WARME BEERE OR A TREATISE WHEREIN is declared by many reasons that Beere so qualified is farre more wholsome then that which is drunke cold With a confutation of such objections that are made against it published for the preservation of health CAMBRIDGE Printed by R. D. for Henry Overton And are to be sold at his shop entring into Popes-head Alley out of Lumbard-street in London 1641. To the Reader GAlen hath a saying in his second book De facultat naturali in the end of his 9. chapter and that is this Studium eorum laudandum est qui vel explanant rectè dicta à sapientibus vel supplent si quid omissum sit ab eis The which I hope gentle Reader will be a protection for this my book against such as think nothing well done which they do not themselves for that I endeavour to do both these things which Galen commendeth that is explain some points heretofore writ by our learned Masters and not regarded and also to adde some things before not thought upon by them And although I have no great hope by this my writing to work a generall good because errours long used make us both blind and deaf be the truth never so apparent not unlike the owl as Aristotle saith whose sight the sun-beams dull yet I doubt not but some will take it thankfully and making use will take benefit thereby assuring themselves I write nothing here which I hold not for the truth and have made long experience of both by self and divers of my friends I have therefore published it in our native tongue respecting a generall good referring the commendations of the thing to the proof and us all to the Almighty Amen The preface of the Publisher to the Reader CHristian and beloved Reader hearing of this ensuing Treatise of warm beer lying in the hand of a worthy Gentleman and friend of mine I made bold to send to him for it who hearing of my practice according did very kindly send it to me The which after I had read the same and considered the arguments brought for the proof thereof and weighed them together with mine own experience in the use of it I was thereby exceedingly strengthened in my judgement and abundantly confirmed in my custome Then speaking of this treatise and the subject matter thereof to some of mine acquaintance and friends and what benefit I found by the use thereof they desired to see the same and when they had read it they intreated me that it might be printed and that I would declare mine own experience which I had found by constant use of the said warm drink that it might be published for the generall good to whose request I could not but consent And therefore I shall not speak any thing by way of commendations of this book but will leave it rather to the judicious Reader and true practicer thereof and will onely relate unto you what I have found true by long experience First heretofore when I did alwayes drink cold beer and now and then a cup of wine I was very often troubled with exceeding pain in the head which did much distemper me also with stomach-ach tooth-ach cough cold and many other Rheumatick diseases But since my drinking my beer small or strong actually hot as bloud I have never been troubled with any of the former diseases but have alwayes continued in very good health constantly blessed be God yet I use not to drink wine because I find that hot beer without wine keepeth the stomach in a continuall moderate concoction But wine and hot beer doth over-heat the stomach and inflameth the liver especially in cold stomachs which have hot livers and men oftentimes drinking wine to heat their cold stomachs they thereby also inflame their livers and so the helping of the cold stomach is the means of the destruction of the liver But hot beer doth prevent this evil for it heateth the stomach and causeth good digestion and nourisheth and strengtheneth the liver And that hot beer actually made hot doth cause good concoction you may conceive it by this comparison The stomach is compared to a pot boyling over the fire with meat now if you put cold water therein it ceaseth the boyling till the fire can overcome the coldnesse of the water and the more water you put in the longer it will be before it boyl again and so long time you hinder the meat from being boyled So it is with the stomach If you drink cold beer you hinder the digestion of the meat in the stomach and the more cold you drink the more you hinder it Also cold water doth not onely hinder the boyling of the meat in the pot but also causeth the meat to be hard so that if it should boyl six houres longer then ordinary yet still the meat will be hard and never tender and soft Right so it is with the stomach Cold beer doth not onely hinder concoction but also harden the meat in the stomach as you may see by them which drink over much cold beer at or after dinner or supper six houres after they will vomit up the same meat again as raw and undigested as if it were but even then eaten which they could not have done if they had not cooled their stomachs so much with cold beer because nature would have digested the meat before that time But on the contrary hot water put in a boyling pot with meat hindereth not the boyling thereof neither doth make the meat hard but continueth the boyling thereof nourishing the meat with sufficiency of liquour and maketh it soft and tender fit to be eaten So in like manner doth hot beer to the stomach It hindereth not concoction nor hardeneth the meat in the stomach but contrariwise it continueth its concoction and maketh it fit for the nourishment of the whole body Again in the second place as this hot beer is excellent good for the keeping of the stomach in good order for concoction and consequently good health so it is most excellent for the quenching of thirst For I have not known thirst since I have used hot beer let the weather be never so hot and my work great yet have I not felt thirst as formerly Nay although I have eaten fish or flesh never so salt which ordinarily do cause thirst and drinesse yet I have been freed from it by the use of hot beer and have been no more thirstie after the eating of salt meat then I have after fresh And the reasons make it manifest being confirmed by experience if we consider when a man is thirstie there are two master-qualities which do predominate in the stomach namely heat and drinesse over their contraries cold and moisture When a man drinketh cold beer to quench his thirst he setteth all foure qualities together by the ears in the stomach which do with all violence oppose one another and cause a great combustion in the stomach breeding many distempers therein For
actually hot by the fire or as it is now used actually cold and sometimes made cold First therefore I think it necessary to shew the occasion why provident Nature hath imposed a kind of necessitie of drinking upon us Secondly to shew and make manifest whether drink made hot doth as well or better supply those necessities as drink being actually cold or made cold Thirdly to examine the reasons and confute the objections which are given for the maintenance of actuall cold drink Fourthly to set down all such discommodities as do and may arise from the use thereof Fifthly to shew the good and profit that redounds to the body by the use of actuall hot drink Lastly to make it manifest that it is no new device but a thing which hath been in common use amongst the Romanes and Grecians and is and hath been used alwaies among whole nations and religions Understand then that according to the rules of physick drink is used for three purposes First to allay our thirst secondly to intermingle with our food thirdly to be the vehiculum and carrier of the nourishment into the universall bodie Which three are comprehended under two according to Galen Lib. 1. De usu partium that is under the allaying our desire of drinking and being the instrument and means to boil the meat in the stomach The allaying then of thirst being the first cause why we are constrained to drink let us begin with it and examine the reasons which may be made for the profit of the one and the offence of the other The which we shall more easily do if we first call to remembrance what thirst is This word Sitis which in english signifieth thirst or drought according unto Plato is nothing else but a desire of drink for these be his words Sitis verò est concupiscentia potionis Thirst is a desire of drink although Aristotle in his book De Republica cited by Athenaeus saith drought is a desire of hot or cold drink and in his book De anima defineth it to be the desire of cold and moisture His words are these Sunt autem fames sitis appetitus quorum fames quidem appetitus est rerum calidarum siccarum sitis verò humorem frigus efficientium Hunger is an appetite after hot and drying but thirst of things effecting moisture and cold Which opinion of Aristotle being clean opposite unto our argument handled in this treatise doth seem at the first blush so fully to manifest the matter as that it may seem great folly to apprehend any thing which is so merely contradictory and no little impudencie to oppose my self as of my self against so great a philosopher And therefore it concerneth me either to prove that drink actually hot doth better cool and moisten the body then cold or else Aristotles meaning is not directly as his words do seem literally to pretend The which I think may easily be apprehended and collected if we will weigh the tenth section in his Problemes where inquiring what the cause should be why other creatures do sooner prey of and eat dry meat then moist but man more often moist then dry He answereth thus because man is most hot which causeth him to desire to be cooled Whereby it is to be noted that he onely maketh mention of moisture to cool him the which agreeth with Galen in his book of unequall temperatures where he doth prove the occasion of thirst to be drought which is remedied per humidum not per frigidum that is by moisture not by cold For although it cannot be denied but that heat doth procure thirst yet look into the reason and you shall find it is propter inopiam humiditatis because it hath not his just proportion of moisture which causeth us in the hot time if we labour much whereby we excessively sweat to desire to drink for the cause above alledged But to enter into further consideration of the matter let us examine the reasons why cold should be necessary in allaying thirst It appeareth to me that it is either to the end to extinguish it or to mitigate it But extinguish it by any means it cannot For let any man that is exceeding dry eat any thing that is never so cold not having any moisture joyned with it and he shall find by experience that it may well choke him but in no sort allay his drought And for mitigating his drought how dissonant it is to reason that drought joyned to drought be it never so cold can work that effect let the Reader judge being clean against the principles of learning Nam omne tale additum tali facit id ipsum magìs tale For every like joined to its like intends more the ground of its likenesse that is the quality wherein they are alike Then if it be alledged that the drought having heat joyned with it requireth cold in respect of his heat as drinesse doth moisture and so cold joyned with moisture doth best remedy both because Contraria contrariis curantur contraries are cured by their contraries yet it seemeth to me a matter farre unfit for two causes the one although that be Galens ground yet it is not so to be taken literally but as it stands with that ground likewise which is that Omne repentinum naturae inimicissimum est All sudden alterations are contrary to nature and therefore cold being added to heat unlesse it were in a farre more remisse degree then the heat doth work great inconveniences or endanger the life as it is to be seen in those who drinking cold drink being hot fall sick to the death The other reason is for that it is not possible that every man woman or child who being hot desire drink can upon every motion so proportion the cold that it shall just fit the degree of heat and then if it be too small by his antiperistasis it hurteth where it should help if greater then the heat requires in stead of allaying the heat it utterly killeth it For the testimony whereof besides our daily experience there be infinite histories extant as for example Paulus Jovius writeth that Candella Scala prince of Verona being hot in his armour drank out of a fountain cold water and presently died He writeth also that the Dolphin of France sonne to Francis the French king then in his time being although he were a lustie strong Gentleman yet he being hot at tennis and drinking cold drink fell sick and died The like happened to Pompeius Columna who was Vice-Roy in Naples for Charles the fifth Amatus Lusitanus an excellent physician in his time in his Centurie reherseth three histories of young men who died drinking cold water and wine in their heat CHAP. II. That actuall hot drink doth quench the thirst as well as cold drink or better BUt because I may observe a method now we have found what thirst is to be termed according to the ancient Philosophers minds let us according to the
are examined NOw as touching the third thing promised to be handled in this book let us examine the reasons which are given for the use of actuall cold drink and first let us alledge such authorities if there be any as do make any way for it I remember Plinie in is 28. book of histories his 4. chap. affirmeth that it is against nature for us to drink hot drink because saith he No other creature doth use it nor is there any beast but desires cold drink Again Bernardino Gomes a Spanish physician in his Enchiridion amongst other remedies alloweth cold drink made cold with snow for a wholesome remedie against the gout and morbus arthriticus which he would not have done if it had been hurtfull or a weakner of the stomach Monardus also in a treatise he writeth of drugs that came from the west Indians commends cold drink and affirmeth hot drink dest roieth the liver It is alledged that it better quencheth thirst that it helps concoction whereas hot destroieth it It is alledged cold drink is good and pleasing unto the tast of man and so is not hot It is alledged the finest spirits fly away in the heating whereby it nourisheth not so much That Plinie so writeth I cannot denie but with how little consideration of the matter let the reader judge he useth no argument to maintain his opinion but onely this It is not fit nor good for us because bruit beasts love it not which onely imitate their naturall instinct and so doth thereby as it were inferre that it is not naturall unto us But how ridiculous how unworthy a reason it is to be answered let any man judge for it is as much as to say because bruit beasts eat their food raw therefore it is against nature for us to have ours rosted or sodden But if I should so say I doubt not but I should not be believed And therefore as small cause is there to believe Plinie in the other for it is one and the self same reason Secondly whereas Bernardino Gomes the Spaniard in the aforenamed place not alledging any reason for his opinion might very well be answered without reason yet because it shall be seen how little credit his authority ought to carry and of how small worth it is to be esteemed I will endeavour to give the reason why it is a mere senselesse thing either so to affirm or write unlesse onely for the avoiding of a further inconvenience as I will hereafter declare First gouts and all diseases of that kind depend on and grow most especially from the weaknesse and crudity of the stomach which Trincavell in his 96. counsel doth make manifest These be his words Nulla particula majorē vim habet podagram id genus dolores procreandi quà m ventriculus qui vel suapte naturâ fit crudior imbecillior quà m ut possit rectè conficere cibum ingestum vel ex incongrua victûs ratione No part conferres more influence to the breeding of the gout and diseases of that kind then the stomack which either of its own nature is too crude and weak for to digest the meat or else because of its incongruous power and virtue Now to prove that the stomach is said to be rawer when as it wants heat and that we use to call that raw which wants concoction by heat heare what Johannes Langius Fol. 75. writes these be his words Quicquid à calore nativo congenita viscerum caloris temperatura non fuerit concoctum elaboratum id cùm in corporis alimentum converti nequeat crudum appellare solet Hippocrates Whatsoever is not well concocted by the naturall and connate temperature of heat in the bowells seeing it cannot be changed into the nourishment of the body Hippocrates useth to call it crude Consider then gentle reader if the gout be especially bred through the weaknes of the stomach for want of heat how unfit a generall medicine cold water is and what warrant Gomes his authoritie is for us For although Galen giveth two reasons how the gout is bred which are Imbecillitas articulorum affluxus materiei imbecillitie of the joynts and abundance of grosse humours yet the principall is a bad stomach But because I will not judge that a man in any sort learned will so much passe himself in writing but upon some great reason moving him thereunto I conceive he calling to mind Galens words where he saith Vinum potens nervosis particulis nocet Strong wine hurteth the sinewy parts or peradventure Mesues where he saith Vinum per se nocet articulis nervis Wine of it self hurteth the joynts and nerves giving this reason because fundendo attenuando maximo calore suo excitat fluxiones by running through and attenuating it doth with its most powerfull heat provoke fluxes and living in a place where there was nothing but strong sack thought of two evils the least was to be chosen and knowing water could not so vehemently pierce and carry fluxes as those strong wines advised water But if this or some such like reason moved him not I think it very absurd for any man of learning to write and too foolish for us to believe and therefore you may understand that upon what occasion soever Gomes wrote it is no warrant for us Thirdly that Monardus writes hot drink destroies the liver and cold contrarily helps I cannot deny but yet I will shew that in so saying he playeth the right Spaniard who meaneth least the matter that he seemeth to speak plainest For whereas in generall words he affirmeth hot drink to destroy the liver he afterwards makes such an exception as I think few at this day live who be not comprehended within some one branch thereof so that he either saith nothing in his generall position or else so little that few there be that it concerns And that this is true you may judge by his exception following where he saith that these here under excepted may best drink their drink actually hot viz. old men idle persons whether it be in body or mind and that have weak stomachs or abound with raw and crude humours all that have infirmities in their lungs or pipes of respiration all that have weak backs or weak kidneys all that be subject to windinesse all youth and young children Judge now indifferent reader how many live in this age who have not some touch of this exception And although he seems to make it currant yea made cold with snow for them which have hot livers I pray you how many be there of those that have not cold stomachs And whereas he saith that cold drink cools the liver I absolutely deny it unlesse he means killing for cooling And for proof I produce Galen upon one of Hippocrates aphorismes where he saith Aquae frigidae occursus aut vincit nativum calorem aut colligit whereas hot drink by deoppilating doth eventilate it naturally and so
preserve it in temper for I dare affirm where one hath his liver hotter then naturally fitteth without obstructions thousands have not which that common disease at this day Flatus hypochondriacus doth plainly prove and therefore to what small purpose Monardus authority is let every one judge Now for the fourth objection where it is alledged that cold drink doth better quench the thirst I have in the beginning of this treatise so fully handled that point that it were a frivolous thing to trouble the reader with any thing more concerning that matter and therefore I will recite the fifth objection Which is Cold beer helps concoction in the stomach How untrue this is I will plainly shew All cold is an enemy to concoction but drink not actually made hot is cold therefore drink not actually hot but cold is an enemy to concoction and therefore helpeth it not My minor I prove out of Aristotle in the fourth book of his meteors These be his words Frigus quatenus frigus est cuicunque calori concoctionÃque adversarium est cruditatis parens Cold in its own nature is an adversary to whatsoever heat and concoction and is the parent of crudities and Galen primo Technic saith Frigidi est officium bene appetere malè autem digerere It is the nature of cold to affect powerfully but to digest poorely And further seeing concoction is performed by warmth it must needs be decayed by often working upon cold for mark but this infallible argument and you shall easily see the truth Every agent doth also suffer it self something in the action so as naturall heat daily and almost hourely expugning the cold drink taken into the body doth every time suffer something and so in small time doth wax weaker and weaker How true this is daily proof doth make manifest for how many men do you see after they come to five or six and fourty years or at the most fifty troubled with the stone and gout who were not before which happeneth upon no other cause but ob debilitatem stomachi by reason of the imperfectnesse of their stomach which having long suffered in his daily action with the cold is now become infirm Sixthly it is alledged cold drink is pleasing to the tast and so is not the other which truly if it were true might seem a reasonable cause why we should if imminent danger of inevitable hurts did not depend on the use of it addict our selves to take it cold But how false this is let Aristotle witnesse in his 3. book De anima the 10. chap. who disputing of tasting saith Est ipse sapor qui gustu percipitur atqui nihil absque humiditate saporis efficit sensum It is favour which is perceived by the tast but nothing without humidity makes any sense of favour and in another place Omne quod ipsius efficit sensum humiditatem aut actu aut potentiâ habet Every thing that maketh it self sensible hath humidity in it actually or potentially and in another place At verò cùm gustabile sit humidum necesse est instrumentum sensûs ipsius neque humidum esse actu neque etiam tale ut humectari non possit humidúmque evadere But seeing every tastible thing is moist it is necessary that the instrument of that sense be neither actually moist neither yet such as cannot be made moist whereby is plainly proved that tast consists not in coldnesse but in moisture And therefore it is said lapides gemmae carent sapore stones and pearls have no tast quia carent humiditate Indeed cold rather diminisheth then addeth any thing to taste as may be seen in winter either in wine or beer being very cold for according to Aristotle cold is rather qualitas tangibilis quà m gustabilis a tangible then gustable quality but if any at the first do not like the tast of hot drink it is onely for want of use and that by experience I find having used it almost a year and a quarter before the writing hereof But as concerning the seventh objection which is that cold drink nourisheth best in respect that heating of the beer passeth away its finest spirits I thus answer Beer having sustained a great boyling those spirits which remain in it after that boyling will not part with so small a heating and of that I have made this experience I have taken a kettle with a broad mouth and therein put three pottles of beer have boyled it half an houre to a gallon and then I have set it in a pot with a limbech and I have drawn from it as much aqua vitae as I could from a gallon which was immediately put out of the barrel into the pot which absolutely overthrows that objection Yet if it had not been so our drink could not have received any blemish for first it is not in any open vessel and secondly it never boyls But seeing it holds in the greater of necessitie it is not to be doubted in the lesser for à majore ad minus is a good argument But now to the eighth and last objection which is That it opens the pores too much and maketh one catch cold Although there be little sense or reason to maintain this objection neither indeed can I conceive any colour of reason yet I will reason something against it Nothing joyned to his like can make an extreme but where the thing joyned is in greater degree then the thing to which it is joyned nor can it make it greater unles it be in quantity Therefore if naturall heat which is in the stomach do not by too much opening of the pores cause one to catch cold the heat of hot drink as we drink it cannot because it is as little or lesse then the heat to which it joyneth For were it in extreme or hotter then naturally the stomach should be we could not drink it For otherwise why could we not drink any thing scalding hot therefore it diminisheth none and addeth little but preserving all naturall warmth it can give no occasion of offence for if this were otherwise wherefore do we commend hot broth or eat hot meat which in respect of his grossenesse keeps longer hot and likewise advise exercise but because naturall heat should purge animam per poros cutis ductus convenientes that is the bloud through the pores of the skin and convenient passages but leave off before you heat your self violently and you shall never catch cold for it is a violent heat doth extenuate and make way for cold And therefore it is most evident that it suggests not the least cause in the world of that inconvenience And so much for this point CHAP. IIII. The hurt that ariseth from the use of actuall cold drink NOw it remains that we do shew the hurt that cold drink doth procure as the sixth position by order to be intreated of doth require That it helps not the body before is proved
remote and the cold can there be left or offend But to confirm it by experience these instances I have seen About the yeare of our Lord 1590. I was with a gentlewoman one Mr Clarks wife of Jarcks hill in Kent in whom labouring of a cancer in her matrix I tryed this experience that giving her beer actually cold she would immediately be in the greatest pain in the world but give it her hot and she felt none Another woman dwelt in Houndsditch at the signe of the guilded cup seven years since who likewise labouring of a cancer in the matrix if you had given her cold beer it made her be in great pain if hot in nothing so much By which it is evident that the beer did passe so cold as that it gave a sensible feeling of the difference And therefore it is not to be doubted but that the actuall cold was an enemy being so much more misliked of Nature then the hot Now let us examine by what means drink received actually cold hurts the bowels according as our ancient physicians write For my own opinion I hold it hurts them many wayes First in respect it breeds crudity in the stomach whereof groweth fleam which fleam descending into the bowels breeds intollerable collicks and worms Secondly it breeds windinesse which likewise is the nurse of extreme inconveniences incident to the bowels Lastly fluxes although non primariò tamen jure societatis that is not primarily yet by right of society Seeing therefore it hath been heretofore proved it is so generall an enemy to our health in hurting all and singular our principall parts I may well conclude with Aristotle in his fourth book of Meteors Cold is an enemy to our nature and so by consequence drink drunk actually cold and therefore to be eschewed CHAP. V. The benefit that ariseth from the use of actuall hot drink BUt now according to our promise we will shew the great good that ariseth of hot drink and although in laying open the defects of drink taken actually cold there is much spoken of the good that redounds to the body by the use of hot drink yet because according to our determinate course it comes in order to be intreated of I shall say something not before said First therefore it shall be proved it helps the stomach and by that means the head and by that means the liver and by that means the bowels and by that means the splene and by that means the kidneys and bladder and by that means the matrix in women and by that means keeps back old age and consequently preserves life And although in handling of the defects which cold beer procureth unto all these parts I have sufficiently by the hurt of the one laid open the help of the other yet I will adde unto my first sayings new reasons because I will not be tedious to the Reader not renewing any authorities heretofore cited but alledging Authours of no lesse moment Galen 3. Technic hath this saying Calidiora calido iribus iudigent auditoriis Things whose temper tends to warmth have need to use helps of the same nature then thus I reason The stomach is an office of warmth Therefore it must needs be helped with warmth agreeable to the which position is our beer made actually hot Now to prove that the stomach being warm must be helped with warmth and that it is not any way without hurt to be bereaved of his warmth mark what Avicen 3. Tract. cap. 5. intimateth where writing of warmth in mans bodie he counselleth nay rather forbiddeth that no man wash his hands in warm water because saith he the heat is drawn out of the stomach by the warmth of the water by which digestion in the stomach is hindered and that being vitiated it is a means to breed ingender worms Which declareth how profitable it is to put our drink hot into our stomach in respect of keeping warmth there which by cold would be repelled And our ancient physicians have been so jealous of decaying the warmth of the stomach that they have forbidden us to stand near a great fire after eating for the reason above named In like manner and for the same cause doth Avicen forbid a man to walk fast after eating Nè calor propter motum attrahatur ad partes exteriores Lest the heat by stirring be drawn outwardly How much more consonant is it therefore to reason to use warmth in the stomach whereby naturall heat is increased then to use things cold whereby it is lessened And this Hippocrates in his Aphorisme which begins In hyeme multus cibus c. doth make plain who holdeth that in winter we can eat most meat whereof Galen giving the reason saith it is because the outward cold keeps in the heat in the stomach and makes it stronger And yet I remember Arnoldus De villa nova makes such doubt of cold that he seemeth to take exceptions at Galens words and saith if the outward cold be great it is necessary the stomach be well covered naturally or artificially or else it will weaken it But let us examine the reason how helping the stomach it helpeth the head which thus I prove Whatsoever is the means whereby the head is least oppressed with excrementitious matter is helpfull to the head But hot drink is so Therefore hot drink c. My minor I prove in this sort Whatsoever suggesteth least cause of unprofitable matter is the cause the head is least oppressed But hot drink doth so Therefore hot drink is helpfull The minor thus I prove Whatsoever fortifyeth concoction suggesteth least cause of unprofitable matter But hot drink doth so Therefore c. The minor is thus proved Whatsoever preserves the stomach in naturall warmth fortifyeth concoction But hot drink doth so Therefore hot drink fortifyeth concoction The minor is true For whatsoever temperate heat joyneth it self with naturall heat preserves the naturall heat of the stomach But warm drink being temperate joyneth with the other Therefore hot drink preserveth the naturall heat of the stomach Now it is evident that the warmth of actuall hot beer is in no extreme but after a sort contrary to both the extremes and therefore temperate For Montanus in his Counsels saith Mediocria temperata sunt ad sua extrema tanquam ad sua contraria that is Mediocrities are called temperate as well in respect of their extremes as in respect of their contraries Now will I also prove that by helipng the stomach it also helps the liver in this sort whatsoever washeth the stomach naturally and keeps the meseraicks open doth help the liver But hot drink doth so Therefore it helps the liver But before I prosecute the argument any further I will shew how in performing that it helps the liver which it doth two wayes First because in washing the stomach and bowels it produceth inanition which causeth appetite which is a desire of new matter fit for new bloud Secondly because
in keeping open the meseraicks it keeps the liver from any great obstructions whereby it breeds warmth according to nature and also brings continually good nourishment for the liver to work upon And to prove this That hot drink doth so according as my minor requires I produce Arnoldus De villanova who writeth thus Aqua calida stomachum lavat ventrem purgat Hot water washeth the stomach and purges the belly And that heat doth this in respect of its actuall heat let Avicen witnesse who commending medicines for ulcerated lungs wisheth they be administred warm because of piercing thereby acknowleding warmth to be the means of piercing Furthermore that drink actually hot helpeth also the splene may easily be proved for that the liver receiving good nourishment maketh good bloud and so overchargeth not the splene with abundance of matter to its grievance or annoyance Again how by helping the stomach it doth good to the kidneys and bladder I thus prove Whereas the kidneys and bladder are subject to that grievous disease of the stone hot drink is a means to withstand it by two principall effects the one in that it strengthens nature whereby she frameth no moist cause fit to form that disease it being most principally bred by a slimy matter first hammered in a feeble stomach the other in that it doth so scoure the kidneys and uriners by his actuall heat as there can no slime remain untill it can be baked to a stone although the kidneys were of the hottest And that this is approved by learned men Arnoldus de villa nova may be president who giving compounded waters having a specificall diverting faculty of themselves to pierce commandeth that they be drunk as hot as they can be indured because it addeth to their deoppilative virtue But to the other point which is That it helps the matrix Trincavell calls the matrix of women sentinam corporis and hot drink being a means by strengthening the stomach to make every member do his office as before is shewed causeth the lesse to be transferred thither and so takes away all annoyance that may grow of any extraordinary superfluitie It is also a means by its deoppilating virtue to bring into naturall course that which is according unto nature to be avoided And by these two means it is a principall occasion to make women fruitfull who divers times by defects growing of obstructions and other grievances of nature through much surcharge of superfluity become barren Thus have I given you a tast how helping of the stomach it helps the matrix But for the proof of the last point which is that it keeps back the defects of old age and is a means to prolong life let us call to mind what old age is and what life and upon what occasion the defects thereof are hastened or deferred Ficinus lib. 1. De sanitate tuenda saith Vita nostra est tanquam lumen in naturali calore caloris autem pabulum est humor aerius atque pinguis tanquam oleuÌ„ so as sive humor deficiaâ— sive prorsus excedat sive inquâ—netur statim calor naturalis debilitatur tandem debilitatâ— extinguitur And another learned man writeth thus Tam diu anima hanc molem in colit quà m diu humorum de fectus aut intemperies miserâ— morborum parens non ingruit hinc enim senectus quae debilitat animi vires mutátque colorem So long doth the soul inhabit this lump as the defect of moistnesse or distemper the miserable parent of diseases doth not invade for hence cometh old age which doth debilitate the strength and change the colour And Vives saith Quà m diu retinetur calor naturalis in corpore temperatus perseverabit sanitas observabitur habitus juvenilis As long as naturall heat is reteined temperate in our bodie we continue our health and keep the habit and shew of youth Now the defects of old age are commonly as follow 1. Horinesse of hair 2. wrinckles in the face 3. leannesse of bodie 4. defect of memory 5. generall weaknesse of the whole bodie 6. bad sight 7. thicknesse of hearing 8. much phlegme 9. diseases of the lungs If then I prove cold beer hastens these and hot beer retards and mitigates them I hope I shall be thought to prove my assertion First then let me consider whereupon the hair takes its alteration The causes of the grainesse of the hair are aut humor frigidus latens in poris either cold humours lurking in the pores aut ariditas ut in segite maturescente or drinesse as in ripe corn aut debilitas virtutis or weaknesse aut corruptio pituitae or corruption of the phlegme and according unto Aristotle cap. 2. De historia animalium aliquando adventus nimii caloris externi sometimes the accesse of too much externall heat All which to be produced by actuall cold drink shall be proved severally And first That breeds cold humours most that weakens the stomach But it is proved that cold drink doth so and therefore it breeds them most Secondly drinesse it mightily procures in this respect for being a means that the laudable concoction cannot be made the parts that should draw it do refuse it as not fit for them and so wither for lack and runne into a marasmus which is a weaknesse of all the virtues in the body which ariseth ab inopia humoris from want of moisture That it is a means that phlegme putrifies must necessarily follow for ex debili calore fit putrefactio from weaknesse of heat cometh putrefaction which that which is actuall cold procures and so necessarily hastens that symptome of old age For care is said and the much use of fish to procure hoarinesse of hair for no other cause but for the reasons abovesaid Then that it procures wrinckles in the face doth consequently follow for that they proceed vel ex carne extenuata either from the extenuation of the flesh vel ex carne vacua or from emptinesse Leannesse of body follows because plenty of spirits is not bred by ill concoction Defect also of the memory because Nature fainting can not serve all the senses and so it draws nearer still to the heart neglecting the farthermost to maintain life and besides because it breeds much phlegme an enemy to memory Bad eye-sight it procures because it causeth defect of the spirits and because the body abounding with much phlegme breeds thick spirits which make a dull sight Thicknesse of hearing because ex debili calore multi torpores from weaknesse of heat ariseth heavinesse and this hinders the perfectnesse of hearing and because it causeth scarcitie of spirits which can not serve all the senses exquisitely Much phlegme another defect of age it causeth also because it weakens the stomach and so is cruditatis parens ex cruditate pituita the parent of crudity from whence cometh phlegme Diseases likewise of the lungs because Catharres be the companions of ill digestion and so