of a Consumption However this is not the Invention of the Pseudochymists be it never so good but was in use before Mr. S. was born And the like I may say of all the fixed Salts that we have in our Shops at this day only I perceive whatsoever is prepared by any use of Fire Mr. S. seems to challenge it as if he and his fellows that call themselves Chymists had a peculiar property in it as if they were the Masters of that Element and others were only Intruders into their Freehold I cannot but smile to see how this Gentleman and others do arrogate that Title to themselves of the Sons of Fire which is that very Term that not only the Greek Poets but the Hebrew Text also give to Fire-brands Deus avertat omen precor And the same is true also of the Essential Oyls of the Shops which he reckons up as Rosemary Sage Cinnamon Rhodium by all which it appears to the World that the Chymists do unjustly charge it upon the Galenists that they are Enemies to Chymical Preparations They only reject some of their new Arcana's which are made out of Poysonous Metals or Minerals of the corroding heat whereof their Patients do constantly complain and we are frequently called to correct not that I think any thing worse because perhaps it is novel and value error because of its Antiquity but would have every thing brought to the Test and owned or rejected as it is found to deserve although any remedy may be better or worse as it is applied distinguishing aright betwixt Vitium Medicinae and Medicantis The summe of all is The Objections remain firm notwithstanding all he has said against the Empyreumatisme or corroding heat that is in many of their new Arcana's and more particularly against the use of hot things in all Diseases which is too much the practice of some as I am not willing to instance whereby they become loathsome to the Palate and hot and corrosive in the Stomach and Intestines but on the contrary he has been forced to confess and I suspect to his damage that which the Vulgar not Physicians so much upbraid them withal to wit the unsafeness of that way Of Method in Physick Pag. 192. Another thing says he wherewith they impeach Chymical Physicians is That they are not Methodical in their Practice Here take notice that I am on the defensive hand and am not charging the Chymical Physician for not being Methodical I know there are learned men that understand well the Chymical Practice and know both the Art of Composition and application of Chymical Medicines according to Reason and Method for the Cure of Diseases who deserve a great deal of Honour But yet I do not think that every man that calls himself a Physician is so indeed nor yet every man that pretends to Chymistry to be a Chymical Physician He that through Ignorance or Singularity dares not or will not submit to a Regular Trial by the Universities or otherwise as by Law is provided merits not the name of a Physician but is a Quack and such I am certain are some that call themselves Chymists Nor is it the curing of a Disease Cito tuto facile that implies a good Method as Mr. S. doth suppose that may be done by a Woman who knows nothing of Method nor how to answer Indications which is the Rule of Method To make a man a Methodical Physician there must be a good Foundation laid in Physiology and Pathology Of Physiology the former takes in Anatomy which treats concerning the Composition of a Mans Body which is the proper Subject of the Art of Physick and the Contexture of the parts as they refer one to another whereby an Artist is enabled to discern of Diseases that come from Sympathy and Consent of other Parts and so to apply his Remedies accordingly It respects also the Temperaments the Humors the Spirits the Faculties of the Soul and the Animal Vital and Natural Functions with many other things that are Appendices to these Of Pathology Pathology treats concerning Diseases with their Differences their Causes their Symptomes and their Signs and comprehends those that are both universal and particular and whether inward or outward inabling an Artist both to judge aright of the Diseases and also make true Prognosticks The Method of Curing Next comes in the Method of Curing and this respects the Nature of all sorts of Remedies and shews how they are to be applied to the several Indications and directs the Art of Composition answerable to the Complication of Diseases Now these Remedies are fetched either of Vegetables or Animals or Minerals and all do equally belong to the Art and are to be accounted the Matter of Physick and the common end of these is the health of Mans Body The Nobleness of Physick Hence it will follow that of all Arts and Sciences that are in the World Physick is the most Noble First In regard of the Nobility of its Subject about which it is conversant to wit the Body of Man and that not meerly as the subject of its consideration for so it falls under Natural Philosophy but of its Work And secondly in regard of the Excellency of its end to wit Health which of all things this World doth afford is the most desirable thing and infinitely to be preferred before all the wealth in the World and indeed is that which sweetens all other enjoyments Now the Chymical Way of Practice is an Appendix to the third part of Physick and is no more distinct from the Art of Physick Chymistry a part of the Art of Physick than if a man should speak of the Vegetable or Animal Way of Practice and therefore if it be not joyned with Physiology and Pathology it is not to be called Methodical And O that I might now have the Honour of being a Moderator in the Difference that by some is started in the Faculty to the breach of the Publick Peace and Amity that ought to be among us Why should we divide while we agree both in the Subject and the End Let not these young heads breed a difference among those that are sage and grave 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 as Heliodorus says in Aethiop Young heads are forward who if they amend not with more modest and amicable philosophizing though I give not that hard Censure which others would give yet let them be assured there are some that will make bold to write this old Adage upon their Books especially if they be like this Qui semel modestiae limites transiliit nisi cito castigetur gnaviter evadet impudens I shall now proceed P. 193. Mr. S. says The Galenists pretend to a Method in curing of Diseases But whether is not this Method more directed to the mitigating of the Luxuriant Symptomes than to the immediate encountering with the Essential Cause of the Disease The Galenists strike at the roâ—t of Diseases I reply
Diseases have their times viz. their Beginning Growth State and Declination and several Symptomes proper to their several times these while they observe they arm against them acting rationally not only for the lopping off the Branches but the stubbing up the Roots of the Diseases As in a Fever in which he instances those which he calls Symptomes are as so many Limbs of the Disease which being knit together and joyned to the inward Cause make up the Fever and that Method that he mentions to be used in Phlebotomy Cooling-Juleps Emulsions Frequent Purgations Laudanum and the like against the Symptomes prove the Cure of the Disease â—leeding Thus Phlebotomy in a Fever that permits it especially where there is a Plethora and after due preparation as the case may require and time give leave of all which the Physician that is called to attend it is the most competent Judge and not another supposing as he says there be a fault in the Blood as in Putrid Fevers takes away some of the peccant humors and combust matter and consequently strikes at the root Juleps Juleps do not only quench the inward heat and driness by their coolness and moisture but as they may be compounded by a knowing Physician do correct crudity and resist putrefaction and malignity and so strike at the root Emulsions Emulsions do correct the acrimony of the Humors and open the Passages of Urine furthering Natures expulsion of the matter of the Disease that way as also amend the intemperate heat of the Stomach and inward parts Purging and so strike at the root Purging especially if there be a Cacochimia takes away the peccant Humors and so also do Clysters they both drawing down from the Head and Noble Parts which oft times in Fevers are mainly affected and so not only loppe off the Symptomes but directly strike at the root And any of these may be reiterated according to emergency of Indications due regard being ever had to the age and strength of the Patient for ante omnia summe est habenda ratio virium Upnoticks So likewise Vpnoticks quench the ebullition of the Blood and correct the acrimony of the Humors asswage Pain and help Sleep in which special care is ever to be had that they be seasonably and regularly administred Now this Method have all the Ancient and Modern Physicians of the World constantly observed in their management of Fevers with such other things as they judged fit and have been successful yea even our selves at this very day have sufficient Experience of the commodiousness of this Method and have THOVSANDS of Witnesses that have found the benefit thereof in the restitution of their Healths out of Fevers which malice it self cannot contradict or gainsay But if in this Methodical and I may say Rational Process there be any Remora either through the Nature of the Disease it self or the Constitution of the Patient that may hold the Physician tugge and retard the Cure is it likely to be lamended by a Pseudochymist especially by a Tyro in the Faculty whose Tools are such as these by his own Confession which are generally poysons or but newly separated there from But he goes on P. 193. and says Vnless the Theory of Diseases be certain and infallible the Method of Practise grounded thereon cannot be satisfactory How now Mr. S. will nothing less than infallibility suffice you Of infallibility not found among the Galenists I must confess it is not to be found among the Galenists The Art of Physick is not 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 but 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 not from Heaven but from Men. Our Universal Theorems are such 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 but not 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 No Rule with us so general but it may admit of an Exception No Process but sometimes it may fail us Let us leave this Point of Infallibility to be discussed by the Divines who have a Rule belonging to them that may undoubtedly challenge it to wit the Holy Scriptures being given forth by God who is infallible and changes not though sometimes the Glosses that are put upon it are erroneous by reason of the weakness and oft times the wickedness of men It is enough for us that our Art is grounded on sound reason and constant experience though we have nothing of Infallibility yea and the wisest of men we have to deal with are very weâ—l satisfied while we act for them according to our Art which they know to be Rational though it be not Infallible and therefore they do not charge it upon the Profession or our selves as a defect while we satisfie their Reason though we may fall of success but do patiently submit to that irresissible and inevitable Statute of Heaven Statutum est omnibus semel mori It is appointed for all men once to die I question whether Solomon was 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or infallible in writing upon the Plants and yet I believe if we had that Book and did rightly understand it we should have excellent Remedies and perhaps find cures for some Diseases which now we judge to be incurable The Scriptures were given forth by the inspiration of the Holy Ghost to be a Standing Rule of Faith to the end of the World and we expect no new addition or Revelation The Art of Physick was found out by men through a large Tract of Observation for some thousands of years and improved by Reason and admits of daily growth and improvement by Experience which even all the Learned Writers Ancient and Modern did expect to be though they should not live to see it I know none but Paracelsus that ever pretended to be infallible and he does it plainly and by this Objection of Mr. Simpson I suspect he does believe him else why should he urge the want of infallibility in the Theorems of the Galenists as an Argument against their Method Paracelsus claims it Paracelsus in his Preface to the Book that bears the Title Paragranum ranting highly against the Method of Physick delivered by the Ancients extols his own to the Stars in such a multitude of vain brags as would be tedious to recite and among others he has this Expression Ars ipsa contra me non vociferatur Est enim immortalis ac super fundamentum constituta tam solidum ut necesse sit prius cum terra ipsum coelum frangi interire quam ea emoriatur intereat To wit The Art it self exclaims not against me for mine is immortal and established upon such a solid Foundation that Heaven and Earth shall perish and come to nothing before it fail or come to nothing And a little after in the same Preface he flies out into another proud Rant Vos dico Parisienses vos Monspessulani vos Misnenses c. In English thus All you of the Vniversity of Paris you of Montpellier you of Misnia you of Colen and as many as live within the compass of the two great
Pyrologia Mimica OR AN ANSWER TO HYDROLOGIA CHYMICA of WILLIAM SYMPSON Phylo-Chymico-Medicus In DEFENCE of SCARBROVGH-SPAW WHEREIN The Five Mineral Principles of the said Spaw are defended against all his Objections by plain Reason and Experiments and further confirmed by a Discovery of Mr. S. his frequent Contradictions and manifest Recantation ALSO A Vindication of the Rational Method and Practice of Physick called Galenical and a Reconciliation betwixt that and the Chymical Likewise a further Discourse about the ORIGINAL of SPRINGS By ROBERT WITTIE Doctor in Physick LONDON Printed by T. N. for J. Martyn Printer to the R. Society at the Bell without Temple-Bar 1669. To the Right Honourable JAMES Earl of Suffolk and JOHN Lord Roos Son and Heir to the Earl of Rutland My Lords BEing necessarily engaged to appear again in Publick in Vindication of what I formerly writ upon the Subject of Scarbrough-Spaw and the asserting of the Mineral Principles thereof it reminds me of my Obligations to Your Lordships to whom of right belongs from me what ever Product that Spring affords What there I had said about the Principles of that Spring I have here further made good by convincing Arguments answering all Objections to the contrary My Lords Here is also a Defence of the Rational Method and Practice of Physick which a fierce Chymical Pretender has designed to blast to which I have added my Endeavors of a Reconciliation between the Galenists and Chymists in Reference to some Differences started up among them through the perversness of some late Upstarts The Honourable Testimony I have heard Both Your Lordships give of your sincere Affection to Your respective Physicians and the Art of Physick doth justly challenge this Acknowledgement and renders Your Lordships most fit Patrons of This that designs the Peace of the Faculty Be pleased to accept this as a Symbole of Thanks and Service due to Both from My Lords Your Lordships Most humble Servant R. Wittie York May 25. 1669. To the Judicious and Impartial READER WHen I published my Book of Scarbrough-Spaw I thought it was the most acceptable service I could do for my Countrey since I found it even in Twenty years experience to be eminently successful in the Cure of very many Diseases which had resisted all Rational Methods that had been used either by my self or others of my Faculty In that Book I treat of the Constituent Principles of that Water viz. Iron Vitriol Alome Nitre and Salt And then for Methods sake I discourse concerning the Original Cause of every sort of Water as Sea Rain Snow Lake Pond Fenne Spring and River Water and more at large I handle the Controversie among Philosophers both Ancient and Modern about the Original of Springs I then proceed to treat of Mineral Waters with the property of the Minerals which that Spring has imbibed and conclude with a Description of the Nature and Vertues of that Spaw and of the Cures done by the Water which I did recite upon my own Reputation in my First Edition And that being sold the Report of the Vertues of the Spaw I thought fit to confirm in the Second Impression by the Attestation of several Persons of Honour and Quality yet living on whom the like Cures were done in their several Cases who for Publique Good did willingly allow the mention of their Names not doubting but it would find acceptance among Ingenuous Persons and indeed so it did for I have had hearty thanks from many of the best Rank both Philosophers Physicians and Others But of late I have met with a Check in a Book called Hydrologia Chymica set forth by William Simpson Philo-Chymico-Medicus which I rather think merits the Title of PYROLOGIA MIMICA since his main business is to treat of Chymical Experiments prepared out of Fire which he borrows from Others besides that he spits Fire in every Page He pretends to deny the said Principles of the Spring though he asserts the Vertues thereof and engages in the Dispute about the Original of Springs All which if he had managed like a Scholar by dint of Argument for the discovery of Truth in each particular it might have been for his Credit and should never have been disgusted by me But instead of that He sets his Wits on the Rack on every account to bespatter me with rude and uncivil Language even without any Ground or Reason wherein I willingly submit to the Judgement of the Reader But who am I that I may not bear it when the most Famous Vniversities in the World and all the Learned Men in Europe do not escape a severe Censure concerning their Studies from the malevolent Pen of this bare Batchelour of Arts and all the Learned Physicians in the World and their Rational Method of Physick must be undervalued as trivial and successless meerly to make way for a few Chymical Medicines of his own I confess I have been advised by several Learned Gentlemen of my Friends to let him alone and not to honour him with an Answer who urged to me that Example of Scaliger who being told that a mean Fellow had writ saucily against him answered Relatum est mihi Scarabaeum quendam contra me scribere cui respondere nec dignitatis est nec Otii I have been told said he that a certain Scarabee has writ against me to whom it doth neither become me nor have I leisure to give Answer But I could not be so satisfied to let the young man go on in such a Carier without a Curb since I have writ nothing but what I am assured to be true and am well able to defend against all his Objections Although I confess I am not at very good leasure to do it in regaâ—d of my other Occasions especially since I am hereby interrupted in my Latine Copy upon the Subject of the Spaw which I thought should have seen the light this year Nor do I know of any one else that is so much concerned to undertake it I therefore took his Book into Consideration concerning which I must say as once Julian did upon a better thing 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in which sunt bona sunt quaedam mediocria sunt mala plura Or as Homer 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Besides his words which are his own stuft with bombaste I see nothing in it but what is vulgar Those indeed are such and so affected wherein I find him constantly incircled as if like Faustus he went about to conjure up Mephistophiles Or as if the Chymical Spirits were like the Infernal that they will not be raised without hard and big words His Experiments which are not a few are pillaged out of Kircher Helmont Zwelfer Sennertus Mr. Boyle Sendivogius and Dr. French his Book of Knaresbrough Spaw and several others though he is rarely so candid as to own them The Inferences which thence he deduces are most what upon mistaken grounds drawing general Conclusions from particular Premises His Philosophy is not at all to
be liked being altogether novel and precarious His Candor and Ingenuity less Defamation being the main Topick of all his Discourses I wish for his own sake his Divinity may be better for I have seldom seen any one so Sceptical in Reason but the same has been Heterodox if not Heretical in Religion My Lord Cook says there are two things that marres many a Lawyer to wit Praepostera Lectio praepropera Praxis Give me leave to apply it to Physicians and particularly to this my Antagonist It does appear he fell among ill Books and read unwholsome Authors in Physick or else he began at the wrong end reading the Therapeutick part before he understood Physiology and Pathology otherwise his parts well laid would have rendred him far more useful in his Country than now he is likely to be as for the later viz. Praepropera Praxis he is at leisure enough for that save only in his Laboratory I confess I never saw any man so big with himself that like the Frog in the Fable he is ready to burst either through Pride or Envy if I could now help with a piece of good Midwifery and bring him to a safe Delivery he would have great cause to thank me But as to his Book more expresly thus In the beginning he stiffly denies all the Principles of the Spaw which I mentioned save Alome and disputes against me with Dunghil Language such as the Schools know not and all ingenuos men abhor and yet would you think it before he has done he yields them all to be there viz. Iron P. 39. and P. 44. and 45. So Vitriol P. 359. And Nitre P. 360. and 364. where he is put to a sore pinch to fumble at Expressions on purpose to blind some capacities from discovering his Contradictions To say no more than truth I never met with any Author so unstable in his Writings even to say and unsay as this my Antagonist which I shall point at as I pass along Then he goes on to tell what Diseases the Spaw cures and what not wherein he is altogether Mimical being wholly confined to what I have said in my Book or what in Reason may follow therefrom for otherwise I am assured he is a meer stranger to it almost as he that never saw it to which yet I can adde some eminent Cures that I have not already expressed He next passes on to treat of the Causes of several Diseases which he refers to some Fault in his Five Digestions I wonder he did not make 50. This Notion is purely Helmonts though he curtails his number of which he has a peculiar Tract called Sextuplex Digestio alimenti humani P. 166. But for want of the right understanding of Anatomy Sir S. grosly mistakes which our Modern Authors since the happy Discovery of the Circulation of the Blood and some Vessels lately found out in the Contexture of the Parts by some of our own ingenious Countreymen have more intelligently proposed In his Discourse about the Original of Hot Springs he determines the heat to proceed from a Mine of Vive Calx which Notion he grounds upon a Relation that I made in my Book of a most Ingenuous Observation of a Noble Lord of this Kingdome near the City Bathe though he has not so much ingenuity as to own it To say what I find he is resolved to do me no right Where he undervalues the Rational Method of Physick and extols his own Medicines as more Noble and Successful I shall joyn issue with him in weighing his Arguments and examining his Medicines which he himself has described together with some matters of Fact as they relate to him Here I would not be thought as if I were an Enemy to the Chymical Way or those that are Learned Professors thereof I am serious I account it a singular Additament and Ornament to the Noble Art of Physick and the most useful Part of Experimental Philosophy and such as the Old Princes in Physick would have rejoyced to have known And I do sincerely love and honour those that imploy their Talents in a genuine preparation of wholsom Medicines out of the Minerals and Metals and I have not been idle altogether in those Operations my self having sometimes had a Laboratory of my own wherein a very Learned Gentleman of this Kingdom and my self did imploy some time and money and of late I have not been wanting to make several Experiments out of the Minerals of this Spaw as I have mentioned in several places of my Book though not with such Noyse and Cracks Besides in my Practice near 30 years wherein on this sudden I can scarce think on any Disease which has not been under my Cure I have not been wanting to use them according as I saw cause wherein what my success has been I chuse rather to let my Countrey report only this I may with modesty affirm it has been like others of my Faculty And I must also declare that what ever my success has been I must rather ascribe it to the Blessing of God upon a Rational Method than Chymical Preparations But why any that addict themselves to that Study should go about to make Chymistry an Art of its own kind or like a Viperous Brat to eat through the Bowels of its Dam and so to cry down that wholsome Method and those Medicines that in the hands of Artists have in all Ages proved successful for the good of Mankind I see no reason in the world And I am sure there is no cause why this Man should so magnifie his own Preparations in comparison of others as I shall with satisfaction have occasion to make out anon Touching his Project for an Universal Character which a man would wonder how he should bring into this Discourse save that he would be a Sir Positive-At-all He has all his hints from a very Reverend Person of this Nation who before his Book on that Subject came out was frequently free in discourse concerning the thing and had given out several Essays As to his Discourse about the Constitutive Principles of all Concretes which he fetches from Helmont quarrelling at the Three Ordinary Principles of the Chymists to wit Sal Sulphur and Mercury and the Five of others he resolves all into Water which certainly is a Mixt Body and consists of the Four Elements And I pray may not that again be easily resolved into nothing and so become an Argument to prove the Creation In his Appendix concerning the Original of Springs He is most disingenuous and shews himself to be a man that can blush at nothing pretending to have answered all the Arguments in my Book which I have urged for Rain and Snow Water to be the Original of Springs when he leaps over no less than three or four whereon the stress of the Opinion does most lie and only touches upon something that I brought in by way of Illustration not of Proof I am ashamed that any man that
rooting of the Fevers that exacted the repetition of the remedy than from the bleeding it self But P. 107. he comes to his Club-Law Nay after a ternary of Bleedings and as often Vomitings and Purgings in an Obstinate Fever c. One being asked what he would now do after all this He answered that unless he run the same round again he was at a stand what to do further The querying Person returned that he did believe if he run but the same round over again from the beginning to the end the Patient would by that time be cured of all Diseases I desire the Reader to take notice that W. S. says all this was done in an OBSTINATE FEVER and I pray will not an Obstinate Disease require an extraordinary process Although I aver here is nothing that he mentions done in the Case which any Artist in the World would not have done and doubtless is frequently put to And this is agreeable to what Hippocrates counsels Aphor. 6. lib. 1. Vehementioribus morbis vehementiora remedia viz. Great Diseases must have answerable remedies Not that here I used any Medicines that were violent but benigne enough in all things suited to Indications and the strength of the Patient although it seems I did that which W. S. understood not and so I believe I may have occasion to do again The Case of Major J. St. Here I think fit to tell the Story that he aims at which I have liberty to do and name the Party if I please but it 's enough that many hundreds do know whom I mean Major J. St. a Gentleman of note in Yorkshire of a good habit of body and in the flower of his age did for more than a year labour under an Anorexia or Loss of Appetite and Digestion so as I have often heard his Landlady say If she had been confined to his flint in eating during all the time she must needs have been starved At last the Gentleman got a Surfet to which was joyned a most Violent Fever and a continual vomiting of what ever he took Now was I consulted and saw cause to give a Vomit and let blood and indeed to do many things for the Correction of the violent Symptomes and the Cure of the Disease which was not likely to be very easily done as the Reader may guess since it had been so long in taking root In a few dayes the continual Fever in all its Symptomes abated only being in Winter it degenerated into a Tertian This required a reiteration of the Vomit and Bleeding and Purging according as I saw cause with several other remedies whereby I daily gained ground and had occasion to make very hopeful Prognosticks although the Disease ran out unto two Moneths at the least While I was thus acting for my Patient this Mr. Simpson procured himself to be introduced one day to the Major by a Gentleman who was an intimate Associate of his and pressed the Major to take the advice of this RARE CHYMIST whose Medicines he said would soon make a Cure The Major told them both he was abundantly satisfied in what I was doing and bid Mr. S. take his time Here I could wish that all Physicians of a more regular stamp than this young man that have taken their Degrees in Physick or otherwise are legally licentiated were not also too prone to undervalue their Profession in begging Practice and rudely intruding themselves into other mens business without any Call especially in the latter end of a great Disease which is the Custome of some But at this Mr. Simpson was very much offended and this is the business he aims at Some few dayes after the Gentleman met me at the Majors Chamber and asked me what I thought of the event of all and what further I would do I knowing from the Major himself his design and his good will towards me told him I had good grounds of hope of recovery and further it may be not so gratefully to him said I would do as I should see cause pro re nata even as I had done all the while And herein I followed the Counsel of Hippocrates 2 lib. Aph. 52. Si medico secundum rectam rationem facienti curatio non statim succedat non est tamen mutanda Methodus quamdiu id restat quod a principio visum est viz. If while a Physician doth act according to right reason the Cure does not presently succeed he ought not yet to change his Method so long as that remains which was seen from the beginning And whereas W. S. urges that all this while I gave him not one good Diaphoretick P. 175. though I am not bound to be accountable to him yet on this occasion I will endeavour to set him right and do assure him that during this course I gave him three times as many Diaphoreticks as I did of any Medicine whatsoever as my Bills this day extant in the Apothecaries Shop do testifie and the Patient himself now in perfect health doth witness Now you must know this Gentleman who would have introduced W. S. was a Pseudo-Chymist who had wasted great summes of money in making Chymical Experiments and a Principal Confederate of Mr. Simpsons and had a great hand ☜ in compiling of this Book against me as himself several times told the Major while it was in fieri bragging how much they would wound me by it concerning which the Major is ready to give Oath if there were occasion But within a few Moneths after the Gentleman himself fell sick and so physicked himself with his own Chymical Preparations that he soon cured himself of all Diseases ☞ Upon the whole matter I admire at the folly of my Antagonist that he would urge any thing herein as an Argument against me seeing he could not but know that the Patient soon after did throughly recover long before his Book went to the Press But why do I trouble my self to rectifie W.S. in his gross mistakes about the cure of Fevers whereby he will know more than hitherto by all his other Reading save onely that I would let him know that the Galenists whom he so uncivilly spurns at have good ground for every thing they do in the management of their business though he understands it not and that their endeavours are by the Blessing of God found very successful even in the most arduous Cases But at length He grants that the single breathing of a Vein or Artery or Moderate Phlebotomy may and doth sometimes help in a Fever I am glad the Gentleman is convinced now at length it s not long since he was of another mind for about three years ago when he writ his Zenexton Antipestilentiale he severely declared against bleeding even in Pleurisies there he says P. 41. that it is unnecessary in all Fevers though if any the Pleurisie may seem to plead a necessity but to whom onely to the Galenists who know no better remedy I am afraid some ☜
poor men paid dear for his Learning But I wonder what he means by single breathing of a Vein this is the doing it but once and in a small quantity which will not alwayes serve the turn especially in the Disease we are speaking of viz. a Pleurisie in which Case Hippocrates advises to do it in case of extremity twice a day and so on according to the magnitude of the Disease and strength of the Patient as I my self had occasion to do it this last week even to 5 or 6 times while no Diaphoretick Vegetable or Mineral or other Applications inward or outward would take off the Pungent Pains and that with excellent success As for Moderate Phlebotomy that may be and yet be done more than once even often and be accounted but Moderate if the Case require it and better it is to take often than too much at once P. 108. I confess says he I never order Phlebotomy oftner than once in a Fever and that with reluctancy bemoaning my self It seems Mr. S. is a very PITIFVL PHYSICIAN Well! it s enough he shall not teach me but really I believe he has had many partners with him in that sorrow Nay further I have been with some Patients says he who in Pleurisies have undergone a Galenical Method of twice bleeding c. ready for the third time and the Fever as high as at the first whom after all this I have cured with a Diaphoretick Specifick once or twice repeated and sometimes one single Dose thereof has done the feat Speak out man where was this Those that have good advantages to observe and do well know Mr. S. do desire the Reader to understand that here is an HYPERBOLE which among all the other Figures of Rhetorick with which his Writings abound to the amusing of Common Readers he thinks not fit to leave out Then he goes on and says That bleeding doth diametrically oppose the fortification of the Digestions and Vital Spirits because it robs the blood of its treasure surreptitiously stealing away its balsome and debilitates the Vital Spirits making them lower their Top-sails c. Even just so a Ship in a Storm over-laden with Merchants Goods for the saving whereof some part is thrown over-board is much injured by being robbed of her treasure whilst after it she can hoyst up her Top-sail when the Mizen was too much before P. 109. As in Acute so in Chronical Diseases the frequent use of Phlebotomy is not commendable nor proper If he had told what Chronical Diseases he had meant I should probably have joyn'd issue for some do necessarily require it as the Case may be put and others as severely interdict it And therefore he ought to have specified his Case in all reason before he had condemned it The Scurvy is a Chronical Disease and doth require bleeding if there be Strength and a Plethorical Constitution and other things premised that are advised by the Learned So is the Consumption and the Dropsie in both which Cases it is not tolerable Of Thirst in Fevers P. 110. Mr. S. is Retrograde in his Discourse resuming his Topick of Thirst which of all Symptomes is most urging which says he according to the Galenists proceeds from a hot and dry Distemper of the Stomach to answer which Indication they most frequently order cool and moist things which if the cause of thirst were as they suppose they would have a most facile way of Cure in case that were true Contraria suis contrariis curantur And then he falls on as his manner was before to inveigh against Cool Drinks Well! T is no great matter Mr. S. will never hurt Physician while he keeps in this mind and never profit Patient I have already expressed the necessity and usefulness of Cooling Drinks and therefore I 'l not further enlarge onely do say that if it be singly a hot and dry Distemper at the Stomach its necessary to correct it with Drinks that are Cold and Moist as the most present remedy to wit necessitate medii although the end doth not alwayes presently follow the most rational means And if it be the Symptome of a Fever although it require other things which are not done in instanti yet drinking Cool Drink is necessary too lest through the omission of it that Symptome of Thirst become more intolerable than the Fever it self Contraria contrariis curantur As for the Rule that he refers to Contraria contrariis curantur It is to be understood in a right sense Nature it self is Morborum Curatrix and therefore those things which do strengthen Nature have a great influence into the Cure of Diseases although they act not thus by any contrariety of quality in respect of the Disease but from a similitude of property for the supplying of Natures deficiency which having now got new force and vigor arms it self against the Disease and reduces its excesses into a Mediocrity acting in every thing contrary to the Disease and thus Nature works as an efficient and proximal Cause and the remedy as an instrumental and more remore Cause Again There are some Diseases that seem to be cured by their like thus vomiting by a Vomit and purging by a Purge although these are not performed per se but per accidens by the taking away of thosâ— peccant humors which being retent were the Causes of the Malady But as for such Diseases as do consist in the excess of some one or more of the four first qualities those are cured by their Contraries thus a Hot Disease is best helped by Cooling and a Cold Disease by Heating Remedies and so I might also say of the other two viz. Driness and Moisture and this is agreeable not onely to the Doctrine of Hippocrates and Galen and all their Followers but even the knowing Chymists assent thereto and Paracelsus goes this way who treating of the solution of Metals Tract 2. cap. 8. Hoc inquit ad differentias Metallorum attendi debet ut si Morbus a calore sit Metalla frigida assumas si a frigore calida That is to say As to the difference of Metals diligent heed is to be taken that if the Disease come from heat you take those Metals that are cold and if from cold then such as are heating Onely Mr. Simpson is very hasty for he says P. 110. Nihil fit in instantâ— If Diseases be cured by their Contraries then the Cure should be forthwith effected even as soon as an answerable degree is applied I deny the consequence for nihil fit in instanti Natural Agents are not so quick and forcible in their Operation nor are Patients so ready to receive impression especially when the contrary quality to what it has already is to be imprinted upon it for there is a reluctancy arising from the contrariety that hinders the instantaneous effect which must first be overcome by the more forcible strength of the Agent before the contrary quality can be stampt upon it
by all means so to do it as it may be safe and yet successful Now this Medicine is used in Malignant Fevers or otherwise when we would provoke Sweat but if it be not well prepared and purged from its Arsenical Sulphur what woful work would there be if instead of sweating the Patient should fall into vomiting or purging Ay but says he it is of my own preparation and therefore I dare more confide in it Therefore indeed he may the better give it but the main Question is Whether the Patient may the better take it Besides if Antim Diaph may contract a malignant quality from the Air were it not safer to give it in a less quantity and may not there also be danger lest the Acid Humors in the Body should make it resume its Malignity as well as the Air Upon the account of all which let wise men judge whether acts more prudently he that gives 60 Grains or he that gives 8 or 10. For further satisfaction concerning this thing I refer the Reader to what I have to say in my Animadversions on the 195th Page of this his Book P. 115. He proceeds to treat of what Diseases the Spaw at Scarbrough cures viz. The Scurvy Dropsie Stone Strangury Jaundice Hypochondriack Melancholy Cachexia Womens Diseases c. I confess I cannot but wonder to see the confidence of Mr. S. who knows nothing at all of these things but by my Book no more than he that lives at Constantinople and has read my Book there Indeed this is the onely thing wherein I am beholden to him in that he gives me Credit although sometimes he makes Comments which the Text will not bear and by a multiplicity of foolish new-coyn'd words doth obscure that even to some wise and learned men which was plain and obvious to Common Understandings ☞ But upon the grounds he yet goes on I declare it impossible that the Spaw should have such Vertue as to cure these Diseases for if we observe he owns nothing of a Mineral property to be in it but an Esurine Aluminous Salt P. 116. Numb 3. Now whether we consider the properties of Alome as I have instanced in the 145. Page of Scarb. Spaw 2d Edition or the Verdict of the most profound Authors concerning Aluminous Springs we shall find it impossible that the Spaw should have any such Vertue upon his Principle he rests on as I have already made out in my animadversions on P. 61. But to amend the matter He would have it seconded by other penetrating Medicines of his own preparation Why I can assure him the Cures I mention were done without any of his preparations and the like probably may be done again although not without some other helps sometimes as the Cases may require P. 118. He tells of a sort of Dropsie which he stiles Anasarcasis which is a word I guess of his own coyning for he means Anasarca He says They that are tapp'd for the Dropsie viz. the Tympany for he is speaking of it in which Case doubtless he never saw any man tapp'd they let forth an almest insipid liquor so that water which passeth from those that drink plentifully of the Spaw has no Vrinous Salt and so neither Tincture nor Sapour Sure he never saw any tapp'd for the Dropsie in that he says it is insipid I have several times found it of a brown Colour and a brackish Taste And if he will distill or evaporate away the water of those that drink of the Spaw as I have done he shall find a slimy Sediment highly impregnated with an Urinous Salt P. 119. He tells That There are some Causes of a Dropsie which will resist all Medicines except the noblest of Chymical Arcana's Really it 's great pity he had not found those Chymical Arcana's when Robert Beford was in his hands in this Disease of whom I made mention before whom if he had let alone he might probably have seen cured without Chymical Arcana's Lunar Pills P. 120 He reckons up several of his Chymical Arcana's which he counts highly of for the Cure of the Dropsie among which are the Pilulae Lunares of which he confesses he never found any considerable success and for the sake of the Aqua Fortial he rather advises against ☞ I am much afraid poor Beford had of these his Lunar Pills which he took for Chymical Arcana's for his Complaint was of such an Heat and Corrosion in his Stomach and Bowels as if he had taken his Aqua Fortial Spirits But it 's well he does confess his fault and I wish he may reform and not make Experiments of Poysonous Medicines upon the Bodies of Men to the hazard of their Lives in an Empirical use of unsafe and ill-corrected Mineral Medicines imperfectly described in Paracelsus and Helmont which he knows not either how to make or use Of Hysterical Fits P. 128. He proceeds to treat of the Hysterical Fits in Women where he runs as almost in all things such a riot in an unwholsome form of words peculiar to himself alone as who so will have the patience to read shall find matter enough for laughter but nothing that merits the least line of reply Satis est nominasse refelli A False Charge Only I observe he forges a Figment upon the Galenists as if they should say that the Fits of the Mother do proceed from a Windiness of the Matrix which he most scurrilously fancies to be charged like a Gun and ramm'd c. which I wonder he is not ashamed to have said and exposed to publick view in unsavory words which a regular Scholar or Physician or a good Christian would abhor to have written and every modest Person especially those of the Female Sex do abominate to read But besides this its utterly false for no such thing was ever said or writ by any man that deserves the name of a Galenist nor if you mark does he cite any of their Writings in the Case neither indeed in any thing that he objects against them but frames Arguments out of his own Brain on purpose to traduce them In this business I 'l refer the Learned and Judicious Reader to my late intimate Friend and Collegue Doctor Primerose in that excellent Treatise of his de Morbis Mulierum where he treats in lib. 3. cap. 11. of this Disease he reckons up the Opinions both of the Ancients and Modern Writers concerning the Causes of these Hysterical Fits but not one syllable of Windiness in the Matrix to be the cause of them At last he concludes of two principal Causes from whence they proceed ordinarily P. 207. Frequenter itaque causa est seminis corruptio ut in viduis libidinosis Mulieribus si Viri amplexibus fraudentur contingit And this he shews to agree with what Hippocrates Galen Epicurus Democritus Rondeletius and others have writtten Another cause which he assigns P. 209. is Quilibet humor in utero putrescens tetrum venenatumque vaporem
Art by the Galenists Why I have already shown that the Galenists do not except against the Art though perhaps they may except against some that call themselves Operators therein Galenists are not enemies to Chymistry I do verily believe they are better friends to the Art of Chymistry than many that call themselves Chymists for they honour it by making wholsome preparations and using them in due and safe proportions and with such success too as no man complains of them and therefore they have alwayes been improvers of it whereas some of the other go to poysonous Drugs which its to be suspected they do not prepare well or cannot and hence many mischiefs ensue in their Practice First says he They say the Chimical Remedies are Hot which we deny and he instances in Antimonium Diaphoreticum Bezoarticum Minerale Cinnabar of Antimony none of which are Hot to the Taste What then I pray may they not yet be Hot in Operation in the Stomach and Bowels though not in the Taste There may be a Corroding Quality which may revive upon the access of the Acid Humors in the Stomach from that Drug that to the Taste was not Hot as even now I proved out of Zwelfer concerning this very Antimonium Diaphoreticum and the same I may so of Bezoarticum Minerale which is also made out of Antimony and sometimes with Aqua fortis vide Schroder P. 411. and so likewise of the Cinnabar Of Coldness in the Air. From this he takes occasion to discourse of Cold and the Cause thereof in the Air making it to be a Positive Quiddity to wit if I understand him aright a substance and yet inherent in the Air How this will stand with the Rules of Philosophy it were well he had made out which denies Penetrationem Corporum Certainly Cold is rather a Quality naturally inherent in the Air which it alwayes retains unless by the reverberation of the Sun-beams in this lower Region it be altered so that if any thing happen to debar it from the Suns heat that which was warm will soon be cool again more or less according to the prevalency and duration of those External Causes P. 174. He again resumes his invective against the Galenists for giving Cold Drink in Fevers which he says denotes their ignorance of the Essential Cause of a Fever To discourse here about the Essential Causes of Fevers is impertinent and it would be tedious I shall only say what ever is the Cause its necessary that violent pressing Symptome of Heat and Drought be regarded without which there will be foul work But to this I have spoken already ad P. 102. well Mr. S. take your Course and so will the Galenists you are pertinacious in your Opinion and I shall not further endeavour to undeceive you The Galenists cured Fevers before you were born or Paracelsus either from whom you fetch this Notion and you see daily they do so still It 's to be seared this Opinion of yours for I cannot call it Judgement will cost many a man his life It 's very strange to me says he that their daily Observation doth not convince them of the folly of administring cooling things they cannot but see that no good effect comes thereon They will still trace the same trod though they be lasht for it both in their reputation and otherwise How now I am jealous it was the Midsummer Moon when â—his was writ for but a leaf before he was talking of the Suns coming into the Tropick of Cancer which perhaps might have some influence upon his Pericranium or is it that 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Sir If the Galenists had no better reputation than you they would certainly have very little I wish you had spoken out and told the World what are your Observations concerning the Galenists success in Fevers even those among whom you live or in other Diseases Hitherto we have heard of nothing to their dishonour Note I know some Learned and very Observant Gentlemen that are well enough opinionated of the Chymical Way that seeing the success of the Galenists and Chymists so different have seriously professed they would not venture their Lives in the hands of such Chymists as they know especially in a Fever P. 175. They will blood twice or thrice and purge as often and yet scarce will they order one good Diaphoretick Mr. S. I see in all things follows the Machiavellian Rule fortiter incusa aliquid haerebit We had this before Certainly he has an ill Memory and a worse Method or else we should not have such frequent and frivolous Tautologies I guess he levels again at the Case of Major J. St. mentioned ad P. 107. whom in an Obstinate Fever as he stiled it which held out above two Moneths I did let blood and vomit and purge several times but I did also give him thrice as many Diaphoreticks which did operate very well and so I think were good which my Bills in the Shop this day will testifie and all this with eminent good success only I suspect it sticks on his Stomach that his offer of his service to the Major was rejected P. 176. I sometimes indulge says he the Feverish Patient with a Glass of the richest Sack he can procure Ay like enough hence the woful experience of some although to say the truth the Citizens of York are grown so wise that they are not willing to own the Toleration But to confirm the truth of what he here asserts concerning hot things to be useful in Fevers A rare Experiment he tells of an Experiment made upon himself in a Colical Distemper together with a Feverishness that accompanied it how that by the use of some hot Medicines and particularly of Elixir Proprietatis he found benefit where t is worth a laughter to read in what cleanly words he expresses himself which I am not willing to repeat I like this well indeed let him make Experiments on himself I am resolved he shall not try his Skill upon me But I pray is not this bravely confirmed from a little intemperate Heat or Feverishness as he calls it which was meerly lymptomatical from pain and that a Cold Cause viz. Wind to argue therefore it is most proper in a violent Fever If Mr. S. catch a Fever in earnest and manage it according to his present Opinion I 'l tell him his fortune he will become Felo de se and forfeit his Goods and Chattels to the King I can tell where one that vaunts himself a Chymist came to a Physitian at Malton who was himself also Chymist enough and in a Fever which before that seemed to be in its Declination gave him a Dose of this Elixir and some Diaphoretick Pills as he called them which immediately inflamed the Blood and Spirits so as that his nearest relations at this day say that it appeared to him immediately upon the taking of them to use his own expression as if his Eyes would have
of his head knew more than all the Writers in the World and that the Rings of his Shooes were more learned than either Galen or Avicen Et barba mea inquit experientiae majoris est quam Academiae vestrae universae viz My Beard says he is of greater Experience than all your Universities And this our Author we find comes not far behind his Master though perhaps he never read these things in him being both big with the like Tympany A Pardon asked Sir Simpson must pardon me if for the love I bear to Learning and the honour I have for the Vniversities I admonish him of these things I remember I have read of a Law among the Lacedemonians and Thurians which was this Qui juvenem quempiam aliquid indecori patrare vidisset nec quasi Filium proprium redarguisset emendassetque tanquam Malus Degener Civis multabatur viz. He that shall see a young man do something that is unbecomming and shall not reprove him and endeavour to amend him as if he were his own Son should be punished as an evil and degenerate Citizen And certainly nothing is more unbecomming a Scholar than thus to flie in the face of all Learning But here he seems to have some plea for himself in crying out against the Study of Ethicks affirming that They consult more the Sayings and Moralities of the Heathen than the Life of Christ and Christians I am assured this is a false Charge with many nor does the study of the Arts hinder the Profession of Religion in the least but the one is rather a Handmaid to the other And therefore we see that when our Saviour sent forth the Apostles who were Fishermen and probably illiterate he first qualified them with all manner of Learning whereby they had the Gift of Tongues and were also able to dispute against all Gain-sayers A Caution given I do heartily wish that notwithstanding this pretence of Mr. S. here concerning the life of Christ and Christians that whatever his judgement may be in other matters he take care that he do not follow Paracelsus in Religion For I find the famous Bullinger testifying that he often went to discourse with him and to try what Religion he was of Contuli sayes he cum eo semel atque iterum de rebus variis etiam Theologicis Religionis c. But he says he could never discern any thing of piety in him from any of his Speeches but that he pretended to Magick c. Raro aut nunquam ingrediebatur caetus sacros visus est Deum res divinas leviter curare c. To wit He seldome or never went to ☜ Church or the Publick Congregations and seemed slightly to regard God and his Ordinances and this Testimony is confirmed with a great deal more under the hands of Oporinus who had served him two years and Erastus a Learned Physician in Germany And yet I find Paracelsus in some of his Books like Mr. S. pretending to treat of Religion This Caution out of Christian Love I do on this occasion give to Mr. Simpson which I wish he may take kindly and follow whatever he does in the rest P. 208. How uncertain says he are Physicians in their Diagnosticks of Diseases I confess again they are not infallible in this point yet not so uncertain as he pretends if they be such as are well studied in the Art But what then because there is a possibility that in some difficult Cases they may erre must they therefore wilfully close with error and through abandoning of Study embrace affected ignorance To be deeply versed in the knowledge of Diagnosticks of Diseases of all good and bad Symptomes reckoned by Galen and Hippocrates c. only inable a man to be confident and thereby to commit folly by being too positive in the determination of life and death And were it not easie for Mr. S. if he would but look in a Glass to spie one that is not so versed that can be confident enough What means all this severe taxation of other men and things that deserve it not but a plain demonstration of superlative confidence and folly But if Physicians be confident in judging of the Nature of the Disease and this be grounded upon Reason judging as men from the sign to the thing signified and from the Cause to the Effect who can charge them with folly Of encouraging of Patients P. 209. Here he taxes some that out of confidence of their skill in Prognosticks use to promise to their Patients and themselves a recovery out of the Disease with words of Encouragement c. Now this being matter of fact is not to be disputed if he have any Credit In this particular we must distinguish concerning Diseases Some are Salutares Three sorts of Diseases which have no manner of danger in them here a Physician may appear confident and make encouraging Prognosticks Secondly there are some that are Ancipites viz. of a doubtful nature which sometimes admit of a Cure and sometimes not If a Physician do understand well the Nature of the Disease and the Constitution of the Patient he may be well able to predict what the event shall be and if he have good ground to hope well certainly he ought to keep the Patient from too much fear and despondency which in timorous spirited people would kill sooner than the Disease especially in such as are Hypochondriack yet in these great wisdom is to be used that while he thinks fit to encourage his Patient he still take care to act rationally and vigorously for the correcting of that part from whence the danger mostarises and yet for the saving of his own reputation that he discover to some wise and prudent Friend of the Patient wherein his ground of fear does lie A third sort there are which we call Lethales which either in their own Nature or according to the Circumstances of hic nunc will become mortal Here let a Physician take heed how he gives any encouragement either to the Patient or his Friends lest he suffer in his reputation as if he should not apprehend the danger and so fail in his Prognosticks Besides when a man must certainly die he had need to know what he is to do since upon that scantling of time depends ETERNITY Now in this point of Prognosticks every man is his own best Judge what ground he has to predict Life or Death and others ought not too severely to censure while in doubtful Cases if he see room for Action he rather trusts God and wise men with his reputation in speaking cheerfully than in hazarding the speedy ruin of the Patient by throwing him under despondency Have not we known some Chymists often promise a Cure within a fortnight when either the Patient has died within that time or become irrecoverable and a Galenist or two perhaps have been sent for when it has been too late This my Brethren can witness with
me and many in this City know it full well The Galenical way more difficult than the Chymical P. 213. I could heartily wish says he the Galenists would consult a more facile way of Practice such as by the efficacy thereof might prove more delightful to themselves and more grateful to the Patients Here I must confess some Pseudochymists have the advantage of the Galenists for they make Physick to have little of difficulty in it while they wholly employ their time in the narrow compass of the Minerals and Metals and read nothing of the Theorical part whereby they should be fitted for the due application of them for the cure of Diseases and this is that which makes so many at this day fall into that way to avoid the difficulties they should necessarily meet with all in seeking out the grounds of a rational Method which certainly requires more Learning and Judgement to understand it than the other from whence it is that even all our Modern Quacks in every corner of the Nation do run into the other way But Learned Men are not so contented they desire and endeavour to break through all difficulties not valuing their own Labour and Study to fit themselves for their Profession being desirous to understand not only the vertues and preparation of Medicines but also the Nature and Composition of Mans Body which is the Subject of their Work to which they are to be applied and likewise the Natures and Differences of all Diseases But since Mr. S. will be wishing I will wish too that he would become more modest and not think better of himself than he has cause that he would study to be quiet and do his own business that he would be wise unto sobriety that he would not bear false witness against his Neighbours and that he would endeavour to be serviceable in his Countrey by studying a sound way of Practice in his Profession Of Experimental Philâ—sophy Next he has a Project for the Improvement of Experimental Philosophy in order to which he says He thinks it would be necessary to lay aside our Books excepting such as refer to the communication of Experiments I like well indeed the confirming of Notions by Experiments where the Subject is capable of it but that cannot be in all things Certainly the World would soon run into Ignorance if all Learning and Books were laid aside that did not communicate Experiments But if that must be I wish his Book may be fiâ—st thrown aside as impertinent and that this of mine may go with it to boot for I would not have them separated indeed its pity they should be parted If after his preparation of some of these things he be yet to seek out their properties it were better to try his Experiments upon himself than upon others especially such as are sick who need present relief and ought not to be hazarded with making doubtful Experiments since certainly they call him not for any such intent nor can he merit thanks from the Patient with whom he takes such a course Pag. 217. He projects that some may be empleied to make Observations of the efficacy of Simples and others in their Laboratories may make Essences Tinctures Spirits Extracts Magisteries c. out of them and may have liberty of making Experiments thereof on Sick Persons Really I am ashamed to find any man that pretends to the Art of Physick My. S. his Project of making Experiments on sick persons to set so mean a rate upon the Bodies of Men in this Age of the World as to make Experiments upon such a Noble Subject Who would be so mad as to let him make his Experiments upon him It 's to be feared it has been too much his Practice already Certainly the World is not now in its Infancy nor the Art of Physick in its Childhood nor to learn to go If this man had but read these profoundly learned Authors Ancient or Modern whom he so tramples upon he might discern this Art to have attained to such a perfection as scarce any other can pretend to Not that I think it has reacht to such a pitch as that it may not admit of augmentation but certainly all is not to be expected from a Pseudo-Chymists Fornace and Laboratory The Vertues of Simples not always in their thin parts But here he supposes that all the Vertues of Simple Specificks must lie in their volatile parts which are to be extracted by vehement heat of Fire wherein certainly he mistakes the Essences Spirits Tinctures c. of various Simples being almost of the same nature and partaking more of the Fire than of the Simples themselves out of which they are taken from whence it is that they are all extreamly hot and offer violence to the Stomach So we see the Salts of several Plants are almost all the same while yet the Plants are of different Natures yea and not differing much from such as are taken out of the Minerals or Metals Now the Vertues of Vegetables consisting rather in their Natural Composition than in any one part I think they were at least many of them better left to Nature to extract their Specifick Properties than tormented by the â—ire which as I said before makes them like a man under the Rack â—utter that which was not thought of before and become of that quality which was not properly in them His project for an Universal Character Next he makes a Digression and discourses concerning an Universal Character which he borrows from a very Reverend Person of our Nation to whom in justice he ought to have left the Honour of his Project and not thus impertinently have thrust his Sickle into his Harvest But perhaps he has the like Opinion of himself that another had that I have read of who at Rome posted up his Papers upon the Gates of the Vatican challenging all the learned men in the World to dispute deomni Ente whom the ingenious Sir Thomas Moor once Lord Chancellor of England being then there did quickly confound with this Common Law Question Vtrum Averia capta in Withernam sint replegiabilia Pag. 239. He resumes his Subject and inveighs against the Galenical Method and Medicines extolling the Chymical Preparations because first he says They are less in bulk than the other and therefore they are less offensive to the Patient Here again I declare I am no Enemy to Chymical Medicines Chymical Medicines no better because little in bulk which I know to be well prepared though they are not much the more to be valued because they are little in bulk unless also they be benigne in their operation which oft times such as are given in small quantities are not but extreamly violent Thus a few Grains of Colocynthis will purge and that violently too yet not so safely as an Ounce of Cassia or Manna c. And so I might say of some Chymical Preparations which though they might be given
in a very small quantity perhaps a few Grains yet are not so safe as these I have mentioned or Syrupe of Damaske Roses or an Infusion of Sene c. And therefore Sennertus Cap. de Chymia blames those Pseudo-Chymists that in every even the smallest Diseases use to flie to their Medicines that are made out of Minerals or Metals Hoc unum agunt inquit ut in minima dosi Medicamenta Palato non ingrata exhibeant because says he they have a mind to make them the more grateful to the Palate in their small quantity quam vero illa interdum violenta corpori noxia sint parum sunt solliciti That is Little regarding how violent they are and how hurtful to the body To whom he applies that Rule Non solum jucunde sed tuto curandum We ought to cure not only with pleasant but with safe Medicines Galenical Medicines are safe and also successful Another thing for which he commends the Chymical before the Galenical Medicines is because they are less dangerous Here I verily suspect no man will believe him so as I might very well spare my labour of a reply especially if we consider the property of his own Medicines which in this Book he has told us he uses which are wholly made out of Minerals and Metals which he confesses P. 180 have in them an Arsenical property We say the Galenical are not at all dangerous but as Herophylus says 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 even the finger of God in the hand of an Artist And in these our dayes they are much more safe and benigne than in the dayes of old to wit among the Ancients we have our Sene Rubarb Cassia Manna Tamarinds c. unknown to them and far to be preferred for safety before their Peplium Colocynthis Enphorbium Scammony Hellebore c. which we lay almost wholly aside unless in some peculiar Cases when we would acuate our Medicines for a robust body And therefore our Patients complain not of heat and corrosion as we know they do from some mens Medicines Our successes do crown our Endeavors wherein we can appeal to our Countreymen If from the nature of Diseases sometimes we are slow yet we are sure and are trusted accordingly Our Patients relapse not from any violence or virulency in our Medicines as I have proved concerning Paracelsus Mr. S. severely taxes his Fellow-Chymists Yet he says he vindicates not the confident boastings of some Quacking Pretenders to Chymistry who presume to cure all Diseases with some secret Powder or Oyl or the like which when known is but a meer trifle c. while yet he says they vilifie all others that are more modest than themselves I must confess I wonder Mr. S. can talk at this rate against others of his Tribe when amongst them all ☞ none have discovered so much confident boasting or immodesty in vilifying others as he himself doth and that against the most learned Physicians in the World trampling upon both the Ancient and Modern Writers and undervaluing all Arts and Sciences and the University-Studies Why may not they as well cure all Diseases by their Powders and Oyls c. as he by his Ternary which when the World comes to know may prove as very trifles as theirs Qui alterum incusat ipsumse c. Some of the young Chymists begin at the wrong end Pag. 242. Where the Galenists in their Dispensatories end there the Chymical Physician begins Ay that is the mischief these young men begin at the wrong end when they should first study Physiology and Pathology they are falling to make Medicines and that before they understand either the Properties and Nature of Humane Bodies or of the Diseases incident thereto Zwelfer whom he mentions to correct some things in the Augustane Dispensatory is a most acute and ingenious Writer and he carps at some things perhaps not without a cause yet he rails not at this rate he retains still the same matter of Physick and forms of Medicaments that he found in that Dispensatory as I made out before If some others go to the like work it will be as Asinus ad Lyram and a medling with what they understand not Another thing wherein he prefers the Chymical Medicines before the Galenical is because they are more purified from their Terrene Feculencies for says he in Decoctions Syrupes Conserves Electuaries Lohochs and other Shop-Preparations there are but very small separations of the Terrestrial Foeces little Depuration made c. These things we met with before and answered I wonder whether if Logick had been set at a better rate Vegetables and Animals need not so much preparation as Minerals do it would not have freed us from all these frivolous Tautologies and put us into a closer Method Certainly there is very great reason that hymical Medicines which are made out of the Minerals and Metals should be much more purified from their Terrene Feculencies than the other for they need it I have made it out from the Testimony of the best Chymical Authors yea and himself has confessed it that most of them are poysonous if they be not well depurated whereas many of the Remedies which are used by the Galenists need no more preparation than our Meat and Drink does Now if any should out of dislike of the Terrestrial or gross part of our Food set upon a design of separation of it from the Terrene Feculency as he calls it and think to live upon a Chymical Extract of Flesh and Bread and Beer or Wine or Ale or some neat Defecated Spirit made out of these or some pure Oyl what would be the result of it I suppose he might as well feed upon Needles And the Case is not much different The Galenists do enough in point of preparation for most of our Medicines as well as our Meat at least I know no reason why they should be taught by him the rest Nature by the Fermentation of the parts will supply and this is evident even to every mans Observation And therefore if in some of the forms of Medicines he speaks of there is not much done in point of separation of the parts it is because they do not need it Chymical Medicines are very operative Lastly He prefers the Chymical P. 244. because they are more effectual in their Operation By Chymical Medicines he says he does not mean such as every ordinary bragging Chymist exposes to sale who are a reproach to the Art but such as are made by a skilful Artist How I beseech you shall we know a bragging Chymist who is a reproach to his Art from a skilful Artist I am willing to take him for an Artist and yet I find him ever and anon bragging and boasting of his Medicines and undervaluing others which are far more safe and successful I know the Chymical Preparations made out of Minerals and Metals are exceedingly operative and we often stand in need of such Tools
when we meet with stubborn Diseases in robust bodies and are approved of by the Galenists and therefore the Galenists do approve of them and when they see cause use them to wit such as they know to be safe and prepared by a good Artist Nor did ever the Art of Physick want strong and efficacious Medicines such were those I mentioned before which were in ordinary use among the Ancients viz. Colocynthis Peplium Hellebore Elaterium c. That which we glory in and our Patients find benefit by is that in this Age we have more benigne Medicines which operate without ill Symptomes and now it appears Mr. S. condemns these and flies again to such as are more violent than those of the Ancients which we have in a good measure laid aside Well I suspect at length his Patients will experience by the Operation of his Medicines a difference betwixt his and others when they shall have given him leave to make his Experiments upon them and so become competent Judges in this point betwixt him and me and therefore to their decision I will for this tâ—me refer it But here is one thing more I may not pass over that Mr. S. le ts flie sharply against some bragging Chymists that expose their Medicines to sale and thereby are a reproach to the Art If I understand him aright he means such as do post up their Medicines upon the Gates or Corner Posts of the City to call in Customers as the Quacks and Mountebanks use to do Could he ever think that this Book of his would not be read at York where all men know that he himself exposed his Amulet ☜ for the Plague to sale posting up his Bills on every Corner of the Streets and may we not have as good reason to expect the same for the vending of his Ternary Thus I have closely traced Mr. Simpson through the greatest part of his Book and have throughly sifted all his Arguments against my declared Principles of Soarbrough Spaw wherein I have discovered him plainly canting and recanting which I have further established by evident demonstration I have asserted the Terms which I used in my Book concerning a Springs imbibing of Minerals to be those of Art used by the very best Chymical Authors and agreeable to sound Reason I have answered all his Objections against the Rational Practice of Physick which he calls Galenical and confirmed my assertions from the Practice of the most Learned Chymical Writers I have manifested the Congruity that is betwixt the most learned on both sides and made out the Minerals and Metals together with the Animals and Vegetables to belong in common to the Art and to be the matter of Physick wherein both the Galenical and Chymical Physician are equally concerned and do heartily desire that every man in the Faculty would endeavour what in him lies that since they do convenire in eodem tertio they may also convenire inter se and that we may all joyn hand in hand as there shall be occasion for the Peace and Honour of the Faculty and the health of our Friends that employ us Of his Constitutive Principles of all Concretes There are some other Digressions in his Book concerning the Constitutive Principles of all Concretes wherein he carps at the two Principles of Helmont at the three of the Ancient Chymists at the four of the Peripateticks and at the five of Dr. Willis resolving all into one to wit Water But since it may justly be said of that Discourse as once of the young Prophets Axe Master it was borrowed I therefore matter not much whether it sink or swim since the Subject is not of such common concern nor yet relates to me I refer the Reader to Helmont out of whom he fetches what he says on that Subject When I consider what abundance of Experiments borrowed from variety of Authors are patched up together to make up this Book of his as also what a company of impertinent Subjects that relate not at all one to another nor to the general scope of the Book our Author has drawn in by the head and shoulders to make up this Composition it makes me call to mind what I read in Nonius Marcellus concerning an Elogium that old Lucilius that famous Roman Wit gave to such an Author upon the like occasion viz. Sarcinator est summus suit Centonem optume Concerning The Original of Springs I Am now come to this Appendix concerning the Original of Springs where he designs to confute what I have said in my Book of Scarbrough-Spaw concerning that Subject wherein I have examined the variety of Opinions among both Ancient and Modern Philosophers some ascribing it to the Sea the Water whereof they will have conveyed by subterraneal Channels to all the Springs at Land and to that purpose they fancy the Sea to be higher than the Land and consequently the Water to run per-declive in a Natural Motion to any even the highest Springs at Land This I have examined and according to my Model have proved to be but a fancy by several Arguments from Page 55 to Page 76 of my Book of Scarbrough-Spaw Edition 2. too long here to be recited But others that are for the Sea to be the Original of Springs being with me unsatisfied with the former fancy of the Seas altitude above the Land have their various opinions concerning the conveyance of the Water from the Sea to the Springs as there I instance out of their Authors the disagreement of whom among themselves may well save me the labour of refutation Others there are that will have the Water conveyed from the Sea into some large Caverns that are in the Earth and there by heat from Subterraneal Fires kindled by Naphtha and Bitumen will have Water resolved into Vapors which ascending towards the Superficies of the Earth are by a more remisse degree of heat condensed again into Water and so make the Springs which was the Opinion of Empedocles as also Seneca to which Eallâ—piuâ— Mr. Carpenter Mr. Lydiat and Dr. French adhere This I have weighed according to my Cubit and find it of no weight from Page 77. to P. 89. A second Opinion concerning the Original of Springs is that of Seneca lib. 3. Nat. Quest cap. 7. zid by a transmutation of Earth into Water in the Caverns of the Earth which since I discern it has not many Fautors I waved as not needing Confutation and so came to that of Aristotle vid. that the Springs are generated from the transmutation of Air into Water in the Subterraneal Caverns This also I considered of and found invalid from P. 89. to 93. being attended with inextricable difficulties and absurdities I then proceeded to consider of Rain and Snow being the Cause of the Springs of which Opinion I found Albertus Magrus and Georgius Agricola to have been the most eminent Patrons and to them I did with modesty joyn in my judgement I have lately heard that Lessius
reperirentur quia melius ageretur cum iis qui laborant affectibus renum vesicae i. e. Because it would be very well for them that are subject to the Diseases of the Reins and the Bladder To which I 'l onely adde the Judgement of Kircher Aquae ferreae five Chalybeatae virtutibus ferri seu Chalybis imbuantur ad obstructiones hypochondriacas saluberrimis i. e. Iron or Chalybeate Waters have in them the vertues of Iron or Steel and so are most excellent against the Obstructions of the Hypochondres and the hardness or schirrhus of those parts and the beginning of a Dropsie as also they strengthen a relaxed and debilitated Stomach Of Vitrioline Springs And since this is a Vitrioline Water as I have prov'd sufficiently against all his Objections and at last brought him confessing as much it were but proper to lay down the Vertues and Properties of those sorts of Waters but that being done in part already I shall therefore be very brief I have prov'd already out of Fallopius and Paracelsus c. that a Water may imbibe Vitriol and yet not become Emetick or provoking to vomit and constant experience shews that it s verified in this Water besides hereby 't is become of a penetrating quality and so attenuating and cutting gross flegmatick humors being also drying and leaving a moderate astriction behind it and therefore good in all cold and moist Constitutions and for expelling of Worms Much of the same nature are such Waters as have imbibed Salt save that they are not so piercing but these having but little Salt in them I shall pass it over without more words Of Nitrous Springs But because Nitre is of all the rest the most predominant in this Water and himself has confessed it I shall therefore bring in the Testimony of the profound Kircher in Cap. de Aq. Nitrosis Praedominium dominium Nitri Aquas potentes facit c. i. e. When Nitre is predominant it makes the Water that has imbibed it powerful in operation inables it to correct an ill habit of body which such as are flegmatick are prone to it looses the Belly is good in the Diseases of the Nerves and for such as are subject to Defluxions upon the Lungs heals the Itch and other Diseases of the Skin Cures the ringing of the Ears being dropped into them and in a word makes it to be of an eminent abstergent property So far Kircher Now this Spaw having imbibed all these five Minerals must take its vertue from them all according to reason and the Testimony of Learned Writers as I have made out already and I am assured it suits full well with the Experimental Cures I have mentioned in my Book to which I refer the Reader and shall say no more at present ☞ Next P. 62. he falls to treat of his five Digestions which he pillages from Helmont verbatim though he curtails the number and corrects his Master for Helmont makes six vidâ— Helm P. 167. from the pravity or deficiency of every one of which proceed several Diseases whereas the whole Classiâ— of Physicians make but three viz. in the Stomach the Liver and the Solid Parts I wonder indeed he did not make 50 for there is not any the least part of the Body but if it be depraved in the Concoctive or Digestive faculty so as it cannot separate the serous part of the Blood from that which is for its nourishment Diseases may arise from it which may disturbe the whole Oeconomy of Nature and breed Aposthumations and Tumors according to the Nature of the Humor and the Constitution of the Parts Thus in the Breast may breed a Schirrhus or a Cancer in the Hands and Feet a Ganglion in other parts an Oedema or a Phlegmon and from thence a Feaver in the Joynts a Gowt or some other Lameness or Rheumatismes c but I may not digress upon this Subject The truth is in his describing of these Diseases he erres very much through a defect in the understanding of Pathology and Anatomy frequently confounding such as are nothing of kinne and all this in a canting form of Expressions that all the Learned Men I have met with that have seen the Book do laugh at These Spaws are found out by chance Then he undertakes P. 83. to tell what Diseases the Spaw cures and what not and cites Helmont but what I pray is Helmont's Judgement concerning this Water which he never saw Fallopius says that the properties of all those sorts of Springs are found out by Observation and doubtless he is in the right now since he could have no observation or experience of this Water his Verdict cannot be very Authentick I have in my Book made out my Observations and Experience for near Thirty years and that under the hands of the Persons themselves on whom such Cures were made which give better ground of satisfaction to wise men than all that Mr. S. can say who can have nothing of his own Experience as being upon my knowledge not much more acquainted with it than Helmont whom he cites Notwithstanding he takes upon him to give his Opinion of some of the matters of fact Of an Alderman of Hull in the Asthma and particularly of an Alderman of Hull whom I mention to have found Cure in an Asthma But that this was a real Asthma says he P. 94. I fear the Doctor mistakes in his Diagnosticks How civil this is in the young man to make himself a Judge of that which he never saw and thus severely to become a Cato Censorius over me I refer it to the wise Reader to judge The truth is this Alderman had joyned Dr. Primrose and my self in this his Disease to whom we prescribed Remedies according to Indications which yet the Malady did in a great measure resist so as after due prepâ—ration we thought fit to send him to the Spaw where after a few dayes he found cure and returned well This being about 15 years agoe and the Gentleman now alive and in health and by his leave we both thought fit to call a Spade a Spade and that Disease an Asthma If it would conduce any thing to teach W. S. that best point of Diagnosticks viz. to know himself I could every day let him see some that have found exceeding much benefit by this Vitrioline Water in the Asthma without his Arcana's Of a Gentlewoman in great Debility cured by the Spaw Then he undertakes to judge of the Case of a Gentlewoman whom I mention in a very Critical Point who had been long in a wasting condition bolstred up with Pillows through constant difficulty of breathing which he calls an Asthma from the Obstructions of the Womb and though he never saw her yet he undertakes to tell what was also the Procatarctick Cause of her Malady viz. a Cold c. Was ever any man so bold to be thus positive without ground I wonder what W. S. sees by the
enumeration of the Symptomes that can perswade him to think this was an Asthma for be may observe it did not seize on her per periodos but a difficulty of breathing held her for a Moneth or five Weeks together but it may be he thinks every difficulty of breathing to be an Asthma It was indeed a violent Dyspnaea which oft-times is a Symptome of a Consumption and great Debility and indeed that was the thing I most feared for she was in a Hectick in which Case purging is not safe although not only she but many others that have been eminently Hectical have found benefit by these Waters and I can make it out with good reason too if here it were my task and I had time to enlarge Of a Cataâ—â—he He next takes upon him to descant of a Cure I mention in an Inveterate Catarrhe which had resisted all other Methods and here he takes occasion to let flie against the Galenists for some Assertions which Helmont fancies them to make concerning the Causes of that Disease from whom he pillages all he says out of a Tract of his called Catarrhi Deliramenta after whose Pipe in every thing he dances throughout all the Book without farther Enquiry As for himself it appears that he is a meer stranger to their Writings and to say the truth I believe he never read Galen or any sound Writer that follows him it is plain that he forges things frequently out of his own brain to impose upon the credulous Vulgar on purpose to abuse them dealing with the Galenists as the Heathen Persecutors of Old did with the Primitive Christians put Bear-Skins upon them on purpose to bait them He ought to remember the Ninth Commandment and not thus ordinarily to bear false witness against his Neighbours I find in Pet. Faber's Agonistic That there were certain Laws to be observed in the Olympian and Isthmian Games which they ever sware to observe among others That they would not seek for Mastery by fraud or deceit but deal fairly not bite not kill otherwise it was not a lawful striving but was called 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 to use soul play as being belluine and bruitish and against these Laws does Mr. S. constantly transgress I could set him right as to their Opinions concerning a Catarrhe wherein they speak a great deal more reason than Helmont who deals not fairly in that he cites not his Authors endeavoring to raze well-laid Foundations but builds nothing himself But it s far from my design to write a Pathology or to discourse in this place concerning the nature of Diseases And it is also plain in Experience that the Medicines which the Galenists use in the Cures of Catarrhes and their Method they go in upon their own Hypothesis are eminently successful P. 101. He takes upon him to discourse concerning the Essence of Fevers together with their Cures declaring against the use of Water or other cooling Drinks in Fevers which he says are so far from abating as they rather increase their heat and exasperate their Symptomes wherein he discovers that he is a meer Stranger to their Writings Yea even the Cooling Juleps says he prescribed by the Galenists yield very small help if they do not actually prejudice Nature in the purifying work of Fermentations Alas poor man he understands not the use and end of the Galenists prescribing these Cooling Juleps Of Cooling Juleps in which are not onely to cool and to quench that intemperate heat of the Stomach a thing most necessary to be done and wherein the Patients find much relief but also to correct as they are fitted by good Artists the Putrefaction and Ebullition of the Blood and to help Nature to evacuate the Morbous Humors by Sweat Siege or Urine and also to fortifie the Digestions and refresh the Spirits being constantly found to do all this better than his Hot and Corrosive Diaphoreticks made most what out of Poysons yea and frequently to correct the scorching heat and intemperies they have caused as upon mine own knowledge I can speak Here we may see plainly an Emblem of Hell for if any man fâ—ll into a Fever and be at this Physitians ordering ☞ his Case is like that of Dives for he will not allow him a drop of Cold Water to cool his Tongue though he be tormented in those flames It 's also very likely from what he saith that Mr. S. is of opinion that Dives was mistaken in calling for Cold Water to cool his Tongue but that it would have inflamed him the more Here I would not be mis-understood I commend Cooling Drinks in Fevers as Juleps Emulsions or Water but not excessively Cold as these possibly may be in Winter for the Stomach being a Nervous Part may be offended with that which is intensely Cold its Concoctive Faculty being debilitated notwithstanding it may seem to be refreshed by it at the present by dulling the Appetite and Sense of Thirst and therefore in my Practice I order that these be aired a little to be made less cold and so the moisture will penetrate the better and the Eventilation by insensible Transpiration or Sweat furthered as also they will pass down more speedily by Urine and this is according to the advice of Hippocrates lib. de Vsu Humidorum lib. 3. de Ratione victus acut Of 〈◊〉 As for what he says concerning Juleps and Cordials P. 102. That they are made up with Syrupes which clogg the Stomach by their sweetness This is a false Charge wherein I may appeal to any that have occasion in Fevers to experience them Syrupes in themselves are alterative and prepared for several Indications which we use pro re nata joyned to our Juleps with several other things as Spirit of Vitriol or Sulphur which do both give a grateful Acidity to the Palate and Stomach and resist Putrefaction and all these according to the intention I admire that in all things Mr. S. should be so meer a Stranger to the Writings of his own Authors the Chymists Zuelfer in his Pharmacop Regia describes above ☞ 50 sorts of Syrupes which are made up with Sugar or Honey whose Vertues he also commends even twice as many as any of our Apothecaries have or need to have in their Shops And Schroderus mentions three times as many in his Pharm Med. Chymica Yea no good Chymical Author that has writ de Re Medica but he describes them and commends them Besides I know that he himself doth constantly use them and more of late than formerly having had sufficient experience of the mischiefs done by his other hot Medicines and the frequent Complaints of his Patients than which nothing is more ordinary in our Ears Of Emulsions Moreover It is an usual thing in Fevers for Patients to complain of Acid Humors in their Stomachâ— and sharpness of Urine which are exceeding well corrected by Emulsions yea and Syrupes too the Sugar allaying their Acrimony and hindring the