of all curable Ruptures and maketh all sorts of Trusses fit for the accommodation of any His Wife treateth with Women they give Advice for nothing A TABLE of the several Diseases and Distempers treated of amongst other things in the ensuing TRACT FEvers in general Malignant Fevers in Children Directions Heat in Fevers Cold in Fevers Thirst in Fevers Agues Dropsies Falling-Sickness Griping of the Guts Surfeits Fluxes Stone or Gravel in the Reins or Kidneys Windy-Melancholy Wind in the Small Guts Collick Wind-Dropsie Gouts Pleurisie Yellow Jaundice Stone in the Bladder Consumption without a Cough A Consumption with a Cough The Rickets Apoplexy Vertigo Palsie Convulsion Cramp Worms The breaking of a Vein Coughs Catarrhs Rheums shortness of Breath Strangury Fits of the Mother Praxis Catholica OR THE COUNTRY-MAN'S Universal REMEDY IT was the custom amongst the ancient Greeks that if a sure Cure was found for any Disease the party was bound to write it on a Table and hang it up in the Temple of Diana at Ephesus that every one labouring with that Disease might afterwards repair thither and receive their Remedy Soon after did they digest the Art of Healing into a fatal Method as a Directory to the true knowledge of Curing whereby a further enquiry into Medicines came to be neglected and so this false Doctrine of the Greeks spread it self amongst the Arabians Romans and then amongst the Christians and is still in use amongst us to this day to blind us from the knowledge of true and perfect Remedies for curing our Diseases whereby we see many yearly swept away from us through some accustomed Diseases as well as new ones and especially that amongst Children of a Griping Vomiting and Scouring which gives me great cause to mistrust that either the true cause of this is not understood as well as the rest or a fit Remedy not yet found out Nor is it Children alone that this Fever the Prince of Diseases doth appear unto in those bloody manners but to some of full Growth and Strength It doth assault us in various Shapes and Habits This Disease is a grand Enemy to man for there is hardly a Distemper but is accompanied with a Fever either going before or following after it Wherefore I shall a little anatomize it unto you and shew you its Rise the place where it commonly abides and what it feeds on and so describe it as you may know it at a distance and not only this but most of our Serpentine Enemies I shall observe that method in treating of them as I do in curing of them which is to have respect unto that first which doth most press amonst which I think that peracute Disease of Children is most urgent so my method leads me to begin with a child whom I shall trace unto his old age where I shall leave him to that great Physician whose Servant I am not worthy to be First it will be necessary that I give a preparative to your understanding in unfolding the right use of two or three principal parts whose proper uses have not yet been discovered before you enter upon the main Body viz. The Spleen Liver and Gaul From these three comes Life and Death Health and Diseases as they are disposed either well or ill These are the Pillars that do support the Fabrick of the Microcosm The two first do principally respect the preservation of Health the last is of a more Balsamical Nature which doth as well prevent Diseases as restore health when it is wanting Understand by a Ferment A Specifical Virtue or Power which every part is endued withal that whatsoever is transferred through them is transmuted into their fermental quality Omnis facultas quando praevalet ea est natura ut mutet sibique simile faciat id quod ad ipsam est victum as the Aliment in digesting in the Stomach is sow'r then when the Chyle passeth through the Guts Duodenum and Ileon it is saltish and being more elaborated in the Meseraick and Milky Veins becometh more salt which is a preparation for Sanguification which is perfected in the Liver and so assimilated by every part The whole Body is seasoned and tinctured with the Ferments of those three principal parts viz. sharp from the Spleen Whitmore de Febre anomala Salt from the Liver and bitter from the Gaul To begin with the first The Spleen This part hath been hardly censured by many to be the receptacle of the Faeces of the Blood the mother of black Choler or Melancholy the Sink and Fountain of many stubborn and rebellious Diseases and to be a Bowel of no great use only to elaborate this more feculent Blood and give a small nourishment to some of the natural parts likewise the efficient cause of Madness and Dotage c. Some have not stuck to say that if ever nature made any thing to hurt her self it was this and if she had found out some other way for discharging of this Excrement as she hath done the rest she had eased her self of abundance of trouble c. but I rather think the contrary there is not any part within us nature hath been so liberal unto as to this nor hath bestowed such special favour on Vide Dr. Highmore de affectione Hypochon fol. 132. it is enriched with ten times at least as many Arteries as any other part There is life peculiarly due unto it more than sensitive for it is extant long before quickening Helmont de Author duum virut It hath a double Ferment there is a Vital from the Arteries and the digestive faculty of the Stomach which is made by an acid juice sent from it and for that great concernment which is committed unto its charge it is termed the President of the Stomach I cannot think that any excrementitious matter can reside where it hath so worthy a place for its Emunctory as the Stomach the Arteries fetch from the Stomach of their purest Chyle and sanguifie it for their pleasure and it may be by their too liberal attraction may debilitate their Ferment that so they may require an assistance from the main Body whereby the Stomach may be neglected with a due quantity of this juice whence lack of appetite and crudities do arise and so this Ferment may be exorbitant in the Spleen from whence comes bloody and black spitting into the stomach which some have judged black Choler which is nothing but an expurging and renewing of nourishable blood from the Spleen it self the Humour Melancholy and black Choler was never yet found in nature nor indeed is there any such thing extant wherefore whatsoever distemper may arise from the Spleen it is from a vitiated or debilitated Ferment not from a peccant matter which doth offend only in quality not in quantity Again if the distemper of the Spleen be the cause of Madness then in its right order there is a sound and judicious understanding due to the same place according to
one may judge it to be an Arcanum Catholicum or an universal Remedy which I know this Powder I tell you of hath perfectly effected as I have well experienced And in this last I commonly give my Balsamical Pills the next night to consolidate the Excoriations which the morbifick matter hath caused In all Fluxes of the Belly whether bloody or not you may do as followeth First give half a dram or two scruples or a dram of the Powder of Toasted Rhubarb mixed with a little Conserve of Red Roses and made into a Bolus Then â„ž of the Conserve of Red Roses Mint of each an ounce Orange Pill candied six drams Red Coral in fine Powder a dram Diascordium two drams Syrup of Myrtles sufficient to make a soft Electuary let the Patient take it often about a dram at once Or this â„ž of Mint Water and Cinnamon Water each an Ounce Plantane Water two ounces Syrup of Comfrey an ounce and an half Laudanum two grains mix them and let the sick take it by a spoonful every half hour In the Flux with the Griping of Guts as also in others this following is very good â„ž of the best Cinnamon Water three ounce of Diascordium three drams let them be well mixed and give it by two spoonfuls at a time pretty often Either this or the former will both stay the Vomiting and bridle the Flux The following Clyster is also good to alleviate the sharpness of the matter and ease the excoriated Guts â„ž of new Milk half a pint or better in which quench a piece of red hot steel once or twice to which add half an ounce of Venice Turpentine dissolved in the yolk of an Egg Honey of Roses an ounce common Balsam of Sulphur ten or twelve drops mix and make a Clyster The Pill alone will cure any Flux or Loosness whatsoever presently yea the Bloody Flux in two three or four days according to its magnitude but in that case it is good to continue the use of it a day or two after the Flux is stayed lest the Acrimonious Ferment not being quite destroyed should reassume its force and cause the Disease to return Therefore in such Countries where this Malady is in a manner Epidemical as Ireland and perhaps some other places did they but know the worth of this Pill they would undoubtedly prize it at a high rate and rescue many a miserable person from the devouring jaws of death Calculus Renum or Stone or Gravel in the Reins or Kidneys THe Stone or Gravel in the Reins or Kidneys as it is the sharpest of Diseases so it hath been the longest in curing though the present Fit or Pain is soon remedied I never knew any Man or Woman that was past forty five or forty six years of age that was ever perfectly cured but once or twice a year after they have been troubled with it more or less though I knew a Gentlewoman that was free from any Fit nigh two years and then assaulted her again as violently as at first Cause Those Paroxysms or Fits that come by Intervals which are so dolorous do not proceed from the Gravel or Stone generated but from the Kidney generating which may be affected either primarily from a debility or vitiousness of its own Ferment or casually from an excess in quantity or being too sharp or salt in quality and in regard it is so sensible a part must needs stir up an inflammation which maketh those cruel Tortures And should all the Gravel and Stone come away the pain would not be the less until the Kidney it self be reduced to its right temper For we see how vain and useless all those things have proved that have been given to absterge and force away the Gravel and Stone nay they have much more exasperated the pain and made it more And besides that the Gravel and Stone are not the cause of those Tortures I find by this Powder which hath perfectly freed them from all their pain in two or three hours and no Gravel or Stone hath come from them neither that day nor the next Again how many have I seen in perfect health that have voided a great quantity of Gravel at a time without the least pain it would be in one as well as in another By any Weakness Consumption Inflammation or any Distemper of the Kidney Gravel may be caused so that Gravel is the product not the producer or primitive cause of this pain In this Disease the Belly is to be kept loose which may be well performed by this following â„ž of the Pulp of Cassia newly drawn four ounces Tartar Vitriolated two drams powder it and mix to the mixture add ten or twelve drops of oil of Juniper Take of it once in three or four days at night going to Bed at each time six drams or an ounce which will give two or three Stools the next day Then give the following Powder Take of Tartar Vitriolated a dram and a half Crabs-eyes Salt of Bean-stalks of Broom of Restharra and Pidgeons dung each two scruples mix and make a Powder The Dose is a scruple or more twice a day in Parsley or Saxifrage Water When the pain is very great and the Urine stopped the following potion may be given to the comfort of the sick Take of fine Venice Turpentine washed a scruple dissolve it in the yolk of a new laid Egg by beating them well together then put them to a quarter of a pint or half a pint of new Milk and let the patient drink it off at once Wild Carrot Seed being boiled in Ale and the Ale drank two or three times a day is good both to hinder the increase of the Stone by resisting the putrefactive stonyfying odour or Ferment and also to diminish it being grown but its use must be continued a Month together at the least The German Academ Curios in their first Volumn published in the Year 1670 observat 107. highly commend the Decoction of Paul's Bettony for expelling the Stone being drank in a large quantity and continued for some time an example of which is there set down at large of a certain Woman who was freed from a Stone in the left Kidney by the use of the said Decoction after it had been her miserable Companion for sixteen years The Pill being taken in a full Dose and dissolved in a Glass of well warmed White or Rhenish Wine or where that cannot be had Ale and so drank gives present ease in the most grievous pains occasioned by Stone or Gravel in the Kidneys when all other Remedies fail and I remember once a Gentlewoman that I gave it to either at the first or second Dose voided three Stones of an untoward Figure with much pain and remained free from that tormenting dolor with which she was wont to be often exercised for the space of three years But for the Stone in the Bladder I do not know that either the Powder or Pill will do any thing as to
two after eating Then as for Electuaries Lohochs Powders c. Some of them are designed to relieve the Lungs by sliding down the Wind-Pipe insensibly and so going immediately to the part affected but others are appointed to go about till by the Laws of Circulation they may at length come with their assistance to the Lungs but both to no purpose as for the first nature derideth the offer in as much as she plainly sheweth an abhorrency but of the least crum or drop that through any inadvertency passeth the Larynx and gets into the Wind-pipe and will not be at rest till by coughing it be driven back again therefore who sees not that if those licking Medicines should go that way their appointers would have them that instead of curing or easing a Cough how mightily they would increase it As for the latter they are forced to submit to the fate of the Food only they prove more troublesome to the Body because more crude But the cure of this Disease ought to be instituted after another manner viz. by cleansing away of â—lth and altering the putrefactive Ferâ—ent of the Lungs the first makes room for â—n equal distribution of the nourishable â—ices and the second restrains the exorâ—itant Governour of the Lungs from conâ—erting their proper nutriment into purulent excrements But when I speak of cleansing away of Filth I do not mean either by direct purges or by those things called Expectoraters for the first are indeed poysons and resolve the good juice themselves and expel them with the Excrements and the latter promote corruption faster than they cause spitting But true cleansers resolve all filth in the Stomach Guts and Veins and in their passage carry them to the common Emunctories of nature as those of the first passage to be expelled by stool and they of the Veins by Urine To which purpose you may take Tartarum Vitriolatum every morning for three or four days together from ten to twenty grains in a little warm Broth increasing the dose every morning or instead thereof for those who affect noâ— sharp things you may give half a draâ— or two scruples of the Cream of Tartaâ— dissolved in hot Broth after which giâ—â— Salt of Harts-horn and Amber of each eight nine or ten grains twice a day 〈◊〉 Broth or Sherry Wine continue it foâ— some time these will cleanse away Filtâ— and Excrements as Soap cleanseth Clotâ— and likewise resist putrefaction but 〈◊〉 the farther pacifying the Archeus of tâ— Lungs those who have Mineral Sulphurs well prepared or Opium divested of its Narcotick or Stupefactive Power which sleepifying force is not its virtue but its vice such I say may be able to cure this Disease safely and pleasantly But seeing those Remedies are known but to few therefore after the forementioned Salt I advise the Balsam of Sulphur of Antimony or good Balsom of common Sulphur to be taken twice or thrice a day to six or seven drops or more at a time mixed with a little white Sugar and taken upon the point of a Knife But the Arcanum and Balsamick Pill do not miss the cure if nature be not too far spent The Rickets THe Rickets is a Disease amongst Children that hath been but of late years but ingenious Coke tells us it hath been known among the Ancients who have excellently treated of them so likewise have the Learned Doctors Glysson and Bates and Mr. Culpepper They differ but little and conclude that it is mostly from an obstruction either in the Liver or Spleen I rather think it to be from a debilitation or viciousness of their Ferment and so there is no assimilation whereby the part becomes atrophied or decayed and some other part increased for the Consumption of one part is the growing or greatning of another part as I have often observed An Atrophia or Consumption and this are Cousin-Germans there is little difference between them Children do abound more with a crude phlegmatick matter which makes the Head bigger and the Joynts knotty c. PROGNOST If they have continued long they are not to be cured but if taken in the beginning my Arcanum or Powder doth cure it presently and two or three of my Balsamical Pills to be taken after to rectifie the Ferment for the Arcanum opens the Obstructions and sweeps off all the peccant matter If the Childs Head begin to grow big let it blood in both ears I have known it very effectual and sometimes it hath made a perfect Cure without the help of any other thing Take of the Bark of Ash and Tamarisk each three drams to which add a scruple of Salt of Tartar put them into a Glass Bottle with a quart of good Beer let it stand twenty four hours and afterwards let the Child drink it for common drink When it is out you may put to the Bark another quart of Beer and it will be good If you will make it pleasanter you may add to it two or three ounces of Syrup of Harts-tongue Continue the use for some considerable time Ens Veneris is also excellent being given twice a day to three or four grains or more in warm Broth. Apoplexy Paralisis Catalepsie Epilepsie Vertigo c. THere are several Diseases that have been thought to have their Rise immediately from the Brain as Apoplexy Epilepsie or Falling Sickness Catalepsie or the sleepy Disease Palsie Giddiness of the Head c. but it is not my judgment that the Brain is primarily affected in any of them Apoplexy An Apoplexy proceeds from a vapour of some poisonous matter that hath for some time lain either in the Pylorus or about the Diaphragma or Midriff or Hypochondria fermenting and corrupting Vertigo It is not of so poisonous and malignant a nature as the Apoplexy is it is somewhat narcotical or stupefactive as Tobacco is to them thac cannot well take it It is the Forerunner of an Apoplexy PALSIE AS Giddiness is the Forerunner to an Apoplexy so a Palsie is the Subsequent or Follower CAVSE It is caused by the horrour or great fear in the vital and animal spirit of the Brain by those terrible assaults that are given them by that dreadful Enemy the Apoplexy As we may see sometimes many persons do tremble and shake for fear I know some Palsies have been occasioned by hurts and colds in some great Joynts as Shoulder and Hips and in progress of time that whole side hath become paralytick How vain hath been the received opinion of the Schools about Palsies that they should proceed from Obstructions in the Head or Conjugation c. A Lethargy doth proceed from a more mild poison than the Apoplexy as from Opium Epilepsie or Falling Sickness I have spoken of before They all affect the Brain by consent of the parts where the peccant matter lies CVRE All these besides the Palsie are cured by my Arcanum universale if ever they be cured at all which is to be hastened for if not remedied in the beginning
and continuing life wherefore they gave our Saviour Vinegar and Gaul Vinegar to excite the faculties of the stomach for the Gauls quicker passage into the vital spirits to prolong his life that they might the longer torment him under his pains before death But to stay no longer here it follows in the next place to treat about the great Heat and Cold which happens by Intervals as well in most other Fevers as in this and likewise of that inordinate Thirst Of Heat THough Heat and Fever are counted Synonyma's of one and the same name individual companions c. yet I say this Heat is not of the Quiddity or Essence of the Disease neither is it the cause of any Disease but is caused by the stirring up of that vital aiery spirit the directoress of life which spirit it is that makes the assault Archaeus Paracels 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Hippoc. now this spirit being provoked by the Disease allarms all the Faculties Virtues and Powers both Vital and Natural which it doth unite unto it self and so furiously assault his mortal Enemy as many Coals of Fire raked together and blown up make a great heat so doth this heat proceed from this inflamed Spirit EXAMPLE A Thorn or Splinter being got into the Finger or Hand presently a heat pain and pulsation is felt which this spirit or Archaeus stirreth up for the expelling of that extraneous Body now this heat is not a product of the Thorn but casually from this spirit and occasionally only from the Thorn therefore heat is a latter accident and subsequent upon the essence of a Fever Cold. COld is the Diseases Colours or Banner under which it fights but it is not either the Disease nor Cause but a product and effect of the Disease Calorem frigus non esse morbus ut neque borum causas Hipp. putrefaction brings in coldness the Ferment of Putrefaction is sharp and cold as we have an ocular Demonstration in Gangrenes and Mortifications whilst it is but in fieri a Gangrene what a hard task it is to revive it by the hottest and most penetrating Medicines we can get nay and fain to scarrifie deeply too lest it should hinder their operation or if it fouls a bone no less than a Medicine that is hot in the highest degree can effect it and when a Sphacelus or Mortification is confirmed without natures Second comes in speedily to her rescue A Chyrurgion Chyrurg naturae minister and dismember it it would soon run her to the heart and did not putrefaction work by a cold a Body would be hotter after it was dead than it was before but we see the contrary when putrefaction grows stronger the Body grows colder I could evidence by many demonstrations more that the Heat is not of the essence neither the cause nor occasion of a Fever and likewise that Cold is meerly the effect of the Disease but I think this sufficient Thirst This great Thirst in Fevers doth not proceed from Heat and driness as in a true and natural Thirst for this will not be allayed by drinking as that will but this Thirst is deceitful and is produced by some excrementitious matter which adheres to that sensitive faculty and deludes the Organ Nec sitis est extincta prius quam vita bibâ—ndo as if a great dryness had suddenly come unto it as I have observed in a very malignant Fever which the Army in Flanders was infected with being always cold and very thirsty as likewise in the cold Fit of an Ague c. and so this is evident that heat in Fevers is not the cause of that inordinate Thirst besides I have extinguished this Thirst by those things which have been virtually hot Contraria contrariis curantur which if heat had been the cause would rather have exasperated Thus you have the matter manner and Concomitants of this Disease The Schools have observed some Heads from whence they have derived many Species of Fevers which I shall not insist on because they depend upon one and the same way and means of Cure without mention of an Hectick or intermitting Fever which differ only in the place they reside which I shall speak to in their proper places It is my chief design to do good unto my Countrymen who I know would rather have something to ease them and be rid of their Diseases than to hear curious and learned Discourses or quaint Distinctions and in pleasing them I care not whom I displease As I have put the knowledge of the cause into your Heads so I shall put a remedy into your Hands Cure You may clearly see what first is to be done and wherein the Cure doth consist which is in removing the cause or matter offending the neglect whereof hath suffered such an infinite Slaughter which gives me reason to think that either the cause is not known or a fit Remedy not yet found for unless there be a proportion between the Remedy and the Disease It will do but little good Diseases which come suddenly if they are rightly understood they are soon gone Extrema non permanent though they may be extreme sharp whilst they continue I know it is the practice here to look more unto the Effect than the Cause in correcting the Symptoms than the matter whereof they are produced Si ta tollantur quae conveniunt aeger melius se habet facile sert Sublata causa tolletur effectus which is a very pernicious course and contrary unto reason and all principles in Healing And that you may the better understand your error I shall recite your practice When first any one is taken with this or the like Distemper either Child or those of full Growth first you run and fetch Mint Water and a little Syrup to stay the Vomiting Secondly then Cinnamon Water and Syrup of Quinces or Myrtle Berries to stay the scouring Then it may be you give a Carmiâ—tive or Clyster to expel Wind and correct the Griping That done you give some cooling Julep to allay its Heat and to quench in Thirst And when it is cold you give a little Mithridate or Theriack of Andronica oâ— London Treacle and lay a Plaister of it to his Stomach And then lay a Spell against the Fever to the Wrists c. And so you keep doing till you can do no more just as a man who hath lost himself in a Wood he keeps going but whither he knows not You see all those things do but respect the effect here is nothing hath any regard at all unto the Cause And should things answer the intention for which they were given the party either Child or Man would presently die To hinder the evacuating of this morbifick matter is directly against the intention of nature Quo natura verget ad locum conferentem â—eo ducere oportet Hippoc. for the evacuation of this matter is to be looked at as the Crisis of Nature
presently abated and that night he rested pretty well for he had no sleep worth mention since he was ill the next morning I sent him four Grains more of the Powder which gave him three Vomits and two Stools about six in the Afternoon I went to visit him and found him about his Chamber saying he thought he was as well as ever his Stomach being returned and he very hungry Thus you see a Fever cured in eighteen hours or less which in all probability would have been at the least three or four weeks if recovered at all before nature by such enfeebled helpers or rather hinderers as are the common Medicines could have freed her self from the Disease I could instance many the like cases were it needful This Medicine hath besides its other gifts such a general tendency for the curing of all Fevers that upon the first knowledge of it in practice I called it my Species Febrifuga by which name I published it in my Catalogue of Medicines Printed in the year 1676 although I had then seen this little Book of the Authors I shall here subjoyn a short Discourse of intermitting Fevers or Agues in which Mr. Couch is silent except in the name yet I cannot doubt but he must be well acquainted with the power of this Medicine in curing them Of Agues GReat Diversity hath been and yet is among Authors concerning this Disease some holding one thing and some another concerning its Seat and Causes but I without reciting their differences or contending with any man's opinion either of which is no way profitable shall briefly endeavour to give you my own sentiment It needs no Definition being sufficiently known here neither Division seeing all the sorts thereof proceed from one cause and may be cured by the same Medicines Seat The Place or Seat of Agues is the Pancreas or Sweet-bread for all the parts of Man's Body being considered which only by intervals may transmit the cause of intermitting Fevers to the Heart none is found to which not only the Focus or source of those Fevers but also the causes of all their Symptoms may be ascribed besides the Pancreas or Sweet-bread Cause The Cause is an Obstruction of one or more of the Lateral Ducts or Branches of the Pancreas by reason of Phlegmatick Matter carried thither in too large a quantity and there detained the which being separated from the Blood together with the Pancreatick Juice by the Glandules of the Pancreas and sent to the main Duct or Pipe thereof causeth an Obstruction there and detaineth the juice of the Pancreas contrary to nature which ought continually to flow into the thin Gut called the Duodenum This Juice being thus stagnated quickly grows acrimonious or sharp and acquires a putrefactive Ferment whence at length it makes way through the obstructing Phlegm and is effused into the Duodenum where meeting with the Bile or Gall it stirs up a vicious and preternatural Ferment from whence comes the Ague Fit with all its Symptoms as in the beginning horrour chilness cold shaking c. then presently reachings yawnings and vomiting of bitter or four relish and afterwards burning heat the causes of Heat Cold Thirst c. you have in the foregoing Chapter of Fevers but if any desire further satisfaction concerning the reasons of the differences of Agues and the constant or various access of their Fits with the particular causes of Symptoms they may read it at large in Regnerus de Graaf in his Book intituled de succo Pancreatico published by me in the year 1676 to which I refer the Reader not having room here to be any larger Cure The Cure consists in opening the Obstructions changing the diseasie Ferment and expelling such matter as the Disease hath rendred incapable of being redintegrated and taken into the communion of life All which intentions are truly and radically performed by this Powder for an Ague being removed by the due use of this Medicine returns not again neither leaves any danger of its degeneration into another Disease both of which too frequently happen after the use of some Medicines which take off the Fit only by a kind of soporiferous quieting the present fury of the Archaeus If it be taken before the Ague hath exceeded three Fits one only Dose is usually sufficient to carry it away if fix or seven Fits two Doses or three at the most yea I have cured divers at twice or thrice giving it that have had it six or eight weeks but if it be a year old or more the continuance of its use but a reasonable time with the help of the Balsamick Pill will not fail to cure it I have also known it to cure Agues when it hath had no other sensible operation than Breaking of Wind. A person living in Greenwich who had a Tertian Ague and sometimes a Quotidian all the last Winter was cured this Spring by three Doses of the Powder which never had any sensible operation and two Doses of the Balsamick Pill so that in eight or ten days he was abroad about his Affairs and never had any Fit since although he was before so low brought that he could not sit up any longer than while his Bed was made notwithstanding the constant advice of an eminent Physician of that Town which he had used It is to be taken in a Spoonful of Drink or Posset drink about an hour before the Fit comes for two or three Fits together according as the Ague is in continuance If the Patient be weak or of a tender habit of Body let him take a Dose of the Balsamick Pill the same night after the Powder hath been given when he goes to Bed with a draught of warm Ale or a Glass of good generous Wine which Pill will mightily corroborate and refresh his Spirits and also tends much to the Cure if the Ague have been of a long continuance or be a Quartan or fourth Ague then after the Patient hath taken the Powder three times if the Fit still remain then let him take a full dose of the Balsamick Pill two or three hours before the coming of the next Fit and goe to Bed and dispose himself to sweat before the Fit comes the which if he do it s ten to one but the Fit comes no more but if there should be a failure of sweating timely enough then let him take the powder before one Fit and the Pill before the next till it be gone but not one Ague in twenty will need to be thus treated A general Direction in Fevers TO drink liberally of such Liquor as is most convenient is good I like not Beer of any Liquor in a Fever before the peccant matter wherein the Disease doth subsist be evacuated because it hath a nutriment from the Grain it is made withal which doth add unto the matter of the Disease whereby Thirst is exasperated as is commonly seen I rather advise to drink Wine and Water two parts Water and one Wine sharpened a
most terrible Gripings and Torture in his Guts with a great Flux and Vomiting for several days till at length his Spirit was almost spent his Belly was so inflated that he could hardly breath About ten or eleven of the Clock at night I was sent for I knew there was not any Medicine I had would do him good or preserve his life but this Powder I being not very well and much disposed to Sleep told them I would come and see him again as soon as it was day and then I would give him something When I returned home I considered he could not live till that time and if not quite dead yet could not be in a capacity to take any thing I presently went to him again and gave him five grains of this Powder within half an hour after he took it he broke wind upward and downward to the admiration of all those that were there A little after he had a stool in which came away abundance of obdurate and hard excrements that a long time adhered unto his Guts and was the cause of his sickness and presently he went to sleep which he had not before for several nights and slept very soundly till the morning The next day when I came up to see him I found him up and at Breakfast and was preparing for his going to Sea he told me he was as well as ever he was in his life A Surfeit is a praeludium to at Fever which doth not always proceed from the quantity of Meats or Drinks but it may be from a vicious quality of Meats as crude Fruits Pulse c. or from an antipathy or loathing of Meats that the stomach abhorrs and they are such things as commonly the eating of them hath made them sick before and sometimes it comes by lying with their Stomachs bare when they sleep especially in the Summer I have known many that have beeen surfeited and could not tell how they got it I never knew this Powder fail to make them well in six or eight hours In the Month of May this present year 1679 a Gentlewoman was taken with a Vomiting and Looseness which exercised her two days and then of its own accord in a great measure ceased but she using no means to rectifie the ill Ferment of the Stomach Bowels and otherwise neglecting her self within two or three days was seised with an intollerable Tortura Ventriculi or tearing pain in her Stomach accompanied with Hypochondriack Vapours and an almost total dejection of Spirits About four in the Afternoon she sent for me and being come I truly found her in a very deplorable condition having cryed out so much by reason of the insufferable pain she felt that she had very little Breath or Voice left to crye out any longer besides almost her whole Body was cold and bedewed with a clammy sweat her Pulse very little and sometimes wholly cessant so that at first sight I did not think it possible that she should escape death but I with all expedition got some of the Balsamick Pill dissolved in a good Cordial Vehicle to which for the Vapours sake I added a little of my Elixir Hystericum and so gave her the mixture by two spoonfuls at a time about twice in a quarter of an hour continuing half an hour in which time she was twice or thrice seemingly dead for about a minute at a time at the end of the last she vomited up the Medicine with much slimy matter upon which her Pulse began to return but her pain being still intolerable she dispaired of help but I being encouraged by some second considerations and confident of the certainty of my Medicine in such dolorous Affects turned up an Hour-Glass and promised her God assisting that she should have ease before the Sand was run the which to the praise of the Almighty I effectually performed within the time for I plied her quick with the Medicine in half an hour she began to grow warm in the extreme parts and as her self expressed it felt the pain go down out of her Stomach into her Belly and to lessen and that she could fetch her Breath from the bottom of her Belly in an hour she was in a fine transpiring heat all over her Body and the pain quite gone notwithstanding I was still forced now and then to repeat the Medicine for otherwise she would feel some twitchings and girdings in her Stomach threatning a return I stayed with her till near twelve at night at which time she was disposed to sleep the which she did but two hours and then was called up to lay a woman she being a Midwife by practice the which she went over the water to do and came home again to Bed about eight in the morning and hath remained very well ever since For the Griping of the Guts I do not think this Balsamick Pill hath its equal in nature How many grown People as well as Children expire yearly in this City of London by this tormenting Disease for want of a good Remedy I do seriously profess I do not think that any person need perish by that Enemy had they but this Medicine in time for it commonly takes it away at one Dose but with a second I never failed in my life for it will certainly give ease in the most violent Gripings in two hours time given in a large Dose and if the pain return it may be repeated after eight hours but where there is strong Vomitings also it is best to give it dissolved in warm Ale or Sack and so give it by a spoonful or two at a time and very often that so the stomach may not cast it up before it comes to operate for it will stay the Vomiting and Loosness as well as ease the Pain the which ought to be done with all expedition unless the Disease proceed from a Surfeit then first give a Dose of the Powder let ignorant people think what they will who often out of a foolish timerosity suffer them so long till the strength is so exhausted that it cannot be again restored and so they as miserably as foolishly shake hands with their lives FLUXES THere are three sorts of Fluxes viz. Lienteria Diarrhoea and Dysenteria and Authors have very confusedly treated of their Causes and their Places and because they would be sure to hit right they have named almost every place But the cause of the first Lienteria is from a defect of the Spleen which doth not send a sufficiency of that acid juice into the Stomach which maketh the digestive Faculty whereupon it is that the meat comes away with little alteration The second Diarrhaea is from a defect of the Mesaraick Veins that do not attract the Chyle whereby it is evacuated as Excrements The last Dysenteria is from Excrements that adhere to the Intestines and by their Acrimony corrode c. You see that they proceed from several Causes and yet to be cured by one Remedy Every
after general Evacuation Vomiting Clyster then carminative and fumous Clysters and abundance of other means he found not the least ease there was given him three or four ounces of Quick-silver and that came soon through him yet no ease at last I gave him four of the biggest Musket Bullets I could get about six or eight hours after I came to him and he was discharged of pain and was fallen asleep which he had not before for several nights after he awaked he had a Stool wherein was two of the Bullets and about eight or nine great round pieces of excrement greater than the Bullets and they did seem to be as hard Besides it could not be wind for it is always repleted with wind to hinder such accidents by making the more clearer and more slippery way for the Chyle and when there is a redundancy of it it is easily forced forth behind without any Griping or Torture So you see it is not from Wind or knotting of the Gut but from some excrement that doth adhere unto the same COLLICK THe Collick is commonly from Excrements contained beyond their course which vitiates the Ferment of the place whence cometh those windy Blasts which are not wind but far more subtle and rare than the most rarified air being of an incoagulate nature whereupon those retained excrements adhere so firmly to the Gut that it contracts it which is the cause of that violent dolour I had a man that was shot at the Siege of Iper in Flanders in the lower Belly Hypogastrium which penetrated the Colon all his Excrements came out at his wound for about six days so that the Intestinum Rectum or Arse-gut became useless this wound lay twenty four hours exposed to the wind before he was dressed I made a Suture to the external Orifice and cured him by vulnerary Clysters c. Besides how many wounds have I seen that have penetrated the Breast and Belly and yet never troubled with those windy Pains or Tortures and yet we see there is hardly a Distemper amongst us but we accuse wind troubled with wind c. but the small benefit those discussors of wind have brought is able to convince any that wind is not the cause But indeed this aiery Blast which is made by a bad digestion of things that seems to be wind which is perceived to move between the Muscles of the sides and causeth those Ructations and Belchings hath never been thought on by the Schools and but of very late years treated of To confirm Mr. Couch's opinion concerning the Illiaca Passio I shall here add another experiment which is this About a year ago a certain man was sorely tormented with the excruciating pains of this Disease commonly called the twisting of the Guts his Physician treated him with I suppose all the usual Remedies and some other Devices one of which was I remember to blow wind into the Intestinum Rectum or Arse-gut with a pair of Bellows but nothing taking effect to give the miserable man any ease the last Remedy was instituted which was three pound weight of Quicksilver which the Patient poured down his Throat on Friday about ten or eleven in the Forenoon and presently as advised rode a little way for the better agitating of his Body but yet to no purpose for on the Sunday Morning following I was at his House by accident with another person who was a Physician and then none of the Quicksilver had made any passage he had the very aspect of death and complained of an intollerable cold and weight in his Belly went not to bed in three nights and if he fell into the least sleep nothing but dotage and distraction appeared His Physician was at a ne plus ultra thinking him a dead man as all that saw him Upon enquiry we understood that he was not forbid the taking of any thing nor yet directed to any thing besides Canary wherefore we advised that he should abstain from the use of all acids others that might have any power to coagulate any of the Quicksilver in his Body and to drink sweet Oil plentifully the which he presently put in execution and the next day being Munday the Quicksilver began to come away like Small Shot and the use of the Oil being still continued by Tuesday night he had parted with it all or most for what they had collected wanted but four ounces of the three pounds after which somebody well advised him to swallow Golden Bullets which he did divers times and so to a wonder recovered and is well to this day Now had this Torture been occasioned only by wind such a quantity of Quicksilver could not possibly have been thereby detained in the Body one quarter of an hour or again that it should be the twisting of the Gut as is commonly believed is impossible for it cannot be that the Gut should be so closely twisted up by any accident that may happen either within or without the Body that three pound weight of this active ponderous Mineral should not in three days time find a passage besides which I had almost forgot to tell you his Excrements came away with the Quicksilver in small hard Bits like dried Sheeps Dung which plainly proves that the occasional cause of this Disease is the Excrements grown to a preternatural hardness I will here set down for the sake of the poor a cheap and easie remedy against this cruel Enemy â„ž of the Seeds of Annise Fennel Carraway and Coriander each half an ounce let them be all bruised put them into a quart of Ale or somewhat more boil them gently in a Vessel close covered for about three quarters of an hour then take it from the fire and strain it and let the Patient drink half a pint at a time warm And by God's blessing he shall soon have ease This is also good in the Wind Chollick But the Balsamick Pill is the most immediate Remedy for the Wind Chollick that I ever yet knew but it is not to be given in the Illiaca Passio therefore I will here for the sake of the ignorant shew how they may distinguish those Diseases from one another The pain called the Twisting of the Guts lies about the Navel and higher and is felt only before not extended to the Right and Left Sides that of the Chollick is about the Navel and lower going cross the Belly to both Sides even to the Back the pain generally pressing to the bottom of the Belly with a stoppage of the Urine which never is in the former there are some Symptoms which are common to both as Burning Chilness Reaching Vomiting c. but what I have said before is sufficient for any to know them asunder A Gentlewoman living in Greenwich was lately seised with a pain in all her Bones and a violent Loosness for which she took a Dose of the Balsamick Pill and in two hours time was at perfect ease and the Loosness stopped The next