abscess or Suppuration I know from three things the Place Magnitude and Manner of the Inflammations themselves For Inflammations of hot parts unless prevented by discussion do suppurate more than those of colder parts and therefore as it is said in the Prognosticks Swellings in the Belly do imposthumate less than those in the Hypochondria and they least of all that are below the Navel Moreover small Inflammations most of them are dispersed especially if they be in hot places Great ones in hot places indeed do suppurate in cold ones they remain crude and invincible As to the manner they that are round and eminent circumscribed in a proper place and gathered into one signifie there will be Suppuration But they that are extended and broad and dispersed do not often suppurate If they be small or of thin matter they disperse If great or of thick matter they have a Crisis by bleeding or by some evacuation Vallesius if the event of them be good XII Unguents are not so proper for Inflammations unless to promote Suppuration wherefore Unguents are forbid in an Erysipelas though there be some by name Rondeletius who prescribe Unguents in this Disease It is certain also that Ointments improvidently applied to external Inflammations have often caused a Gangrene And therefore in Quinsies they are not generally so proper as you may find them in Books Welelius See Abscessus BOOK I. Ischiadius Dolor or The Sciatica The Contents Bleeding is proper I. Vomiting is better than Purging II. Sharp Clysters are good III. The Benefit of Issues and Causticks IV. Where they must be applied in a bastard Sciatica V. A pertinacious one cured with a red hot Iron VI. The benefit of Vesicatories VII Of Cupping-glasses VIII The cure of the Sciatica coming from fluid matter according to Hippocrates his mind IX The Cure of the Sciatica coming from fâ—â—t matter according to his mind X. The Cure of one proceeding from a hot cause XI Sometimes it arises from Bile XII A Sciatica from Driness XIII A compendious Cure of one arising from Cold. XIV Medicines I. THough Bloud do not abound if the Disease be inveterate Bloud must be taken out of the Vena poplitis or malleoli of the side affected without all contradiction because by Bleeding in this Vein a great derivation is obtained but because it is very difficult to open the Vena poplitis instead thereof a certain Vein was found by the Chirurgeons of Rome within these few days which a little above the Heel runs towards the Ankle to the outside It is truly a branch of the Vena poplitis if it be opened and eight or nine ounces of Bloud taken thence in the very same hour which is wonderfull the Pain of the Sciatica be it never so inveterate ceases Bleeding also with Leeches in the haemorrhoid Veins is admirable good for the Sciatica for there is a great consent between the Veins of these two places Zecchius cons 43. ¶ Mr. Puri of Newemburg a Man of Sixty sanguine and as he himself said one that took a course to breed much bloud had been confined to his bed six weeks by the violence of the Sciatica in his left Hip. All the time he kept his bed he thought there was no need of a Physician and therefore he sent not for me At length being tired by the diuturnity and violence of the pain he called me I presently order the most turgid Vein of the opposite Foot and they were all very turgid to be opened the Bloud ran full stream black and thick to about a pound with so much relief that the next day he left his Bed and the third day after bleeding his Chamber I can give a fresher instance of the efficacy of bleeding in the Sciatica while this is printing in the Month of April anno 1681. I am called to a lusty Man about 28 years old of a sanguine and bilious complexion well set and a stout Souldier He had been confined 15 days to his Bed by a painfull Sciatica in his left Hip About 18 days before he had by the advice of a Chirurgeon for revulsion as he said opened a Vein in the Arm but to no purpose I reckoning the Disease came from abundance of bloud settling there having first loosned his belly order a good quantity of bloud to be taken out of the opposite foot and likewise out of the foot on the same side with so good success that the next day he went about his business Anointing with Vnguentum dialthaeae Nitre and Oil of Elder which used to doe others good exasperated his pain II. Many prefer Vomits before Purges because they evacuate the humours by a way remote from the part affected Rondeletius prefers Asarum Riverius ¶ Sciatica Pains will not bear purging for thereby the humours fall more on those places ¶ But Sennertus thinks this must be understood of insufficient purging Grato III. Sharp Clysters may be given even to bring bloud for so I have seen them doe some good in the Sciatica Crato IV. Issues are made in three places in the Leg in the inside outside and hind part of the Calf Here Spigelius used to make an Issue in the Sciatica with good success Clandorpiti Zecchius because the Vena Poplitis runs that way ¶ I must greatly commend a Cautery below the Knee on the outside of the same side that is affected for derivation sake V. In the Joint of the Thigh about the cavity of the Os Ischii the Gout is bred which they call the Sciatica If the Humour run into the Acetable and force the head of the thigh-bone out this Disease in sight proves difficult of cure and will at length cause halting if the Humour fall upon the origination of that great Nerve which creeps along the back part of the
reaches to the marrow or middle with the removing of the outer Lamina of the Skull without hurting the Dura mater lest the Brain be too much cooled and this shall be done by making a Cautery near the coronal Suture with a red hot and sharp Iron penetrating even to the marrow or to betwixt the Laminae rather than by true Terebration I say near the Suture to avoid hurting the Membrane which passes out by the Sutures If this be done and be kept open with a pellet it may benefit very much Sylvaticus cent 1. cons 58. See Examples in Rolfinc meth spec p. 413. Rhodius cent 1. obs 43. The Weakness of the Memory and Mind The Contents The Memory is not always to be restored by heating Medicines I. The Abuse of Confectio Anacardina Aqua magnanimitatis II. Where Issues are to be made III. Their Efficacy IV. Treacle and Mithridate ought to be rejected in Weakness of Mind V. I. I Can hardly consent to Galen's opinion that Forgetfulness depends on a cold Intemperature because I know several that have very cold Brains without impairing of their Memory which yet ought to follow if Galen's Arguments from the similitude of efficient Causes and from the similitude of cold Animals were of any strength I have seen the contrary in some forgetfull persons whose Cure I have undertaken in whom there was no manifest sign of Cold In some I discovered a notable Heat of the Brain whom I helped by the application of cooling Remedies about the coronal Suture I deny not but there is in many a notable dry Intemperature but I doubt whether the Memory be either diminished or abolished by this Intemperature alone Some cases observed by me increase the doubting I have known some lose their Memory quite by a great blow on the Head Galen from Thucydides relates that some who recovered of a Pestilence forgat all things that were by-past And what cold Intemperature is to be accused here I have seen a Woman that forgot all things who by a spontaneous loosness by which she evacuated cholerick Petr. Salv. Div. Annot. in Altimar c. 1. bloudy green mucous and the like stuff recover'd her lost Memory without the application of any particular Medicine to the Brain it self II. The pernicious custome both of Physicians and others is to be condemned who being indued with a weak Memory from their first constitution endeavour by violent Medicines to recover that which they have not lost For you may find young Students not a few who being desirous of a good Memory beg both by Intreaty and Money that Confectio anacardina may be given them Whence not a few either unsettle their Judgment or better not their Memory at all or are tormented with great Pains in their Head For who knows not that if we would change the natural temper of the Brain or any part into a better we must act leisurely and by degrees not with vehement and the most effectual Remedies as those are which are made of Anacardum which finding in the Heads and Bodies of young men nothing that is preternaturally thick cold and moist do waste and weaken the natural temper and substance whence proceed a thousand kinds of harms and the Memory perhaps becomes worse Such things help those indeed whose Memories are hurt Mercatus Pract. l. 1. c. 19. if they were good before by their natural constitution ¶ It is called Confectio Sapientum Yet it is to be given warily especially in those that are well for strengthning their Memory whence some give half a drachm or less of it in hot water that it s too much drying may be remitted But those who have their principal members hot are by no means to use it For even Experience has taught this that some have indeed acquired to themselves an admirable Memory by this confection but have not been very lively and have died in the very flower of their age Sennertus pract l. 1. part 2. c. 5. by having their body too much dried ¶ In both confirming and restoring the Memory Aqua magnanimitatis is of wonderfull virtue which see in Schroder's Pharmac lib. 2. cap. 38. and Hofman in clavi p. 50. 'T will be more powerfull if the Species anacardinae be extracted with it from three to six grains of whose essence being given once or twice a week in Wine or Lavender-water is a singular Remedy But note that this Water dries very much and therefore its use in the cholerick and more dry ought to be rare and with caution so that 't is rather good for the phlegmatick and melancholick ¶ See concerning its efficacy and another preparation of it in Miscell curios ann 3. viz. 1672. p. 605. from Wedelius Hartman prax c. 14. sect 2. where there is most excellent Counsel for an impaired Memory III. Issues help in these cases because when humours abound in the Brain it helps if they be evacuated by little and little and turned aside from the Brain But note that as I commend an Issue in the Armes so I condemn it in the Occiput because that place is the Seat of the Memory Mercurialis l. 1. c. 18. and 't is pernicious to evacuate the whole body by the part affected IV. I am wont to make Issues in the Head with very good success when the Memory is lost and Ratiocination impaired especially in case of a cold and moist Intemperature but the body must be first well purged Epiph. Ferdinandus hist 47. They must be made near or upon the Sutures three or four or more as shall seem necessary V. Some commend Treacle and Mithridate which I had rather omit because of the Opium which makes all the Senses stupid or more languishing though it have been a long time made I say 't is better to let them alone seeing there want not other things and no pain or necessity requires them here nor is there any malignity of humour Platerus Mensium fluor nimius or The too large Flux of the Terms The Contents Bleeding is very good I. We must often purge II. When Vomits have place III. Diureticks are unfit to make derivation IV. Astringents and Incrassaters being used long doe harm V. Opiates are profitable VI. Whether Astringents are to be applied VII The Cure of this Flux joined with an hysterical Suffocation VIII Sylvius's Causes and Cure IX I. PHlebotomy for Revulsion is to be celebrated in the Arme ever and anon stopping the orifice a little while with your finger A good quantity of bloud is to be let Riverius l. 15. c. 3. as much as the strength can bear ¶ I have known many who have been cured by being let bloud largely Holler aph 50. 5. when the flux could be stenched by no other Remedies II. Some Lenitive Medicine is not inconvenient which may bring Serosities plentifully out by stool for besides that it may make a Diversion it will cleanse the first ways and prepare them
necessary as in order of Nature it deservedly goes before Reason since Physick was not found after Reason but Reason after Physick Though Reason will not yield to Experience in dignity yet in the mean time lest Reason should halt let a Man stand on Experience which is the other Leg and this is often of it self sufficient For what things says Sennertus Inst lib. 5. p. 1. c. 22. fall under our sense leave nothing in doubt nothing in question but since some things are hidden to the senses we must endeavour to bring them under Reason yet so as not to infer confused and infinite things nor fetch the principles of our demonstrations from far And when what is found by Experience can be proved by Reason without doubt it is very certain But when Reason opposes we must rather adhere to Experience yet this must be of a skilful Physician sure and undoubted for if it be uncertain and bad it tends to the destruction of the whole Man Wherefore Hippocrates said 6. Epid. 2. 29. A Physician must experience nothing rashly Hofman LXIII Seeing Hippocrates in reckoning up the Critical Days in Diseases followed the common custom calling all that time from which the Patient began to be sick till Sun-setting the first day and taking the other following to begin at the rising and end at the setting of the Sun we ought not to depart from his way of Computation For though Galen make every day to consist of about twenty four hours he was neither taught it by his Master nor did he it as convinced by Experience but because he could no way else assign a Reason of Critical Days But because this way of Computation taken from Galen is commonly observed that this Abuse in a thing of so great moment may if possible be removed from the Medical Faculty I shall dwell a while upon this subject First therefore I shall shew that this Computation of Galen's is not according to the mind of Hippocrates who used to commence every day expecting the first from the Sun-rising Then I shall try to give the true Reason of Hippocrates his Computation and assign a cause why the first day though it be not a whole one yet ought to be reckoned for one day Let us therefore fall upon the first If Hippocrates had had a mind that the enumeration of each day should have been made by beginning the day always from the hour when the Patient fell sick he must needs have told the hour when the Disease first took the Patient seeing the whole course of the Computation has its original from thence But in reporting the Histories of Patients he no where makes mention of the hour of the invasion of the Disease A most evident Argument that it is not necessary to know this seeing it is sufficient not to be ignorant whether the Disease begun by day or night or evening morning or midday because the computation of Days must be made not beginning at the hour when the Disease came but from the time when the natural day does truly begin And it is plain that this was inviolably observed by him because in reckoning up those things which happened every day to the Sick he reckoned the morning and evening in the same number as one day only not part of the day as the end of the preceding and the other part as the beginning of the subsequent day as the Galenists do You may see this in the History of Philiscus registred 1. Epid. n. 1. where he says that the third day in the Morning he seemed free from his Fever till Noon in the Evening he had an Acute Fever c. We may observe the same in the History of Epicrates his Wife and also of Dromeas his Wife described in the same place As also in the description of the Phrenitick Disease of which 3. Epid. 5. 3. and of the Servant in a Victualling-House lib. 4. v. 126 and yet more clearly in the History of Pithion l. 3. s 3. v. 134. and in several others in lib. Epid. Which Histories if these Men were to describe they would divide every day into two parts joining the former with the preceding day and they would make the Evening the beginning of the day following Which you no where find done by Hippocrates who always ranked the Morning and the Evening in the same number beginning the day always as has been said with the Sun-rising and ending it with the Sun-setting Will any of them say that all Hippocrates his Patients began to be sick at Sun-rising as he has begun the enumeration of his days from thence Certainly this is ridiculous since Experience shews that Diseases do very seldom begin in the morning Since therefore Hippocrates never observed this division of days in his Enumeration it is certain that the way of computing days by twenty four hours which Galen invented and Posterity has followed is a mere Figment and to be rejected from Hippocrates his Doctrine And that that way of computing must be observed which Hippocrates followed calling all that time which is between the first coming of the Disease and the setting of the Sun the first day beginning the second and all the rest from Sun-rising till the night following according to the common custom which usually makes it a day from the rising to the setting of the Sun Nor must we believe that Hippocrates in writing would have been so negligent in a matter of such moment if the Computation must have been made different from the common custom as not to have expressed it Since therefore such was our Master's Enumeration of days in Diseases upon which the whole Reason of Prediction and Cure is founded though the true cause of it be not known yet I will try to give as probable a Reason as I can not departing from Galen's Principles who 3. de dieb decretor endeavouring to give a Reason of Critical Days reduced it to the passing of the Sun through the Signs of the Zodiack in Chronical Diseases but in Acute Diseases to the motion of the Moon Now whether its Action proceeds from the Signs which it runs through by its proper motion Or from the diversity of Light which it receives from the Sun Or from the concurrence of both it is not our business to determine since it is sufficient for us to know that the changes of Acute Diseases do proceed from the motion of the Moon by Quaternaries and Septenaries But though upon account of the foresaid motion of the Moon Crises and other alterations of Diseases ought to be at certain set days and hours when it touches this or that point yet often the Rational time is missed so that sometime it anticipates sometime it postpones and chiefly by reason of the Fits which seldom coincide with the said motion of the Moon For it is certain that Crises are made in the day of the greatest Fit wherefore we see which Hippocrates also observed that those Diseases are judged
with it self which Experience afterwards refutes Therefore a small Errour says Averroes occasions infinite mistakes The Methodus Medendi or Method of Curing derives its Name from a Way which by Indications shews which way we must take and gives us the advantage of avoiding all Errour Hieronymus Capivaccius formerly set so much by this that in his opinion a Physician needed nothing else in practising of Physick They say that a Polander who had taken his Degree at Padua being to return to his own Country requested him to reveal some of his secret Medicines to him and that he gave him this Answer Reade my Method and you will have my Secrets But how strict an Observer Capivaccius was of his own Method his Praxis Medica and other of his Works do shew where he takes notice of many Errours made manifest to him by practice and experience not revealed by Reason Galen himself who first shewed the Way and was the first contriver of the Methodus Medendi forbids a Man to rest in Universals but to descend to Particulars For who can hope to search out the manifold variety of Precepts without constant Practice says Hippocrates l. de Praeception Who therefore thinks the Art is long because the Indications must be taken onely from the Specifick Disease To think says Galen 3. meth med c. 3. that there is any one general Cure for all Men as some stupid Methodists do think is a piece of the greatest madness in the World A Physician 's business lies in Particulars and by particular Experiences a solid knowledge of the Art is acquired Seneca says The way to a Science or Art by Precepts is long by Examples short and effectual It is easie indeed to know what Rheubarb is what Burning what Cutting but in Practice how they may be accommodated to Use when Purging when Burning when Cutting is convenient is not so obvious nor can it so easily be understood For What When and How they must be used because of the variety of Circumstances and the divers changes which Mens Bodies incur To know what must be done is no great matter but by what means you may doe it to know this is all the Skill says Galen lib. 6. Method med cap. 2. Yea and several Mens Idiocrasie is various it has something hidden which is manifest to no Senses can be found out by no tokens This Difficulty so tormented Galen that it extorted this Expression from him If I were but able to discern every Man's Idiosyncrasie I should think my self as good a Physician as I imagine Aesculapius or Apollo to have been Truly he that intends to practise Physick supported onely by Method is like him that would try to travel the whole World over by the guidance of one Geographical Map or him that would sail to the Indies onely by the Compass without any other Sea-Chart Many impassable places occur Woods Mountains Scylla and Charybdis which stop the course and indanger Men. Nor will a Man destitute of a Guide make any farther progress on his way than if he went on one Leg A Man has occasion of both who will proceed as he should of Reason which in Method as in a Map shews the Indications and what ends we must aim at There must be a previous knowledge of this by the direction whereof they that run through the broad field of Physick administer all things dispose them reduce the wandring mind into the Path out of an inextricable and confused multitude of things and lay open the hidden way of doing things If this be wanting all Physick is incertain wavering and doubtfull Without this Medicines are like a Sword in a Mad-Man's hand which would otherwise prove to be the hand of GOD if they were dextrously used as Hierophilus said of old This shews whether a Disease should be opposed or no If any thing must be done What How much When Where and in What manner This teaches to vary the Cure according to the nature of the Disease variety of Causes urgency of invading Symptoms and the diversity of the afflicted parts yea it teaches how to cure one and the same Disease in divers Individuals and grieved parts several ways But however it is that Reason dictates these and the like things yet Experience must be called in to its assistance being in order of Nature first for Reason was found after Physick not Physick after Reason which owes its Being to Experience The dignity of Reason is great yet it is lame unless there be the other Leg Experience supported by the Senses under which what things do fall are not subject to Mistake but they put all things out of doubt Yet Reason is necessary in these things which the Senses cannot reach For of such things as are contrary in Quality there is Method but of such things as are contrary in their whole Substance there is no Method but they were all found out by Experience says Galen lib. ad Thrasib But if Reason confirm things that are found by Experience they are of undoubted truth And if these two contradict one the other we must rather adhere to Experience but not to every Experience neither For there is a difference between 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 between Experience and Empiricism For what is more common with some Physicians than before they scarce understand any thing to appeal to their own Experience and to cite it for good Authority This often holds good in two or three things and fails in others for Experience does not depend upon this one or the other case but upon the repeated act of many Examples He that relies upon any one or the other Example may be called an Empirick or an Experimentator if he practise Physick upon Experiments not true Experience Experience is not to be trusted says Galen 3 Aph. 10. Because though we see the same thing often we cannot say it will be always so Nor ought a Man to make Physical Aphorisms of things that he has seen but once or twice Certain Experience must not be expected unless from a Learned Skilfull exactly Judicious Physician and one who has often travelled the Way of Physick Years Men expert make Experience according to Galen libro de optima Secta is the comprehension and memory of that which is seen frequently and in the same manner Nor can Physicians says Cicero 1. de Offic. though they do understand the rules of Art atchieve any thing praise-worthy without Practice and Experience And to this Prudence is highly requisite the Companion usually of Old Age says the same de Senect as Rashness is of Youth which according to Aristotle 1. ad Nicomachum 8. not onely considers that which is absolutely and universally Good but also that which is good for this or that particular person For a Physician 's Consideration is not onely of 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 but 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 not onely of Generals but of Particulars For we should always remember
him violently I give him a sharp Clyster and make it work with a sharp Suppository there was plentifull Evacuation When his head was shaved all over I applied a Cataplasm of Pigeon's Dung Euphorbium Pyrethrum and Mustard hereupon many and great Blisters arise out of which yellow matter ran The next day I gave him of Species Hierae Diacolocynthidos 2 drachms of Castor half a drachm of Rue one scruple Heer Observat 21. with Antapoplectick Water I applied Cupping with Scarification to his Shoulders when the Blisters in his head ran no more I raised new ones in his Neck and thereabout but onely with Cupping Glasses And with some few more Remedies he recovered his health IX Forestus lib. 10. Observat 74. Condemns shaking of the body in Phlegmatick and Sanguine Apoplexies and because the humours are thereby more stirred he advises to use it with caution Which not being observed in old Bokellus l. c. the Imprudence of the Physician cost the Patient his life Nymannus in Chap. 39. of the Apoplexy mentions a Patient that had his end hastened by such unseasonable shaking The shaking of the Womans body mentioned by Forestus as the Ail appeared without using any thing before it quickly cured her which in others if it had not caused Death it would at least have done hurt and exasperated the Disease But this shaking and causing her to walk seems therefore to have done good because by shaking her body her bloud was stirred which being provoked to more violent motion forced that little which caused the Obstruction already and would have caused more out of the lesser Arteries and drove it farther into the small Veins whereupon some portion of it i. e. the more subtile and the matter of the Animal spirits was able to sweat through the Pores into the Substance of the Brain and she at the first was able to walk again Upon her walking more plenty of Vital Spirits succeeded while Nature used her utmost endeavour being excited by stirring to supply the Medullous Substances and her bloud being not a little heated and made more subtile by walking it could more readily pass the Capillaries and the Pores But if the Paroxysm had had its original from the Serous Moisture poured into the substance of the Brain it had not ceased so soon and there had been other symptomes as Sleepiness Vertigo c. Nay by walking being farther driven into the Medulla Wepferus Exercitat de Apoplexia it would have bred a Palsie In any Apoplexy likewise bred of any other cause it would hardly have done so much good For either if it be caused by the Carotid and Vertebral Arteries being stopt or by the Torcular being stopt by pituitous Bodies or by extravasated bloud in any of these cases more powerfull Remedies are necessary X. I cannot chuse but examine as I have occasion some sort of Remedies commended by some namely whether they avail any thing in the Cure of the Apoplexy or no. And in the first place plucking the Hair especially in the Legs is commended which when the Patient wants sense seems to me plainly ridiculous for it conduces nothing to the removing any one cause of the Apoplexy Bending the Fingers and Twitching the Nose is of the same nature nor do I see what good they can doe And shaking the body unless the head hang downwards that so the humours offending may run out Sylvius de le Boē l. c. will contribute nothing but evident Damage to the Patient So rubbing the extreme Parts with Vinegar and Salt and Ligatures will doe no good in any Apoplexy It is better therefore to abstain from such things as have no use nor doe the Patient any good XI Some question Purging for two reasons 1. Because Purges may not be given so long as there is crudity according to Hippocrates and Galen's Maxims But without doubt Crudity properly so called which might hinder Purging is wanting here yet if there be any suspicion of a thick Humour Attenuatives may be mixt with Purgers for the greatness of the Disease and the Imminence of the present Danger will not allow a Man wholly to intend the Preparation of Humours 2. The way whereby Purgers should get into the Belly hinders Purging when one has not power to swallow without fear of choaking Therefore a strong Medicine in a little Dose may be given as Trochisci Alhandal Diagridium or Scammony with Castor according to Trallianus Rondeletius gives a drachm of Pilulae Cochiae dissolved according to Sennertus Seeing the chief cause of the Apoplexy is Melancholy offending in quality i. e. in excess of Acidity or Acerbity it is evident that the Humour seeing it is preternatural doth indicate its own Evacuation and the rather because of the present danger nor can there be even in a long time an alteration from Acidity to a more benign and spirituous or Balsamick nature And much more yet is Purgation indicated if a Phlegmatick be joyn'd with the Melancholick Cacochymie Nor doth Purgation allow any longer delay after bloud-letting when the Plethory is taken from the whole or from the head than bloud-letting allows after the invasion of the Apoplexy unless extreme faintness require time to recruit Wherefore Purging is to be prescribed quickly without any respect to time for unless while the bloud is made more fluid by Venaesection and the obstructions of the Brain and Lungs are in some measure removed or the Increase of them stopt and while the spirits are yet elevated a Purge be given when the Coagulation of the bloud is sensibly increased Franc. Bayle Tract de Apoplexia c. 11. the Cohesion of the Parts of the bloud and of the humours mixt with it among themselves may be so pertinacious as to bid defiance to all the virtue of Purgatives Nay the distribution of the Purgative especially to the Parts affected may be prohibited if not wholly at least in part while the Passages are straitned by Coagulation of the Bloud XII Nor may every Medicine be given but a violent one such as the nature of the peccant humour the disposition of the bloud and the place it self do indicate To the first Aphor. 9. Sect. 4. hath respect You must purge Melancholick persons violently by Siege for Melancholy will not stir except it be forced from the other humours by a strong Drench But the Coagulated bloud or next door to Coagulation parts not easily with what it contains but stands in need of a strong Ferment to make it boil and endure a separation of parts And seeing the humour to be removed is not in the Stomach and first ways but in the whole Mass of bloud and in the Brain especially it is necessary that the virtue of the Purgative be diffused all the Body over and reach the Head in its full force Idem to which a weak Purgative can never attain XIII It often happens that the Faculties are so oppressed that Purgatives cannot be brought into Act and so
of the Matter which in the running Gout is thinner and sharper which diversity of Matter indeed may be one cause why the pain in the running Gout is accompanied with greater heat than in the Gout it self And therefore the running Gout is reckoned among acute Diseases but the Gout among the Chronical l. 1. de morbis where there is no mention made of the Running Gout it being an acute not a chronical Disease And then the running of the Pain from one Joint to another distinguishes them For although the Gout pains pass from one Joint to another they doe it gradually and not so suddenly as in the Running Gout in which when the pain is at the height it presently ceases and takes another joint Hippocrates saith that Choler and Phlegm when they are moved and settle upon the joints are causes of the running Gout Where observe that these Humours come not from any particular part of the Body but from the whole And in this lies the difference the morbifick matter of the Gout comes not from the whole but is cast off by some Principal Part to the Joints And this is the chief reason why the Gout is a far more grievous Disease than the running Gout and harder to Cure and why the running Gout is sometime perfectly cured and never comes again which the Gout generally does Hipp. l. de nat hum For whatever Diseases pass from a stronger part to a weaker are difficultly cured Since therefore the Gout is of this nature no wonder if its Cure be difficult and the rather because it is not easie to find what is the original of it the Brain or Liver or what other noble Part which being unknown it is utterly impossible to cure the Gout seeing the Part which sends the Humour should first be cured Therefore to the breeding of the Gout there concurs 1. The fault of some Principal Part which breeds gathers and disposes of the morbifick matter 2. The disposition of the joints to receive the Flux i. e. a certain weakness which when there is none there is no Gout but Diseases much of the same nature and returning at certain times as the Colick Epilepsie Asthma Vertigo Head-ach especially the Stone in the Kidneys Another difference of these two diseases in respect of their material cause is that onely Choler and Phlegm concur to the breeding of the running Gout but Hippocrates saith of the Gout And indeed this is a disease of the Bloud in the small veins corrupted by Phlegm and Choler Whence we may gather that Bile and Choler are carried from some part principally affected by the Veins to the Joints where if they find the Bloud in the little Veins disposed to corruption they corrupt it and cause pain If not they use not to cause pain because the Vessels do contain them and unless there be distension or the Humours be extravasated there can be no solution of Continuity which is the proximate cause of pain Hippocrates treating of the Cure of them both saith And the same things are good for this which are good for the running Gout And the reason of their Convenience is because all of them have respect to the material Cause i. e. Choler and Phlegm which fall upon the Joints But treating of the Gout he subjoyns But if the Pain abide in the fingers burn the Veins a little above the Knuckles and you must burn them with raw fiax He propounds not this Remedy in the running Gout both because the remainder of its pains are not of any continuance P. Martianus comm in cit loc p. 170. and because it lies not so deep as the Gout as also because the continuance of the Pain argues great weakness of the Joint which cannot be better helped than by burning and it may alter the bad disposition of the part whereby the bloud therein contained is disposed to corruption in which the Essence of the Gout seems to consist Sennertus Epist 1. cent 1. II. We must rather take care of the Part that sends the Humour lest it breed more than think of outward Applications All the stress of Precaution lies in this in hindring the breeding of Serum and the Ebullition of Humours Crato in Epist 52. hath these words I think the whole of Precaution consists in a right course of Diet and Abstinence also in washing the Head and Sweating III. That efficacious Remedies are required to cure the Gout these following examples of persons cured do shew A Turk at Constantinople as an ocular and credible witness Mr. Arlaud a Watchmaker of Geneva told me who had a confirmed Gout received according to the Custome of that People five and twenty blows with a Cane upon the Soles of his Feet as a Punishment for some Fault he was deprived of the use of his Feet for some days but he lived afterwards free from the Gout Alteration of Diet is of great efficacy in this case Mr. Franchet of Pontarlier in Burgundy a Man well known to most and to me formerly who was banished his Countrey by an inrode of the Swedes An. 1636. into Burgundy having lost all was forced to get his living by carrying a Panier at his back to Markets and Fairs and by this course of life he lived afterwards free from the Gout IV. The Patient was an Inn-keeper the Physician was a certain Noble Knight who bargained with his Host to Cure him of the Gout for 300 Florens and having received a Bill under his hand he undertook the Cure The Patient was commanded to set his Feet upon a Block of Wood. The Knight had his Servants who were stout Fellows by to hold him down as he sate The Knight himself with a Hammer and six Nails nailed his Feet to the Block he left his Patient crying out most miserably and took Horse In the mean time he made Inquiry whether the Gout came again and after three years when he understood it was not come he returned to the Inn and joking with his Landlord Asked him If he was Cured of the Gout then he produced the Bill under his Hand and demanded his Fee Doringius Cent. 2. Epist 46. His Landlord though cruelly handled agreed to it The Knight indeed tarried so long with him till he and his Servants had spent the 300 Florens V. Lewis Noel a Surgeon of Geneva Sworn Searcher of the Dead who died almost Ninety years old Anno 1678. had been long afflicted with the Gout When he was laid up of a Fit a Woman that was a Natural called le Maistre steals into the House and catching him by his Feet she hit one against the other violently and would not leave off till some came to his assistance and turn'd his Tormentor out of doors From that time he lived free from the Gout Twenty years and upwards and made use of no Remedy VI. Bloud-letting for prevention sake must never be omitted in Plethorick Bodies nor in those that fare well and drink high Spring and
at this time also it breeds a Paroxysm and that for the causes above-mentioned with which mischief if it do not presently punish the Patient yet it does not at all free him from his Disease how constantly soever and at due Intervals he take this or that Cathartick Nay I have known some subject to this Disease who paid their devotions to Health by a Purge not onely Spring and Fall but once a Month yea and sometimes every week yet not one of them escaped the Gout which afterwards for the most part handled them more cruelly than if they had abstained from all Physick For though the said Purging may carry off some part of the Continent Cause yet since it conduces not one jot to strengthen concoction from which it is so far that it weakens it destroying nature by a fresh wound it is onely opposed to one Cause and has not virtue sufficient for the Cure of the Disease Besides we must note that through the same defect of spirits whereby coctions are vitiated in people subject to the Gout the consistence of their Animal spirits is rendred less firm and lively whereupon it is presently scattered and disturbed by any cause which does a little more violently shake and disturb either mind or body and therefore is very fleeting and dissipable as it often happens to them that are either hypochondriack or hysterick From which propensity of spirits to disorder it is that the Gout commonly follows any the least evacuation For when the tone of the body is destroyed which the firmness of spirits while they remain in their vigour preserves well compact and lively the peccant matter as having broken all bounds is at its liberty and upon this wound 's being inflicted on the body Idem p. 35. a Paroxysm presently arises XXXVI But this method as pernicious and hurtfull as it is has got some Empiricks no small credit who all of them craftily conceal the Purging Medicine which they make use of For it must be observed that the Patient while he is in his Purging course has little or no pain and if the Course can be carried on for some days and no fresh Paroxysm supervene the Patient will be quickly well of that wherewith he is at present held But then he must pay severely for it afterwards by reason of the disorder into which the said disturbance of the Humours hath precipitated nature XXXVII Then evacuation of the peccant matter by sweats though it doe less hurt than the foresaid evacuations yet it is clear that it does harm For though it do not retract the matter of the Disease into the bowels but on the contrary force it into the habit of the body yet however it does harm upon these accounts First indeed because out of the Fit it forcibly thrusts out the Humours that are yet crude and not so ripe as that they ought by right to be separated into the limbs and so solicite a Fit before the time and even against Nature's mind Then because in the Fit provoking of sweat doth force too violently the morbifick matter upon the part affected and besides causes intolerable pain and if the quantity of peccant matter be larger than that the part affected can admit it it presently throws it on other Joints whereupon there is a commotion and a great ebullition or exestuation of Bloud and other Humours But if the body abound with a serous floud that is apt to breed the Gout there is fear of falling into an Apoplexy Wherefore in this Disease like as in all other in which sweats are raised by Art to cast out the morbifick matter and do not flow by the duct of Nature it is exceeding dangerous to raise them so violently or beyond that degree of Coction to which Humours to be evacuated of themselves are arrived And that most famous Aphorism of Hippocrates Concocted not crude things must be Purged has place as well in provoking Sweats as in giving a Purge Which is clearly evident from the Sweat that concludes the Fit of an Ague which if it be moderate and answering exactly to the quantity of febrile matter concocted by the preceding Fit does remarkably relieve the Patient But if Sweat be promoted beyond Nature's measure by keeping the Patient continually in bed then a continual Fever arises and a fresh fire is kindled whereas what was burning before ought to have been put out By the same reason also in the Gout that gentle dew which for the most part arises in the morning of its own accord after every lesser Paroxysm several of which make one great one mitigates both the pain and restlesness wherewith the Patient contended all night but on the contrary if this gentle dew that is fleeting of its own nature be provoked longer and more violently than the proportion of peccant matter already concocted by the last paroxysm will bear Idem p 4â— the Disease is thereby enraged Therefore in this as well as in all other Diseases which I have had the hap ever yet to see the Plague onely excepted it is not so much the Physician 's as Nature's Province to raise Sweats because it is no way possible for us to know how great a share of this same matter is already prepared to undergoe separation nor by consequence what measure we ought to observe in provoking Sweat XXXVIII Whatever things therefore help Nature in performing her Offices aright where by strengthening the Stomach that it may concoct food aright or the Bloud that it may duely assimilate the Chyle carried into it or by corroborating the solid parts that they may better convert the Juices designed for their nutrition and augmentation into their proper substance Finally whatever things preserve the divers organs of Excretion and Emunctories of the body in that state as they may be able to void the Recrements of each part in their due time and order these and all such things are good to fulfill this intention and are properly called Digestives whether they be Medicines or Diet or Exercise or any of the sex res non naturales Such Medicines are all in general as heat moderately and are either bitter or gently pierce the tongue as being things that are gratefull to the Stomach cure the Bloud and cherish and comfort otâ—er parts such are for example Angelico and Elecampane Roots Leaves of Wormwood lesser Centaury Germander Groundpine c. Also common Antisâ—orbuticks may be added as Horse-rhadish root leaves of garden Scurvigrass Water-Cresses c. But since these sharp and pungent herbs how gratefull soever to the Stomach and conducing to it in helping Digestion do notwithstanding enrage the matter that hath been a long time bred and encrease it they must be used very sparingly in comparison of those that by their gentle heat and bitterness strengthen the Stomach and render the mass of bloud more brisk and lively Several sorts of these curiously mixt do better concoct the Humours than any simple taken out of
finger long whereupon the Patient found ease yet the next day Fabricius Hildanus cent 6. Observat 37. which was the Nineteenth of her Disease she died The Cure might have been easie if the cause of her Disease had been known to her Physician at first but her imprudent Modesty was the cause of her Death Except this woman it was never my hap to know another die of a Rupture for the part affected in Women does not easily admit any large Dilatation or Sinus to be made by the Gut as it does in Men. III. A Woman Forty years old formerly my Patient after carrying a heavy Pail full of Water complained of a pain in her Groin This was followed with a Groin-Rupture on the left side which in a short time after having broken the skin burst out whereat all the food she took and Worms came out When the Wound was healed the Rupture remained the Pain in her Belly continued and she was troubled with Wind continually especially when she lay down the Guts then returning inward She thought her Belly was full of little Animals coursing this way and that But by handling her I perceived this her torment was owing to Wind which proceeded from some days Obstructions she Vomited also every Morning When she had taken a Clyster the Obstruction removed and her pain asswaged yet at certain times an apparent Swelling returned with a rumbling When it hid it self in her Belly and she had a rumbling she was much tormented but when it came out in a great lump she was free from torment Before the Gut could conveniently be put back and the future mischiefs provided against I ordered Bartholinus cent 1. hist 3. that when she had broke the Wind which distended her Guts the Excrements the fuel of putrefaction should be Purged out the Worms should be killed and brought away with Remedies proper for this Pest But while the Remedies were delayed the poor Woman died of the violence of her Pain IV. It is Queried Whether a Maid 22 years old Marriageable of a middle stature of a good habit of Body if she should Marry would she be Barren by reason of a Rupture in her Groin but well cured And If she be not Barren Whether for the same reason she would not be in great danger in her Travel It seems to me that for that Reason alone she will not be Barren because an incision there comes neither to the Womb nor to its neck nor to any part deputed to Generation as is evident from Aëtius l. 16. c. 103. Therefore since in such an Operation the foresaid parts are not hurt nothing hinders but she may conceive And since the Cicatrice in a Girle 13 years old at which time she was cured of her Rupture is long since grown together and well cured it will not break and by consequence when she has conceived she will be in no danger for this in her Labor This is clear not from Reason alone but from Experience likewise Pet. Foresrus l. 26. obs 56. for such Women have both Conceived Gone with and happily Brought forth Children without any danger A GUIDE TO The Practical Physician BOOK III. Of Diseases beginning with the Letter C. Cachexia or a Cachexy Leucophlegmatia or the White Dropsie The Contents Bloud-letting Whether and after what manner it is good I. II. Whether in the foot if caused by suppression of the Menses III. Purging hurtfull IV. In a Melancholick one we must Purge frequently V. The use of Spaws VI. For whom Sweating is proper VII A Cachexy caused by the fault of the Kidneys VIII From the fault of the Lymphatick Vessels IX A White Dropsie from anointing with Mercury cured by Vrine X. Medicines I. LETTING Bloud with a Lancet may sometimes be proper in those Cachexies where there is an obstruction of the Liver and a Plenitude because perhaps the bloud being so in motion and that quickned some of the corrupt Humours in the Vessels of the Liver will come out with the bloud But especially if there be a Cacochymie in the bloud it will be convenient to draw it out ¶ The opening the Haemorrhoids as it is a Revulsion by the Mesaraick Veins will be very good against obstructions of the Liver 〈…〉 Spleen and Mesaraick Veins so also as it draws out the Cacochymie gathered there II. Letting bloud is sometimes necessary for a Cachexy Which I experienced in my self when after a Quartan Ague I was so far gone in a Cachexy that I was fore afraid of a Dropsie And certainly I was cured by no other means than by frequent bloud-letting so that in ten days time I let my self bloud five times at first the bloud came out exceeding foul at last very pure Botallus lib. de cura◠per S. M. which was the conclusion of my bloud-letting I have tried it in several others III. Physicians proceed amiss in curing the Cachexy of several persons while at the very first they endeavour to promote the stopped Months by letting bloud in the Foot without any preparation of the Humours or clearing the obstructed passages For Nature discharges not the bloud by the Veins of the Womb till the innate Heat have recovered its former Vigour and Crudities be in a great measure consumed which being done we may proceed to bleed in the Foot and to give Medicines to promote the Menses And for the most part it falls out when Crudities are concocted and the Oeconomy of the whole body restored Enchirid. Med. Pract. that what Natural Evacuations were suppressed do then return of themselves IV. We should not give Purgatives to Cachectick persons because it is most certain they hurt the Liver and weaken the Ferment of the Bile Freder Hofmannus m. m. l. 1. c. 7. But we should give Lenitives repeated equal to them for a weak Agent reiterated is able to doe as much as a strong one can doe at once and with less danger ¶ I find our Physicians often commit this Errour insomuch that they abstain not from most violent Purgers in Cachectick persons and so bring those bodies that should have lived longer to an untimely end ¶ Some sick persons will Purge almost every day because of some small alleviation they find thereby But this is very bad for them and they die in a short time Idem l. 2. c. 6. for it is very sure the bowels are exceedingly hurt thereby V. Seeing a thick and feculent Melancholick humour turns not easily into Sweat more frequent Purging is necessary in this Cachexy than in a Phlegmatick one Enchirid. Med. Pract. p. 170. for this may without the help of Catharticks be almost all concocted and consumed with drying Medicines But the Melancholick Mud gathered in the Veins or Arteries of the Spleen as by degrees it is concocted so it must gradually be taken away by Catharticks VI. A certain great Drinker had so inflamed his Liver that continually even while he was fasting or but just
Stomach and Liver and absterge the humours And this is a good Powder Take filings of Steel sprinkle them with water of Wormwood or Ash wherein their Salts have been dissolved leave them so long till they contract rust Take of this Crocus 3 ounces burnt Harts-horn prepared half an ounce Magistery of Coral of Pearl each 1 drachm and an half Cinnamon Crystalls of Tartar 1 drachm Sugar what is sufficient to sweeten the whole Make a Powder The dose 1 drachm And this Chalybeate Wine is good especially in a pertinaceous obstruction of the Bowells and suppression of the Menses whence a Cachexy ariseth Take of filings of Steel 3 ounces and an half White-wine 4 pounds infuse them in a Glass 8 days in the Sun or some hot place shaking it often every day Let the Patient take 4 or 6 ounces of this Wine two hours before dinner shaking the Glass and when he hath taken it let him walk for two hours if he be able As often as you pour out one glass you must pour in another till half the Steel seem spent Sennertus then you must add no more Calculus Renum or the Stone in the Kidneys The Contents Signs and the Nature of the Stone I. a. What Vein should be breathed I. b. When a Purge should be given II. Whether Cassia be proper III. Diureticks should not be added to Purgers for prevention IV. Whether strong Purgers be convenient V. Of what things Anodyne Clysters should be made VI. Whether their Quantity must be small VII Whether a Vomit may be given VIII When Diureticks may be given IX They must not be mixt with Food X. The Qualities of Lithontripticks XI We must begin with the milder XII The use of them must be continued XIII They must not be too hot XIV Their Abuse must be avoided XV. The way of making them up XVI Whether Spirit of Turpentine be proper XVII Attenuatives are not always proper XVIII What must be done next when the Stone is got out of the Kidneys XIX Stone in the Kidneys accompanied with vomiting of bloud cured XX. If accompanied with pissing of bloud what must be done XXI Lenient and mollient Clysters are very good XXII Wâ—ether Asses milk be good XXIII Whether it may be given one in an actual consumption XXIV Whether Pease-pottage may be given XXV The use of Astringents does good XXVI We should rather cool the Liver than Kidneys XXVII Coolers especially in old men often doe harm XXVIII Outward Coolers are of no use to some XXIX In prevention Bathing suspicious XXX What such Diet should be used XXXI A Draught of warm Water before Meal is good for prevention XXXII The turning of the Stone into the Gout is safe XXXIII Whether Nephrotomy be possible XXXIV Stone in the Kidneys mistaken to be the Colick XXXV Medicines I. a. GRavel not subsiding in the Urine but sticking to the sides of the Chamber-pot signifies not a calculous disposition but exceeding heat of the Liver Spigelius saith he hath sometimes found the bloud in the Veins full of small Gravel Nor does the subsiding Gravel necessarily indicate the Stone but sometimes the material cause onely of the Stone for many that are free from the Stone do make Gravel yet it intimates a disposition to the Stone Plempius in Institut When Gravel that used to appear is afterwards suppressed and pain is felt and the Urine white and thin it is a sign the Gravel is concrete into a Stone and when it is made with pain and strangury Epiphan Ferdinandus it is a sign of the Stone ¶ Gravel that is bred in the Veins is mixt with the Urine and with the Sediment But what is in the Kidneys Ureters and Bladder presently resides as the Urine is made ¶ Gravel frequently proceeds from adustion of the humours which is bred in the Liver and Veins and sticks to the sides of the Glass nor does it sink to the bottom as that which comes from the Kidneys Besides it breaks with rubbing in ones fingers and appears of a Saline Substance whereas the other neither yields to the fingers nor can it any way be dissolved And finally because this Gravel hath a Saline Substance it is dissolved in warm Urine and no way appears in it while it is yet hot but when the Urine is cold it coagulates and sticks to the sides of the Urinal just as Crystals of Tartar which are dissolved in hot Water do when it is cold coagulate and stick to the sides of the Vessel So that the nature of this Gravel and Crystals of Tartar is very like Riverius I. b. Hippocrates 6. Epid. and in his Book Of the nature of Bones orders bleeding in the Ham. Galen on the contrary 6 Aphorism 36. advises bleeding in the Arm if there be a Plethora and violent pain and the Disease be new and he advises well For if the humours flow from the whole body to the Kidneys such a Remedy must be chosen as may make a Revulsion from thence such as Bleeding in the parts above If the Disease be inveterate or bleeding in the Arm have preceded then it is proper to bleed in the Ham. Leeches also applied to the Seat are very good according to Aphorism 6. 10. II. We must diligently take notice that a Purge must not be given till the Pain be something asswaged For even a strong Cathartick given while the Pain is violent often does not purge because at that time all the parts contract themselves Riverius Pract. l. 14. and do not assist the Medicine III. Some commend Cassia for the Stone but I would caution the carefull Physician that some have found themselves exceeding ill upon using it and have encreased their Disease One complained to me that heat of Urine always followed the taking of it ¶ Petrus Pigray l. 7. c. 4. writes that Cassia agrees very ill with those that are troubled with the Stone Fabr. Hildanuâ— l. de Lithot c. ult ¶ Two ounces and a half of Cassia given one in a continual Fever raised such a flux of Urine that for three days together he made his Urine so hot that every time he made it he thought a red hot Wire had been drawn through his yard IV. Nephritick persons should have some familiar Medicine that may help them to a Stool For those who are loose and troubled with Fluxes have not the Stone and Gravel provided notwithstanding the Purges be not made up with Diureticks I speak this because at this present there are several who use Receipts that purge both by Stool and Urine When there is mention made of Medicines to divert the Matter there is no need of a Diuretick Wherefore they doe very ill who in time of Prevention and for Revulsion's sake do use Cassia for Cassia is both purgative and diuretick therefore not to be used in diverting the Matter Saxonia loco cit and I look on Valeriola to be of this opinion 6. Enarrat V.
by Hippocrates lib. de intern affect t. 15. But when it swells and bunches out about this time you may cut upon the Kidney and when you have taken out the Pus you may cure the Gravel with Medicines that provoke Vrine Whence it is manifest that cutting for the Stone in the Kidneys was known to the Ancients Avicenna also makes mention of it but with Bacchanellus I think it impossible because way must be made through the Muscles through the Back through the great Bones through the Nerves and Arteries and great Veins I think this cutting can then onely be administred when according to Hippocrates the Kidney is swollen and elevated or when it is suppurated for in this case Nature prepares a way for her self and those that have been so cut have recovered as Schenckius out of Coelius relates c. And I also observed it in a young man from whom two Stones with matter came out through an Abscess in the Loins that opened of it self but in any other case I believe it altogether impossible It were an excellent thing if it could be done with safety but no man is obliged to Impossibilities But if this be done by Nature Dâ—m Panâ—rol Pent. vlt. observ 42. May it therefore be done by Art I Answer that many things are done aright by Nature which in no wise can be done by Art We have an example in Hydropick persons in whose Legs if Ulcers arise of themselves Health appears but if they be made by Art they corrupt and death follows Ambrosius Paraeus in his Chirurg magn lib. 24. c. 16. relates how a Nobleman of Mante who was troubled with the Stone in the Kidneys was condemned to be beheaded but at the request of the Physicians in Paris with the Magistrate's leave he was cut the Stone taken out the wound healed he cured and this was his punishment But if this operation be performed in the Loins right against the Kidneys it is joyned with great and imminent danger because by that way you must come at it through the Muscles of the back the Nerves Ben. Sylvaticus cent 3. consult 55. the Aorta and Vena cava with hazard of fainting and death Which if it be tried to be done by the flank and by drawing the guts on one side way be made to the Kidney although indeed there be less danger in this as Roussetus de partu caesareo observes yet the conflux of the bloud into the Cavity of the Abdomen is not without some and a Cicatrice in the Kidney is very difficult so that for these causes it is either not to be attempted at all or at least with the prognostick of death premised XXXV I knew a certain Woman whom several Physicians affirmed to be troubled with the Colick But I at the first visit because she was very numb and there were other signs of the Stone judged it to be the Stone which nevertheless they said was false for several reasons So I was discharged and they persevered in the Cure Gerardus Bergensis de artic renum morb curat and continually gave her hot and dry things till she changed life for death When her body was opened a great Stone was found in her Kidney and I regained my credit Medicines especially made use of by eminent Physicians 1. Aetius Totrab The following Medicine speedily brings away the Stone by Urine Take 7 cloves of Garlick 9 grains of Pepper bruise them small give them to drink at once with old Wine in the Bath 2. This Powder breaks the Stone wonderfully Take of the seeds of Marsh-mallow Violets Mallow each 5 grains of Gromel Liquorish-root each half a scruple of Lapis Judaicus and Spongiae each 3 grains of the powder of the stones of Dates Cherries and Medlars each 1 scruple Joh. de Altomari de med hum corp malis c. 54. Melon Seed half a drachm Make a Powder The dose is 1 drachm in 2 ounces of small White-wine or Oxymel or in 3 ounces of a Decoction made of Elecamparte in Water and a little Vinegar 3. I have cured almost 600 of the Stone in the Kidneys by the following Syrup Take of the Roots of Saxifrage Butchers-broom Lovage Eringo Rest-harrow Anise Fenil Parsly Grass each half an ounce Horse-Radish 2 ounces of the Leaves of Betony Burnet Tops of Marsh-mallow Nettles Pennyroyal Rocket Calamint Knotgrass Pellitory of the Wall each half an handfull Winter-Cherries N o XX. Sebesten N o XV. Bark of Baytree-root 3 drachms Seeds of Basil Burdock Parsly Seseli Millet each 3 ounces Raisins Liquorish each 3 drams Let them be boiled in Balneo from 10 pounds till 6 remain Of which with Sugar 4 pounds clarified Honey 2 pounds make a Syrup spice it with Cinnamon 1 ounce Horat. Augenius Epist med l. 12. Ep. 1 2. and Nutmeg half an ounce The dose 3 ounces with 6 ounces of the Decoction of Eringo for 15 days 5 hours before dinner but universals premised 4. I found ease by no diuretick Tho. Bartholinus except Bean-shell-water which brought away Gravel so that more may be attributed to this Medicine in bringing away the Stone than to Millepedes 5. Eggshells when the Chickens are hatched are given with singular success either to break or expell the Stone Idem Several reckon this Lithontriptick among their Secrets 6. Beverovicius de calculo c. 12. It does a great deal of good in loosening the Urinary passages if Chervil chopt very small and fried in a pan with Oil of Scorpions be applied to the part grieved ¶ When the ways are loosened nothing is more effectual to remove the Stone than if 1 drachm of pure Nitre i. e. Sal Prunellae be given in Rhenish-wine warm by which Medicine alone I have often brought away the Stone of the Bladder from Children Id. Ibid. ¶ Crabs-eyes are of tenuious parts and diuretick they break the Stone and force it away by Urine especially the Liquour of them which prepared after this manner is the best To Crabs-eyes finely powdered and put in a Glass pour some Acetum Terebinthinatum stop it and digest it for a night in hot Ashes The next day pour off what is dissolved and pour on more repeating it so often till you see all the Crabs-eyes dissolved What Vinegar you have got filtrate and evaporate it the Salt will remain in the bottom Bruise it and dissolve it in a Cellar into Liquour Eight or ten drops given with Horse-Rhadish-water are far more efficacious than they are in substance Idem p. 17◠¶ Quercetanus his Nephritick Water is very good Take of the juice of Horse-Rhadish Lemons each 1 pound and an half Water of Betony Saxifrage Silver Weed Vervain each 1 pound Hydromel Malmsey-Wine each 2 pounds Let them stand four or five days upon a gentle fire in Balneo In these Liquours mixt together steep of Juniper Berries bruised 3 ounces of the Seeds of Millet greater Burdock Saxifrage Nettles Onions Anise Fenil each
painfull corrugations and farther Willis de cephalalgia lest the brain be invaded by the violent motion of the humours to the head and then which happens too frequently sleepy or convulsive diseases be brought on ¶ Some for inveterate Head-aches after once or twice purging fly to Quicksilver wherewith they rub the head and other aking parts These Men Encheir med pr. though sometime they remove the Pain yet they always increase the Cause and cool and moisten the brain more ¶ There are some that commend Empl. de Vigo cum Mercurio because it has been observed Ibid. that it hath put an end to an inveterate Head-ach having evacuated much phlegmatick humours by spitting ¶ Salivation terrifies several that are imployed in inventing dissuasives against it but experience dispels this vain fear Rolfinc meth spec p. 164. One that was sick of a grievous Head-ach and miserably afflicted with it being salivated recovered under our care and there was no sign of the Pox in him ¶ Willis in the place fore-quoted approves of Salivation in the Head-ach arising from the Venereal Disease In other cases he disapproves of it and produces some examples of ill success XXXVI An Oxyrrhodinum may not be applied in every Head-ach Abstain 1. When a Catarrhe is joined with it for the application of cold things increases the distillation and by its driness strains out the humour down to the Breast yet Trallianus allows it when the Head-ach has its original from the violent heat of the head which draws the humours like a Cupping-glass from the whole body this way it does good by taking away the cause 2. When plenty of gross humours or vapours cause the Head-ach in which case Oxyrrhodina doe more harm by obstructing than good by Repulsion 3. If the Head-ach be critical you may reckon it critical if in a Fever it fall upon a critical day if signs of Coction have preceded yet if the Crisis should be by Vomit they may safely be applied otherwise if Bleeding at the Nose were drawing on by driving back you would cause Death 4. They doe harm if bloud or another humour be firmly settled in the head for then Digesters must be made use of as Galen 13 m. m. 6. adviseth 5. In a Head-ach that is malignant or contracted from the Bite or Sting of a venomous Creature the Venom must rather be drawn outwards by Rarefiers XXXVII In the Head-ach caused by heat the juices of Purslane Housleek Kidney-wort and other things of the like nature Hollerius Perioch 2. but these things must be fresh not parched with heat and without juice Vinegar is good in Liquours but it is forbidden to Children and tender Bodies XXXVIII It is known that some Empiricks rashly undertake that they can cure all sorts of Head-aches with their Cephalick waters whereby many have been brought into perpetual tortures in their head I knew a Nobleman then but young who suffering a violent Head-ach from the ebullition of hot bloud through some bodie 's persuasion washed all his head in very strong Aqua vitae but by this unskilfull advice he was almost cast into Madness Oethaeus XXXIX Castor asswages pains in the Head coming from the Womb saith Hippocrates lib. 7. de Epidem and lib. 6. Great pain about the forepart of the Head and what-ever others arise from the Womb. Now indeed that Diseases by Sympathy are removed by curing what is first in fault and that this is the legitimate way of their Cure is very well known But Castor is commended for all Uterine Diseases I say those that are improperly called Uterine such as Fits of the Mother whether they be caused by suppression of bloud or seed or by wind by the joint consent of all Physicians Hippocrates in lib. de morb mulier makes frequent mention of it for the same purpose lib. 2. he prescribes Castor or Fleabane Therefore Castor taken inwardly cures the Head-ach from the Womb but then it cures Diseases of the Womb that are accompanied with the Head-ach i. e. Suppressions of the Menstrua retention of Seed and of the cold juices and wind Nor does it cure all Diseases of the Womb but onely cold ones for it will rather increase Inflammations and the Erysipelas Wherefore since the head-may ake for Inflammations of the Womb it is clear that Castor cures not all Head-aches from the Womb but such onely as come from its cold Diseases Vallesius Epid. p. 865. such as Galen affirms Fits of the Mother to be XL. It may so happen that a Disease of the head or of any one place may increase or grow better with the Disease of another part or place nor yet for all this be affected by Sympathy from that other part for it may chance that matter may flow from the self same fountain to divers parts at once and there may be no pain in the part that sends it nor any thing amiss known or perceived there As Hippocrates observed it happened to Agesius his Daughter 6. Epid. 3.4 who when she had a pain in her hip was oppressed with an Asthma and when her pain was eased she took her breath well Now seeing there is no communication between the Hip and the Breast it was very reasonable to suspect that the humour ran into each part from the same place and was dispersed at the same time The flux might be from the Brain or it might be from the Womb And therefore when two effects happen together a man must diligently observe whether the communication be from the head or from some other place Although Galen in his Comment upon this place says that an Imposthume was broken in her breast and when she had raised the matter her Asthma seased but upon small ground for it is more reasonable to think that in a Woman newly delivered the pain in her Hip came from the Ligaments of the Womb and her Asthma from the Sympathy of her Breast with the Womb and especially when she did not cleanse well which caused both these Ails and both these Accidents ceased when she did clease For the Womb in Lying-in-women is the occasion and root of all their Evils Casper Cald. lilustr Obs Med. 8. l. 2. and there is a great Sympathy between the Genitals and the Breast XLI That it is requisite the outer substance of the Brain and the Cerebellum should be open to the end the most spirituous part of the Bloud may penetrate it and be as it were percolated through it the cold of the Air Water or Snow vehemently affecting the head seems to prove after which not onely a Rheum but a more spare production of Animal Spirits uses to follow But whoever upon taking such a cold do let bloud or think to take away the cause of this evil by purge or vomit they indanger their Patient's life as I have more than once seen it done by men Sylvius de le Boē p. m. 402. that are
Figs N o 20 boil them in Milk and so apply them It is good also in pestilential Buboes Râ—â—olph Goâ—lenius as I have experienced 8. If a deep blew Sapphire touch a pestilential Carbuncle â— Bâ—pt Van Hâ—lmoâ—t and be rubbed on it for some time and then taken away it draws out all the Poison if its virtue be not weakned before therefore some use to circumscribe the swollen place by drawing the Sapphire round it lest the Poison should expatiate farther and invade some noble part adjoining 9. Wheat chewed in a sound person's mouth and laid to the place Hoâ—stiuâ— â—â—s 28. l. 2. asswages Carbuncles and then at some distance draw it round the sore Paâ—aeus 10. Rhadish root cut into pieces and often laid to the Carbuncle draws out the Venom powerfully ¶ I have often used the following Remedy successfully to asswage the heat and pain of Carbuncles and promote their Suppuration Take of Soot scraped from the Chimney 3 ounces Salt 2 ounces reduce them to fine Powder add 2 Yelks of Eggs stir them together till they be in the consistence of a Pultess Lay it warm to the Carbuncle Idem Praevotius 11. The Pulp of Quinces bruised and applied to a pestilential Carbuncle cures it successfully 12. A Woman that had a very bad Carbuncle about her mouth and lips was thus cured When I had first scarified the place I applied this Medicine Take of the Juice of Comfrey Francisc Vaâ—eriola Scabious Marigold these have a wonderfull and powerfull property against pestilential Carbuncles and Buboes each 1 ounce old Treacle 4 scruples Salt 1 drachm Yelks of Eggs N o 2. This Secret of mine never failed me J. Vigerius 13. You can apply nothing better to Carbuncles than this Remedy for it extinguishes the malignity to a miracle Take of quick Lime 1 ounce soft Soap what is sufficient mix them Make an Ointment and apply it to the sore 14. The Carbuncle is forced into a narrow compass Weikardus where it can doe less harm if bruised Scabious be laid round it on the sound place and Tansie be laid on the Carbuncle and it will be done more easily if afterwards some Hellebore root be thrust between the Skin and the Sore cutting a hole in the Skin first Cardialgia or The Heart-burn The Contents Sometimes bloud must be let I. It s legitimate Cure II. If complicated with a Fever what must be done III. When Strengthners may be applied IV. When incrassating and astringent things are proper V. Diet. VI. Medicines I. IT is no season to let bloud when sincere bile offends and it is onely admitted in three Cases 1. When there is a hot Intemperature of the Liver that produces very hot bloud which is the reason neither any fleshy nor fat substance can be produced So in Hippocrates 5. Epid. A man in Oeniaâ— was taken with most violent pains of his Stomach after he was let bloud in both Arms and a good quantity taken away he was cured 2. When a bloudy Ichor flows from the Liver or the whole Body to the Stomach because of the Suppression of the haemorrhoids Fortis consult 68. câ—ntur 2. 3. When it proceeds from the Suppression of the menstrua II. It s legitimate and proper Cure is taking away the Cause which must be done in this order When the fit is coming Vomit must be provoked immediately after Galen's example 6. in 6. Epidem comment 5. who raised Vomiting either with simple Oil or mixt with Water We give some Meat-broth to six ounces with Oil of Almonds and Syrupus acetosus each 3 ounces When a Man has vomited if the fit continues it is a sign of thick Bile sticking to the Stomach therefore give 4 or 5 ounces of the Syrup and an hour after except he vomit again of his own accord give him 6 ounces of new Oil of Almonds for the matter being thus incided detersed and attenuated by the Syrup may more easily be carried off either by Vomit or Purge Nor let the Syrupus acetosus make you afraid at all because as Avicenna teacheth it converts Bile into Phlegm and Phlegm into Bile And presently after Vomiting when the gnawing is laid some astringent strengthning thing must according to Galen's advice be applied outwardly And thus you must proceed in preventing remedies you must again diminish the matter temper the heat of the Bile and Fever withdraw it from the Stomach intercept its progress and strengthen the mouth of the Stomach In the Cure thus you must sometimes allay the Pain with Anodynes or even with Narcoticks sometimes you must discharge the cholerick matter by gentle purging and vomiting till the Heart-burn and Fever be diminished and quite taken away Idem ibid. III. In a Heart-burn with a Fever sometimes a Vomit must be given sometimes not And at other times it is more expedient either to purge or take off the acrimony of the humour If the Disease be very small or moderate though the strength be good you may omit cleansing the Stomach and proceed to strengthners and qualifiers If the Disease be violent you must qualifie the acrimony and also cleanse the Stomach And when the Heart-burn is laid you must evacuate the whole Body either by bloud-letting or purging as the nature of the Disease shall seem to require Galen 1. ad Glaucon puts this case Come on saith he if one be in a Fever and there be a plethorick disposition but proceeding from fresh crudities and he be heart-burned or also if he should vomit any bad humour and in his discharge shall be much offended so as to be very sick and restless shall we here with respect to the Fever try onely to evacuate the Plethora which otherwise without trouble we might doe Or shall we rather provide for the mouth of the Stomach and afterwards when this is grown something better evacuate the whole body as much as the case requires I think we should doe this last for I have seen many who have been thus held some of them dye others brought to death's door when the Physicians have attempted to cure them before they had strengthned the mouth of the Stomach Hence it appears that when the Heart-burn is violent we must not vacuate the whole Body but strengthen the Stomach take off the acrimony of the humours and afterwards proceed to purge This indication of taking off the acrimony of the Bile bore such sway with Hippocrates that he 4. acut in an acute Fever with Heart-burn fearing the future Symptome gave boiled Asses milk These things must be done in the Fit but in the time of Interval when this Symptome is laid we must go to the ordinary Cure but when the Disease is very violent we must doe all at once i. e. purge and strengthen the Stomach and take off the acrimony of the humours Now the Question is What way we should purge As to vomiting Galen in the forecited place
and that the Moderns have introduced the use of Purges But he is deceived because perchance he onely read the Judgment of Paulus and Aetius concerning hot matter and not cold For Paulus speaking of cold matter proposes Pills made of Euphorbium and Scammony Aetius in the same case commends Hiera Archigenis Whereas he subjoins this custome was received from Practical Physicians he shews that either he never read the Arabians or but carelesly who use Diaphoenicon Elect. Ind. Hierae magnae strong Pills And I must ingenuously confess I have cured several in one day with this Medicine Saxonia Take of Diaphoenicon half an ounce Species Hierae 3 drachms Mix them Make a Bolus XIII If Catharticks cannot be kept for continual Vomiting apply a large Cupping-glass to the Navel or a little below and there let it stick for an hour if it can be done Enchir. med pract or let the Cathartick be taken in the Bath for by this means it will stay XIV Avicenna fen 1. doctr 4. c. 1. says that the Colick sometimes comes by reason the passage of the bile to the Guts is stopt therefore the expulsive faculty of the Intestines is not irritated and by consequence the excrements are retained and by continuance hardened And because the Colon is the greatest and weakest of all the Guts it gathers a great quantity of excrements and after it is stufft and full loaden intense pain is bred which is not removed with purging Medicines because they draw new matter whereupon there is a greater load of matter and therefore greater pain Neither is it removed by Hiera or other drying things because so the excrements are more dried and hardned Nor is it removed by Clysters because the Colon is shut Sanctoriuâ— Meâ—h l. 3. c. 9. But we must then rely wholly upon Oil of Sweet-almonds about half a pound of it may be taken at the mouth XV. Too violent Catharticks must be avoided as Hellebore and Antimony Nor yet is Cassia Enchir med pract though it purge gently proper because it is windy ¶ Manna is windy I do not approve of it in the Colick Do not give Manna Rheubarb or Senna especially in Potions Crato Ep. 141. except the Intestines be first well strengthned ¶ If it be from Phlegm it must first be so purged that Flatulencies which usually accompany it may be digested Among Purgatives Agarick Mechoacan or Elect. Diacarth may be given in a Decoction with Anise Fenil or Daucus-seed We must avoid Rheubarb and Myrobalans also Senna and Cassia the first because they bind the latter Hartman Prax. c. 146. sect 11. because they breed Wind. XVI What Purgatives are convenient for a bilious Colick When the Pain is a little mitigated an Infusion of Rheubarb in Cichory-water may be given with Syrup of Roses and must be frequently repeated till the load of humours be evacuated If such a gentle Purge be not sufficient to root out the Disease we must fly to Mercurius Dulcis which given several times with diagrydiate Purges performs the Cure They that suspect Diagrydium may take Mercurius Dulcis alone made into Pills with some Conserve of Roses Riverius drinking upon it an Infusion of Senna and Rheubarb with Manna and Syrup of Roses XVII Electuarium Diaphoenicon is excellent for the Colick for it purges tough and thick Phlegm but it must be made of ripe Dates which have astriction enough to correct the Scammony for from Galen 1. ad Glauconem Wormwood that is hot and dry is not good in phlegmatick Diseases because of binding For the same reason they must be steeped in Wine rather than Vinegar Rondeletius XVIII If we have a mind to mix Narcoticks with Purgatives by this method of Cure we gain three things we purge Phlegm it self we discuss Wind and we ease Pain than which no more proper or succesfull way of Cure can be thought on in these grievous Pains Fienus Physegr c. 19. XIX Sometimes it happens that Phlegm gathered in the Colon causes a Swelling which being turgid on the out side leads the Physicians into an errour and eludes the Cure for when they find the hardness of the Swelling they presently run to Emollients and insist upon them when the Cure should be directed to the taking away of the cause i. e. the carrying off the Phlegm from the Guts And the thing it self speaks for when part of the Phlegm is voided the Swelling falls and grows less See Fernelius his History of Charles the Fifth his Embassadour G. Hofmannus cons 6. XX. A Vomit if it be convenient must never be omitted in this case by which the Emunctories of the Bowels being emptied they may more freely receive the recrements of the bloud and nervous liquour which would otherwise increase the morbifick matter Moreover the Plexus nervei and all the parts would be so shaken as nothing that can foment the Disease would be suffered to stagnate or gather there Willis ¶ The Reverend N. was subject to the most violent Colick being convulsed in his hands when he had been often purged by things taken at the mouth and by Clysters and nevertheless his Pain returned with a violent Compression of the Abdomen I thence conjectured that store of gross humours was lodged in the Hypochondria which must cause such straitness and his relapse I betook me to a Vomit I gave him of Diasarum Fernelii three drachms with four ounces of Hydromel to make revulsion of the matter by Vomit within less than an hours time he began to vomit not continually but by turns Great store of phlegmatick humours was cast up more than a Bason full at length the sink being cleansed the Vomit ceased nor did his Pain return any more the Patient who before was lean now growing fat Many Monks every where in their Cells labouring of a compressive Colick their Bellies being drawn inwards with violence which at length ends in Convulsions and Epilepsies go down to their grave who if they had taken Vomits might have been kept alive because these gross and tough humours being close fastned can no other way be rooted out more conveniently But Aug. Thonetus Obs 3. l. 6. because Vomits frighten the By-standers and make the Physicians also more timorous they are therefore the seldomer used XXI When we see a Clyster will doe little good we must go to Potions and outward Applications A Potion may be made 1. An easie one of Diacyminum or Electuarium de baccis lauri with strong Wine hot or strong Wine and Honey 2. Of Nutmeg powdered and Cretian Wine hot 3. Of Castor 1 drachm with Wine also 4. A Turpentine Potion 5. Salt and sulphureous Waters 6. Wolf's Dung which hangs on Thorns 7. Larks in White-broth 8. Hart's-horn burnt in a Pot reduced to powder and drunk in a drachm weight 9. Broth of an old Cock with Carthamum Polypodies Turbith Hyssop Seed of Dancus Dill and Ammi Sal Gemm and Spices boiled
in Oil and applied wonderfully eases the pain ¶ Let warm Sheeps-dung be long mixt with Goat's Sewet strow on it Powder of common Pitch Mix them and apply it warm without doubt it has a wonderfull effect ¶ A Clyster made of Dog's-turd boiled in Wine with a few Figs eases the pain of the Colick and Stone Joh. David Rulaâ—dus ¶ Hare's dung dissolved in Wine and drunk cures a desperate Colick 21. I do upon my credit profess that I have in one day cured the Colick coming of phlegm with 2 drachms of Diaphoenicon Saxâ—nia and 2 drachms of Spec-Hierae and presently took away the Pain 22. A Carminative Water made of Chamaemil is of great virtue in the Colick ¶ An Electuary or mixture of Garlick is good in the Colick ¶ A Cataplasm of Chervil is good Schroderus ¶ Ear-wax is a present remedy for the Colick if it be taken in drink Sâ—hwentfield 23. A Lark with her feathers burnt to powder in an earthen pot and three spoonfulls of it be drunk with hot water for two or three days is an incredible remedy for the Colick and all Pains of the Guts 24. Powder of the Huckle-bone of an Hog burnt Solenander given in Wine wherein Seed of Sermountain and Chamaemil-flowers have been steeped I have often tried to be an effectual remedy in this case Varignaâ— 25. A decoction of Coltsfoot in Water or Wine is a most effectual Remedy Welkardus 26. The white part of Hens dung powdered and given in Pansey or Pimpernel-water is a present Remedy especially for children Zimâ—ra 27. Cinquefoil dried and powdered and 2 drachms of it drunk in generous Wine is a present Remedy Colica Hysterica or the Hysterick Colick It s Description and Cure THere is a sort of Hysterick disease that vexeth some Women and is so exactly like a bilious Colick as well in the sharpness of Pain as in situation even then also yellow and green humours being cast up by Vomit that I must treat of it lest it be taken for the bilious Colick Women who are of a lax and crude habit of body do contend with this evil above others and they that have laboured sometime formerly of some hysterick affection or as it often happens they that have scarce escaped after difficult and laborious travel by reason of a large Child which hath too much exhausted the Mothers strength and nature A pain very little milder than in the Colick and Iliack Passion at first seizeth the region of the Stomach and sometimes a little lower which is attended with enormous Vomitings sometime of green matter and sometime of yellow And they accompanied as I have often observed with greater dejection of mind and despair than in any other disease whatever After a day or two the pain ceaseth which nevertheless within a few weeks returns more cruel than the fit before Sometime it is accompanied with a Jaundise conspicuous enough which in a few days vanishes on its own accord All Symptoms ceasing when the Patient thinks her self well enough the least commotion of mind whether it be raised by anger or grief to which in this case Women are very subject commonly recalls the pain the same may be said of walking or any other exercise unseasonably undertaken seeing by such causes Vapours are elevated in a lax and infirm habit of body When I say Vapours whether they be such or Convulsions of particular parts the Phaenomena may equally be solved either way These Vapours or Convulsions when they invade this or that region of the body produce Symptoms accommodate to the part they invade And therefore though they cause one and the same disease every where yet they exactly resemble many wherewith the wretches are tormented Which is clear from this disease that when it possesses the parts adjacent to the Colon is as like a bilious Colick as can be Nor is it less apparent in many other parts of the body affected in the same manner for example Sometimes it affects one of the Kidneys with a most violent pain whereupon follows Vomiting and sometimes also the pain being carried along the duct of the Ureter it resembles the Stone and when it is exasperated by Clysters and other Medicines that are lithontriptick and designed to void the Stone it long afflicts the Patient after one and the same tenour and now and then which is contrary to its custome because of it self it is without all danger brings her to her grave Moreover I have seen Symptoms produced by this disease that were altogether like the Stone in the Bladder It is not long since I was called out of my bed one night to a Countess my neighbour who was taken with a very violent pain in the region of her Bladder and a sudden stoppage of Urine And because I very well knew she was subject to divers hysterick diseases and therefore guessed she was not sick of that disease she took her self to be sick of I would not suffer the Clyster to be given her which her Maid was making ready lest her disease should thereby be increased but instead thereof and of Emollients as Syrup of Marshmallows c. which the Apothecary brought I gave her a Narcotick which presently put a stop to that Symptome Nor indeed is any one part of the body altogether exempt from the assaults of this disease whether internal or external as the Jaws Hips Thighs and Legs in all which it causes intolerable pain and when it departs leaves a certain tenderness that cannot endure to be touched just as if the flesh were sore beaten But as I have by the bye delivered some things pertaining to the history of the Hysterick Colick lest namely it should be mistaken for a bilious one so I shall by the way likewise touch certain things that make for the cure of the Symptome the pain which accompanies it For the radical cure which takes away the disease by taking away its cause is for another Speculation and Place Letting bloud and repeated Purgings which are most plainly indicated in the beginning of a bilious Colick have no place here except in the case hereafter mentioned For experience teacheth that the pain is exasperated and all other Symptoms grow more violent being helped on by the tumult which these things raise And thus I have more than once observed that the repetition of Clysters even of the gentlest has brought on a long train of Symptoms Reason also will second Experience which tells us that this disease is produced rather by some ataxy and inordinate motion of the Spirits than by any fault of the humours to wit if we well consider those circumstances to which for the most part it owes its original Such as are great and undue profusions of bloud violent motions either of mind or body and things of the like nature All which things forbid the use of those remedies whereby a greater perturbation of Spirits may be raised and instead
pulled out Erasistratus thinks they ought not upon a slight occasion be pulled out and he produces this as a testimony for his opinion Among the Low-Dutch in Apollo's Temple a leaden pair of Pliers to draw teeth was hung up to intimate that a tooth should not be pulled out unless it were loose so as it might be pulled out with a leaden pair of Pincers that is without violence Which if in any part of it be rotten or faulty what is faulty may be scraped off and what is sound may be left Hollerius Perioche 5. And indeed it must not lightly be pulled out unless it be corrupt all rotten and loose if there be an Inflammation of the Nerve under it on which danger may depend for when the tooth is pulled out the Nerve is free and not pressed but transpires and admits convenient Remedies In corruption you must consider how much it is for sometime it is superficial and onely near the end then some part of it may be filed off while the root is sound ¶ Valescus de Taranta doth scarce allow of drawing a tooth first because of chewing secondly because when one is pulled out the defluxion goes to another and so one tooth may be pulled out after another till a man have not a tooth in his head But although he may be allowed his way in the Tooth-ach from a defluxion where the matter flows by vessels common to several teeth yet in corrupt teeth and especially when the matter that runs out of the rotten teeth causes a Swelling or Ulcer in the Jaw there is no other way of cure but to draw the tooth for then there is no fear lest the adjoining tooth should be corrupted because such corrosion comes not from a fresh defluxion Sennertus but from one that is past long ago XVII Hollerius allows of Cauteries Sennertus thinks the use of them scarce safe because of the exquisite sense of the Nerves fearing lest other parts should sympathize Yet I could never observe any harm follow the onely fear is lest the parts adjoining as the Lips c. should be burnt With this Precaution a red hot Iron may be put in the hole safely Let the Patient set his foot upon the Chirurgeon's and let him press it that the Chirurgeon may take away his Iron if perchance it should hurt him XVIII We see multitudes in this Climate tormented with the Tooth-ach because of corroded and hollow teeth I fill the hollow of the teeth with Turpentine Petrus Pachequus Obs 65. and then apply an actual Cautery with very good success XIX An Infirmity and loosness of teeth happens to many from a sharp distillation All vulgar Physicians treat this evil onely with styptick things which scarce doe any good The onely Remedy is Fire indicated by Hippocrates l. de aff n. 5. and by Rhases who burn the roots of the teeth with a hot Iron Gariopontus with a Copper Nail What I see no man else doe I have tried in two hundred both curing the Tooth ach and in Fastning loose teeth I will here shew the fashion of the Iron which is fastned to a long handle and is half an inch broad and two inches long but bent so as it may be fitted exactly to the Convexity of the teeth But it must be observed that this Chirurgery may very opportunely be tried when the parts first begin to languish but when the teeth are loosened from their roots Severinus Med. effic pag. â—â— Burning will scarce doe any good XX. Teeth as the rest of the Bones consist of small Fibres but very hard and compact ones running length-ways By the insensible and extreme small Interstices of these small Fibres the most subtile particles of Aliment run from top to bottom being carried by the Arteries to the roots of the teeth If upon any occasion this alimentary Juice be made thinner and its particles be carried with a greater impetuosity than they ought they do not easily stick but pass their bounds and so when what is abated of the thickness of the tooth by continual effluvium is not made up the tooth must of necessity grow more slender and when the Aliment runs out farther according to the duct of the Fibres the tooth grows in length Therefore to prevent this Slenderness of the tooth the best Remedy is to shorten the tooth with a File so when it is made shorter the Aliment which cannot run beyond the tooth being forced into a shorter space encreases the thickness of the tooth So Husbandmen use to lop the Branches of Trees that the Trunk may become thicker and stronger the nutritious juice being contained within it self which was distributed into the Boughs that were cut off It seems as if this too great excursion of Aliment in the teeth might happen not onely because of its thinness and agitation of parts whereof it consists but also through the laxity of Fibres whereof the tooth consists which may happen if while the Aliment flows too sparingly all the Fibres become more slender or the same Aliment may be corrupted either through the fault of the part or of the affluent humours Franc. Bayle Problem 57. XXI If teeth be loosened by a fall or blow they must not be drawn but restored and tied to those that are fast for in time they will be fastened in their holes As I experienced in Antonius de la Rue a Tailor who had his Jaw broke with the Hilt of a Sword and three of his teeth loosened and well-nigh beaten out of their holes when his Jaw was set his teeth were restored to their places and fastened with a double thred and a plaster to the next I fed him with broths and spoon-meats I made him astringent Gargarisms of Cypress-nuts Myrtles and a little Alume boiled in Vinegar and Water and ordered him to wash his mouth frequently and I so ordered the matter that in a short time he could chew as Well with these teeth as with any of the rest Paraeus l. 23. c. â—7 XXII Two died of drawing a tooth through much Bleeding but one of them was decrepit in the other there was a large Vessel at the root of the tooth and a great Breach Cardan de caus sign mâ—rb p. 155. Forest l. 14. obs 4. ¶ As a Tooth-drawer was drawing a tooth from an old Man in the Market-place at Bononia the man died suddenly XXIII Teeth in Children whether they fall out of themselves or by violence so the roots remain grow again of themselves Therefore we must have a care when Children have broken their teeth by a fall or a blow that we pull not out the part that remains but the root it self must be as carefully preserved as may be for all the hope of the tooth's coming again depends upon it as the seed and when it is pulled out by the root Columbus l. 1. c. 10. teeth seldom or never come again XXIV We must have a care that
Camphire half a drachm Make it into Trochiscs with the aforesaid mucilage which may be given with Sheeps-milk Alex. Benedictus when the Butter is taken out 2. Take of Powder of red Roses Myrtle Bolearmenick Mastick red Coral Dragon's-bloud Shells of rosted Chesnuts each 1 drachm and an half Barley flower 1 pugil Oil of Myrtle unripe Olives and Mastick each one drachm and an half Powder of Myrobalans Citrine Chebuli and Indi each 2 drachms with Turpentine and Bird-lime of Misletoe of the Oak what is sufficient make a Plaster M Aur. Severinus It is admirable to stop and digest the serous matter 3. There was a man cured several with these Trochiscs and I cured a young man with them in four days who had a Diabetes and pissed involuntarily in his bed Take of Roses burnt Ivory each one drachm and an half Seeds of Purslain Coriander Saunders Berberies each 2 drachms Camphire half a drachm Mix them with the Juice of sowre Pomegranates Make Trochiscs every one of which may be of a drachm weight and one may be given morning and evening mixt with Cold water and Syrup of Roses Arnold Vâ—llanovanus It is a good and experienced Remedy for this Disease 4. This Powder is very good Take of Powder of a Hen's gizzard washt in Wine a Hare's head burnt Mastick each half an ounce Nutmeg No. j. Bees 5 drachms Ashes of a burnt Hedg-hog three drachms Mix them Make a Powder Arnold Weikardus The Dose is from half a drachm to a whole one Diarrhoea or A Flux or Loosness The Contents It must not be rashly stopt I. Whether we may purge II. Whether an imperfect Flux may be promoted III. Whether it may be stopped by Letting-bloud IV. We must sometime make provision for the whole body V. Whether it can be stopt without Astringents VI. Whether it can be stopt by the application of cold things VII Whether Narcoticks may be used VIII Whether a Bath stops it IX When it may be stopt X. Whether when the Stools are frothy we must always have respect to the Head XI Whether a Loosness or Vomit come from the Brain XII The Cure of a Mesenterick Loosness XIII In a wasting Flux we must have special respect to the Cause XIV In wasting Fluxes we must not give Purges that leave astriction behind them XV. This Flux must not be cured by Astringents XVI A malignant Flux must be cured otherwise than a common one XVII A Scorbutick one must not be cured by Astringents XVIII The Cure of one complicated with a Cough XIX With the French Pox. XX. We must have a care of Sowre and Sweet things XXI When Venus is proper XXII Whether astringent meats taken first do bind XXIII Medicines I. THe Case which happened to Stimargus his Wife who after the disturbance of her Belly for a few days when she had taken great care to stop it miscarried of a Child at four Months and after she was cured of her Miscarriage she swelled teaches us how great danger there is in stopping a Loosness This Woman must needs have gathered many and bad Excrements in the first months whence it came to pass that in the fourth month following she was taken with a Loosness which much endangered her miscarriage for unless it were stopt there would be danger of abortion from the irritation of the Intestines that are next the womb or from subtraction of nourishment from the child And perhaps for fear of this some Physician endeavoured all he could to stop it and because her body was not purged it thus happened for the excrements were turned to the womb But because there is no less danger if it be not stopt before it go too far we should in every Flux cautiously consider whether we should promote it farther or suffer it to run on And the scopes in this consultation are the Benefit the Ability to bear it and the manner of its running For if with benefit and ability to bear it Vallesâ—us l. 2. Epidem Sect. 2. it run well we may let it alone But if it flow slowly we may promote it If without these things we must stop it II. In a Loosness we sometimes give Purgatives for the discharge of the matter affixt to the Intestines that irritates the expulsive faculty but it is not prescribed for evacuation of the affluent matter but abstain from Medicines offensive to Nature lest the humours be carried from the Centre to the Circumference Saxonia III. Galen 1 ad Glaucon 14. seems to have made a general rule that if a Flux be not so large as it ought we must not meddle saying that those who will doe any thing either let bloud or purge do cast their Patients into greater danger I cannot acquiesce in this Axiome but decide the matter by certain conclusions The first is that a Flux truly symptomatick though imperfect must never be holp That is properly a symptomatick Flux wherein matter is discharged that causes not the disease which is far different from the nature of the Disease but when such things are voided as cause not the Disease they help not the Disease and strength is wasted Hence Galen aphor 47. Excretions which help not the disease are always mortal And because for the most part such Excretions happen in the beginning of Diseases hence it comes to pass that Galen in several places reckons Excretions then made as useless and pernicious neither to be admitted nor promoted But there is an excretion even in the beginnings that is proportionate to the Disease wherein such things are voided as ought this is called symptomatick in respect of time it is not such in respect of the matter voided for such things are voided as ought This therefore if imperfect must be holpen according to Galen Comment 5. 5. in 1 Epidem in which place when he saw Hippocrates washed Meton's Head the fifth day that he might help the bloud which run imperfectly from his nostrils he writes that by this example Hippocrates hath taught us imperfect excretions may be helped even in the beginning which Reason also persuades drawn from Galen 1. aph 23. As quality to quality so quantity must answer to quantity Therefore when such things are voided as ought it must be helped by purging if it be imperfect though in the beginning This is confirmed if in the beginning we may carry off turgent matter that matter is not onely turgent which is moved to the places of excretion and yet is no way carried off but that also which tends to the places of excretion and begins to be voided but not so much as it ought therefore it must surely be helped As for Galen who forbids it I say he forbad it because in his time benign remedies and such as were indued with an astringent faculty were not found which are granted us in this age and may be safely administred The third Conclusion is if the excretion be critical but imperfect or
be made on a chief critical day with all the signs of a very good Crisis then although it seem imperfect nevertheless it must not be holpen For it can scarce or not at all otherwise be but that Nature with all the signs of a very good Crisis must make a perfect excretion upon a chief decretory day But if it be not a principal decretory day or there be not all the absolute and perfect signs of a Crisis then we must consider whether there be any danger of the Flux of the matter to some principal part which might either cause or increase an Inflammation in which case even on a critical day it is lawfull for us to help Nature The reason is this because when there are all the signs of a perfect Crisis and at what time evacuation is made Symptomes begin to encrease it is a sign that more matter flows to some principal part than to the ways of excretion and therefore Nature must be helped But if nothing urge you may suffer the critical day to be over and Nature may be helped the next Idem according to the advice of Hippocrates and Galen 1. Aphor. 21. IV. Enchir. Med. pract Although Bloudletting may seem formidable in this case yet it is sometime proper when sharp bile is voided by stool which is perpetually bred anew by the hot and dry intemperature of the Liver ¶ If a Loosness happen with signs of abundance of Bloud and strength Bleeding may be celebrated in the beginning but if there be a fever Riverius bloud may be taken away though there appear no Ptethory If there be a Flux when there is a Plenitude or Cacochymie in the common veins here is the difficulty for first of all all Astringents are suspected because the Flux from a noble part to an ignoble one is prohibited for the matter being restrained within the common veins there is imminent danger of a Fever and Putrefaction Secondly Purgers hurt because the Flux is more already than it should be seeing it carries along with it the alimental matter which is contained in the Stomach and intestines Nor Thirdly are Vomits proper First because that matter before it be drawn to the Stomach comes to the Guts which because weaker will sooner receive the Fluxion than the Stomach Secondly it is not lawfull to carry such humours through so sensible a place In this fullness of the veins I should commend letting of Bloud above all other things First because it carries off part of the matter together with the Bloud for all the humours are mixt together Secondly revulsion is made from the Intestines without danger nor is the matter which is evacuated translated to another place as in most revulsions Thirdly this letting of bloud subdues the Cause increasing the humour that flows to the Intestines for in plenitude there is a hot and moist intemperature but bloud-letting cools and dries Therefore Galen 7. Method X. says that in all Fluxes to the Stomach the body must be evacuated that is by bloud-letting which be contradistinguishes from purging or purged And 5 Meth. 3. in Fluxes of the Belly he says for revulsion the humours must be carried to the Womb. Which is the very same thing that he taught 7 meth 11. that sometimes Loosnesses come because of the suppression of the menses or haemorrhoids or loss of a Limb or some excretion suppressed In which case the cure of the Flux is to bring down the menses open the haemorrhoids and quickly to procure the usual evacuation Therefore Avicenna 16. 3. tractat 2. cap. de Diarrhoea ex vitio Lienis says if there be need of bloud-letting in this Diarrhoea we must let it and if it be lawfull in this why not in a cholerick and melancholick one with a plenitude of the whole Saxonia V. Mercurius Diaphoreticus given for several days to 12 grains takes away all impurities of the body which sometimes use to create stubborn Fluxes Riverius VI. Where a melancholick humour abounds which is dry astringents are altogether improper for the noxious humour being thereby increased affords matter for the Flux Therefore we should rather treat it with thickners and coolers Which rule should not onely be observed in this case but in any other Flux where there is suspicion of black Choler Into which opinion my observation forced me which I had of a woman at Vicenza the last year who being sick of a Dysentery and Fever after she had been purged with boiled Whey and the peccant matter had been diminished not a little by washing Clysters when she came to astringents was evidently hurt by them for besides than the Flux abated not at all and the Fever was not a little exasperated she had a sowre taste so constantly in her mouth that she complained more of it than of any other Symptome Now I knew this happened because she was of an atribilarious Complexion Wherefore laying aside astringents altogether and using thickning broths and attemperating Medicines not long after this the troublesome taste went out of her mouth and the Flux and Fever at length left her and the Woman was perfectly cured Prosper Mâ—rtianus con in loc Hippocrates lib. 4. Acut. vers 122. If the belly be moist and wasting and the mind troubled and the Patients scarce give answer to what they are asked c. which he says are melancholick things then prescribes cold and thick sorbitions and stopping potions more vinous than astringent These Potions as they must have no excess in their qualities to the end they may repress the intense qualities of the humours so in deriving the same humours to the urinary passages by their diuretick virtue they stop the Flux it self but astringents by their drying faculty render them sharper And if they partake of black Choler promote the generation of them Now things that provoke urine are most proper to cure Fluxes of the Belly where there is no room for astringents Idem ad vers 128. If vinous potions be proper because they carry the humours to the passages of urine then the use of Quinces especially of their juice seems proper which beside their astringent virtue are so remarkably diuretick that as Pascalius in the 50th chap. of his method testifies Alfonsus King of Naples by the use of them fell into a Diabetes ¶ But this distinction of things that stop a Loosness must be observed Things that stop a Loosness are twofold some doe it with astriction others without astriction by resisting the cause of the Loosness As if the Belly be loose through the acrimony or Saltness of the juices extersive things by taking away what sticks to the Intestines use to stop it and sorbitions that take off the edge from these qualities as thick things without taste Vallesius comm in eum locum such as flower of several sorts If by reason of burning Heat whence come consuming Fluxes Water cooled in Snow may stop it If through multitude
and if the Fever be not great it hinders not the giving of Milk for this is allowed by Hippocrates 5. aph 57. to those that are not in a high Fever He also 7 Epid. gave it to Critolaus his Son who had a Fever and cholerick Stools and recovered XXX This must be remembred that all Medicines that are made of Opium Henbane Mandrake or black Popy are suspected for this reason because although they seem to ease pain and therefore to strengthen the bowels yet the humours being gathered together are afterwards voided without intermission and the head being made heavy and the strength wasted they put the bowels in a worse condition Wherefore according to Trallianus they should be avoided except pain or watching do of necessity require them for then you may have recourse to Philonium Persicum Zecchius consult 37. or Romanum which yet may more innocently be mixt in Clysters ¶ The want of Opiates rightly prepared has rendred Narcoticks hitherto suspected but the successfull use of well-made Laudanum in several diseases has forbid the abrogating of the use of Narcoticks Riverius in his Practice says That Narcoticks taken by the mouth sometimes doe wonders they ease pain stop a flux cause sleep and so likewise recruit strength But they will be much more proper if they be mixt with astringents and strengtheners With what success he used them several of his observations testifie ¶ Horstius l. 11. obs 3. shews the efficacy of Laudanum It is known not onely what gripes but even exceeding bloudy stools kindly Dysenteries do sometimes cause whereby many would pay Nature her debt were they not succored by the use of Opiates Which a Noble Woman the last year confirmed who in the judgment of all that were by was reduced to the last extremity Aug. Thonerus l. 3. obs 10. but was so refreshed with 3 or 4 grains of our Laudanum that in a short time she recovered XXXI Thomas Minadous a Physician and Professour of Italy affirms that he observed all died of the Bloudy-flux who by the advice of Physicians took Laudanum Opiatum And that after the use of it the Ulcers grew more putrid and foul from the long stay of the purulent matter and noxious humours Let this therefore suffice for a Caution XXXII As in the cure of a Dysentery for Revulsion sake we use frictions and ligatures of the upper parts as likewise we endeavour to cause Sweat and sometimes provoke Vomit So also according to Galen's Doctrine we ought to provoke the noxious humours by the neighbouring places that serve to carry Urine But we must have a care one danger do not incur another for thence there is a two-fold one impending the first is observed by Celsus l. 4. c. 15. If things that provoke Vrine obtain their end in turning the Humour another way they doe good If they obtain it not they augment the Ail Therefore he subjoyns They must not be given except to such persons as in whom they use to have their effect speedily The other danger is lest the Ureter places and Vessels which are much straiter than the Guts when the sharp juices are called thither should be fretted and Ulcerated and so a dysury should succeed a dysentery The Skilfull avoid dangers by giving Diureticks long after the beginning of the Disease for derivation sake when part of the Abundance of humours is spent prescribing not Diureticks but lenients with cold and moisture Hildanus commends Earth-worms for this purpose XXXIII I reckon I should not conceal one remedy very familiar and successfull with me and known and used also by several Physicians It is this Drinking of natural Waters that are potentially cold for from them we have two things The one is the cooling of the Liver The other forasmuch as these Waters are in some measure astringent is that by stopping the Flux they give tone to the bowels and contribute to the cure of the Ulcer Yet the use of them must not be indifferent for it is not safe to give them when the peccant matter abounds in the body for if such matter should be intercepted by virtue of this Medicine one of these two things would follow either because this same matter being retained would be turned to other noble parts and then if it were turned to the more noble parts it would cause mortal sickness If to the less noble parts it would cause less mortal sickness yet very grievous ones Or the matter being detained is made sharper and gathered in greater quantity whence sometime falling with greater violence afterwards it is the cause of a worse Dysentery Wherefore the time to use such Waters is when the matter being evacuated in part is less in quantity for from them we may have with safety the cooling of the Liver strengthning of the Bowels interception of the Flux and a cure for the Ulcer But if at the beginning of the Dysentery there neither be a quantity of excrements nor any notable pravity in them appear they may then safely be given for I have used them frequently and have found the drinking of these Bath-waters so successfull that I should never desire a more effectual Remedy for the cure of a Dysentery than them seasonably given And I can affirm I was never frustrated of my expectations in giving them Now I have respect most to the Stomach P. S. Diversus Notis in Altimar c. 76. which I have ever a care to strengthen and defend against the Cold if it be very weak I use them not at all XXXIV The use of Wax in a rosted Apple is highly commended and it is no unusual Medicine at this day I think it was known to Valeriola lib. 3. obs 4. And although Serapio write that Wax is one of those Medicines that are not to be taken inwardly yet if it be taken moderately it has an emplastick virtue whereby it may heal the Ulcer and a Lentor whereby it may asswage it Dioscorides himself 2.76 says it may be given in Broth to dysenterick persons And although Valeriola thinks that the virtue of the Wax cannot reach the ulcerated Guts because through its thickness and emplastick faculty it must stick in the first ways fastning it self like Glew yet a rosted Apple hinders it from doing so with whose substance it is mixt in the minutest particles and which may serve as a Vehicle to it Valeriola chuses a Quince-apple that one and the same Medicine may have both an astringent and glutinous faculty but may be an Apple is more convenient because it is a most apt Vehicle to carry the Wax through the windings of the Guts Sennertus XXXV A Nutmeg is commended as highly beneficial in this Disease because of its different qualities By its earthy substance it binds strengthens the Bowels dries and causes a Cicatrice By its oily Substance it eases Pain smears over the Guts lest they be hurt by the Sharpness of the humours By its aromatick quality it strengthens the Liver
be used XX. Hot Cephalicks are not proper for every one XXI Whether a Decoction of Guaiacum be proper XXII Whether Guaiacum be the Lignum Heracleum Rulandi XXIII The Foecula of Paeony ineffectual XXIV For what sort Cinnabar of Antimony is proper XXV A succedaneum to Oil of Amber which should be rejected because of its stink XXVI One by consent with the Stomach exasperated by Medicines and ending upon leaving them off XXVII Cured by voiding Worms downwards XXVIII By the use of Spleneticks XXIX By drinking Vinegar and Water XXX Abstinence from Wine is of great moment for the prevention of it XXXI Whether Apium be hurtfull XXXII Indications for its Cure and Prevention XXXIII Medicines I. PEtrus Salius Diversus l. de affectib partic c. 3. proves clearly that the Epilepsie is caused by Bloud from Hippocrates 4. acut tom 23. He judges the cause to be an Irruption of the bloud into the upper parts and a Repletion of the vessels of the brain made on a sudden which being of a heavy nature and it may be also of a molesting quality causes the Epilepsie while nature rises to the expulsion and discussion of it Hippocrates in the same place calls that Oppression of Bloud 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in Epidemiis 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Foësius in his Oeconomia translates it the stopping of the Bloud flowing with violence and swelling By which words Hippocrates intimates the interrupted Circulation of the bloud was known to himself as is clear from his Book 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Nourishment passes to the Hair and Nails and to the outmost superficies of the Body from things within and from things without nourishment passes from the outmost superficies to the inner parts And since the innate heat goes in danger of being extinguished by this Repletion of the vessels through the abundance that threatens Suffocation no other Remedy to prevent so great a danger seems to be indicated than plentifull Bloud-letting Salius in the said place does therefore assign the very same Cure to an Epilepsie when it is bred as to an Apoplexy which arises from the same cause that is plentifull Bloud-letting in the inner Vein of the right Arm according to Hippocrates his opinion in the forequoted place ¶ Yet at this day saith Sennertus scarce any one would advise or attempt any such thing in the very Paroxysm seeing at that instant neither Bloud can conveniently be let nor if it could were it in his Judgment either safe or beneficial by reason of the violent contest between Nature which is then highly oppressed and the morbifick cause as the hurt in respiration and other actions by reason the influx of animal spirits is interrupted The Physician therefore might incur the censure of rashness and pay for it with disgrace if the Patient should dye upon letting bloud while he was in a Fit ¶ It is the part of an experienced Doctor saith Paul Barbette in his Praxis to distinguish a-right about letting-bloud in a Fit ¶ I and other Physicians with me have observed that taking away a little bloud in the fit has sometimes done good namely to get motion in the Bloud which is as it were coagulated â—y an austere Acid otherwise Bloud-letting both in the Fit and out of it does in a manner always so much harm that the fits grow more violent every day after Bleeding saith Deckers in his Notes upon the place II. In the year 1675. a Noble Boy of Berne was upon a Fright taken with a cruel Epilepsie his face was red and swollen and when his Fit had held him already three hours by my advice and Dr. Cramer's the Cephalick Vein in his left Arm was opened whence the Bloud sprang with such violence that one might have taken it all away in the twentieth part of an hour The Fit was then presently over and the next day he was well without any Relapse A red hod Iron had been applied to him a little before ¶ Hippocrates 2. Epidem sect 5. bids us open the inner Veins if the Disease be very violent ¶ A Girl about twelve years old was frequently taken with an Epilepsie and when she was taken with a Pleurisie she was several times let bloud and from that time was never troubled with her Epilepsie Riverius cent 4. obs 38. Hence you may gather the efficacy of Bleeding in this Disease ¶ A Boy eight years old was taken with an Epilepsie from Plenitude and when all other Remedies had been tried in vain he was let bloud in the Arm several times once a month and recovered through the great alteration of his Body by this Remedy which nevertheless should scarce be allowed except in a Disease by consent with the venous kind Rhodius cent 1. obs 64. and exceeding hot Bloud III. Ben. Sylvaticus cured a middle aged Nobleman of an Epilepsie Idem obs 65. by opening the haemorrhoid Veins once a month IV. A young Man about twenty five years old was troubled with the Falling-sickness once a month I opened one of his temporal Arteries and when he had been free from it four months and there was hopes he would be well he brought it upon himself again by drinking strong Wine which was his custome ¶ A Man about forty three years old had frequent Fits a Wind running up from his Hand to his Brow upon the same side From whom I guessing it came from some halituons cause took three ounces of Bloud But the bandage being loosed much Bloud ran out after which fortuitous evacuation notwithstanding he was well a long time after so that he seemed cured ¶ Alphonsus N. a very melancholick person who from a child had been troubled with this Disease 9 10 15 20 or 30 days together in nature of a certain light vapour ascending gently from his Arm to the upper parts was very much relieved by Bleeding in the temporal Arteries Severinus V. P. Merenda writes that in a very violent one that comes often in a small interval and will not yield to Remedies he has by applying Blisters to their Neck and Shoulders brought several to the former use of their Reason in a short time and freed them of their Fits who afterwards by orderly cure were restored to perfect health But observe that they as also Issues and Setons should be used onely when the Disease is essential to the Brain and after Purging Jacotius except the Disease be very urgent VI. By a Seton according to the opinion of that most Learned Physician Hollerius I cured a young Man about twenty years old of the Falling-sickness who had frequent Fits of it before the ichorous matter as it may justly be believed which fed the Disease being by this means derived Paraeus l. 9. c. 24. ¶ An Epilepsie succeeded the Cure of a Ring-worm from a hot humour in a Gardiner Rhodius obs 62. cent 1. which by Spigelius his advice was cured by putting Hellebore root into a Seton in his
in the Lungs for those that were made purulent by a Catarrh falling on the Lungs when I observed it was odious not onely to the Patients but to the by-standers also and that it was distastefull to most by reason of its too much foetidness whether they used it by anointing outwardly or in Lozenges or Pills inwardly or any way else I have now for some years used Balsam of Peru in its stead to the advantage of my Patients I know Chymists do now correct it and take away the offensiveness of the smell by repeated distillation after washing it But I have found that after washing it is much weakned and does but little good wherefore I think we should rather use Balsam of Peru or the natural Balsam brought from Syria Heer obs 17. till we are taught how to distill an Oil of Amber without stink XXVII A Boy fell into an Epileptick fit once a day for fifteen days together The best Physicians thought it came from some disorder in his Head But the more Medicines they gave the worse the Disease grew so that in twenty four hours he had above one hundred and fifty fits yet they were small ones for he had onely a little commotion of his Head with a buble at his Lips Whereby notwithstanding they knew the Disease was not from any disorder in the head but by consent with the Stomach Trincavella l. 1. cons 25. Wherefore when they left off to trouble him with Physick and strengthened him the Child grew very well XXVIII I observed wonderfull shapes of Worms in an Epileptick Woman as she was athirst she drank greedily and frequently in her journey coming from Italy of any Water she met withall Her Epilepsie was very grievous with a swelling and an ill colour all her body over She was not relieved by Antepilepticks At length upon the repeated use of my Mercurial Pills she voided a great quantity of multiform Worms As soon as they were displaced her Epileptick-fits likewise ceased Bartholinus hist 7. cent 4. He also Cent. 6. Hist 20. produces the example of a young Man often troubled with Convulsions whose cure succeeded much better after his voiding of Ascarides XXIX A Youth about fifteen years old had a pain in his Pubes afterwards as his pain shifted to the left-side his Spleen grew presently ill and from Sympathy with it the Brain for he fell into most violent Fits of the Falling-sickness which came upon him onely by pressing the region of the Spleen with ones finger Among several Remedies nothing was better than Chalybeate-wine or black Hellebore Tulpius observ l. 1. c. 9. upon taking of which he voided so much black Choler that at last he came to himself XXX An Epileptick Maid was cured by the use of Vinegar and Water she took a glass of it every day in the morning and before the time of her Fit pure Vinegar When this disease was cured Riverius Cent. 4. Obs 1. she was troubled with a pain in her Limbs which also was cured by the use of the Bath XXXI I have known some young Men who might easily have been cured of this disease but because they would not abstain from Wine they became incurable All Men know that the Epilepsie affects the Nerves especially And because Wine turns sowre in all who have an infirm Stomach and a weak Brain and Vinegar is an open enemy to the Nerves hence Epileptick persons may easily gather how much they ought to avoid Wine and Venus Besides according to Aristotle and Averroes the Epilepsie is caused like sleep that is by a vapour Heer Obs 24. wherefore all vaporous things especially strong Wines should be avoided XXXII It is disputed by many Whether Apium be hurtfull for Epileptick persons That by Apium Parsly must be understood no Man will question who reads a passage in Pliny l. 20. c. 11. and Galen 2. de alim facult for this is the true garden or domestick Apium of the Ancients and ours is the Paludapium or Apium Palustre Pliny in the cited place says That if a Lying-in-woman eat Parsly the Child that sucks her will have the Falling-sickness Avicenna rejects Parsly especially from among Meats because by an innate property it causes the Falling-sickness And others following their steps forbid it Jacchinus is of another judgment opposing Galen and in a Counsel for an Epileptick Child allows of Parsly But an opinion that is held by so many learned Men must not be esteemed a figment it being without doubt founded on Experience which must be consulted They to whom it did no hurt were either not inclined to an Epilepsie or they used it onely as a Sauce and not as Meat So Galen in his advice allows one to taste it at least as he does Alexanders also by which notwithstanding the head is filled as he writes But the Ancients that are quoted speak of it taken as Meat Sennertus XXXIII In the cure of this Disease we are forced to leave the common method For the prescriptions of the Dogmatists in which they usually endeavour to carry off and totally eradicate the morbifick cause onely by Purges doe little or no good in the Falling-sickness yea they use often to doe harm I have known some eminent Practitioners who totally omitting the train of therapeutick intentions have betaken themselves to certain Empirical Medicines without any provision for the whole This sort of Practice though sometimes it succeeded well yet it would much more certainly have attained the proposed cure if by other Medicines also when the body had been rightly prepared all impediments had been removed Wherefore the Indications about the cure of the Falling-sickness will be either Curatory which respect the fit or Prophylactick which respect the cause of the disease As to the first general Evacuaters are scarce of use But the thing of most importance is to fix the animal Spirits that are too fierce and volatile and to suppress their explosions already begun To which ends two sorts of Remedies especially conduce that is 1. Things that give a check to the animal spirits when they are apt to be unruly and disorderly and that repell them as it were with a smell ingratefull to them and bring them into order which thing Medicines endued with a Volatile and Ammoniack Salt or with a Vitriolick Sulphur effect Such as are Salt and Oil of Amber Spirit of Bloud Hartshorn Soot Tincture of Castor c. for these taken inwards or applied to the nostrils often give relief and are thought to drive away the evil Spirits of this disease just as the fume of a Fishes-gall burnt drave away the Devil in Tobias 2. The Animal Spirits are either diverted or hindred from making their explosions when they are enticed and kept employed in some work familiar to them Wherefore when a fit is violent rubbing all the body over and continued often does good But the most of a Physician 's care lies in preservation that the cause
¶ Also a Sponge wet in water wherein the greater Pine-nuts bruised have been boiled Joh. Manardus is very good if the face be washt therewith 6. A piece of white Vitriol dissolved in such a quantity of water as the Eyes may bear may be used with success ¶ This Ointment is accounted singular for an Epiphora Take of Verdigriece 12 grains Camphire 1 drachm prepared Tutty half an ounce fresh Butter which must be melted with Rose-water and boiled a little 6 drachms Mix them make an Unguent put a piece about as big as a Pease into the greater corner of the Eye and let the Eye-lids be slightly anointed Platerus 7. In this Disease especially if it arise from a cold humour Water of Golden-rod wherein burning Frankincense has been extinguished is commended Sennertus 8. This Powder wonderfully restrains Tears Take the Shell of Citrine Myrobalans infuse them in Rose-water for two days dry them and powder them infuse them again three or four times in Rose-water Keep it ¶ Take dried Rue boil it in Honey and Vinegar strain it through a linen Cloth when it is strained anoint the Eyes with it it will most certainly restrain Tears ¶ This is a singular Remedy Burn some Frankincense and extinguish it often in Rose-water Joh Stâ—â—herus Drop it into the Eyes 9. This is a most experienced thing Wash the Eyes three or four times a day with Water wherein Gold smiths quench their Gold and Silver or their Tongs This will be better if a little Frankincense Mastick Aloes and Litharge be first boiled in it ¶ And this is an admirable thing Take of Juice of Fenil Pomegranate Sorrel Celandine purified Honey each 1 ounce Beat them together in a Brass vessel and let them stand in dung for 2 days Lapis Calaminaris and Antimony each half an ounce may be added Make a Collyry Erysipelas or St. Anthony's-Fire The Contents Respect must be had to the malignant quality joined with it I. Bloud must be let II. Purging is convenient onely towards the end III. We must use topical Medicines with caution IV. It refuses Suppuraters in soft parts V. Sleep must be avoided if it seize the face VI. When Coriander is proper VII An experienced Topick VIII Leeches good in an ulcerous one IX An ulcerous one in the Leg cured by anointing it with Spirit of Vitriol X. The Cure of the Pustules by pricking XI One that came often in the Face cured by an Issue in the Arm. XII One anointed with Oil caused a Gangrene XIII The Cure of an exulcerated one XIV How Frog spawn water may be used XV. Medicines I. IT is commonly believed it has its rise from yellow Choler but some of the Moderns rather derive it from thin bloud for 1. The Colour is a token rather of bloud than bile which is red when it ought to be pale or yellow as is manifest in the Jaundice 2. Although the Colour be vehement enough yet it is not so sharp as in Diseases arising from yellow Choler wherefore it is not so frequently exulcerated as Ring-worms and other Tumours caused by bile and when it is exulcerated it is not so much from its own nature as from the alteration of it 3. They are seldom obnoxious to it that are of a hot and dry constitution lean brown or black which is most suitable to breed yellow Choler but they rather that are sanguine fat fleshy and red 4. The fleshy parts the Thighs Legs Face Neck Breasts and the like are oftner affected than others 5. This Disease comes most between thirty and forty years of age about which time there is most bloud in the body But yet the cause must not be ascribed simply to fulness but rather to a depraved and peculiar quality of the bloud which proceeds from the putrefaction and corruption of its thinner part for Nature being stimulated by that malignant quality drives the vitious humour to the outside of the body A sign whereof is that this Disease seizes one like the Pestilence so that they who never had it before think they are taken with the Plague till the Disease shew it self in some part Hence it is the common practice when the Paroxysm comes and the Rose appears to take Medicines which help Nature's motion and drive the matter from the inner parts to the outer as Treacle Mithridate Water or Rob of Elder These Medicines taken in the beginning are approved on where plenty of humours is not urgent Sennertus otherwise it is safer to remove the antecedent cause II. Celsus especially commends Bloud-letting whom Paulus lib. 4. follows Galen 14. meth 2. ad Glauconem seems averse to it But I follow Reason rather than Authority for it is an acute Disease which must quickly be opposed a kind of Inflammation from the thinner Bloud or at least its Ichor and the hottest of it But in such a Heat who dare omit Bleeding or fly to other Remedies and neglect it since it draws from the part where the fluxion is evacuates helps transpiration and readily draws out the bilious bloud as it lies in the Veins If a sincere Erysipelas occur arising from Bile alone such as Galen supposes and if a bilious Cacochymie redound in the habit of body then Bleeding may be let alone for fear of the ebullition of cholerick humours III. Although Galen 13. m. m. seem to approve of Purging yet we must proceed to it with great caution and not till the declension lest the humours being stirred run to the part affected Wherefore after the seventh day Electuary of Juice of Roses with Cassia may be given and after it some pounds of Whey Fortis IV. The Ancients and most Writers of Chirurgery do very much use Coolers even Water it self the coldest of all yea they also mix with them Astringents and Stupefiers as Henbane Mandrake Opium Hemlock But the Modern reprehend this common Cure not without the suffrage of reason and experience for since the sharp matter exciting the Rose is not without malignity if its going out be hindred by these very cooling binding and repellent things it returns inwards and seizes the nobler and inner parts to the hazard of life hence a Phrenzy comes from an Erysipelas in the Head struck in Finally by these things the matter is shut up in the part affected whence putrefaction and suppuration which is often attended by a Gangrene Which thing since it often happens from the cure of the Greeks and Arabians they admonish us that the part may be so far cooled as that the heat may remit and the Patient confess himself not to feel so great a heat with the turning of the red colour into a livid But it may easily fall out that before sufficient caution can be used in this case such dangers may already be at hand Wherefore the case seems not to differ much from that of Burns For if a burnt part be dipt in cold water it does but
And what we observe in our practice is agreeable to these things namely that all things else corresponding Autumnal Fevers are more dangerous than others and are accompanied with more dangerous symptomes than Vernal ones because the Spirits of the bloud are more evaporated and spent in the Autumnal season than in the Vernal which is one reason why evacuations especially of bloud which is not onely the Vehicle of the Spirits but the Storehouse are so hurtfull in Autumn though they use to doe good in the Spring And may be from this degenerateness which frequently happens to the bloud in Autumnal Fevers from the forementioned poverty of Spirits especially a poisonous quality is often bred in the bloud which produces not onely the ill natured symptomes accompanying the Fever but sometimes even the Fever it self for Nature violently irritated by it rises against it nor does it begin this new Ebullition for any other end than to cast out the said Malignity wherefore it lies upon the Physician rather to resist this by help of Alexipharmacks than to resist the Fever by evacuations and cooling medicines which Nature seems to have set in Battel array to conquer the Malignancy We have a remarkable Instance to this purpose in the Plague which if destitute of a Fever is much more dangerous than if it have one accompanying it and truly every malignity which seizes the bloud if it cannot of it self raise an Ebullition or if it can be hindred in doing it does of necessity render the Disease either mortal or of long continuance mortal indeed when in its essence being contrary to Nature it corrupts and destroys humane temper by an hidden property and of long continuance when although of its own Nature and occult way of working it be apt greatly to hurt the body and by degrees to waste it yet it has not the power to kill suddenly In the mean time that some malignity which otherwise by its pravity necessarily causes death is sometimes safe where there is an Ebullition of the Bloud to cast it out the Plague it self does sometimes testifie And where no such Ebullition is to cast it out universally and every way there for that reason the Disease is long as appears in the Scurvey Pox c. To return to the business I have observed that in all sorts of People sick of Autumnal Fevers bloud must be let but sparingly and in Persons not grown or past the flower of their age not at all It is dangerous to give cooling Medicines unless the Fever be over high and the Party young Vomiting is very necessary where there is a propensity to vomit But in Vernal-fevers bloud may be moderately let in all persons and in People in their prime plentifully Clysters and cooling Medicines doe a great deal of good when the Patient is young and when the Fever is not declining nor large bleeding preceded Vomiting where there is a propensity is not absolutely necessary but yet proper enough nor does the omission of a Vomit plainly cause a loosness in the declension of a Fever I never yet observed a hard Belly or swoln Feet follow Vernal-fevers but both are very frequent after Autumnal ones especially when bloud has been let plentifully Sydenham if either the Patient were in his childhood or had passed his prime II. Secondly that we may speak moreover of the difference that arises among Fevers from the difference of some years from others and farther of the cure that belongs to them on that account we must take notice that the reason of this difference between the Fevers of one year and another cannot be given always from manifest causes since it often falls out that one year is Epidemical as to Fever not the Plague onely not less but in the ordinary malignity where we cannot assign any reason from badness of food nor from inferiour exhalations putrefying in the Air nor from the inordinate and unequal alterations of the times and seasons inclining to heat and moisture but we are forced to confess this constitution is the product of a malignant and inexplicable destructiveness of the Air. Nor is it less difficult in this case to find any cerand determined way of cure which may exactly answer to the difference of Fevers depending on the various temper of the years Nevertheless I shall not stick briefly to declare what things have offered themselves to our diligent observation In Autumnal Fevers therefore which in an Epidemick constitution and in a year wherein Diseases peculiar to Autumn that is Quartanes and malignant Tertians do appear sooner than ordinary suppose in June or beginning of July Bleeding is very hazardous And what I intimated of Autumn concerning which I was now speaking Experience testified it to be true for for the most part of that season it was found mortal especially in the beginning of Autumn unless the Patients were in their prime and were able in some measure to bear the loss of bloud in which case indeed although it caused not death yet they found the Disease long and very dangerous and attended with most cruel symptomes Certainly as I remember the like danger did not offer it self from other evacuations and especially from those that were made by Vomit which for the most part both in that and other the like malignant constitutions had an issue good enough But however these things be I have long since learned that the Physician must give his advice as the present occasion shall require that is he must accommodate the scene variegated with so many differences as much as may be conveniently by changing his practice now and then or altering it a little according to the temper of the season and the Patients In the mean time I can affirm this that the general method already laid down as far as I could hitherto gather from attentive observation does in it self well enough comprehend the cure of all Fevers although I am not ignorant that now and then the different seasons of the year or the difference of the years themselves do hinder that we cannot fix any certain limits whither we may go and no farther It is better certainly when Fevers begin to rage diligently to observe their violence and way and by what sort of remedies the sick are helped or hurt that rejecting these we may use the former And if that be done I think in very deed when we have made some trial of it that it will be found the way of cure hitherto described does not much miss the mark Certainly as for my self I think very seldom to deviate from it even in malignant Cases for which it is very proper because it keeps up due fermentation Nature's best Instrument Idem by whose help it expells and throws off all the poisonous matter lurking in the bloud III. We must of necessity distinguish between the Infection and the Matter Take away the Infection and the corrupting superfluity and the matter of 〈◊〉 self will not breed
taking a strong Purge to carry off the Remainder of the febrile matter have presently relapsed One would be ready to say that the matter of this Disease before laid asleep was by this means stirred up and brought into act by the Purge Yet if you consider the thing a right one would rather say that the frame of the bloud is much hurt by the violent Purge and whereas before it was prone to a bilious dyscrasie so as it could scarce assimilate the alible Juice it will presently for this evident cause degenerate the more and immediately pervert the nourishment into fermentative matter Willis 〈…〉 and so be susceptive of a feverish disposition XII The hindring an Ague fit is accomplished by Medicines which stop fermentation And although this Remedy be among Physicians accounted immethodical and very uncertain yet it is certain that Agues have been often cured in this manner when Medicines would doe no good at all Onely here we must observe this that the use of such things is most beneficial after Purging and Bleeding if this be necessary Willis ibid. and unless these things be rightly promised the other seldom stop a sit ¶ There are not wanting Men who to abate or stop the fit give Opiates On the other hand also there are some who judge that Agues must not be stopt at the very first but that the fit should be suffered for awhile Hence an Ague once begun if it end in any reasonable time is vulgarly termed rather Physick than a Disease for by this means the impurities of the bloud blaze out the obstructions of the bowels are opened and indeed the whole body receives Vent so that it is wholly freed from all excrementitious matter and from the Seminary of growing Diseases And we grant this in part to wit if it end in a reasonable time but if it be protracted long it is the cause of many Diseases and long Sickness For hereby the mass of bloud is much spoiled of the vital spirit and like over-high fermented Wine it palls In the mean time the saline and earthy parts are too much exalted wherefore the Jaundice Scurvey Dropsie and other Cachexies follow this Fever too late cured For as a House set on fire from without is easilier delivered from danger of Burning than if Vulcan were pulling down the inner Rooms so also it is more easie to drive away Agues from humane bodies in the beginning than after the Agues have invaded the inner oeconomy of the bowels And of a depurative fermentation of the humours if it should exceed measure Fird Hosmannuâ—s mâ—n p. 37â— a corruptive one may easily be made Sylvius his method of Cure XIII Forasmuch as we have made the Cause of Agues as Agues to be the pancreatick Juice by reason of an Obstruction made in its lateral Ducts by Phlegm coagulated therein and then made sharper and Sowrer by stagnation and carried hence by making way through the obstructing Phlegm to the small Guts and there vitiously fermenting with the Bile in its way and the Phlegm in the Guts and then at length creeping along with them under one form or other to the right Ventricle of the Heart and in it not onely by irritating the Heart with its acrimony or flatulency raising a more frequent Pulse but moreover divers ways altering and disturbing the vital effervescency and sanguification it self and producing many symptoms in divers places Their Cure may be performed if first the obstructing Phlegm that is more or less glutinous and coagulated be cut and loosned and then as offending in Place be removed and at least be brought as far as the small Guts if not cleared of the Body it self Secondly if the acidity and acrimony of the pancreatick Juice that is increased be tempered and corrected Thirdly if the vitious effervescency of the Bile in the small Guts be hindered or amended The obstructing Phlegm is cut by Aromaticks and any volatile Salt but especially so used that the whole body may be hot at once to the end the virtue of the Medicine being dispersed every way may reach also to the Pancreas it self and to its Lateral Ducts and so to the place affected and the Source of the Disease Which things are proper especially for phlegmatick and melancholick Persons Let the following Mixture serve for an Instance a spoonfull of it at a time to be taken several times a-day But two or three hours before the coming of a new fit to take three spoonfulls of it at the same time gently increasing the heat of the body either by motion or cloths or fire or a bath till the Sweat come for so it will doe more good and sometimes take the Ague happily away Take of Waters of Parsley 2 ounces Fenil 1 ounce Theriac simpl or Vitae Matthioli 1 ounce and an half Volatile Salt of Amber 1 scruple Syrup of Carduus benedictus 1 ounce Mix them As often as the complexion of the Patient is observed to be cholerick use loosners and sowre cutters Take of Fumitory-water 3 ounces Sal Ammoniac or Tartarum Vitriolatum 1 drachm Antimonium Diaphoreticum half a drachm Syrup of Fenil 1 ounce Mix them As often as both phlegmatick and cholerick humours abound in the same Patient of the two Subcontraries that were now commended these Mixtures may be made Take of the Waters of Cardaus benedictus Cichory each 1 ounce and an half Theriac simpl distilled Vinegar each 6 drachms Crabs-eyes in Powder half a drachm Syrup of the five opening roots 1 ounce Mix them If the obstructing Phlegm be not very glutinous oftentimes at once such Sweating the obstruction is wholly removed and the cause of it is carried into the small Guts and the Ague is cured In a Body that has but little Phlegm in it but more Bile a Vomit may be given three or four hours before the return of the fit by means whereof not onely the redounding Bile but also the obstructing Phlegm is forced to the small Guts hence to the Stomach and at last out at the Throat and Mouth and so the Ague is said to be destroyed To which end I have often with success used a Vomitory Sapa prepared by me of Glass of Antimony and other Medicines may in like manner be prepared of Antimony which is here proper above all other things Things that purge downwards now and then will doe the same thing but ever adding things that at the same time cut and carry off viscid Phlegm for example Take of the mass of Pilul fatid maj half a scruple Trochiscs of Alhandal Mercurius dulcis each 5 grains Oil of Amber 2 drops Mix them Make 5 Pills Let them be taken four or five hours before the next fit and they will purge gently The augmented acidity and acrimony of the pancreatick Juice will be happily allayed with volatile Salts and all Aromaticks not neglecting Opiates Therefore the Mixture above proposed of Waters of Parsley Fenil c. will be proper which will be
Cure is to be varied Therefore we must always have regard to all the Humours that any way offend in the Body seeing they are the cause why the obstructing Phlegm is more or less sharp and therefore why the fit varies in all its circumstances and symptoms For as often as Bile has dominion in the Body so often will Phlegm be less viscous and the Pancreatick juice less sharp and therefore the Ague will upon this account be cured with greater ease and speed if so be it be cured aright But as often as Phlegm shall predominate above the rest of the humours so often will the Pancreatick juice and bile be more dull and so the obstructing Phlegm it self will be more glutinous wherefore the Ague will be cured more slowly though easily enough having all its symptoms commonly more slight And as often as the redundant Acid exceeds the other humours so often will the bile be more broken and dull but then the Phlegm is more glutinous and especially when the acid inclines to austerity Sometimes it is more fluid and serous especially when the Acid is sharp and bile is intimately mixt with the saline part and together with the more fluid Phlegm makes a salt Serum but a briny one wherefore then the Ague will be cured more slowly and difficultly But after what manner he should proceed Sylvius the Reader may gather from what has been said before XVII Specificks for Fevers seem to have place chiefly in Agues some of them fix the morbifick cause not onely by their Narcotick Sulphur or as others will have it by their Salt but also they dissolve and they consist of Opiates Others by precipitating they abound in a fixt Salt and act by stopping fermentation and ebullition Such are Crabs eyes Others act by sweating and when they have raised a sweat they exert their antifebrile virtue Some of them are internal and use to be given an hour or two before the fit and they doe good especially to Bodies that are not very soul for unless the source be exhausted by Universals they may produce abundance of mischief This is commonly known Half a drachm of Carduus Benedictus Leaves powdered taken in a little warm Wine Some antisebrile Specificks act by evacuating Rolfinâ—k 〈◊〉 Febr. c. 1â—3 such is that of Riverius in the Appendix of his Centuries XVIII Empirical Remedies that cure Agues are such as keep off the fit as it is coming without any evacution either taken inwards or applied outwardly especially where the Pulse beats and are chiefly tied to the region of the Heart the Wrists or the Soles of the feet The reason of their effect consists in this that by the use of them the turgescency and fermentation of the Bloud with the febrile matter may be stopt That is some Corpuscles or Effluvia are communicated from the Medicine bound about the Vessels to the Bloud which very much fix and bind the particles of it or by fusing and moving do as it were precipitate it The spontaneous heat of the Bloud is hindred either way just as when cold water is poured into a boiling Pot or as when Vinegar or Alume is poured into new Beer as it is working the working presently ceases and the liquor acquires a new tasie and consistency Things that are taken inward have thas tendency to break off the habit of habitual Paroxysms which if we obtain Nature recollects her self and upon her proper motion easily recovers her former state of health And although such an Intention be sometimes accomplished by giving a Vomit a little before the fit for it often stops the febrile motion of the Bloud by raising another motion contrary to this yet this indication may far more certainly be accomplished by such Medicines as do not at all evacuate from the Bowels but bring a certain fixation or precipitation of the febrile matter for the time upon the Bloud Whom I had in my hands to cure having first given a Vomit or a gentle Purge about three hours before the fit I applied Plasters to the Wrists and at the same time gave them some Febrifuge Powder in generous Wine and ordered my Patients to be kept in a gentle sweat in Bed It seldom so fell out but at the first or second time the Ague was by this means stopt and by repeating the Remedy a few times the Disease was perfectly cured Here something must be said of that famous Febrifuge the Peruvian Bark otherwise called China China or the Jesuits Bark The common way of giving it is to infuse 2 drachms of the Powder in thin or generous Wine in a Vessel close stopt for two hours and then as the fit is coming to give the Liquor and the Powder to the Patient as he lies in his Bed This potion sometimes stops the fit as it is coming yet oftentimes this coming after its usual manner it prevents the next following But however the fit be stopt at the first second or third period and the Disease seem to be cured it usually returns in twenty or thirty days And then the Powder being given again the fit is staved off about the same space of time and in this manner I have known those that have been troubled with Quartans who have had but a very few fits all the Autumn and Winter and so have kept the Enemy at Push of Pike till the Spring coming on by the help of the season of the year and Physick the disposition of the Bloud was altered for the better and so the disease by degrees has vanished Those who in this manner got truce of their Quartans went brisk and chearfull about their business whereas otherwise they grew feeble and pale and were reduced to a languishing and a vitious habit of body Scarce one of an hundred tried this remedy in vain It is not onely given in a Quartan but in other sorts of Agues with success But they that stop Agues with this Medicine onely seem to give cheating Physick But the use of this Medicine will be onely proper when the Patient's strength is too much spent with too great frequency of the fits and a truce is by this means procured Willis de Febr. c. 6. that Nature may recollect her self and thenceforth more powerfully oppose the Enemy XIX Riverius called Water impregnated with the Salt of Tartar his Aqua Febrifuga He infused Salt of Tartar and Spirit of Sulphur with a drachm or two of Senna and sometimes half a drachm of Jalap either in Spring-water onely or in some appropriate decoction so he cured all Agues even Quartans He also called Mercurius dulcis six times sublimed Calomelanos which certainly makes a laudable and never a noxious Purge The dose is to 1 Scruple whether Refin of Jalap or of Scammony half a scruple whose Dose may be diminished or increased And he affirms he never saw any other effect than good from this Medicine in innumerable cases and in all ages XX. Beside these things which
they had been perfectly cured XXVIII A certain Carman cured several that had been long sick of Agues or otherwise indisposed by giving them a draught of Wine wherein he had first dissolved an handfull of Salt They that drank it purged upwards and downwards with great violence Some that had been troubled with a tedious Head-ach and bastard Tertians after they had had them for a long time recovered by this means But several others to whom this Medicine was given unseasonably or that were very weak Erastus Quaest de Purgan were most grievously hurt by it yea and some died XXIX Since natural sleep is nought in the beginning of Ague fits whether may we say the same of it caused by art A certain friend affirms that many Agues have been removed by the help of Laudanum Opiatum after due preparation and purging with Tartarum Vitriolatum Extract of Hellebore Antimonium Diaphoreticum c. Which effect he judges does not want its reason For seeing saith he in all Agues that continue pertinaciously there is some putrefied infection which is left in the focus after every fit and which ferments upon the coming of a new fit with fluxion either through the Veins or through the whole it so falls out that if the Alexipyretick Laudanum be given 2 or 3 hours before the coming of the fit all the heat will be then mitigated the fermentation of the humours stopt and fluxions into all parts restrained and so the Ague with the spreading of it wholly intercepted Perhaps that passage found in Petronius may be to this purpose where Quartilla says Truly I was so tormented that night Gr. Horsitus prâ—bl decad 1. Quaes 6. and shaked with cold so dangerously that I feared a fit of a Tertian and therefore I sought a Medicine for sleep ¶ If the Disease retire not upon purging I should certainly give Philonium before the fit This will not onely be convenient to drive away a bastard Tertian Abr. Scyller apud Scholtzium Ep. 3. but also to assuage pain ¶ That Hippocrates used Narcoticks in a Quartan to check the motion of the humours and hinder the dispersing of them which is the proximate cause of an Ague is evident from lib. 2. de morb Sect. 2. vers 206. Of Henbane seed the quantity of a Millet-seed and as much of Mandrake and of juice of Silphium the quantity of 3 Beans in Wine c. ¶ Platerus gave Syrup of Poppy to one in an Ague before the fit Obser l. 2. p. 173. Febrium Symptomata or Symptomes of Fevers The Contents In a febrile heat we must cool cautiously with Externals I. Whether we may let Bloud or Purge in a Loosness II. Whether a Pestilential one may be stopt III. One arising in the beginning of a Disease must be stopt IV. The stopping of a cholerick one when it comes upon an Ague V. By what contrivance it may be checkt VI. One in an Acute Fever repressed onely with Diet. VII When astringent Meat and Drink is proper VIII There must be one cure if the retentive faculty be weak and another if the expulsive be irritated IX How we must help a lost Appetite X. Whether Olives and salt Fish be always proper to recover it XI How the Anguish may be kept off in an exquisite Tertian XII When and how the Head-ach may be cured XIII Cured in an Hemitritaeus by opening the Saphaena Vein XIV Whether Bleeding be proper for the Heart-burn XV. The quieting of divers pains and restlessness XVI How the cold fit in an Ague may be mitigated XVII How Bleeding may be stopt XVIII The cure of a succeeding Dropsie XIX In Blackness of the Tongue the use of Nitre is good XX. Whether opening the veins under the Tongue be good for it XXI In driness of it and of the whole we must not use abstersive drink XXII When such driness is present there is no room for Meat and Broth. XXIII How driness from Bile may be amended XXIV The cure of a bastard Consumption that follows some Fevers XXV When Narcoticks may be given for a Phrensie in a Fever XXVI We must purge before we give a Narcotick XXVII The mitigation of the cold fit XXVIII XXIX The cure of the Hickup XXX It has a peculiar cause in Fevers XXXI To endure Thirst is hurtfull XXXII It must be quenched onely one way but according to the diversity of the focus XXXIII Sugared things increase it but do not quench it XXXIV We must take care of it in an Ague fit XXXV Variety of drinks out of Hippocrates XXXVI When we must use common water and when distilled XXXVII Sleep caused by Art is not so bad as that which is natural XXXVIII It is not convenient in the beginning of a fit in a Tertian XXXIX Some Sweats must be suppressed others let alone and others promoted XL. The cure of them when they arise from the fault of the mass of bloud in the declension of a Fever XLI The cure of dysenterick stools depends upon the cure of the Fever XLII The mitigation of a cough XLIII The cure must be taken of the Stomach XLIV The cure of all the troublesome Symptomes that are about it XLV We must help watching with safe Remedies XLVI XLVII Laudanum is good for it and many other Symptomes XLVIII The stopping of a Vomit in malignant Fevers XLIX Stopt in a fit of a Tertian by Pills of Aloes L. When greater regard must be had to the Symptomes than to the Disease LI. Cautions in the use of Medicines may be taken from the Pulse LII I. A Noble-man being taken with a most violent Burning fever asked an old Woman that was by to bring him a Pail full of cold water which being done he dipt his hands into the water and when he found that the raging of the heat was allayed and extinguished by it he held them in longer at length when he drew them out a livid Blackness had disfigured both of them with privation of sense Earnest endeavours were used to recall the native heat but all to no purpose Horstius l. 9. obs 23. for for the pleasure of his refreshment he lost both his Life and Fingers ¶ A Woman not being able to quench the heat of a Burning fever by drinking washed her mouth with cold water so lavishly and frequently that no warning was sufficient to deter her from this most gratefull Cooling But the veins and arteries of her Palate and Throat being straitned by this adventitious Cold and the vapours inspissated and so the Spirits that endeavoured to go to the Brain being suppressed Tulpius l. 4. 4. obs 20. her Understanding not onely failed her but with contracted Nerves also she fell at length into inevitable Death II. Some hold that we must never let bloud or purge in a Fever or Loosness though the vacuation be not proportionable to the abundance Others say that there is room for either Remedy if Nature move not perfectly Each Sect errs departing from
manner of Juleps Emulsions Ptisans and even simple Water assoon as they are taken This most grievous Symptome is immediately cured to a miracle by taking a drachm of the Salt of Wormwood in a spoonfull of fresh Juice of Lemon Riverius as I have learned by experience L. A certain Person was sick of a slight Tertian in the fit he was so troubled with vomiting that he swooned at the very thought of it I gave him above half a scruple of Pills of Aloes in a Dose two hours before his fit they did their office by gently purging him in the fit Rolfinccius so that he was well in a short time LI. It is manifest from Hippocrates 1. de rat vict who granted Water to one in a Pleurisie when he was very thirsty that when Symptoms arise to that height as to add to the Disease or waste Nature's strength the Indication for Diet should rather be taken from them Nevertheless we must doe our endeavour to give such things as may if possible be proper for the Disease or at least not inconvenient For Hippocrates in the place forequoted has this passage But when any Pain torments you must give Oxymel to drink in the Winter hot in Summer cold And if his thirst be very great he must use Honey and Wine and Water Reason tells us the very same thing that the Intention of Cure must not be changed for every violence of the Symptoms but for that which is considerable for since Symptoms are the effects of Diseases by taking away their cause they vanish but if they be considerable they give the stronger Indication for Cure And their greatness is to be defined when they are the cause of some preternatural disposition which either adds to the Disease or wastes the strength of Nature Which soever of these things happens to be the cause of the greatness of a Symptome the Symptoms may justly then supply the course of Diet and Indication for Cure As to a pleuritick Person who is a little thirsty you must give Oxymel or Melicrate which of them the Disease shall require But if he be troubled with violent thirst you shall not use such things as respect the Disease and its Cause but such as lay thirst for much thirst dries the spittle and makes the Disease difficult of coction and increases the heat of the Fever wherefore we must give Melicrate and Water taking the Indication from the Symptome for Water should not be given for the Disease sake by reason it is an enemy to the maturation of the Grief Thus therefore the greatness of Symptoms must be defined so as the method of Cure and indications of Diet may be taken from them But when such Symptoms arrive at the said greatness that is are instead of a Cause in reference to the Disease they are either as an urgent Cause or Sine qua non the Disease cannot be cured Wherefore the Indication is stronger which is taken from them than from the Disease as may be gathered from the doctrine of complicated Affections Brudus de Viâ—â—â— Febr. l. 3. c. 27. LII In giving of Medicines Cautions and Rules of no small moment are taken from the Pulse Purging and Vomiting are prohibited by an over quick and violent Pulse and also by a very low one for while the bloud is too effervescent evacuation is not very proper both because what is noxious is not voided and also because the strength is much weakned by the perturbation And when the Spirits are broken and the strength is low Physick casts it lower and sometimes rather destroys it Wherefore when a Physician designs evacuation upwards or downwards let him first feel the Pulse and let him attempt these motions onely when Nature is strong and sedate that she may be able to attend the operation of the Medicine and to support the Patient's strength Nor is there need of less circumspection for Diaphoreticks and Cordials which if they be used in the Fever fit they too much increase the violent motion of the Heart and very often break its strength Also when the Pulse is very languid if hot and strong Cordials be used Life may easily be extinguished as when a little flame is quite put out by a strong blast wherefore it is a vulgar observation that Cordials often hasten Death for that in putting the bloud into too great a motion they sooner waste its strength And yet there is need of the greatest Caution and direction of the Pulse in giving Narcoticks for they because they doe their work by extinguishing and fixing the vital Spirits when they are over active if they be used in a weak or faultering Pulse they either render the Spirits too weak for the Disease by diminishing them or they bring a perpetual Sleep by too much suffocating them Wherefore in a languid unequal or formicating Pulse Opiates should be avoided as you would avoid a Snake or a Toad Williâ— de Febr. c. 10. Febris Alba seu Amatoria The White or Love Fever See The Green-sickness Book III. It s Description and Cure HIppocrates in his Book de Virginum morbis calls this the Wandring Fever some have named it the White Jaundice For several Symptoms give intimation of a white and cold humour seeing first of all the menstrua being stopt in time of youth in a hot and moist constitution have caused a coldness in the whole body by suffocating the innate heat obstructions in the Mesentery and Womb concurring not a little thereunto and it may be in the hollow of the Liver which hindring the ventilation of the natural Heat increase the suffocation of it upon which many Symptoms testifie a cold Intemperature The primitive Cause of this Maiden Disease was the intense Meditation of this Virgin in which the innate Heat and Spirits being diverted from the Stomach Crudities were bred the original of Obstructions in the lacteal and mesenterick Veins whence arose a hypocondriack Indisposition and complaints of Illness at the Stomach and rumbling of the hypochondria Moreover the mass of bloud was infected which being made thick and not having free passage through the Veins of the Womb at set times but setling in them has gathered obstructions in the Womb also and made the monthly purgation less which being increased a perfect suppression of them followed For the bloud not having an efflux saith Hippocrates lib. de Virginum morbis through the quantity it rebounds to the Heart and Diaphragm and when these places are filled the Heart becomes foolish then from fatuity comes torpidness then after torpidness a delirium takes them as when a man has sate a long time the bloud being depressed out of the Hips and Thighs into the Legs and Feet causes a numbness and after the numbness the Feet are unable to walk till the bloud return to it self c. And it returns very quickly for it soon flows back because of the rectitude of the Veins and it is not a dangerous place of
marvellous efficacy given from half a drachm to a whole one in Malignant fevers Small Pox Measles yea and the Plague it self But whence comes its diaphoretick virtue considering its astrictive faculty Simon Pauli Quadrip Botan p. m. 225. affirms it is used to stop the ebullition of the bloud not to raise a sweat for as it is far better to spit on a spark that it may not burn and consume a whole House with the flame which it would rise to so it is most advisable by cold and dry things such as Antimonium diaphoreticum is and also Root of Tormentil Bistort which are astrictive and Diaphoretick Bole Armenick Terra Sigillata burnt Hartshorn Calx Antimonii c. to stop the burning of the bloud or the fermentation following it which if it exceed measure so as the circulation of the bloud being altogether disturbed the bloud be unspeakably corrupt it can neither return again to its natural habit and the contagion which follows that corruption that takes so many off is called the Plague whose fomes seminary or contagion you will never cast out of the Body except by Alexitericks or Sudorificks But this reason does not yet satisfie for if it held good the cure would not be safe while the cause of this burning or ebullition would not by this means be taken away and Opiates were better able to doe this work Nay Whence proceeds the usual eruption of Sweat after the use of the enumerated Medicines which are cold and dry Diaphoreticks Wherefore I judge that Antimonium Diaphoreticum as also the other Medicines are not indeed among the number of those Sudorificks that have the faculty of attenuating and dissolving gross humours but that they are such as imitating Nature do by their fixing and precipitating virtue which depends on a peculiar texture of the parts fix and precipitate the morbifick ferments or the volatile Sulphureous Salts Frid. Hofmannus Clavis Schroderiana p. 303. and also strengthen the Tone which being done the tumultuating faculty of the Archaeus is quieted and throws off what is troublesome by Sweat or Urine from the Lympha or mass of bloud XXIX We must take notice that Oxyrrhodina are not so convenient in Malignant as in Simple Putrid fevers because the dispersing of poisonous vapours must be procured by all means and not hindred therefore gentle repellents must be made use of or if the violence of the Symptoms be urgent we may proceed to strong ones Riverius so they be not kept long on XXX In Malignant fevers we must have a care of Epithemes for they may by no means be used in poisonous Diseases Mercatus and therefore we must avoid them as a pernicious Poison ¶ In Malignant fevers we must utterly avoid cold Epithemes which are proper for the Heart but they must rather be applied warm for otherwise there is fear lest when the Malignity is translated and struck back from the Circumference to the Center more harm than good result from it Therefore cordial Baggs are besprinkled with no liquours Wedellus but what are spirituous for fear of repulsion XXXI If the extreme parts happen to be cold there is great suspicion of Malignity and Languidness of faculty for that Coldness testifies there are both these Causes to wit a Malignant Putrescence of the Humours in the Bowels or Ulcers or great Inflammations or violent pains in the Intestines all these things force the heat to run inwards and to desert the out parts In this case there should be the greatest care imaginable to recall the heat and by all means to keep these parts in an equal temper with the other parts For although this coldness of the Feet be no cause of the Disease but a Symptome yet it is removed by revocation of the Heat that is of the Bloud and Spirits And nothing is more beneficial than to call them back because of the harm of their running to the internals which increases the inflammation and other affections of the Inwards and the heat it self by its being pent in is the cause of its own extinction Therefore we may not apply cold things to the Feet lest the burning heat be repelled inwards for in colliquating Fevers applications are best made to the Body between the Armholes and the Groin it is well if you can keep them from being cold Vallesius XXXII When in Continual yea in Malignant severs where a Delirium is imminent or the Patient cannot sleep we apply Plasters to the Soles of the Feet which are held to be applied for revulsion sake truly here is a notorious fallacy of the Cause committed For they are all hot things which abound with their volatile Salts and are of very thin parts Pigeons cut open alive pickled Herrings split Horseradish Leven with Salt Mustard c. Hence while in the said extreme parts of the Body both the venous and arterious Bloud being burnt up with the febrile heat is made heavy and dull cannot freely circulate these very things applied to the Soles of the Feet do attenuate melt and put in fusion that fixt Bloud and Serum by means of those subtile and volatile Salts wherewith they abound and so by accident while the free circulation of the bloud is procured in the Feet and it cannot restagnate into the Head Simon Pauli natural sleep creeps on XXXIII The use of Wine in this Fever sometimes is very beneficial for it is a great cordial and very opposite to Malignity Yet it often does harm by increasing the feverish heat Wherefore the constitution of the Patient and Nature of the Disease must be well considered If the Fever be small the poisonous quality intense and the Patient Phlegmatick mixt with water it may be given safely and successfully In a violent Fever and a cholerick Body Wine is destructive I have by infinite experiences observed these things especially in the purple Fever which was at Mompelier anno 1623. distinguishable from the true Plague onely by the Bubo For to those Patients whose Pulse was not very frequent but like the Pulse of a healthy man their Tongue moist and no thirst I gave Wine with good success and the relief thence emerging indicated the continuation of it both because the Fever was not heightned by the use of it and there was no thirst nor driness of Tongue raised In what Patients the contraries were I forbad them Wine altogether Yet we must observe never to give Wine in the first days lest the crude matter be too much moved but onely about the State when the signs of Malignity begin more fully to exert themselves Riverius XXXIV In the year 1623. after the Siege of Mompelier a very Malignant fever raged for several months of which half that were sick died and they peculiarly who had the Parotides or swellings of the Kernels behind the Ears which came usually about the ninth or tenth day of the sickness did all die And when I had seen several such but could
save none of them by any Alexipharmacks I began to think that the Parotides must needs be mortal because that part was not able to receive the whole morbifick matter which remaining within destroys and that Nature's work must needs be assisted And although the Patients had a small frequent and almost formicating pulse so that they seemed to be in the very agony of Death which usually shortly followed Yet revolving in my mind Celsus his opinion That many things are very well done in an extreme danger which should otherwise be omitted And that it is better to try a doubtfull Remedy in one or two than to leave so many sick to perish I prescribed Bleeding at several times because of weakness twice or thrice on the same day and a Purge the day following By which means all who had those Remedies administred them did happily escape Riverius and not one died after that ¶ I will not think much to tell what I am wont to doe when Patients in Malignant fevers have the Parotides arise because I think many were so saved who had otherwise perished Assoon as they begin to rise I anoint the part with some suppling Oil as that of Chamaemil and if they are slow in coming out I set a Cupping-glass to the very place lest the abscess be too little to doe any good But when it is apparent enough if it increase very much in a short time I let bloud again lest it grow greater than can be indured And then by and by I open the tumour while it is yet hard never tarrying for suppuration with a red hot knife on one side if the Swelling be but on one side on both sides if the Swelling be on both and I apply a suppurating Cataplasm For the most part the business succeeds well for the Swelling quickly putrefies when the Eschar is made and then Matter begins to run and the head and other parts are purged by that Orifice Nor let this seem cruel to any man for the glandulous part is but a base one and therefore we may cut and burn it Vallesiâ—â— and fear to doe neither XXXV One was violently ill of a Purple fever in the year 1622. and was troubled with a vomiting of all potulent matter assoon as it was drunk retaining onely Broth The Fever had raged with cruel burning and thirst for four days which could be quenched by no drink The inwards were so parched and burnt that the Tongue was very black and dry This so grievous a symptome was removed by this slight Medicine Take of Salt of Wormwood 1 scruple fresh Juice of a Lemon 1 spoonfull they were mixt in a spoon and given presently The vomiting was stopt immediately and from that time he drank as much as he would Riverius and never thenceforth cast it up again XXXVI Since the Hands and Feet according to the motion of Nature or Circulation abound more with the excrement of the third Concoction than any other parts of the Limbs who then is there that would not then think it credible that in Fevers and especially in malignant ones the humours are most corrupted about these parts And that it is not convenient for Physicians or bystanders to handle the hands of Persons in Malignant fevers oftner than needs they must unless they are willing to be infected with the Contagion Take this experiment of the matter from me after I had several times felt the Pulse of People in Malignant fevers my hands began to itch as if they had been stung with Nettles which when I came home I washed and lo all on a sudden my fingers were strangely and incredibly swelled Simon Pauâ—â— the swelling being quite gone within a quarter of an hour ¶ I here experienced the same Anno 1669. when the small Pox were Epidemical As my Wife yet free from them was sitting with a Noble Matron she took me aside privately into another room to tell me something concerning the state of the Patient but while she was talking to me I felt as it were Needles darted from her mouth into my face and I ordered her to cleanse and wash her face and to arm her self with Cordials for prevention sake so by God's assistence she enjoyed the company of her intimate infected friend without any harm Febris Peripneumonica or A Fever with an Inflammation of the Lungs It s Description and Cure TOwards the latter end of Winter and beginning of Spring there arises every Year a Fever with a great many Peripneumonick Symptoms It seizes full Bodied and gross men above all others or those that are arrived at or which happens oftner are past man age and such as are more than ordinary addicted to strong Liquours especially Brandy For when the Bloud in such men is loaden with pituitous humours gathered in Winter time and the same is upon the approach of Spring put into new motion a Cough upon that occasion does now and then enter by means whereof the said humours fall violently upon the Lungs at which time if perchance the sick party living in no order drink still freely of such Spirituous Liquours the matter now growing thick which caused the Cough both the passages of the Lungs are stopt and the Fever seizes the whole mass of Bloud At the first approach of the Fever the Patient is sometimes hot and sometimes cold He is vertiginous he complains of a racking pain in his Head as often as the Cough troubles him He vomits all he drinks sometimes without a Cough and sometimes with it He makes a troubled Urine and very red His Bloud when let resembles the Bloud of Pleuritick Persons He is often out of breath and draws it thick and short If he be bid to cough his Head akes as if it were ready to split as the Patients usually express it and he has a great pain in his Breast or the straitness of his Lungs may be heard by them that are by whenever he coughs the Lungs not sufficiently dilating themselves and so the vital passages being stopt as it seems by their swelling whereby the circulation being intercepted there are in full bodied People especially no signs of a Fever though this also may happen by reason of the plenty of pituitous matter wherewith their Bloud being oppressed cannot arise to a full ebullition In the cure of this Fever I think this is my business to make revulsion of that Bloud by Phlebotomy which is the cause of the stoppage and heat of the Lungs to take off the obstruction and give air to the Lungs by pectoral Remedies and to restrain the heat of the whole body by means of a cooling Diet. But since on the one â—and the load of pituitous matter contained in the veins which continually affords fewel to the Inflammation of the Lungs seems to indicate repeated Bloud-letting and since on the other hand the diligentest observation that I could make hath informed me that Phlebotomy often repeated in Fevers proves very bad for
27 to 31 cured all that he took in hand And I know he gave a most violent purging Medicine in the beginning and increase when the Disease was not in the declination Besides this I have also another Experiment of Gentilis in 4. Canon Fen. 1. in which place speaking of giving purging Medicines in the Plague he says that the Physicians in his time used scammoniate and the strongest Medicines with very good success and many were cured The authority of Avenzoar is subjoined who lib. 3. Theisir Tract 3. c. 4. gives a purging Medicine containing a sufficient quantity of Euphorbium than which there is nothing stronger in heating and drying for it is intensely hot and dry in the fourth degree And Gentilis himself attests the same I can therefore upon the authority of these Learned men attest that a Purge may be given in the Plague but I can add my own Experience which I may better trust In the Plague of the last year 55 I gave a Purge above 30 times and I saw few dye The most of them had good success if so be the Medicine brought away a good quantity of humours Gabriel Fallopius for if a small or no quantity came away the success was bad XII Purging requires a second Argus for as in this malignant Disease it is not very proper so in benign ones it is sometimes very necessary But it is not every one that can distinguish these aright Besides also we find that we may not give so strong Medicines when the Plague is abroad as when it is not abroad for besides that the body it self cannot bear so strong Medicines they very easily procure a dysentery Barbetâ—e XIII I durst never give a Purge to them that were sick of the Plague before the fourteenth day and till the Fever and the rest of the Symptoms abated There are some that give one during the uppuration of the Carbuncle or before the Bubo is cured but whatever Antipestilentials are mixt with it Idem never follow their example XIV Experience confirms that a Vomit is good in the Plague when this epidemick Disease follows a famine Wherefore oftentimes the things that are given to sweat in the beginning by reason of the Cacochymie of the first ways usually provoke Vomit which the use of Pulvis Saxonicus greatly confirms which must be so long repeated till the Stomach be rid of the load of had humours by vomiting Horstius l. 7. obs 23. ¶ One that had the third part of the City committed to him which was afflicted with the Plague cured almost all his Patients with a Vomit made of 2 drachms of any Vitriol 2 ounces of Honey and 6 ounces of common Water mixt together which he gave immediately as soon as any signs appeared of the Disease being imminent or present So that not above 10 or 12 died in his parts Riverius whereas few escaped in the other parts XV. The Medicines for Cure of the Plague are either evacuating or alexiterick The intention of the former is that the serous in the Bloud and the excrementitious humours that abound in the Bowels may be discharged and together with them many particles of the poisonous infection dispersed every where in the Body But both these Vomits and Purges whose use is more rare and onely in the beginning of the Disease and Diaphoreticks which are indicated by the Plague at all times if so be the Body can bear them for these indeed evacuate more fully and from the whole body at once and also by exagitating the Bloud keep it from coagulation and seeing they move from the centre to the circumference they drive the poisonous ferments and the corruption of the humours and bloud far from the Heart and force the Enemy out of his Camp And these Medicines whether they work by Purge or Sweat must be such as have Particles of the same nature rather with the poisonous infection than with our bloud and spirits For such a Medicine passes through the divers windings and turnings of our Body with its strength whole and untouched and because of the similitude of them both will more certainly take hold of the virulent matter of the Disease and will by a mutual adhesion of parts drag it out along wiâ—h them what way irritated Nature leads Wherefore Medicines whether Cathartick or Sudorifick which are made of Mercury Antimony Gold Sulphur Vitriol Arsenick and the like are commended above all others which seeing they are not at all subdued or conquered by our Heat they will become very good Remedies against the poison of the Plague For they not onely powerfully evacuate what is superfluous but when they exert their very strong and untamed particles and diffuse them all over the Body they dissipate this way and that the growing ferments of the Poison and hinder them from maturation And since the Remedies themselves insuperable by nature must of necessity be discharged by some open passages of the Body they carry out along with them whatever extraneous or hostile thing comes in their way Williâ— XVI Malignant fevers although they be destructive to many yet they are so long private till the Putrefaction have got the degree of Malignity that a morbid expiration flies out and they so become contagious And this degree is not any mere Putrefaction but rather a substantial Corruption which the Seminary of the Contagion follows which comes not from Putrefaction â—lone but from a Malignant quality wholly adverse to Nature and therefore unless it be suddenly removed it removes the Man Therefore in these Fevers we must have a care not presently to use violent hot expulsive things such as are given in truly pestilential ones proceeding from inspiration which are cured by sweat and transpiration when expulsion alone and opening the passages and strengthning the Heart is sufficient and such things as resist putrefaction unless Nature disburthen her self by breakings out in which case expulsive things but not strong ones are proper Therefore Physicians commit a great error who do not at all distinguish between private and publick contagious and not contagious Diseases so that of a private pestilential Disease a publick is often made by their unskilfulness who increase the Putrefaction and weaken Nature by strong Medicines for private Pestilential fevers do then become contagious when the Putrefaction is arrived at that degree as to have a morbid expiration in its whole substance as a poison destructive to humane kind Certainly when Nature expells nothing in the Disease nor Swellings nor Spots appear how shall the Physician Nature's servant dare any such thing and presently fly to drivers out and Sudorificks to say nothing of hot Medicines in the cure Whereby oftentimes in them that are not infected with a pestilential Seminary the humours fly to the Head whence come Deliria increase of the Fever and diminution of the strength of Nature which alone cures Diseases And although oftentimes from this cause Spots appear it
is caused by an external cause should not be imputed to the Disease Therefore it has done many good to purge in the beginning and so to have a care through the whole course of the Disease that the body be not costive because we can no way better prevent the Symptoms whereby all such people are commonly in danger Yet I have learned both for the aforesaid reason and by sufficient experience that it is very dangerous for this Disease to be judged by a spontaneous Loosness Vallesius ¶ You must not purge by stool unless there appear to be a great quantity of Juices the discussion whereof you cannot expect by the Skin Idem III. Vomits in Malignant fevers with Spots are generally useless unless perhaps you perceive much humours to be contained in the Stomach for then it is lawfull to cast up by Vomit what is there contained especially if the sick Party be easie to vomit otherwise no Man must be forced to vomit left the motion of the humour that is otherwise vitious be recalled inwards For the mouth of the stomach is of too sharp a sense and too near the Heart and the Head Vallesius for the malignant juices to be gathered thither ¶ In the Year 1659. I had under my cure a Maid 36 years old of a most cholerick complexion In a violent Fever she had abundance of Purple red and blew Spots arose She had not the Small-pox which were then Epidemick At the very moment the Spots broke out an exceeding anxiety came upon her the cause whereof she could not express I suspecting that Bile did vellicate the mouth of the Stomach to the vomiting whereof she was accustomed give her warm water a little while after she had drunk it there followed a plentifull vomiting of a eruginous Bile and the Spots presently vanished and the Small-pox came in their room whereof she did very well IV. Galen 1. ad Glaucon c. 14. condemns Wine in Fevers especially Burning ones with a Delirium When the Spotted fever anno 1659. was Epidemick in our City N. was come to that pass as that there was no hope of his Life But when he understood that he must dye he sent a Messenger to the Bishop to entreat a Glass of Wine of him for he expected the fatal hour which was presently granted him in a larger measure than he expected After a draught of Rhenish Wine he fell in a sweat and a sleep and the Fever was judged to health Barthâ—linus although he relapsed sometimes because of his errour in diet yet without harm ¶ Helmont de Feb. cap. 12. Sect. 7. contends violently with strong reason for Wine so as to allow it in the Plague ¶ Caesar Crivellatus as he confesses cap. 22. de usu vini in acutis recovered of a Spotted fever by using Wine against the Physician 's mind ¶ In the Year 1676. a Malignant fever was Epidemick at Borgo di Sesia of which more died than escaped live worms came out at all their Mouths A Physician who would try what would soonest kill them sprinkled some with Oil others with juice of Citron and Vinegar and yet they were not killed At length when he had sprinkled Wine on them they quickly died Hereby being emboldened he gave his Patients Wine without scruple which afterwards was the most gratefull Alexiterick of that Fever whereby almost all escaped safe V. I never to this day have observed that Nature perfectly judged this Fever by making an expulsion of these Spots to the Skin which is consonant to reason For if the Mine of this Putrefaction be kept in the mass of bloud how can it be that the Fever should be judged by these cutaneous spots This is certain That Nature does not evacuate well when it evacuates a little And these Spots are very small in comparison to the corrupt and poisonous humour Then the matter that causes the Spots is too thin to be the Basis of the putrefaction and certainly utterly insufficient for the extirpation of it But all the hope of safety in this Disease must be placed in letting bloud at the very first and afterwards in purging and sweating and sometimes in purging by Urine Augenius Febris Pleuritica Peripneumonica or A Pleuritical and Peripneumonical Fever It s Description and Cure WHen in the Year 1675. the season continued extreme like Summer till the latter end of October and a cold and moist season followed that there were abundance of Coughs abroad which prepared the way for a Fever and most readily turned into one In the mean time as the Cough helped the Constitution in producing the Fever so also the Fever taking occasion from the Cough did just invade the Pleura and Lungs as it had invaded the Head the Week before these Coughs began Which sudden change of the Symptoms gave nevertheless some men occasion who took not so good notice to take this Fever for an Essential Pleurisie or for an Essential Peripneumony although it remained the same as it had ever been through the whole Constitution And how much soever a pricking pain in the side difficulty of breathing the colour of the Bloud that was taken away c. did intimate that there was an Essential Pleurisie yet this Disease required no other Method of Cure than what suited to the Fever of this Constitution but it was very much abhorrent from that which was proper for a true Pleurisie Besides a Pleurisie when it is the primary Disease for the most part invades at that time of the year which is between Spring and Summer and as it were joins them both This Disease being born under another Constellation must be reckoned onely a Symptome of the Fever that was proper to that Year and the product of an accidental Cough That we may rightly proceed to that Method which Experience told us was owing to the Coughs of that Year we must observe that those Effluvia which were wont to be sent out of the mass of bloud by insensible transpiration were turned inward by the Cold contracting the Pores of the Skin and fell upon the Lungs by irritating of which they after raise a Cough And seeing by this means the hot and recrementitious Exhalations of the Bloud are detained that they cannot pass the Pores of the Skin a Fever is easily kindled in the mass of bloud where that is there is either so great store of Exhalations that the Lungs are not sufficient to cast them off or by some adventitious heat either of Medicines or Regiment that are hotter than they should be the fire is augmented as if Oil were thrown into it and he that was already inclinable enough to a Fever is thrown headlong into one Leaning on this foundation if the Cough had not brought the Fever and those other Symptoms which we told you for the most part joined themselves with it I thought it sufficient to keep my Patient from flesh and all manner of strong Liquours I advised
purge Choler according to Hippocrates his Rule l. de Purgant Give to bilious persons things that purge bile and to phlegmatick persons things that purge phlegm But all bilious Diseases must not be treated with Purgatives because many give way to Alteratives and other Medicines For Galen 2. de Cris says that Bile is violently moved in Tertians and disseminated through all the parts of the body and that it purges its self by the violence of its motion Therefore we should not be so solicitous about the indication of evacuating as of altering And in such persons Hippocrates requires Griping of the Belly and other signs to adventure on purging for 3. de Morb. he says But if the mouth of the stomach be not affected but the griping go down to the belly Mercatus give Physick that purges downwards VIII The filthy humours contained in the Stomach Mesentery and hollow of the Liver use to produce this sort of Agues which is brought up sometimes by one Vomit when it could not be carried off by many Purges as Fernelius observes And therefore if the Patient be troubled with Vomiting at the beginning of the fit the Physician would doe well to follow the motion of Nature Chymists ascend to Aqua benedicta which as it happily evacuates the matter that is lodged in the first ways so it requires a prudent Physician who must see that there be no contumacious obstructions in the Bowels â—â—ivâ—rius IX An opinion has prevailed among the Vulgar that a Tertian ague can scarce be cured without a Vomit wherefore some Medicasters use under the pretext of necessity to give a Vomit to all that are sick of this Disease though they be weak and infirm not without great peril of their lives and such as they think unable to bear this Remedy they leave to Nature But as to my own experience it has often sufficiently appeared on the contrary this is an erroneous practice And I rather think that unless in a strong body and inclined to vomit and when it happens that the Stomach is loaded with excrementitious matter a Vomit is rarely or never required but instead thereof a gentle Purge whereby the humours are kindly carried off will be of more use for purging in this case does the same that vomiting namely it evacuates the choledochal Vessels that Bile being plentifully drawn out of the Bloud the febrile Dyscrasie may be amended But when the felleous humour being pumped up into the Stomach is voided upwards great harm is done thereby to the Stomach and a notable disturbance made in the whole Body whereas if the humour be carried downwards by a gentle Purge Willis de Febr. it is voided without any trouble X. The facility of the matter to be carried off and the inclination of Nature must immediately be considered For if the matter putrefie about the Viscera naturalia it must be carried off by vomit or stool if in the ambit of the body by sweat But so mordacious a matter must never be carried off by vomit because of the exquisite sense of the Stomach unless when Nature tends that way to wit that it may the sooner be got out of the Stomach and then we must use warm water or an epicerastick Vomit may be made of Chicken-broth altered with Mallows adding Oil of sweet Almonds and Julapium Acetosum letting alone antimonial and strong Vomits proposed by Chymists and admitted by Senâ—ertus Forâ—â— XI It appears to me from several experiments that Tertian agues have been cured with Spirit of Sulphur and Water given in the height of the fit and in extreme thirst whereby plentifull Sweat was procured after which not onely the fit was stopt but the Disease was perfectly cured In a less quantity of Water the quantity of the Spirit must be lessned Riveriuâ— lest it be too sowre XII A Nobleman 25 years old fell into a bastard Tertian in Spring time when May came on he desired to drink Schalwaback-waters wherefore he went thither evacuation premised on his intermittent day the next day he endured the fit for two hours in bed when he was thirsty at length he drank one pound and a half of the Waters by degrees to quench his thirst and then being well covered he began to sweat and quickly the fit ended in a total intermission After by continuing the use of Waters and gradually ascending to a larger Dose he once or twice perceived a little of his Ague at the time of the fit and then he always provoked sweat by taking a convenient potion of the Waters as his Ague declined by which means without using any other Remedies the Ague totally intermitted his languishing strength returned Horstius l. 1. obs 12. and his former health was restored XIII They that have written of the Cure of Fevers do prescribe in Tertians and other Intermittent fevers or agues cooling and moistning Juleps as if Coolers were of use in Agues at all times For on the contrary they are often a cause of the Continuance and Contumacy of Agues that is when they are used after the seventh fit the heat of the humour being repressed because they fix the humour more and weaken the innate heat which is the onely cause of the concoction of the humours When therefore it is grown old the Constitution of the Bowels must be taken notice of from the face and habit of the whole Body He that is of a firm habit of body and has a vegete heat does a long time bear the use of Coolers and Moistners without harm and is helped thereby if his Liver be hot and dry and the humours be sharp and raging But on the contrary if the innate heat be languid and the humours be pituitous and melancholick the Fever will be protracted a long time by too cooling and moist things We must therefore distinguish in what Agues heat and thirst require to be quenched by Coolers and Moistners and in what to be wasted by an attenuating Diet and by abstinence from Drink Crude and gross humours by a thin Diet abstinence from Drink and the use of Concocters being conquered by the innate heat are easily dispersed and vanish or turn into the nutriment of the Body But hot and sharp humours require to be asswaged by cooling and moistning things yet so as neither violence may be offered to the bowels nor to the innate heat Enâ—hirid Med. Pract. XIV Every morning I would give some clarified Juice of Plantain with one ounce of Wine not strong but weak For so not onely respect will be had to apertion but strength will be added to the natural parts How much the Stomach and Liver are spoiled by Aperients onely if the use of them be continued too much Ab. Seyller Epist 4. apud Schotzium Experience abundantly testifies XV. Drinking of Water is very good for Tertians because it properly extinguishes the burning of Choler if there be the Conditions which Galen 9 11. Meth. and
remained open Therefore the palliative cure of fistula's must not be rejected III. A fistula in the Perinaeum if it come from an internal cause is never perfectly cured it is indeed sometimes skinned over but it quickly returns upon the least internal cause yea and sometimes if it be stopt up for a while grievous Symptoms do follow Once when I had scarce cicatrized a fistula in a Man of Threescore which followed a caruncle and retention of Urine and the Patient after the cure was continually tormented again with difficulty of Urine and other Symptoms I was forced to open the fistula again upon which he not onely recovered but lived to above Threescore and seventeen Hence Patients may learn not to be so solicitous for the cure of such fistula's for they are a proper passage for the excretion of much excrements which by the benefit of Nature are cast off thither from the Liver Kidneys Bladder and the Spermatick Vessels For I have observed that they who have had such fistula's are usually free from other worse Diseases I reckon Ulcers in the Perinaeum when they come to the Urinary passage almost incurable because of abundance of Excrements wherewith old men abound and the weakness of the excretive faculty arising from Venus or from some other cause so great that it cannot discharge the Urine full of excrementitious humours by the anfractuous passage of the penis Hiâ—â—anus cent 5. 1 s 75. We need not despair of a cure in Children and young Men. IV. Some must not be cured according to Hippocrates 6. Epid. 3. 39. lib. de Humor 3. that is such as discharge the body of superfluous humours and preserve from other Diseases Such are in the lower parts old ones and remote from the principal parts They must not be closed yea rather they should be opened if they chance to heal up I have known people who have had a fistula in ano without any mischief for 25 years yea it has done them good Besides some fistula's in their own nature refuse a cure according to Albucasis lib. 2. cap. 28. such as reach to the great Veins Arteries or Nerves the Peritonaeum Guts Bladder Vertebra's of the Back and Ribs such as are in any joint of the hand or foot For they do not admit convenient Medicines ¶ I have often seen fistula's near the Eyes and the Anus cured Faâ— ab Aquapendente and pernicious Symptoms and death have followed thereupon I have also seen fistula's cured outwardly and a Sinus left within especially about the podex out of which sharp Ichores coming by transumption to the neck of the bladder use to raise such Symptoms as are ordinary in the Stone of the Bladder Sanctorius V. In one who 27 years since broke his Leg the wound could not be so healed but that an Ichor would always be ouzing out of it the Sore at last ending in a fistula A few years after he was sent to Madrid the care of his body being neglected because of his business yet he found after a few Months that the troublesome Serum stopt and ran not again for 3 years When he returned to Copenhagen the fistula opened by little and little and after the old manner ran a Serous matter daily for several years He is sent again into Spain upon some affairs the wound closed up again and did not run any thing for six years while he abode at Madrid Then returning to his Country he found the hole opened again in a few Months time which is not yet healed up Porriâ—hius in Actis Denicis the moist Air in the North opening what the dry Spanish Air had shut VI. One had two deep fistula's under the Arm-pit all that I had tried being in vain I cured him thus I burnt both the fistula's to the very bottom they reached to the very ribs with a red-hot Iron without a Case several times till the Callus was wholly and equally taken off the Sinus of the fistula's To deterge the Eschar I used Tents first of all long and thick anointed with Butter afterwards with a digestive When laudable Pus appeared I put in others anointed with Vnguentum ex betonica which I made every day shorter and shorter These things being removed I applied a Bolster of Linen under the Arm-pit compressing it with a strait Ligature Marchetti obs 38. I perfectly cured the Patient in 20 days time VII We must never proceed to burning of the Os Sternum because it does not scale off as others do which when they are not altogether corrupted but onely in part if they be burnt onely what is perished falls off the laudable part remaining Which does not so fall out in the Os Sternum because it being tough does not so easily scale off but rather when the burning reaches to the internal part of it the whole corrupt part must of necessity abscede not indeed in 30 or 40 days time as other bones do but sometimes in three years wherefore I advise you never to burn the Os Sternum For I have observed it to abscede in many not under 2 or 3 years So that the cure is easier and safer by Abrosion Idem â—â—s 39. VIII One had a Swelling with a fistula above the left side of his Collar-bone whose orifice was so narrow that it would scarce admit a pin's point About six months before he had been ill of a Fever which ended in an Abscess in that place The Ulcer after it had remained open for four weeks closed up a swelling and hardness remaining behind When he told me this I prescribed things to evacuate bilious humours wherewith he abounded for the matter was yellow which the fistula voided Then I dilated this very narrow fistula not with any cutting instruments whereby not onely the pectoral Muscle which had been sufficiently hurt by former incisions might be more hurt but also there was fear that if this were not used dextrously the Jugulars being dissected or but a little hurt might bleed the Man to death but with a tent of dried Gentian-root tied to a thread The next day I took it out swelled with a bilious ichor and black at the end and searching the quality of the Sinus and cause of the colour with a Probe I found some part of the clavicle rough and moveable Then I put in a root thicker than the former anointing the adjoining parts to hinder imminent inflammation The third day I put in a bigger piece of Gentian-root and so consequently till the hole seemed wide enough The sixth day I filled the fistula with round pieces of prepared Sponge tied to a Thread The seventh day I took them out and the fistula was wide enough for taking out of the Bone which I took out The eighth day the bloud stopping I strewed this powder on the sound bone uncovered Take of Root of Florentine Orice Aristolochia rotunda Peucedanum each 1 scruple and an half Euphorbium half a scruple Myrrhe 1
the greatest part of these humours will go to the urinary passages Idem VI. There are some that maintain all manner of Womens Whites may be cured by diuretick Medicines but they are in a manifest errour The causes must be distinguished and according to the various nature of them different methods of cure must be insisted on This Disease comes sometimes from the fault of the whole body and sometimes of the womb When the whole body is full of an ill habit or cacochymie or the Liver is obstructed or the Spleen or Stomach is weak or the Head supplies excrements then the womb may be thus troubled We must consider what humours abound hot or cold and how they are affected For it shews they are hot when this excrement is sharp and scalding so as it eats whatever part it touches and sometimes causes itching and Ulcers or chaps with a sense of heat besides when it is stinking and yellow It will doe well to consider here the temperament natural and acquisititious the preceding causes the habit of the body and season of the year Contrary signs will indicate contrary humours When therefore the flux in the womb comes from these causes when hot and bilious humours abound I most suspect this method of cure by Diureticks For who can think that a hot Disease can be removed by very hot and drying Medicines for suppose that evacuation made by Diureticks may doe some good certainly greater damage will ensue from increase of the quality Indeed it is my custome to reduce such bodies to a good state Universals premised with a Ptisan well prepared adding the greater cold Seeds And I do profess I have often cured with Asses and Goats milk uterine fluxes that have been given over by other Physicians in thin bodies with sharp humours This is my peculiar method The first four days I give a quart of Milk that the whole Body may be well purged and 10 two quarts for fifteen days but boiled and the days following to forty one in which time I generally found they were cured I give Milk chalybeate A most certain and rare Remedy But if the humours be cold and there be obstructions in the Bowels if there be a cold intemperature of the whole or of the principal parts who will deny Diureticks given according to art Does any one doubt but they have a deobstruent heating cutting and cleansing faculty Augenius VII Hippocrates 2. de morb Mul. vers 116. among divers sorts of Uterine fluxes propounds the yellow flux in which what is voided is like a rotten Egg when the white and yelk are mixt together from a mixture of which a yellow colour arises which indicates vitelline Bile Hippocrates cures this Flux thus First he purges upwards with Hellebore and then downwards that the whole body may be rid of the Cacochymie Secondly he orders a moistning and temperate Diet which may cool and qualifie the hot and sharp humours Then he gives astringent Medicines which may stop the flux and he changes the Diet into a contrary course If the Disease do not give way to these things he returns to the former Diet which he orders to be continued so long till the acrimony of the humours abate which the heating of he Ulcers the abating of the Inflammation and what is voided will shew for then he finishes the Cure by Exsiccants and Astringents Let the Moderns consider this method of cure who go the contrary way to work for they order a drying Diet first and give a decoction of the same faculty to drink And after they have by this their way of Cure brought the sharp fretting humours to the height of acrimony they betake them to a contrary method and turn their whole intention to cooling and moistning For they do not observe that by giving Medicines in the beginning which are actually moist and potentially dry they commit a double errour because they increase the humours by actual humidity which should rather be diminished by evacuations and by the drying and hot quality the hot and sharp quality of the same humours is intended and the hot intemperature of the Bowels if there be any is increased and by this means they give assistence to the Disease and its Cause And when as afterwards they betake themselves to coolers and moistners they commit other two faults for by coolers they clog the body full of sharp humours and by moistners they dissolve the humours which had formerly been dried by the preceding exsiccation Martianus câ—m in cit loc whereby they make the Patient every day worse VIII Astringents must-never be used till the antecedent matter be well evacuated and derived otherwise those humours retained run to the more noble parts and cause grievous symptoms As Galen writes it befell Boëthius his Wife whose Belly swelled with the preposterous use of Astringents the serous humours being retained which used before to be evacuated This also must be observed that while we use Astringents the antecedent matter may be diverted another way and the breeding of it hindred Riverius IX They do not advise ill who in the Whites order Issues in the Hips and in the inside of the Legs for so they affirm the Whites are amended while the serous matter is averted to the crural Veins They are good especially if the Disease be inveterate From Galen 5. Aph. 56. it is evident that among the causes which hinder monthly purgation this is not the least when the humours incline some other way than to the womb like as he said that some excretions whether natural or made by Art as Ulcers do make revulsion of and derive the bloud from the womb and transfer it to other parts The same judgment may be given of vitious humours falling upon the womb Do not we also know from Hippocrates that making much water in the night signifies that one goes but little to stool Quâ—ius de Quaesitis X. I have observed in Women that were never before troubled with the Whites they have followed the taking of a Purge when Nature by taking one has been excited to other excretions and that many Women when they have been bathing have contracted this Disease not by Contagion but because by the constant use of the Bath as Nature discharges the excrements by Sweat so also the same by this excretion expells especially what is too thick to be carried off by Sweat Platerus XI The Arteries of the Nose and partly also the Veins discharge their excrementitious humidities into the spongy parts about the Nose and Jaws for these Vessels are divaricated in the flesh of the Nostrils and Jaws like Spiders-webs and sweat out a kind of dew just as water sweats through earthen ware before it is glazed But how comes it to pass that many void little or nothing at the Nose I answer that very few are found who are of so happy a temper as to be void of excrements This Driness of the Nose and
the Knife or Razor must be thrice repeated The first Cut separates the finger in the last joint from the metacarpus the second and third takes off the Septum Digitorum on either side of the finger In this operation thrice repeated something carnous or membranous may remain untouched by the Knife and may render the operation more difficult and tedious Now I considering these things contrived an Instrument whereby the finger may be cut off in the last joint together with the Septum on either side at one blow and it is a very sharp and winged Knife whose hind part is semicircular and of a bigness proportionable to the finger to be cut off And though before I disapproved of this way of chopping off Limbs yet in this case because it cannot otherwise be well done Idem of two evils we must chuse the less XXVII A Hand affected with a Cancer not exulcerated is cut off in a sound place that is at the heads of the radius and ulna towards the Wrist But we must take notice to the end the bloud yet infected which the adjoining Vessels contain may run out for being retained it might affect the Arm that neither the Arm must be tied with a rowler above the place of Incision nor must the softer parts be cut with a red hot Knife Scultetus which Barbarians call Cauterium cultellare Medicines especially made use of by eminent Physicians 1. I have often seen this Cataplasm used with desired success in stopping of a Gangrene Take of Meal of Beans Lupines each 4 ounces Juice of Rue 2 ounces or Powder of Rue 3 ounces Oxymel simplex 6 ounces Lie what is sufficient Sometimes he adds powder of Scordium Mix them Crato Make a Cataplasm 2. Spirit of Salt rightly prepared applied to outward Gangrenes and Ulcers is a high Narcotick Remedy without any pain ¶ All the care consists in the efficacy and virtue of Spirit of Salt for the Salt being saturated with this Liquour and dried is reduced to its natural temper which every one may see by experience for every sharp and biting Salt if it be dissolved in Spirit of Salt Faber is reduced to a wonderfull sweetness 3. Vnguentum Aegyptiacum is a most excellent and principal Remedy for a Gangrene Gul. Fabricius it separates the dead flesh from the live and breeds a laudable Eschar 4. In the cure of a Gangrene after the Eschar is removed if not onely Medicines but the very Air cause intolerable pain this following is very familiar with me I take Ointment of Betony made of the juice to which I either add Oil of Sweet Almonds if there be no inflammation or if there be one as there often is I mix Oil of Roses or Yelks of Eggs and I have never yet found any thing better ¶ Scordium bruised or the juice of it is excellent For experience shews Hieron Fabricius that dead bodies are preserved from putrefaction if they either be stuffed with it or wrapt in it 5. Take of Colts-foot 1 handfull and an half Melilot Mullein Dwarf-Elder each half an handfull Frankincense Litharge each 2 drachms and an half Mastick Myrrh each 1 drachm and an half crude Alume 2 drachms Mix them for a Decoction Grombs When a Gangrene is feared in a Dropsie 6. Let the part affected be washed with Spirit of Wine Camphorate than which I think nothing is more proper for hindring the mortification of any part Hartman 7. I remember one was perfectly cured of a Gangrene in his thigh after rotten Apples bruised had been applied in form of a Cataplasm without the liquour S. Pauli once or twice 8. To bring a place to its natural colour again Vnguentum Aegyptiacum dissolved in Aqua vitae is most excellent Ranchinus 9. I order the scarified places to be moistned with Spirit of Sulphur where the flesh was mortified then I order all the Arm to be fomented with Spirit of Wine hot wherein Powder of Aloes and Myrrh were infused then Powder of Aloes and Myrrh were strewed on the Arm in great quantity and upon the Powder linen cloths wet in Spirit of Wine were applied which Remedy being used a few hours the Arm returned to its colour to a miracle the swelling abated and the Gangrene was stopt Riverius 10. Take of Cow's dung 1 pound Oil of Roses 4 ounces Vinegar 3 ounces Saffron half a scruple Mix them Make a Plaster which must be applied hot every three hours J Dav. Rulandu◠I know by experience it certainly cleanses and cures a Gangrene 11. To prevent a Gangrene Sir Theodore de Mayerne of England used this following successfully applied warm with cloths dipt in it Take of the strongest Vinegar red Wine Spring-water each a like quantity Litharge of Gold well beaten 8 ounces Roche Alume Sea Salt each 2 ounces Gum Arabick Myrrh each 1 ounce Olibanum Mastick each two ounces When the Liquours are mixt put in the Litharge let them boil stirring them continually then add the Salt and Alume then the Gum Arabick Phil. Jac. Sachsius and last of all the Powders boil them to a consumption of a fourth part 12. If it will not give way to gentle Medicines we must use strong ones Take of Mercury what you please dissolve it in Aqua fortis when it is dissolved add to it of Sal Saturni and Vnguentum Rosatum Camphoratum what is sufficient Make an Unguent ¶ This Liquour is very good if cloths be dipt in it and applied It was successfully used in a Gangrene of the Scrotum Take of Vitriol 1 ounce tops of Oak 1 handfull Frankincense 1 ounce Camphire two drachms Sennertus Wine 2 pounds and an half Boil about a third away 13. The Juice of the Herb Alexanders in Unguents stops Gangrenes wonderfully Turnheusetus It is a Secret 14. Salt of Soot is made thus Let Soot be powdered as fine as flower dissolve it in Vinegar let it settle to the bottom of the Vessel separate the Vinegar and dissolve it in other Vinegar continuing it so five times and you will find a Salt which if it be put in a moist place will melt and make a most excellent Oil for Gangrenes and malignant Ulcers Joh. Vigierius Ganglion or A glandulous Swelling The Contents We must have a care how we cut a Ganglion or Lupia I. It must not be brought to Suppuration II. The old and new way of Cure III. I. IF a Ganglion will not yield to Medicines it must be cut out with a Knife unless it be in the hands or in the feet or there be danger of Nerves Veins or Arteries wherewith sometimes it is implicated A Lupia also must be cut out as a Gland like as we did a few days agone near the Jugulars Chalmetaeus with good success II. A Ganglion sometimes when it is deeply radicated hinders the motion of some joint therefore some course must be taken with it betimes
which we do by premising convenient Evacuations and applying emollients and digestives But we must have a care as much as may be that no suppuration do follow here because when it arises of it self or is caused through carelessness it brings with it perverse and oftentimes incurable Ulcers by which these nervous places are sometimes so corrupted that the motion of that joint is oftentimes either lost or depraved Platâ—râ—s III. In some places Ganglia are cured with the Knife in others as in the Feet and Hands it is very dangerous to wound them with a Knife Therefore Ammoniack or some other Malactick must be applied that it may cover the whole Ganglium a plate of Lead must be laid over it and it must be tied on very strait and so as that the Ganglion can slip no way Some onely tie on a plate and when in a few days they find it softned when the Lead and Plaster is taken off they set the right Thumb upon the Ganglium and set their Fingers round about and press it as hard as they are able till they break it in pieces This indeed was the old way but now it is out of use The present age does better Men observe the membranaceous Stalk the Glands and Branchings of the Veins where the Ganglium rises and whereby it is increased they open a way by the Knife they lay all bare they tie the vessels with a thread they turn aside the Nerves they bind dry consume burn and cut off the Stalk Glands and Veins whereby the Disease is fed and that way as it were extirpate the root of the Disease that new matter may not breed afterwards and no new Ganglion may grow again Although this way of cure is not without danger if the Ganglion be great and in a place where many great vessels and Nerves meet Sometimes also the vessels underneath are corrupt and putrefied great veins and arteries which being laid bare bleed excessively so that no man can stop them whereby the Patient is killed in a short time Turpentine quick Lime and Goose-grease well tempered together Hollerius dissolve a Ganglion Gibbositas or Crookedness in the Back The Contents The cure of one arising from an internal Cause I. The elevation of the depressed Vertebrae II. Gibbosity arising from some fault in the Muscles not in the Bones how it may be cured III. One following a Fever cured by dissolvents IV. The Spine restored by help of Iron Stayes V. I. GIbbosity has its original from the Spine when the vertebrae start outwards or on one side out of their natural place to which sometimes an external cause but most of all an internal cause gives occasion especially when some pituitous humour is gathered thereabout This humour must be removed by Oils and Plasters that have a dissipating virtue before the prominent part be reduced to its natural place by an Iron Instrument fitted to any man's body This reduction is performed not so much by pression as by the emollient virtue of the Iron This is the reason why when the Patient is already cured he must use a Stay for a year or two longer P. Barbetto that the soft Bones may not start out again II. Mr. Ranchinus cured a luxation in the Spina dorsi in the Noble Lady N which came from a Catarrh falling from her brain upon the Spine whereby two vertebrae in the middle of the Spine were displaced After Universals she used a Barbers Press where he presses his Linen with a screw she applied one board to her back and another to her breast but she left off the use of it because the compression of her breast hindred her breathing At length she used that Instrument whereby they use to heave up Coaches when they stick in some hollow place in French un Criq on whose circular end they laid a piece of wood to be fitted to the displaced vertebra putting a linen cloth between The other end of the Instrument was set against the Wall then the Patient was held fast about her Shoulders afterwards the instrument was forced gently till she could bear the pain no longer at which time she desisted Riverius This was done twice a day and so the Luxation was cured by degrees III. A Nobleman of a tall stature about 40 years old was so crooked that all who met him might well have taken him for one of Ninety rather than one of that age He went to several who make it their profession either to restore dislocated parts or to reduce such as are mishapen to a due figure but all to no purpose The man was very much troubled and as he was curious to get a remedy for his indisposition among others he came to me This evil conformation of his Body seemed to arise not so much from any fault in the bones as from his Muscles being loaden with ill humours While therefore I was preparing and purging the humours and applied such fomentations as I thought proper for his Disease he began not beyond some hopes but far sooner than I expected in six weeks time to be so well that he could carry his tall body upright This observation may serve for admonition that Anatomy do not deceive the unwary Kerckeringius Obs Anat. 45. while they think that all external deformity takes its original from some bone distorted inwardly IV. In the year 1668. I saw a bending and a distortion of the whole Spine from top to bottom in a Boy and a Girl caused by humours settling there after a Fever Chirurgeons were sent for they attempted restitution by Machines and Steel Stayes I contrary to the Chirurgeons mind restored them perfectly by dissolvents and Strengthners the humour being discussed that filled the Muscles and Ligaments and driven back by Metathesis it not as yet being fully settled there V. I shewed the way for a certain Nobleman's Child that was crooked in his back whos 's Spine stood very much out how in his Infancy they might make Iron Stayes such as armed Men wear made of thin plates and covered inside and outside with Cloth for him to wear Which being done when he had worn it about a years time night and day and was so used to it that he found no trouble in it by degrees his crookedness was pressed in Platerus Obs l. 1. p. 164. and the Spine came to its natural streightness So that afterwards he always went upright and grew a very tall man Gonorrhoea Pollutio nocturna or Running of the Reins and nocturnal Pollution The Contents The Cause lies not always in the Genitals I. The Cure must be varied according to the variety of Causes II. The distinction of Seed from Pus and Phlegm III. A virulent one must never be cured by Astringents IV. The use of Astringents is oft times hurtfull V. It must not be stopt rashly VI. Things that extinguish Seed are not always proper VII In a virulent one bloud must be let in the foot
continued for four days Lastly an Electuary made of old Treacle extract of Juniper Confectio Hyacinthi and Crocus Martis Nor did G. Harduyinus de S. Jacobo Velschius Obs 67. commend the decoction of the root of Statice it is a kind of Mountain Giliflower for any one intention more than for that of drying V. We must not stop a Gonorrhoea rashly nor presently or at a venture for it has been often seen that they who have endeavoured to stop such Gonorrhoea's unseasonably and violently especially before the Body has been purged of its filth have had Buboes Inflammations of their Stones and have been troubled with pains in their Kidneys and Loins and with a thousand other afflictions Wherefore before we put our helping hand to the part affected we must provide for the whole Body lest some such thing or worse befall us The best way therefore of cure is that which cuts off every Cause Mercatus beginning with the most prevalent VI. Concerning the cure of that which is said to be caused by watry and thin Seed we must carefully observe whether it be true Seed that comes away although it be watry thin and crude or whether as Langius lib. 2. ep 5. takes notice it be corrupt and vitious humours which being gathered in the Body flow to the Genital parts and are voided by the passage whereby Seed is usually cast out as sometimes vitious humours gathered in the Body use to be evacuated by the Womb which they call the Whites In the first case we must use such things as incrassate Seed make it firm and detain it In the second we must not use incrassating and astringent things but evacuaters correcters of Cacochymy and a good Diet Therefore Langius l. c. says I can safely swear Sennertus I have cured several onely by purging and a spare Diet. VII Sometimes it is caused through abundance of Wind gathering of crudities want of sleep or eating windy things If you endeavour to stop this with Medicines that extinguish Seed you will make it much worse because such sort of Medicines are exceeding cold whereby the intemperature which is the cause of the Gonorrhoea Rondeletiue is encreased VIII The Seat of a virulent Gonorrhoea is in the Prostatae and the Vesiculae seminariae which if it be unseasonably stopt the virulence is communicated to the whole Body or it flows back to the Stones and there causes a Tumour or if it extend to the perinaeum unless it be timely repelled it causes an Abscess and erodes the Vrethra It is not safe to let bloud in the Arm if the heat in these parts be gentle and without a Fever Bloud must rather be let in the Foot because the Saphaena arises near the Groin and imparts two branches to these parts and therefore large bloud-letting does make powerfull revulsion when Buboes break out Few or none besides Palmarius and Fallopius let bloud in the Arm which is suspected for fear of the Venereal Disease Riolanuâ— through a reflux of the virulence into the bowels and habit of the Body IX Now a days some reckon the matter must be purged from the whole yea and diverted to the ways of Urine perhaps after Galen's example who a long time after Hydragogues used Diureticks with success and therefore some give Turpentine washed in Mallow water with Powder of Liquorice But in my practice I never found any good from Diureticks Nor do I give Turpentine except in Contractions and Convulsions of the Vessels and the Penis Wherefore I have seen the cure succeed happily by deriving the matter to the Ambit of the Body by Diureticks and Sweats with the help of some proper decoction Fortiâ— X. Immoderate Venus is commended as indeed it has done good to some the venomous infection being poured out with the Seed while it has not as yet penetrated deep into the substance of the similar parts yet because it draws the humours from all places into the parts affected Enchir. Med. Pract. and causes an Inflammation it must be omitted XI If a Woman's Womb by continual coition be full of Seed she does not conceive till the Womb unburthen it self which stagnating there a long time hence sometimes molae arise the Dropsie Wind and Flux of the Womb like Women's Whites which yet it is not Nor is it a Gonorrhoea which if Women once suffer they are ever afterwards barren all remedies proving to no purpose This excretion is known for a cold matter comes away without pain and emaciation of the body Moreover this Flux must not be suppressed Panarolus but rather provoked XII One came to Spaw to get a Remedy for his impotency because he let go his Seed at the first touch of the labia but it was watrish and very like Whey Because this happened in a sound body and I could imagine no other cause I told him I thought he had an Ulcer in his intestinum rectum therefore the vessels necessary for the preparation and ejaculation of Seed being affected with a putrid vapour did breed Seed which was insufficient for a long tension of the Penis and for a brisk coition Then I ordered a suppository onely of Honey and it was drawn out again besmeared with much thick Pus Then a Chirurgeon was called who with his middle Finger found a great and deep Ulcer To whom when Medicines were applied that manifestly did him good Feers Obs Med. 10. he went his way and neglected the cure XIII Things that abate Seed or Antivenereals either diminish the product of Seed not so much by subtracting the quantity of Aliment which indeed makes much for the diminution of Venus as by hindring the gathering of Seed or by constriction wherefore Saturnines inwardly have the first place especially Saccharum Saturni made by Evaporation which by its intense sweetness stimulates the Tongue but in truth by the parts of the distilled Vinegar joined with the metallick ones it does as it were concentre the Serum for in my judgment Seed is the finest cream of the Serum so that it cannot grow turgid or reach to the genital parts but weakly wherefore given in plenty it emasculates and binds And for this reason Tinctura Saturnina vulgarly called Antiphthisica may by better right be called Styptica and Antivenerea And by dissipating and destroying the Seminiform consistency procuring a difflation of the Spirits such especially are Camphorates and bitter things as Absynthiacks and Aloeticks have partly some respect hither so Vitex and leaves of Rue c. Or they take off the Stimulation Orgasm and Acrimony Such especially are watry things Coolers as Water Lily Lettuce Purslain Emulsions c. For as the heat of the Kidneys or of the bloud rather and the vigour of the Serum make much for the separation of the Seed in the Pampiniform passages and Pores so things which dilute and temper the heat breed a less vigorous Seed Therefore Drunkards who drown their Bodies with too much
seminales which arises of acrimony contracted from impure Coition may be cleansed and fitted for consolidation so that he who would proceed with these things alone and exhaust tâ—e matter would labour in vain For then that is when these things have been already used strengtheners of Agrimony Strawberry Succinates and the like which makes the lax parts firm mitigate the acrimony and stop the fluidity may commodiously be subjoined XX. We must not rely on external Oils and Unguents for wasting and checking of Seed For these very things make the toâ—â— of the genital parts more lax and so rather promote than stop the Flux Wherefore Vnguentum Ros Mesues refrigerans Galeni Oil of Henbane and other Oils which are usually commended have indeed sometimes their place especially anointed on the Loins but it is better to insist on internals than these Nor will you doe any good by anointing the Stones therewith Idem to say nothing that Oils heat the Parts XXI Tinctura vitrioli Martis Saturnisata commonly called Antiphthisica according to my experience succeeds well if in a moist way Acetum stillatitium Saturnisatum or that which has contracted a saturated sweetness from the Minium be poured upon vitriolum Martis either poudered or whole Or in a dry way if Vinegar and Spirit of Wine be poured on vitriolum Martis and Saccharum Saturni each a like quantity and mixt together Patients that are ill of nocturnal Pollutions do usually after taking of this Tincture especially in a large and continued dose Idem lose their Appetite XXII When onely a virulent Gonorrhoea afflicts a Patient and the mass of bloud is not as yet infected the Cure must be applied onely to the Gonorrhoea But when the mischief has crept farther and has infected the whole mass of bloud then the universal cure must be premised at least joined with it And a rational cure of a Gonorrhoea will be insisted on if we consider that it follows an Ulcer in the Prostatae and vesiculae seminariae For although I do not deny that onely a debility in those parts does often remain after too much coition and breeds a Gonorrhoea of many years continuance yet no Gonorrhoea will ever be virulent unless beside the Seed the bloud also that comes for the nutrition of those parts do corrupt into a sharp and virulent humour such as is usually voided in a Venereal Gonorrhoea therefore called virulent And that which so corrupts both the Seed and Bloud will more or less corrupt the containing part also and therefore will at length raise some sort of Ulcer in it Since therefore there can be no other part that contains the virous matter besides the Prostatae and the vesiculae seminariae they may deservedly be said either one or both of them to labour of an Ulcer A thing that must never be passed by when we insist upon the cure of this Symptome which will never be happily performed unless the Ulcer be removed and the Disease which this Symptome follows Therefore in the dogmatical cure of a virulent Gonorrhoea we must think of cleansing and healing again of the Ulcer and of correcting or removing its cause The cause of this Ulcer is a sharp and virulent humour communicated in Coition sticking about these spermatick Vessels corrupting the Bloud and Seed and after the Afflux of it when corrupted remaining in part in the solid and containing parts and by the corruption of the new affluent matter perpetuating both the Ulcer and the virulent Flux He therefore will according to art and successfully cure a virulent Gonorrhoea who first corrects that virulent and sharp Ferment which caused and maintains the Ulcer and corrupts the Seed and Bloud or who wholly discharges the Body of it Secondly who cleanses and heals the Ulcer produced by it And all the Medicines that are vulgarly commended in the cure of a virulent Gonorrhoea do answer these few indications as he will easily observe that considers all these things with an attentive mind although few when they are about the Cure do sufficiently observe all these things wherefore no wonder if so often the cure succeeds either not at all or but very slowly Divers Emulsions which are commonly used in this case correct the sharp and virulent Humour and Decoctions which they call emollient and lenient being made of Liquoriâ—h Barley c. Turpentine it self and its Oil Balsam of Peru Oleum de Copiva c. 2. The same Decoctions in a manner Emulsions Oils and Cantharides c. do void the same sharp and virulent humour by the way of Urine while being endued with a Diuretick faculty they discharge that virulent ferment together with the Urine And if any Man will but with an attentive mind consider all these things he will easily find they are good to temper and expell an acid and sharp humour and therefore that a virulent Gonorrhoea depends upon and is produced by such a humour as we have proved it from all the Symptoms of the Pox and now do confirm it by Medicines that are proper for the Cure of this Gonorrhoea and such as are found so onely by Experience Certainly all things which powerfully alter or correct the humour in a virulent Gonorrhoea are either Aromaticks or at least do more or less temper an Acid among which Crabs Eyes do not come in the last place very necessary and usefull in curing of this Disease The method therefore of Cure consists partly in alteration and tempering of a sharp humour that breeds and maintains the Ulcer in the Spermatick Vessels and Glands and partly in the Expulsion of the same with the Urine when it is more or less contemperated as by the next and commodious way For which purpose also sudorifick Decoctions commended in the general Cure of the Pox may be used because they do not onely expell the peccant humours by Urine but they also temper the sharp and acid Partly in cleansing the Ulcer and then in consolidation of it both by Turpentine washt and by it boiled and by its Oil and by Balsam of Peru Oleum de Copiva several sorts of Balsam of Sulphur c. Partly in strengthening of the same Glands Prostatae and vesiculae seminales that are weakned with this malignant Flux by gentle Astringents and Aromaticks things endued at least with a fixt Salt which destroys an Acid Castor Amber Myrrh Mastick Coral Bloud-Stone Lacca c. to be taken inwardly and such like things to wit Oil of Mastick and other things to be applied outwardly to the Perinaeum And in such a Method a virulent Gonorrhoea will be cured successfully which if neglected or not well observed Sylvius de le Boë App. Tr. 3. Sect. 332 seq sometimes it is rendred in a manner incurable and especially by reason of the part extremely weakned with a long Flux Medicines especially made use of by eminent Physicians 1. This is very famous both for them that lose their Seed walking and in their sleep Take
besides if abundance of bloud be contained in the veins of the Womb the upper and the lower veins both must be opened But when the flux of the Menses is at a distance a vein must first be opened in the Arm which being opened will give present relief Sâ—nnertus and cannot be expected from bleeding in the Foot III. Hippocrates lib. de Humor says there are three things that hinder bloud letting in them that spit bloud The time of the year a Pleurisie and â—ile For a Man might think that bloud might be safely let as often as the Spittle appears bloudy since thereby it appears that the Disease comes of bloud and that a transmutation is not as yet made which should hinder bleeding The first impediment is in the Summer season at which time the Ancients abstained from letting of bloud for several reasons but especially because the bloud at that time is thinnest and next to a bilious humour Wherefore since it is yet farther attenuated by bleeding-there is danger lest by continuance of the Summer's heat all the bloud be turned into bilious juice Moreover at that time Men's bodies evaporate and waste much with the ambient heat so that they scarce seem able to bear bleeding And if it may be feared in all Diseases much more may we fear it in this For since it is very likely at that time the fault of the bloud consists not in the great quantity but in the bad quality which makes it thin and sharp its excretion must of necessity be increased rather than diminished if it be farther attenuated by letting of bloud Which reasons indeed the more they prevail while Bile has dominion in the body which was the second impediment so much less ought bloud to be let not onely in spitting of bloud but also in any other Disease that has its original from Bile Mâ—â—â—ianus commâ—n cit locum or takes a Man who abounds with Bilious juice so that it is no wonder if Hippocrates never durst open a Vein in Bilious Persons IV. If strength or age admit not of Bleeding let Cupping-glasses be applied to the buttocks loins if bloud do not proceed from the lower parts or to the hypochondria not to the breast If from the womb to the lower parts They that apply Cupping-glasses to the liver or spleen without Scarification sometimes doe their Patients good sometimes harm For if a Vein have been broken in those parts by a blow or a fall and Nature cast the bloud out thence by the mouth or nose if you hinder it you will cause a great Inflammation in the bowels But if a Vessel were onely opened and not broken or eroded then Cupping-glasses may safely be applied Heurnius V. In Spitting of bloud which is caused by salt Phlegm falling from the head a Cautery may be made in the coronal future I do not approve of it in the Arm Bernardinus Paternus for so the matter might be drawn down from the head VI. When Women spit bloud Avicenna lib. 3. fen 10. tr 3. c. 6. orders the menses to be provoked The bloud saith he is inclined downwards in Women by provoking the menses in their hour But he must be understood of that provoking of the menses which is caused by means of frictions of the lower parts applying of Cupping-glasses and Bleeding in the Saphoena not of that which is caused by taking internal Medicines For otherwise he would contradict himself because he forbids such Patients menagogues with which the bloud grows hot and thin ferments and is rendred sharper VII Hippocrates 6. Epid. sect 3. t. 44. says the Season of the year a Pleurisie Bile are each of them an impediment in them that spit bloud Galen expounds it as if these three things hindred Bleeding namely the Season of the year because near the Dog-days we abstain from Bloud-letting Bile because Venaesection is naught for bilious persons A Pleurisie because if this and Spitting of bloud be complicated bloud must be let according to the rules of a Pleurisie not according to the rules of Bloud-letting But this exposition is erroneous for we both let Men bloud in the Dog-days and when they are cholerick And besides are not many Haemorrhagies wholsome in Summer time And grant that Bile is enraged by letting bloud this may onely serve to caution us that where Bile offends we let bloud sparingly Upon account of the Pleurisie a Vein may be opened on either side without any lett and we may cure the Spitting of bloud aright Vallesius is in the right who understands this Impediment not to hinder Bleeding but the Cure simply As if Hippocrates should have said When any one is ill of Spitting of bloud the Season of the year either very hot or very cold is an Impediment that he cannot so well be cured because an excess of either Season heat or cold increases Spitting of bloud Cold breaks Heat makes lax Then Bile requires the taking of Purgatives which are aperient and irritating And lastly a Pleurisie cannot otherwise be cured than by expectoration and nothing is better for Spitting of bloud than quietness of the breast And Galen himself acknowledges as much 1. Aphorism 16. Spitting of bloud saith he and a Pleusie stand in need of a contrary Cure Moreover whereas Spitting of bloud is caused either by Anastomosis or by Diaeresis or by Diabrosis or by Diapedesis these 3 Impediments hinder the Cure of them all First a hot time of the year hurts an Anastomosis as also it may hurt the Flux which comes by Diapedesis all the passages and mouths of the Veins being made lax and the bloud sharp and hot Cold hurts a Flux by Diaeresis 6. Epid. sect 3. t. 14. For Cold breaks the Veins and provokes a Cough the Cough also breaks them by Concussion The second Impediment is Bile which by its corrosion hinders the Cure of the Flux of bloud by Diabrosis for what Cure can there be where the Cause still is that augments the Disease The third is a Pleurisie which if it happen with Spitting of bloud gives and receives an Impediment so that the one cannot be cured without the other I do not here speak of Spitting of bloud which appears in a sanguineous Pleurisie as yellow Spittle does in a bilious one but of a Patient first taken with a Spitting of bloud and afterwards with a Pleurisie These two Diseases mutually increase and hinder one the other in their Cure They increase one the other for a Pleurisie causes a Cough which hurts them that spit bloud Again Spitting of bloud makes the parts in the Breast weak and easily susceptive whereby the Pleurisie is furnished with greater store of matter They hinder one another in Cure for a Pleurisie cannot otherwise be cured than by Expectoraters as Oxymel otherwise there is danger of Suffocation by keeping the Spittle which cure is contrary to that which is proper for Spitting of bloud for which quietness is altogether
them in the manner of a Schirrhus yet without a Schirrhus it so much distends them that a great swelling oftentimes arises about the Region of the Liver and shews it self by the same signs that a Schirrhus has but that it is less renitent and bred in a shorter time For oftentimes it appears so big that it fills the whole Hypochondrium so that you can neither feel the ends of the ribs nor get your fingers under them nor can you feel any figure or circumscription of the Liver It is known that this Disease comes from abundance of vaporous and gross wind because the Patients perceive not onely a sense of gravity but of distension Not much unlike as the Spleen is sometime distended by a flatuous Spirit as Trallianus testifies they call it 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Windiness and Inflation And when vulgar Physicians know not that the swellings of both these viscera come from wind how blindly do they go about the Cure when they know not the cause of this Disease Then thousands of Juleps are prescribed the cure is protracted a long time and at last when they have done more harm than good they with great constancy affirm that it is an incurable Schirrhus of the Liver or the Spleen But this Ignorance does shamefully disgrace its authors for when this cloudy vapour impacted in the part is in process of time discussed by the innate heat with fomentations fasting an extenuating and heating Diet administred by old Women and Empericks the swelling of the Hypochondrium vanishes all pain is pacified and these pains with their false opinion are rejected I exhort therefore all ingenuous lovers of truth and such as have regard to their Good-Name and Credit diligently to learn the difference between the Symptoms of Wind and others Indeed it is very difficult but very commendable and a thing that gains the Learned much credit For many Patients as if they were breathing their last through excessive pain and trouble do miserably cry out for no other cause than that they come from a windy Spirit Which if it be corrupt if it arise from a putrid and poisonous matter and run up and down the Limbs with intolerable pain then it requires a man well skilled in the works of Art who can know both the molesting Wind and the matter whence it arises and can distinguish this from other Diseases Moreover the distension of the Hypochondrium from wind alone is of no long continuance without the efflux of Phlegm for continual Pain draws it the extension of the passages admits it and the coldness of it yea and of both of them weakens the Liver whereupon crude humours are bred Wherefore I would advise the Physician to take care of both but of that especially which is most urgent Yet we must have a care how we use hot things especially in such as are plethorick or have got a hot Liver either by nature or a hot course of Diet. A large Cupping-glass applied twice or thrice with much flame is good yet not before the phlegm be perfectly evacuated otherwise there were danger lest it should fix the phlegm there and prove the cause of a true Schirrhus Almost the same remedies are good for the flatulent obstruction of the Spleen which are good for the Liver but it requires stronger purges if the humours be gross But if there be no great store of flatulencies and they be thin without hot matter and if the habit of the body be spare then gentle things must be used both inwardly and outwardly Flenus Physograph cap. 9. 19. and oftentimes the applying of a Cupping-glass will be sufficient XVI My Tincture made of Mars and Saccharum Saturni in Plantain-water is good against an Inflammation of the Liver For Saturn is contrary to all Inflammations But we must have a care that we use it not too often Petraeus Nosol Harmon l. 2. p. 211. Externally the same may be used with Water of Plantain Roses Strawberry or Night-shade ¶ If you would know whether there be an Inflammation in it or in any other part apply hot Topicks If the part can bear them there is no inflammation Riverius But if it cannot bear them certainly know there is an Inflammation and that an Abscess will follow XVII The Wife of N. being ill of a Schirrhus in her Liver used so many emollient things that at length an Inflammation â—nd then a great Abscess arose after which an Ulcer and Death followed From whence it is clear that Emollients must not be used to Scirrhous Tumours as Galen 5. simp cap. 1. advises And not onely Scirrhous Tumours of the Internal parts Fab. Hildanus c. 4. de Gangraen but of the external also are exasperated by them and turn to Cancers XVIII If the Scirrhus be contumacious Emplastrum è Cicuta Hildani does the business I used it with good success in a Lawyer of Marpurg Although it cause pain Hartmannus yet it must be kept on and renewed every third day XIX The Liver being a noble part must be treated with great caution for you must not think that you need not care with what remedies you alter it so as you may reduce it to its natural Symmetry but you must see when it rages with heat that you do not apply to it chilly things whereby the small veins of the Liver may be stopt for thence a great calamity of Putrefaction may arise and a foundation may be laid for the greatest Fevers Let them therefore be openers of obstructions such as breathe a gentle heat for this is a part of so great authority that Life cannot subsist without it Heurnius ¶ I indeed avoid the excessive use of cold things to the Liver Because it is a part which when it is hot easily falls into the contrary fault Yet to them that have a natural strength in that part and their Liver burns with a hot intemperature an Oxyrrhodinum actually cold may be applied as it is used to the Forehead and also a Cataplasm made of it and Barley-flower or of bruised herbs cold virtually as well as actually And truely I have found this very seasonable in Burning Fevers Vallesius with an Inflammation of it XX. When the Liver is hot we must consider whether the Intemperature be simple or come of bile If from bile we must cool with gentle aperients and bind a little as with Conserve of Maiden-hair Heurnius with Cichoraceous things Bugloss and the greater cold Seeds XXI Then for tempering the heat of the Liver and Bloud two great remedies must be used the one internal the other external The Internal is Asses Milk and Sugar methodically given for forty days and more And the External is a Bath of sweet Water for the whole body made of a decoction of leaves of Mallow Fortis cons 47. cent 4. Violets Willow Water-lily c. XXII After the Meat is passed out of the Stomach and
concocted it is good to drink especially Beer well boiled and wrought for so the Stomach as Avicenna says is washt the Guts whose moisture is exhausted by the heat of the Liver are moistned and the Belly is loosned the Chyle also penetrates aright into the Veins Crato for drink is nothing but the Vehicle of the Chyle XXIII Avicenna says A Vein must be opened in an obstruction of the Liver when it is old Which must be rightly understood for if we should always tarry till the Obstruction were old certainly it would be so encreased that it would be dangerous Avicenna therefore means some great fault in the bloud Capivaccius and if the Obstruction be from bloud and give not way to gentle Medicines a Vein must be opened XXIV Whether the Liver or Spleen labour of an Obstruction of crude thin and inconcocted humours or of a Scirrhus the Physician may quickly remove the Disease if he carry off the matter by strong Purges But if out of timorousness because of Aph. 22.1 he delay it the bad humours mix themselves with the Mass of bloud so that afterwards there arises a tedious Disease Walâ—us XXV If there be no occasion nor reason to let bloud we must take care to purge the bloud from the pollution of the serous and watry humour by giving things to purge the serous Tumour For which purpose I have learned by long experience that Juice of Seed of Carthamus and an Infusion of Agarick and Rheubarb are good which you must doe at short Intervals namely every third or fourth day for you must in this manner purge the obstructions of the Liver especially them that are in the gibbous or hollow part of the Liver Because to purge more plentifully would either be to no purpose or dangerous seeing it is impossible for a great deal to pass the obstructed cavities but in an obstruction that is not in the passages we may evacuate more liberally When you have done this six times you must betake your self to things that have a virtue to evacuate the humidity of the Liver and to correct its fault and so for six or eight days you must give every morning Confectio de jecore Lupi made into Lozenges also Powder or Lozenges of China and Dock-root with twice as much Sugar or Diarrhoden with powder of Schoenanth Trochiscs of Rheubarb with a little Dialacca and Sugar And so at intervals you must purge what is watry and strengthen the Liver and you must endeavour to open it with the foresaid Medicines Mercatus XXVI Errour is committed by many in the use of Rheubarb If the obstruction come from bile it is approved if from phlegm or melancholy by no means especially when the phlegm is thin But if thick phlegm or melancholy offend it will doe harm for it evacuates Bile which is matter of Health in the Body because by its heat the coldness of the phlegm and melancholy abates it attenuates also and in some measure is detersive This is another errour Because this Disease is of long continuance Physicians prescribe that the Patient do frequently that is every or every other day chew Rheubarb and swallow it but they are mistaken for bile is evacuated which does not offend and the obstruction is increased because it is not administred in infusion but in substance which is thick and stops They err also who order it to be chewed with Raisins to take off the unpleasantness But by this means its substance is carried to the Liver the place obstructed for sweet things serve for a vehicle to others whereby the vessels are more obstructed Capivaccius XXVII It is a good way of cure which evacuates by Urine but we must not use all evacuaters by Urine for things that breed much aqueous humidity do rather give an augmentation to the cause and increase obstructions Wherefore many doe amiss in using emulsions of the cold Seeds for obstructions remaining after acute diseases Therefore I think such things should be used which either have a property to move Urine as Rheubarb Seed of Carthamus or are abstersive as Turpentine and Chalybeate Medicines For things that are properly diuretick as such as put the humours in fusion seem a little suspicious though sometimes they may be usefull Mercatus because they contribute much to the carrying of other Medicines XXVIII Things that dissolve Tartar bred any where in the body do open obstructions of the Liver from what cause soever they proceed For as the obstructions of the Macrocosm so also of the Microcosm are made by Tartar But things may be added to them which are commonly prescribed by Practitioners for though they cannot doe the business yet they are sure vehicles to carry deobstruent Medicines that is things that dissolve Tartar to the part affected and render them more effectual Therefore distilled Waters Apozemes Infusions Syrups c. ought not to be neglected Iron and its various preparations are the principal Medicines in this case Many preparations of it are invented but the simpler they are the better It is admirable how effectual the crude filings of Mars are in such diseases taken twice or thrice a day from half a scruple to half a drachm Hartmannus XXIX We must always take care that some Astringents be mixt with things that open obstructions and attenuate that the substance of the viscus may be strengthned and the aperients being longer detained there may act more effectually For it has been found that the Liver has been not a little hurt by the excessive and continual use of aperients Vallesius XXX They deserve reprehension who give but 1 ounce and an half of Oxymel which small quantity scarce moistens the bottom of the Stomacâ— it is kept partly in the Paristhmia and after it is taken is spit out again and partly in the Gullet wherefore both the quantity and virtue of it are so diminished in the journey before it comes at the Liver that the materia prima of the Oxymel gets not thither I give 4 ounces of Oxymel and sometimes 6 every day but at divers hours that is 1 ounce and an half early in the morning and as much a little before dinner and supper for if it should all be given in the morning it would hurt the Stomach too much Sanctorius XXI In opening obstructions of the Liver we must proceed in this order first the concave then the gibbous part of it must be opened and indeed in the concave preparation must be used with clarified juice of Cichory Liverwort and Agrimony to 3 ounces in a decoction of Cichory Agrimony Hops Asparagus and roots of Grass having first given a Bolus of Pil. de tribus half a drachm with Cassia persisting several days that both the passages may be opened and the gross excrements carried off not omitting a Purge of Agarick Rheubarb Senna c. The hollow part being opened the gibbous part of the Liver must be cured with violent
openers and purgers for example Take of extract of Rheubarb 1 scruple Tartarum vitriolatum half a scruple Mix them Make a Bolus upon which let the Patient drink some distilled Water of Agrimony in which after a while ten drops of rectified Spirit of Tartar may be dropt Fortis XXXII Purgatives must answer in proportion to the foresaid preparers and aperients among which since Rheubarb has the prerogative we must not depart from it yet observing this difference that as the substance purges the hollow more than the gibbous part so the Infusion purges the gibbous part more than the hollow of the Liver because it communicates its subtiler parts to the Infusion Let 2 drachms be infused in Agrimony-water adding a little Spike Senna and Polypody of the Oak and to the expression add some Syrup of Roses solutive Idem XXXIII We must not desist from the use of aperients till all pain be quite gone or well abated and the Hypochondria be lighter since the obstruction of the Liver is a chronical Disease and usually cannot be opened in one week nay scarce in a whole year We must be very industrious to take it away for there is the beginning and foundation of all Diseases and unless it be carefully and totally taken away it causes the corruption of the Bloud Inflammations Fevers Schirrhi divers Fluxes of the Belly Cachexy Dropsie Jaundice c. 2. A due order must be observed in giving of all Medicines Universals must always be given before Particulars and Topicks 3. Medicines must not be given till long after Meat 4. They must be Liquid that they may penetrate 5. Attenuant dissolving and discussing things besides that they must be moderate and must also be hepatick and astringent 6. In Diseases of the Liver we must not use sweet things as Meat but as Sauce after recovery but they must not be offered to any while they are indisposed Hofmannus External Topicks must never be cold but always hot or warm XXXIV One at Padua was ill of a deplorable Ulcer of the Liver he was otherwise a lusty Man and addicted to Sea-affairs The Excellent H. S. a Physician of Venice conâ—rary to the advice of the rest of the Physicians got his Abdomen opened with a Razour upon the Region of the Liver that much of the Pus might run out at the wound After which the wound was cured and the Man survived and three years after he leaped and wrought Capivaccius and found no inconvenience XXXV Some are of opinion that an Imposthume of the Liver must not be opened because according to Fernelius 6. de part Morb. cap. 4. and Forestus lib. 19. obs 10. an Ulcer contracted from an Abscess which is continually washed with aliment must perpetually be very foul nor can it ever heal seeing the substance of the Liver is spermatick and can no more be repaired than other such parts This Disease therefore since it is of it self mortal let the Physician abstain from external incision or burning lest he be thought to have killed the Man whom the violence of the Disease destroyed But on the contrary where it is not possible to evacuate the Pus by Urine or any other way Mercatus Pract. lib. 4. cap. 2. intimates that the opening of it with a red hot Iron may be practised by a skilfull and honest Chirurgeon If saith he the abscess appear outwardly certainly it is bad not to cut it because if incision be omitted the Liver is eroded by the Pus and there is no escaping of Death But if you be minded to cut it without a red-hot Iron there will be danger of an hemorrhage and the Man will immediately be destroyed Notwithstanding Capivaccius l. 3. Pract. c. 23. and Saxonia l. 3. Panthaei c. 29. give instances of the opening of it with success Some tumours come to suppuration and because the Liver is of little sense for onely the gibbous part of it has Nerves therefore crude ones cannot be distinguished from suppurable ones but in process of time For then they that suppurate especially on the gibbous part stand out sharp and indicate Section without endangering of Life as I have experienced in several although the common integuments the Muscles and Peritonaeum were cut But if it be in the hollow part it must be purged by Urine as I observed in a Nun. Which cannot be done in a Tumour of the gibbous part When it is cut a Tent may be put in dipt in the White of an Egg. Then we must use digestives as in the wound of that part Marchetti obs 52. Afterwards a cicatrice must be made with Sarcoticks and then with Epuloticks yet all the purulent matter must first be evacuated by help of Tents and leaden Pipes by which it is purged sooner and with more convenience In this manner I have cured several who at this present live well in health ¶ Hippocrates 7. Aph. 46. teaches us how a purulent Liver may be healed But almost all Men judge them desperate who have a purulent Liver The Cure I believe is not so difficult but it may be attempted with some hopes of recovery But Physicians fearing lest the Pus should be found bloudy and fetid in which case they certainly die are afraid lest the cause of death should be imputed to them I visited one whose Liver I immediately judged was inflamed and purulent Others believed he was troubled with a malignant Fever I thought to have cut him over against the Swelling to let the Pus out which remedy was derided After he was dead I ordered the place to be opened which the wretched Man while he lived pointed to as most tormented and the Coat of the Liver was found parted from the Parenchyma and in that space there were five pounds of white Pus Sanctorius as I foretold ¶ Although Hippocrates 7. Aph. 42. says the case is desperate when Pus comes out like to Lees of Oil yet we must not wholly desist from good hope seeing this seems to proceed rather from the natural condition of the suppurated Liver than from the default of heat onely because when the substance of the Liver is inflamed the heat is not such as to be able to turn the substance of it into white Pus But if you will venture on it make the hole large outwardly Mercatus and narrow inwardly Hernia or A Rupture The Contents It does not come in the Groin onely I. Whether we may rely on Medicines taken inwardly II. Rest and long lying in bed the best remedy III. The fashion of a Splenium under the Truss IV. A Truss must be applied to each Groin V. Cutting must not be tried in all VI. A rupture in the Guts cured by Section VII The way of curing one without Section by means of a Caustick VIII The Physician ought not to consent to Castration IX The new way of curing a Rupture false X. The coalition in old Men cannot be expected XI Whether Section
may be ventured on in them XII We must not purge in a Rupture with an Inflammation XIII Whether Clysters may be given in one XIV One cured onely by means of a Truss XV. By long taking of Saracen's Consound XVI A caution about putting up of the Gut out of the Scrotum by Chirurgery XVII If an Hydrocele must be cured by Incision let it be made in the lower part of the Scrotum XVIII Cured by a Cautery XIX Every Hydrocele admits not of Section XX. A safe way of Cure XXI After opening the Tent must quickly be removed XXII Section is dangerous if there be a Sarcocele with it XXIII The Chirurgical care of a Pneumatocele XXIV When a Sarcocele must be cured by Section XXV Cured by Medicines XXVI The true way of Cure XXVII A false one from the Swelling of the Parastatae XXVIII Where the Ligature preceding excision must be made XXIX The Chirurgical cure of a Varicous one XXX The prevention of a Varicous one XXXI We must have regard to the fomenting cause XXXII Medicines I. THe Groin is the usual place for Ruptures but do not perswade your self that the Peritonaeum cannot be dilated or burst in other places and make a Rupture there It happens above the Navel but very seldom Not onely I but others with me have seen one below the Navel and by the sides of it and far above the Groin which they dealt with as with an Abscess And the Chirurgeon could produce no other reason for his errour but that it was not the usual place for Ruptures Practice shews us many other Ruptures besides simple and compound ones which are not found among Writers For experience has taught me that the Peritonaeum may burst in the hind part toward the back and there make a Rupture we find also that the process of the Peritonaeum may be so burst in the Groin that the Guts may not fall into the Scrotum but thrust themselves between the Skin and the Muscles towards the thigh Besides I have more than once observed a vas deferens corrugated has fallen into the Scrotum and caused a Rupture there which might easily be put up by help of the hand Barbette yea which upon lying on his back would go in of it self from which no danger need be feared II. Medicines acting by a manifest quality are such as by their excellent astringent and drying quality do contract the process of the Peritonaeum and stop the going out of the Guts But the use of them in grown persons is very much suspected for by long using of them the Liver and other of the Inwards are hurt and obstructed and then I see not how the virtue of them because of their astringent faculty can get to the place affected Besides the Belly is made very costive but how dangerous costiveness is for a Rupture is known to all Men. Yet I have often experienced these things following which act by their specifick virtue Hildanus to be excellent Comfrey-root Rupture-wort Earth-worms spotted Lungwort Stag's-pizzle Seed of Thorow-wax III. The noble J. J. à Diespach had been ill for 20 years of a great Rupture of his Guts for curing of which he had used several experienced Men but in vain At length when he did not dream of being cured of it he had a fit of sickness which confined him above six months to his bed After this he found not the least sign of his preceding Rupture nor did he use Trusses any more And that it was a perfect cure this is a sign for when two years afterwards he was troubled with stoppage of Urine and Costiveness Idem and used an emollient Bath and laxative Ointments not the least sign of any Rupture appeared ¶ Contrary to the expectation of many I cured a Man who had had a Rupture in his guts 10 years thus I ordered him to keep his Bed for a month keeping his Legs as close together as he could not spreading them abroad to keep a drying diet unless perhaps he took a few stewed Prunes to loosen him to eat nothing windy crude and hard of digestion except feet of Hogs Kids or Sheep And he used these Medicines Take of Terra Sigillata Comfrey-root true Bole-Armenick each 2 drachms burnt Hartshorn 1 drachm Let him take for 14 or 15 days 1 drachm and an half or 2 drachms every morning in Capon-broth Then take of Dragon's-bloud Mumy Mastich Frankincense Comfrey-root Bole-Armenick Red Snails Hedge-hog powdered 1 ounce Let them all be incorporated with the Turpentine make a Plaster and apply it to the Groin Riverius Yet let universals be used before IV. In fitting the Splenium to the Truss our chief care must be to make it fit that it be not round like a ball as they are usually made by unskilfull Chirurgeons for when they are so extuberant they drive the Groin too much inward that the torn membrane cannot chuse but keep open continually and will never knit So also it comes to pass that the Gut bursts out upon any violent motion and notwithstanding that turgid round Splenium it slips down into the Scrotum Therefore the Splenium must be three-cornered large enough for the Groin affected so gently supported and covered with a plate outwardly convex a little or with some hard renitent matter that the inner Superficies may not be plainly extuberant but so made that it may be firm and as it were a little concave which may neatly receive the Groin and may gently press it Solenander Sâ—â—t 4. c. â—3 when it is every way aptly comprehended V. A Truss must be fitted to each Groin for if it be applied but to one onely Fortis it swells the other and easily causes a Bubonocele VI. They that go about to cure Ruptures by Section let them first see and diligently enquire whether the Intestines fallen into the Scrotum through the processes of the Peritonaeum and straitned by the narrowness of the way have contracted a Gangrene for then though they cut never so well the Man will dye the next day And it will be thought that the Chirurgeon has killed him Of which thing Slegelius observed examples in France Velschius VII Being called to some too late when the Gut was inflamed so that it could not get back again by the narrow hole in the broken Peritonaeum for the Swelling I saved three Patients from present death by dilating the hole with incision thus First I place him as I said before for reposition binding him fast so that he cannot stir in the operation After this I draw a transverse line with Ink over the line of the strangulation of the Gut where the Rupture of the Peritonaeum is Then I draw another line to cut the former perpendicularly just upon the place of Strangulation and in the middle of it then I take up the skin between my two fingers on each side according to the transverse Section and cut it with a Razour along
of a Cataplasm of Snails XLVIII Cured by a Seton in the Foot XLIX One that follows an Ague not cured till the Ague be removed L. I. FOrmerly the Liver was reckoned the principal Subject of the Dropsie the onely Instrument of venous alimentary bloud ennobled with that Prerogative by Galen 5. de loc aff c. 7. and 2. progn t. 1. where he also reads that it is not always necessary it should be essentially affected at first the beginning of the Disease arising in it but it may also be affected by consent with other parts Yea he judges no Dropsie can arise without some fault in the Liver or without its consent and conspiration Hippocrates has named not onely the Liver but other parts So 2. Progn Most Dropsies begin in the Ilia or empty places or in the Liver By 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 he means Veins by 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the Spleen Mesentery and Womb. The same 4. de Morbis acknowledges a Dropsie from the Spleen when the Patient draws drink out of the Stomach The Moderns do attest that upon opening of dead Bodies the Liver is not affected primarily in a Dropsie A Dropsie is often observed when the Liver is in no fault Oftentimes the Kidneys and Mesentery are found to have an Abscess or Tumour in them when the Liver is florid sometimes it has been observed a little paler because soaked in Water but it turned florid again upon touching the Air. We are clearly against Galen and as we ascribe the royal power of Sanguification to the Heart so we do not deny that it is affected when this operation is hurt Yet we chiefly blame the ministery of the Bowels which wait on the Heart such especially is the Liver the Colatory Seive and Separatory of the Bile the Spleen of cold and dry Atoms and the Kidneys of the serous Atoms While these parts are weak and do not perform their office and the aquosities that are gathered do not pass by the Kidneys and Bladder stagnating in the hollow of the Abdomen or poured into the Habit of the Body or dissolved into Wind do cause a Dropsie and all the sorts of it The immediate cause is the ill tone both of the principal and ministring parts destined to Chylification and Sanguification Chylification of the Stomach and Guts especially if it be hurt because the faculty is hurt by intemperature evil conformation or any common fault or because of some external errour If the Sanguification of the Heart and Arteries succeed not according to desire if the serous Water be not separated by the Lymphaticks and drawn by the Kidneys and Ureters they stagnate in the Body and in an Ascites are poured into the cavity of the Abdomen The ways are not onely the Vena Portae and the Arteries that accompany it and the Branches that are dispersed through the Cawl and Mesentery but the Lymphatick Vessels also for being weary of their load they expell the Water which of it self affects a passage out and they expel it by Anastomasis Diaeresis and Diapedesis and the rarity of the Membrane of the Liver which is open with Hydatides often afford it a passage Bursting of Water out of the least hole of the Liver about the Portae Jecoris where the Membrane is the thinnest Ulceration and Erosion of the Kidneys Gu. Rolfinccius Epit. Meth. l. 3. c. 9. Bladder and Ureters do all deserve the name of Dropsies There are many mediate Causes II. The ordinary Cure sometimes is not proper if namely the Dropsie in a hot and dry constitution be produced by heating Causes which dissipate the innate Heat as it usually happens in bilious and violent Fevers for then cold Hepaticks with Aperients that are not very hot are proper such as are used in tedious Fevers For Drink he may take a Decoction of Cichory and Star-thistle or of other temperate Aperients but in a larger quantity which namely may asswage thirst temper the heat of the Liver and may moisten it when dried Which Doctrine though it be established by Avicenna Trallianus and others yet because it seems a Paradox to some and is of great moment in practice it will not be useless to confirm it by a famous Example related by Baptista Montanus cons 263. I saw saith he at Venice a Religious Man hydropick of an Ascites and a Tympany who was cured There were with me Papiensis Eugubinus Trincavella and others He had a Tympany with an Ascites and a Consumption with a Hectick We must then dry and moisten wherefore we were at great difference I was for having him drink much but such things as might open because he had abundance of obstructions besides I was for having him moistned because he was in a Consumption I ordered him Syrupus acetosus with all things which provoke Urine Eugubinus was not willing he should drink any thing and he told us a story of one that was cured by dry things Papiensis to put an end to the Controversie concluded that he might drink neither plentifully nor yet not at all The Debate continued till night The Gentleman waited upon every Physician to his Boat When Papiensis was there he turned to a great Person and spake his mind freely which he had dissembled before If you will save this Man's life you must follow Montanus his Advice In this case Medicines of Steel Tartar and Vitriol are proper because they open powerfully and provoke Urine especially mineral Waters and vitriolate Spaws Avicenna reports how a Woman was cured with Pomegranates Riverius III. Galen and the rest of his Followers who attribute all to the qualities of the Elements say that the Dropsie arises not from the Spirits but rather from a cold and moist intemperature of the Liver But how aptly for a right Cure you may guess For let them give as hot things as they please for the Liver they doe no good they increase thirst waste strength and feed and increase the Disease But let them break the violence of the spirits and open the stopt passages the Water gathered within will run out and the Dropsie will be cured Which practice has succeeded well with me in all But in some where there is a corruption of substance or at least some suspicion of it I dare not run this course but do judge I must leave them to the Prognostick IV. It seems contrary to the Rules of Art and to Reason to affirm that Bleeding can be convenient in a Dropsie which nevertheless Hippocrates 11. Epid. sect 5. and lib. Acutor n. 62. did commend I know many will say that Bleeding is usually admitted of in this Disease when it as Hippocrates says arises from Inflammation Yet of these many that talk thus when there is no occasion you will see but few either propose it or when it is proposed admit of it when it ought to be done and this to the Patients great damage But if they knew how to use this Remedy in time and in a
easily powdered The Slime of Snails also is good Platerus XLIX Michael Sterpinus a famous Chymist cured the Dropsie which was much swelled by making a hole in the skin of one Foot and applying a Seton for all the water ran and dropt out at it as by an Alembick Erasius got first of all three long Incisions made in the sole of the Foot that the water might run out which being done the Swelling of the Belly fell and then he used his hydragogue Wines Others make long Scarifications although these ways do not want danger I have found nothing safer than to apply Escharoticks to the calves of the Legs and while the water runs out to provide for a weak Liver Rousnerus obs 83. For so I have cured several of a Dropsie L. I have observed it is in vain to give Medicines for a Dropsie which arises from an Ague while the Ague lasts For you will find the Ague by this means firmer rooted in and the Dropsie not removed We must tarry therefore till the Ague be gone and then we must make haste to undertake the business Sydenham Hydrops Tympanitis or A Tympany The Contents Sometimes it must be cured with cooling things I. Purgatives doe more harm than good II. We must use things to discuss Wind modestly III. The nature of Topicks which doe little good IV. It arises from Wind pent up in the Stomach and Guts V. The Cure by Tapping VI. I. A Gross Wind is the cause of this Dropsie to the generation of which two things are required First Gross Matter and indeed usually black Choler For since they that have black Choler under the bottom of their Stomach abound with wind and sometimes belch much yea oftentimes the greatest share of their Food is turned into wind if the wind be detained it distends the Belly and may make this sort of Dropsie Nor must the cause of it be sought in the Liver onely but oftentimes in the first ways according to Aphor 4.11 Secondly an Efficient which is reckoned a weak heat but it is not simply such but onely in respect to the matter which it is not able to conquer and discuss Yea oftentimes it is preternatural and great enough and acts suddenly and violently upon all the matter and disturbs it this I reckon is what is usually done in a Tympany For if the heat were truly weak it would not act on the matter nor would wind be bred And so an Ascites and a Tympany differ in respect of their matter and the efficient For the matter in a Tympany is more melancholick and the heat is rosting and burning Wherefore also sometimes we must have recourse to cooling Medicines And Mercatus writes If all these Remedies that is hot things doe no good we must use Hippocrates his Advice and Prudence who when he had for several days used hot things in these Pains and found no benefit thereby Sennertus he passed to cold things with great benefit II. Purges are so far from doing any good in a Tympany that they rather exasperate it But Purgatives Hartmannus especially Mercurial ones do often remove that which is joined with an Ascites ¶ Almost the whole intention of Cure is directed against wind by evacuating the matter whence the wind arises Wherefore Purges are usually prescribed on purpose against the humour most suspected with great confidence though usually with very little or with bad success For this Disease as it appears from my observation uses almost always to be exasperated by Purgers especially strong ones and seldom or never relieved The reason whereof is sufficiently evident because when the nervous Fibres are irritated by a sharp Medicine the animal spirits re-iterate their irregular excursions and still increase more and more rather than abate Wherefore although frequent and large watry and windy stools be procured thereby yet the Belly swells more But though Medicine be so little able to doe good in this Disease yet it must not as if it did nothing or onely harm be wholly neglected but we should leave no Stone unturned some way or other to help the Patient that at length a Cure or at least an Alleviation may be obtained Therefore though strong Purges always doe harm and gentle ones are scarce ever able to carry off the conjunct Cause yet these latter because they a little abate the matter of the Disease and make way for other Medicines to exert their energies more freely ought to have their place in medical practice that is once in 6 or 8 days and at other times Clysters the use whereof is much more excellent may be given frequently Willis III. When the humours are evacuated and the strength refreshed we must endeavour what we can to discuss wind which the following Decoction will wonderfully perform Take of Album Graecum whole Barley each 1 ounce and an half boil them on a gentle fire in 3 or 4 pounds of French-wine till the Barley burst Then boil the Colature defaecated by residence to half then clarifie and aromatize it with a sufficient quantity of Cinnamon and sweeten it with Sugar The Dose five drachms thrice aday on an empty Stomach and he will break wind wonderfully and the Belly will fall by degrees But we must use these things moderately otherwise they will hurt most grievously A certain Woman miserably afflicted with a Tympany committed her self to a Physician for cure He being intent upon the discussing of wind onely gave her some very hot Electuary without giving her any other Medicine before She a little after found the rumbling of the wind greater and her gripes more troublesome she breathed with more difficulty and the old swelling of her Belly remaining a new one grew which elevating it self from the Cartilago Ensiformis where the first terminated did wonderfully distend the whole Breast and the tumours were parted with a pit between She died the third day after I was called I reckon the cause of the new tumour was the heating and extenuating virtue of the Medicine Fienus IV. Great things are expected from Topicks because they are applied to the Disease more immediately and by contact and because they dissolve or discuss tumours in other parts very well Yet not all Dissolvents nor indeed such as doe most good in other tumours are proper here For hot things which are held for Discutients whether they be used in Fomentation Liniment Cataplasm or Plaster doe often more harm than good in a Tympany for they open and dilate the ducts of the Fibres so that they lye more open to the incursions of spirits and they also rarifie the impacted particles so that when they possess a larger space the inflation and swelling are increased Willis ¶ While Medicines are taken inwardly Topicks also and external applications must be carefully applied not hot and discutient ones but things endued with particles of a volatile Salt and nitrous ones which namely destroy the combinations of other
Sydenham Tract de Hydrope for this reason especially because in many Diseases when the matter of them is discharged Nature who watches and provides for our good day and night does wonderfully endeavour of her self to guard and defend the Patient from the pernicious relicks of this disease Wherefore every Ascites how inveterate soever and how much mischief soever it hath done to the Bowels must be treated in no other manner than as if it were just begun What he says of External Remedies you have more at large in other Authours passages out of whom you may reade before Medicines especially made use of by eminent Physicians Aetius 1. A spoonfull of burnt Cow's-dung taken in a pint of Wine every day is very good Claudinus 2. A Toad split and applied to the Kidneys of one in a Dropsie wonderfully voids the Water by Urine ¶ One Man insensibly wasts the Water of Hydropicks by a secret remedy by applying the Stone of a Water-Snake to the Belly Benedictus 3. The flesh of a dried Hedge-hog does peculiarly help this disease if it be beaten and drunk in old Wine 2 drachms of it must be taken every day 4. A Woman was cured with this decoction onely called Syrupus S. Ambrosii It is made thus Take of Millet excorticated 2 drachms Spring-water 2 pounds Boil them till onely 5 ounces remain Strain it Put as much White-wine to it Give it hot to one in a Dropsie She was well recovered and she sweat plentifully Crato and she took it 8 days 5. I have experienced that the juice of Iris crude not boiled Gordonius cures any Dropsie which is curable by humane help 6. Mullein is a specifick herb for a Tympany 1 scruple whereof with a decoction of Seed and Root of Fenil expells Wind egregiously Grembs Hypercatharsis or over-purging It s prevention and Cure A Hypercatharsis comes when the Purgative being disproportionate in quality or quantity works more violently or longer than it should both as by too much irritating the nervous fibres it drives the animal spirits into excandescencies not easily appeased and as it in a manner melts the bloud and humours so that what is separated from them being discharged into the cavity of the bowels makes the excretory irritations yet greater The therapeutick method respects both the prevention and cure as to the first before Physick there is need of great consideration and care in the operation of it and after it For first of all we must well consider both the constitution of the body to be purged the strength and custome and the nature of the Medicine to be given its dose manner of operation and the ordinary effects then comparing things together we must proportionate the virtue of the agent according to the tolerance of the Patient 2. While the Physick works the parts for concoction the bloud and animal spirits must be kept free from any other perturbation Wherefore at this time neither gross viscous nor much food which molests the Stomach must be given The meeting with the external Cold whereby the pores of the body may be stopt must carefully be avoided finally the mind must be kept quiet and serene void of care and of severer studies 3. When the Physick has done working both the excandescence of the animal spirits and the effervescence of the bloud and humours must be quieted to which ends an Anodyne Medicine or a gentle Hypnotick must be given but if omitting or notwithstanding this care a Hypercatharsis follow Purging the Patient must presently be put in bed and be thus treated First of all let a Plaster of Treacle or a somentation with Flanel dipt in a decoction of Wormwood Mint and Spices hot and wrung out be applied to the region of the Stomach and the whole Epigastrium Then let him presently either take a Bolus of Theriaca Andromachi or a solution of it made in Cinnamon water Then a little Burnt-wine diluted with Mint water must be given frequently by spoonfulls If Griping be troublesome a Clyster may be given of warm Milk with Treacle dissolved therein In the mean time warm Frictions and sometimes Ligatures must be used to the external Limbs whereby the bloud may be called outwards and be kept from too great colliquation and effusion into the cavity of the Bowels Then in the evening if the strength be good and the Pulse strong enough a dose either of Diascordium or liquid Laudanum may be taken in some proper Vehicle Willis Hypochondriaca Affectio or The Hypochondriack Disease See Melancholia BOOK XI The Contents Whether opening of the Haemorrhoid Vessels be proper I. The necessity of preparing the humour II. Preparatives must be different according to the Humour and the part affected III. Sylvius his preparation IV. The order to be observed in preparation V. Sweats and Acids doe harm in the preparation VI. They must be different according to the difference of the Crudity VII When we must use gentle and when strong Aperients VIII We must not insist long on preparatives IX Whether Vinegar may be admitted X. Medicines of Tartar sometimes doe harm XI We must purge one way in an Acid another way in a nidorous crudity XII They must not be purged whose innate heat of the Stomach is weak XIII Sometimes we must purge violently sometimes gently XIV Women bear strong Purges XV. Detergents must be given after strong Purges XVI The virtue of Antimony in conquering a rebellious one XVII All Purgatives are not alike proper XVIII The efficacy of Clysters XIX Sometimes Suppositories are to be preferred before them XX. When Vomits are proper XXI Purging must precede it XXII Whether Spaw-waters be proper XXIII Taking of Chalybeates is beneficial XXIV Better than Bath-Waters XXV We must abstain in the beginning from strong Diureticks XXVI They are good in a splenitick Disease XXVII We must have regard to the inner parts XXVIII Whether Asses Milk be convenient XXIX Cautions in taking it XXX Whether the rumbling of the Hypochondria hinder the use of it XXXI How Whey may conveniently be taken XXXII Spiritus Vitrioli Martis is good XXXIII Elixir Proprietatis is good XXXIV Whether Crocus Martis be usefull XXXV Antimonium Diaphoreticum does good XXXVI The efficacy of Volatile Salts when there is a sense of Strangling XXXVII The use of Capers XXXVIII Wind must not be dissipated with hot things XXXIX How we must help hurt Concoction XL. The Stomach must not be strengthned by Applications XLI The efficacy of Fomentations XLII The usefulness of Baths XLIII Sulphureous ones sometimes doe harm XLIV Anointing the Hypochondria useless and hurtfull XLV With what caution Stoves may be used XLVI The cure of a Loosness coming upon the use 〈◊〉 Aperients XLVII Crocus Martis sometimes causes Belching Xâ—â—â—â—I Emulsions doe little good XLIX How the effervescence of the Humours which is the cause of many Symptoms may be checkt L. The causes and cure of a sense of Suffocation and Strangling LI.
The cure of difficulty of breathing LII Medicines I. SEeing the humours the cause of the Disease lodge in the branches of the Porta if they could be opened in the same manner as the branches of the Cava may be any where the vitious humours might be conveniently evacuated by them together with the bloud But there is no such convenience nor does any branch of the Porta reach to the extreme parts of the body except the haemorrhoidal branch which reaches to the Intestinum rectum Therefore if this be opened it cures this disease most happily because it evacuates the vitious humours gathered in the branches of the Porta But this scarce ever happens successfully unless Nature opens these haemorrhoids of her own accord or thrust out the humours thither and be accustomed to evacuate the vitious humours that way For if this should not be done but the external haemorrhoids should be opened by Art then that which Riolanus takes notice of happens and the bloud that offends in the Porta is not evacuated but the good bloud out of the Cava which offends not And the internal Haemorrhoids if it can conveniently be done may be opened even in those in whom they never ran nor swelled that the vitious humours latent thereabout may be evacuated by them and that Nature may accustome her self to evacuate the vitious bloud this way which oftentimes even of her own accord uses to evacuate the vitious humours gathered in the branches of the Porta to the Patient 's great benefit But though we acknowledge the difference of the Haemorrhoid veins laid down by the most learned Men that is that the Internal arise from the Porta and the External from the Cava And though we admit also that they cannot conveniently be opened for evacuating of the melancholick humour except they be opened spontaneously by Nature yet we think that even by the External haemorrhoids black and other bad humours may be evacuated which are gathered about the Spleen and Liver For since the Ancients were not ignorant of these veins as having them obvious before their Eyes and having often burnt them and in the mean time they affirm that the seculent matter of the Liver black Choler is evacuated by the Haemorrhoids that the Haemorrhoids are the best remedy for melancholy and good for them that are troubled with black Choler that they cure a hardned Spleen hence it easily appears that Experience taught them that black and other bad humours gathered about the Spleen and Liver in the branches of the vena porta are evacuated by them And that it is so every one that pleases may observe daily in his practice For if he inquire into them that find benefit by the Haemorrhoids he will find they are all Hypochondriack If moreover it be inquired whether Haemorrhoids run the Internal or External He will understand that in most the external do run and do also benefit Hypochondriack Patients but that the Internal are seldom opened and therefore that not onely a Plethora but also a Cacochymie and vitious humours are evacuated by them And although sometimes also some thin humours and red bloud seem to be evacuated by them yet it is not pure but serous and salt and an Ichor also runs without any bloud But not onely gross and black humours are gathered in the branches of the Porta but also oftentimes serous and salt ones And although the Internal and External Haemorrhoids have their rise from different Veins yet because they are inserted into the same Intestinum rectum that there is some communication of these Vessels and that their mouths meet one another and that vitious humours are communicated from the Internal to the External Haemorrhoids and discharged by them the thing it self and what daily befalls Patients speaks since we see that even the running of the External Haemorrhoids does much good to those that are ill of Hypochondriack Diseases Sennertus II. Though the melancholick and adust humour which is the most obstinate be infected with no putrefaction nor easily take it and therefore is not so fit for concoction yet it is no less exasperated and made more earthy and gross and therefore rendred no less unfit for exclusion and concoction than a Cancer is by digestive and abstersive remedies Mercatus applied sinistrously and amiss III. Preparation is performed by Attenuants and Aperients yet without any great heating or drying because for the most part there is a certain heat and driness of the meâ—araick vessels and these parts and all near the lower orifice of the Stomach have something like an Inflammation in them In which case they offend who having regard onely to Wind with which Hypochondriacks abound do use hot and dry Medicines whereby the Disease is rather exasperated Nor on the contrary are coolers and moistners without some opening convenient seeing it is always proper to remove the Obstructions which are in those parts Yet where much watry matter is mixt hot things must not be omitted And so as the condition of the humour is various in this Disease and according as this or the other part is most hurt so the cure requires one while hot things another while not so hot or even moderately cooling and moistning all which things nevertheless must be opening and attenuant Sennertus ¶ There are two principal cases of Sick persons whereto magistral remedies must be accommodated according to their strength and quality Namely either the bloud is thick and cold and earthy with an obstructed Spleen which requires hot fermenting Medicines and especially Chalybeates Or the Bloud being plainly adust and hot ferments above measure and the Hypochondria do also aestuate very much and the bloud and vapours boil up in them in which state onely temperate and quieting Medicines are indicated which may stop the immoderate fermentation of the humours where Chalybeates must altogether be avoided Willis IV. The alteration of the peccant humours will be various both according to the variety of the humour and according to the fault of every humour The humour is both pituitous and bilious The pituitous offends especially when its acidity or viscidity is increased The augmented acidity of the pituitous humour will be corrected first of all with a lixivious Salt and with all things endued with a lixivious Salt Such as all Salt extracted out of the Ashes of Plants as also Coral Pearl Crabs eyes filings of Steel c. For while by the means of these things an effervescence is made with the Acid Phlegm the Acid humour is coagulated with them But because an excessive effervescence is urgent in this Disease which causes many Symptoms we must have a great care lest it be irritated rather than checkt and amended by taking things that produce a new effervescence which will be done by using first of all these things by which an Acid Spirit is rather concentred than coagulated such as Chalk next to which are Crabs-eyes Coral and filings of Steel
14. cent 3. made with the Acid of Sulphur with Extract of Rheubarb Ammoniack c. V. In a new Jaundice Emetick Medicines while the Tone and Faculties of the Viscera are good often give relief inasmuch namely as they rid the Stomach of a load of Phlegm wherewith almost always it is burthened in this Disease Moreover by irritating the choledochal Vessels and by shaking all the hepatick ducts they both open their obstructions and make a passage for the Bile by the usual ways Willis VI. A Boy ill of a Dropsie devoured seven or nine Lice the Disease by degrees disappeared and in the room of it there followed Paleness excessive Appetite Atrophy and Death When his Body was opened there appeared an unusual cluster of Lice of a monstrous bigness If they doe any good at all in the Jaundice G. Hannaeâ—s Act. Domâ— an 1675. obs 23. they doe it by their Volatile Salt which makes the Obstructions to remove and the liquour necessary for our bodies to move more briskly VII I Judge whether there be an Obstruction of any Bilary Duct or no such thing can be supposed the Bile then undergoes a notable change by reason whereof it is carried more impetuously and copiously towards the bloud with which notwithstanding it is not so well mixt as it used but is onely confounded with it and therefore it more easily recedes from the bloud and not onely joins it self to the Skin and external parts but joins it self also to the Muscles and the Inwards and dies and tinges them with its colour For Bile naturally constituted both in the small gut and in the right Ventricle of the heart is not onely loosly but intimately mixt with the occurrent humours and so indeed that it cannot any more be separated from them Which union is made by reason of the effervescence of it in both places upon its meeting with an Acid. Both the said effervescences are either diminished or taken away The cure therefore of the Jaundice will consist in this First in taking away the more remote causes Secondly In correcting and removing the mediate causes glutinous Phlegm stopping the bilary duct c. Thirdly In amending the proximate cause corrupt and vitiated Bile being too spirituous and rendred unfit for effervescence that it may be carried again to the Guts Fourthly In taking away the discolouring of the Skin Glutinous Phlegm is corrected and incided with Aromaticks and volatile Salts When it is corrected Phlegmagogues carry it off which may also serve for Correction for Example Take of Root of Madder greater Celandine Smallage each half an ounce Flowers of Broom half a handfull Seeds of Columbine Parsly Anise each 2 drachms crude Tartar 1 drachm and an half Boil them in an equal quantity of White-wine and water what is sufficient In twenty ounces of the Colature dissolve of Syrupus Diacnicu Syrup of Cichory with Rheubarb each 1 ounce and an half Mix them Let the Patient take some of this Apozeme twice or thrice a day so as he may have two or three stools and may void the Choler together with the Phlegm When the Jaundice comes from the poison of a Viper or from any other then to correct and expell it all Sudorificks abounding with a volatile Salt are good which answer both Indications Hither conduces Antimonium Diaphoreticum to fifteen grains Bezoardicum minerale to half a scruple volatile Salt of Hartshorn or of any Animal got by distillation and if it be strong five or six drops or grains of it often given in some convenient liquour Treacle also is good and various preparations of Vipers The Bile of Ictericks that is depraved and vitiated and made too spirituous will be amended especially by oily and fat things by means whereof an aptitude to right effervescence is restored to the Bile Thus I have cured several of the Jaundice by giving them five or six ounces of a decoction of Hempseed in fat Cow's Milk boiled till it burst and strained twice or thrice aday Thus also having premised what ought I have several times successfully cured a Jaundice by giving one drachm of any Soap dissolved in warm Milk and Sugar once or twice a day Soap indeed seems to doe good as by its lixivial Salt it dissolves the obstruction in the intestinal Bilary duct which because it cannot be said of Hempseed which cures the same Disease I suppose is good First Upon account of the Lixivial Salt but fixt of which it is made as it being joyned to the Bile corrupted by its excessive spirituosity corrects and diminishes the too great volatility and spirituosity thereof by assuming to it self some share of the volatile Spirit luxuriant in the Bile And Secondly Upon account of the fat or oil but thick and not at all Aromatick or Volatile by means whereof it takes off the edge of the volatile and spirituous Salt which has the predominance in the Bile This opinion of mine seems to be confirmed by Saffron familiar in the cure of the Jaundice which being commended for its fatness in that very thing favours my opinion for Saffron is easily joined to a volatile Spirit Therefore volatile Spirits may be fixt and bound and brought to tranquillity with fat and oily things Whence it appears if when they are joined with the Bile in too great a quantity or exalted in it they cause a Jaundice by making it more volatile and moveable that this said volatility and mobility of Spirits must be conquer'd by oily things and such as cause gentle sleep and thereby the Jaundice must be cured The discolouring of the Skin goes away of it self but it 's sooner removed by subtile Sudorificks Sylvius de le Boë and things endued with a volatile Salt whether Sweat follow or not VIII In this class of Medicines whereby the Ictericious dyscrasie of the bloud is intended to be relieved Chalybeate Medicines seem to have a place of right wherefore they doe as great good in the Jaundice as in other diseases of Cachexy as well by opening the obstructions of the Bowels as by depressing the efferations of the Sulphur and fixt Salt and by volatilizing the bloud Therefore filings of Steel or its Powder the Mineral frame of it being dissolved or the Vitriolick Salt extracted may conveniently be added to Decoctions and Infusions Idem IX Hence it is that the Waters sometimes cure Ictericks to a miracle who have been left to the Prognostick Though also these drunk in a large quantity as they pass through all the Vessels do also open the hepatict ducts Willis how much soever stopt X. If a hot Intemperature of the Liver be the cause it must be altered whether it be with or without an Inflammation But this I advise that their counsel must not be taken who use external Medicines actually cold and astringent to the Liver for they hinder the passage of the Bile to the whole body Saxonia and so for an intemperature they raise an Erysipelaceous
Disease XI Since it is difficult to know when stones arise from Bile no wonder if the cure of them look like an unheard of thing to many Physicians Yet because when stones after death are found in the Gall-bladder the rest of the Bile looks like Lees of Oil and is full of filth and subsiding dregs as I have several times seen voided by Vomit I should think that in such there were fear lest some part of the Bile might turn to stones whilst another turns to such excrements And therefore then Medicines should be used to dissolve these Bilious stones and to hinder any concretion Among things that dissolve Bilious stones I make no scruple to place Roots of Grass and the Herb it self either distilled or which I prefer boiled or bruised and the juice squeezed out of it making it palatable with Sugar since it is known by abundant experience that Cows and Sheep which in Winter feed on Hay and in whose Biliary duct a strong or calculous crust grows when in the Month of May they feed on green grass again are by degrees freed from that Ail A certain Argument that in green and fresh grass there is a virtue to dissolve stones which perishes when Grass is dried into Hay Spirit of Nitre also is good which I therefore commend in this case and especially when it is made sweet and mild with Spirit of Wine which may safely be taken to ten or twelve drops in this or the other drink several times a day Volatile Salts and especially oily ones Sylvius hinder a new concretion XII Although the black Jaundice come especially from some fault in the Spleen yet I think Platerus his opinion Pract. l. 1. tract 3. cup. 2. should not wholly be rejected Who judges that its cause is preternatural Bile corrupted in the mesaraick vessels and there growing black because it is not probable that such Bile can come from the Spleen seeing it has no cavity or Sinus there where it can be gathered nor does there come any vein from the Spleen by which it can be carried to the Cava Sennertus endeavours to reconcile this to the common opinion judging that black choler after it has been gathered in the mesaraick veins when abundance of it comes to the Liver is mingled with the yellow choler and gathered in the Gall Bladder and the colour of the yellow choler is changed thereby which unless it be evacuated by convenient ways is diffused with the bloud all over the body and causes the black Jaundice notwithstanding that there is no branch which reaches from the Spleen to the Cava because by means of the vena portae the humours gathered about the Spleen may reach to the Liver and may be derived to the rest of the body XIII Although there be some agreement between the Scurvey and the black Jaundice as both diseases come from some fault in the Spleen through the weakness of which in each of them the rest of the body is affected But notwithstanding since the manner of hurt as is manifest by divers signs is far different therefore it follows that the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or principal thing capable of each disease to wit the Spleen is differently out of order This diversity introduces a diversity of cure inasmuch as in the Scurvey we have not regard simply to abundance of melancholick bloud and obstructions of the Spleen as we have in the Jaundice but we are forced to be most solicitous about a certain specifick corruption the proper matter of the Scurvey Horstius Probl. Dec. 7. Qu. 6. which requires its peculiar and proper remedies XIV Hippocrates 2 de morb n. 1. would have the veins under the Tongue opened in the black Jaundice Petrus Salius thinks this cure has respect to a Symptome not to the Cause which is store of black choler in the large veins But seeing this is a production of the external Jugular which is a branch of the superclavia and of the cava ascendens What should hinder when it is much exhausted that less of the greater bloud may be exhausted but that it may much alleviate this Disease Severinus since it does more nighly and quickly evacuate than the veins of the Armes Medicines especially made use of by eminent Physicians For the Yellow Jaundice 1. Augenius A drachm of Gum Ammoniack dissolved in 2 or 3 ounces of Oxymel or Hydromel given for four days or more five hours before Meal cures the Jaundice to a Miracle 2. One recovered onely by taking condensated juice of Cichory Bartholinus 3. One was cured of this disease by Conserve of Flowers of Broom and Marigold Borellus 4. Forestus A Decoction of Root of Celandine cures the Jaundice 5. Hayne A Decoction of Strawberry-leaves carries off the Tartar as I have often seen 6. A Decoction or the Powder Pauli or the Essence of Scorzonera-Root is very good in a contumacious Jaundice 7. Quercetanus The White Excrement of Chickens is a most certain Medicine 8. Take some Goose-dung dissolve it in Worm-wood-wine Drink it hot in the morning for three days and Sweat upon it Schmid Ileus or the Twisting of the Guts The Contents The true method of Cure I. Vomits sometimes doe good II. Sometimes very strong Purges are proper III. One caused by a Rupture in the Groin cured by Antimonial Clysters IV. It does not depend upon the stopping of the Guts V. If it come from Phlegm we must not immediately proceed to strong attenuants VI. Quick-silver may safely be given VII Hippocrates his way of cure by a Smith's Bellows VIII Some cured by drinking of Wine IX When Treacle may be given X. The efficacy of laxative and emollient Fomentations XI When a Bath is proper XII If it be in the small Guts what such Clysters should be used XIII Vnseasonable Fomentations and violent forcing back of the Gut often do increase the Disease XIV The Cure of the Colick turning into the Iliack Passion XV. A singular Cure of an Ileus XVI One caused by Incarceration of the Gut must be cured by Section in the Groin XVII Medicines I. IN the Iliack Passion the cause of inversion of the peristaltick motion of the Guts is usually thus Sharp and malignant humours are discharged by the bloud in a fever newly begun into the Stomach and Guts next at hand whereby the Stomach is first forced to invert its motion and with great violence to throw up the troublesome matter contained in it by the Mouth Then the small Guts joined to it being already weakned give way to the strong motion of the Stomach and with these the greater are drawn into consent the Stomach inclining to vomit leading the dance This Disease I call the true Ileus or Twisting of the Guts The method of curing it has hitherto been unknown whatever some may boast of the use of Quicksilver and Bullets which besides that they doe little good they often doe a great
or old milk be better V. Whether a Nurse who has her menstrua should be rejected VI. Whether great or small Breasts should be preferred VII Whether a Nurse must always be interdicted coition VIII When a fault in the Milk must be amended IX The way of making Pap. X. When the Child should be weaned XI Purging by the Nurse's milk XII It must always be done by gentle things XIII The way of giving Medicines by force XIV Their Diseases are very hard to cure XV. Affectus or The Diseases Ani Procidentia or The falling out of the Arse-gut If it be with Inflammation Cupping-glasses are good XVI The use of Astringent Powders XVII A Torpedo applied is a fallacious Medicine XVIII Cauteries must be applied in a pertinacious falling XIX How it must be put up when hindred by mucus XX. Aphthae or A Thrush See Aphthae BOOK I. Where Cupping-glasses must be set XXI If it be malignant we must have regard to the Age. XXII Ingratefull things must not be put into the mouth XXIII Whether Pomegranates be hurtfull XXIV Sometimes there is need of stronger Medicines XXV Whether Butter be proper XXVI A grievous one cured by the use of Laudanum XXVII Atrophia or Want of Nourishment See Atrophia BOOK I. The enumeration of the Causes XXVIII The Cure of one caused by a cold humour XXIX The Cure of it accompanied with the Rickets XXX The Cure of one complicated with a Loosness XXXI One caused by Worms XXXII The Cure of it from Bewitching XXXIII Aurium Dolor Inflammatio or A Pain or Inflammation of the Ears See Aurium Affectus BOOK I. Whether Cupping-glasses must be applied and Issues made XXXIV Water must never be poured into them XXXV Whether the White of an Egg be convenient in an Inflammation XXXVI Catarrhus or A Catarrh See Catarrhus BOOK III. Whether pouring Water upon the Head be safe XXXVII Diureticks sometimes doe good XXXVIII Claudicatio or Halting The Cure of it when it comes without putting out of joint XXXIX Convulsivi Motus Convulsive Motions See Convulsio BOOK III. Convulsion following Dentition cured by Bloudletting XL. The prevention of one imminent XLI The Cure of an actual one XLII When it 's caused by breeding of Teeth how it may be prevented XLIII In this case procuring of Sleep and taking of Antispasmodicks does good XLIV The Cure when the Cause lies in the Head XLV The Cure when it lies in the parts of the lowest Belly XLVI The Cure when it comes from the Stomach and Guts XLVII Dentitio or Breeding of Teeth A Hare's Brain is good XLVIII A spurious Dentition XLIX The chirurgical Cure of a difficult Dentition because of the hardness of the Gums L. Diarrhoea or A Loosness Stopt by putting a Child that was weaned to the Breast again LI. Whence green stools come LII Quassatio Vertebrarum Dorsi or A Wrenching of the Back The way to restore it LIII Epilepsia or The Falling-sickness See before Convulsion Cured by purging the Meconium or Ordure it is born with LIV. Whether burning the hind part of the Head be good LV. When and for whom it is convenient LVI It must be done with great caution LVII LVIII The efficacy of Aniseeds LIX The use of Antepileptick powders is not safe LX. Febris or A Fever Scarification is to be preferred before Venaesection LXI The danger of Leeches LXII Caused by a sharp Milk LXIII A lingring one from Obstructions LXIV Spirit of Sulphur may not be given them LXV Hernia or A Rupture See BOOK IX Hydrocephalus or The Dropsie in the Head When we must proceed to Chirurgical Operation LXVI LXVII Where Section must be made LXVIII Apertion must not be made upon the temporal Muscle LXIX The Humour must be evacuated by little and little LXX What such the Ligature must be LXXI A Tumour from a sharp Ichor must be otherwise cured LXXII Cured onely by Swathing LXXIII An Issue in the hind part of the Head dangerous LXXIV A Contusion in the Birth mistaken for a Hydrocephalus LXXV Imperforati or They that are Imperforate Cautions about the Cure LXXVI Labiorum Affectus or Diseases of the Lips The Cure of their Chapping LXXVII Sometimes it requires generous Remedies LXXVIII A scabby Swelling which would onely give way to an Issue between the Shoulders LXXIX Linguae Fraenum or Tongue-tiedness It must not rashly be cut LXXX LXXXI It is tied in very few LXXXII Vnseasonable cutting prejudicial both to the Nurse and the Child LXXXIII Maculae Naevi or Marks and Moles They may be amended LXXXIV The Cure by anointing with the bloud of the Secundine false LXXXV They must be taken off with caution LXXXVI Obstructiones or Obstructions Whether Purges must always be given before Aperients LXXXVII The right use of Aperients LXXXVIII Whether we may use Chalybeates LXXXIX The right administration and preparation of them XC The moderate use of Wine sometimes necessary XCI Oris Inflammatio or An Inflammation of the Mouth Whether Honey of Roses be convenient XCII Pavores or Frightfulness Whether Wormwood be good XCIII Scabies or The Itch. It must not be rashly cured XCIV When the Cure must be undertaken XCV What Remedies must be used XCVI When Topical Medicines are proper XCVII Scrofulae or The King's-evil Great caution must be used in the Cure XCVIII Seiriasis or An Inflammation of the Brain and of its Membranes attended with a Hollowness of the Mold of the Head which in Greek they call 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and of the Eyes a burning Fever Paleness Driness of the whole Body and loss of Appetite It is peculiar to Children It may be called Head-mold-shottenness most properly It requires a different Cure from an Erisipelas XCIX Care must be taken in the use of external Coolers C. The way of applying things CI. Tussis or A Cough The Cure of a Spasmodick one CII Whether the Breast ought to be anointed CIII It must sometimes be cured by Bloud-letting CIV Varae Tibiae or Crooked Legs They are often cured of themselves without Chirurgery CV Variolae or Small-pox See BOOK XVIII Ventris Dolor Tumor or Pain and Swelling of the Belly Often caused by touching of the Navel-string when it is cut CVI. By Milk CVII Hardness from obstruction of the Vessels how to be cured CVIII Vermes or Worms See Lumbrici BOOK X. They must be killed before they be carried off CIX Sweet things must be mixt with bitter CX Clysters must be sweet CXI Medicines must not be violent CXII They must be given when the Stomach is empty CXIII The efficacy of Coralwort CXIV They are easily dissolved CXV The Cure is not the same when there is a Fever as when there is none CXVI How they must be killed when there is a Loosness CXVII Whether a Decoction of Guaiacum be proper CXVIII Whether Treacle may be given CXIX Quicksilver not proper for all Ages CXX The way of giving Aloes CXXI Crudities which breed them must be taken away CXXII Vigiliae or Want of
Sleep Must be otherwise cured than in grown people CXXIII Whether Saffron be good CXXIV Narcoticks must not be given CXXV Umbilici Tumor Inflammatio or Swelling and Inflammation of the Navel Sometimes a Chirurgical Cure is required CXXVI Whether Oil of Roses be good in the Inflammation CXXVII An Abscess arising must not be opened CXXVIII The Cure of a Swelling from a carnous substance CXXIX If it come from Bloud or arterious Spirit it must not be opened CXXX An effectual Plaster in the rupture of it CXXXI Vomitus or Vomiting It proceeds from several Causes CXXXII Strengthners of the Stomach at what hour they must be given CXXXIII Regimen recens Natorum or The Regiment of new born Children I. SOME unskilfull Midwives use sometimes to tye the umbilical Vessels and Navel-string of Children either too strait that it may the sooner be cut off or too loose so that the ligature is not sufficient to keep in the bloud As it happened to two Infants whose strength was so exhausted by bleeding that they could by no means be recovered Therefore these Vessels must be carefully tied with a thread several times double And for the greater security when they are cut off strew on this Powder with which they must always be furnished Take of Aloes Frakincense Dragon's-bloud each 1 drachm burnt Hart's-horn Terra sigillata Fine-flower each 2 drachms Hare's-down cut very small half a drachm Mix them Hildanus II. Let the Midwife wash the new born Child gently with her hand and let her have swathes and clothes as soft as may be in readiness for either to wash the body much or more than once or to strew on astringent Powders or Salt onely are usually the causes of more hurt than good wherefore the use of them is deservedly left off for it is better to clean the body with warm water at most than either with dry things to condense or to heat or cool or soften the body that is above measure soft as they used to doe of old But if the Child be born cold and full of mucous and viscid excrements it is sufficient to wash it in warm Wine yea absolutely necessary But if it be born lean hot and much extenuated it is the wisest course not onely presently after it is born but for three or four months time to anoint the Child after making it clean with Oil of Sesamum when it goes to sleep But in such bodies it is a very good way to put the Child to a Virgin who must be young fleshy of a good habit and fresh coloured who must cherish the Child with her own heat in bed For I have known several saved by the benefit of this onely Mercatus ¶ Some Northern people washt the bodies of their new-born Children in cold Water yea they dipt them into it to make them strong Galen reprehends the custome because of the sudden change from heat to cold and constipation of the pores of the Skin which may be the cause of putrefaction breaking out and other diseases Nor must they be washt with warm water Fabricius Hildanus cent 14. obs 56. observed that a Child after such washing lived subject to Catarrhs Galen before the Child be swathed if the constitution of its body be without any fault sprinkles it all over with Salt finely powdered lib. 1. de san t. c. 6. He is blamed by Averrhoes because that age cannot bear the acrimony of the Salt and for the danger lest by the astriction of the Salt the vitious juices which perspire by the Skin should be kept in It were better according to Avicenna's advice to wash the body in Wine wherein red Roses have been boiled or in its Urine III. In some Countries and Families Children are swathed too strait hence it often comes to pass that their body grows gibbous and their Limbs crooked or otherways deformed For their bones being yet tender soft and cartilagineous are easily wrested and removed out of their natural posture which when they grow hard keep their vitiated figure Country peoples Children have large Breasts because they are not tied or lay looser in the Cradles They that are swathed tight have their ribs compressed and their Breast grows sharp Maids who lace themselves too strait that they may look slender either die of a Consumption or grow Crooked A certain Midwife as Borellus observes cent 2. obs 59. was accounted a Witch because all the Children she swathed grew either Consumptive or lived weakly which was caused onely by too strait compression Nurses also sometimes tie their heads for comeliness-sake because sharp ones seem finer to them hereby the Skull being compressed and growing long the Brain and its Ventricles are compressed which being so weakned is rendred obnoxious to Catarrhs Such if they grow up are dull of understanding because the spirits are not elaborated aright or their free passage through the windings of the Brain is hindred It is an errour also of the Nurses to carry their Children always in the same Arm whereby they grow left-handed or rest them on their Legs onely whereby they make them lame IV. It is the best way for Mothers to give their own children suck because their Milk is made of the same bloud wherewith the Child was nourished But the Nurses Milk although it be Milk and indeed Humane yet there is not one jot less difference in this than is between the constitution of body and temperament of the Mother and Nurse and no Nurses Milk agrees so well with the Child's body as the Mothers Since therefore every Animal is nourished with things like it self the Mother's Milk must be preferred because it is more like Phavorinus in Gellius l. 12. c. 1. brings many pretty reasons for it but moral ones But because many Mothers are not of a good constitution but diseased and sometimes also of bad manners or because great Persons and others who are weak cannot bear the trouble of giving suck a well-disposed Nurse must be chosen which is not so subject to passion of a composed mind not a Fool Angry Drunken Melancholick Salacious but of a good habit in the prime of her years c. V. Some reckon it a superstitious thing to chuse a new Milk because to speak properly Milk is never old since new is bred every day whose Nature may vary according to the different temper of the Woman and the difference of diet but not because of the act of breeding Milk Yet it were better that the Nurses Lying-in should coïncide with the birth of the Child to be brought up or not differ above a month for a more serous and diluted Milk is proper for new-born children such as Nature has given the Mother when she has newly lain in that it may the better cleanse the filth from the Stomach of the young child But an old Milk is without doubt thicker and therefore not so proper VI. C. à Vega thinks the Milk is made purer if the feculent bloud be
negligent and those that look after them put them too soon to their feet it gives great occasion to this mischief in Children and Youths oftentimes the same separation of the head of the Thigh-bone from the neck of the bone happens and it is commonly taken for a disjointing This errour in Diagnosticks often hinders the cure and costs the Patient dear In both cases indeed extension is necessary but it were far better to know the very truth of the matter Rolfinccius and by judgment to comprehend it Convulsio or A Convulsion XL. Let no man wonder that I persuade to Bleeding of young children since Bloud as far as ever I could observe hitherto may as safely be taken out of their Veins as out of old peoples And indeed it is so necessary that without bloud-letting we cannot certainly cure some Symptoms which befall children for example How can we cure childrens Convulsions when they are breeding their Teeth which come upon them in the ninth or tenth month with Swelling and Pain in the Gums when the Nerves are pressed upon and irritated by the Teeth whence these Symptoms arise without letting of bloud which alone is far to be preferred in this case above the most famous Specificks that are yet known Some of which doe harm by their adventitious heat and while they are believed to oppose the Disease by some occult quality they militate against it with their manifest heat Sydenham and kill the Patient XLI It is incumbent on us to prevent Convulsions in children or to cure them as they are beginning For if the former children of the same Parent have been subject to Convulsions that mischief must be prevented in them that are born afterwards by the timely use of Medicines To this end it is usual to give the child some antispasmodick Medicine as soon as it is born some give it a few drops of the purest Honey others a spoonfull of Canary-wine with a little Sugar others a spoonfull of Oil of sweet Almonds others one drop of Oil of Amber or half a spoonfull of Epileptick Water Some within three or four hours after the child is born make an Issue in the Neck then if it be of a fresh colour they draw one ounce and an half or two ounces of bloud from the Jugulars by Leeches having a care that it do not bleed while it is a-sleep Let the Temples and Neck be gently rubbed with such an Ointment Take of Oil of Nutmegs by expression two drachms Ol. Capivii three drachms Amber one scruple Hang a piece of Elk's hoof or Paeony root about the Neck The Nurse must take Antispasmodick Medicines constantly Willis XLII But if an infant be actually taken with a Convulsion because Issues operate but slowly and little it is expedient to make a Blister in the Neck or behind each Ear and unless a cold constitution hinder Bloud must be taken from the jugular Veins by Leeches Liniments must be applied to the Temples Nostrils and Neck and Plasters to the Feet Clysters which may loosen plentifully must be given every day Every sixth or eighth hour specifick Medicines must be taken inwardly Vntzerus highly commends the Gall of a sucking Whelp taken in a little Linden-flower-water A Learned Physician told me that he has known several cured with this Remedy Idem XLIII When Convulsions proceed from difficulty in breeding of Teeth as this Symptome is secondary and not so dangerous so in the Cure our chief and principal aim need not be directed to it but sometimes we may be solicitous for easing of Pain and for removing the febrile intemperature Wherefore both the Patient and his Nurse must use a spare and cooling Diet the Gums where the Teeth are coming out must be rubbed or cut open and when the parts are swelled and pained Anodynes must be applied Clysters and Bleeding are often proper in this case Idem XLIV Sleep must be procured and the raging of the Bloud laid In the mean time Antispasmodick Medicines must be used but temperate ones and such as do not disturb the Bloud and Humours Blisters because they evacuate the Serum that is apt to be poured into the Head often give relief Idem XLV When children are taken with Convulsions neither presently after they are born nor upon their breeding of Teeth but upon other occasions and accidents the cause of such an Ail does usually reside in the Head or somewhere about the parts of Concoction When there is a suspicion of the former as usually it appears from signs which argue that too much serous matter is gathered about the Brain the Remedies beforementioned ought to be given in a little larger Dose Moreover such as bear Purging well may sometimes take a Vomit or a gentle Purge Wine and Oxymel of Squills also Mercurius dulcis Rheubarb and Resin of Jalap are of great use Idem XLVI When the cause of the Convulsion appears to be in the Bowels or when Worms or sharp griping Humours are found to be in fault for the Worms a Purge may be given of Rheubarb or Mercurius dulcis with a little Resin of Jalap Formerly I gave a Boy that was strongly afflicted with Convulsions who was ready to die a Dose of Mercurius dulcis with Resin of Jalap He had four stools and voided twelve Worms and quickly recovered Idem XLVII If we suspect that the Convulsion proceeds from the irritation of the Stomach and Guts by sharp Humours we must either purge or vomit gently or doe both one after the other To this purpose gentle Emeticks must be given of Wine of Squills or Salt of Vitriol if the Patient at any time have an inclination to vomit But if you shall rather think fit to purge an Infusion or Powder of Rheubarb Syrup of Cichory with Rheubarb or of Roses with Agarick must be given And I have often seen the Convulsion cured in children by giving these Medicines in time Moreover in this case Clysters must be given frequently But we must not omit to apply external Medicines Fomentations Liniments and Plasters to the Belly Dentitio or Breeding of Teeth XLVIII Experience testifies that a Hare's Brain is good to breed Teeth for by its coolness it helps to temper the heat of the Gums and by astriction strengthens those parts perhaps it does it by a specifick property but it may be doubted because here a hot attenuating virtue seems rather requisite than a cold astringent one since the coming out of the Teeth would be helped thereby I answer That things temperately cold and moderately astringent do strengthen Nature so that the Heat having thereby got a temper may more commodiously perform its operation Horstius XLIX Strobelbergerus lib. de Dentium Podagra mentions a certain bastard Dentition when some Swellings bunch out in the back part of the Gums when children make a noise and sibilation as they suck the Milk The Physician may be ascertained of this spurious Dentition if he
thing of the Venous kind the abundance whereof has with it heat and falling down with the recrements signalized the Itchy parts with inflammatory dispositions and redness especially if there be a Fever then indeed we must cure with cupping and scarifying the Armes and Shoulders or for greater revulsion the Thighs to draw to them what is redundant in the body which when done you must give the Child and Nurse attemperating things But if it appear that the Venous kind has besides the heat of bloud something bilious salt or disaffected it will not be amiss to Purge gently This one thing nevertheless observed that you never attempt to apply any thing to the Itchy part since it is certain that seldom any thing does good for oftentimes you may render the part more tender and soft so that if there be any thing in the body the Skin more easily receives it and when it is received makes the Itch worse though the scabs and pustules that were there before be fallen off XCVI But if the pustulous Itch increase so that it will neither give way to change of Age Diet nor Medicine but by an invincible Itching and for fear of a Leprosie force us to these greater remedies especially if the Patient be in danger of a Consumption then we must take care by other Medicines which besides that they Purge radically do substantially moderate and temper the Liver and repair it with new nutrition and which also have the faculty of rarefying purging and cleansing a filthy thick Skin Idem XCVII But let not any Man think that there is no time when we may apply things to the Itchy parts that the Scabs may either ripen or dry and fall off And let a Man consider that it must be done then especially when it appears the Disease is towards the declension and less Scabs and Pustules break out and what is broke out more easily falls off It is a sign indeed of paucity of matter and of the vigour of the faculties because it wastes more insensibly and breeds less or less remains of what is contracted from the Nativity At which time Nature must be helped with things that neither repell nor draw but onely soften the Scabs dry up the fretting running places and absterge the foul Idem Scrophulae or the King's-Evil XCVIII Great Prudence must be used in treating Children in the King's-Evil 1. Gentle things must always be used 2. Violent Medicines must be avoided because there is danger of raising a Fever and lest their tender flesh should be hurt 3. The Swellings must be treated neither with fire nor the knife which are near the Arteries or great Nerves especially about the Neck Mercurialis lest the reversive Nerves be hurt Siriasis or Head-moldshottenness XCIX I am compelled to take notice of Avicenna's mistake concerning Childrens Siriasis He took all that Rhases and Paulus wrote concerning Childrens Siriasis and put it word for word into his Chapter of the Erysipelas of the Brain and defined it to be an Erysipelas of the Brain which Diseases are quite contrary for an Erysipelas is an Abscess with inflammation coming of yellow Choler which if it seize the Brain as Avicenna thinks there will be a Fever and a Sphacelus of tne Brain which usually kills the Patient on the third day Cap. 7.51 Each of which things is not competible with a Siriasis for it is a far milder Disease and heat of the head than an Erysipelas and it usually takes Children in the heat of Summer because of pituitous bloud or phlegm it self putrefying about the membranes of the Brain and inflaming the Spirits in the Arteries with a gentle Fever You will Object That the same remedies with which Dioscorides and Paulus extinguish the Heat of a Siriasis since they are cold and moist will doe an Erysipelas as much good which is a hot and dry Disease But you are mistaken for upon the account of the concoction of the Disease which is an alteration causing the Putrefaction to cease the substance remaining they require the same Medicines If indeed by applying cold things to the Sinciput the Arteries of the Temples and Wrists and Forehead in the conceptacles whereof the Siriasis lies burning you can extinguish or alter the external heat in the membranes of the Brain and Arteries which might kindle putrefaction certainly you have prevented it and concocted the Disease And this very thing you may doe with the same remedies in the cure of an Erysipelas But as for what concerns the cause and substance of the Disease there is need of far different remedies which the substance of the Disease and its cause will indicate to you First A cold and moist Diet was ordered the Nurse and after I had applied Nettles pounded in a Mortar with a little Vnguentum Populeon to the Arteries of the Temples and Wrists and had renewed them every hour the Heat of the Siriasis was extinguished in less than two hours Langius C. Outwardly almost all commend the Yelk of an Egg with Oil of Roses The Juice of Heliotrope is admirably commended by Dioscorides and others Juice also of Nightshade and Lettuce is good but especially the Juice of Citrulls and of Gourds But we must take notice not to surpass in these cooling Medicines lest while we avoid Heat we fall on the Ice that is lest of one bad Disease another far worse should be made Mercurialis CI. There is another thing also to be observed that these Medicines as all Men advise be continually changed and that they be always used warm in Winter time and actually cold in Summer Because if they be kept long on they grow hot and dry and afterwards doe more harm than good â— der Tussis or a Cough CII That a Cough sometimes arises without any great fault in the Lungs because of Morbifick matter falling on the Pneumonick Nerves the History of a Girl who was ill of Convulsion-fits and of a grievous and continual Vertigo does shew To whom when a fomentation of a Cephalick Decoction was applied to her Head presently her Swimming ceased and instead of it there came a dry Cough without any Spitting which troubled her night and day Which without doubt happened because the spasmodick matter was forced out of the Brain into the origination of the Nerves This merely convulsive Cough seldom occurs in adult people in Children it is very frequent and sometimes epidemick which when at first it has been moderate afterwards it grows violent and convulsive So that in Coughing the Diaphragm being drawn upwards and kept in a long Systole or often repeated the Lungs are much straitned and greatly hindred in their motion In the mean time because their Breath is stopt and the bloud is kept about the heart and therefore stagnates in other places the Patients are in danger of choaking and often contract a livid and dead countenance In this case besides spasms raised by straining to Cough
about the Heart oftentimes the Stomach sympathizes and casts all up that is in it by Vomit Nay I have known in some young Children that this Disease has fallen now and then on other parts and has raised Convulsive motions in the Face Eyes and Limbs and sometimes has proved mortal The Disease is difficult and usually very long in cure The principal indications will be to purge the serous and sharp humours drowning the Lungs out of the bloud and bowels that their tendency to the Brain and sometimes to the Breast may be prevented And to strengthen the Parts that they may not easily admit the superfluities of the estuating Serum To these ends Vomits and gentle Purges are almost always good and sometimes must be repeated Blisters are often usefull yea if the Disease be stubborn an Issue may be made in the Neck or Arm or about the Armpits Drink and liquid Aliment must then be taken in less quantity than usual and instead thereof a Diet-drink of Sarsa China Sanders shavings of Hartshorn and diuretick and antispasmodick ingredients may be used In this case some remedies are cried up as Specificks such as Cup-moss given in Powder or boiled in Milk and so given frequently every day A decoction or Syrup of Castor and Saffron Decoctions of Root of Poeony Misletoe of the Oak and Hyssop have done good to many Water of Black Cherries Saxifrage and Water of Snails distilled with Whey Willis and proper ingredients are often given with success CIII Whether in Childrens Cough may the Breast be anointed The Negative seems probable 1. Because all Anointing stops the Pores of the Skin 2. And the virtue of the Ointment reaches not to the inner parts 3. By rubbing of the Ointment on hot the fluxion to the part affected is greater But I hold the Affirmative because such Liniments have an emollient digesting and dissipating faculty Therefore I answer to the first That Anointing actually cold stops the Pores of the Skin but not that which is actually and potentially hot 2. It is sufficient to help Nature and to promote the discharge of the peccant matter outwardly by occult transpiration 3. It is granted that some attraction is made but it is to the exteriour and sound part Horstius CIV In Childrens Coughs which our Country people call the Hooping Cough Bloud-letting gives great relief Sydenham and far exceeds all pectoral Medicines Varae Tibiae or Crooked Legs CV Oftentimes Children about two years old when they begin to go are crook-legged for which their carefull Mothers take the advice of Chirurgeons and they try to set their Legs and Thighs streight with divers Engines but to no purpose because naturally and of their own accord when they are three or four years old Formius obs 30. the Legs and Muscles grow strong and the Parts return to their natural state Ventris Dolor Tumor Pain or Swelling in the Belly CVI. What remains of the Navel-string after cutting mortifies and in four or five days time falls off of it self And hence unless you put a linen rag three or four times double about the part which contracts great Cold pains in the Belly arise which are ascribed to other causes It is a sign this is the cause for they abate and cease by applying heating things CVII Children are often troubled with inflammation of the Belly from crude Milk which is neither well Purged by Vomit nor Stool It is indeed Crudity proceeding from abundance of Food which exceeds the strength of the Stomach which unless it be quickly prevented degenerates either into tedious fevers or into a loosness reaching and vomiting watching and restlesness There attends this Disease a gentle Fever or celerity of Pulse shortness of Breath a leaden or pale colour of the Face and swelling of the Eyes and Face In which case we must be more solicitous for discharging the abundance than for strengthning the Stomach or alteration I indeed endeavour to diminish the matter by Clysters Suppositories and parsimony of Milk or of other Food If the Disease go not off presently we must not stand dodging but give a gentle purging potion After which I order such things to be applied to the Belly as have a virtue to attenuate incide and make lax what is in the Belly that it may the more easily go off Mercatus CVIII In children yea and in grown people there is often a hardness and inflation of the Belly the cause whereof is the hardness of the Mesaraick Glands and so there is onely passage for the thinner Chyle to the great lacteal Vein upon which the flesh of the Muscles grows limber the Body is rendred heavy and tiresome yea and at length a Fever and Consumption arises I use to remove the Disease by this Liniment without any trouble Take of Vnguent Altb. compos 1 ounce Arthanit Martiat each 2 drachms Oil of white Lilies Chamaemil each 2 drachms Mix them It is good to chew these Trochiscs all the time of the Disease Take of Steel prepared Crabs-eyes prepared each 1 scruple Tartarum vitriolatum half a drachm Lapis Prunellae 16 grains Spec. Aromat Rosat 1 scruple white Sugar 2 ounces Mix them Make Trochiscs Purging in this case must be celebrated onely with Cassia Cream of Tartar and laxative Syrups for the Glands will not bear stronger Purgatives Barbette Vermes or Worms CIX According to Galen's judgment 4. Meth. the principal scope in curing of Worms is to get them out of the Body But because they cannot easily be got out while they are alive therefore it is necessary first to kill them or so to stony them that they cannot resist the Medicines And the things that kill or stony them are all bitter sharp inciding astringent things and sharp and oily ones Mercurialis CX Because these Animals must be cheated and are delighted with sweet things the onely way is always to mix delectable things with such as kill them and therefore they doe very ill who give bitter or sowre things alone for the Worms will not suck plain Poison But if the Poison be mixt with sweet things ludificantur lumbrici as Lucretius says of children and therefore they draw the Poison with Honey and sweet things Wherefore Medicines that are given for the Worms must always be mixt with Sugar Milk Honey or Honey and Water For my children at home I order an Oxymel to be made of the Decoction of Honey the sharpest Vinegar and Wormwood For such an Oxymel admirably preserves children from the Worms Idem CXI In those Medicines that are given by way of Clyster always sweet things must either be given alone or must prevail above the rest The reason is because these Animals being drawn by the sweetness come down to the lower parts On the contrary in Medicines that are taken by the mouth the sharp or bitter things must prevail over the sweet The reason is because if there were more sweet than bitter these Animals might
and so better resist driness Aetius says many have rid themselves of this Disease by being gelded By this means I cured a young Man this year who was begun and gon a little in this Disease Rondeletius VII A red-haired young Man and cholerick came to me with his skin torn into deep clefts all over his body All my life time I never saw a Man more leprous He had taken seven courses of a decoction of Guaiacum forty days at one course upon which he fell into a perfect Leprosie He having a very hot Liver naturally which was turned almost to ashes with so many hot Potions I prescribe him the use of Mountain Crystal prepared to take half a drachm every morning with Juice of leaves of Water-lily Currants and Barberies industriously avoiding Sugar and sugared things drinking after it some Whey with a little Sal prunellae Then I laid him on a straw bed deep under a Mill to receive upon his body the dropping of the very cold water not heated either by motion or the heat of the Sun And when he had done this for an hour and an half before Supper several days H. ab Heer Obs 22. he grew sound and very well VIII Mr. Schipanus a Physician of Naples told me that Prince Caraffa used to eat the flesh of the Foal of an Ass for the Cure of the Leprosie Some think Asses flesh causes it as Ballonius l. 2. Ephem p. 187. This indeed is hard of concoction but the Flesh of the Foals is better and more tender which therefore Hippocrates 2. de v. rat says does quickly pass And it may be for that reason it cures the Leprosie or by its tenacious aliment it amends the fault contracted T. Bartholinus hist 33. cent 6. for according to Pliny l. 18. c. 17. Asses flesh is good for consumptive persons IX One that was troubled with this took several Medicines to no purpose he took white Hellebore At length he recovered by taking Cucumbers Heurnius He ate them pickled all the year round X. The Leprosie above all other chronical Diseases requires variety and vicissitude of Medicine And in this Disease if in any a truce and intermission from all Medicines must often be allowed the Patient Then the same things must be repeated and new ones added For scarce ever any Man recovered who relied on one onely Remedy though never so generous Palmarius XI In the year 1675. in the month of September an Italian by Nation was suspected of a Leprosie Abundance of Scurf fell all over him he was hoarse had a stinking Breath and was very lean He had taken a vast deal of Medicines at length Salivation was prescribed him but a Diet first of China and Sarsa And in a short time he perfectly recovered though the Disease had got a head Lepra Groecorum or The Leprosie of the Greeks See Habitus Affectus BOOK VIII The Contents Onely the great Remedies are proper I. The Bloud must be sweetned II. Waters coming from Iron effectual III. To whom a decoction of Woods may be given IV. Chalybeate Medicines alone not efficacious enough V. Whether Salivation doe any good VI. If it come upon a Dropsie what must be done VII The excellency of eating of Cucumber VIII Purging Waters are good IX Vitriolate Waters are good X. What sort of Medicines made of Vipers are good XI The Cure of an Itch that accompanies the Venereal Disease XII Topical Medicines alone doe no good XIII Whether sulphureous Baths be proper XIV Liniments must be applied by degrees XV. Those made of Mercury suspected XVI I. THE material cause of the Scab or of the Leprosie of the Greeks is not merely a cutaneous humour because of Infection taken from without or because it is depraved and degenerated from its crasis upon other occasions but the Pustules at first arising about the beginning of the Disease seem to arise from hence that some acido-saline Concretions like Tartar in Wine do happen in the mass of bloud which when they cannot be conquered nor dissolved are driven here to the Skin as in the other case to the sides of the Cask In respect of the conjunct Cause there are two special Indications of Cure namely that the Impurities of the bowels and humours may be quickly purged and that the acido-saline Dyscrasies of the bloud may be regulated for which ends Medicines both evacuating of divers kinds and altering use to be prescribed Yet because not all but onely the great Remedies in a manner are used we shall therefore subjoin in this place those that are most usefull and are found to be most beneficial First therefore when universal Purgation and Phlebotomy have been used the following Infusion or cathartick Tincture may be given six or eight ounces whereof may be given and repeated once in six or seven days Take of root of sharp pointed Dock dried Polypody of the Oak each half an ounce Senna ten drachms Dodder of Time six drachms Rheubarb Mechoachan each half an ounce yellow Sanders 2 drachms Celtick Spike half a drachm Salt of Tartar 1 drachm and an half Put them into a Glass with 4 pounds of White-wine keep them for use pouring off as much of the clear liquour as you shall have occasion for You must add two pounds of Elder-flower water Willis II. For sweetning of the Bloud and washing its Salts Whey either simple or with fumitory Cichory or sharp-pointed Dock infused in it may be drunk two or three pounds of it every morning for twenty or thirty days if it agree with the Stomach And besides a Dose of the following Electuary may be taken morning and evening Take of Conserve of root of sharp-pointed Dock 6 ounces Crabs-eyes prepared Coral each 2 drachms Ivory 1 drachm Powder of Lignum Aloes yellow Sanders each one drachm and an half Sal prunellae two drachms Vitriol of Mars one drachm and an half Syrup of Juice of Wood-sorrel what is sufficient Make an Electuary The Dose two ounces Idem III. For the very same reason that Whey Iron-waters also are prescribed in this Disease and they often doe good for when all other Medicines have been given to no purpose I have often cured a grievous Scab which has almost been leprous onely with these Waters Moreover for the more efficacy Sal prunellae or Vitriolum Martis or a little of the foresaid Electuary may be given conveniently Willis IV. In some that have too much Serum and are of a watry constitution when drinking of Whey or the Waters are not so proper it may sometimes be convenient to give a Decoction of the Woods at medical hours and moreover to take them constantly for their ordinary drink Take of Wood of Willow half a pound root of Sarsa parilla 8 ounces white Sanders Wood of Mastich-tree each 2 ounces snavings of Ivory of Hart's-horn each five drachms Tin crude Antimony each four ounces tied in a Cloth Liquorice one ounce Infuse them and boil
them in sixteen pounds of Spring-water half away Idem Keep the Colature for use V. Chalybeate Medicines because they are reckoned among the more efficacious Remedies must seldom be omitted in these Diseases though they are not often given with much success for most Preparations of Steel in which the sulphureous Particles prevail inasmuch as they ferment the Bloud and put it into critical effervescencies do rather increase than diminish the impetiginous eruptions nevertheless the Salt Syrup Tincture and vitriolick Infusions as they fix the Bloud and check a little the efferations of the Salts do suit well enough the Intention now proposed but those that are not so strong can doe little good against so Herculean a Disease Idem VI. Wherefore when these and most other Remedies will doe no good many commend Salivation as the stoutest Champion and the onely one able to cope with so stout an Enemy But the event does not always answer expectation for I do confess I used this Remedy for four persons who were troubled with a grievous Itch which was obstinate to all other Remedies without any benefit One of them by anointing with Quicksilver and the other by Pills of Solar Precipitate bore plentifull Salivation for about twenty days in which time all the Scurf and Wheals vanished nevertheless to confirm the Cure a diuretick Drink of a decoction of Sarsa and often Sweating and convenient Purging between whiles was continued for a month And yet for all this when this course was at an end and when no signs of any Itch appeared within another month the Disease began to bud out again anew and in a short time grew to its wonted maturity Moreover when one of these had repeated this Medicine and another after two Relapses had a mind to try it a third time both of them after they had undergone so much despaired of any Cure Whence it is evident that the Venereal Disease though it be extremely malignant and cause most foul cacoethick Ulcers that eat the Flesh and Bones may more easily and certainly be cured than the Itch. Wherefore not undeservedly did the most famous Physicians of old reckon this Disease when confirmed and brought near to a Leprosie to be very difficultly if at all curable Idem VII And an event no whit better attends this Disease when it comes upon an inveterate Scurvy perhaps indeed the Intentions of cure may be more certainly gathered when the Scurvy is the basis or root of this Disease to wit to take the primary therapeutick Indication from thence and insist chiefly on antispasmodick Medicines But even of this sort those that are sharp and hot as Scurvy-grass Water-cresses Horseradish Pepperwort and other things that incite the Bloud too much as they dissolve the Crasis of it more and force the coagulating Tartar in more abundance to the Skin they are always found to doe more harm than good And for this very reason the use of Baths or Bathing in hot waters which evacuates by abundance of Sweat the Humours of the whole body and cleanses the Pores of the Skin though it may seem very good in this Disease yet it is so far from relieving that the Breaking out is usually increased and exasperated thereby For I have known several who not being very itchy have gon to Bathe and there bathed in the hot water and have returned from thence quite leprous Wherefore whenever this Disease is a supervening Symptome of the Scurvy let all sharp and elastick things be avoided and onely the more temperate ones be given endued with a nitrous or vitriolick or a volatile Salt The nitrous Salt is predominant in Crystallum minerale some Juices of Herbs or Decoctions and in some purging waters Idem VIII The Cucumber is endued with a nitrous virtue and by experience is found good against this Disease wherefore instead of Sallet it may be eaten plentifully and often Moreover let three or four of them be cut into Slices and be infused in four pounds of Spring-water close for a night to the clear liquour poured off add of Sal prunellae two or three drachms The Dose half a pound three times or oftner in a day For the same purpose also Decoctions of the leaves and fruit made in spring water are proper Idem IX Some cathartick mineral waters especially North-hall waters if you make an Analysis of them by evaporation do manifestly shew the nitrous Salt wherewith they are impregnated And I have several times found that the constant drinking of about four pounds of them every day for a pretty while together has done good in a slight Itch. Idem X. But Waters impregnated with a vitriolick Salt such as the Spaw-waters do far excell these nitrous ones and any other Medicines and doe far more good in curing the Itch. To such as have not an opportunity to take them I give common water impregnated with our Steel and so exactly resembling Spaw-waters for this Disease and with good success Because of their mineral Salts or at least some Mercurial Particles in them Tin and Antimony are in Vogue for curing the Itch and several use to prescribe them with other Medicines Raspings of Tin and Powder of crude Antimony may be infused in Beer for the ordinary Drink and they may be put into a Decoction of Sarsa and the Woods for this Disease XI The Viper and its Preparations do sufficiently set out the excellent virtue of a volatile Salt in curing the Itch yea the Leprosie it self Galen reports that this Medicine for this Disease was found out by a casual experiment Hither also may be referred the analogy taken from the nature of the creature whence it is gathered that it does good in this Disease for since the Viper every year casts its scaly slough therefore any one might think that its parts would be good to cast off the crusty skin in the Leprosie But not to attribute much to such things since it is apparent from frequent observation that viperine Medicines are good in the Itch and Leprosie the reason of the Cure must be ascribed to the volatile Salt with which this Animal abounds For the Particles hereof do destroy the fixt and acid Salts which are prevalent in the diseased and dissolve their Combinations Notwithstanding the Salt Spirit and Oil chymically extracted from Vipers by reason of the empyreumatick and exceeding elastick Particles which the Fire produces are not at all proper in this Disease as neither the Spirit nor volatile Salt of Hart's-horn Soot Bloud and the like Ammoniack Spirits because by exagitating the bloud and humours above measure they cause their Crases to be more dissolved and drive the corruption more to the Skin Wherefore the simpler Preparations of Vipers as a Decoction of their Flesh in water Drink impregnated with their Infusion or Decoction their dried Powders and Electuaries made of them may be advantageously prescribed against this Disease Moreover not onely the Flesh of Vipers
but of other sorts of oviperous Snakes boiled and eaten for food often doe abundance of good XII The Itch or scurfie eruptions of Wheals in bunches is so frequent and familiar a Symptome of the Pox that the first thing I ask such as are ill of this Disease is Whether they be not conscious of some latent malignity And if I find it so I let alone all Specificks for this Disease and Antiscorbuticks and immediately proceed to a Decoction of the Woods which if it doe no good I proceed to Mercurial Medicines And indeed by this method I have with ease and speed cured several who were reckoned impetiginous and leprous after they had been long treated to no purpose with remedies appropriate to these Diseases Willis and miserably tormented XIII The second curatory Indication respecting the Disease it self and the primary Symptome to wit the scurfie Eruptions and Wheals prescribes topical Remedies to be applied to the external Skin for the Cure of these Ails For which end Baths and Liniments especially are good which yet unless the procatarctick Cause i. e. the tartareous disposition of the Bloud be first purged out doe seldom if ever any good of themselves Among all which Baths or Liniments made of Tar are by far the best so that indeed they onely should be used but that they smell so strong Therefore it is usual for Baths to use water kept in Tar-barrels for a while Idem and impregnated with the Infusion XIV Sulphureous Baths both natural and artificial are not proper for that the former often doe harm frequent experience testifies yea all Bathing whatever must be used with much caution for inasmuch as this administration stirs and heats the bloud it is in danger as I said before to dissolve its Crasis farther and to force the corruption more to the Skin Idem XV. Liniments whose use is safe and proper are of three kinds or degrees gentle moderate and strong 1. In a slight Itch where the Eruptions and Wheals are few and small fasting Spittle is commended also the liquour that sweats out of green Wood when it burns also bare rubbing with Dock roots bruised and steeped in Vinegar Take of Oil of Tartar per deliquium Oil of Nuts or of bitter Almonds each equal parts Make a Liniment Use it twice a day The second sort of Liniments use to have Tar in them Take of Ointment of Roses six ounces Tar two ounces Melt them together and mix them Take a piece of fat Mutton lard it with pieces of the root of sharp-pointed Dock rost it on a Spit Baste it with Tar continually dropping upon it The dripping of both must be saved for an excellent Ointment for the Itch. The most effectual Liniments against this Disease are Mercurial ones which are made of Quicksilver or Precipitate A Receipt for the first is this Take of Quicksilver killed with an Acid one ounce and an half new Hogs-lard six ounces Incorporate them well in a stone Mortar or a glass one For the other Take of white Precipitate three drachms Ointment of Roses three ounces Mix them Idem Anoint the parts most affected XVI The use of these in this Disease ought to be much suspected for if Salivation should be raised a vast quantity of matter impacted in the pores of the Skin would be moved which if it should fall too much at once on the salival ducts and should gather about the Throat it would endanger choaking Idem Lethargus or A Lethargy The Contents Whether Bloud-letting be convenient I. Opening of the Jugulars proper II. We need not be timorous in Purging III. We must purge diversly IV. Whether a Vomit be better than a Purge V. When sneezing Medicines are good VI. The benefit of drawing Blisters on the Head VII Fumes are hurtfull VIII The Cause is not always conceived in the Brain IX Whether the concomitant Fever must be extinguished or no X. When an Issue is good XI Medicines I. GAlen 13. Meth. 21. approves of Bleeding and most men follow him for so a proper revulsion of the Humour is made that it flow not to the Brain which being affected with heat and pain is easily susceptive of the fluxion and draws whereby the Inflammation of a Noble Part is prevented II. I think the jugular Vein should rather be opened than one in the Arm because by this means the bloud being much gathered in the Sinus of the Head and it may be stagnating will more easily be reduced to an equable Circulation III. Though a continual Fever accompany this Disease yet the Physician need not be over tardy or timorous when matter tending to the Head is very urgent For it is more advisable to evacuate it when it is in motion than when it is fixt in the Head and settled there And the danger permits a man to try something And if it happen that the Lethargy come upon a Crisis the Humours which produced the Disease running to the Head and if the precedent Fever abate then we need not much regard the whole or the Fever but we must have respect to the Head and prepare the matter settled there Sennertus IV. Before you pitch upon purging Medicines consider whether the ascent of the Humours to the Head come rather from Bile carrying the Phlegm than from the abundance of Phlegm it self for if the first although the Disease seem phlegmatick you must purge with Colagogues for exclusion of the Bile which carries Phlegm to the Brain Oribasius saies that nothing is so good for purging of Phlegm which Bile mixt with it has carried to the Head as Scammony given with Castor If you find Phlegm predominant as in most spurious Fevers and when a Lethargy begins you must doe the business with Phlegmagogues Mercatus V. Here we must consider whether we must purge or vomit in the beginning I know this is variously controverted among Authours and I have known it practised with various success which things considered and compared oâ—â— with another I will briefly give you my opinion If the Lethargy come from Suâ—seiting or Drunkenness or from taking incongruoâ—â— things and Narcoticks a Vomit must be given presently Wherefore let Salt of Vitriol be given with Wine and Oxymel of Squills or in strong persons an Infusion of Crocus metallorum or Mercurius vitae with black Cherry water and afterwards if it work not of it self Vomit must be provoked by putting a Feather down his Throat But if the Lethargy come upon a Fever or other cephalick Diseases or if it be caused primarily or by it self by some predisposition laid in the Bloud and Brain before Vomits and Purges given at the beginning while the matter is in flux often use to doe more harm than good Inasmuch as when the Humours are in motion they disturb them and when they cannot be brought under and carried off they drive them more into the part affected Willis VI. If the Disease continue and the
is peccant in the Pox may be evacuated indeed by Coloquintida alone but this may be done far more successfully and easily if Mercurial Medicines be joined with it or if they be used alone for Mercurial Medicines use to work far more kindly and powerfully than all common Medicines Therefore Medicines of Mercury made both by sublimation and precipitation are deservedly commended both in purging of viscid Phlegm and especially in curing the Pox. There are two Sublimates one they call corrosivum the other dulce Letting the former alone because of its great acrimony and great danger of future mischief leaving that to rash People I must recommend to every Man Mercurius sublimatus dulcis which is made of the foresaid Corrosive mixt with crude Mercury and so sublimed together after which it arises gentle and sweet and not corrosive any more Idem XXIX Beside the said Mercurius sublimatus as well corrosivus as dulcis many sorts of Mercurii praecipitati are commended which as they differ in colour so they do in virtue and manner of operation whilst some work by stool others by vomit or salivation Therefore we must sometimes use one sometimes another as there shall be occasion All of them may be used most commodiously in form of Pills lest Salivation should be raised before it be required And whereas here we commend Precipitate for Phlegm infected with the Poison of the Pox when we would purge it by stool you must know that the most fixt is the properest for this end For the more fixt Mercurius praecipitatus is the less it vomits or salivates and on the contrary And among all the Precipitates the Corallinus is most commended which has its name from the elegance of its colour and is made by abstraction of the acid spirit several times repeated Such a Mercury therefore variously prepared and made choice of according to the occasion i. e. the different constitution of the Patient and the various humours found in him we must use for eradicating of the Pox. Idem XXX And we must continue so long in taking of Mercurial Medicines till all the primary Symptoms of the Pox be taken away by means thereof But we must have especial care that we give them not in too great a quantity it is best to take them in a small quantity and often lest by stirring the humours too violently they doe more harm than good For Mercurial Medicines have a strange effect beyond all others because others usually doe their business quickly But Mercurials are slow in beginning their operations and long in continuing them and cannot always either easily or safely be stopt Idem XXXI But the great danger Patients are in from Mercurial Medicines is Salivation which they easily cause both in purging and vomiting whereby the Patients are in great danger of suffocation when the Glands about the Throat are swelled with viscid Phlegm Prudence therefore is necessary in administration of Mercurial Medicines which consists especially in a gentle use of them and an accurate observation of the disturbance which they cause in the Body before they strongly purge the humours Mercurial Medicines I say use above all others to make some singular alteration both about the Region of the Loins and about the Gums Cheeks and Throat and to give certain signs of their following operations When therefore the Physician hears his Patients complain after taking Mercurial Medicines of any trouble about the foresaid parts he must then carefully observe whether any evacuation be begun and whether reaching or any other irritation do promise a speedy evacuation Which uses therefore to proceed more slowly because the Mercury is taken up in conquering a pituitous and viscid humour which must be dissolved before it be expelled As long therefore as the agitation of the humours proceeds or increases so long must we abstain from giving any more Mercurial Medicines nor must we give any thing more than a little Broth or some convenient Decoction by means whereof the viscid humour may more easily be dissolved and so the operation of the Mercurial Medicine may be holpen A proper Decoction for this end may be made of Hidroticks and Diureticks whether it be taken weak and onely to alter the humour or stronger to cause Sweat or that be preferred which also evacuates by stool to the end the humours that are disturbed and inclined to evacuation by the Mercury may be carried more downwards and less upwards Idem XXXII Mercurius dulcis is almost a Divine Remedy in regard of its speedy curing and relieving the Sick which when it is well prepared may be given once in two or three days with 8 drachms of Lenitive Electuary for thirty or if need be for forty days together about twelve grains of it purge a strong Man well and without any Pain or Salivation Yet lest any thing malignant might stick to the Guts letting alone other Medicines they must be cleansed every week with Mel rosarum solutivum and a Decoction of Tamarinds in Cichory water with Citron Seeds For so I remember several setting aside the Decoction of the Wood except the second designed for drinking constantly have without long and tedious Sweating perfectly recovered and after that have had very healthy Children In Riverius cent 1. obs 95. a Boy of two years of age when the Decoction of the Wood would doe no good was cured by giving him 8 grains of Mercurius dulcis dextrously of a Pox which he had got from the Nurse Another that was born of an infected Woman by taking two or three grains of Mercurius dulcis with Sugar and Milk Rhodius cent 3. obs 84. the fifteenth day after he was born for a Month as Formius says in Riverius obs 26. XXXIII N. about 21 years old a common Whore was at length pustulous all over her Body and most horribly afflicted with Rhagades and Condylomata which were exulcerated about her obscene parts While therefore I was thinking of a desperate Cure for a desperate Disease Mercurius vitae offered it self with which for Purgings sake she began the twelfth day of November 1625. in this manner Take of Mercurius vitae 8 grains with mucilage of Tragacanth make a Pill after taking of which she had many stools much matter still remaining but without any trouble for which reason the same Dose was given her Novemb. 13. and it onely wrought four times The Dose was increased on the 14th to half a scruple it was made into two Pills and it purged her six times She having in this manner been pretty well purged took a Sudorifick Decoction every day twice with twelve grains of Sulphur auratum diaphoreticum for four days In the last days a caustick Mercurial water was applied Nov. 19. The Purge was repeated with eleven grains of Mercurius vitae which wrought moderately Nov. 20. The sudorifick Decoction with an addition of Sulphur auratum diaphoreticum was repeated Nov. 22. She took twelve grains of Mercurius vitae to
follows afterwards III. It is an errour not onely of the vulgar but also of some Physicians that the Hemorrhoids always benefit the Melancholick There are many Hypochondriacal Melancholists and of other sorts to whom the opening of the Hemorrhoid Veins is prescribed amongst the chief Remedies as if those Veins evacuated a thicker bloud than other Veins which I think to be very absurd The Authority of the Ancients and Moderns and mine own experience persuade me to this opinion Amongst the most ancient Hippocrates 6. Epid. sect 3. thought that the opening of the Hemorrhoids not by Leeches or otherwise which few have consider'd but by Nature her self is very profitable for preventing and curing very many Diseases bred of thin bloud as the Pleurisie Peripneumony Phagedoena or fretting Ulcer Biles Leprosie and other such like Yet it is not to be denied that the same profit those mad Melancholists that labour under black Choler according to Hippocrates's opinion Aphor. 11. sect 6. The Hemorrhoids supervening says he are profitable to those who are troubled with Melancholy and the Stone He speaks not a word of provoking them but onely approves of them if Nature unlock them of her own accord Now they flow not onely from a melancholick bloud but also from any other for Nature oft makes use of this flux to purge the bloud if there be any thing faulty in it or if its quantity exceed as in the too great abundance of bloud in women with child or such whose Terms are stopt and in the maimed whence bloud flows plentifully by them Hence Actuarius m. m. cap. 20. observes that besides from melancholick bloud these Veins are opened in those who intermit their usual exercises that use too full a Diet whose accustomed evacuations from other parts as the Nose or Womb are stopt or who have used to be let bloud Later Anatomists have observed that the Hemorrhoids are twofold some spring from the Vena cava and others from the Vena portae that those evacuate a more thin and pure bloud and these a thicker But this they do not doe always for a bloud that is pretty pure is sometimes evacuated by these latter and a thicker by the former Wherefore unless Nature shew that she attempts that evacuation these Veins are not to be rashly opened and if a pure and sparkling bloud come forth they are to be stopt presently for the Melancholick are worse by their evacuation When any opens them he cannot promise himself for certain that a melancholick bloud onely shall be emptied and not that which is pure and sparkling But if any have been accustom'd to them and be upon the suppression of them become melancholick mad nephritical or epileptical it will not be unprofitable to open them again that the humour which has its reflux towards the upper parts may be more safely poured forth by the accustomed ways whose passages are stopt up But if Nature do not affect this way we ought not to make a custome of it as Galen teaches 4. Aph. 25. That we should not accustome our selves to that evacuation that is made by the Hemorrhoids and Hollerius does rightly deny the opening of them if they do not swell and have never flowed before But if Nature incline that way in imitation of her we may open them otherwise by no means For though Nature do sometimes profitably evacuate bloud by the Hemorrhoids yet we may not always imitate her as in Fevers she sometimes carries off the Disease by Bleeding at the Nose or by Sweat but who will dare to open the Veins of the Nostrils or to provoke Sweat before signs of concoction or before Nature have shewn her inclination The same we must think of the Hemorrhoids Yet these things are not to be understood of particular Diseases for in them particular Veins may be opened thus we profitably procure Bleeding at the Nose in a Phrensie or Head-ach because these Veins communicate with the part affected Thus in the Nephritical and Splenical the Veins of the anus may be opened Primiros de vulg err l. 4. c. 51. but never in other Diseases that are more universal unless Nature follow this motion IV. As to Purgers there is says * Apud Scholtz cons 174. Crato in Hellebore a certain poisonous driness and moisture to be corrected of which correction I might say many things unless I remembred that of Mesue That it is a degree of wisedom not to come to strong Medicines save when weak have not benefited And although I know that almost all Practitioners do advise to give the strongest Medicines yet I am persuaded by Mesue that a weak Medicine often repeated does the same thing and with less danger as a strong does at once and together and I have learnt this to be true by the experience of many years I say nothing of how many and whom I have cured that have been ill of this Disease though I could do this truly but I can truly affirm that I never us'd Lapis Lazuli or Scammoniates I know that Senna is not onely safe but moreover inoffensive to the Stomach and gratefull to the Heart Let the Practitioner use it as I have done in melancholick Diseases Thus far Crato ¶ White Hellebore is celebrated by all Writers in Physick for melancholick and maniack Diseases But 't is better so to prepare it that it may work by stool than that it should work by vomit The manner of its preparation is this Boil it in Balm-water to the consumption of half and in the strained decoction boil some Prunes then with some Cassia newly drawn pass it through a Sieve and with Cinnamon and Sugar make an Electuary Or let its root be infused in the Pulp of Quinces and then taking away the root give the Quince Or infuse it in Mesue's decoction of Epithymum which give with the compound Syrup of Polypody But before the giving of it the humours are to be prepared for three days by Attenuaters and Inciders and the body is to be moistned with Meats of good juice in plenty by sleep rest and anointing the Body all over and the Belly is to be loosned by Clysters of Oil or of Milk and Butter See Sect. 11. of Mania V. Of Pills we must chuse those which evacuate gently and without trouble and not those which evacuate strongly Yet potions are to be preferr'd as drying less than Pills for Pills evacuate much and strongly Rondelet c. de Melan. and dry the body beyond measure by which drying the Patient is made worse VI. Melancholy in this place signifies not an humour but a Disease caused by the melancholick humour because many think this humour alone to be the cause thereof and direct all their Remedies to this alone But many things shew that it is not always caused by this humour and by vapours therefrom For we often see that those who labour under this symptome have no signs of this humour abounding yea that persons of any
Medicines wherein there is more harm than benefit Idem XXI A Flux of the Terms which stops of it self by reason of the Woman's Age though they do not require to be brought again yet it is necessary to disburthen Nature by some Evacuation For though this Suppression do not cause the most grievous Diseases yet it frequently breeds tedious ones and such as are difficult to cure Therefore every year till Nature be broken of her custome Mercatus she must be eased by gentle Evacuations XXII If the Bloud come by the Hemorrhoids and be turned from the Womb the Cure will be very difficult for whether you use Attrahents to the lower parts they draw to the Seat Or if you use Astringents they also because of their vicinity repell whatever comes to the Womb. The onely way of Cure therefore to doe any good is this to apply local Medicines to the Womb which may draw the moved humour more to the Womb. Riverius XXIII Specifick Medicines use most conveniently to be given a few days before their usual Flux after Baths and Fomentations wherewith the Vessels of the Womb are heated and opened then after taking of these Medicines it is good to put the Feet into a Decoction of some convenient Plants and then to walk Let the Woman sit up to the Navel in Fomentations and let her hold the boiled Herbs put in a Bag to her Belly After Fomenting the parts near the Womb may be anointed with Oils and Unguents as Vnguentum Martiatum Snake's fat with distilled Oil of Savine Lavender Bayes and White-lilie Outwardly let another Woman's Smock newly bedaubed with her Menstrua be put on which is very well approved from experience for in a manner by Sympathy it excites the Mumial Ferment of the bloud within the Womb. F. Hofmannus Mesenterii Affectus or Diseases of the Mesentery The Contents Handling of the Abdomen does not shew its Diseases I. In opening of Obstructions we must have a care lest Aperients be hurtfull to the Liver and Stomach II. We must not insist over much on Purging III. With what things Preparation must â—e performed IV. We must have a care of too much using of sweet things V. Sometimes a Vomit must be given VI. When Baths are proper VII What such the Diet must be if it come from the straitness of the Vessels VIII We must abstain from violent Openers IX The Cure of its Pain X. When the Mesentery is inflamed Purgatives and Diureticks usually doe harm XI In its Vlcers Mineral Waters must be avoided XII The Virtues of Cypress Turpentine XIII Voiding of Pus often comes from some where else XIV Obstructions must be prudently opened XV. I. IT is a common mistake amongst many who neglect all Anatomical knowledge to take a Tension reaching lengthways on each side of the Abdomen for a Swelling of the Mesentery or Liver when it is indeed a Swelling of the right Muscles Truly it is an inexcusable errour for the Mesentery lies under the Guts and no part of the Mesentery arises above the Guts which can be felt by the Hands in the Abdomen but these right Muscles are not onely above the Guts but above the Omentum and Peritonaeum and above the transverse Muscles of the Abdomen Wherefore no man can by feeling any part of the Abdomen judge any thing for certain concerning the state of the Mesentery for indeed these two parts of the body are too far distant in site and origination This Tension lengthways may be found in a Thousand People that are very well in health And this errour in notion passes into operation for the Patients are ill treated with divers outward Applications II. Medicines that open Obstructions must procure a firmness and strength to the Liver and Stomach For as Avicenna says excellently well lib. 3. Fen. 14. tr 1. c. 1. He that uses a Cure for Diseases of the Mesaraicks without any regard at the same time had to the Liver as to the cause of them is not unlike to him that fences the Feet when they are hurt by something being amiss in the Spina dorsalis but omits the chief of the Cure which resides in the Spine III. Purging must not be plentifull nor constant and continual nor exceeding the bounds of Moderation The condition of the Passages seems to persuade this and Nature also who is very observant of Moderation and Security and the Nature of the Humour that causes the Obstruction Mercatus IV. Preparation with Syrups when the extenuated Humours run to the stopt parts will undoubtedly cause stronger Obstructions Idem ¶ It is better in Winter time to doe it with Electuaries than with Liquours ¶ Viscid and tough Humours are Fernelius according to Galen 15. Meth. 12. corrected with Attenuants and Extersives But the bilious and adust and which tend to Inflammation are made fit for Evacuation by moderate Coolers and Detersives V. Lest Bile should be increased or occasion given to the Liver or Spleen to swell we must as much as may be have a care of Sweet things Mercatus VI. When the Humours are prepared a Vomit is proper But Obstructions must not be opened by a Vomit presently unless there be great store of bilious and sharp matter lest the Inwards should be strained by the violence of the Vomit Martini or the Head should be filled VII Bathing in Sweet waters used with Moderation is good to open the Pores of the Skin and to ampliate and open the passages of the Messentery and to remove the Filth that sticks there But it must be used with this caution that nothing be in the first ways that may in a moment be drawn to the body that there be no great impurity in the Bowels and that the Concoction of the precedent Food be finished Idem VIII If the Disease have its original from a Straitness of the Veins Attenuating Meat according to Aetius his Judgment must be given three or four times a day but in a small quantity IX Diseases of the Mesentery require not violent Openers because of their relation and vicinity to the Heart Spleen and Stomach and communication of Offices and Diseases whereby they quickly affect one another Idem X. For the Pain of the Mesentery if it be violent Laudanum Opiatum is good inwardly dissolved and mixt with Purgatives Fr. Hofmannus which stops the Pain by Purging XI Purgatives and Diureticks in the beginning of an Inflammation can seldom or never be used safely for there is fear according to Galen 14. Meth. 11. lest the Liver and Mesentery be sooner or worse inflamed XII If an Abscess of the Mesentery be brought to Suppuration Reason tells a man that all Waters with a mineral virtue in them must be avoided for though they doe much good to the Bowels designed for Nutrition by attenuating the thickness of the humours yet because by their penetrative and abstersive virtue and by a peculiar faculty
I. The Cure of a Caries following the Pox is difficult II. The Excellency of Euphorbium to correct a Caries III. Bared Bones do not always contract a Caries IV. The Causes and Cure of a Spina Ventosa V. The Cure of an ulcerous Hypersarcosis VI. The Cure of a Cancer of the Bone VII I. BOnes must exsquammate and be taken out when they are corrupt or after Burning Powders are made of Sarcoticks as Myrrhe All heal Frankincense adding some things which are reckoned to have the property to draw Bones as Root of Reeds which draws out Thorns and Splinters Some also add Pine-bark but without either judgment or reason for this Powder is usefull and effectual sometimes indeed as in Bones which consist of a rare substance or of two Tables such as the Os Cranii the Os Coxendicis and the Os Sacrum for they have Veins within wherefore they draw Flesh out of these Bones But in thicker and solid Bones they are not so commendable because Flesh cannot be bred in the inside of them Therefore drier Medicines must be sought which have an epispastick faculty as Powder made of Agarick Tartar and Bone Ashes for such a Powder because of the Agarick draws out the Humour that lies within and corrupts the Bones because of the Heat it has and the faculty to draw Phlegm Besides Lees of Wine burnt do by their Heat and great Driness sever the sick parts from the sound especially in corruption of the Bones by the Pox. II. A Caries of the Bones an usual Symptome of the Pox is difficult to cure The difficulty arises hence because the Venereal Poison intimately insinuates it self into the Bones whither Medicines that are proper to correct it cannot reach and the Disease cannot easily be conquered with Fire or an actual Cautery It is well known that an Acid and we reckon the Venereal Poison consists in a sharp Acidity and that it is most penetrating does most closely insinuate it self into the Bones and corrupt them even to Death for Bones do truly live and therefore such as are corrupted with a Caries must be reckoned for dead Therefore for the Cure of a Caries it is necessary that all the part affected as being dead be separated from the sound and living with which the Caries can neither close nor long subsist but it will infect the same and by little and little bring it to the like corruption But it is hard either by Fire or by a red hot Iron or by convenient Medicines to separate the carious part of the Bone from the sound when the Venereal Poison had made holes in the Bone and the farther it eats the stronger it grows as it is plain in a Venereal Caries which is the reason that it stops not at a Bone which corrupts but daily grows sharper whereupon at length when it is arrived at the height the Venereal Caries grows incurable And all the difficulty lies here that usually proper Remedies cannot be conveniently used and applied for the parts near the Bone as the Membranes Tendons Nerves c. are often hurt by an actual Cautery And this Malady increases because actual Cauteries which doe little good at once applying must be often applied if they will doe any great matters other Remedies are either too weak or cannot penetrate sufficiently to all the places where the said Poison has insinuated it self which consists in a sharp Acidity and is very penetrating For whatever things yet have been found to take off the Acrimony of an Acid any way are either lixivial Salts both fixt and volatile or volatile Spirits or Oil or Watry things or some things compounded of them But fixt lixivial Salts which are the chief opposites and adversaries of an Acid if they be pure and alone will stay at the superficies and will doe nothing of moment and if they be diluted with water they will lose some of their virtue If they be joined with a volatile Spirit they will penetrate indeed the better but they will operate more weakly If they be made into a Soap with Oil they are weakned and cannot easily penetrate deep in and if Water be added to make them more penetrable they are made more dull No wonder therefore if a Venereal Caries of the Bones be seldom cured Sylvius de le Boë III. In curing of Ulcers a Chirurgeon meets with nothing that creates him more trouble and puzzles him more than when an Ulcer is accompanied with a Caries of the Bones especially if it be deep because of the Moisture in the Bone And for the drying up of this Moisture and for making the â—one to scale Physicians and Chirurgeons both ancient and modern could think of nothing better than an actual Cautery I allow Euphorbium the next place since it not onely dries up the Humours in the Bone because it is sharp and hot in the fourth degree but it seems to be proper here by an occult quality Hildanus IV. I have observed some Physicians and Chirurgeons and those no ordinary ones who were of opinion that Flesh can never grow upon Bones that are made bare in green Wounds unless the surface of the Bones scaled by the benefit of Nature and Medicines Wherefore whenever they meet with a Wound where the Bone was laid bare they scraped it with Scalpra till the bloud come for several days then they applied sharp Medicines as Oil of Sulphur Vitriol Aqua fortis and the like and therefore of a simple Ulcer they often made a malignant one as we may see in rotten Teeth And though the Air be stark naught for bared Bones yet it does not follow that they are always altered and corrupted by it especially if the Chirurgeon be carefull Idem and use no sharp thing ¶ Hippocrates Aph. 6. 46. says that in all annual Ulcers the Bone must of necessity corrupt for because such are malignant therefore the Flesh and the very Bone must of necessity corrupt This is often observed in the Pox Small pox and other putrid Abscesses for when the Bones are made bare by such causes for the most part they are corrupted before the Flesh and the Skin are ulcerated as I have often observed nor will the Wound close up till the Caries of the Bone is removed And that it may very well be if the Lips of the Ulcer be kept open with prepared Sponge and if Powder of Euphorbium be strewed on every day I have several times cured a Caries of the Bone when it has not scaled For Euphorbium rectifies the Bone by degrees and all that is carious runs out with the Pus I found this in a Girl who after the Small-pox had a huge Abscess in her left Arm when it was opened the Bone was found to be carious In one part of the Ulcer where the Caries was deep the Bone scaled by the benefit of Nature and Euphorbium and Nature insensibly corrected the rest Idem so that she perfectly recovered V. I am resolved
dissuaded him from medling with it Severinus Med. Eff. p. 113. though it put him to continual trouble VI. Ptilosis is a callous red thickness of the Eye-lids often accompanied with the falling off of the Hair a contumacious and tedious Ail the Cure whereof I once experienced by pricking of the little Veins in the outside of the Eye-lid which rise as it were into Varices and many others came to me whom I always cured the same way Among the rest a Religious Man who for six months could find no benefit by any Medicines was thus quickly cured that is Idem p. 79. by frequent pricking with a Needle VII I have often cured an Ectropium by Scarification And an Ectropium according to Celsus is a fault in the upper Eye-lid which turns up a little and comes not down far enough to shut or in the lower Eye-lid which is not drawn high enough but turns back and hangs down and cannot joyn with the upper And both are caused by some inward Disease and by a Scar and this not without defect in the Eye-lid which if it be too defective says Celsus no Cure can restore it So He indeed but I found that an Eye-lid inverted after the Cure of a Carbuncle so that all the lower Sinus of the Eye lay much open was amended by cutting the Circle of the Deglabrated Eye-lid And this happened to a Capuchine who by such cutting recovered the beauty of his Eye almost entirely Idem who had been despaired of by the Surgeons Palpitatio Cordis or the Palpitation of the Heart The Contents Whether Bleeding be good I. Where Blood must be lâ—t II. When Cupping-Glasses must be applied to the Back III. A Caution in applying Vesicatories IV. Whether Attenuants be proper for the cause V. When we must abstain from Diureticks and Hydroticks VI. Sweet sented things are not proper if it comes from the Womb. VII If it come from Wind we must avoid Syrupus de Pomis VIII Caused by a Worm IX A violent one in an Hypochondriack Woman quickly discussed X. If it come from abundance or heat of Blood how such things must be used XI The Efficacy of Issues XII We must continue long in the use of Medicines XIII Cured by drinking Whey and bathing in fresh Water XIV Willis his way of Cure XV. The trembling of the Heart differs in the Causes from the Palpitation XVI Medicines I. ALthough oftentimes Wind be found in this Malady yet because there may be Wind in a Spurious Palpitation which proceeds from the heat of Blood or inundation of the Pericardium it is not safe at the first coming of it to apply hot things Wherefore if the mischief arise from the heat of Blood first of all according to Galen's Opinion Blood must be let In them who labour of an Inundation of the Pericardium never unless very sparingly and seldom only that what oppresses the Spirits of the Heart may be moderately subtracted and that the Fever which perhaps for want of convenient Ventilation increases may not gain ground and I think this is what must chiefly be done in a Spurious one Mercatuâ— thinks Blood-letting hurtful because its Indicant namely abundance of Blood does not at that present offend For who will affirm that Flatuous Matter which is the immediate cause of this Affection can be taken away by Blood-letting Yet Galen 5. loc aff c. 2. intimates the contrary when he affirms that all who are ill of a Palpitation of the Heart are cured by bleeding and attenuating Food and Physick Which Tenet is not without reason for when abundance of Blood is in fault it indicates plentiful detraction lest the Spirits be suffocated But if there be no great Plenitude yet Bleeding is convenient Horstius Dec. 5. Prob. 3. because the Disease in respect of the part affected is great for a principal part is affected where we must take care by Revulsion that abundance of Humours do not run more to the Heart which is otherwise debilitated II. The Palpitation of the Heart as is very apparent to me is usually caused by a Melancholick Humour Hor. Augenius l. 10. de Sist c. 11. that is by consent with the Hypochondria in Splenetick Persons wherefore I always did my Patients a great deal of good by setting Leeches to the Haemorrhoid Veins III. When in time of the Fit the strength is not able to bear Bleeding we must use Leeches and Cupping-Glasses As for the place Rhases 7. cont applies Cupping-Glasses to the Back Avicenna disapproves them because they raise Palpitation by drawing the Blood to the Breast This contradiction is thus taken away Cupping-Glasses in Plenitude of the whole applied to the Back with much flame and deep Scarification especially if they be large use to raise this Tremulous affection of the Heart Therefore in this case they must be set to the lower parts But when the Body is evacuated by Medicines and Bleeding small Cupping-Glasses gentle Scarification with a little Flame applied to the Back do good for they draw the Vapour Wind and Blood from the Center to the Circumference Saxonia IV. For Revulsion of the Matter in a tedious and frequent one Issues and Blisters either in the Arms if the Matter fall from the Head or in the Legs if it be essential or transmitted from the lower parts to the Heart are good Concerning Vesicatories Mercurialis cautions us not to use Cantharides because they have a faculty malignant and adverse to the Heart but rather Crow's-Foot Flammula Jovis c. V. Where the Matter is sanguine almost all agree in this that Extenuating Syrups should be given Being swayed by Galen's Testimony 5. de loc aff 2. who treats a Palpitation with Blood-letting and Extenuating Medicines And they take their Matter for Extenuaters from Lib. de Palpit c. 5. where he reckons up all hot Medicines endued with an Attenuant virtue Penny-royal Calamint c. This Operation is to me suspected yea dangerous seeing Wind may be bred of a hot cause where Cacochymie or Plenitude is The place is in Galen 4. acut 9. For if hot Attenuants be given in abundance of Blood Wind and Vapours will be raised and they will increase the Palpitation Therefore Attenuants may be chosen but they must be cooling as Ptisane Oxymel Syrupus acetosus simplex acetositatis Citri c. And I believe Galen 5. de loc aff must be understood of Attenuating Meats and Diet not of Attenuating Medicines but of true Extenuaters And such are they which diminish Blood either of themselves or by accident Of themselves Venae-Section and all Evacuation of Blood All Purging by Vomit or Stool Sweat or Urine diminish Blood By accident a spare Diet Labour Friction Bathing The place is in Galen 2. aphor 28. where under the name of Attenuating Medicines all these things are understood And truly in abundance of Blood it is good to extenuate Saxonia that is to let Blood and diminish it VI. L.
Kid dry it stick a few Cloves in it put it in an Earthen Vessel set it in an Oven in which the Heart dissolves into juice Crembs Give it the Sick to drink 5. The following Water is a great Secret Take of Hearts of Hogs of Harts each N. 2. Cut them in pieces Add of Cloves Galangale Seed of Basil each 2 drachms Flowers of Bugloss Rosemary Borage each 2 Handfuls Let the Spices and Seeds be cut and bruised after a gross manner Put to them as much Malmsey Wine as is sufficient Digest them for 24 hours Distil them The Dose Herlicius half an ounce with Sugar 6. A piece of fine White Bread sopt in Wine of Crete Joel and eaten is admirable for strengthning the Heart and stopping its Palpitation 7. In a Palpitation from a cold Cause true Rhapontick is of incredible Efficacy if 2 drachms of it be taken in Wine or if Wine wherein the same Rhapontick Mercatus All-heal Aristolochia rotunda or Faenugreek has been inâ—used be drunk Paralysis or the Palsy The Contents Sometimes Blood must be let I. Vomits are sometimes good II. If it come from Phlegm whether we must purge in the beginning III. At first we must go to work with gentle Medicines IV. Whether Oxymel may be admitted among Preparatives V. Whether Sudorificks may be given VI. Or Treacle or Mithridate VII Why sometimes Sudorificks do hurt VIII How Sweat must be raised when External Pains accompany a Palsy IX Diureticks to be preferred before Hidroticks X. Clysters must not consist of over emollient things XI The use of Bathes sometimes hurtful XII How they do good in that which follows a Colick XIII Insensible Evacuants must be violent XIV Cure by Salivation is not good for every one XV. One cured by Salivation XVI Whether we may raise a Fever XVII When it comes from External Humidity a must quickly be cured XVIII There is no harm in making Decoctions Infusions c. with Wine XIX Whether Confectio Anacardina be safe XX. Sinapisms and Blisters when proper XXI Vrtication good XXII Topical Medicines must be applied to the Original of the Nerves XXIII They must not exceed in heat XXIV A Palsy from an External Cause cured by an easie Remedy XXV Oyly Medicines are not proper for all XXVI The Cure must be varied according to the variety of Causes XXVII It may be caused by Bile and Blood XXVIII That which comes from a Melancholick Juice must be cured with Chalybeates XXIX Ceasing after voiding of Worms XXX That which follows the Colick requires not the Cure of the Origination of the Nerves XXXI How by Pications we may help the Atrophy of the Limbs which follows XXXII The continued use of Infusions is excellent XXXIII Medicines I. SOme mention Venaesection which yet unless there be a Plethora seems not proper because here is not the same danger of extinguishing the Vital Flame as in an Apoplexy But yet if the Blood appear not to circulate conveniently and that from above small Pulse and short Breath I think Venaesection altogether necessary for the same Reasons which we propounded in the Apoplexy See Tit. Apoplexy Book I. And I recommend these two Signs taken from the Pulse and Respiration to be carefully observed by all Men because they are the principal Signs of the Blood 's Restagnation about the Ventricles of the Heart Sylvius de le Boe. and of danger of Suffocation ¶ Although Medical Writers do usually respect Pituitous Matter yet since it is manifest that it sometimes arises from Plenitude of Blood this may be let boldly I speak this because some fear to do it reckoning that a Palsey always comes from Phlegm I know a Woman who when she had been let six ounces of Blood could not be cured but when some pounds had been let she was cured though some Physicians were afraid of so great a quantity And I know two Men who by bleeding in great quantities and at several times were cured Therefore in a Sanguineous Palsy Blood may be let boldly not once only but oftner not in one place but several But if in the Palsy there be not a Legitimate Sanguine but a Spurious Plenitude Blood must be taken away yet sparingly as Aetius Paulus Alexander and Celsus are of Opinion For the last l. 3. c. 27. writes That Bleeding and Purging are good for Paralyticks In this case it must be let sparingly only to about six ounces Yet this must be observed That is the Palsy seize all the Parts of the Body but the Head the Haemorrhoid Veins must be bled If one part be free Blood must be let in that Saxonia II. Vomits sometimes do abundance of good in curing the Palsy namely because they substract Matter from the Conjunct Cause and they do not always drive further the Matter impacted into the Nerves but make Revulsion of it shake it and often break it into pieces so that when the continuity of the Mass is broken the Animal Spirits themselves do easily dissipate the Particles of the Morbifick Matter Willis when they are parted asunder III. There is a Controversie between Rhases and Avicenna whether we may Purge in the beginning Avicenna before giving of Purgatives propounds Preparatives and gentle Medicines Rhases at the very first uses Pilulae Cochiae and consequently strong Purgers I thus compose that Controversie When the Palsy is new through some great fault in the Head as after an Epilepsie or Apoplexy I am of Rhases his Opinion presently to give a Purge The Reason is plain for there is danger of the return of the Epilepsie or Apoplexy which we must immediately prevent by giving a Purge But if the Palsy be old in a determinate part without hurt of the Brain Avicenna's Judgment must be followed first a Lenitive must be given Saxonia and then Preparatives IV. In the Palsy our Ancestors observed this that in the beginning it must be treated with gentle Medicines and not with very violent ones whether taken inwardly or applied outwardly Certainly I have sometimes observed That a Palsy of one side has followed that which was only in a part and sometimes an Apoplexy has followed this the abundance of Noxious Matter being agitated in the Head more than it should be when any one has endeavoured to carry it off by a sharp Medicine And there is a great Error oftentimes committed in that when the Head and Body are not well purged such Medicines are given as by their heat and motion easily get into the Head and there they put the Humour into Fusion and Fluxion which Nature by rest and a good Course of Diet Solenander would have at length overcome and concocted Experienced Physicians know this V. I do not disapprove of Oxymel with other Preparatives although Vinegar be an enemy to the Nerves as they are dry parts but when they are imbued with and full of Pituitous Juice Vinegar is not hurtful Saxonia and especially diluted with
got into the hollow of the Nerves and must be dissolved And Physicians after Evacuations use to apply Remedies to the Relaxed parts for in the Apoplexy which is called an universal Palsy Scholtzius cons 50. the whole Body is usually anointed with Odoriferous Oyl XXIV This must be observed That we do not apply a Medicine to the Paralytick part as some do Dropaces who by this means think they can recall the heat and sense of the Part if they burn the Part with hot Medicines which do no good but may cause a Gangreen in the Part. Medicines must be applied to the Original of the Disease Saxonia not to the part affected it self XXV A certain Young Man tarrying a long time for his Sweet-heart in a Wine-Cellar was taken with a Moistness and Palsy in his Limbs And when the Physicians were puzzled about applying Remedies to him one carried the Young Man to an Oven and making a Bed for him he heated some Nut-Tree-Leaves in the Oven when they were hot he wrapt them in Linnen Clothes and laid the Young Man in them and covered him well up and presently Sweat burst out in abundance While he Sweat he was refreshed with a little Chicken Broth Solenander and he was well XXVI Oyls Liniments Unguents Plaisters serve to correct and consume the Pituitous Humour and indeed in them only whose Skin can bear fat things For it happens to several that upon the application or illinition of any fat things presently Pustles arise and an Erysipelas takes the whole Body and sometimes Mortification and Gangreen of the part does follow which will be proper for the Physician and Patient to observe When therefore the Patient can bear fat things they must be used in a various form and especially the Oylâ— because they penetrate more easily and deep But where fat things are hurtful Roots Herbs Seeds c. proper for the Palsy may be infused in rectified Spirit of Wine Sylvius and the Parts affected may be anointed with it XXVII As there are manifold forms and divers causes of the Palsy so the Cure of iâ— must not always be insisted on in the same manner but by a various method appropriate to each sort There are usually these three kinds or three methods of Cure as the Palsy is caused suddenly Either first From a blow or fall c. Secondly It follows some other Disease that is an Apoplexy Carus c. Or Thirdly As a Disease primary and per se and depending upon a Procatarxis or some previous Apparatus it is caused by degrees When it comes the first way the only intention of Cure is that the hurt part may recover its pristine strength and first Lest the Blood and other Humours flowing to it as to the affected and weakest part should increase the Disease Blood must presently be let a moderate Sweat must be given to the end that all superfluities being got out of the part affected may exhale in abundance and that the Spirits gently agitated may begin again their old rounds within the pores and passages of the part being unlocked by the hot effluvia To this end Pulvis ad casum August Decoctum traumaticum or a Decoction of Madder Root or Butter-burr or Flowers of St. John's Wort may be given frequently Moreover in the mean time the place affected must be diligently enquired Secondly When a Palsy comes upon a Fever Apoplexy Colick and other Diseases it is a great one and comes suddenly First of all we must use our skill in Physick to remove its Conjunct Cause which usually has its seat in the Medulla oblongata or Spinalis Thirdly An habitual Palsy depends on the Procatarxis either in fieri or disposition or in facto or habit each of them requires a peculiar method of Cure The intentions of Cure in the former will be 1. That when the works of making Chyle and Blood are rightly performed Matter both laudable and plentiful enough for the breeding of Animal Spirits may be supplied to the Head 2. That the Brain being still firm the Heterogeneous Particles being excluded may admit proper ones and rightly exalt them into Animal Spirits But if a Palsy arise after a previous disposition in the whole or in one side or in certain parts a large and complicated method is always requisite and often not sufficient for the Cure of it for not only the Disease or its Conjunct Cause or the Procatartick must be opposed severally but all of them must be opposed at once Cephalick and Antiscorbutick Medicines use to do most good against the Procatarctick Cause of the Disease But all such are not proper for all Men but as we have observed in the Scurvy according to the various Constitutions of Patients so the Medicines must be of a different kind and virtue For Medicines that are hot and endued with very active Particles are not proper for Bilious Paralyticks in whose sharp and hot Blood there are much Salt and Sulphur and but little Serum yea they often do harm which yet are very good for Phlegmatick Persons whose Blood is cold contains much Serum and few active Elements Wherefore according to the twofold state of Patients it will be proper to proceed in two methods one whereof must be for cold Paralyticks another for hot Willis XXVIII Paulus l. 3. c. 43. writes That in his time there was a Colick which ended either in a Convulsion or a Palsy and that it could no way be cured but by a certain rash Physician who cured it with cold Herbs drinking of cold Water and incrassating Meats whence one may gather that the Humour was hot and bilious I also a few years since saw an illustrious Bishop who after a Colick fell into a Palsy in his Arms and used hot Medicines a long time to no purpose at length when for a long time he had used cold Herbs not to cure himself but on account of Religion and cold Water c. he was cured of his Palsy Saxonia ¶ Seeing it comes sometimes from bilious and hot Humours in abscesses after acute Diseases and sometimes from abundance of Blood falling upon the Veins at the Spine it must not be cured by hot Medicines For in the first case emollient and temperate things must be used such as Fat and Marrow but in the second case only Blood-letting is usually the Remedy for a Palsy from Blood is not a true Palsy but is cured by accident in as much as the Veins being full do compress the Nerves Fonseca XXIX I have seen several Melancholick Persons cured by the use of Chalybeate Medicines who being deprived of the motion of their Limâ—s have been reckoned Paralytick Among these was a Noble Maid who belonged to the Queen of Bohemia who being deprived of the use of her Limbs by the violence of the Melancholick Juice and committed to my Care by GOD's Blessing left me Chearful and in her perfect Health all that had her in hand
beginning the pain ceases and the Patients are quickly cured I was called to a Matron who for three days and nights could not sleep because of a Whitlow which violently pained her having cut away the Skin I found a Speck under it in the tip of her Finger thus big O in which scarce one drop of Ichor was contained when the Speck was cut and a Cotton applied dipt in Aquavitae wherein Treacle was dissolved and a Linnen Cloth doubled and dipt in Water and Vinegar was applied to her Hand and Wrest the pain immediately ceased so that the next day her Finger was well I have used this Cure in several others and always under the Skin near the Nail I found something of Ichor But this Incision must be made at the beginning otherwise by the violence of the pain the Humours quickly run thither which cause inflammation and swelling which an erosion of the Flesh and Bones does follow for the Skin there is very thick hindring the transpiration of the Malignant Matter Therefore before incision I order them to hold their Finger in Cow's Milk wherein Flowers of Chamaemil Melilot Seeds of Faenugreek Line and Quinces have been boiled And there is no danger in Incision nor Pain not offending the Nerves or Tendons because it is superficiary But the other way commonly used by Practitioners namely Incision which is made from the superficies to the center and towards the Bone is very dangerous for it hurts the Nerves and Tendons whence comes pain c. It is sufficient for me to cut the superficies of the Skin by little and little Hildanus cent 1. obs 97. and then to scrape off the Skin till the Speck appear II. Physicians that are beginning to practise must observe that in the Cure regard must always be had to Malignity I have observed that a Whitlow very rarely or never has its rise from an Internal Cause unless some ill conditioned Diseases as Ma ignant and Spotted Fevers long Tertians not ending as they should do in a crisis or the Small Pox or Measles have gone before especially when some error is committed either by the Patient or those about him in such Diseases Of which this may serve for an Instance In the year 1658. a Son of mine Fourteen years old was seised with a Fever like a Tertian Ague which when after the third fit it ended in a crisis by plentiful Sweat he begged of his Nurse that she would give over wiping the Sweat who was afterward free from his Ague sit and went about his business but scarce fourteen days were over when all on a sudden he complained of a swimming and pain in his Head then he was neither able to sit nor stand so that his prevailing symptomes cast him from his Stool to the Ground He could not lift up an Arm nor rear his Languid Body and all his Senses being entire a Cynick Spasm came upon him and he was drawn variously now and then yet his Limbs were flaccid as if he had been Paralytick he was speechless also at times and made signs And being asked what he ailed He answered He ailed â—othing only he was tired and feeble I prescribe him Clysters purge him gently bleed him in the Arm because he was Plethorick and under the Tongue I give him Sudorificks and Alexipharmacks because of the Fever gentle indeed as to the touch but malignant in effect which not hastning so much as creeping to a crisis behold the Thumb and Ring-Finger of his Right Hand had Whitlows both at once that of the Thumb vanished of it self but that of the Ring-Finger required a Surgeon's help and my Son reâ—overed his Health The cause of which Symptomes was the stopping of the Sweat which Nature endeavoured to cast off whereby the Humours being afterwards corrupted frothing up in the Fingers ends by the intervention of the Veins and Arteries by benefit whereof the Circulation of the Blood is performed in these parts gave occasion to the Whitlows which if I may so say were preposterous crises which when Surgeons do not handle as they should expecting perfect maturation Simon Paulâ— they render their Patients murcous or lame of their Fingers ends because the Bones do sphacelate Medicines especially made use of by eminent Physicians 1. I have tried this certain Experiment several times Take live Earth Worms bind the Whitlow in the beginning then check and heal it Baricellus so that it lasts not above a day 2. The Blood of a Mole smeared over the Finger and the Skin tied over it Van Helmont cured a Whitlow in one night 3. The Crum of White Bread boiled in Milk with the White of an Egg Platerus and a little Turpentine stops the pain especially if some Mucilage of Psyllium be added Platerus ¶ Goose Dung is much valued by Surgeons as it is warm made by the Goose and applied which is requisite in this Disease 4. Worms found in the Teazle are good Sennertus if they be taken and bound on alive 5. Root of White Nettle applied with Wine Strokkerus I have often tried to be very good Parotides or swellings behind the Ears The Contents When Blood must be let I. We must have a care to use Attrahents II. When the Tumour must be opened III. When the Abscess is opened we must abstain from Evacuaters IV. Those that follow a grievous Disease must be cured by burning V. Quick-Silver may safely be put in Cataplasms VI. They strike in after Blood-letting VII Whether they must be opened with a Knife or with a Cautery VIII I. WHile we attend Suppuration if perchance it should happen that by the efflux of Humours either to day in the evening or to morrow morning the swelling should grow to such a bigness that the Swallowing and perhaps also the Breath might be stopt then without doubt we might proceed to take away Blood by opening a Vein as Galen 3 per loca teaches us Moreover when the Parotides are caused by Blood Trallianus l. 3. c. 6. advises the opening of a Vein immediately to prevent Suffocation Fortis cens 91. cent 1. II. Although Oribasius and Aetius advise That not Repellents but rather Attrahents should be used yet if the Humour come with violence the same Aetius advises that nothing be done with Curiosity yea Trallianus observes that if it be caused by Blood Attrahents may very easily cause Suffocation which was taken from Galen 10 Simpl. Not Repellents says he but rather Attrahents or at least Laxatives or the whole affair must be committed to Nature acting aright Idem III. Although Celsus 6. de re med 6. advise the opening of a Parotis presently yet this ought never to be done in the beginning nor unless there be some suppuration of the Matter Nor yet must we expect Pus in the Superficies as some unexperienced Persons think for before it rises it sinks and diffuses it self into various and difficult Sinus's Besides if it
when weak in a dark For there is some diversity of Natures in this case the dark disturbing some more and the light others And some when they are in a somewhat lightsom place imagin they see many things which they do not see take one thing for another and conceive various Images from Objects wherefore such a Patient is to be kept in the dark On the contrary if he be afraid in the dark let him be kept in the light Idem XXIII When the Frantick are raging mad order them to be bound and look you come not near them because they have sometimes killed their Physicians And at Venice I knew a Mad Man that kilâ—'d two Priests Add hereto That by such Ligaments there is made a diversion of Matter from the Head Saxon. prael pract c. 3. and the Frantick hardly ever rave when they have their Bands upon them c. XXIV In a Phrensy there sometimes happens a suppression of Vrine on the sixth day a continual Fever being present which suppression if the Physician endeavour to remedy he mistakes for this suppression does oft indicate a Crisis by sweat Therefore it is not to be cured Hippocr 6. Epidem 1. but to be committed to Nature acting well lest she being disturbed by unseasonable Diureticks the Patient be brought to his end an Instance whereof is given by H. ab Heer obs 5. But if the Diureticks be of such a nature as to be withal Diaphoretick opening inciding and moving of Tartar such as the Antepileptick Pouder of Hartman the admirable effects whereof I have many times experienc'd in an Epilepsy and other Diseases of the Head and in Madness it self especially if the said Diseases arise from the Juice of the Nerves being too dull acid and vapid as it were in this case Medâ—cins full of a volatil Alkali salt are the most available such as the Spirit of Hartshorn of Mans Blool rectified of Soot But if the Nervous Liquâ—r be too acrimonious and salt or the Effluvia steming from the estuating Blood drive the Animal Sprits into distractions such Remedies which consist of a Volatil acid are given with success Frid. Hofm m. m. l. 1. c. 12. as the Voatil Spirit of Vitriol the opening Striated Spirit of Penotus the Philosophical Spirit of Vitriol Phthisis or Consumption The Contents The Curative Indications I. The cause of the Malady is not to be derived always from the Head II. We must provide for the whole Body by effectual Remedies III. Whether Bleeding be sometimes profitable IV. We must Purge with strong things at the beginning V. In the progress with such as are more mild VI. At what season Vomiting is sometimes convenient VII Diureticks are hurtful VIII The fluxion upon the Lungs is first of all to be stopt IX Whether the Waters call'd Acidulae and Baths be hurtful X. The Lungs are to be cleansed before the consolidating of the Vlcer XI We must use driers in respect of the Vlcer notwithstanding the Fever XII Whether the Sugar and Conserve of Roses be profitable XIII The excellency of Suffumigations XIV We must provide at the same time for both Fever and Vlcer XV. Milk is not to be denied because it breeds Phlegm XVI How it may be hindred from becoming either nidorous or sowr upon the Stomach XVII Things that absterge strongly are hurtful XVIII Whether Ros solis be profitable XIX Temperate Acids are profitable XX. Sulphureous Remedies do not always relieve XXI The Excellency of Balsam of Sulphur XXII Lac Sulphuris is but of small efficacy XXIII Vlcers of the Lungs cured by Vulnerary Injections XXIV The profitableness of Vesicatories XXV The profitableness of Fontanels XXVI When and where Causticks are to be applied XXVII A Phthisis cured in the beginning by Issues under the Arm-holes XXVIII A Phthisis cured by a Seton in the Neck XXIX A Bath is not profitable to all XXX Antimonial Medicins free the Blood from Pus XXXI The efficacy of a dry Air. XXXII Changing of Air is not profitable to all XXXIII Whether Snails be profitable XXXIV The cure of a Phthisis from a Native Disposition XXXV A peculiar Cause of a Phthisis XXXVI The cure of a Pulmonary Phthisis XXXVII Leanness cured by repeated Bleeding XXXVIII The danger of a Tabes avoided by a flux of the Hemorrhoids XXXIX The lost Appetite how to be recalled XL. What Wine to he chosen for drink XLI Medicins I. THough the Matter that causes the Cough destil not from the Head upon the Lungs by the Wind-Pipe yet drilling sometimes out of the sides of the Wind-Pipe and falling down into the Cavities of the Lungs it produces that Disease which is commonly known by the name of a Catarrh For the Wind-Pipe besides a Nervous and Musculous Coat has also a Vasculous and Glandulous one into this last are deposited superfluous Humidities from the Blood which bedew the whole Wind-Pipe Now if at any time the mass of Blood be too much fused and precipitated into Serosities as upon catching cold drinking acid things c. hereupon presently a great deal of watry Matter sweats out of the Glands of the Wind-Pipe and the mouths of the Arteries into its Cavities which soon causes Coughing and Spitting Whilst these things are moderate and only the superfluities of the Blood are expelled they often turn rather to profit than benefit because thus the mass of Blood and the Lungs themselves are cleansed But if these Affections being prolonged the Serous Humour being every where deposited in the Ducts of the Wind-Pipe shall at length begin to be alter'd towards Putrefaction then the motion and crasis of the Blood are perverted and the Humour is plentifully deposited out of the mass of Blood which first of all enters the little Bladders annexed to the small Branches of the Wind-Pipe and at length fills and somewhat distends them and by and by the sides of one two or more of them being burst there is made an Vlcer The Curative Intentions are chiefly these three 1. To hinder the dissolution of the Blood which is the root of all the mischief 2. Presently and sufficiently to evacuate the corrupt Matter gathered in the Lungs by Expectoration 3. To strengthen and dry the Lungs that have their unity dissolved or are too lax and moist that they may not be still more and more corrupted and receive more and more the Morbifick Matter As to the first indication let these three things be procured 1. That the Mass of Blood may contain and assimilate all the Nutritious Juice that is afforded to it and may be so proportioned therewith as that it offend neither in quantity nor quality Wherefore above all things let it be order'd that People that Cough and are Phthisical abstain very much from Drink and take Liquids or Spoon-meat but in small quantity so that the Blood being weak in its Crasis may the more easily subdue the Minute Portions of the fresh Juice and retain them within its Compages whilst
Funnel whose straiter end was to reach to the Genital parts At the same moment of time she also received the same smâ—ak in at her Nose and Mouth from another Pot which having penetrated the Woman presently cries out I must needs go to Stool which she had hardly spoken but there was heard such a hâ—zzing as when Gun-Poud r contained in some narrow Case or Squib is set on â—irâ—â— which Wind having thus burst forth forthwith in the vâ—ry moment the Woman was freed from her pain Being thus informed by Experience I have sometimes since then in the like case found the same Remedy profitable and beneficial Sâ—â—ander 〈◊〉 â— cons 1â— sect 29. VI. My dear Wife Johanna Spanhemia being always cruelly griped after her delivery which Gripes no art could allay although all things which use to be propounded were tried at length in the month of May 1675. being happily brought to Bâ—d of a Boy and but just laid down in her Bed being very thirsty after the pains of her Travail she extorâ—ed from her Nurse a draught oâ— very â—old Pâ—â—sâ—n whâ—n her Gripes were just a coming which were wholly repressed by this Remedy without any prejudice I had lately the opportunity to try the same with good success in a Cholerick Woman the Wife of a Clock-maker whose name was Morellus her Purgations flowing very well afterward Whether was the Orgasm of the Blood by this means appeased which was making an hasty exit and distending the Vesselâ— being turgent in them or irrâ—tating them by its acrimony Such a Drink may be very profitable in the Cholerick by tempering the heat of the Blood VII Those do amiss who give Child-bed Women potch'd Eggs betimes in the morning and before Meals for seeing Hippocrates 1. de morb mul. sect 2. vers 156. approves of them when the Purgations flow immoderately it is an evident argument that they have a vertue to stop them so that by their use the Purgations may be stopt when they flow as they should do than which nothing can be imagined more hurtful Martianus VIII Old and racy Wine is not safe for Child-bed Women at the beginning because the Pains of Travail are follow'd by a great Perturbation of the Humours in the Body which might be carried up into the Head by the drinking of Wine 'T is also suspected lest some harm might accrew from it to the parts which belong to the Womb or are adjoining from whence an inward Inflammation might arise Idem IX From the weakness of the Muscles of the Abdomen which contribute much to the expulsion of the Excrements Childbed Women are very subject to be Costive and not only from their continual keeping their Bed as is vulgarly supposed For from the preceding Travail the Muscles of the Abdomen are as yet weak In which case Looseners are given in vain from the too great use whereof the Coats of the Stomach become too slippery whence concoction is injur'd Something oâ— Turpentine or Aloes or Rhubarb are more convenient for these Hoefer Herc. med l. 3. c. 5. which both stimulate the Belly and have a friendly stypticity X. Cautious Women that attend upon Women in Travail will not permit them to sleep presently after they are deliver'd lest whilst they sleep too much Blood should flow out without notice Idem l. 7. c. 5. XI Those Physicians are deceived that following the Opinion of some Women think that Womens After-pains are therefore profitable because the flowing of the Lochia is promoted thereby the contrary whereto often happens seeing sometimes they do not flow though these pains be never so violent Add hereto that many Women have no such pains and yet nevertheless their Lochia flow and that indeed far better than when those pains are urgent Those are likewise deceived that follow Women in an Opinion that these pains do seldom or never follow upon a Womans delivery of her first Child but only upon the second and that they become greater and greater every time a Woman lies in For daily Experience shews the falsity hereof at least in these Countreys where yet many are possest with this opinion which is not only erroneouâ— but also hurtful especially the former because by this means the Cure of these pains is neglected and hindred by many esteeming them to be profitable though the neglect of them have so often been the cause of death to many Childbed Women Sylv. prax l. 3. c 9. sect 2 4. XII Wherefore it is of concern to know the true cause of the said Pains Seeing they follow upon the delivery the most frequent cause thereof is deservedly to be derived from those things which use to happen to Child-bearing Women in he time of their Travail Now there are two things which are the most observable the exclusion of the Foetus and the separating of the Secundines from the Womb and their exit out of it In the exclusion of the Foetus that is in the very delivery 't is sufficiently known that pains are caused but such as grow less afterwards and vanish by little and little But the After-pains we are speaking of are quite of another nature beginning a ter the delivery is over As to the separation of the Secundines from the Womb as also their exit out of it Women are sometimes wont to be pained anew thereby because they are often knit pretty straitly and firmly to the Womb and grow so to it that they can hardly or not at all be separated therefrom without the tearing either of themselves or of the Womb. Now none is ignorant how acute pains are felt in excoriated and torn parts especially as oft as any Liquor and chiefly that which is acrimonious and biting approaches them Whence it is no wonder if after the strait connexion of the Secundines with the Womb and the violent pulling off of the same and so Excoriation of the Womb and the afflux and efflux of the Lochia great pains be caused there But it is to be noted that those pains chiefly afflict Women both that are delicate and of an exquisite sense and have their Secundines also straitly knit to the Womb not to be separated therefrom without violence We must observe moreover if the Cure of these pains be neglected that every time a Woman is brought to Bed they are sorer and sorer which perhaps has given rise to that Erroneous Opinion concerning these Pains which was mention'd above Lastly we must observe that Women with Child do either hasten or are hastened too much to their delivery so that before the Foetus is come to its full maturity and the Secundines prepared for an easie separation from the Womb the Birth is precipitated whence both the Foetus is expelled with difficulty and the Secundines separate from the Womb and pass out of it with the like difficulty Add hereto that in these Countreys many Women with Child do too much indulge themselves in the use of Aliments that
Rickets The Content The Description Cause ' and Cure I. THE Rickets are a Disease proper to Children and peculiar almost to the English Nation The signs thereof are a swelling of the Belly about the Stomach especially on the right side under the region of the Liver the Epiphyses of the Bones at the Joints are too bulky for their Age or in comparison to the rest of the Body especially those of the Arms and Legs The Bones themselves are flexible almost like Wax so that they cannot sustain the weight of the Body and therefore their Legs and Thighs as also often the Back-Bone become crooked Their Head grows too big in proportion to their Bodies and their Chest is strait and their Breast-Bone at first deprest but afterwards sharp The containing Cause is a too thick clammy viscid obstructive moist and cold alimentary Juice in the Bowelâ— namely in one word the Cheesy part of the Bâ—â—od and the more serous part of the Blood in the Bones and Cartilages in the more notable Cavities and External parts And the Disease it self seems to consist in the position of a thicker Cheesy and obstructive Blood in the Bowels and also in a defect of Nutritious Juice owing to the Bones and External parts and in an afflux of serous Humour in lieu thereof The Antecedent Cause which makes and moves the containing is the weakness of the Pulse or a weak Circulation of the Blood which doth not sufficiently irradiate the mass of Blood with an influent heat for the preservation of its Heterogeneous parts in perfect mixture but they are coagulated and heaped up in divers parts The Procatarctick causes are either in the Parents oâ— Nurses or Infants In the Parents the Causes are a Gonorrhoea the Scurvy Kâ—ngs Evil the Lumbago or other long and especially cold and moist Diseases of the Brain and Genitals In the Nurses all such things may be causes as make their Milk thick viscid and obstructive And to the generation and hastening of this Distemper may contribute the bad custom of hiring Nurses to suckle the new-born Infants whose Milk as being old is oâ—t fibrous and thick whereas the serous Colostra or first Milk of the Mother were far better for the tender Infant who has need of Purging as well as Nutrition For the new-born Infant abounds with Phlegmatick Excrements in its Belly and requires a Medicamentous Miâ—k such as the Mothers is for the first Months which may both purge and nourish The Procatarctick Causes in the Infants are to be â—etched from our thick and moist Air and from the peculiar manner of nourishing and treating our Infants For no where that I know of is Flesh granted to Infants so largely and so soon as in England This Disease is most frequent amongst the Children of Persons of Quality next amongst those of the poorest sort and least amongst those of a middle Condition The cause of the first I reckon to be the intemperance of the Parents and because hired Nurses have the care of their Children and of the second besides bad Diet want of Fire long soaking in their Excrements and the use of cold and not well dried Clouts As to the Prognostick such as are born Ricketry or fall into them presently after they are born die all There are more Girls have them than Boys but the former recover sooner and more surely Those whose Sutures do not close but their Brain feels like a Quagmire generally die Those that can go are more easy to cure When the Neck can hardly bear the Head or where there is a great difficulty of breathing they seldom escape but when the Lungs are suppurated never The whole Cure is performed by satisfying these Indications viz. the thick and clammy Humours which obstruct and retard the Circulation of the Blood are to be prepared and evacuated the serous Humours are to be carried off the Circulation of the Blood or the influent heat is to be increased in the outer parts and lastly the External Symptoms are to be taken away by appropriate Remedies These are reckoned to be Specificks in this Disease the Root of Osmund Royal the Livers of Rooks dried in an Oven after the Bread is drawn and poudered also Frogs Livers Our Women anoint the Spine and all the Limbs every day once with this ointment Take of Salt the Leaves of Chamomel Rosemary Sow-Thistle and Lavender of each two handfuls of Wormwood and Laurel of each one handful of black Snails bruised a pound boil them in May Butter till they are all slabby and then strain them Then they sprinkle some of the Pouder of the Root of Osmund Royal in all that they eat or drink Lastly they give twice a day some of the decoction of the said Root and of Speedwell Yarrow Harts-tongue Raisins Lykyrrhize and Anisâ—eâ—s If you will observe a Methodical Cure Purge with Syrup of Roses Syrup of Succory with Rhubarb the Augustan Syrup the Syrup of Roses with Agarick the infusion of Senna and of Rhubarb the Pouder of Rhubarb But thâ—ir tender Bodies are not at the beginning to be toiled with frequent Purging seeing the Matter is so clammy that it will nor follow them therefore after a gentle clearing of the first ways we must come to appropriate and Experienced Preparers amongst which the following is much commended Take of Rosemary half an handful of Liverwort Scabious Agrimony Maidenhair of each an handful of Speedwel three handfuls of the Root of Osmund Royal four ounces of Corinths an handful of Aniseeds four spoonfuls Boil them in six pints of Spring Water to three pints Add to the strained Liquor of Sugar Candy as much as suffices to sweeten it and let lie in it two drachms of yellow Saunders grosly poudered and tied up in a Rag. Let the Patient drink a draught hereof in the morning at four in the afternoon and in the evening After seven days unless a Purgation fo low of it self add to the former Decoction two drachms of Rhubarb and of the Syrup of Roses with Agarick as muâ—h as suffices of which let him drink for seven days more and then return to the former Decoction D. Whistler in disp Med. inaugural de morbo vocat the Rickeâ—s where you have particular Remedies for all the symptoms See also Dr. Glisson's accurate Tract of the Rickets Then make one Issue or more especâ—â—lly make one in the Neck Let him be kept warm and dry Raucedo or Hoarsness The Contents A Pertinacious one cured by help of a Seton I. The efficacy of the Syrup of Hedge-Mustard II. When caused by Exhalations and Vapours it requires a different way of Cure III. I. ONe was ill of a Hoarsness and Erosion of the Almonds of his Ears by reason of a saâ—t and sharp Catarrh He committed himself to a Physician who advised him to have a Seton made for revulsion and evacuation of the sharp Humours but another Physician withstood it and in the mean time the Disease increased At length he
Sudorifick Decoction will be far more effectual Take of Wood of Guajacum Misletoe of the Oak of each two ounces common Water four pounds Mix them Make an Infusion twenty four hours then boil half away Keep the Colature for three Doses It must be given in the Morning an hour before you would sweat first giving this Bolus Take of Extract of Elecampane Root one scruple Flower of Brimstone half a scruple Mix them Make a Bolus Let him sweat in a Stove that the Head may sweat notwithstanding the danger of Suffocation which is usually objected for that holds good only when the Orthopnoea is present But if the Breath grows short in the Stove as it sometimes happens in the first days let the Patient presently go to Bed and sweat and afterwards sweating will be well born a longer time even in a Stove When the sweat is ended that the drying of the Lungs may be compleated Purging Sulphureous Waters must be given for ten or twelve days And they will be very good to pump the Head withal Fortis X. Spirit of Sulphur is given for an Asthma But here we must distinguish between one Idiopathick for which Spirit of Sulphur may not be used and one Sympathick fixt about the Hypochondria for which Spirit of Sulphur may give its assistance This Spirit will be of greater virtue if it be distilled with Gum Ammoniack F. Hofm XI When an Orthopnoea is present we must act with great caution lest the Patients be suddenly killed with unseasonable Remedies Yea seeing the Physician cannot always be present the Patient must be instructed how he may be a Physician to himself Therefore when an Orthopnoea is coming this must especially be observed that at that time the Expectoration of the Matter must not be attempted but by Internal and External Laxatives it must be carried from the Bronchia to the Cavity of the Lungs For while we endeavour to get up the Catarrhal Matter that falls from the Head and rises from the other Cavities we bring the same in more abundance to the Bronchia whereby the passage of the Breath being wholly stopt the Patient is quite strangled I have observed this to have happened twice to Physicians Wherefore first of all Rest must immediately be prescribed using only Frictions to the lower parts to hinder the ascent of the Matter sticking in the Cavity Then let Oil of sweet Almonds new drawn without Fire be in readiness of which he may take about half a spoonful between whiles The Cawl of a Wether c. may be applied to the Breast and to make it more laxative it may be sprinkled with Oil of sweet Almonds Or a great Sponge may be applied to it dipt in a decoction of Mallow Root Marshmallow White Lily Lykyrrhize and Fenugreek Seeds which must not be quite wrung out and it must be often applied pretty warm nor must it be suffered to grow cold But when the Fit is going off some gentle Expectorant must be given to wit when the Matter begins to be concocted and to be discharged out of the narrow Bronchia for then ease will be found by coughing and excretion of the Matter Fortis Asthmatis Therapia or the Cure of an Asthma XII In the Cure of an Asthma there are two primary Indications the Curatory and the Preservatory The first teaches what must be done in the Fit that the Patient may be delivered out of present danger The other shews what must be done out of the Fit for removing of the Morbifick Cause lest this Disease return often or violently Therefore when the Fit is upon one we must endeavour 1. That in respect both of the Air and the Lungs more free breathing may be procured and 2. That the Organs of Respiration may be recalled and checkt in their spasms begun and usually stubbornly persisting As to the former let the Patient be placed with his Body upright in an open and airy place free from Fumes and from the Breath of the by-standers Then we must do our endeavour that the Lungs being made free from all stoppage and Internal Oppression and also from External Compression may fetch the Breath and let it go again freely To these ends that the swelling of the lower Bowels may not press upon or straiten the Praecordia the Belly must be emptied with a Clyster the clothes must be opened And moreover because in this case People are usually oppressed either by the Blood being too Turgescent within the Pneumonick Vessels or by Serum falling from the Arteries and Glands upon the Tracheal Ducts the rage of both Humours must be appeased Therefore if the strength will bear it and if the Pulse be strong enough Bleeding is often proper Moreover things that discharge the Serum and Superfluities of the Aestuating Blood by Urine and Sweat must be carefully used To which end Apozemes c. which they call Pectoral are highly serviceable And Testaceous Pouders Preparations of Millepedes Spirits and Volatil Salts are taken with success And in the mean time beside these things such must be given as open and smooth the passages of the Windpipe and cause Expectoration and which may moreover if there shall be occasion stop the Catarrh that falls down upon them to which end Linctus Pectoral Decoctions and Fumigations are proper As to the other intention of Cure to wit that the Organs of Respiration may quietly return from the Spasms they are fallen into to their ordinary Functions unless this follow spontaneously after the Aestuations of the Blood and Serum in the Lungs are quieted For we have shewn not only by Reasoning but by Observations that a Convulsive Asthma is often caused when the Morbifick Matter falling upon the Pneumonick Nerves sticks somewhere in their passages especially about their Plexus Vpon which when abundance is gathered and begins to disperse and move for that reason the Spirits thereabout and such as are affluent to the Organs of Respiration are disturbed and driven into irregularities and by and by those Spirits affect others that dwell in the Pectoral and Pulmonary Fibres and excite them to irregular and Asthmatical Spasms we must use Antispasmodicks and Anodynes for Medicins that are usually given in Hysterick Fits use to do good in a Convulsive Asthma Spirit of Hartshorn Sooâ— and especially of Sal Ammoniack distilled with Gum Ammoniack also Tinctures of Gum Ammoniack Sulphur Castor Asa foeâ—ida Syrup of Gum Ammoniack Sulphur Oxymel of Squiâ—s and the like which because they are either of an ingrateful smell or taste they do as it were dissipate the Sprits and withdraw them from tumults and sometimes do much good But if the Spirits raging in this manner cannot be quieted we may proceed to Narcoticks that when some are dispersed the rest may be reduced to good order For unless the stoppage of the Lungs with great oppression at the Heart do hinder Opiates sometimes do much good In horrible Fits of this Disease when other Medicins would do
the taste cools and with a small astriction strengthens the Liver 3. Electuarium Trium Santalorum quadruplicato Rheo 4. Tincture of Roses which things must be used by turns that Nature may not be used to one Idem VI. A young Man was taken with an universal Rheumatism that seised almost all his joints with a continual Fever and great crudity of Urine He had used Remedies for six weeks yet the pains ran up and down divers parts and often returned He was Bled ten times he took cooling and incrassating Juleps he was gently purged twice or thrice At length he took a Bolus of Conserve of Roses with Calomelanos 20 grains extract of Julap six grains every third day he voided much serous and Phlegmatick Matter When he had taken this Medicin four times his Pains were quite removed Afterwards the Aedematous Swellings which remained in some of his Limbs especialâ—y in his Feet were discussed with dissolving and strengthening Plasters Idem Ructus or Belching The Contents Not always an effect of Cold. I. A sowre one cured with an easie Medicin II. A constant one conquered by strong purging III. I. SOmetimes Obstructions are latent in the Mesentery bred of Crudities in the Stomach which grow dry and adust while in process of time they are by the heat of the Liver when the moister part is consumed turned into a Terrene and Melancholick Nature whence the Belly is bound there is Belching and painful Wind which uses to grow worse with hot things because it partakes rather of the Nature of an Exhalation than of a Vapour which usually occasions a mistake in many Physicians Fortis II. Mr. N. had been a long time troubled with sowre Belching and took several things to no purpose yea he fell away daily I told him his Disease was not so difficult to cure but that it might be conquered for the value of a Farthing And I ordered him to swallow five or six whole Pepper-Corns in the morning fasting five hours before Dinner When he had done this for three or four days he felt nothing more of his sowre Belching his Stomach came to him and his digestion was good upon which his whole Body appeared to be refreshed Riverius III. Constant Belching was so troublesom and difficult to one Man that he seemed to be at deaths door when I was called to him He had used many Medicins in vain At first I gave him ten grains of Rhases his Pilulae Iliacoe whereby some bad and fetid Humours being purged he seemed to be better a few days after he took fifteen grains and the third time one scruple When he had taken this and had purged the bad Humours he that lay ready to die confined to his Bed walked wherever he pleased and eat his Victuals with a good Stomach Dodonaeus See Ventriculi Affectus BOOK XVIII A GUIDE TO The Practical Physician BOOK XVI Of Diseases beginning with the Letter S. Salacitâ—s Venus languida or Leachery and Impotâ—ncy See Aphrodisiaca Book 19. The Contents Whether Camphire extinguish Venus I. The Cure of those that are prone to Venus who labour under a Cachexy II. The use of Cantharides dangerous for provocation III. Venus imperfect because of the thinness of Seed IV. Because of an occult Vlcer of the Intestinum rectum V. Cooling the Testicles causes effaemination VI. We may let blood after too much Venus VII Medicines I. A VICENNA l. 2. Tr. 22. c. 133. holds that Camphire extinguishes Venus when he sayes that Camphire cooles the Seminary vessels curdles and thickens the Seed and so hinders Coition Wherefore if it be applied to the Testicles and Loins it restrains and extinguishes all Venereal provocations Many subscribe to this opinion Even the vulgar are come to the knowledge of this and therefore when they would fatten Swine without Castration they give them a drachm or two of Camphire to eat and so they extinguish Venus § Julius Caesar Scaliger Exercit. 104. § 8. gave a Grey-hound Bitch when she was proud Camphire in her Meat and Drink he put some in her Nostrils and hung some continually about her Neck he ordered some to be put into her Womb yet she took the Dog was with whelp and brought forth I can truly say I have tried the same thing more then once There is in our Neighbourhood a Lusty Leacherous young Fellow to whom that I might show some incredulous Persons their vanity I ordered Camphire for some weeks in his meat and drink yet he did not at all leave his loving Nature to the Girles They that are of the contrary Opinion build on a false Hypothesis as if Camphire were cold and suppose it be so Ch. Paulinus in C. anni 76 Obs 231. yet what is the consequence Both Rue and Agnus castus make Venus dull yet they are not of a cold temper II. If they that labour of a Cachexy or Atrophy be prone and strong to Venus things that are cold and dry or dry and very hot must not be prescribed to extinguish Seed For it does not depend upon the heat or plenty of Seed but because the Seed is flatulent by much distending the Member it makes a show of repletion and so by dilating the Member disposes to expulsion but the flatulencies are caused by a heat weak through Cacochymie And they that labour under an Atrophy or sleep ill do suffer this Symptome Therefore we must contract the lower parts and discuss flatulencies by increasing the Heat and helping the concoctive faculty of the Liver Stomach and Veins And Medicines may be best prepared in form of a Powder without much Sugar For Sugar and Honey and other sweet things lax the Stomach breed wind and especially when they are joyned with moisture Dry leaves of Mint may be given for then it is an excellent Remedy For Mint diminishes Seed and strengthens the Stomach with a gentle astriction and heats and because Seed makes men bold and couragious it is vulgarly said That in time of War Mint must neither be eaten nor sown Besides astringent Inunctions should be laid to the Kidneys and Privities to bind those Parts Rondeletius III. I have known several and among the rest two Noble-men who used Cantharides the one to gratifie his Whore the other his new married Wife but wholly with ill success For the first fell into a most dangerous pissing of Blood of which he was Cured with great difficulty And the other the second day after he was married Ph. Salmuth died of an Apoplexy IV. They whose Seed is sharp are excited to Venus of their own accord and quickly emit their Seed or it runs from them because of its thinness without any great sense and the Member becomes detumescent and languid before the second coition or before the Woman is ready for expulsion For the Cure we must neither give things that provoke Venus nor that extinguish it but such as thicken the Seed and increase flatulency And boyled
ferment and grow hot we must have a care that we exasperate not the Evil by over hot Medicines especially in more Southernly Climes where the Melancholick humour is adust and approaching to the nature of black Choler Idem Therefore such Medicines are not improperly given in Whey VII Authors do well caution us about Medicines proper for the Scurvy that there is greater efficacy in Juices then in Decoctions which experience testifies For they have their efficacy from a volatil Salt which is dissipated by boyling and for the most part vanishes in drying But in Juices and Conserves it remains in a manner intire Much less should Extracts be preferred For although no unprofitable ones may be prepared out of some Plants yet since their virtue chiefly consists in a volatil Salt it cannot be but it must be wasted For this Salt unites it self with Spirit of Wine or with whatever other Liquor is used in the Extraction and flies away with it and so the Body is left destitute of this Salt Hofmannus and in a great measure ineffectual VIII The same Cure must be insisted on in this Disease as in Hypochondriack ones seeing it is bred of the same humour but further receding from a natural state Riverius Therefore for the most part it stands in need of more powerful Remedies IX All sugared things are enemies to Scorbutick and Hypochondriack persons and therefore let us abstain from the use of them for not only as they lye in the Hypochondria of Scorbutick Persons Moebius Instit p. 522. they turn into dross near akin to Salts but according to Celsus l. 4. c. 9. they are enemies to the Spleen for they move bile ferment the Humours and breed Obstructions in the Bowels ¶ And by the use of them according to Hippocrates 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that is the Spleen is swelled and made great Wherefore both Dorncrellius praefat Dispensat and Greg. Horstius l. 7. Observat forbids them Scorbutick Persons Hofmannus m. m. p. 348. X. I will tell you freely that although I do not question but the Scurvey is truly found in these Northern Parts yet I am verily perswaded it does not so frequently occurr as is commonly believed And that many not to say most of those Diseases on whose account we blame the Scurvey are the effects of Diseases that are in breeding but not yet bred and which have not as yet put on any certain type or the unhappy reliques of some Disease that is not as yet wholly conquered whereby the Blood and other Humours are tainted for example In what bodies any matter apt to produce the Gout is newly bred but not as yet fallen upon the Joynts divers Symptomes will show themselves which will give suspicion of the Scurvey till a Gout now formed and actually exerting it self leave no room for further doubting What I have said of the Gout I would have understood of the Dropsie concerning which Disease although it be vulgarly said Where the Scurvey ends the Dropsie begins yet this rule must very often be no otherwise taken than that as soon as ever the Dropsie shows it self by manifest signs then the preconceived opinion of the Scurvy immediately falls to the ground The same may be said of very many other chronical Diseases which are but growing and which therefore have not formed themselves any type or of them also which although they be partly got away yet they seem not to be wholly conquered and exterminated And indeed unless we allow this the name of the Scurvy as it now goes will encrease vastly and will serve for almost all Diseases Whereas if we would make it our business to search narrowly into the inwards of every Disease and bring it from behind the Veil of irregular Symptomes it would presently show its nature and might easily be placed in that family to which it belongs And the method whereby such Diseases should be driven away ought not to be accommodated to these counterfeit Symptomes but to the Disease it self whatever it is as perfectly formed Sydenham and then actually existing XI As for the Cure of the Scurvy since not only one simple preternatural affection but a legion of such must be forced away therefore the method of Cure ought to touch upon manifold Indications and those variously complicated and subordinate which yet I have thought good after the vulgar manner to reduce to these three heads namely as they are preservatory which respect and remove the cause of the Disease and Curatory which remove the Disease it self and its Symptomes and lastly vital which maintain and restore the strength and Spirits of the Patient At the beginning of the Cure we ought to aim at the cause of the Disease for when it like the root is cut or pulled up presently the stock boughs and fruit wither away Since therefore we have shown that the cause of the Scurvey is founded upon a Dyscrasie in the Blood to wit either Sulphureo-Saline or Salino-Sulphureous we must do our endeavour that the Dyscrasie of either nature may be amended To this purpose First Impediments must be removed and then the Primary intention must be put in execution for both which ends Remedies are taken from Diet Surgery and Pharmacy As to Diet a special course of it shall be appointed below in the mean time we will proceed to the rest The reduction of the Blood to a due temper by appropriate Medicines is especially hindred for these two reasons that is First because it is continually furnished with a store of bad nutritious Juice Then Secondly the recrements that are bred in it are not sufficiently voided by the proper emunctories There we must take care that the work of Chylification may be performed aright in the first wayes then that the vaporous recrements may be purged away by Transpiration the serous by the Kidneys and Lymphaeducts the bilious by the Gall-bladder the atrabilarious by the Spleen and others of what kind soever they be by their proper emunctories Then when these offices are rightly performed we must endeavour to reduce the Dyscrasie of the Blood by specifick Medicines and especially such as have a volatil Salt in them The Remedies that respect each of these intentions may be complicated together and ought to be used both at once but in what manner and modes of administration we must yet more particularly show 1. We must have a care that Chylification be rightly performed in the first ways that the load of Excrementitious matter gathered there may be cast off that the destroyed or depraved ferments may be restored that the passages and pores that are any ways stopt or obstructed may be opened To these ends Cathartick digestive and aperient Medicines are designed 2. That the excrements gathered in the mass of Blood when they are not sufficiently discharged by their proper emunctories may now and then be carried off by other ways most convenient For this matter Catharticks Diaphoreticks and Diureticks
all the Soldiers having the Scurvy who were besieged in a certain Castle were cured ¶ An Infusion of Brooklime and Scurvy-grass in Whey of Goat's Milk is a vulgar Medicine but does truly a great deal of good in the Scurvy ¶ Goose dung is also commended in this case Hofmannus from the juice of which Soldiers troubled with the Scurvy in a Siege found great relief 6. This is a Secret Take of the middle yellow rind of the root of Sloe-Tree 4 handfuls Pepper powdered 2 spoonfuls boyl them with Beer and Water with this Decoction hot wash the Mouth repeating it several times then Take of the juice of Water-Cresses pour to it some Wine mix them and keep them Jobus Kornthaverus wash and rub the Mouth and Gums often with this ¶ Take the juice of Squills rub the Teeth and Gums so the Scurvy is cured 7. Among Diureticks which are used for the Scurvy Penotus his opening Spirit bears the Bell from all others I make it thus Take the Spirit of Goslarian Vitriol 3 pounds and an half Salt of Tartar 2 pounds and an half calcined Flints 6 pounds put them in an Earthen Retort and destil them increasing the Fire by degrees let the caput mortuum be boyled and the Spirit be impregnated with the Salt when it is boyled out of which and Potters clay make balls which being put again into a Retort let them be destilled and the destilled Spirit be rectified and kept for use ¶ Cnoffelius thus prepared his Narcotick Arcanum Take of Vitriol finely pulverized and dried in a certain heat to whiteness half a pound pour to it 30 ounces of rectified Spirit of Wine set it in Horse-dung for a Month when it is poured from the Dregs distil it in Balneo Mariae till the residence of a yellow Liquor like the distilled Oyl keep this when it is cast forth This is far better and safer as the Author affirms then Laudanum Opiatum The Dose is 12 grains in some convenient Liquor 8. The common People in Holland commend a well known and easie Medicine made of the Leaves of Marsh Trefoil for most Scorbutick Persons especially such as are inclined to the Dropsie with very good success I gave to a certain Scorbutick Person who had a Palsie Consumption and Spots Simon Pauli an infusion of marsh Trefoil by the use of which alone he was perfectly well in 14 days I have done the same in others See before § XII XIII XIV Willis his Cure of the Scurvy Scroti Gangraena or a Gangraene of the Cod. A Man about 40 years old being drunk with Wine fell suddenly into a swelling of his Cod with an acute Fever and a sudden failure of Strength he got a Surgeon to cure it who when he observed the blackness of that Part and the exulceration of the whole Penis yea and danger because there was a manifest Gangraene being doubtful of the Cure desired the advice of a Physician When I was called having first given him a Clyster because he had not been at Stool for 2 dayes I prescribed him a Cataplasm of Scordium Rue Meal of Lupines and of Bitter Vetch with Oxymel Wine c. I gave him Diasenna Fracastorii and now and then Treacle-Water because I observed some Malignity communicated to the Heart for without it he could scarce breathe The next day when we took off the Cataplasm we found the outer Cuticle separated and the third day the Scrotum open of it self and about night ten pounds of Water run out The fourth day his Stones were all bare for the Scrotum was fallen away from the pecten to the perinaeum Here we advised what should be done and by drying and incarnating Remedies we prevailed so far in 14 dayes time that we had not only guarded the Stones Petrus Holtzemius with a Scrotum but Nature also had clothed the Scrotum with new hair the whole glans came again to the penis all the Ulcers of the penis were healed and he was able afterwards to act the part of a Man One forty years old a strong Man and of very good habit of Body when in Summer-time he had heated himself excessively and had drunk a great draught of cold Water was within a few dayes taken with a continual Feaver of which he was rather cured by the benefit of Nature than by Art in the mean time the intemperature and fault of his Liver remained wherefore a little after he fell into a Cachexy for he was first taken with a Jaundice then with a Dropsy Dr. Cronenburgius used all things necessary at last a serous Humor falling into the Scrotum they called Dr. Slotanus to consult Both of them use their utmost Industry in the mean time the swelling of the Cod ceases not but by degrees the Native heat being extinct it turns to a Gangraene in the Part. They scarify the Scrotum all over with a Lancet and wash it with Salt and Treacle dissolved in Vinegar not neglecting Vnguentum Aegyptiacum and a Cataplasm of meal of Lupines of Darnel Aloes Myrrhe Scordium and other things that resist putrefaction They prescribe a very good course of Diet Strengthners and Openers of obstructions inwardly and outwardly In the mean time when the Water ran plentifully out of the Scrotum the Patient grew better At length the gangrened Scrotum part of it fell away by the benefit of Nature and Medicines part also which was gangrened was cut off with a Razor so that the Stones might be seen bare the Ulcer remained open for some Months Fabritius Hildanus Cent. 5. Obs 77. In the mean time Nature by this way evacuated whatever excrementitious Humors were in the Bowels so that the Noble Parts were perfectly restored and the Patient fully cured of his Disease Singultus or the Hickup The Contents The Cure must be varied according to the variety of Causes I. A Periodical one which would only give way to Bleeding II. A Tedious one stopt III. The Efficacy of Opiates IV. To what Place outward Applications must be made V. Antimonial Vomits are best in this Case VI. Vomits repeated do good VII Medicines I. B. Sylvaticus gave to one that had had the Hickup grievously for seven dayes Hiera with Oxymel Rhodius when he had voided above 12 ounces of Phlegm he was perfectly well ¶ Several who have been almost killed with the Hickup after purging for 5 dayes with hiera piera Daretus have put an end to the Hickup ¶ One who had had the Hickup 20 dayes and was in great danger of Death was at length saved by an infusion of Mechoacan Epiph. Ferdinandus ¶ A Boy ten years old Hickuped day and night for 8 dayes I gave him water of Green-Nuts destilled with Radish first steeped in Vinegar Although he did not Vomit yet his Hickup ceased after the second Draught about night he was wholly freed of it Platerus ¶ A Surgeon falling Sick was in a little time so troubled with
that are Sleepy and in a Feaver than which nothing worse can be given Dodoneus pempt 2. l. 4. c. 7. for they do a great deal of harm and often kill the Patient Sterilitas or Barrenness The Contents The Cure of Barrenness in Women is performed especially by Fomentations and Purges I. What must be the Diet of them that are Barren through Salacity II. There ought not to be only one way of Cure III. For whom Stoves and Baths are good IV. Cured by eating of Polypi V. The reduction of the Mouth of the Womb when turned aside VI. Fumes and Steams are not good for the same Women VII The Cure of Barrenness from Fatness VIII Electuaries may be variously made up IX The efficacy of Sudorificks X. And of Bathes XI Conditions concerning Venus XII What the Virtue of Pessaries should be XIII Medicines I. MUch is written by Hippocrates libro de Sterilibus and in his Aphorisms of the causes of Barrenness and of its manifold Cure But Sect. 5. lib. 2. Epidem all the Cures of these causes are in a manner reduced to these 2 heads Fomentations and Purges The Barren saith he must Foment and Purge for 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 which he there uses signifie a purging Medicine when it is used alone and nothing is added to it which may signifie some other sort of Medicine But by the name of Fomentation I would have understood whatever is applyed inwardly or outwardly by way of Cataplasm Irrigation Clysters Pessary or Fumigation as by the name of Purging I would have understood both Vomiting and Purging For every cause of Barrenness is either a fault of Composition or of Temperament or an Ulcer of the Womb or a Cacochymie of the whole Body Among the faults of the Composition of the Womb there is the smallness and grossness of the Womb the straitness and hardness of the mouth of the Womb so that it is not dilated sufficiently or a perversion of the Mouth of the Womb or the wideness of it so that it gapes and does not retain or straitness of the Vessels of the Womb so that for this reason the Menstruous evacuations do not come into it or the laxity of it so that they run too much out In fault of temperament there is too much heat which consumes the Seed or cold which does not concoct it or dryness which consumes the Seed and nourishment of the Fatus or moisture which hinders its retention which also Ulcers of the Womb do hinder Cacochymies when they are poured into the Womb corrupt the Seed when they are not poured they do not hinder Conception yet they make a bad juice for the Foetus and therefore either cause Abortion or a Diseased Foetus Vitiated Compositions if they be contracted from the first generation are usually incurable but if they are caused by other Diseases they may be Cured by curing of these Diseases Cacochymies require Purging All intemperatures of the Womb which are joyned with an Humour or with a Cacochymie of the whole Body and especially Ulcers require Purging and then Fomentations Affusions Insessions and Pessaries And all these things must for heat be cold for cold hot for moisture dry for dryness moist and for Ulcers such as the Cure of Ulcers requires Therefore it is evident that the whole Cure of barren Women consists in Fomentations and Purges Vallesius II. If a Woman Conceive not through Salacity which is caused by the acrimony and heat of Seed she must be fed with gross Diet such as thickens the Blood and the Seed It is good to eat Fruits as Pears Rondeletius Apples and Chesnuts which breed gross Humors and Vapors and retard that violence III. Many Women Conceive not because they have moist and foul Wombs so that they neither eagerly receive Seed nor are able to retain it which disposition indeed is contrary to that wherein they want the Menstrua that the Womb may be open for there is a two fold Cause why newly after the evacuation of the Menstrua Conception is easy in moist Women both because the Mouth of the Womb and the Veins and Arteries which end there having been opened remain so and because when the Womb has been newly evacuated it draws any Moisture more greedily This may easily be known by what comes out for mucous matter frequently comes from such Hippocrates lib. 2. Epid. sect 3. says this is cured by a dry course of Diet. Here by Diet must be understood the whole course of ones Life where in the whole Method of Cure is comprehended Because in this affection the Diet which consists in Meat and Drink is not sufficient The Cure must in this as in other Diseases be contrary to the Affection So that hence it is manifest that there is not only one way of curing barren Women as vulgar Physicians have perswaded themselves but that it is various and manifold according to the cause of Barrenness For it is proper only to moisten some and Heat others Vallesius and to cool and moisten others IV. Moist Women use Stoves and they that have a hard or cold Womb Bathes But they must use them a little before their Menses come Rondeletius V. Hippocrates lib. 2. Epid. sect 6. advises to give a Woman that she may conceive Polypi to eat roasted in the Flame very hot and almost half burnt and to beat Aegyptian Nitre and Coriander and Cummin together and to make Balls of them and apply them to the pudendum But this Cure is not proper for all Barren Women but only for such as are Cold and have but little Seed For the Polypus is a most salacious Animal and goes into a Consumption through too much coïtion and such things must needs increase Seed for they consist of such a juice and are apt to be turned into the same And what he here orders to be given is heating and therefore tentiginous Although I should leave out Cummin Vallesius because it wastes Flatulencies as does Rue VI. Among the faults of Composition it is evident from Hippocrates his Doctrine that the chief and most effectual Cause of Barrenness is the turning aside of the Mouth of the Womb the Causes and Cure whereof he shews lib. de sterilibus de Natura muliebr If the Womb turn on one side says he a Cough takes them the Pain ascends and the Womb lies like a Ball is sore when it is touched like an Vlcer And after many such things he orders to purge Women and to wash in warm Water and to use hot Things And a little after If the Womb be turned aside and the Mouth it self be awry c. When a Woman is so you must give her a Purge and wash with warm Water and foment her The whole therefore of the Cure in this Case consists in the reduction of the Womb to its former place which indeed cannot be done except either the Humors be purged by
liquid Amber But she replied that nothing could come more grateful to her I ordered therefore the Galbanum Plaister to be pulled off and to apply in its room another sweeter scented of Tacamahaca and instead of Hysterick waters smelling of Castor I recommended to her Citron Cinnamon water usual in this place in a spoonful or two of which I gave a scruple of faecula Bryoniae and indeed the Symptomes abated till she applied the following Liniment taken up in Cotton to her clitoris Take of black Balsome of Peru Oyl of Jasmin not rank each 2 dramchs the best Civet half a scruple Upon the use whereof her most urgent Symptomes as the Inflation and rumbling of the Hypochondria and of all her Belly Vertigo difficulty of Breathing Swooning c. ceased yea she was free 6 whole Months whereas before now and then she was taken with them and especially when her Menses were at hand The latter History contrary to the former is thus Once when I went into the Country it happened that I turned into the Royal Mannor of Ipstrup and there I found some of my familiar Friends making merry being admitted into the Parlor where the Women were and holding in my left Hand the Herb Monorchis or Orchis odorata moschata Jo. Baubini which smells of Saffron and Musk tied in a Nosegay lo all the rest being silent one of them all on a sudden began to complain of the fragrancy of my Nosegay and desired me to put it away affirming she could not bear it and I readily obeyed her fearing that she being Barren for Barren Women and old Maids it is plain are subject to uterine Symptomes might fall into Fits Therefore they that practise Physick must avoid sweet scents S. Pauli Quadr. Botan class 2. tit Angelica when for the most part the weaker Sex is easily offended with sweet scents but not at all with strong ones VI. Whether it be lawful to use Titillations and Frictions and so to irritate Nature to void the Seed let Divines inquire It is no absurdity to believe it lawful because then the Seed is voided against the Womens will and without their consent and such Seed is not at all prolifick but the poyson of the Body not only an useless but also a noxious excrement as we take away Blood the matter of Seed and all Morbifick matter And the Cure cannot otherwise succeed Why may not it be lawful in the like manner to evacuate Seed when it proves the cause of so dangerous a Symptome A Castro as we do other Morbifick causes VII It is an usual thing also for some to stop the Mouth and Nose and to stop the Breath that so Nature may be excited which is said to have been the opinion of Haly which yet to me seems dangerous for when Breathing is almost abolished it cannot be wholly stopt and intercepted without hazard of the animal Some think this Remedy is not of use in the Paroxysm but just before it comes because by the retention of the Breath the upper Parts force their excrements to the lower as appears in making water and going to stool and in such as have a Rupture for by holding ones Breath they are expelled with more violence It is probable also that the same happens to the Womb. Yet Vallesius approves of it in the Fit so the holding ones Breath be but short gentle and interpolated for so the innate heat being strengthned disperses Hysterick Vapors and drives the Womb to the lower parts But Sylvius is so far from thinking that the Breath should be held that he rather thinks it the best way to blow in ones Nostrils for he sayes that makes the Womb go down immediately Primirosius VIII A certain healthy and corpulent Woman after she had taken a Medicine to make her Conceive was taken with a pain in her Belly and with griping in the Guts and she swelled There was shortness of Breath and perplexity of pain and she swooned five times so that she seemed dead nor did her present pain or difficulty of breathing abate by giving her a Vomit with cold water But about 30 Amphorae of cold water were poured on her Body and truly this only seemed to do her good and afterward Bile came plentifully downwards Hippocr l. 5. Epid. But while the pain lasted she could not go to stool and she lived About 30 Amphorae of cold water were poured on her Body A wonderful thing and which could never have been attempted but by a generous Physician for an Amphora holds eight Congij Vallesius a Congius holds six Sextarii and a Sextarius holds twenty ounces IX Chymists commend Vitriolum Martis for this Disease and they give a grain or two of it with a double quantity of Sugar for many dayes in Wine or some proper Liquor yea it may be given to 12 grains with some proper Conserve Cream of Tartar given frequently is very good to cure this Disease These two Medicines do good not only by opening but by cooling For in this Disease there is often a hot imtemperature fixt to the Womb arising from Blood retained within its Veins and heated As Galen sayes there is an Inflammation of the Hypochondria in Hypochondriack Melancholy from the Blood retained therein by obstructions and over heated Therefore things which may cool the Womb are most proper here such as Semicupes Vinegar and water taken in at the Mouth and by way of Clyster and such like A Cholerick Woman 20 years old when she was oppressed with a Fit and had her Face red was immediately Cured by a Clyster of Vinegar and water A certain Maid was suddenly taken with a most grievous pain which afflicted her Right side and Loyns so cruelly that she was forced to roar out continually Because there was no Fever I believed it was an hysterick affection I therefore immediately gave her a Glass of Oxycrate which within a quarter of an hour she Vomited up again with much Phlegm When her Vomiting was over she drunk another glass of Oxycrate and her pain immediately vanished and she was perfectly cured ¶ Here the History may be added related by Harvey in his tract de partu of a Woman who was long sick of Hysterick Symptomes that would yield to no sort of Remedies who after many years at length recovered her health by the falling out of the Womb Because the Womb being exposed to the external Air was cooled and so its inflammation and hot intemperature was abated X. The following Pills are very good in a very violent fit and use certainly to stop it Riverius Take of Assa foetida 1 scruple Castor 6 grains Laudanum 3 grains Make 3 or 4 Pills let her take them presently ¶ Horstius tom 2. p. 398. advises well that in making up Laudanum opiatum Hoeferus Herc. Med. l. 7. c. 2. part of it be kept without Saffron that it may more safely be given which has often cured sick Women to
thus He orders the deaf Persons to go into the Bath in the Morning that the Veins which are behind the Ears may swell with the heat of the Bath afterwards he cuts them thus turgid and takes away as much Blood as he thinks fit Oethâ—â—us apud Schanckium to the great benefit of such as are troubled with thickness of Hearing III. If any one be deaf who has a hot and dry Head I would not purge his Head It is sufficient to take away the matter below and hinder it from ascending for so the Head may easily be cured and so I would do nothing to the Head neither give sneezing nor gargarisms much less pump it Montanus Cons 152. nor any thing else IV. In a very stubborn Disease we must proceed to Fluxing with Quick-silver that if possible the matter that causes the Disease may be purged by the Mouth for Deafness caused by the Pox is so cured and perhaps where that is not the cause Fonscâ—s it may also be thus cured ¶ Reason tells us as much for Quicksilver softens and discusses hard Tumours and most powerfully dissolves Humours that are concrete and settled in the Parts and so perhaps may dissolve Phlegm concrete in the Ear when it will not give way to other Remedies Yet this Remedy must not be tried but in a desperate case for its event is very hazardous and dubious because the Brain is much damaged by anointing with Quick-silver so that either deafness or thickness of hearing takes some who are cured by fluxing although as is said before Deafness caused by the Pox is sometime cured by fluxing Riveriuâ— And fluxing well managed after sufficient purging seldome leaves any hurt in the Brain V. The cure ought not to be the same in Child-Bed Women such as are upon recovery from Sickness and others by reason of the diversity of causes affords divers Indications for cure For in Women in Travel the animal faculty does its utmost to deliver the Child therefore there is a great Influx of animal Spirits about the spinal Marrow to be distributed into the Nerves of the Muscles of the lower Belly This intense violence of motion is the cause why the origination of the Nerves especially about the hind part of the Head is affected to wit where the spinal Marrow descends Now the Nerve of the fifth Conjugation which is allotted to hearing has its original there and by a very short duct is inserted into the inner Ear. Whence it is plain that in such straining it may suffer also and that thick and viscid Humours may after Travel be gathered about its insertion because of the faintness of the innate heat and the Womans weakness by reason of her violent commotion and seeing upon other accounts the animal faculties are weak in lying in and pregnant Women And such as are upon recovery have their concoctive and alterative faculty weakned wherefore there is a produce of many Vapors from the weak heat which when they get into the Organ of hearing cause a depraved sense In lying in-Women therefore it must be our care that they cleanse well we must have regard to the whole by preparation and evacuation of the Humours not neglecting outward applications that the matter gathered about the Organ of hearing may be cut discussed and spent In convalescents it is sufficient that the innate heat be fortified But if the Disease go not away of it self Horstius prob 4. dec 3. gentle dissolvents should be used VI. The cure of Deafness and Noise should be attempted rather by dry than moist things because by actual humidity the Tympane is made lax the implanted Air is thickned and the cause of the Disease increased Wherefore suffumigations of Saffron Myrrhe Styrax Benzoin and Frankincense are approved by Hercules Saxonia Panthei lib. 1. cap. 20. And Joh. Zwelfer has regard to the Tympane Aqua Acouistica Mindereri sayes he if it must be made use of I think neither it nor any thing else should in any quantity be poured into the Ear seeing the Membrane expanded upon the annulus and the little Bones underneath called the Tympane is very thin so that very easily it may totally be destroyed and eroded by pouring in of sharp Liquors and so the hearing be quite destroyed Therefore I think it more advisable sayes Schneider lib. de Cathar special p. 99. that a piece of a wheaten Loaf new drawn out of the Oven be sprinkled with this water and applied and bound hot to the Ear that so the heat of the bread and the spirituous water acting together the gross Humours which obstruct the auditory Nerves and Passages may be incided attenuated and evacuated by insensible transpiration or being driven back to the palate by spittle Wherefore in such cases it would not be amiss to take this water into ones Mouth for the greater attenuation and attraction of the gross Humours from the auditory passages got within the Tympane which can never get out at the Tympane without hurting and eating it through VII Joel l. 2. pract S. 2. commends for Deafness all things requisite premised a Sudorifick draught of Theriaca Andromachi and Rue water Osw Grembs l. 2. c. 1. § 11. in imitation of him commends a Sudorifick cure of a Decoction of the Woods to consume the moisture of the Brain This I have proved by experience that if deaf Persons have a thick and cold Humour impacted in the auditory Nerve or in the Tympane all things requisite being premised Bathing is good to sit in water up to the Navil not too hot but only that the parts may be warm and the Blood rendred more fluid A little after 2 or 3 drops of Apoplectick Water must be dropt into the Ear on the side affected and so you will see your Patient cured out of hand For the Sick say Hofmannus that after the use of this they feel as if something had fallen out of their Ear. VIII Oyl of bitter Almonds is commended indeed in Deafness and a Noise in ones Ears But because of the windings in the Ear we must be cautious in the use of it For when it is got to the Membrane of the Tympanum because it cannot easily be wiped out S. Pauli Quadrip Botan p. 19. it makes the Membrane lax and so does not only not cure but encrease Deafness ¶ It is my opinion that no unctuous things should be dropt into the Ears lest the membrane of the Tympane growing thick should make dull the hearing whose excellence consists in dryness All Membranes whether they be softned with oyl or be often wetted are puffed up and grow white If it be thought good to use any Oyls Th. de Mayerne confilio pro surdo M. S. the exhalation of them is sufficient without pouring in of the substance by which evaporation the implanted Air when inspissated will be sufficiently attenuated with the adventitious IX Sulphureous and bituminous Bathes as well by way of Bath
so that a great part of the crassa meninx and the motion of the Brain might very well be seen yet the Patient recovered but after the Ulcer was cured and cicatrized the motion of the Brain might then be observed Nevertheless I would advise no Surgeon to undertake the Cure of so great Corruption at his own peril But if the corruption be little the Bone must be taken out with a Trepan or scraped the Ulcer cleansed and the Body fluxed as in the Pox yet there must be a less quantity of Quick-silver Chalmetaeus Enchir. p. 85. For a Talpa with the corruption of the Bone must be cured as the corruption of the Bone in the Pox. XXV A Nobleman had a Ganglium grew in his right Groin by little and little as big as a Child's head He advised with Physicians and Surgeons who tell him of the danger of Bleeding of a Gangrene and Lameness He chose rather to dye than endure it any longer unfit for Arms or Wedlock The Lump was cut about in an Oval line from the Groin to the Scrotum then at the Membrane a little of the Tumor was cut off and by degrees the Skin which was under the Swelling was separated towards the root the Veins and Arteries as they were laid bare were tied for fear of an Haemorrhage The Lump was pulled out with its Coat glandulous white without any Blood or Flesh within easily separable from its root As the Wound was healing he had a Fever bitterness in his Mouth filthy Matter pain in the other Groin Hollerius but he was cured by a Purge XXVI Fungi very often grow from the Membranes of the Brain yet they grow also in divers other parts of the Body because of the vast conflux of Humors from the whole Body and that through Natures great Providence as Hildanus cent 2. Obs 19. sayes For since nothing is a greater Enemy to the Nerves than the injury of the Air especially if it be cold Nature which is ever intent upon the conservation of the individual covers the nervous and membranous Parts when wounded and laid bare with this sort of Excrescence lest the Nerves should be hurt by the Air while the Wound is in curing And their Cure must be begun by drying and finished by Erosion or Excision Drying Medicines in the beginning are safer than Eroding or Septick ones For these in Wounds of the head hasten death and in Wounds of the Limbs cause Pain Inflammations and other most grievous Symptomes And seeing out of Nature's great beneficence this Excrescencie is produced for the Patient 's good it must not be consumed at the very beginning till the Nerves and membranous Parts be sufficiently covered with Flesh that they can no more be hurt by external injuries When the Pain Inflammation and other Symptomes are abated if the fungous Excrescence fall not it must be depressed by Dryers of which rank are root of round Birthwort Florentine Orrice Angelica leaves of Savine Rosemary c. When these things have been applied for some dayes if the Fungus abate not but grow up in the Flesh it must be cured by eating things as burnt Allum burnt Vitriol Mercury precipitate strewing on the Powder and then applying a Cataplasm Or a Ligature may be made and it may be cut off either with a corrosive Thread or with a Knife Which when done Hofmannus the Powders of the said drying things may be strewed on XXVII One had for some Months a Swelling rising upon the right side of his Forehead with a broad basis as big as a Hazle-Nut of the same colour with the Skin soft and as it were puft up it grew of it self when it was pressed with the Finger it gave way and suddenly rose into the same shape again without Pain yet it was not observed to be moveable this way or the other nor did it increase And because I thought it was one of those Tumors which are more easily extirpated with the Knife than dissolved by Medicines I order the Skin to be cut obliquely with a sharp Penknife As soon as it was done no Blood but a very little limpid Humor like the vittreous one of the Eye ran out It fell upon the Patients right hand and he affirmed it was very hot Praecipitate was immediately put into the Wound and other things put after to hinder Inflammation and when it was opened the next day the Bladder was taken out and the Wound was within a few dayes so dextrously healed that there was not the least sign of a Scar left behind Thus we may easily prevent things in the beginning which if neglected till they grow old will scarce give way at all to any Remedies And no question but this Tumor J. Rhodius Cent. 1. Obs 29. if it had been let alone would have turn'd at length into a Meliceris or Steatoma when the Mucus had grown thick by delay XXVIII If there be a swelling in the Cheek let the Physician have a care that it break not for so that Seat of Beauty might be deformed by a Scar However because oftentimes dissipaters ripen and ripeners dissipate by reason of their likeness in qualities it may so happen that Suppuration may come contrary to the intention of the Physician When therefore it is made let him draw the peccant Matter by proper Medicines to the inside of the Mouth or to the commissure of the Jaws which is by the Chin. Hofmannus For Women will sooner endure their Lips to be cut than to have a Scar in their Cheeks XXIX Dioscorides writes that the swelling of the Paps is abated by applying Hemlock which experience testifies to be true Although Dodoneus disapproves of such a Remedy because of the malignant and poysonous nature of this Herb Riolanus which being applied to the Paps may hurt the Heart XXX Steatomata and several Abscesses are often bred in the Omentum because great store of Fat and Glands is found here So the Mesentery both of it self and because of plenty of Glands is very subject to Inflammation Tumors and Corruption Because these Diseases are difficultly distinguished one from another they require an experienced Physician We may say the same of the Pancreas and Spleen In the mean time I shall communicate this Plaster the efficacy whereof in curing the Tumors of the said Part I have often experienced Take of Gum Carranna Barbette Ammoniac each 1 drachm Mercury killed with Turpentine half an ounce Mix them Make a Plaster XXXI We must proceed gently and gradually in cutting or pulling out axillary Tumors for while we draw and separate the Tumor with Pincers or any other way the Muscles that serve for respiration are contracted also hence an interception of Breathing As soon as ever this is observed we must desist a little from the Operation till they have gathered strength also Cold and very repercutient things must by no means be applied to these Parts Fabr. Hildanus lest
and have afterwards Idem p. 185. upon the striking in of the Pustules fallen before they were ripe VI. And as it is unadvised and hazardous to advance too high the Ebullition once begun by means either of a hot Regiment or by Cordials so on the contrary there is no less danger to diminish the same by means of Emeticks Catharticks or any such thing seeing by this means the proper secretion of the separable Particles is much hindred Although that vulgar Argument which Men use against Bleeding and other Evacuations namely that we must not move the Humors from the Center to the Circumference since Nature seems to affect the contrary in this Disease be of no force at all because upon using these means a quite contrary effect has often been observed to follow to wit a sudden coming out of the Small Pox yet there are other reasons in readiness which strongly perswade that if by any means it may be voided we meddle not with this Practice For briefly to touch upon the chief of them by these Evacuations not only the Ebullition is too much hindred by means whereof the Particles to be despumated ought in the mean time accurately to be separated but that also is subtracted which should continually as it were afford fewel to the Secretion begun Whence it often happens that the Small Pox coming out at first with a laudable Progress and perhaps so much the better because the said Evacuations preceeded do a little after struck in as it were all on a sudden fall flat and for this reason chiefly because there wants matter to follow that which went before and bring up the Rere Idem p. 187. VII As to the second Indication which concerns the time of Expulsion as it is dangerous if the Patient when there is a Fever and the Pustules scarce yet appear be made over hot in the very time of Secretion so also it is a thing full of no less danger if the same be done at any time of the Disease and especially at that which is towards the beginning of Expulsion while the Pustules are yet Crude For although the Blood now that Separation is done and the matter discharged to the carnous Parts be in a great measure free from intestine Tumult yet it being as yet tender and young and having scarce got induction into a new state and texture it is apt to suffer and easily be affected by virtue of immoderat Heat coming from all places and so being irritated upon the least occasion it takes fire and is inclinable to a new Ebullition Which new Ebullition does not as the former now endeavor a Suppuration for we suppose that already finished but instead thereof it not only raises the above mentioned Symptomes but disturbs the Expulsion begun by the Pustules and does harm by exagitating the contained matter Either therefore the Parts now separated and left in the habit of the Body being hurried by that violent and rapid course of the ebullient Blood are drawn again into its Mass or the carnous Parts being heated beyond the degree due to Separation do not so well perform it or lastly perhaps upon the coming of this new Sickness the oeconomy of the Blood and the tone of the Flesh is perverted so that it cannot overcome the matter expelled Idem p. 188. and concoct it after the usual manner of Abscesses VIII In the mean time we must not be so intent upon preventing too great an Ebullition in the Blood as by exposing the Patient to the injuries of the Cold to hinder the eruption of the Pustules The degree of Heat most proper to promote their Expulsion must be natural and such as is agreeable to the temper of the carnous Parts And whatever exceeds or comes short of this is dangerous on either hand Idem p. 190. IX If the Pustules chance to strike in or the swelling of the Face and Hands fall upon Bleeding unseasonably or getting of Cold we must use Cordials but we must have a care of being too lavish in giving them for though you have taken away Blood yet it may so fall out that while you are afraid of loss of strength thereby and so use Cordials either strong ones or often repeated you cause a new Ebullition on a sudden For the Blood is as yet tender and is easily sensible of the strength of a hot Provocative Whence it comes to pass that often repeated Ebullitions arise in the same to which the Patients death may of better right be attributed Idem p. 191. than to the foregoing Blood-letting X. Moreover the Small Pox must not therefore immediately be forced out as soon as any suspicion of this Disease arises because forsooth the Patient is usually very sick and restless before their coming out when there cannot so much as one Instance be shown that any one died how grievously Sick soever he was because the Small Pox came not presently out or that Nature was wanting in forcing them out sooner or later unless at any time she were hindred by a too hot Regiment and Cordial Remedies given too early For I have more than once observed in young People and of a sanguine Complexion that a hot Regiment and Cordials given on purpose to force out the Small Pox before their due time have so little promoted their coming out that on the contrary they have given a check to it For the Blood being heated by these means and put into a more violent Motion than is fit to perform aright the separation of the Variolous Matter only some certain tokens of the Disease show themselves while the Pustules lie within the Skin and do not raise themselves further by what Cordials soever they were solicited to it till at length the Blood being reduced to its moderate and due Temper that is by allowing small Beer and taking off part of that load of Clothes wherewith he was rosted Idem p. 193. I have made a convenient way for the Pustules to go out and so I have put the Patient out of danger XI Nor also would I advise you to give a Cordial before the said fourth day though a Loosness were urgent and might seem to indicate the giving thereof For although a Loosness sometimes go before the coming out of the Confluent Small Pox which arises from inflammatory Vapors or from the Humors discharged into the Guts out of the mass of Blood that is exagitated and boyls for the first dayes yet here Nature will be no more wanting in driving out the said Vapors of the Variolous Matter into the habit of the Body which being done the Loosness will stop of it self than she uses to be in turning out and eliminating those Vapors which being turned upon the Stomach Idem cause Vomiting at the beginning of this Disease XII As soon as manifest signs of this Disease begin to show themselves I forbid the Patients the open Air and drinking of Wine and eating
Treacle he was well For Treacle is a common Remedy against all Poyson I could not prescribe a proper Antidote because I knew not what Nature the Poyson was of but by these means their Pain in their Stomach ceased and both of them were cured Forestus ¶ Cardan cured some that were dying of an unknown Poyson by giving them Milk to drink XLII It is found by experience that a Mule when his Guts are taken out has such an attractive and dissolving Virtue that it is able to extract and dissipate Poysons As it was proved in Valentine Borgia Pope Alexander the fifth his Son who being enclosed in a Mule which had its Guts taken out immediately overcame the violence of the Poyson Claudinus ¶ In the year 1629. Falcini an Illustrious Patavine having by Gods mercy escaped great treachery had a present of Wine sent him which when he had tasted he was long tormented with an Ulcer in his Stomach and by Sylvaticus his advice after Valentine Borgia's example he escaped after he had been inclosed in a Mule whose Guts were taken out the Poyson being drawn from within to the out parts of the Skin And an accident showed that the Wine was poysoned with Mercury sublimate for as many as drank of it found the Poyson one of his attendants among others after he had pissed Quick-silver which however it be prepared Rhodius Cent. 3. Obs â— is restored to its former shape by dropping some Spirit of Salt upon it escaped XLIV A Nobleman had a Son who consumed away and at last died After his Body was cut open a certain hard mass like unto horn was found in the bottom of his Stomach which was sent to his Father He in memory of his Son caused a spoon to be made of it which he often used at the Table It happened that when this Spoon was put into a Sallet of Water Cresses and Vinegar it dissolved Hence we may easily conjecture that Water-Cresses has no common virtue against a Philtrum Schenckius XLV We must know there are three sorts of Diseases which are held to come from Witch craft The first is no way Witch-craft but when the Devil observes any one will be taken with a Disease as he is well skilled in natural things he perswades Witches and Wizzards that if they will but do what he orders them the Man will fall into such a Disease into which notwithstanding he would have fallen had the Witches done no such thing And in the mean time the Witches think the Disease was caused by their power Secondly there are other Diseases which indeed are not caused by the Devil but by natural causes while he changes the natural constitution and corrupts and alters the Humours Thirdly there are Diseases which are simply caused by the Devil without the Mediation of natural Humours As to the first sort of these Diseases it is most manifest and without doubt that it may be cured with natural Remedies But the third cannot be cured by natural Remedies because natural things can have no influence upon the Devil who is a Spirit And natural Medicines are good to cure the second sort however they are not sufficient alone but besides there is need of a divine cure For since in such Diseases two causes concurr the Humours and such things as are in a humane Body and the Devil besides although the former cause be removed yet unless the Devil cease from acting and hurting a perfect cure cannot be expected And these natural Medicines are either such as evacuate those vitious Humours which the Devil uses in causing Diseases or alterâ—tives and Alexipharmacks contrary to the dispositions caused by him amongst evacuants Vomits are chief by which it is evident many stubborn Diseases have been cured whose cause lay in the Stomach Mesentery and thereabout Therefore Rulandus cured Demoniacks by giving Vomits for these vitious Humours being taken away the Diseases which by their means the Devil had caused to cease Nor indeed must Purgatives be neglected H. ab Heer 's obs 13. tells how one who was hurt with a Philtre was purged by Urine and so cured Aâ— to Alteratives and Alexipharmacks we must obsâ—rve that the word Veneficium is sometimes taken for Inchantment and an action absolutely magical s metimes for a Disease caused by Philtra Therefore when in Authors you find that this or the other Herb is good against veneficia they are for the most part to be understood of secret Poysons rather than of magical actions For since there are common Alexipharmacks they may very properly be used in these Poysons whose natures are for the most part hid Yea perhaps one may use them with success even in Diseases caused by the Devil seeing he also is able to cause poysonous Dispositions in the Body which may be conquered by such Medicines Yet in all these natural Medicines both outward and inward this must be observed if we may use them because often in occult Diseases we may try various Remedies that they be used without all manner of superstition ceremony pronunciation of Words and the like Sennertus and that we rely only on their natural Powers and leave the rest to God XLVI Because they say that in these Mountains there is no small number of Witches and Wizzards by whose Witchcraft several are oftentimes bewitched I will therefore describe a true and proper Alexiterick to drive away such a Poyson which I tried at Geneva with admirable effect in a certain Girl of Lions originally about 6 years old who had been long since bewitched by a certain Witch she was almost quite emaciated dumb destitute of her motive Faculty very voracious who upon taking a certain Alexipharmack twice or thrice and repeating it begun both to Speak and Walk A little while after her Father signified to me she was perfectly well And this Antidote is Dogs-tongue yet not the common but that which is described by Dioscorides l. 4. And we have hitherto used the Leaves not having yet tried the Roots Now the Witch who divulged this Alexiterick gave nine leaves to drink in Water but we neglecting the number of Leaves ordered an handfull to be boyled in half a pint of Water till half were boyled away then we gave the Decoction to the Patient on an empty stomach Afterwards one gave to another Girl at Geneva bewitched almost in the same manner half a drachm of Moibanus his Antidote in white Wine with good success with which within a little time after she had been purged upwards and downwards at last she recovered Because the virtue of this Alexipharmack is so great against almost all manner of Poysons I think it not amiss to describe it Take of root of Valerian half an ounce root of Swallow wort 1 ounce Polypody of the Oak Marsh-mallow wild Angelica each 2 ounces fresh Garden Angelica 4 ounces Bark of the Root of Spurge Laurel 1 ounce and an half All these Roots must be digged up
small Ale with leaves of Misletoe of an Appletree boyled in it instead of Hops And in a 4 Gallon Runlet let a bag with half a pound of Peacock's dung and 3 drachms of Cloves bruised be hung in it Willis II. Letting of Blood seems not proper because the Disease may arise from vaporous and spirituous exhalations which cloud Pallas her tower and these cannot be evacuated by Bleeding For Bleeding is rather proper in abundance of Blood either in respect of the whole in a Plethora or of some part in derivation and revulsion And the proximate cause of the Vertigo considered there is rather need of such things as break wind and prevent the breeding of it For the decision we must consider that in the cure of a Vertigo we must some times have respect to the antecedent cause which by a certain continuity upholds the conjunct Wherefore among other Remedies bleeding is prescribed by Aetius whether in the beginning or progress of the Disease if nothing hinder it especially where a bloody and hot matter gives original to those fuming exhalations that cause the Vertigo Galen l. de cur t. per v. s 10. approves the same A further limitation also may be here observed which Heurnâ—us sets If saith he accustomed excretion grow slow and the Disease encrease as in suppression of Sweat and Blood Blood may be let in the Arm. But you must not do this when the Disease comes from cold but where there is a Plethora the Disease bad and the Age strong a Vein may be opened sayes Aetius We had last year an instance of good success in a Vertigo cured by Bleeding that had long afflicted a principal Citizen who was of a hot constitution but a weak head who having been ill of a grievous Vertigo for several dayes by reason of vaporous and fuming Blood after he had taken a gentle Clyster and had in vain tried several proper Cephalicks was at last by once bleeding immediately eased of that Symptome that continually afflicted him Yea Paulus commends bleeding the Arteries about the Ears when hot exhalations are conveyed by the Arteries in great store to the Brain Instead of which Remedy they have now found a better which is a Cautery Horstius either actual or potential about the coronal Suture III. Although some disswade Bleeding in the time of the Fit lest strength which is then low should be further weakned yet if the Vertigo be long and violent and the constitution of the Patient such that he must of necessity be bled lest an Apoplexy seize him and if there be imminent danger of an Apoplexy there is no reason why Bleeding may not be allowed of Senâ—ertus if there be Indicants that require it IV. Bleeâ—ing in the humerary Vein is proper in Plethorick Persons not only if the source of the Disease lye in the Blood but also if there be either too much or spirituous Blood in the Head which occasions the Vertigo For seeing the Blood both of the Arteries and the Veins is confounded in the Sinuses of the Brain if a Vein be but opened spirituous Blood will come out in which if the mischief lye the main end of cure consists in bleeding And for this reason they advise Bleeding in the Jugulars Yea many teach that if Spirituous Blood cause the Vertigo it cannot be cured except the Arteries behind the Ears be opened and this sort of Remedy has proved well upon experience when all others have been tried in vain Yet we must not do this till we have tried all other wayes and are certain of the cause and know by the continual beating of the Arteries that it comes from spirituous Blood A Vein also may be opened in the Forehead if it come from this cause and in the Foot if Vapors ascend from thence And if the Menses be suppressed the Saphaena especially if the cause that sends the Vapours upwards lye about the Veins of the Womb. Upon which account the Haemorrhoids also may very well be provoked if the cause of the Disease lye in the Mesaraicks Platerus V. If neither Bleeding in the greater Veins nor in the wrist nor in the Haemorrhoids nor Cupping will do you good especially if you have tried them often and if you have used Purges stronger and weaker you must then without doubt have recourse to sweating with Guaiacum China c. especially if there be any suspicion of the Pox. But if these neither will do any good then necessity puts us on two sorts of Remedies the first whereof intercepts the passages by which any thing is transmitted either from the whole Body or from any part of it to the Brain And this comprehends the cutting of the Arteries behind the Ears celebrated among the Antients which they valued so much Which Remedy besides that it is suspected for Barrenness if we may believe Hippocrates and to cut an Artery any where is not without danger Besides also if they may safely either be cut or burnt we cannot therefore think that all the wayes whereby the Head receives are stopt presently since often the mischief gets into the Head by the internal Vessels which can neither be burnt nor cut Wherefore it were a madness to try a doubtful and suspected Remedy which is more dangerous than the pre-existent Ail But where the Ilness is extreme I should rather venture to burn the Veins of the Forehead and Temples by a Skilful hand If you dare not venture on this you may betake your self to the second sort of Remedies which is if the Veins be very turgid in the Head to empty the fulness of the Head by Bleedding under the Tongue Mercatus ¶ But if any one intend to abate the fullness of the Head omitting doubtful Remedies it is better to open the Jugulars which is a present Remedy and without danger VI. Arteriotomy is propounded by Galen and other Graecians Arabians and Latins made either behind the Ears as Galen advises or in the temporal Artery that is most tumid and beats most Now an Artery is cut either in the same manner as a Vein only for evacuation of the hot Blood as Paraeus advises whose counsel I have followed in this operation in other cases with success Or it is cut deep and quite through transverse so that the ends of the Arteries may contract themselves and close up whereupon no great effusion of Blood follows This operation more certainly intercepts evaporation by coalescence not by obstruction of the Arteries Although it be a question whether this transverse section stops the flux of the matter since a hot evaporation is made by the Arteries internal and external right and left Wherefore perhaps the interception would be greater if strong Astringents were frequently applied to the carotid and temporal Arteries Sylvaticus But the transverse section is now usual at Milan VII There are not wanting some who advise to burn the Head in several places with an hot Iron which indeed
preparations of Antimony whose vertue as it is admirable in separating all Metals so its faculty is observed to be the same in Purging all corrupt humors as Quercetan has observed Among other cathartick forms of it Platerus in several places of his Praxis commends the calcination of it He tells of a certain Empirick who for breakings out of salt Humors filthy Itches and tedious and pertinacious Diseases mixt calcined Stibium in a Decoction of Sarsa parilla and did admirable things Severinus V. The edges of Ulcers difficult to cure must be taken greater care of than the middle for the fault always comes from the upper and higher Parts and there also it begins first to heal Which edges if they be exasperated and cut out according to Hippocrates his rule l. de loc We must first make old Diseases new it is consentaneous to reason that the sore abate forthwith when the virulent and bad blood which fed and made the sore worse is gone And it has in very deed been found that it abates just as Plants when the moisture is withdrawn do wither And so they that have Ulcers and are daily under my Cure do confess to me that they find they are eased of their old pain and are bravely relieved Idem VI. Simple Dysepulotick Ulcers that is such as are difficult to heal up if when you have tried all Medicines if the Ulcers come not from a Rheum you can do no good they must be conquered by fire This is my invention by Spirit of Wine which in tenuity of substance and aptness to take fire is most proper a Linen Tow or Coton dipt in this and set on fire as far as the Ulcer goes will quickly turn and draw out the mischief by its gentle motion If once be not enough you may do it three or four times or as often as you please If you have any delicate Person under Cure you may put a linen cloth underneath spread with killed Mercury the Mercury side to the Ulcer so as to touch it and having applied this lay on another and give fire to it It is certain that those who have great sores will bear this often and with patience Sometimes I have filled pipes of brass or reed with hot Embers and rowled them athwart the ulcerous Parts and so I have burnt and cured those sores which would not give way to any of the strongest Medicines In the same manner also you may treat all intemperate Ulcers and such as run a thin Ichor and sharp Sanies But there is no need of fire for such as are dry and squalid One who had been laid up ten Years of such an Ulcer was burnt by me first with an Iron unknown Idem and sometimes with hot water and was cured in 40 Dayes ¶ M.N. had a carcinomatous Ulcer athwart his Tongue obliquely which much afflicted him on the upper part of it I applied a Silver spoon heated in the Fire to it upon which he was free of his pain and could speak freely as though he had been cut for the Tongue-â—y which before he could not do Wherefore having found out this Remedy I invenâ—ed a particular Instrument to heat the Tongue conveniently And all the help that accrews to Ulcers which would otherwise eat through or off the Parts is because nothing comes nearer to the innate heat which governs the Aeconomy of the Body than this external heat Aph. 5.22 Hippocrates also testifies there that it is good for Diseases coming of hot Causes Idem that is for eating herpetes which proceed from a bilious and hot Humor VII Sometimes a Spontaneous Ulcer arises in the empty spaces between the Muscles and in the cavities of the other Parts which has cured some other more grievous Disease in the Body Therefore an outlet must be left there for some time I indeed advise you to it Idem because I have often found it a thing conducible and reason perswades the same VIII A man of sixty a great drinker whose Face was all Sauce-phlemed had a Pustule arose in the upper part of his Chin covered with a thick Scab at first about the bigness of a large Pea increasing more and more every day and spreading to the middle of his Chin very painful ouzing out in several places at little Pores a very sharp bilious Ichor Because of the great store of cacochymy in this intemperate Man and the sponginess of the part affected some feared lest in tract of time it should turn to a cancrous Ulcer The suspicion encreased because when it was anointed with a Balsame that had done much good in others it grew worse in a moment The cause whereof I thought might be for that all the Ingredients of the Balsame applied were sulphureous and so further exasperated the enraged bilious sharp Ichor Wherefore I thought of checking it with Acids and not without success For Sal prunellae being dissolved in the white of an Egg and linen clothes dipt therein and applied often in the day the Pustule in five days time vanished Thiermair Cons 9. l. 2. leaving no Scar behind it IX I have often with admiration considered the incredible effect of Balsamus sulphuris anisatus terebinthinatus c. in the cleansing and healing of Ulcers if a little of it be dropt into the Ulcer for the generation of new pus is presently so abated that oftentimes by the help of this Balsame alone they have been cured in a few days in the Breasts and in other parts after inflammations and notable imposthumes From this experiment I reckoned that the cleansing and healing of Ulcers which follow Imposthumes consists in the correction of the Acid and Corroding Pus which sticks to the Ulcerated part and corrupts and turns into new pus in some measure at least the Blood designed to nourish that Part And that the Pus is corrected by the Balsame of Sulphur especially upon account of the aromatick Oyl which abounds with an oyly volatil Salt whereby the acid Spirit that abounds in the Pus and corrupts the blood every day into Pus is not only made dull but so sweetned and amended that the affluent blood quickly repairs the Parts formerly consumed Sylvius de lâ— Boë and perfectly heals them up X. A Medico-Chirurgeon had a Matron under Cure who had contracted a Fistula in her Leg after an Imposthume which he had had six Months under Cure At length when M. J. Griffonius had searched it with a Probe and knew the only cause which hindred the healing of it up was the thinness of the Skin covering the Ulcer he quickly put her in heart Therefore when her Body was Purged and prepared he eroded the thin Skin with a caustick and of a Fistula made an oblong Ulcer after the fall of the Eschar and the Ulcer was cleansed with oyntment of juice of Smallage in three Weeks or a Months time he successfully cured it Hildanus cent 5. obs 79. XI I have
Grate-Iron and having suffered about eight Weeks under ill Chirurgery was commended to my Care The Ulcer was with loss of substance and sanious with some pituitous swelling in the Lips and Parts about it I dressed it with unguent basilicon mixt with Praecipitate 1 drachm of it to an ounce of the Unguent I applied over it a Plaster of diachalcit sprinkled with a little Vinegar and a Compress wrung out of Oxycrate then rowled it up with the expulsive Bandage the Cure indeed consisting mainly in the well rowling the want of that causing frequently crudity in the Ulcer By the use of it both the Influx was restrained and the member strengthened and with the help of the Unguent aforesaid it was digested as the Lips flatted by virtue of Compression it incarned and by Vnguent tutiae and Pledgits dipt in Lime water cicatrized in few dayes without Purging or Bleeding XXXIV A Gentleman of about twenty years old of a good habit of Body put himself into my hands for the cure of an Ulcer on his right side the breadth of the palm of the Hand It was occasioned by a burn and had been bigger The cause why this remaining part of the Ulcer did not cicatrize was most evident it being over-grown with loose Flesh I applied Pledgits of a mixture of unguent basilicon with two parts Aegyptiacum upon it with Bandage but observing it not to yield to that so soon as I designed I levelled it with the Caustick stone and after separation of the Eschar digested the Ulcer with unguent basilicon and Mercury precipitate and afterwards cicatrized it XXXV A young Man by some accident bruised the back of his Hand it inflamed and apostemated and after some while terminating in a sinuous Ulcer and underneath corrupting the Bone I was consulted and advised the way of dressing it but that method not being observed other Bones of the Hand became carious and the Hand in great hazard of being lost Upon which he was commended to my care Sir Alex. Fras being present I took off the dressings made a search with a Probe and felt the Bones leading to the two middle Fingers bare rough and as I suspected rotten The Orifice being small I applied a Caustick large enough to make way for the taking out those bones then divided the Eschar and dressed up his Hand with Digestives Emplaster and Bandage Sir Alex. Fras prescribed him a vulnerary decoction and left the prosecution of the cure to me As the Escar separated I saw the Bones leading to the two middle Fingers black and softned with putrefaction I laid hold on the one with my forceps and pinched it into pieces with much ease bringing part of it away I fomented the hand with a Decoction of Wormwood in Wine dissolved a little Aegyptiacum in some of it washed the Ulcer and applied a Dossil dipt hot in it upon the Bone and unguent basilicon over the Escar I then pinched out what was most rotten dressed the remaining ends of them with a mixture of unguent Aegyptiacum Spirit of Wine and extract of Scordium actually hot with an armed Probe applied Pledgits of the same upon the Bones rubb'd the loose flesh in the Ulcer with a Vitriol stone and laid unguent diapomphol upon Pledgits over the tender edges of the Ulcer By this way of dressing I deterged the Ulcer and at several times pinching out those rotten Bones that led to the two middle Fingers disposed the rest to cast off During which I laid the Ulcer higher open to the joynt of the middle Finger which knuckle I also found rotted to pieces and took out what would come easily away then dressed the remaining Calies as the other in the Hand and after some time made a separation of the Caries there Having the while digested and healed the Ulcer I first laid open I also cicatrized this part and dismissed the Patient well cured as I thought But some while after he came to me again with a Tumour upon that Knucle of the middle Finger from some remaining splinter of a Bone I laid it open and took that out While I was curing this I observed a small opening with a Tumour near it as big as a small Hazle-nut upon that part of the Bone which led to the Fore-finger I opened this by Causticks and discovering part of the Bone black pinched it off and dressed the remaining end with Aegyptiacum scalding hot upon an armed probe I kept the Ulcer open with Dossils prest out with Spirit of Wine till I made separation of it then cured this Ulcer also And from that time which is more then 5 years he hath continued well and his Hand is firm and strong Nature having supplied that loss of Bones with Callus But he beareth the Marks of the Disease Idem p. 188. which will assert the truth of what is here delivered XXXVI A Daughter of a substantial Citizen laboured under an Abscess in the Region of her left Kidney and was long treated by a bold Empirick who promised Cure but after all his endeavours the Child languishing under the Ulcer sometimes by the great discharge of matter by Urine and other times through the suppression of it great pains were stirred up within the Body and outwardly in the Abscess I being consulted observed the external Abscess took its Original from the Ulcer within the Kidney and required another manner of dressing its Cure being the work of time I proposed the laying it open to the very part where the matter passed forth from the Kidney To which purpose I applied a Caustick upon the Sinus below divided the Escar and dressed it up with Lenients Then after separation and digestion of the Ulcer searching the same with my Probe I found the Sinus run up above the Orifice which being also laid open I discovered the passage into the Kidney and felt the side of the last short rib bared by the matter in its passing our I dressed the Ulcer with mundif ex Apio and healed up the remaining Sinus's above and below to the very Arpeture While I was doing this work Doctor Barwick was consulted to help us in the Cure by Internals who prescribed a Traumatick decoction of Sarsa c. with the more temperate Plants and balsamick Pills to contemperate the Humours During my disposing of this Ulcer to retain a Cannula the Matter discharged by Urine in great quantity and the Patient was as sorely afflicted and had the same Symptome that others have who are diseased with Ulcers or Stones in their Kidneys but after vent was given by a short Cannula oâ— Lead she recovered Having continued the use of the Cannula some months I removed it and kept a Pea just in the opening and by red Sparadrop and compress retained it on then left her to her Mother to dress and only called sometimes when they gave me notice of their wants After a year or thereabout that she had kept this fontanell open the internal pains and discharge
When it was grown inveterate and could as it seemed be cured by no Remedies he came to me His Toe was swelled and inflamed On the outside of it there was an excrescence of Flesh as big as a Bean which covered almost half the Nail The Barber-Surgeons had several times wasted it away with causticks but to no purpose for whatever they wasted in the day it grew up again like a Mushrome in the Night I enquiring out the hindrances of cure found the Nail under this Flesh extuberant and separated from the Flesh underneath which therefore did prick the sound Flesh continually towards the root of the Nail caused pain and attracted the Humours plentifully When the cause was known I put the Patient in hope of a speedy cure Therefore having purged and bled him on the same side I strowed some burnt Alom powdered upon the excrescence of Flesh And I applied to his Toe and to his whole Foot a cooling and anodyne Cataplasm Take of Bean-flower 2 ounces powder of red Roses Pomegranate flowers and Cypress-nuts each 2 drachms Saffron half a scruple Boyl them in Plantain and Rose water and a little Vinegar Add towards the latter end the yolk of an Egg and a little Rose water Apply it warm With this the pain and swelling abated much the excrescence of the Flesh was a little wasted so that the Nail separated from the Flesh underneath which the excrescence of Flesh had covered came into sight I cut it away as carefully as I could with a Pen-knife and Scissers and when I had strewed on it a drying powder aad applied Diapalma plaster he quickly recovered Hence let Chirurgeons learn how much it concerns them Hildâ—â—â— to know the cause of a disease XLVI Frequently after the cure of an Ichor and a Meliceria we find the joynt so stiff and hard that it can be bended neither one way nor other Here oftentimes Chirurgeons labor a long time to mollify the joynt Ligaments and Nerves but in Vain for that Ichor which flows from the whole Body to the wounded joynt and has such acrimony corrodes and wasts first of all the ligaments and tendons which encompass the joynt and then the Cartilages which cover the joynt Hence it comes to pass that the Bones being divested of their Cartilages and Ligaments do as firmly grow together by a Callus which I was the first that observed as if there had never been a joynt there Idem XLVII Why is a full and a moist course of Diet bad for all Ulcers and a thin and dry one good Whether because a moist Diet makes the matter of the excrements more fluid for moisture is terminated by any thing but it self and driness by it self Or is it because moisture opens a passage for Moisture makes lax the passages which driness stops up And they flow especially when they are sharp and when the moisture of meat and drink abounds And a passage easily succeeds by these parts which of their own Nature are apt to receive the excrements of the whole Body Or is it because the Skin among all its other uses has this remarkable one to retain the Humours and Juices which run from within to the habit of the Body and to stop them as it were when otherwise they would easily run out and be discharged So therefore as the want of Skin is the cause why the serous Humour ouzes out it will be much more in sick Persons like as in Plants and Fruits when the bark of them is cut the useful Humour runs out so an Ulcer ceases not to run till it be crusted over nor does it cease running in Plants till the Cut close up Wherefore Hippocrates lib. de Vlceribus sayes The dry is next to the sound the dry is sound Or is it because of weakness for which the part does ill receive much adventitious moisture whether excrementitious or useful and wasts the moderate heat and is distempered so that it can neither concoct nor assimilate the same Wherefore it is said by Arnaldus doct 5. cap. 18. Aliment attracted and not incorporated turns to sanies and therefore superfluity of Aliment hurts wounded persons Or is it because by how much more aliment comes to the parts by so much more Excrements are bred And this being poured in plentifully infects and spoils the place Moreover Hippocrates writes l. de nat human that when an Ulcer cannot be healed of a long time Moisture is the cause of it It is necessary therefore that the whole Body be dry and that the part be dry for the agglutination of an Ulcer Or is it because an Ulcer that is moist by Nature is encreased by the accession of a moist diet as withered Plants when they are watred afresh grow green again But not only the Ulcer but the parts about it grow moist and stiff with an inflamed or some other Tumour without the soundness of which the Ulcer can neither dry nor heal These are Reasons sufficient to reject a moist Diet. Now a slender Diet is approved of in Ulcers as Eustachius Rhudius has observed to the end Nature may be more desirous to distribute that which is scarce sufficient for it self For an Empty Stomach attracts from all the parts round so as that by long consequence the circumference of the Body is emptied And that ill Humours may be corrected by Nature's constant evacuation of them which would be hindred and diverted by plenty of victuals Therefore Hippocrates lib. de locis p. 47. sayes Whatever Diseases turn to Vlcers and are eminent above the rest of the Body they must be cured by Medicines and Abstinence And a little after Proud and rising flesh must be brought down by Diet. But otherwise when the Bodies of ulcerous Persons abound Cacochymy they will find huge inconvenience from a full and moist Diet. For 2 aph 9. Impure bodies the more you nourish them the more you hurt them Wherefore I use to say Severinus that by a spare Diet much mischief which would ensue is retrived XLVIII If you would clearly know how hurtful an ill course of Diet is for Ulcers I will propound to your consideration the evidence and experience of Apparencies which have informed me when the Patient has been any way irregular For the Sores continue a long time and sometimes putrid and fungous caruncles breed in the Ulcer sometimes callosities and other filth and tumors grow in them sometimes there is a troublesome pain and sometimes an Inflammation about the part and an internal one too To say nothing how ill sometimes the Ulcer looks and what a strange colour and stench sometimes uses to follow The Patient must needs suffer these and such like things who indulges his Appetite and crams his Gut and has no command of himself On the contrary he that can rule himself and his Appetite will both quickly be cured and will feel none of those things I have spoken of For as Celsus l. 2. c. 16. sayes Nothing
warm applying the foresaid Plaster upon it and so within Twenty four hours his pain was gone Riverius Cent. 3. Obs 19. and the part came to its colour XIX If the Wounds in the neck be made by a Thrust and do not cause present death this is a sign the jugular Veins and Carotid Arteries are not hurt therefore we must take great care that we hurt them not For though they do not go all over the neck yet a long and thick Tent must not be put in but a very short one which may go no deeper than the Skin which at the beginning must be dipt in the white of an Egg applying a double linnen cloath all over the neck spread with the white of an Egg bole Armenick and dragon's Blood then take away a little Blood and give a gentle Purge the next day after which for 2 dayes the Remedies applied to the wounded part must not be changed because most usually the linnen cloth will serve spread every day with the white of an Egg and the aforesaid powders The Diet must be only Barly Ptisan twice a day His Drink Barly-Water in a small quantity But if afterwards there be any sear of Inflammation you may bleed in the other Arm in a due quantity And if Pain be violent and the strength will permit Cupping with scarifying must be used For the breeding of Pus must be hindred with all our Power and Skill as it corrodes the Veins and Arteries with imminent danger of death as I have observed in some that have been ill treated by unskilfull hands while they thrust very long Tents whereby much Pus was gathered which consumed the Veins and Arteries and was the cause of Death so that therefore after 2 or 3 days I remove that short Tent and then spread the Linnen cloth with Plaster of Ceruss repeating another in the like manner doubled the same way and spread with the white of an Egg and the foresaid Powders with which in the space of 10 dayes at most I use to cure these wounds Yet always observing a very thin Diet lest the Humours flow to the wounded part and being converted into purulent Matter do erode the Vessels But if the Wound go quite through the Neck I use the same Method that is I put a very short Tent on either side in the same manner as I described before You must remember also that you must never search these Wounds with a probe lest as it may easily happen you break a Vein or Artery to the hazard of life By which Method I have cured many Marcherii Oâ—s 37. moreover I have seen many dy who have been treated in a Method different from mine XX. Felix Wertzius in Wounds of the fingers and hands disapproves of Tents without distinction How erroneous and dangerous this opinion is I will declare by the following example A Merchant of Collen struck the needle of the ballance into his hand he presently went to no Surgeon nor kept he the wound open with a Tent. The Superficies of the wound therefore being closed the pain encreased about the fourth day then came a flux of Humours a Fever and an Inflammation so that his hand was exulcerated in several places and was not without a great deal of difficulty cured ¶ D. N. prickt the Palm of his hand with a penknife and no tents being put in by reason of the narrowness of the wound such Symptomes followed that he was in danger of his life ¶ A Country fellow prickt the top of his fore-finger with a thorn the Superficies of the wound quickly healed but Pus gathered about the nervous parts hence came Pain Inflammation and a Gangrgne when his finger was cut off at the root he was well ¶ A Country-man run a Thorn into his Ankle and the Prick being too soon closed there followed Pain Inflammation Gangrene and a Sphacelus of the whole Leg which Hildanus Cent. 4. Obs Ja. when he refused to let it be cut off he died in a few dayes XXI In all wounds of the Breast or lower belly we must altogether abstain from injections with a Syringe for something might get into the hollow Idem and there raise grievous Symptomes to the hazard of the Patient ¶ Yet Scultetus used them successfully in wounds of the Breast as appears from Obs 50. both for stopping of Blood and strengthning the thoracick Parts XXII A certain Liquor runs out of the wounds of the Joynts either ill treated or ill-conditioned of themselves which Celsus calls Ichor and Meliceria which renders the Cure very difficult And it proceeds from the superfluous Nutriment which Nature has destined to the Bones This therefore must be strongly dried up lest it cause Putrefaction in the Parts adjoyning and caries and holes in the Bones Fabricius Hildanus will have it that a Flux of this water never appears except the Surgeon or the Patient have erred Therefore it cannot be thought that it always proceeds from superfluous Aliment as such or left to it self but from a corrosive serous ichorous humor into which even the Nutriment turns when consolidation is hindred but not therefore because that runs out which should stay within that is the Aliment but because that preterfluent water corrodes and exulcerates the circumjacent Parts and the clammy humor which is naturally in the Joynts When therefore we find such an humor in wounds of the Joynts we must endeavour to avert it by all means by Purging the Body Haâ—fâ—rus opening a Vein and regulating the Diet which most Surgeons neglect XXIII A Surgeon of Orleans told me not long since that he cured an Apparitor of a wound in his Ham by which the Tendons that bended the Ham were quite cut in sunder And he went about the Cure in this manner He ordered his Patient to bend his Knee then he sowed the ends of the cut Tendons one to another and then he kept the Limb in that posture and treated it with that Skill that at length the wound was brought to a Cicatrice the Patient not halting at all A fact truly memorable Paraeus l. 24. c. 19. and carefully to be imitated by a young Surgeon XXIV Between the two laminae of the Calvaria above the Eyes there is a Cavity in some very small in others large Wounds that reach to these Cavities are difficultly cured and often turn to Fistulaes and cacoëthick Ulcers for a Matter is gathered in them unless the Surgeon be careful and skilful which if it contract Putrefaction corrupts the Bones and Cartilages The wounds of these Cavities have so near affinity with the Eyes that I have seen the purulent Matter which falls from the wound to these Cavities and there putrefies acquires acrimony Hildanus lodge in the Membrana adnata and turn the Eyes out of their Orbits See Wounds of the Head BOOK III. XXV A Soldier had a Ponyard struck into his Shoulder near his Collar-Bone The Surgeon when he drew out the
are drunk actually cold Sebis p. 546. they would offend the Stomach by their coldness IV. No Nation seems to drink Mineral waters more freely than the Italian for Fallopius prescribes them to 120 ounces The Germans are more sparing for Andernacus will not have the largest Dose to be above twenty seven ounces Though we cannot appoint a certain measure which may be as a Standard yet we think it profitable to express in some latitude the least middle and greatest Dose For people that are grown up let the least Dose be eight or twelve ounces the middle thirty two the highest sixty four And that a convenient quantity may be prescribed we must consider the circumstances as the Disease the Temperament Strength Age and Sex of the Patient the climate time of year manner of life custom habit of Body parts affected and the like Of which the greatness and vehemence of the Distemper is the Indicant properly so called thâ— strength of the Patient is the Permitteâ— or Prohibenâ— the other circumstances are the siâ—ns of the weakness or vigour of this Idem p. 53. But the most certain ruâ—â— for tâ—â— quantity is the Euphory or well-bearing when the Stomach dispenses well with it But daily experience shews that those that drink the Spaw-waters but in small quantity receive but small benefit by them yea are often prejudic'd whereas those that drink them plentifully are cur'd of great Distempers by them so that Frambesâ—iâ—â— sayes rightly that the more one drinks the â—oâ—e good he receiâ—es if so bâ— they paâ—â— wâ—ll Tâ—erefore let every one consider his Stomach how much Water he can bear and how soon he passes it and let this be his rule Heer Spadacien p. 114. That the best Indication is taken from Hurters and Helpers V. Authors advise to ascend by degrees to the highest Dose that the Stomach may be inured by little and little to the Waters as being actually cold and also that it may be understood how the Patient will be upon the drinking of them for a mans peculiar temper does not presently appear But we here admonish again that respect is not to be had so much to the number of cups as to the Euphory or well-bearing of the Patient and that the measure is to be accommodated to every ones nature Sebis p. 516. VI. When one is once come to the highest Dose some advise to keep to it till the end But because experience teaches that the diseased can seldome hold to the greatest Dose for four or five dayes but that they fall into Vomiting Fainting or difficulty of Breath it is more adviseable to follow the counsel of Herodotus in Oribasius Claudin de Inq. Sect. 1. viz. to descend by degrees till one come again to the first and least quantity VII Ryetius admonishes prudently to drink that quantity which a Man prescribes to himself in as little a time as may be that is to make an end of it in half an hour for otherwise seeing these waters pass quickly it would come to pass that the first should pass before the last be drunk which although Fallopius allow yet 't is generally disliked because by this means the last would be evacuated more slowly to the great prejudice of the drinkers and this is proved by daily experience and as many as have been often at the Spaw Heer p. 119. will subscribe to the truth of it VIII Some prescribe a certain number of dayes others have regard to the colour and consistence of the evacuated water which if for two dayes together it be such as before it was drunk they then think 't is time to abstain We think they are to be drunk so long as the Patients bear them well without confining them to a certain number of dayes and that they are also to be drunk so long as seems necessary for the perfect cure or at least for the bettering or manifest change of the diseased But as for the two first opinions we can subscribe to neither for as for the first it is impossible to prescribe a certain number of dayes because of the diversity of Diseases and Morbifick causes and as to the second it cannot be a certain rule seeing the Waters are used not only in Diseases with matter for Humours contained in the Veins but in Diseases without matter Sebiâ— p. 509 for altering and strengthning IX Some will have them warmed lest they offend the Stomach and Bowels with their coldness but experience teaches that many thousands drink your Acidulae cold without any prejudice Yea they ought not to be heated 1. because thereby they become white frothy turbid and some of them red whence is intimated a loss of their vertue by evocation of their Spirits which also happens to other Liquors as Wine c. 2. being drunk lukewarm they loose the tone of the Stomach and are vomited up Yet lest by their coldness they should offend an empty Stomach being taken out of the Well let them be held a little in ones hand in a closed Veâ—â—el thaâ— by that means they may lose somewhat â—f their coldness and let them be swallowed leisurely that as they descend into the Stomach Idem p. 583. they may be a little warmed by the parts they pass through viz. the Mouth and Gullet X. If the Waters altogether stagnate or abide in the Body as it happens to some what is to be done I answer there are divers receptacles of the Water in such cases If therefore they stay in the Intestines which is known by rumblâ—ng oâ— the Belly by belthing by teâ—sion and weight oâ— the abdomen then on the same day inject a Clyster of the same water with an ounce or two of hiera picra or of hiera Logadii or also of hiera diacolocynthis and so you shall bring the water all away But if this succeed not then try a sharper Clyster and the day following administer some purger of the Phlegm that has hindered the passage of the Waters and do this for two or three dayes together if it be necessary omitting in the mean time the use of the Waters But if the Water be retained in the Veins which is known by the absence of belching and of rumbling and swelling of the Belly let the Body be purged the next day for the absence of pain presses not for a Clyster on that day with Pills of hiera with agarick or with Pii Aloëphanginae being taken to three scruples and an half and afterwards procure sweating If these Pills bring not away the Water Fallopius advises to add a grain or two of Elaterium to one Dose of the said Pills Yea Fallopius was wont for the making of the Mineral Waters pass to give something of Elaterium first Heer p. 140. and after that the Water with very good success XI The English upon drinking the Waters presently smoke a pipe of Tabaco which I do not disallow but it would do better if by
macerated with purgers unless these be chiefly taken away in the first place For it is always better sayes Sennertus that vitious Humours should not be generated than that they should be evacuated when generated Thus for example in the cure of all Fevers before all things the febrile ferments the next cause of the ebullition in the mass of Blood as most urging are to be fixt and precipitated by Specifick antipyreuticks Diureticks and Diaphoreticks that imitate Nature which having extinguished the febrile ferments may afterwards withal resolve the vitious matter produced by them and having resolved it may separate it from the mass of Blood by convenient wayes and when at length the febrile ebullition of the Blood is allayed and the paroxysm banished then the occasional febrile cause is by a methodical cure to be removed by purgers and a relapse to be prevented The Method is the same in Chronical diseases which although they have taken firm and strong rooting in the Body with obstructions of the viscera from serous crudities every where collected and the balsamick Saltness of the Blood turn'd into acetous and sowr yet are to be cured by precipitating Alteratives which may tame the Humours tainted with morbifick ferments may resolve them and the dyscrasie of the Blood being amended and the obstructions of the Viscera unlocked may consume and cast them out Now Alterative Medicines do perform this precipitation either in a privative or a positive manner Of the former sort are those which not only make a fixt of a volatile and a volatile of a fixt but also of an acid a sweet of a bitter a Salt of a Salt a bitter yea and also by imbibing the preternatural and acrimonious Salts cleanse the Blood and correct the depraved ferments of the Viscera and so stop the preternatural fermentation of the Humours Such kind of Medicines are resoluble hungry and thirsty easily imbibing acid corrosive Salts and when they are filled and have done their business depart and they act partly by way of Alteration acquired in a possibility of their own partly by changing the internal qualities of those and such as descend from the specifical quality How this is done Joh. Lang. in Miscellan the more intimate Skill of Spagiricks demonstrates for he that understands the dulcification of Salts throughly knows very well the reason of this also For the Alterations that happen in the vital oeconomy from vital principles depend not on the fire or cold of the Body heat and cold are accidents not belonging to the nature of Diseases Thus a Thorn being prickt into any part in an instant there follows pain to the pain succeeds the pulse from the pulse an afflux of Blood whence ensues heat a tumour an aposteme c. the thorn therefore moves the other things after it Now the metaphorical thorn of Diseases is the strange ferment conceived in the Archeus or other foreign acids ponticks corrosives c. which if the Archeus drive or deposit into the mass of Blood what disturbance is thereby raised So in the Liver there are often felt preteâ—natural heats but all these are caused by means of the wild acid Salts which accend the Archeus c. sayes Helment lib. potestat medicam § 20. Seeing every thing acts not upon every thing but upon something determinate nor every thing suffers not from every thing but from something determinate so also every Morbifick matter being furnished with its own peculiar Ferment cannot indifferently be dissolved and precipitated by any one but only by its own appropriate precipitating Medicine For it is not enough that attenuating Remedies be opposed to thick and viscid humours and incrassating to thin but their Nature also according to the diversity of the figure of their Parts with their specifick Ferments is to be heeded and specifick and proper precipitating Remedies are to be used Alkali's for Acids Acids for Alkali's Sulphureous for Sulphureous c. Whence Walaeus says that Alteration is made by Conjunction and Perfection Hence if altering Medicines ought to alter they must needs be mixed with the humours that are to be alter'd if they would be mixed throughly they must be like the humours not in respect of their qualities for so they should be contrary but in respect of their Constitution Therefore what things are oily in our Body let those be alter'd with oily Medicines what are watery with watery what are acid with Alkali's what are Alkalizate with Acids c. When thick viscid and acid humours produced from the vicious Ferment of the Stomach or from the depravation or corruption of the Chyle stick close in the coats of the Stomach then those Remedies are to be opposed to them either that abound with a volatile aromatick Salt such as is in Wormwood Aron root Centaury Carduus Benedictus c. or that are endued with an Alkaline fixt Salt or a volatile lixivious such as are the Salts of Wormwood Ash Succory the volatile Salt of Hartshorn the volatile Salt of Tartar c. As also if this acid Crudity be after a sort volatile and exalted by a fermental humour so that it penetrate even into the mass of Blood it is fixed and changed not only by all fixt Alkaline lixivial Salts prepared from Plants but also if there be need of greater penetration by other alkaline volatile Salts such as the salt spirit of Sal Armoniack of man's Blood of Hartshorn c. with which effervescing it is in some measure temper'd coagulated and made neutre Moreover for this purpose serve also Crabs Eyes red and white Coral prepared Spodium Mother of Perle Perch-Stones c. all whose alteration is of a middle sort betwixt the stronger effervescence that arises from the aforesaid Salts and the concentration or fixation made with the aforesaid Alkali's If the Ferment of the Stomach be filled altogether with sulphureous and bitter Excrements so that it estuate too much thereby and a nidorous crudity spring thence acids are to be given of which sort are spiritus vitrioli Martis salis striatus c. the juyce of Citron Pomegranat Corinths Berberies c. To correct a lixivial Alkali abounding in the first ways whereby driness of the mouth and thirst is too much encreased acids also being taken are profitable also Emulsions made of the four cold Seeds See the Title of Sitis Thirst Where the Ferment of the Stomach is very weak or departs too much from its acid Salt volatil Balsam those things are to be given that supply its place such as are volatil acido saline Salts volatil acid Spirits of which number are the fixed Salt of Hartshorn prepared with the Spirit of Salt or the terra foliata of Tartar D. Moebius's aperitive tincture Arcanum duplicatum c. For these are the genuine wakeners or exciters of the Ferment of the Stomach and of the other Viscera they do withal cleanse away the filth of all the Digestions resist Putrefaction unlock long-continued Obstructions of the Viscera
the said spirit of Nitre whether pure and simple or made sweet seeing most of the Medicines vulgarly known are Aromatick and in that respect heighten and increase after a sort at least the acrimony of the Bile whither I refer Volatil Salts themselves of what kind soever all which give place to Nitre Hence our Physicians are so solicitous about prescribing Medicines for discussing of wind being often taught by sad experience that such as have been given have not a little hurt their Patients through the Bile's being made more acrimonious the heat increased in the body by them The reason of which effect all such are ignorant of as know not both the nature and reason of each effervescence the hot and the cold which things being understood Idem Append. Tract X. Sect. 608. the reason of the burning caused by the use of Carminatives is easily perceived and which is the chief thing the way is also perceived how this evil may be prevented IV. Opiats hinder the generation of Flatus better than most other Medicines such as Treacle Idem Tract 9. Sect. 254. Mithridate Philonium Romanum Requies Nicolai c. V. In this respect they are good with diaphoreticks that they discuss and resolve whence there are many diaphoreticks that are also carminatives as the carline-thistle zedoary antimonium diaphoreticum c. which are so much the more excellent that they both resolve and also expell by sweat and perspiration And they are either 1 halituous rarefiers which by their thinness and their subtle and volatil vertue of attenuating heat and correct the Phlegm whether insipid or especially Acid such as are both chiefly volatil oleons things or Medicins endued with a Subtil Balsamick Sulphur married with a volatil Salt which both restore the debilitated heat for an heat comparatively weak is the Father of flatus and the Mother is a watry or Acid cold and viscid Humour or Phlegm actuated into vapours penetrate every where by their habituous vertue and by this their subtil and volatil vaporosity help the explosion of the thicker vapours that are generated as for instance the four carminative Seeds all Aromaticks especially the roots of zedoary galangal and their distilled oils And also volatil Acids as the Spirit of Salt simple and sweet which we have sometimes observed to have removed the Colick like a charm But these same oleous volatils or Medicines indued with a volatil oleous Sulphur are also paregorick nervine and demulcing whence withal they do very well help the pains tensions of the Membranous parts that arise from wind And these are very good both outwardly and inwardly in many distempers as the Colick Vertigo fits of the Mother and in the griping pains after Child-Birth wherein in particular the roots of zedoary and galangal are profitable in the flatus of the Womb the rupture wherein both by mine own and Helmont's experience the four greater carminative hot Seeds are excellent in the noise in the Ears c. VI. Or 2 they are absorbing and temperating such as not only saturate the prevailing Acid dry up the Humours and precipitate the vapours arising thence but likewise if rarefied bile concur also they tame the same and in one word break these 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or Powers and restrain the Seminal Ferment of the flatus and the wild exhaling gas yea if there be an excessive heat joined and so a Phlogosis or Inflammation of the Viscera accompany as in the Hypochondriacal they respect the same too Such as these are both earthy Precipitaters and Diaphoreticks as especially Antim Diaphoret Shells and Crabs-eyes prepared c. and also chiefly Nitrosalines and Alkalines likewise Tartar vitriolate the tincture of Tartar Arcanum duplicatum c. Refer hither Mineral Waters or Acidulae the Clyssus of Antimony c. These are chiefly good in the bilious Colick Hypochondriacal flatus Tympany Fevers Palpitation of the Heart Vertigo and the like And it is to be noted that these things may also be given mixed where we would withal Precipitate and also stop Pains as chiefly in the Cardialgia or pain at the Stomach in which case I have often with great success given the Oil of Cloves with Shells prepared in a dry form with essentia carminativa and the Essence of Castor in a liquid c. VII Or 3 they are such as strengthen the concoction and heat and corrupted Menstruum of the Stomach whether they be Precipitaters and Inciders as the root of Aron Ginger c. or other Aromaticks and Balsamicks fitted for whatsoever excess For as the Stomach is always to be taken notice of in flatus and as the same do usually arise from the frustrated action thereof so these very Stomachicks also are deservedly reckoned among Carminatives and these are particularly good in Belchings Hiccough Cardialgia Inflations after Meat c. VIII The thinnest and potentially hot volatils are not to be used in all flatulent cases especially in the Hypochondriacal for whom the more temperate are for the most part better which may allay the Inflammation or Phlogosis of the Viscera that is fed by saline and nitro sulphureous Particles whence temperating and refrigerating things themselves seem requisite in this case for the destruction of the flatus in as much as by this means the natural heat will be set to rights IX They are not good if there be a driness in the Intestines and hard Excrements cause Obstruction for in both cases unless there be first an evacuation of the Matter and a sufficient depletion they are all not only in vain but they also precipitate the Patient into a far worse state Crato Cons 177. writes that some in the Colick do very badly hasten presently to discuss the flatus by giving Carminatives which indeed in a lighter Colick do answer desire but in the more vehement generally hurt X. As the productive Causes of flatus vary so does their Cure whether they spring from an internal cause and the faculty hurt as they call it or from an external errour Thus as Pulse Pot-herbs things abounding with excrementitious moisture things sweet fat or crass and slimy feculent c. breed flatus so by obviating crudities that is by precipitating them by Acids Aromaticks c. according as the Case is must we endeavour the Cure G. W. Wedel de s m. p. 174. Cauteries Fontanels Inustions Setons The Contents What humours Fontanels or Issues drain out and from whence I. They are not available in all Diseases II. Where they are to be made for revulsion sake III. Whether there be a set time for keeping of them open And whether there be always fear of danger from closing of them IV. The Efficacy of an Issue V. Cautions about the Issues that are wont to be made in the ordinary places VI. Conditions requisite to make them profitable VII Certain unusual places in which they may be made with benefit VIII The Profitableness of perforating the Ear in many Diseases
with Scarification for taking away a Plethora in the beginnings of Diseases for they cannot supply the place of Venesection as appears 1. Because the small extremities of the Veins and Arteries of the scarified part do not satisfie an universal evacuation Rolfinc meth gen part p. 393. and 2. They evacuate only the thinner Blood the thicker being left behind II. Vulgar Physicians now a days fearing the use of Cupping-glasses and never using to apply them but in those that are ready to dye and that can by no means be recalled have made that Remedy infamous whereas Hippocrates used them frequently and perhaps as often as Venesection as also in most pains and in others in whom evacuation is only designed as in those who have had falls But what is it they are so much afraid of Left say they Humours should be drawn from all about into that part upon which 't is fixed But Hippocrates speaking of one that had a pain in his Hip says that upon fastning a Cupping-glass upon the Hip the pain fell down into his Leg and he grew better So far is it from drawing always to the part it is fastend upon What therefore did the Cupping glass thrust down the matter in this Man No indeed for how could it but drawing it from the depth to the skin and digesting it it gave Nature an opportunity to thrust it down the more easily Is it a small matter for the Cupping-glass to draw from the part affected that lies deep to the Skin unless it call the Humours thither from all about Cannot the part that was preternaturally distended be evacuated but as much must be received from otherwhere Cannot the parts subside Certainly they are greatly deceived for there is no presenter Remedy in all great pains nor any that will sooner cause the matter to depart out of the part affected into some more ignoble Hippocr as we may see lib. de med used many and those differing in shape according to the diversity of pains Valles l. 4. Epid. namely for pains that are situated deep to make a great and strong attraction there is need of the strait mouthed but of wider for pains that are spread as it were through the Skin As for my own part 't is seldom but I use Cupping-glasses either with Scarification or without when any parts are pained Idem sect 6. lib. 2 â—â—id and the pain yields not to general evacuation as they call it III. We must fasten the Cupping-glass after such evacuation of the whole Body has preceeded as the Disease requires and the Patient can endure for we must neither come in the first place to any Remedy that resolves powerfully nor yet must we tarry so long till the whole Body be emptied and juiceless as most Physicians do at this day who think no evacuation almost enough in order to the evacuation by the Cupping-glass but we must consider how urgent the passion of the part is And as we administer resolving Medicines to the Body that is begun to be evacuated and stay not alway till the evacuation be ended so when the passion is urgent Cupping-glasses are often to be interposed amongst evacuations that the Disease which cannot tarry for the whole evacuation seeing 't is needful to divide it may be Remedied by using Venesection and Cupping-glasses by turns For where the Body is not very full or it is not the first invasion of the fluxion we need not suspect that the traction will be so great that the fluxion should be moved or encreased from the whole Body upon the part affected for it will be enough if it be drawn from the internal seat of the pain to the Skin For to fasten them upon the Hypochondres is not to fasten them upon the Liver Spleen nor is the fastning of them upon the hypogastrium the fastning of them upon the Bladder or or Womb nor if one fix them upon the Loins does he fix them upon the Kidneys for there are the Muscles and many other things between them But if after Cupping-glasses have been applied the pain and affluxion shall return again what will hinder to derive again from thence by letting Blood For in other cures Idem ibid. when we have some way satisfied the urgency we return to the legitimate indications that arise from the causes IV. We must note that if upon removing the Cupping-glass even although the Skin be cut yet the place still appear lifted up and tumid we must apply it again otherwise it might come to pass Rub. in c. 11. l. 2. Celsi which sometimes happens that the Blood drawn and driven thither might cause an Inflammation and sometimes beget a Gangrene V. The Story of a Courtier in Hildanus makes it plain that the application of a Cupping glass upon the region of the Liver is dangerous This Man bleeding much at the Nose l. 2. de morb l. 2. de affect the Surgeon fasten'd Cupping-glasses upon the region of his Liver whereupon it inflam'd and was very hardly Remedied VI. Hippocrates in the Quinsie fastens them upon the second vertebra of the Neck then upon the Head being first shaved and near the Ear on either side In the Inflammation of the Vvula he applies them behind on the shaved Head with Scarification In pains of the Ears he fastens them behind the Ears without incision only that they may draw All which must be done seasonably and with reason for being applied to the Head unseasonably they breed Lethargies and stupors of the Body and mind and if the Patient escape these he falls into some continued Disease of the Head as is delivered by Aetius Serm. 3. c. 20. and Rubeus in c. 11. l. 2. Celsi An aged Woman labouring under an inveterate Head-ach and Dimness of sight having while her Body was foul and unpurged caused Cupping glasses to be applied was shortly after taken with a Palsie of her Arms however she recovered but with much adoe A Potter being distemper'd in like manner Fab. Hildanus Cent. 5. obs 71. upon the application of them fell into a Palsie but could never be cured VII The Wife of N. having her Terms stopt for three Months was reckoned by all to be with Child betwixt whiles crying out she complained of a great pain about her Praecordia and a great difficulty of Breathing many things being administred against Hysterical fits for Fourteen dayes These profiting little I commanded the Saphoena of both Ankles to be opened to revel the Blood from the oppressed Praecordia but the attraction of it towards the upper Parts was so great that there flow'd not above an ounce by this passage that was opened in the Feet Wherefore rhe Surgeon fixed six dry Cupping-glasses on each Thigh and being so fasten'd he drew them from the uppermost part of the Thigh down to the Knee in the evening he repeated the application and traction of them so often till the inside of her Thighs appeared very
divers Portions which Avicen also approved of but that in Winter it was sufficient to eat once or twice a day Gr. Horstius Exerc. 4. de feb qu. 3. because in that Season it is better concocted and the Excrements are generally fewer XXIV Concerning Sleep we must note 1. That Sleep is always hurtful in the beginning of a Fit because then the faculty is strong and the cause of the fit intire and not evacuated as yet nor lessened wherefore it neither needs retraction of the heat nor union nay if the heat be then withdrawn the faculty is more oppressed through the multitude of the Humour and the heat is made more preternatural and is defiled through the commerce of the Humour and vapours and by this means the Fever is prolonged because its cause is not dissolved yea it remains in the Body too fixed and rooted when it does not exhale to the outer parts But in the declination it is always good for the faculties being dissolved and wearied from the foregoing terms viz. the beginning augment and state they desire rest and firmitude moreover the cause of the Fit is now overcome dissolved and turned into vapours which when they are dispersed to the outer parts and are distant from the principal parts are not so easily retracted If sleep therefore come upon the Patient then it refreshes the faculties seeing now that the load is taken off they are not oppressed yea by the Blood and Spirits retiring to the inner parts the faculties being collected and more brisk end the Fever or stoutly shatter the reliques of the Humours Sleep in the state is doubtful for it sometimes does good sometimes hurt which flows from the various disposition of the Body and diversity of the Fever for if the Body be hot and dry and prepared for resolution then sleep is profitable in the state of the Fit for it moistens refresheth the faculties and makes the fit shorter On the contrary if the Body be hot and moist of a dense habit sleep is unprofitable for then there is neither need of refection nor moistening yea if it come the resolution of the morbifick cause is hindred and the state and declination are prolonged In like manner we must think as to the diversity of the Fever for if the Humour do more offend in quantity than in quality such as are the Phlegmatick the Melancholick or the bastard Tertian then sleep profits not but hurts On the contrary if the Humour offend and urge more in quality than quantity as a bilious Ague that springs from sincere choler so that by its thinness heat and Acrimony it presses and wearies the faculty then sleep is profitable The same is to be said of the last part of the augment which 't is certain represents the nature of the beginning We must Note 2. That this doctrine is to be understood not only of the particular termes of every Fit but of the universal for in the beginning because Nature is oppressed Sleep is not so convenient but 't is more convenient in the augment and far more in the state but most of all in the declension for by its help the Spirits are refreshed and the reliques of the Humour are concocted and wasted This is the cause why the longest Sleep is granted in the declination in the beginning very short and in the middle terms indifferent But if sweat be at hand or break forth in the state Zacut. Pr. Hist p. 545. See more there Sleep helpeth greatly if signs of concoction go before for Sleep hinders all evacuations except sweat which it promotes Diaphoreticks See Alexipharmacks and Sudorificks The Contents How they act I. Such as absorb II. Such as make the Serum fluxile III. Such as hinder its coagulation IV. A Diaphoresis is not to be procured by externals alone V. The same are not convenient in all cases VI. The more temperate are sometimes the more availeable VII They are sometimes hurtful VIII They are to be avoided where the Serum is either too little or too much IX What things hinder their use X. Acids help the vertue of Sulphureous IV. I. DIaphoreticks and Sudorificks differ from one another in degrees the former discuss halituous excrements by insensible transpiration and promote the same transpiration and ventilate the Blood the latter do this also but leave a more manifest effect by a dewy sweat And they operate inasmuch as they fuse the Blood and procure a separation of the Serum from it that it may be expelled through the pores of the Skin in the form of Vapours II. Both 1. by absorbing and resolving that which binds the serum and makes it more fixt as the more fixed alkaline and earthy Medicines for instance Antimonium Diaphoreticum Shells Harts horn burnt the Bezoar stone Bole-Armene Bezoardicum minerale c. these do greatly precipitate the fermentation of the Humours and set insensible transpiration free and at liberty III. And also 2. by making it fluxile whether by rarefying of it and inducing a new fermentation on the Blood Thus 1. lixival and nitrous Salts Salt of Wormwood Carduus Bened. Centaury which both absorb and also make the serum fluxile thus 2. Volatils the Spirit of Harts-horn of vipers of Ivory do very powerfully drive forth sweat or by yielding an halituous vehicle and volatility such as are 1. the aqueous as divers distilled waters and especially some decoctions that enjoy also a certain volatility also 2. those that are easily resoluble because of their watry and Gummy substance as the rob of dwarf-Elder Elder c. but chiefly 3. those that are indued with a volatil Salt intimately mixt with a Sulphur the bitter resinous c. so card bened opium Camphor the Wood Guaiacum and amongst compound Remedies Treacle Mithridate and the rest mentioned in the first class these promote the sluggish motion of the Serum and put nature upon discussing superfluities opening the Pores and vigorating the mass of Blood And these have place chiefly in a Rheumatism or any flux whatsoever of the Blood and Serum for instance in the Inflammations of the Pleura fluxions of the Joynts c. whence they are good in the Pleurisie which has often its Throat cut as it were by some eminent Sudorifick in the beginning in the Gout which is helped most of all by the same sweats in Tumours of the Groins Tonsils Armpits and the like in Fainting Swooning both solitary and hysterical and when the Small Pox or Measles come not out well IV. Likewise 3. by inciding the curdled serum and promoting the fermentation of the Blood also by this very means Those Medicines that perform this are chiefly acids and alkalines also after their manner to wit in a different respect hence vinegar as likewise other acids are deservedly reckoned among sudorificks For it is an observation not to be slightly esteemed that Sulphureous Medicines by the accession of acids do far more readily act and procure sweat more than when left to
Wedel de s m. fac p. 85. demulce defend alter Preparers of the Humours See Aperients and Alteratives The Contents Whether they be always necessary before Purging and what kind of Preparation is requisite I. When Nature is oppressed by Humours offending both in quantity and quality how to be made II. As the Crudity of the Humours depends on their disgregation so their Concoction is to be expected from Temperature and Vnion III. Things that are thick from adustion are otherwise to be prepared than those that are thick from crudity IV. Preparation may and ought to be made by outward Applications V. Whether and what Humours are to be altered VI. They may be given at any time VII How thick Humours are to be prepared VIII Whether thin need Preparation IX When the Alteratives ought to be as strong as the quality to be altered X. Let alterations be made by degrees XI Let there be an Analogy between the alterative and thing to be altered XII Concoction is not to be interrupted by the giving of looseners XIII Whether the bilious Humour be always to be prepared by cold things XIV The abuse and hurt of Apozems XV. Barley water is not to be put in Apozems XVI When Laxatives are hurtful XVI Before Purging let the Body be made soluble rather by a Clyster than Syrups XVII With these Strengthners are to be administred XVIII Infusions are better than Decoctions XIX All distilled Waters are naught for the Stomach XX. Chymrical Openers are to be preferred before Galenick XXI Aliments that one is used to will not supply the place of Medicins XXII Whether the Spirit and Oil of Vitriol be good in Fevers XXIII The Medicins of Tartar are not universal Digestives XXIV When the crystals of Tartar and when the cream to be given XXV The deceit in making of the Crystals XXVI There is often more vertue in crude Tartar than in its Cream XXVII The efficacy of the Salt of Tartar XXVIII The correction of Taâ—tar vitriolate XXIX To whom that and other Preparations of Tartar are hurtful XXX Whence the efficacy of volatil Salts depends XXXI They very well prepare tough Phlegm XXXII The glutinousness of choler is excellently corrected by their means XXXIII and XIV The efficacy and correction of the Salt or Vitriol of Steel XXXIV Steel is diversly to be prepared according to the nature of the obstructing Humour XXXV How to draw out of it its several vertues of binding opening purging and vomiting XXXVI How the action of Chalybeates is to be promoted XXXVII Whether Purgers may be given with them XXXVIII Whether Cordials XXXIX Cautions in the use of Chalybeates XL. How Nitre cools XLI Oxymels and Hydromels are better than Syrups XLII Dryed herbs have other vertues than green XLIII In the correcting of Phlegm Sugar and Medicines prepared with Sugar do hurt XLIV An hurtful abuse of Wormwood XLV When to be used for the concoction of the Humours and the strengthening of the Stomach XLVI Some Preparers are universal others particular XLVII How Choler is to be prepared XLVIII and XIV The correcting of Salt Phlegm and Serum XLIX How a melancholick cacochymie is to be corrected L. How atrabilary Humours LI. The Correction of acrimonious Humours is various according to their difference LII We must take heed lest in altering one Humour the rest be injured thereby LIII How to bridle the too great effervescence in the small guts and heart LIV. The Pancreatick Humour is to be prepared before evacuation LV. How to correct the too great fluidity or the over thick consistence of the Blood LVI I. THe more Ancient Physicians to whom many of the Moderns also assent as they believed an elective Purgation so they ordered a Preparation of the Humours previous and as it were necessary to it on which account in Books of Practice as often as a Cathartick Medicine is prescribed a long series of Preparers destin'd for every particular Humour is proposed in a solemn manner and with a certain pomp as it were whose use although it be very specious seems not at all profitable because such Humours are not truly in being as we have otherwhere clearly shewn Notwithstanding seeing Purging is not convenient at all times nor in every condition of the Body to perform it right both a fit time and some sort of preparation is requisite and both these respect as well the first ways as the mass of Blood As to the former if at any time the Stomach be either buâ—thened with a load of viscous Phlegm or be troubled with the estuation of turgid bile Purging is often undertaken to none or ill purpose unless these contents be either first swept out by giving a Vomit or their burthening and effervescence be corrected by Digestives And as to the latter viz. the Blood Purging is often unseasonable and sometimes also incongruous and in neither of these cases are those which are commonly called Preparers but only Alteratives convenient because those imaginary Humours are not to be disposed towards evacuation but the Blood it self ought to be reduced either from a troubled and confused to a sedate state or from a weakness or dyscrasie to a vigour and equable temperament When the Blood estuating froâ— a Fever is disturbed in its mixture Purging is always found hurtful and therefore it is condemned by Hippocrates and the Ancients and no less when its mass being languid and weak rises not to a due Fermentation Moreover when the Blood is beyond measure cholerick or watry or is too much inclined to coagulations or fusions Purgers are for the most part so far from removing such faults or depravation that they oftener increase them So that in these cases altering Remedies are rather indicated those namely that may destroy the undue separations or combinations of the Salts Sulphur and Serum Willis and take away their oâ—her enormities II. Sometimes Nature is over-whelmed and choaked by the plenty of Humours sometimes she is only pricked and irritated by their quality or both of these happens viz. that both the plenty of Humours and also their hurtful quality oppresses Nature Thus if together with a very great febrile effervescence the Patient feel wandring Pains in divers Parts and also suffer divers changes of heat in his Face and other parts so that one while some part of his face look red and anon pale and lastly be very restless and ill at ease which depends on the serous Humour irritated with a febrile Ferment besides Bleeding and Purging the cure must be begun with specifick antifebriles and temperate Antiarthriticks Diaphoreticks and Diureticks which may like Nature precipitate the matter that infests by its quality And at length when the Symptoms are allayed the occasional cause is to be eradicated by Purging Frid. Hofman m. m. l. 1. c. 7. and a relapse to be prevented III. Every alteration makes not the Humours crude but only that if we consult Hippocrates which is apt to cause a disgregation in them for
to eat little Ulcers in the Skin for Issues Where note that both the lixivial Salt and acid Spirit obtain their notable acrimony from the fire seeing both are prepared from a saline matter by the force of a sharp fire Now seeing no such or so great fire can be kindled in our Body as is needful for the making of an acid Spirit it is not to be supposed that any acid Spirit is properly prepared in the Body but only principally separated and freed from the temperating Impediments viz. Oil and volatil Spirit A pretty pure acid Spirit has often been observed in the Body even without the use or abuse of any thing that has been manifestly acid Thus diverse-coloured stools are observed in Infants yet commonly of a various green and smelling acid whence doubtless Epileptick Fits have their origine from an acid Spirit fermenting in the small Guts with the choler Thus torturing Pains in any part of the Body that sometimes arise like lightening on a sudden or otherwise rack cruelly yield a certain Argument that there is an acid Spirit separately in the Body that is very moveable and gnaws the sensible Parts So rottenness of the Bones shews that there is a too pure acid Spirit in the Body which is clear from the intolerable Pains that often go before and which can only be deduced from acidity Namely the acrimony arising from a lixivial Salt abides more fixt in the same place and seems to burn the Part affected while an acid Spirit is judged to hit or tear or perforate by repeated gnawings the Part that is seised upon by it This conjecture of mine has been confirmed by spittle that has sometimes been so acid as to set the Teeth on edge like other acids taken into the Mouth The matter of acid Humours is supplied to the Glands from the arterial Blood wherein that there are acid Spirits is evinced both by its coagulation into clods when it is let out of the Vessels and also by the corrosion and consumption of the Bones that is made by the arterial Blood in an Aneorism The acrimony of an acid Spirit is temper'd chiefly by a volatil Spirit that sweetens the same being easily united to it Thus Spirit of Wine being cohobated with Spirit of Salt does so lenifie the same that it is then called sweet by Artists The same is temper'd by all sweet things but these do more difficultly unite with it if it were not for the lixivial Salt that is mixt with the fat For as an acid and volatil Spirit are easily joined throughly with one another and an Oil is easily mixed with a lixivial Salt so on the contrary a volatil Spirit and lixivial Salt do more difficultly combine together Idem Disput Medic. vij § 43. seqq and the most difficultly of all an acid Spirit and Oil. ¶ Though all acrimony seem to produce a sense of heat in sensible Parts yet from the cure there appears to be a different acrimony one indeed joined with heat and another destitute of it And seeing we have not only discover'd two sorts of acrimony that are found in our Body but besides from their conflux because of other things that are joined with them a double effervescence is observed to be produced both an hot and also a cold which are not only manifest to sense and therefore distinct from one another but yielding to different Remedies and so also differing from one another It may deservedly be queried what sort of heat that is which uses to accompany now and then for instance the flux of the Terms whether that which has its rise only from an hot effervescence or also from a cold or whether from each acrimony offending without such an effervescence By neglecting this question and the clearing and determination hereof we should undertake an Empirical rash and often a pernicious cure For seeing the heat may be produced from divers causes it is also to be cured diversly according to the diversity of the cause And if any object that I have taught that both sorts of acrimony may be allay'd and temper'd by the same Medicines both spirituous and oily and watry and that therefore it matters little what acrimony offend seeing the same Medicines are profitable in both cases I answer that both sorts of acrimony are indeed temper'd by the same Medicines but not alike quickly and powerfully seeing oily Medicines do both more easily and quickly and powerfully temper a lixivial Salt as on the contrary spirituous volatils an acid Spirit so that though all things that temper either sort of acrimony are always administred with Profit and especially when there want signs that may demonstrate sufficiently whether of them do primarily and chiefly offend yet as often as it can be known which offends it is better to use chiefly those Remedies that are especially conducible to the tempering of it which as it is sometimes known from concurring signs and symptoms so it is frequently concluded from the different operâ—tion of the Medicine that is given that is à juvantibus vel nocentibus from helpers or hurters according to the golden axiom of Practitioners The heat therefore that is produced for instance from the menstruous Blood in the ways through which it is poured forth has sometimes yea indeed often its rise from an acid Humour that is in the Womb and which comes forth with the Blood whether it make none or an hot effervescence therewith If the acid Humour that is found preternaturally in the substance of the Womb cause no effervescence with the menstruous Blood there will rather be felt a troublesom gnawing than a true heat in the Parts affected But if the same acid juice do cause an hot effervescence with the menstruous Blood then there will be raised an heat and often a redness also even in the extreme Parts and both will be observed when the acid does either notably gnaw only or also burns withal but as often as the offending matter is more gentle or more broken then we cannot so distinctly conclude in what regard the acrimony offends I am therefore of opinion that in the heat that accompanies the flux of the Terms an acid always offends Idem Prax. l. 3. c. 3. § 416. seqq whereto is sometimes joined a more or less cholerick Blood whence the said heat uses to be diversly changed and felt ¶ An acid acrimony is temper'd by several oleous things by Oil it self any sort of Milk Broth of flesh especially such as is fat Emulsions prepared of divers sorts of Seeds especially of sweet Almonds Moreover by sweet things Sugar Honey Raisins and sometimes by spirituous things or others that concentrate an acid such as Corals Perles A lixivial and aromatick acrimony such as is in Pepper Cloves Rocket and the like is temper'd by both the aforesaid oily and sweet things yet 't is safer to abstain wholly or in a great measure from them A Salt acrimony such as is in
yield to it those inconveniences must needs follow that are reckoned up in that place The knowledge whereof is derived indeed from many things but chiefly from the Urine which if they be thin and crude indicate that the matter is fixed in the Part and that there are no Humours in the Body that can be drawn out by a Purge in which case we must abstain from Purging but by no means if the Urine be thick or cloudy for when these are present in any Inflammation we must betake our selves to Purging from the beginning The present saying is therefore to be thus interpreted That we must not as some do persist in its universality so as that we should always abstain from Purging in all Inflammations whatever Nor is Hippocrates condemned by receiving this Exposition because he pronounc'd it universally for he tacitly hinted that exception when he added the reason of his Opinion For a Disease that is as yet crude yields not c. As often therefore as the Humour contained in an inflamed Part is of such a Nature as will yield to a Medicine or finds an Humour in the rest of the Body which it may draw and carry forth a Purge being taken colliquates not the sound Parts P. Martian comm in l. c. nor is the Disease increased XIV Some are of opinion that there is no need of such great strength of the Faculty for Purging as for Bleeding but not medling with other mens Judgments I think that a strong evacuation by elective Purgers requires greater strength of the Faculties because when such a Medicine is once given it is no longer in the Power of the Physician because it self also has a vertue that is adverse to the Body and because Purgation is not performed without great commotion of the whole and dissipation of the Spirits And though some * Aph. 23. 1. where Hippocrates says that vacuation may be made even to swooning apply it to Purging yet I believe it has only place in Bleeding For who could adventure to Purge even to swooning without rashness and danger of life seeing none can promise himself thâ—t Purging shall proceed to swooning and yet not tâ—nd to Death â—orâ—t Inst Med. disp 19. q. 4. inasmuch as there can no restraint be laid upon Purgers that can bridle their excess XV. How can Purgation be performed at the beginning as often as the Urine shall be thick and cloudy though there be no Concoction of the Humours which yet is so suspected with thinness of the Urine I answer As often as the Urine is thin it is a sign that nothing of the morbifick matter is expelled with the Urine either because it is thrust into some Part and so closely fixt that no portion thereof can be separated thence which mixing with the Urine might make it thicker or because Nature being intent upon the concoction of it holds it so closely as to let none of it go from her When therefore none of the noxious Humour is spontaneously expelled it is an evident sign that it is so rebellious as by no means to yield to a Purging Medicine But on the contrary when thick Urine is made it is a sign that a portion of the morbifick matter is expelled with it and this indicates that the remainder of it though not at all concocted yet is so disposed that it will obey a Purging Medicine Yet it is to be noted that Purging is not always convenient as often as the Urine is thick because when this crassitude proceeds from Concoction begun 't is by no means lawful to purge lest the concoction begun be disturbed and this we distern because it appears not at the beginning of the Disease but afterwards and of thin becomes thicker by degrees for in this disposition of the Humours we must abstain from Purging But when there is turgency crudity hinders not Purging as Concoction begun does And therefore when the Urine shall be thin at the beginning and afterwards shall become thicker by degrees then it signifies that Concoction is begun wherefore we must abstain from Purging till there appear signs of perfect Concoction Likewise when there ensues thickness of Urine in Fevers either from the colliquation of the Humours or from malignant Putrefaction or the like preternatural cause Martian comm in Aph. 23. 1. neither is Purging good in that case ¶ Hippocrates forbad that Purges should be given where there are no signs of Concoction in the Vrine now he gives the Reasons explaining the harms that arise from unseasonable Purging Namely if you Purge unseasonably the Urine will not be concocted and the crises will not be made in due time but both being taken away I mean Concoction and Crises the Fevers will be lengthened Quite contrary to what vulgar Physicians expect who when crudity of the Vrine lâ—sts longer than they would have it presently Purge thinking that Nature that is not able to concoct so much matter will be better able to overcome it when it is made less and take care to Purge their Patients before the Critical day and therefore most on the sixth day to the end namely that Nature may better perform the Crisis But they are deceived for Nature is then only made more powerful over the remainder by evacuation when evacuation is made rightly and according to Art as when a Plethory is lessened by Bleeding or Purging is performed because of turgency otherwise there is nothing that can more hinder Concoctions and Crises for those things are not evacuated that ought to be but a great deal of good Humours is drawn forth the bad are only stirred by the stirring retention is disturbed which being taken away Concoction must needs be so also and by the taking away of this a fit expulsion and crisis is also taken away because it is the order of the natural Faculties that the retentive should minister to the concoctive and when Concoction is finished that the work of the expulsive should succeed otherwise all things will be done unseasonably and tumultuously and therefore without benefit Hence you will easily understand which not a few admire why seeing the Ancients so much esteemed the Crises of Diseases and writ so many things of them so few occur in our days Certainly this is the reason Valles comm in lib. de vict Acut. p 206. because the most are unseasonably Purged and unseasonable Purging takes away seasonable Crises XVI As to the universal times of Diseases we must know that evacuation is granted in the beginning when the Humour is not as yet confused but in the state and declination seldom and not but by gentle Medicines for if you administer a strong Purge in the declination Walaeus m. m. p. 37. you will confound anew the Humours that have been already separated and will make the sick relapse XVII According to Trallian Vacuation is not to be put off when there are any signs of Concoction for thick Humours are over-concocted and through
on the first day carry forth what is contained in the first ways and before the second Purge come the same excrement will be collected again in the same ways and it will fall out in like manner before the third and the rest whereby it comes to pass that the vertue of the Medicine reaches not to the part affected which we intend to evacuate Wherefore 't is fitting we should purge without intermission that at least the second third or fourth purgation may reach the place affected and may lessen the matter of the Disease by which manner of purging many are more happily cured of the greatest Maladies than by any other Remedy Hence in Diseases of the Head Breast and Lungs in Diseases of the Joynts in inveterate obstructions madness and other distempers purgation per Epicrasin is more safe and profitable than any other in which distempers it is fitting every day for 7. or 8. days together to take some Purge that what is situated and stufft up in the more hidden and inward parts may be exhausted by degrees and that without hurt to the faculty XLVI Hippocrates 1. aph 22. says that crude Humours ought neither to be moved nor Purged Under the word moved he comprehends not every motion for then it would follow that during the crudity of the Humours neither a Vein should be opened nor a Clyster injected which is repugnant to his Doctrine therefore he meant that commotion which is brought upon the Humours by the purging faculty of Medicines whilst they are placidly drained out of the Body as if through the leuity of the draining such evacuation deserved not the name of purging Nor is it a new thing that this word moved should be restrained to purging only for Hippocrates used it in that signification 3. Politic. cap. 2. In Egypt says he after the third day Physicians may move if before they do it at their peril and perhaps he rather used this word than another because they used to purge lightly about the beginning which is customary in our times whence the more modern Physicians distinguishing the Medicines that cause such light purgations from the stronger have called them sometimes Lenients sometimes Minoratives Hippocrates called these same sometimes light Purgers sometimes Subducents sometimes looseners of the Humours as we may gather from his Books of Practice which if most later Physicians had well read they would not have boasted that such Medicines were unknown to him by which pretext perverting the whole Doctrine of purgation they have brought the matter to that pass that no precept nor distinction is observed about the matter of purgation for they presently give their Minoratives to all without distinction Pr. Martian com in dict aphor finding fault with those that by a convenient distinction do sometimes abstain from them XLVII 'T is worth noting that heaviness of the Body whether with a Fever or without does indicate purging as intimating plenty of Choler which hath setled in the Veins and joynts as Hippocrates says lib. de affect yet in such as have no Fever it requires bitterness of the mouth to be joined with it because otherwise it may have another cause Yet this will seem strange to vulgar Physicians who assoon as they find a sense of heaviness in Fevers presently come to Bleeding thinking this to be the certainest sign of a plethory being taught by Galen lib. de plenit c. 2. But they are deceived as appears by the authority of Hippocrates and as daily experience confirms and as we clearly observed in the Fevers that went about in the year 1622. whose chief symptom was gravity of the whole Body and especially in the beginning now Choler was so predominant in these that not only all the excrements appeared bilious viz. their Vomits Stools and Urine but also all the other Symptoms want of sleep Head-ach deliriums bitterness of the mouth yea and breakings out or pustules most of them of a yellowish colour Idem comm in v. 142. loc cit whence we thought their chief Remedy to be purging omitting Bleeding XLVIII Purgers in those Diseases wherein Nature is wont to have no crisis such as are some long continued Fevers some internal Inflammations the French-Pox the falling-sickness Vertigo and other like may be safely given in the augment and state Therefore I adhere not to their opinion that affirm that we must never purge but in the end of the state or beginning of the declination Hor. Augen Epist Cons p. 381. XLIX A young man of a Sanguin complexion after Bleeding and preparing potions took in the morning an easie purge made of Rhubarb Diaphoenicon with the syrup of fumitory and Senna After two hours he was opprest with a great pain in his Belly which was eased by having two stools after an hour he went five times to stool very plentifully but did so burn with an inward heat that he thought his Bowels were burnt up there ensued a very high Fever an unquenchable thirst a cruel pain of the Ilia so fierce that it interrupted his breathing and voice The Physicians are called they apply Anodynes to the pained part prescribe lenient Clysters apply Cupping-glasses and other diversions to the Thighs but all in vain for the pain raged more I am called also and advise Bleeding for the faculties held out pretty well all are against it for two contrary motions are not to be celebrated on the same day But seeing the cruel pain increased Zacut. Prax. adm l. 3. Obs 8. necessity compelling my advice was follow'd being bled the pain was eased and the Fever remitted L. 'T is an unreasonable custom with most Physicians to administer purgers without distinction in all Affections raised from wind as we commonly see in Hypochondriack Melancholy and in those who suffer great pains of their Head or Stomach or nausea's and subversions and such otherlike Symptoms from wind wherein that we may purge without mischief we must distinguish whether the pain or any Symptom arise from wind which a weak faculty may not breed whilst the matter keeps a mediocrity in quantity and substance for whilst it does so and yet flatus are raised which cannot be discussed 't is a sign that the weakness of the faculty is more in fault than the matter at which time 't is a great errour to use purgers and is forbidden by Hippocrates 4. Ac. t. 115. For by them the natural faculty is further weakened and dissipated and so through impotency generates much wind of any matter as we generally observe in Hypochondriack Melancholy where the faculties must needs be weak and the Humours disobedient to weak Medicines and yet they are made ungovernable and more malignant by the more vehement whereby it comes to pass that such Patients are worse by these both because these Medicines neither purge flatus nor take away the Disease and also because they weaken the faculty and make it the apter to breed wind But if wind arise rather
much the rather because in such case there is always some fault in the Blood also 3. If humours differing from Blood be turgent and prohibiters of purgation be wanting as also indications for Bleeding then by no means must we breathe a Vein but only insist upon Purging as that which will afford no small relief and do much more good than harm Claudin Respon 2. XXVIII Though Revulsion be commonly used in the very Paroxysm yet it is also profitable after it that the morbifick reliques may be quite taken away so that a new fit may not come Thus in a suffocation of the Womb proceeding from the retention of Blood as also in other diseases fit help is given by Bleeding as well in the Paroxysm when necessity urgeth and there is danger of extinguishing the natural heat through the abundance of Blood as out of it as whereby the superfluous Blood that is preternaturally retained is evacuated translated from the Womb another way Gr. Horst probl dec 9. q. 3. and the imminent suffocation of the Spirits and heat removed XXIX When critical evacuations appear viz. Exanthemata or Spots Parotides Bubo's c. whether may we Bleed We must first shew what Exanthemata and Abscesses are and from whence they arise Exanthemata are little Prominences in the skin or red pale purple or blackish spots sometimes all over the skin sometimes scattered here and there one while thicker and another thinner sometimes broader sometimes more united and sometimes not raised at all above the surface of the skin That is called an Abscess which from a defluxion of matter transmitted into any part of the Body either inheres in it or raises a tumour as the Parotides under the Ears and Bubo's in the Arm-pits and Groins or Carbuncles and other such like under which name Abscesses and Exanthemata are comprehended For there are also critical evacuations by Stool Vomit Bladder Womb c. but these use to be called Abscesses by emission and the former by deposition from which we will take no indication of either letting or not letting Blood but from the Diseases and Symptoms that follow them The matter of Exanthemata and Bubo's Carbuncles and the like Abscesses is Blood that is unprofitable to the Body either through its quantity or faultiness or on both accounts which Nature by way of Crisis endeavours to thrust out of the Body at some certain time which thing she sometimes performs without any help but sometimes being oppressed she is overcome needing the help of art Therefore Venesection will be unprofitable while Exanthemata and other the said Abscesses are breaking forth or a little after whilst the Fever and other bad accidents if there be any seem to be remedied or evidently to be mitigated for that signifies that the strength of Nature is above the morbifick cause Wherefore the Artist ought in such case to see that he do not imprudently weaken or disturb the endeavours of Nature that are well begun But if the said endeavours be either wholly unprofitable or less effectual then it is a sign that Nature is oppressed by her burthen and overcome by the cause of the disease and unless she be helped she often lies vanquisht in so dangerous a combat Therefore as she was not to be interrupted while she shew'd her self a Conqueror so neither is she to be left destitute of help when she yields the Physician any signification of her weakness and oppression Which is the opinion of Hippocrates and Galen 1. aph 20. What diseases are judged and are judged intirely c. Also 2. aph 12. Those which are left c. If any say It often happens that imperfect crises are prolonged for several days so that it seems nothing is to be moved either on the day the Exanthemata break forth nor also on the day following I Answer That no certain stated and universal rule can be given in these cases but it is the part of a prudent Physician to discern when Nature is to be helped on the first day or on the second or later or when she is to be left without help seeing she wants no help if buckling to the work on the day of the crisis she either remedy or greatly lessen the disease but otherwise if she do not Add that Bleeding may also be profitable when by the eruption of these the maladies are somewhat mitigated So that I do not put off Bleeding though otherwise Blood were let before their eruption if I see the Fever to decline but slowly For even these are sooner cured thus as the other if they do recover both sooner and more safely Let us therefore say with Hippocrates and Galen that Judicatories or Crises which do not terminate the disease are signs of a predominant and perverse humour that stimulates Nature to an overforward excretion Therefore Nature shews that she desires help and that by Bleeding rather than Purging For the reason is at hand and that a very strong one seeing in the cases proposed the cause of the disease is in the Veins not in the Intestins Add hereto that Purging besides that it disturbs all the Body recalls both the impetus and motion of the humours to the principal or internal parts Hence Hippocrates says 4 Acut. Systrophae a sort of Abscess cannot be dissolved by Purging for in these Venesection is to be preferred c. Wherefore Purging is only allowable by art either in the beginning of a Fever or when the humours being concocted are prepared for excretion But Blood if the Nature of the disease require it and the faculties gainsay not may be let at any time Nor is this conceit of ours of evacuating the Body in the Parotides or in Exanthemata that relieve not the Patient new or not confirmed by Galen in his explication of these words of Hippocrates 6. aph 9. Broad Exanthemata itch not very much You will object again that by Venesection that is called inwards which Nature had begun to expell outwards viz. from the circumference to the centre I Answer That that only happens in superfluous effusions of Blood and not in such as are made artificially And by this reason which is brought Venesection is not so strongly disproved in this place as purging which they are not against but sometimes inopportunely propose it But suppose something be pulled back which yet there is not the profit in the mean time that follows upon a convenient evacuation of the burthening Matter is greater than the injury that could happen from a little corrupt matter received into the Vena cava But let us confirm the matter by examples A putrid and notable Synochus or continual Fever invaded a strong young man on the third day he had a Loosness like a Diarrhoca the next day the Fever and Loosness continuing in the same vigour red Exanthemata very thick and somewhat raised above the skin appear all over the skin the following day which was the fifth from the invasion of the
discussion of this Controversie we with Avicen name those Purgers that purge electively whose vertue is dispersed beyond the Liver through the whole Body But we do not reject the use of those which they call Lenitives and Clysters made of them and of a Decoction of Medicines that open Obstructions and incide viscous Humours I say we do not reject the use of these before bleeding and purging for washing away the filth of the Stomach and Intestins lest the vertue of the Purger be destroyed thereby and lest for avoiding vacuum they enter the Veins emptied by Phlebotomy that the obstructed passages of the Veins of the Mesenterie may be also opened by these Yet the right administration of all these things depends on the conjectural Judgment of the Prudent Physician Joh. Langius Ep. 17. l. 1. ¶ What we have said of Bleeding before Purging has place chiefly when the Disease to be cured is urgent and there is danger in delay But when there is nothing urgent and the Physician has time enough to do by degrees all that is requisite 't is no great matter where he begins the cure whether with Bleeding or Purging and evacuating the offending Humours though I am of opinion unless peculiar reasons dissuade that 't is always safer to begin the cure with Bleeding as often as there is occasion for letting it forth also I say unless peculiar reasons dissuade Thus when the Air is wet and moist as 't is safer and more convenient then to Purge than Bleed so Purging shall be used in the first place And on the contrary when the weather is fair Bleeding is performed with better success on which account the more Prudent Physicians wish and observe fair weather for venesection So as often as much Phlegm and Choler abound in the Body and there is therefore greater need of Purging than Bleeding 't is better then to premise Purging and that indeed more than once before a Vein be opened Sylv. de le Boe Prax. l. 3. c. 4. because it is not supposed that the Blood abounds then so much as other Humours LXX If there be a fault in the Humours as is usual from a mixture of a Plenitude and a Cacochymie it requires very mature advice as being a very difficult case The first thing to be consider'd is the difference of the Humours that are collected in the Veins for when either Plethora prevails Blood shall be let largely till it be reduced to mediocrity this one Remedy easily lightens and recreates the burthened strength or vital faculty without prejudice nor is there then any occasion for Bleeding But when the Veins are filled with an impure Blood suppose the fault be from a mixture of a Plenitude and Cacochymie it requires both kinds of evacuation Lastly if the Blood that fills the Veins be too hot and mixt with much Choler Blood is presently to be let but more sparingly than in a simple Plethora only so far as to prevent the dangers of Plenitude And that which remains requires to be driven forth not by venesection but Purging which shall be done more safely after taking away some Blood both because the Body is cooled by Bleeding and also because the fear of encreasing the disturbance or obstruction is now taken away See before § 4 5. of a Phlegmatick and Melancholick Plenitude If as we may see in Quotidian Agues and other Phlegmatick Diseases necessity often cause us to let Blood it is to be done sparingly and dividedly as the strength and continuance of the Disease permit Lastly every Plenitude defiled with the mixture of Phlegm Choler or Melancholy or some other Humour does first indeed require Bleeding but in such a quantity as the nature of the Cacochymie shall permit and then the Belly is to be loosened that the noxious Humour that remains may more fitly be purged off But if there seem to be a great Cacochymie we must attentively examine whether a Fever be kindled by it or not for if there be we must begin with Bleeding without delay and put off Purging till there be occasion for it viz. when there has been Concoction unless the Humours be turgent If not we may bleed indeed if there be a Plenitude though but small but we must Purge the more largely and quickly Lastly the less Blood is to be let by how much the Cacochymie prevails because in that constitution of the Body and Disease the vital faculty uses not to be so firm on which account unless the Veins be full above measure and great danger be impendent or the case happen to be as we have said a slight Purging shall supply the place of bleeding and that often repeated especially if the Patient be afraid of being bled But if it happen that a Plenitude and Cacochymie be equal we must not as some think begin indifferently with either purging or bleeding but in such case it will be fit to consider whether this Plenitude of the Vessels cause Obstruction which requires that venesection should precede upon a double account both because we must take away such obstructions before Purging which in the case put shall be more conveniently done by Bleeding and also because this obstruction hinders Purging Medicines for whil'st the obstruction and plenitude remain the vertue of the Medicine cannot penetrate especially seeing a purging Medicine does both by its heat and attractive faculty exagitate the Humours and disturb the Body which when it is Plethorick falls into greater danger whereby it comes to pass that Bleeding ought by all means to precede Galen affirming the same l. 2◠ad Glanc c. ult who bids us begin with that without which we cannot safely perform the other Nor is this enough as yet but we must also consider whether a Fever arise from such Plenitude and Cacochymie for this gives us a more certain hint that we should bleed first unless some of those things which Galen reckons up gainsay for when the Plenitude is diminished whatsoever putrid or otherwise tainted Humours remain we may the more easily afterwards draw them forth by a convenient Region But in others while the faults of both are equal and there is no Fever present it will not be improper to begin with either so long as one is not more the cause of the Disease than the other Mercat de Praesid lib. 1. c. 7. for in such case we must begin the cure at the greater cause of the Disease LXXI The sooner we bleed the better and therefore there is the chief and greatest occasion for it in the beginning wherefore those erre greatly who always begin their cures with Purging and take great care to use it before bleeding from any light suspicion of crudities Indeed 't is most certain that the abundance of crude Humours in the Belly is an impediment for bleeding because they are snatched from thence by the newly emptied Veins and being snatched either by lighting into narrow passages they cause obstructions of the viscera or being
they may be used to the Air before they go abroad If the place cannot be changed yet some alteration in the Air at least must be procured which must be open tempered and corrected with fragrant and Alexipharmack Scents and Fumes lest the enclosed Malignity and Infection of the Sick might prove injurious to the Patient and to them that are by We must take great care in every Disease that we be not too superstitious in shutting the Windows and so infect and kill those Patients who otherwise might have been saved T. Barthol XI Let neither the Physician nor the Apothecary declare what their Medicins are either to the Patient or to them that are by but let them only signifie that they intend to give a Purge a Vomit or a Clyster and conceal what these are made of Both because otherwise they may be improperly taken without the advice of a Physician and because when things are known they are contemned either for that they are ordinary and common things or for that some Fool in the Profession has condemned them or for that they are cheap So Galen reports of a certain Rich Man who slighted good Medicins because they were sold cheap Botallus XII According to the Vulgar Proverb A desperate Disease must have a desperate Cure So likewise to unskilful and Rustick Persons who despise all Method and hate a multitude of Medicins such Medicins must be given as remove the cause of the Disease or the greatest part of it as much as may be Otherwise unless all succeed according to their desire they run to Quacks and Wizards and give far more heed to their Saws than to the best Advice any Physician can give them Gabelchov XIII Hippocrates bids us observe all the Patients Errors whether about Meat and Drink or about Medicins or External things For if through their own faults they grow worse the blame is laid on the Physician if it happen when any thing has been done towards a Cure and especially if he have given any ingrateful Potions or a Purge For these things are usually lookt on as things of great efficacy And if after the taking the said things any ill happen the taking is blamed though the fault truly lies in the Patient And in our days this is frequent Now many Physicians to avoid this reproach more valuing their own Reputation than their Patients good give some insignificant Medicin or prescribe that which is not worth speaking of for if they Bleed they exceed not three or four ounces if they give a Purge they exceed not Manna Syrup of Roses or such things and they give generally too small a Dose By which method indeed these Physicians have a care of their own selves and often endanger their Patients Lives Neither Hippocrates nor Christian Religion puts any Man on this But they both tell us that when generous Medicins are given the Errors of the Sick should carefully be observed Martianus XIV Frequent changing of Medicins argues either ignorance or diffidence in the Physician This may be understood in a two-fold sense either as to Method or as to Medicins The first argues precipitance and that the Physician is out of the way because he knows not which the way is But that of the Comedian suits not with the Physician Quid si sic tentem si hac non succedit alia tentanda est via What if I go so to work if this way succeed not I must go try another Nor are we always tied up to the self same things for so the Physician may prescribe much and the Patient take little But the changing of Medicins to one and the same end is both lawful and argues a Man abounds both in things and words For as it is a reproach to a Physician always to give the same thing as if he knew nothing further and had spent his whole stock though mean enough whereupon the Patients run to Empiricks so every hour to change a Mans mind and his Medicins is equally a disgrace for he that is every where is no where XV. We must always endeavour in the composition of Medicins to avoid a nauseous Treacle-Mixture of divers Simples which is not necessary It is useless uncertain dangerous and chargeable Nature who is content with a little delights in Simples and a Disease will sooner be cured by one proper simple Herb than by these prodigious Compositions GOD says Helmont in Pharm ac Dispens mod sect 5. out of the Providence of his Eternal Goodness and Wisdom has abundantly provided for future necessities HE made and endowed Simples to answer all Occasions And by how many more the Compounds in a Medicin are so less certain will the Compounder find the effect of them to be Therefore Zwelferus in appendice ad Animadv advises well To be content with simplicity in the matter of Medicin and to forbear a needless trouble in amassing so many divers things together But to practise with one simple for what GOD has appointed it or but with a few as poor Country People do to whom the Chief Physician out of his meer Mercy has revealed most wholesom Medicins with which they do great things in great Diseases and sometimes to the shame of Physicians Hence it was that the most Learned Physicians of old Hippocrates Galen and others seldom used the more operose Compositions but by only one Simple or by two or three joined together they did wonders XVI We must not use Medicins but upon urgent necessity So Hippocrates l. de vict Acut. will not give so much as a Suppository unless the Body be very Costive For Medical Helps do but create a trouble to Nature when there is not a necessity for them XVII In curing of Diseases and in preservation of Health we must not be always using Remedies but sometimes rest a while that is do nothing but order a good Diet. Thus we must do in the Crisis and after a perfect one and in the state of the Disease Aph. 8. 20. Sect. 1. Physicians says Livy sometimes do more good by doing nothing than by moving and acting Dietericus XVIII Whether a Physician can promote Coction of Humours and so prevent a Crisis or the stated solution of the Disease is a Question In this place it is not my Intention to reject a Crisis and to deny all manner of endeavour to Nature in Diseases as a Crisis is merely the genuine work of Nature or as Vallesius 6. Epid. 5. expresses it An extinction of the Disease at once with perturbation and evacuation But I intend only to reprimand some Practitioners who to the great dammage of the Sick with a filthy loss of time do as unhappily as frivolously connive by their delays and their sugared Medicins feeding the Disease so that it increases Whereas when Diseases are beginning if any thing be to be done we must do it And so it lies upon the Physician to cure Diseases before a Crisis and
enquired into as is possible he may cure those Ails with more ease and success For nothing recommends a Physician to a Patient so much as the finding out of a hidden Cause and the Artificial Cure of it which other Physicians could not arrive at Now when Practioners meet with stubborn Diseases and being taught only by Books can find no Examples of them in Physical Authors nor have learned how to discover the causes of them they are at a loss and the Patient cannot be cured till some are called that are well exercised in the search of Arduous things who may by their skill find them and oftentimes they do not only successfully but easily cure Patients who were reckoned incurable which how much it must conduce to get a Physician Reputation any one may imagine Idem XXXIX Empiricks and all the Vulgar use comparison in Diseases and use the like Remedies for Diseases which they think alike This thing hugely pleases the unskilful for because they know few differences of Diseases they think what are not manifestly different must be altogether the same But good Physicians do not so for similitudes are much suspected by them as they do easily impose and occasion doubting And though at first like Diseases might be thought to be cured with like Remedies yet they know that many Diseases which are very like in appearance require contrary Cures because they come from contrary Causes The knowledge therefore of the Cause produces the contrary that is takes away all mistakes and doubtings As if several Men be ill of the Colick one by drinking of cold Water another with Wind another with Bile an Empirick seeing the same Disease would use the same Cure to them all But a Rational Physician who finds the Causes are contrary will give contrary things Therefore he proceeds ill who only considers similitudes but well who finds out the Cause The knowledge of the Cause is so useful that oftentimes the ignorance of the Cause does more mischief than the ignorance of the kind of the Disease and of the place affected For he is less able to undertake the Cure who knows not whether the Colick comes from a hot or a cold Cause than he that knows not whether it is the Stone or the Colick And it is of more moment towards the cure of Fevers to know what kind the Humour is of which comes out than the manner of its Fit c. Therefore to know the way or method wherein every Disease must be cured it is of great moment it concerns a Man to begin with finding out the Cure Now it is hard by Ratiocination to know the ways that is to invent Methods because it is hard to find out what the Disease is what the cause what the part affected and what every Mans Nature and Custom is and all these have their particular Indications or Insinuations what to do which we must consider separately and then compare them one amongst another subtracting the contrary and less from the contrary and greater more or less as every Indication is stronger or weaker From hence all Cure arises Vallesius XL. I make no question but a Physician ought plainly to foretel the Patient of his Death when he desires to know the Event of his Disease For there are both Political and Theological Reasons for which I think it good that the Patient should know the event of his Disease And a Physician has no reason to deceive his Patient especially when he is sincere Sennertus and willing to know the truth XLI Patients must not always be severely denied what Nature earnestly craves For we see that several do not recover of a Quartane and of other Chronical Diseases till their Appetite is gratified A Woman had a Malignant Ulcer about her Throat it put her to much trouble to swallow either Meat or Drink Though she was not with Child she longed for several things as for Herrings Flesh and Fish salted and dried in the Smoak and other Meats hard of concoction which though they were hard she swallowed without any difficulty Her Stomach loathed Emulsions of Almonds Barly-Broth and Flesh-Broth and she would fast sometimes for three days till her vitious Appetite came to her Moreover though what she craved was contrary to her Disease it did her no harm And what she loathed though proper it would make her reach and a little feverish Hildanus XLII Seeing one Disease sometimes follows another as its Remedy whether must we expect it from Nature or procure it by Art Celsus lib. 5. c. 28. sect 4. intimates that by no means it should be procured when he writes that a Fever coming upon a St. Anthonies Fire for one day was a fortuitous Medicin which consumed the Noxious Humour In which thing he seems to follow Hippocrates who discoursing of this changing of Diseases said lib. 1. de morbis that such things came not by the skill or ignorance of the Physician but spontaneously and by fortuitous success Yet because Art imitates Nature therefore what Nature does that also ought to be done by the Physician From Her moving Sweat purging by Stool or Haemorrhoids and doing any such thing while she observes a due Decorum the Physician learned to practise Physick Wherefore in this difficulty we must say a Succession of Diseases must be procured by the Physician that the former Disease may be removed Therefore Hippocrates 6. Aph. 15. says that a Vomit coming upon a long Loosness cures the Disease Where Galen says This is one Example of those things that are well done by Nature which the Physician ought to imitate But if it be so why does Celsus call a Fever which cures a St. Anthonies Fire a fortuitous Medicin and why does Hippocrates write that such things are done with fortuitous success I answer It is because it is so dangerous a thing to raise a Fever For if it happen upon a Cacochymick Body it is in danger of being Malignant if in a pure Body that it may corrupt the Humours or turn to a Hectick Therefore we must proceed with great caution and rather use such a Remedy fortuitous than procured by Art For a Fever supervening on an Apoplexy proved destructive to Numenius his Son Rubeus in Celsum XLIII A Medical Sleep is a Sleep of the Diseases of Mind and Body either spontaneous or procured by Art For Artificial Sleep gains a Physician a great deal of credit G. Palm a Physician formerly of Noremburgh knew that very well who they say used to tell his Patients that he would do them that favour that they should rest better the night after he was called He obtained this with Syrup of red Popy which he prescribed that Night I was taken with the Stratagem and I often do my Patients the same kindness by giving them my Magisterium Anodynum Rolfinccius XLIV It is not once that I have seen Braggadocio's and Vainglorious Physicians mistaken while some of them would