matter doth avoid and so the sicknes to end And such urine doth appear many times after purgations or other meats and drinks which purge the splene namely if a man do labour upon them that was before diseased of the splcen Howbeit sometime meats and drinks of like colour cause black urine as Galen witnesseth namely after dark red wine and Allegant But in moderate Agues if such black urine doe appear it is a token of death except it be on some Criticall dayes And likewise in sharp agues especially if the savour be strong and stinking unless it come of some grief of the bladder Quantitie of urine Let this suffice for this time as touching colours Now for the quantitie of urine as when it is mean it is a good token so when it is either too much or too little it is an evill sign except it come of such cause as I shewed before that altereth urine in a healthfull man Much in a whole body As first excessive quantitie of urine commeth of much drinking of thin wine as Rennish wine and such like But that shall you thus know for the colour will be whitely and the substance thinner then a mean the contents also will be divers and not duly knit Likewise if there be aboundance of raw humours in a man unconcocted and yet nature persevering strong then is there great quantity of urine and somewhat thin of substance but not so white as the other and the contents of this are better Also as Hippocrates saith much Vtine made in 4. Aph. 3. the night is a token of small sege so that if any impediment let naturall sege then will the quantity of urine be the greater But in this as the colour is mean so is the ground both greater and grosser yet in healthfull folk may the urine by another means also be greater then a mean and that may be by medicines which provoke urine but then is the colour more natural then the last that I spake of and the ground is thinner of substance so that it is dark and scarcely scene and then is there a certain glistering in the urine it self Little urine in a whole body Now contrarie waies and of contrary causes cometh small quantitie of urine For it cometh sometime of lack of drinke or dry meats and then is the colour light saffron with a smal ground but yet somewhat gross Also both meats and medicines that are clammie and apt to stop the water pipes do cause little urine but then is the ground also little and thin Besides these much sege causeth urine to be lesser for if the one excrement be greater then nature would the other must needs be lesse if the body be healthful In this urine as you may partly know the cause of it by the knowledge of the excessive sege so will the urine it self be thinner and the ground very dark thin and not duely knit And thus many waies may this alteration appear in a healthfull body Much urine in a sick body Now in a sick person much urine either betokeneth the dropsie and then is it like water with a raw and diverse ground or else if it be white thin and without ground then doth it betoken the pissing evill And this urine as witnesseth Galen in in his first Book of Judicials is the worst of any other of like sort Diabete I mean which declare lack of concoction for it declareth the decay yea I may say the utter extinction of two naturall powers that is the retentive power and the alterative power also Much urine in colour fierie and light saffron or of any like colour is to be feared namely if it be coupled with evill contents But if it be of crimson or purple colour and so proceed especially if no concoction went before it then doth it encline to evill and betokeneth a certain mortifying and wasting of the whole composition of the body But if much urine come in an Ague namely toward the end and that there went before it little urine thick and rud die then is that a good token 4. Aph. 69. as witnesseth Hypocnates for it betokeneth the Ague to be at an end And this Urine will bee white and thin moderately and will have a mean ground Little uril in a sick body Now little quantity of urine with a grosse ground unduly knit and unconcoct is an evill token for it betokeneth the weakness of the alterative power which is not able to extenuate concoct neither alter the matter and therefore doth it with much difficulty pass forth in such grossnes Howbeit if there follow after it a more thinne urine with the ground well and duly knit and stable then is it without fear For this latter urine as you heard before is a token that the cause of the other is overcome and vanquished This little quantitie of urine cometh sometime in vehement Agues and then is the violent heat cause thereof Sometime also it cometh of the stopping of the water-pipes not only through clammy meats and drinks but also of some disease or grief in them And this now shall suffice for an Introduction as touching the substance colours and quantitie of urine It followeth next Contents to speak of the contents which so greatly help to the right judgement of urine that Hippocrates in his second book of Prognostications doth by them only yen and that by one of them I mean the ground pronounce the judgement of a perfect urine saying That that is the best Vrine Sediment which hath his sediment or ground white duly knit and stable and that continually all the time of the sickness Now seeing this great Clerk and Father of Physick doth thus esteem the ground it shall not seem unmeet that I orderly doe write briefly of those principall things that are to be considered as touching the contents and first of all of the ground which hath alteration as you have heard both in substance colour and quantitie But now as touching the substance then is it only mean when the third concoction in the veins is perfect For the ground is the excrement as you might say of that third concoction and is like in forme to matter save that it is more duly knit together then is matter and doth not smell so evill as it or else you may liken it to thin fleam Grosses ground This Ground is then gross when the veins are replenished with raw humors Howbeit this grosseness or thickness is not alwayes an evill token for sometime it is a sign that nature hath prevailed against the crude humours which caused diseases and doth expell such superfluous excrements And that shall you discerne by the goodness of the colour and also if it come in the declining of the sickness for if it come at the beginning either in the increase of the sickness then are they to be suspected as evill especially if they bring with them evill colours
for you must understand all these ages with perfect health The diversity of Vrines according to the times of the yeer Even as the diversity of ages alters urine so doth the times of the yeer For the more that the spring time draws toward heat the more the urine gathereth high colour Spring departing from pale and flaxen toward pale and light saffron and the inequality of substance changeth into a due equality according to nature and the ground doth waxe thinner and the quantity is more in respect to that is drunk so that about the midst of the spring they return to a mean In the beginning of Summer the colour appeareth pale and light saffron Summer and the substance mean the ground white duly knit and stable but yet thinner then a mean ground And the more that the Summer proceedeth and draweth to the highest the lesser is the quantity of urine in comparison to the drink and the ground changeth from his naturall whiteness to a palish colour and is much lesser and thinner And this thinnesse glystereth withall and inclineth toward golden and saffron colour When Harvest commeth Harvest then the colours do return to a mean again but the thinness and brightness remaineth still the ground also is still obscure and little but yet it is white duely knit and stable And as Harvest goeth forward so the urine returneth to a mean in all things In the middle of winter and thereabout the urine keepeth due quantitie but the colour inclineth toward white and the ground is over great but in all other points it is mean And as Winter goeth on Winter the substance of urine appeareth divers and the colour white the quantity greater in respect to the drink and the contents greater and unconcoct but toward the spring time they return towards a mean as I have before said Yet beside these also diversity of countries causeth diversity of urine even by the same reasons as doth the times of the yeer Countries alter urine For countries that be temperate exactly make urine like unto the spring time And those countries that be hot and dry make urine like unto summer And contrariwise cold and moist alter water as doth winter But countries that are drie and distempered between heat and cold make urine like harvest Meats drinks and medicines Also meats and drinks and order of dier causeth urine to alter and medicines also as not only experience teacheth but also Hippocrates witnesseth in the sixt Book of his Epidemies or raining sicknesses in the fift part and the fifteenth sentence as for example Meats of light concoction Those meats that are light of concoction and good in substance cause good and temperate urine with pure contents but contrary meats cause discoloured urine and thin with strange contents Meats of hard concoction Meats that will not concoct make lesser contents and divers in substance Evill cause greater contents and in nothing duely formed And as the quality of meats doth alter urine so doth the quantity also For if a man have eaten much and not concocted it his urine shall be thin and white and sometime without ground But if this crudity or rawness in stomack continue long the urine will become divers in substance Drinking of wine and in contents Also wine drunk abundantly causeth alteration in urine But now contrariwise if a man doe fast long Fasting long his urine will appear fiery and saffron coloured and thin with lesser ground But if a man suffer famine and do not nourish Suffering of famine his water shall be thin and white with a certain glistering and without ground Moreover exercise and rest changeth urine Labour for through excessive labour the urine changeth from light saffron and at length becommeth saffron coloured with little ground thin and higher coloured then it should be And some time there fleereth on the top a certain fattness specially after overmuch wearinesse But idleness and rest doth contrariwise cause white urine Rest with greater and grosser ground Furthermore sleep Sleep Watching and watching if they exceed measure they alter urine but there is a difference between both sleepe and watching comming of sickness and them both when they be taken willingly in health For if that sickness cause overmuch sleep then is the urine whitish with substance either fully thick or but partly thin and the contents many and undigest Naturall sleep But if that such sleep come naturally the urine is not so white but rather flaxen and the substance mean with greater and well concoct contents Voluntary sleep And likewise they that have watched purposedly and not by reason of sickness their urine is bur little changed But if they watch for any sickly cause Watch in sickness their urine will change but little at the beginning but with continuance the contents will be dispersed and at the last clean wasted and the substance of the urine waxeth thinner and thinner by little and little and the colour inclineth either to white and watery or unto golden saffron oylie or black according as the cause is that maketh it so to change Of alteration by complexion I will write in the next Chapter Now have you heard as touching alteration of urine in health according to diversity of ages both in men and women times of the yeer countries meats and drinks labour rest sleep and watch so that you must have regard to these in all judgements both in health and in sicknesse For if these be not diligently marked they may cause great error as you may well consider What is to be considered in urine First therefore in every urine you must consider whether it be a mans or a womans and what age he or shee is of then what time of the yeer it is and what country what meats and drinks the person used and likewise of labour and rest sleep and watch And then must you consider how every one of these doth alter urine so that if the altering of them from that healthfull urine whereof I spake in the beginning of this Chapter be but such as one of those foresaid things would cause then may it not be judged to come of any disease as for example High coloured water in summer so that it pass not saffron colour or white coloured water in winter should rather be reckoned to come of the time of the yeer then of any sickness and likewise of other things CH AP. VII What be the generall qualities that alter the parts of Vrine BEfore I treat of the signification of the parts of Urine I think it good to instruct you of the generall qualities which cause all alterations in urine whereby you shall perceive not only what every urine doth betoken as I shall anon set forth but also if you mark well this Chapter you shall see the cause why every urine doth so signifie You shall understand therefore that there be four
nigh to the reins which either are broken or other waies opened But how it may be known from whence it commeth and how there are many means to search but because they are not light to perceive I will reserve them for Physicians that are learned This colour of it self is no great evill sign namely in young men for it betokeneth excess of bloud which may well bee born of them But in old men it is a very evill sign for it betokeneth either long sickness or else death sith nature is so weak that it cannot keep in her natural humour And if that red colour come of red choler as it doth in young men for the most part and not of blood which thing a learned Physician may conjecture partly by the former diet and other signs more the accidents shal be the more troublous howbeit yet not so evill as when it commeth of saffron or golden choler for this causeth greater thirst and more troublous sleep then the other Of Crimson colour Crimson colour CRimson colour is a token that the good humours of the bodie are burned and turned into red or black choler which cause worse griefs then the other howbeit if it have a good ground the grief is the more moderate But if it have either no contents for a space or else evill contents and the urine appear like a thick myste but somewhat glistering light it is a sign that nature needeth such strength to recover her selfe to her own state Notwithstanding such urine is caused sometime in whole folk by reason of much labour and long journying and then it hath some good signs therewith But in them that have a sharp Ague such crimson colour of urine doth betoken that corrupt blood doth abound and that it doth putrifie and turn into choler And commonly they that make such urine doe thirst much and are dry in their mouth and are troubled in their sleep and feel sharp Agues and are half distract and feel pain of the liver with coughing Howbeit yet these signs may be sometimes as well good as bad according as the colours do change to better or worse Of Purple Colour Purple colour PUrple colour declareth need of much strength before it can be altered to a good urine This urine is a sign of burning choler And if it do continue very long it is a token of the yellow Jaunders with abundance of gross and corrupt choller gathered in the liver And at the beginning there goeth with it some spices and grudgings of the Ague with a little thirstiness but unless there bee discretion used in the diet of such a Patient it may turn to a much worse disease Of Green Vrines Green colour GReen colour is an evill and a dangerous token for it needeth not only long time but also cotinual strength to bring it again to a good trade The higher that this colour is the more it declareth that choller exceedeth the other humours which if it be any more burned will cause black urine of which I will anon speak But if green colour come of wasting of the fat then is it somewhat like to oylie colour or popinjay green but if it come of abundance of purpelish colour and through increase of his qualitie then doth the colour incline more toward black and glistereth with shadowie green drawing very nigh unto black After green choler followeth madness parbreaking and avoiding of choler sometimes with matter or else burned and also continuall thirstiness and burning heat of the tongue straightness about the stomack And like other things But if the patient continue strong and the colour of the urine do waxe lighter there is good hope else there is great fear least of the dryness and burning there do follow contraction of the sinews which will kill the patient Of Oilie Vrine or Popinjay Green Oilie urine popinjay green OYlie Urine is of three sorts as I said in the first Chapter that is light oylie stark oylie and ddark oylie Oylie urines are a token of unnatural heat and the higher that the colour is the greater is the heat And also they betoken melting of the fat within a man for of it are they so coloured But at the beginning when there is a little fat melted the urine is light oylie For if it look stark oylie then it signifieth that the disease increaseth But if it come once to dark oylie then is the disease sore increased Hippocrates in the seventh Book of his Aphorisms speaking of fatness in urine saith thus Who so maketh urine with fatty flotes comming much and fast they have sharp pains in the reins Which sentence though it seem more to appertain to the contents then to the colour yet doth not onely Galen but also Aetius Actuarius and also another Grecian whose name I know not expound it amongst colours and by it declare the difference to know whether that wast or melting of fat be in the reins it self or in other parts of the body For if it come fast together as Hippocrates saith then commeth it from the reins it self and betokneth the wasting to be in them But if it come softly and increase by little and little then doth it declare that the whole body is overcome with unnaturall heat and that the fat of it doth wast it doth betoken as Act. witnesseth a wasting Ague consuming the body Of blew Vrine Ash colour and Black BLew colour Ash-colour and Black do differ only in lightness and darkness For ash-colour is darker then blew and black is darker then any of them both Blew colour Blew colour sometime cometh of moderate melancholy and then is the urine somewhat thin in substance And sometime it commeth of great cold and then it is thick in substance And sometime it is a token of mortifying of some part Yea and sometime even of whole nature namely if the colour change to worse and worse and there went before no token of concoction Ash-colour Ash coloured urine commeth of like causes and betokeneth like things Howbeit it is so coloured many times when the party that made it hath been fore beaten an bruised But in this you need not the help of urine for you may see the walts and tokens of the stripes in his body Black urine Urine which is extream black sometime betokeneth extream heat and sometime extream cold the which both you may distinctly discerne if you doe observe order of alteration in the colours of the urine that the patient made last before For if his urine before were green or like thereto then doth the black urine which follows it betoken extream heat But if it were last before blew or ash coloured then doth it signifie extream cold This black colour though it be commonly an evill and deadly sign as I said before speaking of thick urine and black yet sometime it is a good token For in all diseases lightly that come of melancholy matter it betokeneth that the
THE URINAL OF PHYSICK By ROBERT RECORD Doctor of Physick Whereunto is added an ingenious Treatise concerning Physicians Apothecaries and Chyrurgians Set forth by a Dr. in Queen Elizabeths dayes With a Translation of Papius Ahalsossa concerning Apothecaries Confecting their Medicines Worthy perusing and following LONDON Printed by Gartrude Dawson 1651. To the Reader IF either the corruption or abuse of things might deprive us of this lawfull and necessary use of them even the sacred Scriptures our laws out provisions of life and clothing might fall under declension if not abolition It is true from the inspection of Urine some have presumed to pretend a larger judgement and indication then may justly be drawn or conjectured out of it yet it is generally concluded by Physitians both ancient and moderne that both Urine and Pulse are so necessary that without them all knowledge of Physick besides is doubtfull obscure and uncertaine whereof the first sheweth the estate of the liver and veines the second of the heart and arteries The Urine because with the blood it is convened into all parts of the body and from thence returneth back again in the veines to the liver and urinall vessels bringeth with it some indicature of the state and disposition of all those parts from whence it commeth and who shall please to peruse that exact peice of Daniel Becherus shall finde observable peices both concerning the urine and divers experimented medicines made with it Concerning the judgement of the Pulte who shall please to peruse Doctor May upon Pennant shall finde the Pulses motion not so certain an indicature because in some diseases there is cessation or none or small appearance to conjecture by Concerning cerning the Author he was one of the first who labour'd to reduce the tractate thereof unto order and method and hath been seconded by laborious borious Fletcher to whom our English Nation oweth much for their labours The antiquity and paines of the Author hath caused it to be presented again to the Presse hoping with judicious men it shall receive the acceptance is desired studied By the well-wisher of your health R. R. THE PREFACE THough the unsatiable greedines of covetous men doe many and sundrie waies hurt The good use of a covetous example yet some wayes it may do no lesse good if men will not disdain as they ought not to use it in such sort as I shall shew you But because that unsaciableness is never satisfied but beside thousand of means invented already to quench the unquenchable greedines it seeketh and findeth daily new and new means innumerable so that it were an infinite labour to declare them all I will wittingly and purposedly passe them over only taking one general sentence which shall be in stead of all the rest Vespasian one of the great schoolmasters of avarice which could pick out profit of every thing yea even of mens urine taught his Scholers I meane the whole court of covetous persons this lesson ensuing Lucri bonus odor caece qualibet Lucre is sweet and hath a good savour Though it come of Vrine dirt or Ordure This sentence if it be withdrawn from the filthy lucre of unsatiable covetousnesse wherein it is detestable and imployed rather to the due lucre of mans sustenance then it becomes tolerable But if it bee referred to the necessarie lucre of mans health then is it greatly commendable If there can be then any commodity for mans health gathered out of urine as there may be much men should not be negligent in seeking of that thing which should do good both to themselves and others seeing the covetous are so diligent in seeking for that thing which shall profit neither themselves nor others And the negligence is so much the greater if men be more remisse in seeking after so necessary a thing in a matter so commendable then the covetous in a bad thing But in as much as this thing by reason it is not plainly ser forth is with no lesse difficulty to be studied on then it is necessary to be used the ignorant may have some excuse I therefore in the name of many other have taken this pains on me to set forth this thing so plainly Ignorance set aside that ignorance can have no excuse But that no man should doubt of the truth of this Treatise or of mine intent Why this Book is written in putting forth the same rather in this our English tongue then any other I shall briefly shew reasons of both First for the truth of it The first reason I will boldly speak knowing for certain that no man that can judge it will say or thinke otherwise but that it is as true as mans knowledge can devise it And it is the opinion of the most excellent writers of Physick both Greeks and Latine namely Hippocrates Galen Aetius Aeginota Philothous Theophilus Actuarius also Cornelius Celsus Plinius Constantinus Africanus and Clementius Clementinus with others more conferring also with these Avicenna Egidius Polidamus and such like But with what temperance and moderation they that are learned may perceive These have I followed chiefly in this judgement of Urines And in the use of medicine and diseases touching urine I have joyned with them Dioscorides Quintus Serenus Columela Sextus Platonicus and divers others Now if there be any man that doubteth of the truth of those writers in this thing I am not here to force beleef upon them The intent of the Author But now as touching mine intent in writing this Treatise in English though this cause might seem sufficient to satisfie many men that I am an English man and therefore may most easily and plainly write in my native tongue rather then in any other yet unto them that know the hardness of the matter this answer should seem unlikely considering that it is harder to translate into such a tongue wherein the Art hath not been written before then to write in those tongues in which the terms of the Art are better expressed Now to shew briefly the causes moving me thereunto I am sure there are but few that ever sought counsell for their health but they know that the common trade to attain to the knowledge of the disease is by the judgement of the urine though not alone yet as the principall Likewise as the is not any thing so good but the abuse of it may cause harm to ensue therupon So this judgment of urines though it be a thing highly to be regarded yet if it be used rashly without foregoing signs it may cause as it doth often some error in the judgment of the Physician though he were right excellently learned not so much by the ignorance of the Physitian as by want of knowledge in the patient which should instruct the Physician in such questions as hee needed to demand of him and not to look that the Physitian should tell him all things at the first sight more like a God then man So that
if there be any Physitian so arrogant that he will take upon him to tell all things alone and will not hear the Patient speak specially not knowing the party before neither seeing other signes but only the urine as I dare boldly pronounce That such a man is unworthy to be called a Physitian So it shall be good for all men not to trust to the judgement of such a one for by such mis-use in this thing not only much harme befalls the patients so that it hath been the occasion of many mens death but also very much reproach hath ensued to the whole estate and order of Physitians and hath caused that excellent and most necessary art to bee contemned derided and little set by To avoid the more this inconvenience I have written this little Treatise to all men in common The use of this Book that they may learn to have some knowledge in their own urines and thereby may be the better able to instruct the Physitian at the least what sort of urine they have made from time to time from the beginning of their sicknes and somewhat before And also what fort of water they were soure or bitter and such like Yea beyond all this he requireth in every man the knowledge of his own pulse which is a thing harder then the judgement of urines Now if you require Examples the whole world is full of them They that wrote in Greek Examples of Writers in the Vulgar tongue wrote in their own vulgar tongue and so did they that wrote in Latine write in their own common speech Besides that have we not infinite examples of Learned men in Germany France and Spain which wrote of Physick in their own tongue Yea Is not our own England full of Examples How many Books of Practises how many Herbals and other like Books of Physick hath there been put forth many yeers past And yet unto this day doe not learned wits sleepe How much is all England bound to that Worthy and Learned Knight Sir Thomas Eliot Sir Thomas Eliots Castle of Health which took the pains to build a Castle of Health for all English men besides many other learned Books that he hath put forth in the Vulgar tongue whereby a man may learn both to govern himself so that though he escape not all sicknesses quite yet he shall eschew the great dangers of them England may rejoyce of such a Knight yea England hath too few that followeth such example But if England had as many well willing doers as she hath cruell and spitefull disdainers then were England the Flower of all Realmes in the world Now will I leave this and draw nearer to my purpose and will desire all men that shall read this Book patiently to bear with my boldness and thankfully to receive my good minde And if there shall bee found in this Book or in any other that I shall put forth a small error or oversight for greater errors I dare say there shall be none I shall desire all them that shall find any to advertise me thereof by word or writing and I shall be ready not onely to render condign thanks but also to amend duely that shall be thought amisse or else to yeeld a reason for the proof of the same An exhortation to the Reader And now to make an end I will desire every man soberly and discreetly to use this my Book not using it to the taunting or checking of other men nor to trust in their own knowledge further then they ought And likewise I shall exhort all men not to mock and jest with any Physitian as some light wits do tempting them with Beans stale in stead of mens urine others bringing to them mens water for womens and such other like things For in this doing they deceive not the Physitian but themselves For a mans water to be like a womans it need seem no strange thing Howbeit again there is a notable difference insomuch that that water which in a man declareth health if it were a womans might declare some disease and likewise that which in a woman signifieth health if it were a mans water it might betoken sicknesse And if a mans water and womans be like and betoken both diseases those diseases may be divers and not one Yea two mens waters being both alike shall not declare alwaies one grief except they agree also in age diet exercise and other like things Also that a Beasts Water may be like a Mans the Mans sicknesse being thereafter Hypocrates witnesseth and experience teacheth as I shall declare hereafter Therefore if you seek the Patients health look that you receive the urine diligently and as soon as you can present it to the Physitian and be diligent to instruct him in all things that you can and that he shall not have need to aske And so no doubt you shall receive great commodity of that Art to the health of man and the glory of God which hath given such knowledge unto man THE URINALL OF PHYSICK CHAP. I. Of the Division and Order of this Book BEcause that nothing done confusedly can be well understood of the Readers for every thing the better order it hath the better it may be understood and is much more easily remembred when the order of it is well and certainly known The sum of this Book I have therefore digested this Book orderly as I shall here set forth to the intent that you may read as it were in grosse the whole Book and thereby keep it the better in remembrance First therefore I will declare the nature of urine what it is and how it is ingendred within man and how it passeth forth from man Secondly of the order of receiving it in a convenient vessell And of the time and place meet to consider it Thirdly how many things are to bee considered in urine and how many wayes they may be altered in a healthfull man Fourthly what significations and tokens may be gathered of urine concerning any alteration in man past present or to come Fiftly to what use in medicine urine may serve and of other good uses of it to mans commodity And last of all I wil declare certain diseases touching urine which either let it or cause it to void unwillingly with the Medicines and remedies meet for the same CHAP. II. How Vrine is ingendred in Man and how it passeth forth AS unto them that are learned and know by the Art of Anatomy the scituation of the parts of man and the naturall office of every part it is easie enough to perceive the originall generation and cause of urine without any example so unto them that neither know the scituation nor offices no neither yet the names of the parts of mans body it is scarce possible to make them to perceive the generation of urine without some sensible example But because it is very hard to find an artificiall example which can alone duely expresse this work
declare that nature hath begun to concoct alreadie notwithstanding it is an evill urine for it signifieth that nature hath need not only of great strength to perform that concoction which she hath begun but also that there is required long time to the performance of the same For the which cause Galeu calleth this Of all Vrines the worst Thus have you heard touching crudity and concoction what thin urine doth signifie so that all thin urine betokeneth crudity And beside that doth further betoken as witnesseth Hypocrates gatherings or apostumations stumations in the nether parts of the bodie namely if it continue so very long and the patient escape death Thin and white Furthermore if such thin urine have with it a light whiteness it is a very evill sign For if it be in a burning ague it is a token of frensines But if the patient be fransick alreadie and the urine doth so continue it doth most commonly betoken death And if the escape death the which is seldome scen then shall he be long sick and escape hardly Thin urine also betokeneth divers other things as the stopping of the reins and of the water veins And likewise if a man have had much bleeding or laxe or pissing his urine will be white and thin and almost without ground Like manner in old age and long weakness of sickness Also in young children if it continue long it is a deadly sign Yet thin urine doth sometime betoken the end of sickness and recovery of health as in Agues namely quotidians if at the beginning of them and so after the urine did appear thick and troubled and especially if the colour amend therewith Thin and flaxen And if it be thin substance and of flaxen colour then is it better then thin and white for because the colour is better though the substance bee all one so that though it betoken some weakness and lack of concoction yet not so much as doth the other for the colour is meanly concoct that is to say naturall heat is meanly increased Thin and golden But if it be thin and golden it is yet more better then thin and flaxen for the colour is more exact and this betokeneth concoction half compleat for that which it lacketh in substance it hath in colour Thin and saffron After this is there thin and saffron coloured which betokeneth first lack of concoction and beside that default of nourishment as in a young man that fasteth long And sometime it betokeneth that excess of heat in the inner parts of the body doth cause cholerick humours to abound as in the fever tertian Beside all this it betokeneth thought carefulness and watching and also overmuch labour and taking of heat in the Sun And thus have you heard the significations of thin urine both alone and also with such colours as it can be coupled Now shall you hear what thick urine doth betoken both alone and also with such divers colours as it may be coupled Thick urine which is so I mean when it is first made either it doth continue still thick Thick or else it doth settle and waxe clear If it continue still thick it betokeneth that that disturbance which was in the blond that is to say the rage of sicknesse doth still continue strongly and that naturall strength is but weak This urine is not so good as that which doth settle and waxe cleer For that doth betoken that the disease shal shortly be overcome howbeit there remaineth yet somewhat of that distemperate trouble in the blood yet nature hath the over-hand and expelleth the matter of the grief and therefore is such a urine called good but yet it betokeneth some lack of concoction though not so much as that which continueth troubled and thick still Also thick urine if it be exceeding thick doth betoken death as Hypocrates saith And the urine that is thick and troubled like beasts urine doth betoken head ach either present already or shortly after to come If thick urine appeare in an ague where thin urine went before it betokeneth that the sickness will abate straight waies for it declareth that nature hath overcome the matter of the sickness but if it appear thick at the beginning of the ague and do not waxe thin in process of time it betokeneth plenty of matter and weakness of nature so that there is fear lest nature should be overcome except the colour do amend Thick urine also betokeneth opennesse of the water pipes and reins Thick and white And if it bee thick and white it betokeneth great plenty of raw humours and sundry kinds of flegm to be gathered in the bodies and betokeneth also namely if it be much that those gatherings which might be looked for in sore agues shall not ensue for the matter which should cause them deparreth out by urine but the whiteness of this urine is bright as snow For if it be somewhat darker like the whiteness of milk it is a token of the stone either in the bladder or reins namely if such urine chance in the end and amending of sickness But if the colour of it be grey it betokeneth not only plenty of matter in the body but also that the whole body is possessed with a dangerous sickness whereof oftentimes it chanceth the patient to break out with blisters and heat in his skin Thick and claret Next after this followeth thick claret colour for flaxen yellow nor saffron colour doth not agree with thick urine and it doth signifie that the disease shall continue long specially if the ground of it be also of claret colour But yet this disease without perill of death Thick and red Thick urine if it be red coloured doth betoken abundance of blood as is seen in continuall Agues and in all perillous Agues as witnesseth Theophylus If this water come by little and little it is an evill token for it doth alwaies declare danger And if that sort of urine in such Agues do waxe trouble so that there come with it deafness of hearing and ach of the head with pain in the neck and in the sides of the belly it betokeneth that the Patient shall have the falling evill within a seven night Thick and crimson And if a thick urine have a crimson colour If it bee burning Agues and the Patient then have the headach it betokeneth that a chief criticall sign either is then present or else night at hand Thick and blew But if the urine be thick and blew coloured it signifieth diversly as the persons are that made it For in them that are in way of recovery it betokeneth that the shall escape their grief It signifieth also pain in the water-pipes or else that the party hath runn much And if it appear such in old men and that continue long it declareth not only that the bladder is infected with evill humours but commonly also that he shall be rid of them But if it come after
a good ground is coupled with certain evill and unconcted fragments of ' all sorts of humours for sometime there appeareth with the contents certain ragged scraps enclining in colour toward a yellow or a white or else some such like if those appear in great quantitie they declare the matter to be half unconcoct and that the humour whose scraps they are doth abound in the depth of the body and is as dust or burned but if they bee few then declare they the malice of the humour to be milder and that the use of evill meats doth cause them the greater that such ragged scraps are the lesser adustion of humours they declare to be in the veins and the lesser they be the greater heat they do betoken For the cause of such ragged scraps is excessive heat which doth turn those humors into a thickness and as it were a bony nature by reason that they have remained long in certain veins and were neither dissolved nor extenuated nor yet quickly expelled by urine Besides these there are hairs of sundry lengths Hairs some an inch and some an handfull long some longer and some shorter and these are in colour whitely and do betoken grief of the reins These are ingendred in the water-pipes which go from the reins to the bladder so that as long as those water-pipes are in length so long may those hairs also be which are a gross and baked humor wrought in form of a hair Of those speaketh Hippocrates saying 4. Aph. 76. In whose Vrine soever there doth appear little peeces of flesh either as it were hairs those same come from the reins namely if the urine be thick Howbeit these are sometimes seen in such mens urines as feel no grief in the reines but only have fed some continuing space on flegmatick meats which will prepare matter to such diseases as they do also to many other griefs of which to speak in this place it is meet But to go on with this thing that wee have in hand beside such ragged scraps and hairs as I have spoken of there appear sometimes in the ground of the urine and also dis-parkled abroad in the urine it felf sundry and divers kinds of motes as it were which do declare that there is grief dispersed in sundry parts of the body Motes And this now may suffice as touching contents of every kind Therefore now will I a little repeat out of Actuarius of the diversitie of judgement The places of the contents The lowest region That ground which fleeteth nigh to the bottom of the urinall being in other points also good and mild doth betoken no strange thing But if it be unconcoct and deformed it betokeneth default in nature And if his parts be disparkled asunder it betokeneth a dimness in nature which doth not resist the rebellion of noysome humors so that in such case there appeareth need both of long time and also more strength to overcome that evill But as it is commendable that the ground fleet nigh the bottome of the urinall so is it discommendable if it lye flat on the bottome of the same The middle region Now as touching the swim or sublimation if it be good in colour and other waies then doth it differ only in place from a right ground and that cometh of an unnaturall windiness which maketh it to be so light and to fleet above his due place but if his colour and other like points bee evill yet then doth it betoken lesse evill then if it were in the right place of the ground the highest region But now as touching the third and highest region which is the place of the clouds If there appear a light and thin cloud it betokeneth no small grief of the head But this difference is there in the clouds the better that they be in colour and substance the farther they differ from a right good and naturall Content And therefore need they long time to return thereunto And contrary wayes the worse that they are in colour and substance the less they are to be blamed by reason of their place which is so much distant from the naturall place of Contents For this is a generall rule The lower that good contents fleet in the urine excepting alwaies such as cleave to the had bottom the better they are And contrary wayes of evill contents and such like the higher they fleet the lesse evill they betoken The proportion of the regions to the parts of man Now to make an end of this You shall observe a certain proportion that is between the parts of the urine and the parts of mans body The highest part of the urine doth betoken the highest part of the body namely the head and such other neer unto it The middle region of the urine doth represent the middle parts of man as the breast the bowels and the parts about them The nether region of the urine doth purport the lowest parts of man from the bowels downward And if you mark well this proportion you may the easier judge the griefs of the parts of man For when the contents which in colour and substance are naturall and yet by the abundance of windiness be lift up to the higher part of the urine it declareth some great pain to be in the head And in like manner when the swim or sublimation doth declare grief that grief must be lodged to be in the middlemost parts of man as I said before and so of the other A gain as this proportion between the regions of urine and the parts of mans body doth declare that place in certain height so doth it in breadth also by like proportion if you doe duly mark the side unto which the contents do decline And if you mark wel what I have said you may perceive the only cause of most such griefs when the contents is only disordered in place cometh of an unnaturall windines but yet commonly annexed with phlegmatick and unconcocted matter And as the windiness doth cause disorder in the contents so it causeth also another kind of things not to be neglected in urine and that is bubbles Bubbles which sometimes flote in the ring or garland onely and sometimes in the middest of the urine onely and other times doe cover the whole face of the urine The Bubbles which stand round about over the garland only and continue without parting if they be of the same colour that the urine is they declare great pain co be in the head and that in all parts of the head if the Bubbles joyn together without parting But and if they occupie only the one half of the garland then is that pain in the one half of the head And so forth may you judge by like proportion But if they doe part in sundry places and joyn not all together it is a token that the pain is the lesser and cometh of a weaker cause The more yellower that their colour is
made for the Reformation of Physick be well scanned and conferred together one with another it shall plainly appear that the aforenamed act shall not make so greatly for their purpose who by ignorance and rashnesse do use to practise Physick at their pleasure Verily I much marvell at one thing that many which be of the higher sort reputing themselves to bee of no small gravitie and wisedome will sometimes give credit to such leud persons counterfeiting the Physitians Indeed I suppose that they be partly deceived by the vain perswasions and fair flattering speech of such fellowes Their communication is so fair sweet gentle pleasant and amiable and their promise and warranting so earnest and great that they will go nigh to deceive the wisest man that is if he have not the more grace and be very ware of them And the better to allure the simple people unto them They will say to him whom they do take in hand Sir I will none of your money now untill you be whole I will have money of you only for the medicines which I must occupie for your disease They will lightly warrant every man to heal him of what disease soever he hath and for all diseases they have commonly but two or three sorts of medicines and yet most commonly they be Purgations or Vomits They purge so much and so often that they purge many times as well the soul out of the body as the money out of the purse Moreover these fellowes will also to have the more credit given unto them name themselves after some great learned mans name Sometimes they fain themselves to be of some strange countrie and will counterfeit their language as I know one in Salisburie and look to be called by some name of dignitie or worship as Master Gentleman Domine Doctor and all to deceive the people O I would wish that every man would take heed and I beseech God that every man may beware or such false Physitians which may be likened to Wolves or Foxes clothed outwardly with lambs skins but inwardly are full of subtilty and deceit Many perish through the yeer at their hands whereby the good science of Physick is brought into an obloquie and reproach Many learned Doctors of our time have in their works envied greatly against these abuses and have wished some punishment to be established by the Magistrates unto such as wickedly and without all reason misuse and practice this Science Here I could also somewhat touch some of the learned sort which although they bear themselves never so stout and appear to men to do all things well yet neverthelesse they halt sometimes on both sides They see and know many abuses in the Apothecaries shops and yet they winke at the matter and are loath to displease the Apothecary who perchance is their friend But the Proverb saith Amicus Socrates Amicus Plato Amica tamen magis veritaâ— The truth ought to take place in all things and above all things There be also many Physitians that think themselves so profoundly learned that they beleeve that no man is able to match with them in learning they be so arrogant and scornfull that although the Patient be content to have the counsell of two or three other Physitians to consult and confer together of his disease yet they will not willingly grant to it but rather disdain to conferre with any other the which perchance are sometimes a great deale better learned then they are They remember not what Hippocrates their Master saith in his Book De preceptionibus who being in Latine translated saith thus Nec vero indecore se illegeret medicus c. The English is thus That Physitian shall not do amisse nor behave himself uncomely which being perplexed in the business about his Patient and doubtful for want of perfect knowledge doe cause other Physitians to be called that by common deliberation and conferring one with another the Pacients affairs may be duly examined and known so that they may be as co-adjutors that is to say helpers one to another to provide for some remedy Some there be also lest that other men should learn their cunning that will rather scrible them a Receit and will make such dashes and strange abbreviations in their Bills that their writing seemeth rather to be Arabick or like the the writings of the Cabalists then Latine I fear me that they that write so are ashamed of their own occupation and fear lest that if they should write plain their errors and faults should be espied He that is a plain man will deal plainly will speak plainly and write plainly Some there be also that be so stiffe necked and heady in their opinions that they will be or no man gainsaid in any wise no and if you bring them never so good a reason although you alledge them never so many authorities But I say Plus vident duo oculique unus All the wit of the world lyeth not in one mans head Therefore to conferr together upon a matter it doth oftentimes great good and no man be he never so well learned ought to refuse it as often as time place or any other occasion shall serve Also some Physitians there bee that bee so greedie and of such an unsatiable desire that they care not in what danger they cast themselves what shame and dammage they sustain so that they may have many cure where sometimes one would suffice them well enough and be more perchance then they can well bring to passe They be so covetous that they would have all and do all themselves and they envie many times at other honest men having cures when they have none Thus doing verily they bring themselves in great contempt and doth as it were abate and blemish the honourable Science of Physick which requireth rather to be sought earnestly with great sure with humilitie reverence and praying then to be offered and as it were objected undiscreetly to every man and in every place like a blind Harpers song or a Pedlers pack The common Proverb saith That offered service stinks And I have heard oftentimes say That Physick unless it be earnestly sought and well paid for it will never prosper nor work well with the Patients I mean not by this that the Physitian must be alwayes liberall and mercifull to the poor on whom his living dependeth not but on the rich Now to conclude and finish this first part I will leave to intreat any more of Physitians except as occasion shall serve and now in the next Part following I will speake of Apothecaries and touch somewhat their abuse and negligence Whosoever will read any more of the tokens and qualities of foolish and blind Physitians Let him read a little Book of mine Printed many yeers since which is Intituled A Great Gallie lately come into England out of Terra Nova laden with Physitians Apothecaries and Chirurgions c. made in form of a Dialogue A DETECTION OF SOME IGNORANT APOTHECARIES The