Paracelsus geueth counsell and therewithall assureth that no good scarchâ—r of mans disposition after fourtie and sixe yeares of age inderdealeth with the excrementes Arnoldus de noua villa geueth more larger libertie in perfect bodies vntill fyftie and fiue yeares bee accomplished For as many old men haue a hot drie bodies so manye others haue yearthly and waterie bodies vnder which seuerall dispositions in old age falleth out Last of all it is a doubtfull and vncertaine thing to discerne the temperature of euerie olde man in age and sicnesse Rasis holdeth in opinion that in age nothing is to be gathered neither from excrementes neither from fourme nor shape nor scarse from operation for operation of some part by occasion of variable disposition may be confounded in an other part I doo let passe the opionins and iudgmentes of manye Writers how the signes of diuers ages differ in sicknesse neither thorow out the whole ages of man doo they obtaine or continue any one perfect significatiue agreement Therefore whosoeuer traueileth in the variable temperances of man let his best direction bee taken from the pulses as feeling euery office of the bodie in his proper worke Yet surelye whatsoeuer is spoken against the view of excrementes in the sicknes of old men Ruellius saith that excrementes are not altogether to be reiected or dispised but according to the straungenesse of the sicknesse and accidentes of the disease duely to bee considered vpon To conclude euerie practitioner hath a large field to trauell in in the time of sickenesse As first to vnderstand the disease by feeling the pulses Nexte to consider whether euerie office of the bodie laboureth alike or no. And thirdlie whether the Accidentes doo stay in any one parte of the body more then an other And last of all whether the duetie of the excrementes be perfourmed in a naturall course or no. Thus endeth the second booke of the Temperamentes The Lord made heauen and earth and all thinges therein blessed bee the wâ—orkes of his handes HERE BEGINNETH THE THIRD booke of the Temperaments IN these former bookes there is set open the differences significations and accidentes of cold hote moyst and drie thinges in their actiue natures and to finde out the reason not only why they should be approued in action as also why they should obtaine their equall qualities to be comprehended and easily perceiued by touching I will not much herein trauell For as one of them hath no powerfull nor perfect constitution without the equall trauell and furtherance of one another So one constitution doth still appeale vnto another vntill the occasion which before was obscure and vnperfect be drawne vnto manifestation power strength and agreement which as Galen sayth doth confirme all medicinable confections And there must be hereunto also annexed not onely the sensible vnderstanding of these naturall causes but a iust coÌ„senting of their forcible power and vertue to haue one successe Also there must be a very high regard had that medicines do nothing in nature digresse from the assenting inclination of suche bodyes vnto which they owe their defence helpe and succour For contrary medicines dangerously doe imprint their malice power inforcing the griefe to become more outragious inflammatiue and vnsetled Experience may instruct heerein that a powerfull medicine in the fourth degree hote cannot escape or be driuen backe from Causticke iâ— burning some verie dangerous action For these putrifactiue or corosiue playsters which in their causticke nature doe worke vpon outward sores although they be sodainly taken away from that place ouer which they did worke power and effect yet their impression or action of heate cannot sodainly or vnawares be taken away for the deepenesse of the sore hath comprehended the power thereof And therefore these inflammatiue actions without more larger libertie and skill cannot bee extinguished The same thing by colde medicines is more clearely perceiued and vnderstoode For blacke popy cannot in the fourth degree vnawares be intertained into the body but that by the same meanes doth oftentimes forthwith alter the body and the actiue mouinges sensible hindered in the vnnaturall course and action thereof It is otherwise with hote medicines which although they exceede from vs in common course of heat yet the power thereof many either be mitigated or vtterly put out As touching cold medicines the reason and vnderstanding is not heereunto alike because coldnesse not onely deepely lurketh in the vaines but stoppeth the vegetation and quickenesse of nature hauing once ouercome the sensible partes of man that although warme thinges be proffered for restoring quickning and lifting vp of that sleepie and deadly inuasion either shal it nothing at all preuaile or els the sensible and naturall partes cannot be recouered to a perfect and due estate and disposition as before For if colde water by a secret potentiall estate be intertained into a warme body and the body by a variable disposition therof altereth into a more higher degree of coldnesse doth extenuate nature and decayeth the power of bloud although the strength of the body exhausteth the sensible coldnesse thereof yet there remaineth a sharpe impression for many discases to insue Furthermore warme water being receiued into a hote bodie although it be possessed with the body for a whole dayes space as it hath nourished vnder some naturall warmth by the strength of the body so can it not be otherwise knowne or perceiued but that the body is made more colder thereby although vnder naturall warmnesse it passeth from the bleather againe So doe we beholde the power of a cataplasma which although it hath a naturall power of coldnesse yet if it be remoued and the place touched all inflammations shall sensibly appeare more subdued moderated and seasoned for inducement of a more higher and excellenter practise in the worke thereof which as some holde in opinion is contrarie in powdred medicines whose power is onely to purge drie and excoriat Yet no doubt there are some powdred medicines which in reuealing an imagination of drinesse in substance are in propertie altogether moyst And except the body be of a drie chollericke disposition shall nothing preuaile to accomplishe any drie action to become perfect and sound Some will maruell why the qualitie of elementes shoulde minister health ease and safegard to one And shewe no potentiall act but rather offence in another Certainely as all inferiour causes are subiect to the alteration of celestiall dispositions so celestiall bodies are stable firme and perfect and in their properties are voyd from alterations Then no scruple herein neede to arise whether this potentiall estate be ingendered or giuen to medicineable hearbs from nature or from celestiall bodies I doe thinke not onely power but all indicible properties inioy a metaphisicall effect And surely forme or bodily shape which heerewith is adioyned hath an indifferent participation from the complexion of elementes and the condition of celestial thinges Yet the iudgement of olde writers is that the propertie of
these naturall causes to be no other thing theÌ„ an indicible All indicible thinges haue a indicible temperance temperature hauing some indicible propertie and forme is no other thing then a temperance in his owne nature or the immediate and extraordinarie reason from the celestiall influence therefore the naturall philosophers haue not spoken in vaine that Man and the sonne did beget man Then surely the starres are nothing at all occupied in the generation of mixt things rather doe they claime a most great part to themselues of that which appertaineth to these immixt properties and powers And it is no maruell but that these vertues powers and strength are so opposite and manifest to our feeling and perceiuing that heate and colde should also haue a singular prehemmence in the stars Theophrastus Paracelsus sayth that all these medicineable hearbes are not elementarily ingendred But brought forth of some deuine power from the pure celestiall estate aboue But yet these elementall qualities so highly doe beare their force in the countenance of all inferiour thinges and their powers are so full and large in all medicineable effectes that no furtherance or meanes preuayleth eyther to confirme them or els bring them backe to any other strange act or vnusuall alteration Dyoscorides sayth that the deuine power moueth the elementes to become eyther naturall or vnnaturall to the earth And the earth withall the bountifull creatures therein do take their essence increase or decrease from the due course or alteration of the said elementes The chiefe Philosophers doe say that the high fruitfull scituation of the sunne worketh vpon all liuing creatures that all naturall causes greatly preuayle thereby Then it is no maruell that single medicines haue an appropriat inclination in themselues but artificially qualified from their owne nature haue a more clearer and peaceable effect And although the sunne doth in euery place east her seasonable power and strength yet not with one indifferent qualitie of warmenesse and heate to be intertained into all thinges alike not for that there is any defect in the primarie propertie of the sunne but because there is a seuerall propertie from the complexion of elements For as no phisitian can frame one medicine to be indifferently receiued and intertained into euerie seuerall constitution So the sunne is shewed forth in one force and potentiall estate alike although the action vpon all inferiour causes vnlike for that euery thing followeth the propertie of nature from the complexion of elements in generation and the propertie of the sunne in augmentation The vnseasonable elementes doe oftentimes darken the sun and thereby distemper and disseason the inferiour causes of the earth So also the confused courses and running together of the flâ—â—s 〈…〉 oursing by an vnsingled and variable power within themselues is the onely cause why all the hearbes and fruits of the stelde are of medicionable and saluing condition ouer one and nothing at all profiting but rather hurting vnto another Therefore the power of all these thinges are distinguished three maner of waies As firste their possibilitie hath one ordinarie power in themselues Secondlie that a supreame naturall substance coagulateth in the power of all inferiour causes Thirdlie dooth in the same power obtaine and accomplish some effectuall propertie in it selfe which by any forraine accidents can neither be interuented nor altered except inforced from one propertte to an other to some supreame excesse within their owne naturall essence Therefore these medicines whose vertues are determined hot in the second degree are most easily made hot in their action and also most easily are they conuerted to fire in open extremitie exceeding their natures as vnflaken lune rosenne or gumme which yssueth from the excesse vapours of trees But the greatest danger happeneth in colde medicines especially if nature hath determined their operation hotte and their action colde as the Hemlock which of Dyoscorides is called Cicuta a most poisonsome practise in the fourth degree hath not onely a hot propertie and troublesome effect but an impressiue action of a colde benumming the sences which cannot bee afterwards rased out And yet many times some strong forcible complections will rather alter and subdue such strong medicines to become inclinable to the body then indure themselues to be altered or subdued af the body Theophrastus Paracelsus saith it is no perfect opinion neither of the olde nor new writers that medicines ought to bee first drawen into actuall preheminence before the corruption bee styrred and prepared by some preparatiue or gentle mollefaceion the easier the power of of purgation is extended to mortifie and slay the disease Alwaies prouided that medicines be matched with the nature of the bodie aswel in sicknesse as in health Like as clear water contemperated with pure wine doth much profite and season a hot and inflammatiue bodie to become ttmperate After the same manner weake medicines gentely are framed to doo their effect then those medicines which are of high and grosse operation For the more weaker medicines are composed for slender bodies the easier their strength is euidently knowne their limits and bounds discouered and therby lesse feared Whereas grosse hot and strong medicines are subtill fierce easily doo insinuate and winde themselues into all the partes of man and although they be most charily regarded yet will they many times exceed art wherefore medicine ought to be framed and drawen after the measure of bodyly heate otherwise it is no equall instrument of nature neither can nature be vsed in her potentiall measure for the speedy ouerthrowe of the disease For as medicine ought to be framed most like vnto nature so the disease from time to time is directed by nature Therefore medicine ought to bee receiued into the body vnder the warmnesse of newe milke or mans blood although Galen counselleth that medicines in sommer season bee proffered vnto some bodilie constitutions vnder the coldnesse of fountaine water But touching medicines outwardly applyed some high and singular practise must be attained for healing and curing such outwarde sores First by rubbing and searching the grieued place of the patient whereupon sometimes the inflammatiue infection of the furious and hot humour increaseth and far surpasseth the boundes both of medicine and nature except peraduenture it be corrected by some drieng drinke or purgatiue potion inwardlye taken or that the outwarde medicine bee of some very colde and slender power in operation which sensibly is perceiued For and if medicines be vnapt they will contrarile wrastle both against nature and the afflicted sore as swiftlie vncertainlie and groslie winde in their power and strength But if colde medicines be slowe they may be remedied and preferred after the skill of the Chirurgian to a more fuller and larger estate and degree Yet hot searching and inflammatiue medicines are necessarilie required in fulsome putrified and corâ—siue sores eyther for searching searing scowring and fadoming the deepenesse thereof as for the staying and stopping of some further
by some meete framed medicine to ripen the disease except the disease consist and stand at a stay And in ministring of purgatiue medicines there must be called to remembraunce whether nature haue ready strength and full power to performe a limited dutie in purgation or no. And heede must be further regarded whether nature be ouercharged with the forraine estate of the disease not then to be troubled or drawne to worser inconueniences by vnseasonable medicines Auycen sayth euery disease is both powerfull and wauering when it decreaseth but when it consisteth is more certaine and better stayed and then most easily ouercome by nature and medicine for which cause not onely crud and rawe matter but also dured and setled matter is then principallie expelled And yet many approued writers affirme that the greatnesse of accidents are to be appeased by the phisitians skill and not permitted to straggle out except equally measured to concurre one with another in the motion of nature And it is most inconuenient at the same time to prouoke the accidentes with any heauie or sturdie medicine which neyther the disease nor nature can then brooke Cornelius Celsus verie precâ—â—ely standeth vpon the words of Hipocrates Si quid mouendum videtur in principiâ— moue Who vnderstandeth that the increase of the sicknesse is a pâ—â—t of the beginning Ierimias Thriuerius a learned writer saith that if any act hath beene ouerpassed in the increased of those sicknesses which haue bene more prosir then casefull may be more strickly regarded in their full and perfect estate not because it was an error or neglected but because the increase of the disease required no such thing vntill there were a full 〈…〉 nesse in the disease accomplished Galen writing to Glaâ—â—â— in his booke de arte curatiua seemeth to interdict euery medicine before the estate especially where crud matter possesseth it selfe And cast aside saith Galen all solutiue and hote medicines and whosoeuer proffereth any medicines at all in such diseases which are stuffed with crud raw and sluny substance before some ease and releasement in the disease be finished shall bring double dangers vpon the disease For being before single and of one propertie thereby both the disease and nature are altered vnder double griefe aswell of great inflammation as opilation whereby the ercrementes loose the due disposition and the bloud corrupted and the arteâ—is wherein The 〈◊〉 a are 〈…〉 aâ—d like to the vaynes the spirite of life walketh are exposed to innumerable dangers Now as you doe vnderstand what is to perfected in such diseases contayned vnder crud and rawe matter comming to their estate So there must be a like caution taken in these sharpe diseases happening vnder some euill and dangerous chrysts not to interdeale therewith by sturing before the disease with all inconueniences thereto appertaining be fully setled There is a certaine grosse and vnperfect substance so setled in the propertie of these and such like feuers as if they doe aspire to a high strength and estate are vnable to be vanquished and driuen away both because nature is weake and feeble as also for that the medicine hath no direct operation Be it assuredly knowne that where nature is more weaker then the disease and therewithall the propertie of medicine lothsome to the disease is a plaine indication of death and although nature may herein for a time be succoured yet can neuer be recoured The ignorance of manie are greatly to be lamented who after nature is ouerthrowne seeke a life in the middest of death therefore Galen in his 29. Aphorism of his second booke denounceth safegard to all suche which in the time of long sicknesses are prospered with nature And although medicine is such a general thing as may be framed to serue in euery degree of sickenesse with vertue measure and time yet whosoeuer eyther by vnequall vertue vnequall measure and vnseasonable time reacheth into anie such disease when nature is before decayed and oppressed is to be adiudged in a damnable estate for the death of that person Then let the Phisitian thorowly consider both bodily constitution and the course of the disease before he attempteth any thing for by rash enterprise the course and motion of nature may be preuented and the disease offended Surely when nature neither mooueth nor innouateth there is no enterdealing with medicine for euacuation as whether it be by potatiue electuarie pilles or otherwise all is vaine and therein vtterly to be refused for rest and quietnesse in those diseases most preuaileth Then lastlie whosoeuer neglecteth these wholsome rules and without obseruation runneth at hazard not onely vainly magnifieth himselfe among the rude and ignorant sort but thorow their vnskilfulnes either doe they dull and blunt the disease or els cherish and continue the danger of the same for by such rude persons nature is both spoiled troubled the worthy knowledge of phisicke slaundered the deserts of the worthier sort derogated and the publike estate of the people offended Here next follovveth howe meate ought to be increased or taken avvay according as the times of sickenesses require NOwe remaineth to search out not onely the nature of sicknesses but in what seasons diseases are moste perillous and apt in offence of bodly health and also how meat ought to be increased withdrawne or quite taken away the which part is most hardest of all for neither olde writers haue clearely and purely expressed it neyther yet newe writers sufficiently reuealed the darknesse and obscuritie thereof Yet that auncient Hypocrates in his first of the Aphorisms vouchsafeth to giue aduertisement that when diseases both beginne increase and come to estate full meates are to be abstracted and thinne dyets most chiefly commended vntill both nature and the disease be well pleased with the thinnest of all For it is a manifest rule that there belongeth to euerie degree of sicknesse a due ordinance that is when meate is quite taken away some great practise is to be expected and accomplished by medicine which then and thereby must worke most effectually and soundly Yet Galen on the contrarie doth seeme to command the patient in time of sickenesse to proceede from a barraine and vnfruitfull dyet to a satiable vberious and complet dyet which of the writers in this latter age is vnderstoode that after great emptinesse nature is greedy to recouer her former perfection All which must be done with such discretion as that meate and measure concurre vpon the estate of the disease But in these inflammatiue diseases of the sides liuer loonges or such like all nourishment in the beginning of such diseases is denyed and quite taken away Especially if the spittle be clammie gluttonous or deuoyded out with thicke bloud then except the disease be loosed eyther by cutting off the basilicke vayne or by some other skilfull attraction the patient is throwne headlong vpon death For although some vse ptisans made of exoriated and vnhusked barly to be dronk in mitigation of such extreame
impendent danger And as some medicines are changed in their own qualities so there are also some medicines which thorow their lenetiue nature passe ouer into the substance of the body Ther is also an other cause in the vniuersall participation of ioyning superiour causes together into one perfect substance is so duly regarded in them as that their qualitie in action hath no domination in it selfe but their properties are rather deducted and brought downe from the starres into the power of hearbes Otherwise this wandring desert hearbe Scanmionyum which vnperfectly purgeth choller and leaueth the constitution of the body in more worse estate then before should be as familiar to the body as Succorie Endiffe Buglosse and such like hearbes of saluing and curing nature And yet Dyoscorides saith that Succory is of diuers kindes one is cherished in Gardens as a pretious treasure preserued for bodilie health so the other is wilde and of more resisting vertue Yet because they doo both alike drawe a naturall power from the starres in one perfect kind and substance doo equally agree in one manner of operation for they are so indicible and euident as that their propertie is not knowne onely by reasonâ— as by experience as also highlie occupied in the gouernment of mans health although they haue a right and due propertie of euident vertue which mans art cannot seperat or put away therefore action and passion are due vnto their qualities aswel for that they haue a whole and perfect substance of moouing power as also for that there is an easie transmutation of their nature into the naturall substance of mans body There is also an hearbe called Molios which draweth a power from the high gouernour of Spirites called Amy and hath sixteene legions vnder his dominion as Dyoscorides reporteth in his third booke and the fiftie two chapters in the Commentes of Barbarus and Virgilius that this hearbe is of an outward vertue most excellent it hath great power against witchcraft south saieng and coniuration it is not inwardly to be taken but outwardly to bee caried about it is of a propertie by it selfe and wil not inwardly be changed into the substance of mans nature neither doeth it preuaile in remedy of any disease except the falling sicknesse And surely all other hearbs haue some naturall or vnnatuturall portion with our bodie Yet it is vnpossibly that they should be of one power and effect together neither is there a like alteration one with an other For if their properties were of equall agreement then one substance could not haue equall operation into an other Euen as these prrperties doo verie much disagree within themselues so can they not foorthwith passe ouer into mutuall substance of mans bodie without artful knowledge aptly composing them thereto As fire sodainly without art can not bee trasformed into water nor ayre into earth So by the same difference medicines are distinguished and and knowen from nourishments For as nourishmentys agree with the natural comfortes of men so medicines haue their properties differing from the properties of men And as medicines are repugnant to the disease so both the body and the disease not onely become subiect but refourmed to medicine for health and safetie thereby And although Art domifieth them to become gentle kinde and naturall yet art neuer depriueth them from their free propertie For how much the rather they are of contrarie substance so doo they shew themselues the rather in the similitude of a more greater action and yet for that one substance is passed ouer into an other they are qualified also in power therefore let vs once againe distinguish the estate and condition of medicines within themselues Although there is an artificiall forme in the constitution of all medicines framed to some speciall appointed purpose yet as Galen saith there are some hearbes colde which take a verye litle portion of change in the heate of mans blood And many times not onely because they are of colde nature but venomed in some degree of poison very notably do they corrupt mans body As the mandragoron and such like There are also some other poisoned hearbes in a most hot degree of strong venym as the Daphnaydes the Colociâ—tidaâ—â—the Iâ—ios As they do exceed the heat of mans body so do they reach most highly beyond mans nature do forthwith oppresse life and entertaine death if their strength be not artificially remedied There are also medicines neither of hurting nor saluing power neither of hote nor cold operation neither doe they nourish nor yet destroy but very indifferent to the body of man There are also composed medicines of honnie butter sweet oyle as they are not of no pure nor cleere verdoue so are they verie nourishable and restauratiue to nature And as nourishmentes are easily changed into nature so the power of all other medicines doe comprehend a worke in their owne properties and therefore it is impossible their power should be both kept and changed Galen doth make further report that so long as medicines doe continue their nature and degree vnder the equall condition of the body are not onely gentle and fauourably incertayned but changed into bloud with the nature of the body are no more vnder the compasse of medicines but rather followe the due course of vegetation preseruation and simpathie with natuturall operation both in qualitie and power of the body Whether Galen hath extended his reasons to hote medicines I know not but I feare not to speake that oftentimes both hote and cold medicines are vnder one propertie turned into bloud when as the body meanely is subdued with coldnesse from the extremitie of heat and aduaunced to heat from the extremitie of coldnesse for then is it impossible that any impropertie should at all remaine where many properties are duely changed And also it is a most hard and difficult estate if substance in the nature of euerie one thing should whollie be taken away or diminished so neyther then is any suche bloud left alone to doe good in absolute power for humours doe nourish themselues where good bloud wanteth And euery naturall thing hath no naturall operation nor measure where any such defect is For Where no naturall operatiâ—is there is no measure surely there is no doubt but whosoeuer ouer-largely feedeth vpon honnie cannot escape but that at length his complexion is discoloured defiled stayned with a hott flegmaticke bloud So likewise in sommer season some bodies by eating of cold Lattice are drawne to ouer great comminution and heate nature and bloud are many times extenuated weakened and altered in their due course Let euery one therefore most highly call to memorie that measure and moderation are much preferred vnder the constitution of mans health Thrusianus an old fatherly writer as one falfly perswaded doth say that nothing is caryed or conueyed beyond the heate of mans body and that bodily heat congruently consenteth to all forraine heates being of neuer so strong and high valour and
scarslie reached vp because the shortnes of breathing from the lungs preuenting must of necessitie retire back Therfore when these partes cannot bee scowred by naturall action in the qualitie of the breath must in these seasons of infection be concocted seasoned together by medicine so that the one with the other may be confluxed out of the body There is an other obseruatioÌ„ that choller of what nature soeuer it be is not in his owne propertie to be more styfned but drawne more thin and open iâ— the humour of the sicknesse bee thicke but if the humour of the disease bee thinne then both choller and fleame must into due concoction bee thickly gathered and yet those bodies which be naturally fluxible are the easier emptied of those exâ—rements against the difficult bruntes of such infections And my further desire is that herewith bee set downe an other obseruation of naturall and vnnaturall choller which most vehemently aggrauateth the cause in sicknesse as being mingled with grosse and thick â—leame burneth in it selfe and inflameth the disease for that the propertie thereof cannnot bee seperated therefrom Also ther is choller which hath no issue is of a red bloody condition it is ingendred vpon the liuer redilie conioined with those diseases which happen vnder some preposterous chrysis Furthermore ther is a choller ingendred of euil meats which not perfectlie digested grosly gathereth into yâ— vaines do lie open to all infectious sicknesses altereth with the disease it selfe and tergiuer sateth from his owne propertie There is an other choller which resteth in the gall or els conuerteth to wholsom blood euerie disease by this choller is made more perfect and excellent doeth comfort the body in health and doeth of his owne propertie comfort the disease to concoction in all generall infections Furthermore in the beginning of euerie sicknesse you shall vnderstande whether there be any grosse choller adioyned therewith by two speciall notes the one if the vrine haue a verie thicke substance and the other if most vehement heate arise in the complection Surely surely let this be an vniuersall doctrine that all infections doo search and seeke after some excrementall superfluitie to become of more higher corruption in their supreame dignitie and estate As by hot choller the infection more vehemeÌ„tly rageth as by melancholike thoughts the disease becommeth more grosse and heauie by fleame the disease becommeth moâ—e cankered and yet naturall fleame conuerteth to nutrimentall substance and many times of verie propertie is a perfect medicine to withstand the assaultes of all hard and extreame infections Thus to conclude euen as the learned Phisitian neuer aduentureth his Patient at hasard so let all Practitioners by degrees regard euery disease from the beginning then by wisedome health is vniuersallie maintained not by hazard as in the same artfull knowledge many grieuous diseases are recouered from euill and venomous corruptions Next followeth to shewe what is to be done in the time of the increase estate decrease and falling away of euerie sickenesse IT now may be lawfull somewhat to take in hand a practise for purgation and yet no otherwise to purge then as concoction hath yeelded giueth leaue vnto For it is reason that nature be somewhat ruled and reformed whereby the tediousnesse of her burthen may be measurablie performed and shaken off most lightly The antient fathers although they haue layed open all the counsels of Phisicke verie largely yet none of them doe consent that it should be a lawfull action at the same instant to purge when the increase of the disease is powerfull for then is it doubtfull whether nature hath resigned her motiue course And therefore medicine ought to be stayed vntill nature returne againe in her owne propertie to the vttermost Some are in contrarie opinion doubtfull and vncertaine whether nature haue an actiue motion in the increase of euery sicknesse for if the chrysis be perfect and certaine there is then disease languishing and laborious if not then the disease is in some part discouered so that the remnaunt more easily is perfourmed By which meanes it so commeth to passe that there is a sodaine alteration and change of nature to a more better excellenter hope for in all such like diseases nature is approoued in her highest substance whether she be able to indure or no. And when there is a substantiall dissolution of the disease in the behoofe of nature the same is easily known and perceiued either by vrine or ordour or the temperature of the body And yet in all sharpe sicknesses the same is no consequent discouerture But it cannot be denied in those sicknesses which haue length and continuance that if nature perfectly be descryed is be strong powerfull and replenished with liuelâ—hood then the sicknesse hath free passage and euident approchment to full increase and therewithall manie times the bodie purgeth and fluxeth off her owne free propertie so that the motion of nature is greatly therein reuealed and surely the phisitian is cleared from any excesse daunger that may insue thereof so neyther is hee partaker of any good perfection that commeth thereby For in all diseases there are good and euill workes in the propertie of nature and withall there ought to be most high consideration in the studie and indeuour of the phisitian for the restauration both of nature and health together Whereas in sharpe diseases the phisitian doth euacuate the principall partes of the disease by medicine so nature ought to be fauoured and maintained in perfect substance for if she be not in potentiall estate shee presently decayeth and falleth away aswell thorowe the sharpenesse of the medicine as the painefulnesse of the disease For where nature performeth her strength there she not onely preheminently vanquisheth the disease but expelleth and chaseth the infection thereof quite away so that these operations of nature are accustomed aboundantly to poure forth their gracious fruites in the conseruation and consolation of bodily strength and are most certainly tried when the disease consisteth or stayeth as if it were in the tyme of health if the phisitian doe at anie time feare the decay of nature he ought by artificiall skill practise not onely to fortifie the naturall course of the bodie but there withall searche the nature of the disease Notwithstanding the phisitian is forbidden to intermeddle with the works of nature when she of her owne propertie hath anie mouing towardes health but surely in dangerous sicknesse if nature sometimes ouerexquisitely purgeth of her owne propertie then take heede that neyther the flure exceede nor yet concoction ouerrun the perfect course and wayfare to health Remembring the olde saying Quum fluor excedat mors intrat vita recedit The phisitian ought to surpasse the disease both in wisedome experience and high counsell with naturall causes both in releasing the languishing compunction of infection as to gather all crud and raw causes together whilest the disease hath a time of increase and to profer a practise