think will satisfie all that are reasonable and for others 't is no matter I have now discoursed the several sorts of Consumptions proposed to be treated on in the front of this Book and had not the late dreadful fire consumed my house and interrupted these labours I had enlarged this work in several parts of it and given you a fuller prospect into the matter yet as it is you may see a discovery of some necessary truths that have been latent and the foundation of these diseases that were undiscovered are now laid bare and obvious to common reason Our Predecessors in the disquisition and search after the causes of diseases sought no farther then bad humours and dyscrasy of temperaments which indeed are but the effects and products of morbifick causes but you have here seen there is a farther progress to be made and that the foundations of diseases are seated in the vital and fundamental principles upon which foundation the structure of this work is laid and to which all the discourse refers this is to demonstrate and lay open diseases radically and fundamentally and here is a Physicians scope and aim that will rightly assist nature and effectually restore and help her in the declensions wastings and alienations of her vital and fundamental principles this is the way to core radically and soundly the other is but superficial and palliative FINIS A Catalogue of Books sold by Tho. Basset under S. Dunstans Church in Fleet-street A Treatise of the Scurvy The second Impression Revised and Enlarged By Dr. Maynwaring Octavo 1666. Tutela Sanitatis sive vita protracta Being wholsome Precautions in Dyet and daily practical rules for preservation of health and prolongation of life With a Discourse of Fontinels or Issues By the same Author Solamen Aegrorum sive Ternarius Medicamentorum Chymicorum ad omnes ferè morbos curandum Galenica Remedia 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 eludentes foelicissimè inventa Remedia Authore Everardo Maynwaringo Philosoph Med. Spagyr Doctore Nova medendi ratio A short and easie Method of Curing exemplified by a Ternary of radical Medicines universal in their respective Classes viz. Purgation Transpiration and Roboration 1666. Loimotomia or the Pest Anatomized By Dr. Thoeason Sold by Nath. Crouch in Bishopsgate-street neer Cornhill USEFUL DISCOVERIES AND PRACTICAL OBSERVATIONS IN Some Late Remarkable Cures of the SCURVY By E. Maynwaringe Dr. in Physick Cognitio Sequitur Curationes LONDON Printed by A. M for T. Basset under St. Dunstans Church in Fleet-Street 1668. To the Diseased IN vain it is to Discourse and have the Nation of Diseases unless also efficacious Medicines be found out to answer their Indications for Cure Which to do is the most difficult and laborious part of Physick And this we may conclude from the often frustration and disappointment of Medicines in their effects after Learned Consultations and deliberate Determination of the Disease Causes Part affected c. rightly stated Here is the great Check given to the Physicians Learning and until this tryal of the Medicine he receives no repulse but goes on smoothly with Applause and boldly but finding his Medicine take little or no effect for the purpose intended is then at a stand a while But being loth to receive a baffle from the Disease does prescribe another and peâ—haps another after that a fourth and a fifth and sometimes many more if the Disease be contumacious and stubborn and this some will call a Methodical course of Physick But I shall not harp upon that string This Disappointment is too often observed in the practice of Physick and this arising only from ineffectual languid erroneous Medicines and how does this come to pass but that the care and burthen of this work rests upon those that are unable and unfit to manage it or by trusting too much the credit of Authors and their traditional Medicines either Galenical or Chymical relying upon their authority and the truth of their Writings which have deluded and frustrated the expectation of many And this I have observed in practical Authors and Pharmacopaeas of both Sects Medicines collected and borrowed from one another and delivered thus fâ—…m hand to hand none knows who first invented them or whether any of them ever made or tryed them that highly extolls and gives large encomiums of their vertues That many of these are Delusions either in the process or the efficacy of the Medicine to my own cost and Labour I have experimented and must say with Helmont that great Philosopher Vexatio parit intellectum and therefore do Caution otheâ—s lest they suffer upon this Râ—…ck but he that wiâ—l purchase to himself excelling Medicines being accomplished with lâ—teratuâ—e with the ground-work and Canons of the Art let him not tye him self up or credit too much this or that Author but follow the dictates of his own reason confirmed and guided by collateral experiments and herein a Physician daily exe cised shall in time attain to great knowledge and sat sfaction in Medicine and purchase to himself If Medicaments of great worth and value and this must be every Physitians proper Labour and daily endeavours that â—ationally intends and rightly goes about to improve and advance the efficacy and power of Medicines that they may have their praise and fame in the World and the Physician much satisfaction and content in their wonderful Operation It is not Sitting in his Study alone and poring upon Books but his own manual Operation and Inspection over his Servants that gives the great stroak to the business the other does very litlâ— without this but both must needs do well and I must say and that justly he that practiseth Physick with a beaâ— speculative traditional and book-â—eading knowledg of Medicines is very unsk lful in the true fundamental knowledg of Medicines and is as unfit to prescribe or appoint Medicines in hazardous or difficult cases as he that by only reading of Navigation is unable to manage and conduct a Ship to East-â—ndia And this is reason to averr for he knows not what a Medicine is nor can he give a good and certain account upon his own knowledg of the Nature of any Ingredient but has all upon trust This oâ— that man says it the conclusion will not handsomly follow Ergo It is so No wise man that can gain a certain knowledg of his own will bo row at hazard of another considering the untruths and Erorrs that are scatteâ—ed abroad in most Writings that he which lives only by borrowing thus shall run himself out of credit and Reputation in his Profession if blind Fortune be not very much his friend 'T is most certain and true that the Ingredients of any Medicine are not known by reading of them but by their single and compound preparation and separation of their constituent parts and thus by handling and Chymically dissecting their bodies each part lies bare and presents it self to your understanding And farther An Ingredient whether of the Animal Vegetable
certain times according to other seminal proprieties and therefore hereditary Consumptions Gouts Scurvy c. do not appear in the infancy though really existing but approach to the time of their manifestation and production sooner or later according to regular or irregular education and external occasional causes promoting or retarding their germination and maturity 13ly That calidum innatum a substance this Vital Spirit manifesting its presence in some species of Creatures per calorem a quality by sensible heat as in man yet being a body of the finâ—… rarified substance and spiritalized maâ—ter does evade the senses and is impeâ—ceptible immediatè by the touch 〈◊〉 sight 14ly That calor naturalis our natuâ—… heat being a consequent or concomitaâ—… property arising or resulting from 〈◊〉 vital principle and varying per gradâ—… by intension and remission does shâ—… the condition of this vital princiâ—… whether in statu naturali vel praeternaâ—…rali whether aestuating irritated aâ—… disturbed or placid and quiet in its oâ—dinary course 15ly That this seminal spirit which â—… aura vitalis being of a â—…minous aeâ—…rial nature having some analogy wâ—… coelestial Bodies does much consent aâ—… correspond is fortified and depressedâ—… Astral Influences according to their vaâ—…ous Aspects benevolent or malevoleâ—… and therefore it is that at sometimes aâ—… seasons we are variously disposed and â—…fected well and ill pro diverso siderâ—… influxu clementia inclementia coeli Concerning Fermentation and fermenting Principles THE Doctrine of Ferments being but of â—untor standing in the world hath brought much light into the practice of Phisick the clear knowledge whereof discovers new truths to those who happily labour to find the depth of this mysterious operation in nature And since there is such great fundamental truths discovered which were latent to the ancients it is not strange nor a dishonour to them if we deviate from their steps and neglect their precepts being calculated for that height they lived in not the meridian of this brighter age and clearer light of knowledge And here I cannot but admire the folly of many though ingenious men to dote upon Antiquities so much and bind up themselves so strictly to the Canons of our Predecessors as if nature were clearly and throughly unvailed to them that nothing remains for us to do but to acquiesce in their labours and to learn the lesson they had prickt down to our hand How unreasonable is it to alledge authority of the Ancients and urge it as â—… convincing argument when the princâ—ples of Phisick to them were but in paâ—… known and principles then assertâ—… which now are exploded necessarily tâ—… superstructure upon them must fall 〈◊〉 for what is deductive from a false supposition must also be false but I wouâ—… not have any think hereby that I despâ—… the labours of ancient Philo ophers aâ—… famous Physitians of their times I haâ—… as great a veneration for their works 〈◊〉 any but they were men and knew bâ—… in part we see their failings and tâ—… generation to come will see ours theâ—… is yet much work to do in the unravâ—…ling of nature great secrets yet to 〈◊〉 discovered that none may take it â—…dignly to be admonished of error or iâ—sufficiency But to return to our purpose in hanâ—… from whence we digressed Now thâ—… you may know the reason of handliâ—… Fermentation in this place confiderâ—… have laid the foundation of this Treâ—tise upon the vital and fundamental priâ—ciples on which our discourse dependâ—… and to which is refers in the prosecuâ—â—… therefore of this work we are necesaâ—…y led to coâ—…mâ—…ate Fermentatioâ—… being of great concernment and so great that it is the parent of vital operations from whence the rest do issue and are continually supplyed for conservation By Fermentation are all the digestions performed and from thence are the several faculties of the body supported and maintained by due fermentation are the alimentary liquors of the body generated and preserved and by defect thereof are they impoverished dispirited and aâ—ienated from their genuine proprieties And althouâ—h our food received abound with much fixed salt which if so remaining produce various diseases yet by due fermentation in the digestive offices it is so elaborated changed and volatised and being so prepared is then fit for the extraction of spirits to support and maintain our bodies in vitality and a vigorous condition as we see in our operation upon vegetables that the spirits are not drawn out but by the help of Fermentation which does unfetter them and free them from their bodies in which they were incarcerated and locked up for by the help of fermentation mixt bodies are unravelled resolved and a disunion of parts made that distinctâ—y they may be separated artificially or by natural Chymistry as it is performed daily in the body of man operating upon food received The great mutations and changes in the body both perfective and corruptive are fermentative and arise from hence by Fermentation diseases are generated and by Fermentation are many cured this is the great wheel by which sublunary bodies are moved and change their stations graduated and degraded again minerals into vegetables vegetables into animals animals of one species into animals of another species and that this wheel may go round with a perpetual motion animals return into vegetables and vegetables into minerals so that nature is never at a stand or idle but always moving sometimes upward tending to perfection and producing a more noble form sometimes downward by corruptive alteration unravelling her own work she had curiously wrought and composed and transposing it into another though meaner and baser form We may either consider Fermentation as it is actio vitalis a vital operation producing such effects and cast an eye upon the products thereof and see the varieâ—y of production or else we may look toward the principia fermentativa from whence this Fermentation does arise and so have inspection chiefly into the causes Famous Helment who hath merited much in the opinion of most ingenious men I mean those that are the truly knowing men in the study and right practice of Physick yet in his discourse of Ferments is very obscure and ambiguous that little satisfaction can be had from his writing on this subject particularly a Tract entituled Imago Fermenti c. and elsewhere frequently mentioned in other Tracts of his discordantly as those that trace him I believe will consent with me in this but I shall not spend time to point out the places and prosecute him having deserved so well in some of his other works But to illustrate the Doctrine of Fermentation Dr. Willis hath learnedly discoursed and with him I conceive most of our modern Physitians agree For Fermentation and Ferments in their latitude is not necessary to discuss here we shall only consider the fermentative principles in Corpore humano for the purpose in hand to lay open our design Dr Willis De Fermentatione saith the life of animals does arise from
never to be totally amended but will admit of some correction and palliationâ— and therefore Patients sometimes wrongfully complain of their Physitians for that they have a continual propension to such or such diseases which is not in the power of man to eradicate being so planted by nature in the fabrication and first constitution of parts A Survey of the vital and fundamental Principles Conjunctim HAving traced through the vital principles apart and viewed their distinct beings and proprieties we will make some result thereof by applying it to our present design as the front of this work does import and promise and having surveyed them disjunctively in their offices and peculiar proprieties we will consider them in their co-ordinate and subordinate acts in their mutual compliance and assistance one to the other in vital and animal actions and what relation they have to health and sickness These vital principles are â—he basis upon which the whole discourse of Physick ought to move and to which it does refer for health is the integrity and perfect state of the vital principles performing the operations and functions of the body duly and sickness on the contrary is their deficiency depravation and decay so that health and sickness have their dependence here as the approximate causes These principles are not equal in degree and power but one is principal and more noble than the other which is instrumental and subordinate man considered as a mere animal hath his vitality or performeth his vital actions from these three principles the sensitive or brutal soul the vital spirit and the ferments of the parts these are joint agents in vitality and co-operate consentaneously have their defections and roboration sympathâ—tically the one is not depressor but the other is languid and when on is exalted and elevated the other iâ— strengthened and fortified if the Souâ— be sad the spirits are dull the ferment languid and digestions weakly performed if the spirits be exhausted by immoderate fluxes bleeding Venus c. the soul is sad heavy and drooping the ferments not so acute and active in their several offices of transmutation if the ferments be alienated from their genuine proprieties by improper irregular and disproportionate food or otherwise or spontaneously languishing through their innate disability to a longer duration in their integrities soon follows a defection depauperation and drooping of spirits since their generation and supply depends upon a vigorous and due fermentation in the grand elaboratories of transmutation Thus the vital principles in a due harmony concur and consent in all vital operations each being assistant and coadjuvant one to the other and participating in the ill or welfare of one another but any one disordered or depressed disturbs the regular oeconomy of the vital functions tending to ruine and decay of the whole frame of man body this is the golden chain of health one link whereof being broken enâ—rvates the strength of the whole man these are the springs that move in the performance of all the functions and vital operations whose vigour and harmonious consent preserve the body in a prosperous and flourishing state but being weak and languid man declines and degenerates from his pristine vigour of vitality when this trine conjunction of co-operation and subserviency begins to be dissolved What is Health but a due performance of all the Functions What is Sickness but their disorder irregularity and deficiency and both health and sickness depend upon these fundamental principles since all the functions are performed approximately and immediately duly or unduly from their regularity or depravation If so as it is most true here is the centre of all our discourse concerning health and sickness here is the basis upon which health and sickness depend and here are we to aim and direct our endeavours for the preservation and continuance of the one and also for the remove of the other I have read voluminous large Discourses and tedious Tracts in Physick bâ—… with much dissatisfaction acquiring thereby a superficial and distracted knowledgâ— only particularly a large Scheme 〈◊〉 Schedule of diseases is drawn out methodized in that order as some nay thâ— most take for a compleat platform am I was of that opinion wherein every part of mans body hath its diseases assigned and from hence an innumerable company of medicines are mustered up singly to oppose them but upon due examination and scrutiny into the wholâ— matter I was better informed and taughâ— how to contract both Diseases and Medicines into fewer Heads and Classes not relating to temperaments and humours nor the variety of parts of manâ— body but respecting the vital Principle from whence result both health and sickness that so applying to these whicâ— are but few in number their assistancâ— required for reduction and restauration is not so perplexedly various as the granâ—… Authorities our Predecessors would have it and their disciples the maintaineâ—… of it in this our age who relish nothing but what savours of Antiquity who stoop and yield to an ipse dixit being more prevalent with them than the strength of reason But to proceed they that look only or mainly at temperaments and the various sorts of degenerate humours are such whose knowledge gives them not admittance to view nature stript naked ript up and her intrinsick parts but externally to behold her invested in such a garb What are temperaments and humors but a result and the effects of the vital principles changing into this or that state and condition from whose various gradations mutations compliance and mutual assistance variety of humors and degenerate matter is producted which for distinction sake you may call humors and temperaments but you must not content your self with the nominal knowledge of these visible appearances but make disquisitions into the invisible procurers why do you so much eâ—e and aim at effects neglecting their causes applying Remedies only à posteriori when you may and ought to do it radically and à priori at the springs from whence they arise The result of this discourse I shall sum up in this corollary That the fragility and morbificâ— state of mans life depends or ariseth aâ— well from the active principles of vitality declining spending and hasteninâ— to a period ex natâ—…ae imbecillitate 〈◊〉 detrimento ab extra as also from thâ— passive principles of mans composition constituting the Fabrick and organicâ— parts being subject to dissolution diâ—junction and decay If so as it is moâ—… true then Physicians need not so mucâ— insist upon and mire themselves to find out Diseases in the superfluous humoâ—… and excrements of mans body which 〈◊〉 the producted matter and requires only evacuation but chiefly to eye the principles of our vitality which are tâ—e spriâ—… from whence Diseases take their rise râ—quiring restauration reduction to the integrities roboration and confirmâ—tion Of a Consumption Atrophy Tabes Anglica THe word Atrophia is a Compound of a privative or rather diminutive and 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉