Strain out and digest again separate the thinner part and with its own Salt or Salt of Tartar in the former proportion by digestion purifie and perfect the Essence by another forty days space of time I astly adding three or four Ounces of white Sugar to every Pint or Quart keep it close stopt for use Dose from twospoonfuls to four six or eight according to age strength It purges well and carries off the morbifick cause to a Miracle but it ought to be taken three four or six times as the exigency of the Disease requires This is a specifick in a Cholick beyond most other things and withal very safe Salmon XXXVIII Among Carminatives or Discussers of Wind I commend from a very long and large Experience our Powers of Anniseeds Powers of Caraways of Juniper-berries Limons Cloves Nutmegs Rosemary and the like Out of these the following Compositum may be made Take Powers of Cloves Nutmegs ana one Ounce of Anniseeds Carraways ana an Ounce and half of Juniper two Ounces of Limons and Rosemary ana two Ounces and a half mix all for the Uses afore-mentioned Dose half a spoonful in a Glass of Ale or Wine Salmon XXXIX This is also certain from a very great Experience That as vehement Cholicks are often caused from a cold tough viscous Phlegm sticking to the Stomach and Guts and Wind thence arising so that not only the said Wind may be gradually discussed by the assiduous use of the said Potestates or Powers but also by the use thereof that viscous Phlegm adhering to the Tunicles of the Stomach and Guts will be by degrees incided corrected and removed Salmon XL. But though these Aromatick Potestates are admirable in the precited case and so powerfully resist the Cause yet it is my Opinion That nothing exceeds my Spiritus Anticolicus being profitable to all the intentions of the Cure for that it not only corrects hoth Phlegm and Choler and discusses Wind when bred but also hinders it from breeding It not only discusses Wind or condenses it but prevents its new extention or rarification again I could produce several Histories of this Cure performed by this Medicament alone XLI Some after all other Remedies have failed have been cured by a Decoction of Guaiacum and its Bark And several Histories of Cures performed by it are extant but the most eminent is that of a Bath-keeper of Vienna after he had been tortured with a most vehement Cholick for nine months and used a great number of things to no purpose his Disease still increased upon him and by drinking of Spaw-waters was still exasperated He was married to a young Wife and she was also afflicted with the same Disease and dead of it He feared the same fate and began to be convulsed in his whole Body so that his Physicians began to fear that the Disease was or would be translated to the Genus nervosum or nervous Stock and so cause a Palsie Having stopt his Convulsions by other Medicines he gave him Guaiacum Wine according to the Advice of Amatus Lusitanus Cent cur 32. to cause him to sweat which he did for five days and was perfectly cured Germ. Eph. An. 3. P. 487. This Cholick the Physician judg'd from phlegmatick Humours the Seminaries of Wind which being dissolved by that diaphoretick Wine were spent by Sweat Some Laxatives were also given between whiles XLII In a Cholick proceeding from a hot cause hot things whether for inward or outward use must be avoided lest an Inflammation be caused In this case purging Waters clarified Whey with Sena and Syrup of Violets drank plentifully are given with good success and outwardly to the Bowels Willis advises to Fomentations of a Solution of Nitre or Sal-Armoniack as in pains of the Gout and sometimes as Septalius reports of simple cold Water XLIII If the Cholick be caused by hard Excrements hindring the passage of the rest of them and of Wind Emollients must first be used and afterwards sharp things to irritate the faculty Sennertus XLIV I had a Patient that for Four Months had been troubled with an almost Invincible Colick at length he desired my help I only gave him my Spiritus Anticolicus two Drachms at a time in a Glass of Wine and made him sweat upon it and by the using of about two or three Ounces thereof he was Cured XLV A Man about sixty Years of Age mightily complained to me of a grinding pain in his Groin which always seized him just at Night and this had continued with him for three or four Months the Constitution of the Bowels all this while being as it should be for he was neither Costive nor Loose from whence I conceived it to be rather a Flatulency in the Muscles of the Abdomen than in the Colen and so it proved for I caused him Morning Noon and Night to bathe the Part afflicted with Powers of Amber and this alone in about a Weeks time without taking any thing inwardly cured him XLVI I have several times cured an Inveterate Colick with loss of the use of Limbs by giving Turpethum Minerale so as to raise a Flux which has sometimes lasted twenty Days or more for by this means the peccant Matter lodged and as it were rooted in the Nervous System which could not be removed by other Medicines is taken away For the Mercurial Particles by diffusing themselves every way dissolve divide and dissipate the morbifick Matter into almost insensible small Particles and at length wholly expell them And this I experienced in a miserable Lame Patient whom I Cured by this means even while this present Book was in Writing LXVI I am of opinion that Catharticks mixt with Opiates are of good use I have used this following with a wonderful success Take Extract of fine Aloes Extract of Colocynthis of each twelve Grains Laudanum Volatile Nostrum five or six Grains mix them for a Dose It is true the Purge works not presently by reason the Opiate is mixt with it and therefore I give it over Night but it commonly works by the next daynoon yet this is very observable That the Patient does not feel himself as if he had taken a Purge but lies very quietly and pleasantly all Night the Physick not disturbing him griping him nor making him sick and when it does work it is with a great deal of pleasantness without any pain at all and by this silent way as it were of carrying off the Humour the Paroxysm is many times presently at an end XLVII If the Pain as I said before be not in the Bowels but in the Muscles of the Abdomen from what cause soever it does not so much matter it is sometimes cured by a Vesicatory applied upon the part or a little below the Navel and this is often done with very great success But you must by no means lay it upon the Navel lest Convulsions or Swooning follow by reason of the commerce of the umbilical Vessels and the Heart For a man
neither the Names Number or Nature Preparation or Proportion of any thing contained in them as they are now prepared by me So that I modestly affirm one Box of this Preparation is really worth three Boxes for all that I know ten of any of those made and sold without my order or consent These Family-Pills may be given three four five or six in number according to Age and Strength If the Patient cannot take Pills they may purge with Vinum Catharticum see it in my Phylaxa Medic. Lib. 2. cap. 44. one of the most excellent things in the World XVIII The fifth and last Indication is Vital or to strengthen and restore the hurt and weakned parts which is done both by Internals and Externals For Internals I propose chiefly our Tincture of Kermes to be exhibited in a Glass of Wine or other convenient Vehicle half a spoonful at a time morning and night To this purpose serves our Tinctura Antimonii tinctura Corallorum which are no mean things given in the same manner as also our Potestates Virtutum given to twenty or thirty or forty drops in Ale Outwardly you may bathe the Stomach Abdomen and Back with the same and now and then to comfort the Bowels give this Clyster Take Venice Turpentine one Ounce Yelk of one Egg grind them well together in a Mortar till they are well mixt then add to them Chicken-Broth choice Canary of each half a Pint of our Aqua Bezoartica an Ounce mix and exhibit warm Salmon CHAP. XIII Of an APOSTEME I. AN Abscess or Aposteme is an Aggregation of Matter in a musculous or fleshy part with an intention to break out the Precursor of which is always Pain and inflamation And it is for the most part known by tumour or swelling of the part with great heat and continual pain II. If therefore pain seize any part of the Body and there be a suspicion that Matter is gathered there if the Sick sweats or there be a natural Diaphoresis especially about the Face and the pain yet continue you may certainly conclude that Matter is gathered together in the part though the Colour thereof be not changed and therefore in its due season it must be opened that the congregated Matter may be let out III. I remember once I was sent for to a little Boy about ten years of Age who at play had hurt his Leg The Child complained vehemently and almost always cried out yet no great apearance of an Aposteme There was no outward discoloring or inflammation or scarcely any appearance of a Tumor but at length a small general swelling over the whole Leg and the vehement pricking pain was only in one particular part thereof I applied Maturatives or Ripeners which made the general Tumor more apparent but the pain equally continued and the Colour of the Skin was the same as formerly or as that of the other Leg without any protuberance or place pointing out where it ought to be open'd When I thought it was time to open it I did it with an Incision-knife upon the very place of the pain which was about three Inches or more below the Knee on the outside of the Leg after opening of it the Child had immediately ease and I took out of the Aposteme of well-digested Matter about three quarters of a Pint at several times And then I cured it after the general method of healing Apostemes Salmon IV. 'T is true Guido advises to 〈◊〉 till Nature causes an Aposteme to break because he thinks that which is made by Nature is better than that which is done By Art 〈◊〉 by Experience know otherwise and with Avicenna 〈◊〉 fully of Opinion That an Apostome which is brought to ripeness ought immediately to be opened for that many evils flow from Matter kept too long in the Abscess and sometimes 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 seize upon 〈◊〉 noble Parts infecting the 〈◊〉 and Muscles and sometimes 〈◊〉 the Bone to the very great if not irreparable danger of the Sick V. And for this Reason it is That Buboes in the Plague or a Pestilential Fever when they appear we hasten their ripening with so much vehemency and sometimes are forced to open them before they are perfectly ripe lest the poisonous Matter should revert inwardly and its malign Fumes strike to the Heart and smite the vital Spirits VI. But again on the contrary too much haste ought not to be made to open an Aposteme before it be throughly ripe except in malign Diseases as aforesaid and where the hazard of Life for that Cause is very great or a Mortification is beginning lest a mortification of the part from the Crudity of the Humour not yet turn'd into Pus should ensue or a violent Fever with sometimes Convulsions for that such an untimely Operation does indeed much more excite the pain than the Tumor it self and causes a new conflux of Humors VII But beside the former Reasons for a hasty opening of the Abscess these following also conclude it I. Where the heat of the part is languid or weak and the Sick wants sleep 2. Where it is evident there is is a very great plenty of Matter which Nature cannot dispose of 3. When the Matter is seated deep thick and wide at bottom 4. When it is adjacent to a principal Member which may be in danger of being hurt or affected by the malign Fumes thereof 5. If it be on or near the Joints lest the corroding Humor thus detained should seize upon or eat the Ligaments 6. If it be in a glandulous part because they are more subject to putrefaction and the cutting of them hurts but little 7. Lastly If it be upon Bones Nerves or Tendons as in Whitoles and Fellons which happen to the Nails and Fingers ends where for want of seasonable opening the Bone is many times putrified and corrupted to the losing sometimes of a Joint sometimes of two So Hippocrates advises concerning an Abscess upon the Perinaeum When saith he any such little Tumour shall begin cut it forthwith while it is yet unripe lest the suppuration should reach to the Intestinum Rectum or Arst Gut VIII When therefore an Inflammation with pain is present and that it appears the Tumor will apostemate it is necessary to apply Suppuratives to bring it to a complete maturation or ripeness Such as this Take Yolks of Eggs Honey Oil Olive ana two Ounces Pulp of Figs Raisons ana three Ounces Mithridate four Ounces Pouder of Aron-Roots enough to bring it to the consistency of a Pultise which renew twice a day Or this which is stronger Take Basilicon minus Ox Gall Black Sope soft Hens dung ana two Ounces Onions Garlick Leeks ana an Ounce and half Mithridate Gum-Elemi ana an Ounce Saffron half an Ounce Pouder of the Roots of Aron and Briony of the Leaves of Dittany and Rue ana enough to make it into the consistency of a Pultise It will bring it to maturation in a short time IX But if you would have the
certainly dies if the Skin be flea'd off the Navel though 't is possible he might live if he was flea'd in any place besides which is a note worthy observing XLVIII Authors say That Mercury Water inwardly taken radically cures the Cholick I have not had the experience of it but this I know That being my self seized with a vehement Cholick I drank about a quarter of a Pint of Wine digested a Month upon my Hercules and it cured me momentarily or upon the spot And some years since that time I have several times been troubled with that Disease and in like manner applying my self to that same Remedy I have always found the same success to my very great satisfaction but the Philosophical Reason of this thing is not very easie to be penetrated into XLIX Alexander Benedictus commends this Take Nitre two Ounces dissolve it in a sufficient quantity of Water with which mix as much Oyl and exhibit it by Clyster of a due bear This they say wonderfully draws out the thick Matter and dry compact Excrements It may be a good thing for all that I know but I have had no experience of it This is probable That if it proceeds from a hot Distemper of the Viscera or Intestines this Medicine may do good but if from a Cold it must be infallibly naught L. Speedwell is commended by Crato as a Specifick in the Cholick 1. By drinking the Decoction thereof made with Wine with half a Drachm of Myrrhe 2. By exhibiting Clyster-wise a Decoction thereof in Chicken-broth He also says That when no other Remedies would do he cut Root of Masterwort put it into a Glass of Wine and gave it to drink every Day before Supper which made the pain ceaso LI. This following Clyster has cured many Take Malmsey or Muskadel or for want of them Malaga or Canary six Ounces Oyl of Nuts four Ounces Powers of Juniper and of Rue of each an Ounce and a half mix and exhibit it hot Inwardly you may give by the Mouth our Tinctura Anticolica from half an Ounce to one Ounce in Wine Or this Powder Take Powder of the Testicles of a Horse or of Castoreum one Drachm Anniseeds in Powder one Scruple mix and give it in Wine or Broth Or half a Dram of the Powder of the Spunge which grows upon the wild Bryar LII A Cholick proceeding purely from taking Cold I cured by anointing the whole Region of the Abdomen with Balsam of Amber LIII This following mixture being first given in a proper Vehicle by the Mouth Secondly well bathed three four or five times upon the whole Region of the Abdomen Thirdly Given Clyster-wise in a little Broth I have often-times found to cure the Cholick miraculously Take Powers of Caraways of Limons of Nutmegs of Cloves of Virtues of each a like quantity mix them to be used after the manner aforesaid Salmon CHAP. XII Of an Hysterick Cholick I. IN describing this Disease and prescribing a method of Precepts for the Cure thereof I cannot follow any Author nor have I met with any thing yet extant which has yet given me any satisfaction The florid Discourses of some upon this Subject seem to me rather an excursive sound of Words and Noise than any thing of substantial Reasons and truly in some sort are rather Deviations from the Truth than either Illustrations of the nature of the Disease or sound Documents in order to its cure II. The very name of the Distemper imports the Nature and Quality thereof it being a Pain excited from a distemper or disturbance of the Womb or some parts adjacent to it in all my Observations of Diseases of that part there has seem'd something to indicate a consent of the Nerves of the Mesentery if not some Disease actually residing therein and that which induces me so much the more to this Opinion is a vehement Cholick excited as 't is thought from that which is vulgarly called a distemper of the Womb. III. But if I should descend to the exact discussion of Hysterick Diseases I am apt to think that in many of those cases where the Womb is so much blamed it is not concerned at all but is rather from Convulsions or distemper of the Mesentery for that I have known several Men though not so commonly as among Women because not so subject to such Passions in an extream manner afficted with such as are commonly accounted Hysterick Fits IV. If a Cholick be excited in Persons not subject to Hysterick Fits and such we shall call them as oft as we have occasion to make use of their name because of the vulgar acceptation it cannot be an Hysterick Cholick but that of the simple kind of which we have largely treated in the former Chapter and therefore shall say nothing here V. But if in Persons subject to Hysterick Distempers upon the exciting of the Hysterick Fit a Cholick be induced this is that which we intend here and whose Symptoms Causes Prognosticks and Indications of Cure we design in this Chapter VI. It is easily known by the difference afore-mentioned from an ordinary Cholick yet there is a farther cause than what simply causes Hysterick Fits viz. a sharp phlegmatick or clammy Matter lodged in the nervous foldings of the Mesentery and Bowels moreover the Sick for the most part complains of a vehement pain at Stomach for some-time before hand with a weight and heaviness and many times there is a Costiveness of Body preceding it and if the Patient is plethorick or full of Blood there is sometimes a bleeding at Nose or in heavy melancholly and unpleasant Bodies a Flux of the Haemorrhoids if these precede not the Patient complains of Vertigo or a pain in the Head a dull pain or heaviness in one of the sides either right or left and a dimness of Sight with an unwillingness to stir and move up and down to which add for the most part a sadness and dejectedness of Mind and sometimes Foolishness VII The Nature of this Distemper is such that it makes the Bowels sore and all the Region of the Abdomen is as if it were beaten with Sticks and if it continues long so that the Sick cannot get Remedy it so enervates the whole Body that it not only takes away the Strength in general but in many as in a certain Gentlewoman not long since my Patient it takes away the use of the Limbs also in some the Arms in some the Legs in others the Arm and Leg on one side and in othersome all the Limbs together so that the Patients are made wholly incapable of helping themselves Now this difference proceeds from the strength of the Disease and the matter causing it and the and Plicatures or Ramifications of Nerves hurt by the same and in some Persons the extremity of the Cause is so vehement that it causes foolishness and alienation of Mind with a strong Melancholly VIII The nere Cause appeared to belodg'd in the Muscles of the Bowels and
peccant Matter XII In order to this the Extract of Colocynthis made with Water by long boyling is of most note You may give it from five Grains to twelve or fifteen in strong Bodies It Purges admirably and carries off the morbifick Cause to a wonder Or this Take of the said Extract eight Grains Extract of Aloes made with Water one Scruple mix for a Dose It diverts excellently and derives the Blood to the lower parts Or this Take of the Extract of Aloes one Scruple of Colocynthis eight Grains of Turbethum Minerale four Grains mix for a Dose This ought to be given only to strong Bodies but where it may be given or does prevail it does wonders XIII If any should Object That by reason of the Turbith Mineral the Humors would flow to the Throat the more where they already are too much and so augment the Disease we answer No. The briskness of the Catharticks would make its whole Effects downwards while that by its melting Property it dissolves the near or conjoin'd Cause of the Disease and so carry all off by stool But suppose it should be otherwise it would yet put the Sick out of peril for if its effects were upwards so as to cause a Flux it must needs open the mouths of the salivatick Vessels and so take away the Disease that way which is as rational as can be proposed XIV I care not greatly if I relate a History of this kind done by a Mountebank in this City A young Man having an exquisite Quinsey sent for this Man who coming to view him and looking upon his Throat and not knowing or apprehending what his Disease was but mistaking in his Judgment and thinking it to be the Pox gave him a lusty Dose of Turbith Mineral in a Dram of Mithridate This the Humours being beforehand in Flux and filling those parts in fifteen or sixteen hours time put him into a severe Flux and in less than twenty four hours put him out of the peril of Death for he spit out the Cause of the Disease and fluxing twenty two or twenty 〈◊〉 was perfectly cured without any more to do Had he truly known the Disease it must have been accounted a very bold and rash attempt and not with safety to be adventured but as as it fell out it proved very fortunate and succesful for though the Sick had a great deal of trouble and pain yet he did very well at last You know what the Proverb is There is no Carrion will kill a Crow XV. Seeing therefore that a Quinsey is a most acute Disease that sometimes it takes away a man in one day the great remedies are to be used with mighty care and diligence Riverius advises immediately to let Bloud and that to twenty twenty four or thirty Ounces but by degrees on that side most afflicted Saxonia and Rolfincius advises to have it done under the tongue 〈◊〉 in a desparate Quinsie opens the Jugular Veins In these things you must exercise your Reason Some are for bleeding in the Leg or lower parts others for the Arm because they say it makes better Revulsion and causes less weakness XVI In giving inward Remedies you ought to let them be in the form of a Potion not of a Pill or Bolus because of the difficulty of swallowing and if the Sick should be provoked to vomiting by reason of the force the straitned Passage and solid Matter of the Medicine it might hazard strangling XVII If you bleed the Patient you may purge him the day following net waiting for the Coction of Humors because the Disease admits of no Truoe yea if it be very violent you ought to purge even the same day Sydenham saith with gentle Medicines but it is like a great many more of that Gentleman's Mistakes I say it must be with strong and such as may divert powerfully downwards for this Experience has taught me and I have saved many Lives by it whereas had I trifled with gentle Things my sick Patients had been infallibly lost To these Things you may add emollient and cathartick Clysters which very much derive and promote the Cure XVIII When the Aposteme is come to ripeness it would be well that Nature would break it alone if not to save Life it ought to be opened Barbet tells us of a Quinsey which he cured by opening the Aposteme It was a Woman her Tonsils were so swelled that she could not swallow at all but threw whatever she took out at her Nostrils He let her Blood used Cataplasms and Gargarisms and the fourth day as he was searching the part with a Probe saw that the Abscess was ripe he resolved to treat her somewhat roughly without giving her any warning he brake it with the same Probe upon which when she was cured she laugh'd and commended his Industry XIX If the Aposteme be in no hopes of sudden breaking to save Life opening the Throat may be attempted which is called Laryngotomy It is seldom put in practise for fear of Disgrace if the Patient should die soon after the Operation is ended For if in a dangerous Quinsey where the Lungs are obstructed with Humors or the Pleura is afflicted or those Parts be any way inflamed in these cases it is for the most part done in vain and only gives occation of Reproach XX. The Operation is thus performed Put the Patient into a Chair with his head leaning back as much as he well can let a Servant standing behind him take up the Skin on each side of the sorepart of the Neck then let the Artist cut the Skin lengthways with the Muscles under it just against the Aspera Arteria not far from the pit of the Throat and with a broad Lancet let him make a Section in the middle space between the third and fourth Cartilaginous Ring taking diligent care that the Cartilages themselves be not hurt And having made a hole he must put in a Silver Pipe not over long nor to touch the back part of the Wind-Pipe for then it would cause continual coughing By this way the Breath goes and comes to the Lungs 'till the Inflammation is either dispersed or comes to Suppuration and a passage for breathing by the mouth be restored which usually comes to pass in three or four days Then the Pipe may be taken away and the Wound cured after the ordinary way which will quickly be healed XXI When the Aposteme comes to Suppuration that it either breaks of its own accord or is opened by Instrument you must take care that the Corruption fall not upon the Lungs nor into the Stomach for fear of some other Disease but it must carefully be cast up at the mouth and then a Gargarism of Hydromel or Wine and Honey of Roses must be used to cleanse the parts XXII Galen and his Sectators use cold and astringent Gargarisms in all sorts of Quinseys contrary to the Precepts of Hippocrates who prescribes Gargarisms actually hot The former causes certain
Medicines in a hot Temperament influence the Body as cold Medicines in a cold Temperament chill it and so make the Disease worse VI. Though Opiates are accounted ill in a Deafness yet if the Pain attending be very acute or sharp there will be a necessity to dispense with the Ill for the Good that may ensue And this is an Observation worthy of remarking That though Opiates are apt if not to cause deafness yet to confirm or continue it those ill effects seldom last much longer than the taking of the Medicine I have known some Patients of mine who being a little deaf afore-hand upon liberally taking of Opiates have had their deafness seemingly very much augmented yet upon the giving over the use of the same have had their Hearing return again to satisfaction and that with the advantage of greater acuteness whereby it appears that Opiates do no essential injury to the Organs of Hearing VII If any Matter runs from the Ear looking like the Matter of an Ulcer you must be cautious how you use Repellers lest the Matter strikes inward or be driven to the Brain thereby endangering an Apoplexy or part of the Matter be dried and hardened in the cavity of the Ear whereby not only greater Dangers may ensue but at least the hazard of an incurable Deafness And the same thing is to be understood in a critical Evacuation or where the Matter is thick and tough or there be an Aposteme breeding VIII If the Pain and Deafness proceeds from a cold Cause you may inject Juice of Onions into the Ear or Goats or Sheeps Urine Or this Take Juice of Onions three Ounces Spirit of Wine one Ounce mix them and drop it into the Ear or inject it with a Syringe Or this Take Boys Urine new-made two Ounces Spirit of Wine one Ounce in which six Grains of Camphire is dissolved mix and inject it These are excellent Medicines in a cold Cause and seldom fail at least of giving ease IX But if a hot Cause be present though things absolutely cold may be given yet hot things must positively be forborn and things of an equal temperature are to be administred such as these following Take choice Canary four Ounces Spirit of Wine one Ounce Nitre in Pouder two Drams mix and drop it into the Ear. Or this Take Juice of Plantane two Ounces Juice of Purslane one Ounce Juice of Lettisce half an Ounce Spirit of Wine an Ounce and half mix them Or this Take Juice of Cucumbers two Ounces Spirit of Wine one Ounce mix them to be dropt into the Ear. X. If with the Deafness and Pain there seems to be an Apostemation Faventinus his Cataplasm of roasted or baked Onions are usual to be applied Or you may apply this Take Pulp of roasted Onions Mithridate ana an Ounce Saffron in Powder one Scruple Spirit of Wine Gut Thirty mix and apply it hot to the Ear. If it proceeds from a cold cause it will warm and comfort the part and hasten the Maturation of the Aposteme if any be If it proceeds from a hot Cause it will open the pores of the parts adjacent and cause a discussion of the Pain and thin Matter offending Or you may apply this Talk Pulp of roasted or baked Onions two Ounces our 〈◊〉 half an Ounce Powers of Amber forty drops mix and apply it XI In a Deafness accompanied with vehement Pain so as the Patient can take no rest it is good to carry off the Matter with proper Medicines I commonly give in this case some Doses of my Family-Pills But if the Pain be extream indeed then two or three Doses of my Pilulae Mirabiles and according as occasion requires repeat the Dose five or six times for they insensibly melt and dissolve the Matter causing the Pain or make it fluid and movable and then carry it off by stool But withal Topicks ought to be applied in the mean season to dispose the Matter in some measure to a Cure such as this Take Mithridate or our Antidote one Ounce Balsam of Sulphur half a Dram mix and apply it XII If the Ear once runs you must promote the running of it which may be done with Externals after this manner Take of our Antidote one Ounce Balsam de Chili two Drams Balsamum Arthriticum one Dram mix and apply it You may also inject this into it which very much promotes the Hearing Take Venice Turpentine half an Ounce Yelk of one Egg grind them together in a Brass Mortar very well then add new Canary eight Ounces Spirit of Wine two Ounces mix for an injection In the mean season let the sick be well purged with our Vinum Catharticum at least five or six times I have found it to be a Specifick in this case and does that which an hundred seeming greater Medicines will not touch or come near XIII I remember I had once a Patient who had a Deafness accompanied with so vehement Pain that ordinary Remedies whether inwards or Topicks would do no good and all Evacuations by internal means rather augmented the Pain I was at length forced to give a Dose of my Volatile Laudanum the sick began with three Grains and increased it gradually 'till it came to seven Grains This brought upon the Patient a large Diaphoresis upon which they had some ease in a day or two's time and in five or six days perfect ease but the Deafness seemed to be greater The Ear was washed with Spirit of Wine twice a day and in about a Weeks time after the giving over the Opiate the Hearing perfectly returned which had been in a manner lost for seven or eight Months before After all I purged the Patient with two or three Doses of Family Pills XIV I had a Patient a Woman about fifty years of Age who had been very deaf for above a year and at times very much afflicted with Pains in her Ears I cured her in about six Weeks time by continually droping into her Ears four or five times a day our Guttae Vitae and sometimes likewise giving her about fifty or sixty drops of it inwardly in a Glass of Wine at night going to bed XV. If an Inflammation be present it may be abated by putting into the Ear Vinegar mixt or ground with Oil And though Vinegar alone would put the Part especially nervous Parts to pain by its Acrimony yet mixt or ground with Oil and in a small quantity it becomes harmless and eases the Pain allaying the heat and fierceness of the bilious Humor XVI An ancient Gentlewoman having a noise and ringing in her Ears and sometimes a little pain was cured by dropping into them once or twice a day our Aqua Bezoartica and stopping them with Cotton dipt in the same it dissipated the flatulent Matter offending and comforted the weakned Nerves XVII Where Deafness is joined with vehement pain and no Internals nor Topicks have yet been able to do good there is a necessity to apply Visicatories for by this
also may be corroded first But in Children Ladies and thin Skinn'd People it will make an Eschar or raise a Scab of it self without any Blistering afore-hand This Scab is the true Seat of the Extracted Poyson wherefore it is found pretty thick and the Skin only superficially corroded which is a thing worthy to be considered and may possibly be the reason why it is sooner separated than any other Scabs raised by Art for in thirty or thirty six Hours it has fallen off by the help only of a Spatula without any precedent Scarification It may be used without any or with but a very little pain if to the Anti-pestilential Plaster you add a little Basilicon or Treacle XIV This Ointment following excellently promotes the falling off of the Eschar Take Honey Goose-grease Turpentine Gum Elemi ana one Ounce Soot six Drams Yolks of two Eggs Mithridate four Drams Oyl of Scorpions enough to make an Ointment If when the Scab is fallen the Tumor be not enough abated you may raise a second yea a third with the said Magnetical Arsenical Emplaster and then proceed as before Lastly heal up the Ulcer with Emplaster de minio or some other healing and drying Plaster but make not too much haste to heal it lest the poisonous Humor not yet wholly evacuated should cause either a new Disease or Death XV. Buboes arising from a Venereal Cause have the Pocky virulency affecting the Spermatick Vessels whether the Praeparantia or Deferentia through which the malignity rises and insinuates it self partly through the whole Mass of Blood and partly into the parts adjoyning and so into the Glandules themselves infefecting them If the Bubo be fiery and like an Erysipelas there is a Cholerick Cause if like an Oedematous Tumor it is conjoyned with Phlegm if from an acid Acrimony from Blood or Blood mixt with Phlegm joyned with a malign Spirit XVI If there be no hopes of bringing the Tumor to Suppuration after due Purging you may apply Empl. de Ranis cum Mercurio notwithstanding all that Barbet says against it but if there be hopes of Maturation it will be then Imprudence for that it will cause the Venom to revert inwards to the great danger of the Patient as both Reason and Experience teach XVII If the Bubo be feared to be Malignant from its green Colour or Blackness or Inflammation such as come from adust Blood turn'd black or Melancholy joyned with malignancy and putrefaction or virulent Choler there will be danger of a Gangrene and Mortification In this case you must defend the places round about with Repercussives and Repellers but not the Bubo it self XVIII In a Bubo whether from Plague or Pox beware of Bleeding it is one of the most pernicious things can be done for it hinders the rising of the Tumor and in the Plague hastens Death in the Pox it disseminates the 〈◊〉 and Poyson through the whole Mass of Blood and Humours with a Vengeance Epiphan Ferdinandus Hist. 17. saith That he knew some who just upon the appearing of the Bubo by letting of Blood and Purging have fallen into a stubborn Pox if not incurable XIX If they are caused from thick tough and cold Humours they are ripened with a great deal of difficulty and require a long time of Cure for Nature not being strong enough to drive the Matter quickly outwards it lies between the Peritonaeum and the 〈◊〉 whence it perpetually sends Vapours to the Liver and sometimes causes large Sinus's and many other Symptoms where by the Mass of Blood is miserably Infected and so sends its Polutions to the outward parts of the Flesh and Skin XX. Hildanus Cent. 5. Obs. 65 gives a strange relation of a Bubo A certain Person saith he had a Bubo in his right Groin who deferred opening of it 'till the malignant Matter fell upon the fourth and biggest Nerve of all that moves the Hip upon which there was violent and constant pain in the Hip attended with Convulsions a continual Feaver c. after which followed a Pining Leanness and great Weakness Many things both inward and outward were tryed but in vain for the Bubo did scarcely appear outwardly the Groin only was hard with very little pain for the violence of the pain in the Hip had as it were drowned it At length the Bubo was broken by help of a Caustick out of which in six or seven days time there ran above ten pounds weight of Matter after which with great difficulty he was cured XXI This following has been applied with Success to draw out the Poison Take Diachylon Compositum one Ounce and a half Mithridate roasted Garlick roasted Onions ana two Ounces Figgs three Ounces Galbanum and Ammoniacum strained Leven Mustard-seed of each an Ounce Palm Oil Oil of Amber ana half an Ounce mix and make a Cataplasm In a cold Bubo for Suppuration this Take Linseed-meal two Pound old Cheese one Pound Jelly of Hogs Legs q. s. mix boil them together and make a Plaster XXII If there be any hope of Suppuration 't is certainly best to induce it with all means that may be lest more grievous Symptoms and Diseases spring up 't is positively against the Principles of Art to dissolve it for Nature has disposed the Matter from the Blood and Liver and whole Body to those parts to be cast forth where the malignity and virulent Matter runs out which otherwise being detained within by discussion or Repellers the Matter reverts to the more noble Parts infects again the whole Mass of Blood and Humours so that the latter end of this Man is much worse than his beginning whence comes falling off of the Hair Nodes Tophs Gums Nocturnal Pains Leprosies Pustules sore Head putrid Scabs Serpigines Herpes Cancerous Ulcers affection of the Periostion rottenness of the Bones and an hundred other affrightful Symptoms XXIII Guilielmus Fabricius Cent. 6. Obs. 68. saith That he had often found the benefit of a Vesicatory of Cantharides in a Pestilential Bubo for it draws the Poison to the out-parts Take sower Leven one Ounce Cantharides finely poudred twenty Mithridate two Scruples mix and make a Cataplasm to be applied four Inches round the Tumor Also in a malignant Bubo you may apply Diachylon cum Gummi mixt with black Soap whereby most stubborn Buboes are Suppurated and if Hens Dung be added it will be so much the better CHAP. XVIII Of the Cachexia I. THE Cachexia is the very same Disease which Physicians call a Leucophlegmatia and is the forerunner or rather the beginning of a Dropsie and called by some a white Dropsie It is a Lazy Disposition and Habit of Body with Pursiness uneasiness of motion and sometimes shortness of Breath with difficulty of Breathing coldness softness and smoothness of the Skin with other concurrent Symptomes arising from Obstructions of the Liver or Spleen with the Meseraicks and other Viscera II. It can never be said to be incurable because it is properly but the beginning of
if not inveterate Trembling Gout or any weakness of the Nerves and Joynts coming of a cold and moist cause by anointing the afflicted parts therewith and taking of it inwardly as shall be immediately directed for it does gently and by degrees as it were carry off the morbifick Cause and matter almost to a Miracel 9. This marvellous Balsam opens all obstructions of the Liver and Spleen being taken Morning and Evening for a Month together in a little Syrup or other convenient Vehicle It is held for a great Treasure and has many other singular Virtues not here necessary to be named lest we should prejudice its worth and Excellency 10. The way and manner of taking it In diseases of the Head Brain and Nerves give it in Rosemary or Juniper-water or in Canary For the Stone and other Diseases of the Reins and Bladder you may give in Rhenish-wine For the Colick and Diseases of the Bowels you may give it in Juniper or Cardamum-water For Palsies and weaknesses of the Nerves and Joynts you may give it in some Antiparalitick Wine First grind or mix it with a little of the yolk of an Egg to open its body and then mix it with the Liquor you would give it in 11. If the sick cannot take it so it may be made up into Pills with some fit Powder as of Zedoary Nutmeg Cinnamon Bay-berries Cubebs Winter-cherries or what the Physician shall think more fit and so gilded for by this means it will be taken without nauseating you may give the Balsam from half a Dram to two Drams according to Age and Strength and it may be given Morning and Night for a Month two or three together 12. And it is certain that this Balsam is one of the greatest specificks in the cure of the Palsie Scurvy and Gout that is transcending all other Medicaments but it ought to be constantly given in a due Dose and with those Advantages that it may not loath the Stomach so taken it performs more than any other Balsam It cleanses the whole body of all Impurities mundifies the whole mass of Blood heals all inward Bruises Wounds Ulcers or Excoriations whether in the Bowels or Lungs restoring decayed Nature and carrying off all its Faeculencies by Urine and Stool It is only Sold by the Author of this Work at his House at the Blue-Ball by the Ditch-side near Holborn-bridge and at Mr. John Harris's at the Harrow in the Poultry London Price 24 s. the Pound or 18 d. the Ounce AT the sign of the Archimedes and Spectacles in Ludgate-street near the West-end of St. Paul's lives John Marshall who both turns and grinds makes and sell's all sorts of Glass Instruments as Perspective Glasses Telescopes Microscopes Horoscopes Sky-Opticks Reading Glasses from the smallest size to 20 Inches Diametre Microscopes according to Mr. Leewenhoeck Also Microscopes of the said Marshall's Designing a singular Invention for the advantage of Light the like of which were never yet done before Also Spectacles for all Ages Cristal Prisms Speaking Trumpets and all other sorts of Optick Glasses for brevity sake not here named SALMON'S Practical Physick The First BOOK CHAP. I. Of ACHES of all sorts I. For an Ach proceedings of Cold in any part of the Body TAke Oyl Olives Venice Turpentine ana two Ounces Oyl of Amber four Ounces Volatile Salt of Amber six Drachms melt and mix them together for a Balsam and anoint the place well there with Morning and Evening for eight or ten days more or less as occasion requires Salmon II. For an Ach in the Joints Take Palm Oyl Turpentine ana one Ounce Oyl of Wormwood three Ounces Volatile Salt Armonicak two Ounces melt mix and make a Balsam It is excellent being anointed with all Salmon III. For Aches in the lower parts of the Body Take Palm Oyl Turpentine Oyl of Amber and Anniseeds of each one Ounce mix melt and make a Balsam Salmon IV. For an Ach in the Bones Take Palm Oyl Turpentine ana two Ounces Oyl of Amber and Juniper Berries of each two Ounces and two Drachms Camphier two Ounces melt mix and make a Balsam Salmon V. An approved Searcloth for all Aches Take Burgundy Pitch one pound Oyl Olive six Ounces Wax four Ounces white Frankincense two Ounces powdered melt them in a Pipken stirring all well together and Boil to a Consistency then pour out all into a Bason or Pan of Water then anoint your Hands with Butter and make the Plaster into Rolls VI. An Excellent Ointment for the same Take the Gall of an Ox White-wine Vinegar Palm Oyl Aqua Vitae of each a like quantity boyl them gently on a Fire keeping it scum'd till it grow clammy and with this bathe well the part by rubbing it in before a Fire with a warm Hand Morning and Evening still laying a Linnen Cloth upon it VII For Ach in the Bones and the Gout Take of the best Aqua Vitae and Oyl of Amber of each a like quantity mix them well together and anoint the part well with a warm Hand before the Fire and bind on it a Linnen Cloth Morning and Evening VIII For the Joynt Ach and the Gout most Excellent Take the Juice of Sage Aqua Vitae the Oyl of Bays Vinegar Mustard and of an Oxes Gall of each a like quantity put them all together in a large Ox Bladder Tye it fast and chafe it up and down with your Hand during one hour and half then keep it for your Use and anoint the griev'd part Morning and Evening IX A Process against all Aches in the Back Hips Sides Knees or any part of the Body Take first Pil. Mirabile one Scruple to Purge now and then and take them in Syrup of Roses after Purging procure Sweat thus Take Guaiacum one Ounce and a half the Root of Enulacampane one Ounce boyl them in a Pottle of small Ale till half be consumed then drink thereof a quart in a Hot-house and Sweat often Then in the House bathe all the Body with this Oleaginous Balsame Take Oyl of Amber Oyl of Turpentine of Foxes of Excester and of Chamomil of each a like quantity and mix it well with some Brandy And if the Pains and Aches fall out to be most painful in the Night as many times they do Then at Night let him take this Potion Syrup of Poppy three Drachms Syrup of Betony one drachm and a half Waters of Bugloss and Sage of each an Ounce mix them well together X. This Cured a Man perfectly when he was Lame over all his Body Take the Gall of an Heifer for a Man and the Gall of a Steer for a Woman Brandy of each a like quantity then bath it well upon the Wrist a little before the Fit cometh and let it lie till the Fit be gone XI Aches from a hot Cause Take Spring Water two quarts Sal Armoniack Nitre of each four Ounces mix dissolve and keep it for Use Bathe the part with it then anoint with Oyl of Poppy Seed
or fifth Day Salmon V. Shortness of Breath cured by Vomiting Experience shews That when a great quantity of impacted Matter lies in the Lappets of the Lungs especially if there be a Sickness at Stomach also that then I say Vomits are of great use and sometimes the Paroxysm is taken off with this Remedy alone Salt of Vitriol may be given from half a Drachm to a Drachm Aqua Benedicta from three to four Drachms or one Ounce to an Ounce and a half if to very strong Persons My Catharticum Argenteum given from one to two Drachms is one of the best of Remedies Salmon VI. Shortness of Breathing Cured by reiterated Clysters Take Mutton-Broth eight Ounces Tincture of Colocynthis half an Ounce Infusion of Croous Metallorum Elixir Proprietatis of each an Ounce mix and give it warm In this case Clysters ought to be given in small quantity lest the Guts too much distended should press upon the Diaphragma and make the Paroxism more vehement and dangerous and they ought also often to be repeated Salmon VII For a vehement shortness of Breath I have often given with great Success my Syrupus Nephriticus see it in my Phylaxa Lib. I. Cap. 34. Sect. I. for that causes the Matter contained in the Cavity of the Breast to be avoided with the Urine through the Bladder the Urine for the most part being much thick and troubled by which the peccant Humours are carried not only from the Breast and places of Respiration but also from the head Veins and other parts I have done wonders in this case by the assiduous use of Spirit of Sulphur per Camp given in pectoral Drinks Salmon VIII A Pectoral Drink Take Raisins of the Sun stoned Figs slit ana Liquorice bruised two Ounces Elecampane Roots bruised one Ounce Spring water a Gallon Boyl all to two Quarts and strain it for use Dose half a Pint three or four times a Day Salmon IX Of the use of Opiates If Rest has been long wanting and there be withal a vehement Flux of Rhoum and Cough though the stopping of the Catarrh cannot be without sensible danger yet you must immediately give an Opiate such as my Laudanum Volatile cum Aloe for otherwise the Obstruction will so increase with the Catarrh that before you are aware the Breath will be stopt which there is no great fear of by giving the Opiates for that all Opiates stop the Flux by no other way than by thickning the Matter whereby it cannot so easily flow to the part the Humour then being thus thickned through the whole Man and not flowing to the Bronchia of the Lungs as formerly it at length finds a vent by other ways and that for the most part by Sweat Urine or Stool either of which ways you must endeavour to promote according as you see the disposition of the Body is inclinable Salmon X. An Inveterate Asthma I Cured an Inveterate Asthma that had been of fifteen or sixteen Years standing by giving my Piluloe Mirabiles twice and then my Family Pills as they are now prepared by me not as Hollier pretends to make them once letting a Day or two be between each and so reiterating this Course two or three times as you see occasion Salmon XI Shortness of Breath in a Woman with Child Truly because I saw the peril of her Life was not small by reason of her being with Child I could not pursue the usual methods of Cure I took the following course I gave her my Volatile Laudanum at Night going to Bed and the Spiritus Antiasthmaticus in all her Drink and by this course in about a Months time she was freed perfectly from her Disease Salmon CHAP. VII Diseases of the Breast I. A Pultess for a Sore Breast Take new Milk and grate white Bread into it then take Mallows and red Rose Leaves I handful of each then chop them small and boyl them together till it be thick then put in Honey and Turpentine of each two ounces white Lead six ounces mix them spread it on a Cloth and apply it II. For an Ague in the Breast Take good Aqua-vitae and Linseed Oyl and warm them together on a Chafing-Dish of Coles dip therein two Cloths made fit for the Breasts and lay them thereon as hot as may be suffered Morning and Evening III. To heal an Inflammation or Ague in the Breast Take the Whites of two Eggs and Housleek two handfuls let the Whites be first well beaten then pound them with the Housleek and three handfuls of Barley Meal and apply it very hot IV. To heal Ulcers in the Breast tho inveterate Take Oyl of Sulphur and touch them with it then apply this following Oyntment Take Yelks of two or three new laid Eggs Turpentine Butter Honey of Roses Barley-Flower ana half an Ounce Grind them all in a leaden Mortar and dress them therewith till they be whole V. Against Pain and Swilling of the Breasts If it proceeds from Gold taken or from a Blow Bath the Place very well Morning and Evening with Powers of Amber for three or four or five Days and the Pain and Swelling will go away Salmon VI. For a Sore Breast If the Sore be recent it may be Cured with our Balsamum Vulnerarium two Ounces Mercurius Dulcis Levigated half an Ounce mix them well and apply it Salmon VII For an Inveterate Ulcer in the Breast Take our Balsamum Ami. cum two Ounces Angelus Mineralis half an Ounce mix and apply it dressing the Sore Morning and Evening It will Cure it in a Short time Salmon VIII For a Painful Swelling in the Breast Take our Balsam of Amber and Anoint therewith Morning and Evening and keep the part warm If it proceeds from Cold or a Blow it Cures Salmon IX For hard Tumors of the Brest Take Gum Ammoniacum strained and made up into a Plaister it cures them to a Miracle much more if it be made up with Juice of Hemlock Or you may use Emplastrum de Ammoniaco cum Cicuta it is a Remedy that hardly ever fails Salmon X. A Cancerated Breast not broken I Cured two Cancerated Brests with the following Take Diapalma six Ounces Oyl an Ounce of our Hercules 3 Ounces mix them over a gentle heat spread it upon soft Leather or Cloth and apply it The Cancers that which was oldest was not above six Months standing The assiduous use of this Medicine eased the Pain in five or six Days time and in the space of four Months time or thereabouts prefectly dissolved the Tumour Salmon XI Soreness of the Nipples cured Take Bees-wax 1 Ounce Fresh Butter two Ounces Venice Turpentine half an Ounce mix melt and anoint with it it will be so much the better if you add to it two Drachms of Oyl of Wax Salmon XII A Tumour of the Breast broken Let the Patient Purge every day or every other day with Elixir Proprietatis according to their Strength and outwardly let it be drest with this Take of our Balsamum
Mesentery where sharp Salt join'd with an acid Phlegm being dissolved and put into a fermentation upon the hysterick Paroxism causes this vehement pain For by reason of the Collision of the neurotick Spirits justling one another in their passages and the acid Sals pricking the most sensible Fibres of the Nerves with their vitriolick Particles causing a vehement anguish and the distention of the Nerves and musculous Passages where the said acid Juices are lodged this almost invincible Cholick is exeited which Proteus-like is so various in its appearances that we cannot here in few words describe it IX The remote cause is to be known from the consideration of the six Non naturals and other Accidents of Nature intervening the which we shall here pass over and leave to the more exquisite Consideration of philosophick Minds X. As to the Progno sticks this we have to say That if the Disease has been of long continuance and in ancient People it will be of difficult cure the older and the longer the Disease has been so much the more difficult If the Limbs have lost their use 't is very seldom that the Sick recovers If a Palsie be induced the Sick is incurable so if any contraction of the Nerves with loss of the use of any Limb The same also if the Patient is become foolish or there be a very great alienation of Mind more especially if it be not recent but of long continuance But if there be no loss of the use of Limbs or it only returns by long intervals if it be recent the Patient young strong vigorous and lively If they can eat freely and sleep well there is all the possible signs of recovery and so much the better and easier if in a Woman not with Child or in a Body not scorbutick XI The Indicationes Curativae are these Obstructions must be opened hysterick Vapours or Fumes must be quieted the acid Salts and Juices must be altred the peccant or offending Mater must be evacuated or removed And lastly the parts weakned must be corroborated and strengthened and the scorbutick Taint if any be destroyed XII In respect to opening of Obstrucrtions we must consider whether the Constitution be hot or cold for accordingly different Medicines must be used Those things which open Obstructions in hot Bodies create them in cold e contrario If therefore by the exuberant symptoms you perceive the Constitution to be hot these following things are fit to be used viz. Spirits of Sulphur and Nitre Spiritus Aperiens Antiasthmaticus Spirttus Anticolicus Sal nitri Tartari nitratum Nitri Vitriolatum Sal Armoniacum Volatile Syrupus Nephriticus being given in a convenient Vehicle and in a proper Dose all which you may see in my Phylaxa Medicinae XIII But if it be in a cold habit of Body then you will find these following things good Take Juice of Smallage two Pound Sugar as much make it into a Syrup by boiling which strain through Hippocrates his Sleeve Dose three spoonfuls every morning fasting and at night going to bed Or this Take Juices of Fennel Germander Agrimony Brooklime Watercresses ana four Ounces Sugar twenty Pound make it into a Syrup which clarifie with Whites of Eggs Give it in the same manner and Dose with the former Or these Juices may be mixt with new Ale botled up with a little white Sugar and a Clove slit put into each Bottle and so drank In this case also Tinctura Martis given in clarified Juice of Plantin mixt with an equal quantity of Conary is of good use Also Potestates Carui Juniperi Lithontriptici Pulegii may be daily given in all their drink XIV To quiet the irregular and turbulent motion of the Spirit and hysterick fumes these following things are fit to be done First the Stomach and whole Region of the Abdomen are to be bathed with Powers of Amber or Pennyroyal or both and a hot Flannel dipt in the same laid over them Secondly the Nostrils are to be often touched with Postestates Cornu Cervi and the Sick should keep a Bottle always about them to swell to or at least a Bottle of Volatile Sal Armoniack mixt with some few drops of Oil of Pennyroyal or Savin Moreover our Tinctura Hysterica should be at convenient times given in a little Wine or Ale Or this Take Tinctura Hysterica one Ounce Guttae Vitae half au Ounce mix them of which sixty drops may be given at a time every night going to bed and if extremity require it every morning fasting But if the Sick be troubled with a costiveness of Body this following is of more excellent use Take of our Extract of Aloes one Scruple Castor in Powder half a Scruple of our Volatile Laudanum three or four Grains mix them for one Dose to be given every night going to bed These things thus used will not fail you expectations XV. The third intention of Cure is to sweeten the acid Salts and Juices of the Body for which purpose there is certainly nothing more powerful and admirable than our Spiritus Universalis which see in our Phyl. Medic. Lib. 2. cap. 22. given twice a day or as often as the Sick drinks in all their Ale or Beer Or instead of this Volatile Sal Armoniack add six or eight Grains in all their Liquor aforesaid Some possibly may prescribe Preparations of Pearl Coral Amber Crabs Eyes c. but these things though after a very long using may do some good yet being fixt Alcalies do not so immediately enter into the Mass of Blood and are therefore to be laid aside where the other things can be had forasmuch as this Disease possesses the whole Mass of Blood and Humours and the wholy habit of the body XVI But more effectually to answer both the first Indication of Cure at Sect. 12. and 13. aforegoing and this third present this following Composition is most excellent Take Venice or Strasburgh Turpentine two Ounces Angelis Mineralis Bezoarticum Minerale ana enough to make the Turpentine up into Pills Dose one Dram or a Dram and half and in some cases two Drams It is a most effectual Medicament for the Purposes intended and not enough to be valued and so much the more especially if it be given in a scorbutick habit of Body and where the Sick has lost the use of their Limbs XVII The fourth Indication is to evacuate the morbisick Cause or peccant Humour which you may most compleatly accomplish with my Pilulae Mirabiles for they given from one Scruple to half a Dram wounderfully carry off the offending matter and draw it away even from the most remote parts of the Body Or instead of them you may use my Family Pills those which are made according to my last designation by which they are much improved in their Virtues and Goodness which can be only had of me and such as have them from my hand not from Hollier or his Accomplices for that he knows
means a great quantity of the acid Humor causing the Pain and coagulating the approximate Juices inducing the Deafness will be taken in a great measure away and that is done many times with one Blister which forty Purges and Vomits would not so well accomplish the Success of which having often tried this means I could not but commend to the Consideration of Artists XVIII Whatever Medicines you put into the Ear be sure they be warm unless some great occasion require the contrary but not very hot because the natural temperature of the Ear is cold and dry And be sure you put no new Medicine in 'till they are cleansed from the filth of the former The Sick ought to lie on the contrary side and the Medicament put in ought not to exceed four or five drops at a time The less unctuous the Medicament is so much the better for when it is gotten into the Labyrinth of the Ear it comes not easily out again Things more subtil and spirituous are much to be preferred in this case because they do their Work and then go away in Vapor XIX Dropping in Things into the Ears may do but syringing is much better provided it be done with a fit Instrument and a skilful Hand You ought not to syringe violently but leisurely lest by such a violence the Tympanum should be broke which would cause an incurable Deafness Moreover you ought to be very careful how you apply Topicks 'till Universals are premised though the afflux of the evil Humors be first abated XX. The passage of the Ear being very sensible you must be careful that you use not sharp Things yet Wallaeus boldly attempted the use of Unguentum 〈◊〉 and he saith that therewith he cured a sore Ear that ran with purulent Matter for the space of eight years And Petrus Johannes Faber saith That Nitre dissolved in strong Vinegar and often dropped into the Ears quickly cures any ringing or noise in them XXI Galen advises Opium dissolved to be put into the Ear and Paulus dissolves it in Milk for that purpose But these may be dangerous If an Opiate be required there is nothing better of that kind than our Guttae Vitae or Spiritus Anodynus for by reason of the heat of the Spirit and other Things joined with the Opium the Optate can do no hurt whereas otherwise it might stupifie and much encrease the Deafness and may destroy the Instruments of Hearing However Opiates of any kind must be given if the Sick be in danger of death by the Pain because the saving of the Life of a Patient is much greater than the Hurt should it be a total and perpetual Deafness XXII If 't is certain there is an Aposteme Authors say You may use Juice of Crowfoot 't is much commended but 't is scarcely safe because 't is very hot and corrosive If the Bone that is covered with the thin Membrane be comes carious after such Suppuration you must often drop into the Ear Spirit of Wine mixt with Honey of Roses Marcellus saith That Cows Milk two Ounces mixt with Honey one Ounce being dropt into the Ear and the Ear stopt presently with Wool or Cotton will wonderfully heal the Ulcer yea though it were cancerous XXIII Crato's Medicine for a Noise and Tingling of the Ears Take bitter Almonds blanched an Ounce White Hellebore Castoreum ana two Drams Costus one Dram and half Rue two Scruples Euphorbium half a Dram boil all in a sufficient quantity of Water for an hour over a gentle Fire then strain and drop of it warm into the Ear three or four times a day XXIV Sennertus advises to this Take Ox-Gall Goats Gall Juice of Onions ana four Ounces Vinegar Twelve Ounces mix and put them over a Chafing-dish of good live Coals and let the boiling Fume be taken up the Ear through a Funnel XXV A Deafness which had been of many years continuance I cured with the Powers of Anniseedss dropping them into the Ear but I purg'd the Patient four times with my Pilulae Mirabiles and drew several Blisters both behind the Ears and on other Places adjacent thereto XXVI A poor Man had lost his Hearing as some thought by the Pox falling into an Empericks hand he cured him by fluxing him with the following Medicine Take Turbith Mineral eight Grains Mithridate one Dram mix for a Dose It raised an effectual Flux which continued twenty four Days after which the Patient heard as well as ever he did in all his life Some may wonder at the Success because that some have wholly lost their Hearing or had it mightily depraved by this kind of Operation But this is not to be wondred at since that in some Bodies such Sulphurs abound as are not only able to fix the Mercury but also to condense or coagulate it which mixt with the Humors as it will be if much of it be used coagulates or thickens all the morbifick Matter contained in the part whereby the Organs or Passages are more firmly obstructed than before and a perpetual Deafness succeeds CHAP. XVII Of BUBOES I. A Bubo is a Swelling of the Glandules whether in the Throat Arm-pits or Groin and they proceed either 1. simply from the afflux of Humours caused by Cold or some other Matter 2. Or are complicate with Poyson and Venom as in the Plague or Pestilence and French Disease II. If it be a simple Bubo and indeed let it arise from what Cause soever whether simple or complicate if there be any hope of its breaking you must wholly desist from Purging and Vomiting for those Operations destroy the End of the Bubo since Nature thrustsout the offending Matter by those Emunctories and the nature of Vomiting and Purging is to draw from the Circumference to the Centre whereby the Bubo is hindred from rising and coming to its perfection In all these Cases Natures End in thrusting forth the Bubo ought to be promoted which is best done by a sudorisick means inwardly given and strong Attractives and Suppuratives mixed outwardly III. In order to this end you may give some few Gr. of our Laudanum Volatile or our Guttae Vitae or if for some particular Reasons Opiates are not to be given the Diaphoresis is to be promoted with Antimonium Diaphoreticum or Bezoar Minerale or with some more powerful Medicine as is Mercurius Sudorificus or our Angelus Mineralis or Angelick Pills or you may compound something after this manner Take of our New London Treacle twelve Grains Bezoar Mineralis sixteen Grains mix for a Dose Or this Take of our Antidote one Scruple Antimonium Diaphoreticum twenty five Grains mix for a Dose giving often one Ounce of our Aqua Bezoartica The Patient is to be covered down warm in his naked Bed and he ought to Sweat as long as he can well endure it or 'till Faintness after which let him cool gradually or by degrees Where Opiates are wholly useless give this Take Bezoarticum Minerale one Scruple Juice of Alkermes
a cachectical Patient who formerly had the Pox but had been well of that Disease some years but fearing there should be yet some Relicks of it desired I should proceed in the Cure as if it had been the Pox nor could I prevail with the Man to admit of any other Cure At length I fumed him with the following Troches Take artificial Cinnabar six Drams Myrrh Amber Mastick Olibanum Cloves Nutmegs ana half an Ounce Mercurius Dulcis two Drams with Spirit of Wine make thirty two Troches for eight Fumigations I fumed him three or four times and took away all his swelling without any sensible fluxing and he became perfectly well But one thing which was very remarkable in this Cure was That an old Pain of the Spleen which he had been troubled withal for twenty two or twenty three years was totally and perfectly removed and much of the Disease went away by Urine XII A confirm'd Cachexy is without danger and may be cured in short time by Sudorificks only the Cause principally proceeding from a Debility of the Blood and noble Parts charged either with too great Acidities or an aqueous Matter which is sent into the Habit of the Body For this purpose a Tincture of the opening Crocus Martis or the Crocus Martis it self is profitably given and Grulingius saith for this purpose it excels all other Remedies because it strengthens so powerfully For internal Sudorificks which may also absorb the Acid we commend Bezoar Mineral from six to sixteen Gr. our Angelus Mineralis from six to twelve Grains Pilulae Angelicae from one to two Scruples or a Decoction of Guaiacum after the usual manner the Patient being in a Stove or Bed XIII Barbet saith that the watery Matter is first gathered in the Face and Limbs and if the tumid Parts be prest with your Finger that they are not so full as in a true Dropsie and that the cause of it is from the lymphatick Vessels being compressed broken or some other way obstructed whereby the natural Motion of the Lympha is himdred and so thrust into the fleshy and skinny Parts But all this we cannot concede unto nor do we believe that ever the Rupture of the lymphatick Vessels were or can be the Cause thereof but this possibly may be sometimes a Cause the two great thinness of the Lympha and the weakness or laxness of the Vessels containing it whereby it has an emission through their Pores and Plicatures into the fleshy Substance of the Body XIV If the Sick be of a cholerick habit of Body if they sweat in a Stove Chair or Bagnio it ought to be with a gentle heat If they be melancholly the heat must be greater but if phlegmatick the heat must be most intense that the Humors may be melted and the preternatural Gelly dissolved without which it can never pass away by sweat And this is of use chiefly in Virgins where the Disease proceeds from Grief drinking cold Water eating unripe Fruit or other hetrogene Things But in hot Constitutions and such as have been used to eat and drink hot Things whereby the Liver is made exceeding hot and dry and much Choler abounds in the first and second Region viz. in the Veins of the Liver Spleen and Mesentery and in the greater Veins and Arteries Baths are much more proper than Stoves and such-like because they moisten whereas a dry sweat irritates the Atribilious Humor XV. Being come out of the Bath you may anoint the Belly Feet Legs and other swoln Parts with the following Unguent Take tops of Elder Dwarf-Elder Doves-foot musked Cranes-bill Mustard Rocket Camomil ana two Ounces Palm-oil one Pound boil well strain out by pressing then add distilled Oils of Amber Anniseeds and Juniper ana three Drams mix them to anoint withal and inwardly give a Dram or two or more of our Aqua Bezoartica or good Cinamon-Water XVI Catharticks are adjudged by most to be of evil consequence being given to cachectick Persons because they hurt the Liver and weaken the Ferment of the Viscera This is true it they be often or long given as we noted at Sect. 3. above for they destroy the Patient the 〈◊〉 and weakned Parts being extreamly hurt and more weakened thereby but Lenitives may be given and repeated with Strengthners between and sometimes stronger Purges provided there be pretty long intervals between and many times Corroboraters of the Bowels be given in the interim to support and restore their tone XVII Quercetanus commends this Pouder Take fine Filings of Iron one Dram Feculi Ari one Dram Essence of Coral Pearl Pouder of Amebrgrise ana half a Ounce Amber prepared Cinamon ana four Scruples Sugar q. s. mix and make a Pouder It is a good Thing for pale and depraved Colours Cachexies in Men Women and Maids whether young or old the Body being prepared and purged for some time before hand Schroder commends his Chalybeated Salt for the same purpose See it in my Seplasium Lib. 1. Cap. 16. Sect. 13 14 15. Lib. 2. Cap. 14. Sect. 4 5. XVIII Or this Take Filings of Iron sprinkle them with Waters of Wormwood Ash or Scurvy-Grass wherein their Salts have been dissolved leave them so long till all is converted to Rust or Crocus of which take six Ounces burnt Harts-horn prepared Magisteries of Coral and Pearl ana one Dram and half Cinamon Crystals of Tartar ana one Dram Sugar a sufficient quantity mix and make a Pouder Dose one Dram. XIX Sennertus commends this Wine Take Filings of Iron three Ounces and half White Wine two Quarts infuse them together in a Boltbead a Month in a warm place shaking it three or four times a day Dose five or six Ounces at a time in the Morning fasting and lying two or three hours in Bed after it or otherwise walking and stirring two hours after it As often as you pour out one Glass you must put in another till half the Rust or Crocus seems spent then you are to cease and put in no more Our Tinctura ad Chlorosin is also of experienced Use. XX. If the Patient finds any pain in the Abdomen or Belly you ought to bathe the Part with Powers of Amber twice a day Or with this Take Palm-Oil four Ounces Oil of Anniseeds half an Ounce mix and anoint with it Or this Take Palm-Oil four Ounces Oil of sweet Fennel-seed of Oranges ana two Drams mix and anoint with as before CHAP. XIX Of the STONE in the Reins 1. AS this is a Disease with which many are afflicted so it is of as hard and difficult Cure for which variety of Medicaments are instituted The cause of which is this That those things which do some good and cure them to boot yet do others no good at all and sometimes make them worse for which Reason sake we shall make it it our Business here to examine variety of Authors and hear what they all say II. It is a Disease like the Colick but it is
distinguished from it because in the Stone the pain continues 〈◊〉 in one place and in the beginning the Urine is clear but afterwards of a troubled Substance bringing forth with it at length Gravel Stones and such-like whereas in the Colick the Pain is different or in different Parts afflicting for the most part the Colon and in the beginning the Urine is of a troubled Substance afterwards more clear III. How Gravel which is the Progenerator of the Stone is bred there is various Opinions Spigelius by his Discourse seems to believe it to be bred in the Veins for he saith That he has found the Blood in the Veins full of small Gravel and if so it is natural for it to descend with the Substance of the Blood into the emulgent Arteries and from thence with the Serum to the Reins and Bladder IV. But by what Artifice Gravel is generated is another Question II care not greatly if I relate to you a singular Observation which I made whilst I was in the West-Indies In those Countries for clearing of Ground the People commonly lay all the Wood on heaps and burn it I did the like of Wood growing upon a very sandy piece of Land the Substance of the Earth under its upper Crust being a pure white Sand. I had very white and soft Ashes not inferiour in softness to our finest Wheat-flour or white Starch in which not the least appearance of Gravel or Sand could be discerned by any means Of these Ashes I had occasion to make a Lixivium sometimes for Expedition sake by boiling The Lixivum being decanted and the Ashes cast away I had the curiosity to view and by an exact scrutiny found them to be nothing but pure white Sand without any of the small and soft particles of Ashes which before the elixiviating of them made them feel like pure fine and soft Wheat-flour This I did 't is possible an hundred times and always produced the same Sand From whence I deduced these things 1. That those Trees which in those Countries are mostly of a mighty bigness chiefly Pine Oaks Hickeries and such-like Herbs Plants and the like growing upon such sandy ground have all their Nourishment and Substance from that Sand whether white red yellow or of what Colour soever 2. That by the plastick Virtue of the Plant the Substance of the said Sand is dissolved and fitted for the Norishment of the same Plant. 3. That the said Sand is dissolved into a moist Humor and it may be resinous or glutinous or aqucous consonant to the Nature of the same Vegetable the same kind of Sand which produces an Oak makes also a Pine Hickery Ash or other Plant growing upon the same For if they were not generated or produced of Sand the Earth being scarcely any thing else ten or twenry Foot deep in those Places Of what other Matter can they be made 4. That an Analysis being made by burning and elixiviation the whole Substance of the Plant in a manner resumes its prima Materia or first Matter again converting its Body into Sand and not into any other Principle 5. That the Extremity and Violence of the Fire has not power to destroy the Idea of the prime Cause but it still retains the same through all Vicissitudes and Changes even of the strongest Fire it self V. I. made also another Observation of the same kind of Trees Herbs and Plants growing upon the same kind of Land from their rotting Great Pine-Trees four or five Foot in Diametre and others being rotted upon the Ground although the rotten Wood at first become only light and chaffie then a Slime and Mud yet that Slime or Mud and Rottenness gra dually converted from that brown dark or black Colour and soft clammy mucillaginous and rotten Substance into a pure white Sand no ways unlike to the first Substance or that of which they were primarily generated all which things might clearly be discerned in many of them according to the differing Degrees and Times of Rotting or Putrifying as Nature had been several Years in performing that Work and Operation Those which were produced of white Sand reverted into white Sand again those of red Sand into red Sand c. VI. Out of what has been said it clearly appears that Things by resolution naturally return into the Matter of which they were first generated so that according to the Food and the Place or Matter that Food was generated from being again resolved in Man's Body is the Production of Juices Humors Blood Flesh and other Substances of the same So true and faithful is the Work of GOD in the Universe that as He cannot deny Himself so neither can the Things He causes to be produced lose their first Ideas and Potentialities though they never so often change their Forms and Appearances but will after a long race or course of Vicissitudes and Alterations return to their first Matter again VII And thus the first Cause of the Stone is to be sought into farther than the Parts in which it is generated or the natural Spirits possessing the same though I do not deny what Riverius says upon the point but that there may be a petrifactive Spirit which may be assisting in that Generation Both which considered may be the Reason that some People may be troubled with this Disease and some not VIII Gravel subsiding does not nocessarily indicate the Stone but sometimes the material Cause only thereof for multitudes of People that are perpetually free from the Stone do many times make much Gravel yet possibly it may signifie a Disposition to that Disease For if Gravel which used constantly to come away is afterwards suppressed and Pain is felt the Urine being clear and thin there is great danger that the Gravel may concrete into a Stone and when it is made again with Pain and Stranguary it is a sign there is a Stone generated IX Gravel which is bred in the Veins comes away with the Urine and is mixt with the Sediment but what is bred in the Kidneys Ureters and Bladder presently resides as the Urine is made Authors say it proceeds from adustion of the Humors bred in the Liver and Veins and sticks to the sides of the Pot nor does it sink to the bottom as that which comes from the Reins it also breaks by rubbing with ones Fingers and appears of a more saline Substance whereas the other neither yields to the Fingers nor can it easily be dissolved This Gravel of a saline Substance is dissolved in warm Urine and appears not whilst it is yet hot but the Urine being cold it coagulates and sticks to the sides of the Chamber-pot or Urinal not much unlike Tartar in a Cask of Wine or which is dissolved in hot Water which cooling again sticks to the sides of a Vessel so that the very Nature of this Gravel and Tartar seem to be much alike X. And this possibly may in a great measure proceed from the same Cause viz.
Deckers in his Annotations upon Barbet gave it to a Man of sixty years of Age with good success I have oftentimes given it both alone and mixt it with Turpentine with a singular Advantage never with the ill Effects above-named 2. If we enquire into the Nature of the Medicine we find it to be cooling and without any sharpness of Parts so that I can never think that any Medicine can give that which its self has not 3. We ought to consider the Nature of those Bodies on whom Cassia had so ill an Effect as they say in the Stone and then probably we may perceive that those supposed Effects rather arose from the prevalency of the morbifick Matter than the Medicine and that had any other Medicament been given at that time adapted to the Distemper with the highest scrutiny and Ingenuity of the most learned in our Profession 't is possible the same Effects might have ensued so that in Prudence we ought to ascribe the afore-enumerated Disadvantages to the Habit of the Body and prevalency of some acid Humor abounding at that time rather than to the Cassia or the innocent use of any Medicine whatsoever Salmon XLI Crato prefers the simple Decoction of Speedwel with Sugar before all the more famous and great Medicines inwardly given for the Stone The use saith he of a Clyster made only of a Decoction of Speedwel with Sugar will do more good than any Medicine taken by the mouth you may put into the Decoction some fat of a Loin of Mutton or Veal of a Rabbet or Capon that so it may be more smooth and slippery or for want of these you may take some fresh Butter The Sick often find more relief in the Cholick or Stone from a simple Clyster of Milk and Sugar boiled either with Speedwel or Cammomil-flowers than from Clysters more richly and largely compounded of hot Things because they by discussing Pain encrease Wind whereby the Pain is augmented which is only to be appeased with Anodines XLII The Decoction of Pease made with Daucus Seed Parsley-Seed or sweet Fennel-Seed is a Medicine not to be despised and many by taking it alone have had a perfect Cure But as Diureticks in the Cure of this Disease are necessary to get the Gravel and Stone out of the Reins So for prevention and in time of Health we must abstain from the too much use of them lest while they provoke Urine by a constant use of them they make open the ways and passages to the Kidneys whereby all the crude Humors and Recrements of the Blood may tend thither and make Matter to breed the Gravel and Stone This is the fear of some Artists though causlesly enough where neither the Meat nor Drink received tends by resolution to such a generation nor a petrifactive Spirit lodges in the Parts However Dieureticks for that they quickly run to the Reins and carry along with them the Food crude and unconcocted thereby loading the Parts already afflicted though they are not the Cause of the Matter of the Stone yet they are to be given with the more caution lest by their violence heaping up Matter they the more streighten those Parts which are already too much streightned by the Body of the petrifactive Matter there lodged already And therefore it is Prudence to give them a long time after Meat or upon an empty Stomach and if it may be done after the Body is purged or cleansed XLIII Paracelsus commends Spirit of Salt and Spirit of Juniper as also Spirit and Tincture of Nitre Salt and Antimony Willis commends several Diureticks whose Basis is a volatile Salt and several likewise whose Basis is an alcalisate Salt some also whose Basis is an acid Salt Sylvius says the Stone must either be dissolved or expelled undissolved For dissolving he proposes Spirit of Nitre giving ten or twelve Drops of it in Decoction of Grass-Root All Stones says he that I have yet found are dissolved in acid Spirit of Nitre whence I conceive that none can conclude that the coagulation of Stones can proceed from an acid but on the contrary from something opposite to it The virtue of generating Stones says he lies in austere Things upon which account they give Glutinosity and toughness to Fluids to which if fixt earthy and volatile saline Parts be joined something not unlike the Stone he should have said by help of a petrifactive Gass or Spirit is generated Now this coagulated Austere is infringed by the sharp Acid of the Spirit of Nitre And therefore when the Rudiments and beginnings of a Stone are laying we must besides volatile oily Salts use Things that dissolve the Stone amongst which we deservedly ascrbe the first place to Spirit of Nitre seeing in it Stones are so easily and so manifestly dissolved and it may be given in Beer Ale Wine-Broth c. to make them a little sharp and so to be used for some considerable time XLIV To this of Sylvius the learned Deckers makes something of answer The Spirit of Nitre saith he being put upon the Stone poudered and set upon a little Fire dissolves it First it turns it into a tough and then into a watery Matter but the Mischef is the Consequence in outward and inward means is not the same or at least the Spirit of Nitre does not answer Expectation And Fr. Hof-man says you should rather give Things which confist of an abstersive Virtue from a volatile Alcalie and Acid that by their gentle sharpness do incide and cleanse the filth of the urinary Passages as also by their sweet fragrancy affecting of the Reins do hinder the faeculency of the Ferment and so prevent all occasion of the Stone XLV Diureticks are of two kinds the one Aperitive the other Incisive Aperitive draw the Matter to the Kidnies and therefore if these be affected are very suspicious because we draw the Matter to the part affected But Incisives carry not the Matter to the Kidnies but only by Inciding Subtilize and so the Matter being made subtil passes the Reins Hence it is and I ever use it with success that if in the beginning I give Spirit of Vitriol to break the Stone or cut the gross Humor I quickly see a happy Issue And the Spirit of Vitriol though it be Diuretick yet it only incides upon which Subtililation while the Matter passes out the Urine appears more copious and is truly a Diuretick by accident not that it carries ought to the Reins but because the Matter when it has no hinderance finds an easie passage And that is attempted in vain after the third or fourth day which may be done the first without which the Pain is prolonged three or four Days to the great damage of the Patient for then we must stay for universal Evacuation which in this case is not necessary in the beginning but may very well be done when the Pain is over Panarolus Pent. Cap. 3. Obs. 41. XLVI Riverius advises That in the use of
Work will be spoiled and you will not find that which you seek after nor shall you bring your Work to perfection XIV For where the cause of Generation is wanting or the root of the matter and heat it self your labour will be lost and the Work come to nothing The same also will happen if you mistake in the proportion or weight for if that be not right to wit the proportion of the parts compounding the matter compounded missing of its just temperature will be destroyed and so you shall reap no fruit the which I will shew you by an Example XV. See you not that in Soap with which Cloaths are washt clean and white that it has its virtue and property by reason of the just proportion of its Ingredients which spread themselves in length and breadth and because of which they agree to the same end by which it appears that the Compositum was truly made and the power and efficacy which before lay hid which is called Property is now brought to light which is the quality of washing and cleansing in a proper Laver XVI But should the Ingredients have been put together without proportion being either too little or too much the virtue and efficacy of the Soap would be destroyed nor would it any ways answer the end desired for that that end or effect ariseth from the just proportion and mixion of each Ingredient The same you must understand to happen in the Composition of Our Magistery CHAP. XXIII Of the four principal Operations Solution Congelation Albification and Rubification I. BEgining now to speak of the Great Work which they call Alchymie I shall open the matter without concealing ought or keeping back any thing save that which is not fit to be declared We say then that the great work contains four Operations viz. to Dissolve to Congeal to make White and to make Red. II. There are four quantities partakers together of which two are partakers between themselves so also have the other two a coherence between themselves And either of these double quantities has another quantity partaker with them which is greater than these two III. I understand by these quantities the quantity of the Natures and weight of the Medicines which are in order dissolved and congealed wherein neither addition nor diminution have any place But these two viz. Solution and Congelation are in one Operation and make but one Work and that before Composition but after Composition those Operations be divers IV. And this Solution and Congelation which we have spoken of are the solution of the Body and the congelation of the Spirit which two have indeed but one Operation for the Spirits are not congealed except the Bodies be dissolved as also the Bodies are not dissolved unless the Spirit be congealed And when the Soul and the Body are joyned together each of them works its Companion into its own likeness and pro perty V. As for Example When Water is put to Earth it strives to dissolve the Earth by its virtue property and moisture making it softer than it was before bringing it to be like it self for the Water was more thin than the Earth And thus does the Soul work in the Body and after the same manner is the Water thickened with the Earth and becomes like the Earth in thickness for the Earth was more thick than the Water VI. Know also that between the solution of the Body and the congelation of the Spirit there is no distance of time nor diversity of work as though the one should be without the other as there is no difference of time in the conjunction of the Earth and Water that the one might be distinguished from the other by its operation But they have both one instant and one fact and one and the same work performs both at once before Composition VII I say before Composition lest he that should read my Book and hear the terms of Solution and Congelation should suppose it to be the Composition which the Philosophers treat of which would be a grand Error both in Work and Judgment Because Composition in this Work is a Conjunction or Marriage of the congealed Spirit with the dissolved Body which Conjunction is made upon the fire VIII For heat is its nourishment and the Soul forsakes not the Body neither is it otherwise knit unto it than by the alteration of both from their own virtues and properties after the Conversion of their Natures and this is the solution and congelation which the Philosophers first speak of IX Which nevertheless they have absconded by their AEnigmatical Discourses with dark and obscure Words whereby they alienate and estrange the minds of their Followers from understanding the Truth whereof I will now give you the following Examples X Besmear the Leaf with Poyson so shall you obtain the beginning of the Stone and the Operation thereof Again Work upon the strong Bodies with one solution till either of them are reduced to subtilty Also Except you bring the Bodies to such a subtilty that they may be impalpable you shall not obtain that you seek after And If you have not ground them repeat the Work till they be sufficiently ground and made subtil so shall you have your desire With a thousand such other like unintelligable and not to be understood without a particular demonstration thereof XI And in like manner have they spoken of that Composition which is after solution and congelation Thus. Our Composition is not perfect without Conjunction and Putrefaction Again You must dissolve congeal separate conjoyn putrefie and compound because Composition is the beginning and very life of the thing These things who can understand without being taught XII But 't is true that unless there be a compounding the Stone can never be brought to light There must be a separation of the parts of the Compound which separation is in order also to a conjunction I tell you again that the Spirit will not dwell with the Body nor enter into it nor abide in it until the Body be made subtil and thin as the Spirit is XIII But when it is attenuated and made subtil and has caste off its thickness and grossness and put on that thinness has forsaken its Corporeity and become Spiritual then shall it be conjoyned with the subtil Spirits and imbibe them so that both shall become one and the same thing nor shall they for ever be severed but become like water mixt with water which no Man can separate CHAP. XXIV Of the latter two Operations viz. Albification and Rubification I. SUppose that of two like quantities which are in solution and congelation the larger is the Soul the lesser is the Body Add afterwards to the quantity which is the Soul that quantity which is in the Body and it shall participate with the first quantity in virtue only Then working them as we have wrought them you will have your desire and understand Euclid his Line or Proportion II. Then
goodness of Bodies is their abounding with Argent Vive For seeing Argent Vive for no cause of Extermination will be divided into parts in its composition because it either with its whole substance flies from the fire or with its whole substance remains permanent in it it is necessarily concluded to be a cause of Perfection X. Therefore Praised and Blessed be the most Glorious and High God who created it and gave it a Substance and Properties which nothing else in the World does possess besides that this perfection might be found in it by the help of Art as we have found therein with great power For it is that which overcomes Fire and by Fire cannot be overcome but in it amicably rests and rejoyces therein XI Mars is prepared either with sublimation or without sublimation with sublimation we endeavour to unite it with Arsenick not fixed as profoundly as we can that in fusion it may melt with the same but afterwards it is sublimed in a proper Vessel of sublimation the which is the best and most perfect of all other Preparations Mars is also prepared by Arsenick oftentimes sublimed from it until some quantity of the Arsenick it self remain For if this be reduced it will flow out white clean fusible and well prepared Mars is also prepared by fusion of it with Lead and Tutia for from these it flows clean and white XII To Indurate or harden soft Bodies Argent Vive precipitated must be dissolved and the calcin'd Body which you have a design to harden dissolved likewise mix both these solutions together and the calcin'd body mixed with them by frequent imbibitions c. continually grinding imbibing calcining and reducing until it be made hard and fusible with Ignition The very same may also be compleatly effected with the Calx of Bodies and Tutia and Marchasite calcined dissolved and imbibed The more clean these are the more perfectly do they change XIII To soften hard Bodies as Mars c. They must be conjoyned and sublimed often with Arsenick and after sublimation of the Arsenick assated or calcined with their due proportion of fire the measure of which we shall declare in our Discourse of Fornaces Lastly They must be reduced with the force of their proper fire until in fusion they grow soft according to the degree of the hardness of their Bodies All these alterations are of the first Order without which our Magistery is not perfected XIV Medicines dealbating Mars of the first Order That which dealbates it of the first Order is that which makes it to flow The special fusive of it is Arsenick of every kind But with whatsoever it is deal bated and fused it is necessary it be conjoyned and washed with Argent Vive until all its impurity be removed and it be white and fusible Or else let it be red hot with vehement ignition and upon it Arsenick projected and when it shall be in flux cast a quantity of Luna thereon for when that is united with it it is not separated therefrom by any easie Artifice XV. Or thus Calcine Mars and wash away from it all its soluble Aluminosity inferring corruption by the way of solution but now mentioned with Argent Vive then let cleansed Arsenick be sublimed from it and reiterate that sublimation many times until some part of the Arsenick be fixed therewith Then with a solution of Litharge mix imbibe grind and moderately calcine several times And lastly reduce it with the Fire we mentioned in the Reduction of Jupiter from its Calx so will it come forth white clean and fusible XVI Or Only with sublimed Arsenick in its Calx let it be reduced and it will flow out white clean and fusible But here observe the Caution we shall give in the Chapter of Venus concerning the reiteration of the sublimation of Arsenick fixing it self in its profundity from it Mars is likewise whitened after the same manner with Marchasite and Tutia XVII To prepare Mars Grind one pound of the filings thereof with half a pound of Arsenick sublimed imbibe the mixture with the water of Salt Peter and Sal Alcali reiterating this Imbibition thrice then make it flow with a violent fire so will it be white Repeat this so long till it flow sufficiently with a good whiteness XVIII The first White Medicine for Mars and Venus Take Silver calcined 1 pound Arsenick prepared 2 pound Mercury precipitate 1 pound grind them together and imbibe the whole with water of Salt Nitre Litharge and Sal Armoniack in equal parts I suppose there is meant Aqua Regis till it has drunk in its own weight of that water Then dry and incerate with white Oyl as in others until it flow and one part full upon 4 parts of Mars or Venus prepared XIX The second White Medicine for Mars and Venus Take Luna calcined Jupiter calcined and dissolved ana mix dry and increase with double their quantity of Arsenick sublimed until the Medicine flows well XX. The third White Medicine for Mars and Venus Take Luna calcined Arsenick and Sulphur sublimed and ground with it and then sublimed with a like quantity of Sal Armoniack This sublimation repeat thrice and then project 1 pound upon 4 pound of Mars or Venus prepared XXI A Red or Solar Medicine for Mars and Venus Take Tutia 1 pound Calcine or dissolve it in AF then with that water imbibe the Calx of Sol that it may drink in double its own weight of the same water Afterwards by distillation draw off the same water from it cohobating four times Lastly incerate with Oyl of Hair or Bulls Gall and Verdigrise prepared and it will be excellent But be sure to pursue the Operation according to our Directions otherwise you will labour in vain and in your heart understand our Intentions expressed in our Volumes so will you know truth from falsehood XXII To Calcine Mars Mars being filed is calcined in our Calcinatory Fornace until it is very well rubified and becomes a pouder impalpable without grinding And this is called Crocus Martis XXIII The Regimen of Mars Take of the Paste of Mars 2 pound of the Pastes of Venus and of Saturn ana 3 pound mix these without Ferment and decoct the mixture for seven days and you will find the whole dry Fix it and add to it half its weight of Litharge in powder which put into a Reductory Fornace so will you have a Mineral substance very profitable if you be wise CHAP. XLV Of the Alchymie of Venus I. THE Preparation of Venus Lay thin Copper Plates stratum superstratum with Common Salt prepared till the Vessel be full which cover firmly Lute and calcine in a fit Fornace for 24 hours Then take it out scrape off what is calcined and repeat the calcination of the Plates with new Salt as before repeating the Calcination so often till all the Plates are consumed For the Salt corrodes the superfluous humidity and combustible sulphureity and the fire elevates the fugitive
the Red Elixir and the true Body made spiritual II. Gold is a metalick body citrine ponderous mute fulgid equally digested in the Bowels of the Earth and very long washed with mineral water under the Hammer extensible fusible and sustaining the tryal of the Cupel and Cement III. From this definition you may conclude That nothing is true Gold unless it has all the Causes and Differences of the definition of Gold Yet whatever Metal is radically Citrine and brings to equality and cleanses it makes Gold of it from whence we discern that Copper may be transmuted into Gold by Artisice For we see in Copper Mines a certain water which flows out and carries with it thin scales of Copper which by a long continued course it washes and cleanses But after such water ceases to flow we find these thin scales with the dry Sand in 3 years time to be digested with the heat of the Sun and among those Scales the purest Gold is found Therefore we judge that those Scales were cleansed by the help of the water but equally digested by the heat of the Sun in the dryness of the Sand and so brought to perfection IV. Also Gold is of Metals the most pretious and it is the Tincture of Redness because it tinges and transforms every Body It is calcined and dissolved without profit and is a Medicine rejoycing and conserving the Body in Youthfulness It is most easily broken with Mercury and by the Odour of Lead There is not any Body that in Act more agrees with it in their substance than Luna and Jupiter but in weight deafness and putrescibility Saturn and in colour Venus But indeed Venus in Potency is nearer Luna than either Jupiter or Saturn then Saturn lastly Mars Spirits are also commixed with it viz. Sol and by it fixed but not without great ingenuity and industry which the sloathful Artist shall never attain to the knowledge of V. Of the Nature of Sol. It is created of the most subtil substance of Argent Vive and of most absolute fixedness and of a most small quantity of Sulphur clean and of pure redness fixed clear and changed from its own nature tinging that And because there happens a diversity in colours of that Sulphur the Citrinity or Yellowness of Gold must needs have a like Density VI. That Gold is of the most subtil substance of Argent Vive is most evident because Argent Vive easily retains it for Argent Vive retains not any thing which is not of its own Nature And that it has the clear and clean substance of that is manifest by its splendid and Radiant brightness manifesting it self not only in the Day but also in the Night And that it has a fixed substance void of all burning Sulphureity is evident by every Operation in the Fire for it is neither diminished nor inflamed VII And that it is tinging Sulphur is manifest for being mixt with Argent Vive it transforms the same into a Red color And being sublimed with strong Ignition from Bodies so that the substance of them ascends with them it creates a most Yellow color and that it is yellow is evident even to the sence it self VIII Therefore the most subtil substance of Argent Vive brought to Fixation and the purity of the same and the most subtil matter of Sulpur fixed and not burning is the whole Essential matter of Gold IX But in it is found a greater quantity of Argent Vive than of Sulphur Therefore Argent Vive has greater ingress into it For this cause whatsoever body you would alter alter them according to this Exemplar that you may deduce them to the equality thereof For Gold having a subtil and fixt part those parts would in its Creation be much condensed and this was the cause of its great weight Now by great decoction made by nature a leisurely and gradual resolution of it was made together with good inspissation and its ultimate mixtion that it might melt in the fire X. From what has been said it is evident that a large quantity of Argent Vive is the cause of perfection but much of Sulphur is the cause of Corruption And uniformity of substance which through the mixtion is made by a natural decoction is cause of perfection but diversity of substance is the cause of imperfection Also Induration and Inspissation which is made by a long and temperate decoction is a cause of perfection but the contrary of corruption and imperfection Therefore if Sulphur shall not duly fall upon Argent Vive divers Corruptions must necessarily be inferred according to the diversity of it as if it be all or part of it fixed or not fixed all or part of it adustible or not adustible all clean or half unclean or it be much or little in quantity exceeding or being diminished in proportion neither overcoming nor overcome White or Red or between both From all which Diversities divers Bodies were generated in Nature XI A Solar Medicine of the Third Order It is made by the Additament of Sulphur not burning by way of fixation and calcination prudently and perfectly administred and by manifold repetition of solution until it be rendered clean For by the perfect doing of these things its cleansing by sublimation will be compleated Thus. Reiterate the sublimation of the not fixed part of the Stone with this said Sulphur conjoyning them according to Art till they be first elevated together and then fixed so as to abide in the heat of the fire without ascension The oftner this Order of compleating the Exuberancy shall be repeated the more will the Exuberancy of this Medicine be multiplied and the more its goodness augmented and the augmentation of the perfection thereof highly multiplyed also XII The whole compleatment of the Magistery is thus By the way of sublimation the Stone and its Additament may most perfectly be cleansed and then by the Laws of Art the fugitive must be fixed in them And in this order is compleated the most pretious Arcanum which is above every secret of the Sciences of this World and a Treasure inestimable Dispose your self by exercise to it with great industry and labor and a continued Depth of Meditation for by these you will find it and not otherwise And indeed in the preparation of the Stone the reiteration of the Goodness of Administration upon this Medicine may with industrious wariness be so far a vailable as to enable it to change Argent Vive into an infinite true Solifick and Lunifick without the help of any thing more than its Multiplication XIII The most high God the maker of all things blessed and Glorious be praised who has revealed to us the series and order of all Medicines with the Experience of them which through his goodness and our incessant Labor we have searched out which we have seen with our Eyes and handled with our Hands even the whole compleatment of the Magistery But if we have concealed any thing ye
some Lead others Copper and others Tin which happened to them through negligence in the Preparation sometimes of it alone sometimes of Sulphur or of its Compeer Arsenick mix with it But if you shall by Subliming directly cleanse and perfect this Subject it will be a firm and perfect Tincture of Whiteness the like of which is not in being besides VIII Of the Coagulation of Mercury Coagulation is the reducing a Liquid body to a solid Substance by privation of the humidity and is of Service 1. For Indurating Argent Vive which needs one kind of Coagulation 2. For freeing dissolved Medicines from their watriness which requires another Argent Vive is coagulated two ways One by washing away its whole innate humidity from it the other by Inspissation till it be hardned which is a laborious work Some thought the Art of its Coagulation was to keep it long in a temperate Fire who when they thought they had coagulated it after removal of it from the Fire found it to flow as before whence they judged the work Impossible IX Others from natural principles supposing that every humidity must necessarily by heat of Fire be converted into Dryness indeavored by Constancy and perseverance to continue the Conservation of it in the Fire till some of them converted it into a White-Stone others into a Red others into a Citrine which neither had Fusion nor Ingress for which cause they also cast it a way X. Others endeavoured to coagulate it with Medicines but effected it not and so were deluded for that 1. They either coagulated it not 2. Or else it was insensibly extenuated 3. Or the Coagulation was not in the form of a body the reason of which things they knew not XI Others compounding Artificial Medicines coagulated it in projection but that was not profitable because they converted it into an imperfect Body the cause of which they could not see The reason and causes of these things therefore we think fit to declare that the Artificer may come to the knowledg of his Art XII Now as the substance of Argent Vive is Uniform so it is not possible in a short time by keeping it constantly in a continued Fire to remove its Aquosity so that too much haste was the cause of the first Error And being of a subtile substance it receeds from the Fire therefore excessive Fire is the cause of the Error of those Men from whom it flies XIII It is easily mixed with Sulphur Arsenick and Marchasite by reason of Community in their Natures therefore it appears to be Coagulated by them not into the form of a Body but of Argent Vive mixed with Lead for these being fugitive cannot retain it in the Contest of Fire until it can attain to the nature of a Body but through the Impression of the Fire they fly with it and this is the cause of the Error of them who so Coaagulate XIV Also Argent Vive has much humidity joyned to it which cannot possibly be separated from it but by Violence of Fire warily adhibited with conservation of it in its own Fire and they by augmenting this its own Fire as far as it can bear take a way the humidity of Ar gent Vive leaving no part sufficient for Metalick Fusion which being taken away it cannot be Melted which is the cause of their Error who coagulate it into a Stone not fusible XV. In like manner Argent Vive has Sulphureous parts naturally mixt with it yet some Argent Vive has more some less which to remove by Artifice is impossible Now seeing it is the property of Sulphur mixt with Argent Vive to create a Red or Citrine Color according to its measure the ablation of that being Made the property of Argent Vive is by Fire to give a white Color This is the cause of the variety of Colors after its Coagulation into a Stone Likewise it has the Earthiness of Sulphur mixt with it by which all its Coagulations must necessarily be infected And this the cause of the Error of those who coagulate it into an imperfect Body XVI Therefore it happens from the diversity of the Medicines of its Coagulation that divers bodies are Created in its Coagulation and from the Diversity of that likewise what is to be coagulated For if either the Medicine or that has a Sulphur not fixed the body created of it must needs be soft but if fixed the body must necessarily be hard Also if White White and if Red Red and if the Sulphur be remiss from White or Red the Body likewise must be remiss and if Earthy the body must be imperfect if not not so Also every not fixed Sulphur creates a Livid body but the fixed as much as in it lies the Contrary and the pure substance of it creates a pure body the not pure not so XVII Also the same di versity doth in like manner happen in Argent Vive alone without the Commixtion of Sulphur by reason of the diversity of Purifications and preparations of it in Medicines Therefore an Illusion happens from the part of the Diversity of the Medicines so that sometimes in the Coagulation of it it is made Lead sometimes Tin sometimes Copper sometimes Iron which happens by reason of Impurity And sometimes Silver or Gold is made thence which must needs proceed from Purity with conside ration of the Colors XVIII But Argent Vive is Coagulated by the frequent precipitation of it with Violence by the force able heat of strong Fire For the Asperity of Fire easily removes its Aquosity and this Work is best done by a Vessel of a great length in the sides of which it may finde place to Coole and Adhere and by reason of the Length of the Vessel to abide and not fly till it can again be precipitated to the Fiery hottom of the same which must always stand very hot with great Ignition and the same precipitation be continued till it be totally fixed XIX It is also Coagulated with long and constant retention in the Fire in a Glass Vessell with a very long Neck and round belly the Orifice of the Neck being kept open that the humidity may vanish thereby Also it is coagulated by a Medicine convenient for it which we will shew anon which Medicine is of it and is that which most nearly adheres to it in its profundity and is commixed throughly in its least parts before it can fly away Therefore there is a necessity of collecting that from things convenient to it or agreeing with the same Of this kind are all Bodies also Sulphur and Arsenick XX. But because we see not any of the Bodies in its nature to coagulate it but that it flys from them how neerly soever they agree together we have therefore considered that no Body adheres to it in its inmost parts Wherefore that Medicine must needs be of a more subtil substance and more liquid fusion than Metals themselves are Also by Spirits remaining in
Goodness and purity of each Metal For seeing that Argent Vive for no Causes of Extermination permits it self to be divided into parts in its composition because it either with its whole substance receeds from the fire or with its whole remains permanent in it there is necessarily observed in it a cause of perfection For it is that which overcomes Fire and by Fire is not overcome but it amicably rests rejoycing therein possessing Perfection as we have found with an Approximate Potency XXXIII Of the Purification of Argent Vive It is cleansed two ways either by sublimation of which we have shewed the way already or by way of a Lavament of which the way is this Put Argent Vive into a Stone or Earthen Dish and pour upon it as much Vinegar as is sufficient to cover it Set it over a gentle fire and let it heat so far as you may well hold your Fingers in it and no more Then stir it about with your Fingers until it be divided into most small Particles in the similitude of Powder and continue stirring it until all the Vinegar be wholly consumed After which wash away the Earthiness remaining with Vinegar and cast it away Repeating this washing so often till the Earthiness of the Mercury is changed into a most perfect Coelestine colour which is a sign that it is throughly washed XXXIV Of the Nature of Argent Vive There is a necessity of removing its Superfluities for it has Causes of Corruption viz. an Earthy substance and an adustible watriness without Inflamation yet some have thought it to have no superfluous Earth and Uncleanness but that is vain and not true For we see it to consist of much lividness and not of whiteness we see also a black and Feculent Earth to be separated from it with easie Artifice by a Lavation as abovesaid But because we are by that to acquire a two-fold perfe ction viz. 1. To make a Medicine 2. To perfect it Therefore we must necessarily prepare the same by the degrees of a two-fold purification for two cleansings of Mercury are necessary One by Sublimation for the Medicine which shall be here shewed The other by a Lavament for coagulation which we have shewed at Sect. 33. above XXXV For if we would make a Medicine of it then there is a necessity to cleanse it from the foeculency of its Earthiness by sublimation least it create a livid color in projection and also to remove its sugitive watriness lest it make the whole Medicine fugitive in projection and to keep safe the middle substance thereof sor Medicine of which the Property is not to be burned but to defend from combustion and not to fly it self but to make sixed which is a perfection by manifold Experiences For we see Argent Vive more nearly to adhere to Argent Vive and to be more beloved by the same but next to it Gold has place and after that Silver XXXVI Wherefore bence it follows that Argent Vive is more friendly to its own nature but we see other Bodies not to have so great conformity to or unity with it and therefore we find them in very deed less to partake of the nature thereof And whatsoever Bodies we see more to defend from adustion those we judge to partake more of the nature of it therefore it is manifest that Argent Vive is the perfective and salvative from Adustion which is the Vltimate of Perfection XXXVII The second degree of its Purification is for its Coagulation And the washing away of its earthiness for one day only is sufficient for it the method of which washing we have largely declared at Sect. 33. aloregoing Being therefore so throughly washed project upon it the Medicine of Coagulation and it will be coagulated into a Solifick or Lunifick substance according as the Medicine was prepared From what is now said it is manifest that Argent Vive is not perfective in its nature but that matter is which is produced of it by our Art And so likewise is it in Sulphur and Arsenick Therefore in these it is not possible to follow nature but by our natural Artifice XXXVIII It is also undeniably manifest that bodies containing the greatest quantity of Argent Vive are bodies of perfection Wherefore it is to be supposed that those bodies are more nigh to perfection which more amicably imbibe Argent Vive The sign of this is the easie susception of Argent Vive by a Solar or Lunar body of Perfection For this same reason if a body altered do not easily receive Argent Vive into its Substance it must needs be very remote from this perfection spoken of XXXIX The preparation of Argent Vive Take of it one pound Vitriol Rubified two pounds Roch Alum Calcin'd one pound Common Salt half a pound Nitre four ounces Incorporate all together and sublime Gather the white and Dense and ponderous which will be found about the side of the Vessel and keep it for use Now if in the first Sublimation you shall finde it Turbid or Unclean which may be thro Carlesness sublime it again with the same Foeces and reserve it as before XL. The Regiment of Mercury It is done two ways 1. You must Amalgamate it well washed and purified as under directed 2. You must Distill it and thence make an Aqua Vitae or Spirit of Wine The first wav Take of Mercu ry 40 Ounces of Sol. of Luna of Venus of Saturn ana one Ounce melt these bodies first the Venus and Luna secondly the Sol thirdly Saturn Take all out of the Fire having melted them in a large Crucible and your Mercury in readiness made hot in another and when the said Metals begin to harden pouer in the Mercury Leisurly stirring the mixture with a stick setting it again on the Fire and taking it off untill they be all amalgamated with the whole Mercury This Amal gama put to be dissolved for seven days Extract the water with a Cloth make the residue Volatile giving Fire of Ignition This again imbibe with its whole water and put it to be generated and again to be dryed for forty days and you will finde a Stone which put to be fixed so will you have a Stone augmentable to Infinity In this Book we have expounded all things which we have written in divers Books XLI The sublimation of Mercury If you would perfectly sublime it you must add to every pound of it common Salt two pound and a half Salt-Peter half a pound mortify the Mercury wholly grinding it all together with Vinegar until nothing of the Mercury appear living in the mixture then sublime it according to Art It is a thing profitable XLII The Sublimatioa of Red Mercury Take one pound of it mix and perfectly grind it with Vitroil Nitre ana one pound and sublime it from them Red and splendid XLIII Out of all that has been said it appears with evident Demonstration that our Stone is procreated out
is white a little livid crashing much a little sounding and something bright Of the Differences of which we have already spoken in their particular Chapters aforegoing XIV From which Causes of Difference according to more and less you must collect the order of the Preparations wherein we have shewed first The Preparation of Bodies afterwards of Argent Vive coagulable Now in the preparation of Bodies nothing of Superfluity is to be removed from their profound or inward Parts but rather from their manifest or outward CHAP. LIX Of the Medicine Tincture Elixir or Stone of the Philosophers in General 1. The five different Properties constituting this Medicine I. UNless every thing superfluous be taken away either by Medicine or preparation from imperfect Bodies viz. Every superfluous Sulphureity and every unclean Earthiness they cannot be purified so as that in Fusion they be not separated from the Commixtion after prolection of the Medicine altering them when you have formed this you have found one of the five differences of perfection II. Also if the Medicine do not illustrate and alter and alter into a White or Citrine Color according to what your intention is inducing a splendent brightness and admirable Lucidity Bodies diminished from perfection are not perfected to the utmost III. So also if it abides not Lunar or Solar Fusion it is not changed into perfection because it abides not in the Tryal but is altogether separated and receeds from the Commixtion which you may more amply determine by the Cineritium of which we shall speak hereafter IV. If likewise the Medicine be not perpetuated with 〈◊〉 firm alteration so that the Impression of Tincture and Finity is not permanent but vanishes in the Fire upon probation V. If it attains not to the weight of Perfection having the true ponderosity of Luna and Sol it is not firmly changed to a perfect compleatment of Nature for this weight is one of the signs of perfection Seeing therefore these differences of perfection are five there is a necessity that our Medicine should exhibit these Differences in Projection Also it is evident from hence That this Medicine must be prepared from Things having Affinity to Bodies readily altering and amicably adhering to them in their profundity But searching through Universal Nature we have found nothing which can do all this so well as Argent Vive prepared according to our Directions of which the true Medicine is made to the highest Perfection 2. The Preparations of the Medicine that it may give the aforesaid different Properties VI. Now since it changes not without the alteration of its Nature therefore it ought necessarily to be prepared that it may be mixed even in the profundity of Bodies viz. That its substance may be made such that it may be mixed even in the profundity of the Body alterable without separation for ever VII But this cannot be done without it be very much subtilized with certain and determinate sublimations as we have taught in Chap. 48. Sect. 3 4 5 6 7. aforegoing Likewise its Impression cannot be permanent unless it be fixed nor can it illustrate unless its most splendid substance be extracted from it according to Art with a fit fire VIII Nor can this Medicine have perfect Fusion unless great Caution be used in its fixation that it may soften hard Bodies and harden the soft And it can only do that when a sufficiency of its humidity is preserved proportionate to the necessity of the 〈◊〉 desired IX Whence it is evident that it should have such a Preparation as may make it a most fulgent and purely clean substance and fixed also but these things must be done with such great Caution in respect to the regulation of the fire and way of fixing that in removing its Humidity so much may be still left for compleat and perfect Fufion X. If by this Medicine you would soften Bodies hard of Fusion in the beginning of its Preparation a gentle sire must be adhibited For a soft fire is Conservative of Humidity and Perfective of Fusion XI There is also many other Considerations of the Weight with their Causes and Order The Cause of great weight is the subtiltv of the substance of Bodies and uniformity in their Essence By which the parts of them may be so condensed that nothing can come between And the Density of Parts is the encrease of weight and the Perfection thereof 3. The Six Properties of things from which the Medicine is extracted XII First They have in themselves an Earth most subtil and incombustible altogether fixed with its own proper Radical Humidity and apt for fixing XIII Secondly They have an airy and fiery Humidity so uniformly conjoyned to that Earth that if one be Volatile so is the residue And this same Humidity abides the fire beyond all Humidities even to the compleat termination of its own Inspissation without Evaporation inse parable from the Earth annexed to it with a compleat permanency XIV Thirdly The Disposition of their Natural Humidity is such that by help of its own Oleaginity in all differences of its Properties it contemperates the Earth annexed to it with such an Unctuosity and with such a Homogene and equal Union and bond of inseparable Conjunction that after the degree of final Preparation it gives a good Fusion XV. Fourthly The Oleaginous Property is of so great purity of Essence and so artificially cleansed from all Combustible matter that it burns not any Bodies with which it is conjoyned through their least parts but preserves them from Combustion Hermes Chap. 12. Sect. 5. aforegoing XVI Fifthly It has a Tincture in it self so clear and splendid White or Red clean and incombustible stable and fixed that the fire cannot prevail against it to change it Nor can Sulphurous Adustive or Sharp Corroding Bodies Corrupt and Defile the same XVII Sixthly The whole Compositum incerated with its final Compleatment is of so great Subtilty and Tenuity of Matter that after the end of its Decoction it remains in Projection of most thin Fusion like water andis is of profound Penetration to the greatest perfection of the Body to be Transmuted how Fixed soever it be adhering thereto with an inseparable Unity or Conjunction against the force of the strongest Fire and in that very hour by virtue of its own Spirituality reducing Bodies to Volatility 4. The Seven Properties of the Medicine it self XVIII First Oleaginity Giving in Projection Universal Fusion and Diffusion of the Matter For the first thing after Projection of the Tincture is the sudden and due Diffusion of the Medicine it self which is perfected and rendered Viscous with a Mineral Oleaginity XIX Secondly Tenuity of Matter or the Spiritual substance thereof flowing very thin in its Fusion like Water Penetrating to the Profundity of the Body to be Transmuted for that immediately after Fusion the Ingression thereof is necessary XX. Thirdly Affinity or Vicinity between the Elixir or Tincture and the Body to be Transmuted giving
of working this Tryal is thus Take sifted Ashes or Calx or Pouder der of the Bones of Animals Calcined or a Commixtion of all or some of them moisten with Water and make the mixture firm and solid with your hands and in the midst of it work it into a round flatish lump make a round and smooth hollowness and upon the bottom of it strew a small quantity of Glass beaten to Pouder which lay to dry XVI When dry Put your Metal into the Hollowness thereof which you would try or prove put Coals of Fire upon it and then blow with Bellows upon the Surface till the Metal flows upon which being in flux cast part after part of Lead and blow with a flame of strong Ignition XVII Whilst you see it agitated with a strong Concusssion it is not pure cast wait till all the Lead be Exhaled when that is gon off and the Motion yet ceases not it is not yet pure cast Lead then again upon it and blow as before until the Lead vanish If it do not yet rest repeat the casting in of more Lead and blowing upon it till it be still or quiet and you see it clean and clear in its Su perfices XVIII This done take away the Coals scatter the Fire and put Water upon the Test for you will find it throughly proved and if while you are blowing this proof you cast in Glass the Bodies will be the better and more perfectly purified because that takes away the Impurities and separates them XIX Or Instead of Glass you may cast in Salt Borax or a little Alum This Examen of the Cineritium or Test may in like manner be made in a Crucible of Earth if the fire round about it be blowed and upon the surface also of the Crucible that the Body to be proved may the sooner flow and be perfected CHAP. LXIII Of Cementation and its Causes I. WE now come to the Examen of Cement And whereas some Bodies are more and others less burned by the Calcination of fire i. e. they which contain a greater quantity of burning Sulphur more but they which contain less less Therefore seeing Sol has a lesser quantity of Sulphur than other Metallick Bodies it is not in the midst of all Mineral Bodies burnt by the force of fire II. And seeing Luna also next to Sol partakes of a less quantity of Sulphur than the other four Bodies yet has more Sulphur than Sol therefore it can less bear the strong Ignition of a violent Fire for a long space of time than Sol can And by consequence less bear things burning by a like nature but Venus less than it because it consists of more Sulphur still and of greater Earthiness than Luna and so can less bear the violent force of Fire III. Jupiter also less than Sol or Luna because it partakes of greater Sulphureity and Earthiness than either of them yet it is less burnt by violence of Fire than Venus but more than Sol or Luna IV. Saturn in its Commixtion by nature holds more of Earthiness and Sulphureity than either of these before named and therefore is more burnt by Inflamation or violence of Fire and is sooner and more easily inflamed than all the said Bodies because it has Sulphureity more nearly conjoyned and more fixed than Jupiter V. Mars is not burnt by it self but by Accident for when it is mixed with Bodies of much humidity it imbibes that Humidity by reason of its own want of the same and therefore being conjoyned it is neither inflamed nor burned if the Bodies with which it is joyned or united be neither Inflamable nor Combustible VI. But if Combustible Bodies be mixed with it it necessarily happens according to the nature of the Combustion that Mars is burnt and inflamed Seeing therefore that Cement is made of Inflamable things the necessary cause of its Invention is manifest viz. that all Combustible things might be burned VII And since there is but one only body incombustible that alone or what is prepared according to the nature of it is kept safe in Cement But which abide more and which less are known with their Causes Luna abides more but Mars less Jupiter yet less and Venus less than Jupiter but Saturn least of all VIII The way of Examination by Cement is thus You must compound it of Infla mable things of which kind are all blackening flying penetrating things viz. Vitriol Sal Armoniack Verdigrise Alum or Plumous Alum and a very small quantity of Sulphur with Humane Urine and other like acute and penetrating things All which are made into a Paste with the Urine aforesaid and spread upon thin plates of that Body which you intend to examine by this way of Probation IX Then the said plates must be laid upon a Grate of Iron included in an Earthen Vessel but so as not to touch one another that the power of the Fire may have free and equal access to them Thus the whole must be kept in Fire in a strong Earthen Vessel for the space of 3 days but with this Caution That the plates may be kept Red Fire hot but not melt X. After the third day you will find the Plates cleansed from all impurity if the Body of them was perfect if not they will be wholly corrupted and burnt in the Calcination XI Some expose Plates of Metal to Calcination without a Composition of Cement and they are purified in like manner if the Body be perfect If not they are totally consumed But in this kind of Examen they must have a longer space of time for that they are purified by the only force of Fire than if they were Examined by the help of Cement XII And for that the nature of Luna differs not much from the nature of Sol therefore of necessity it rests with it in the Tryal by Cement and there is no separation of Bodies one from another in these two kinds of Tryal unless that be caused by reason of the Diversity of the Composition of their substances XIII For from thence results the Diversity of Fusion and Thickness or Thinness or Rarity which are indeed the causes of Separation for that by reason of the strong Composition of some their substance is not corrupted by the substance of the Extraneous Body in as much as a mixtion of them cannot be made through their least parts XIV Therefore in such a commixture they must necessarily be separated each from other without the total corruption of their Essences And the perfecting of imperfect Bodies is discerned when they are by Ingenuity of preparation found to be of the same Fusion Ignition and Solidity CHAP. LXIV The Examen by Ignition I. SInce Bodies of greatest Perfection with determinate Ignition are found to receive the Fire before fusion of them therefore we say if our design is to find out the com pleat alteration of them there is a necessity to bring such Bodies to their Fusion II. And before these
Essential appearing in the Work I. WE have now taught you what the exquisite matter of the Stone is and also the true manner of working by what method and with what order the decoction of the Stone is to be performed whence oftentimes arises divers and various colours in the Philosophick matter II. Concerning which Colours a certain Wise Man saith Quot colores tot nomina so many Colours as it has so many Names According to the diversity of Colours appearing in the operation the Philosophers have given it several Names III. For which Reason in the first operation of this our Stone it is called Putrefaction and our Stone is made black For which reason saith a Philosopher When thou findest that black know that in that blackness whiteness is hidden and now it behoves us to extract that whiteness from its most subtil blackness IV. Now after the Putrefaction or blackness it grows red but not with the true redness of which one of the Philosophers saith It often grows red and it often grows Citrine or Yellow and it oftentimes melts or grows liquid and it is oftentimes coagulated before the true whiteness appears to perfection V. Also it dissolves its self coagulates it self putrefies its self tinges or colours its self mortifies it self vivifies its self denigrates or blackens it self dealbates or whitens it self and adorns it self in the red with the white VI. It is also made green for which reason another saith Decoct it till you see the birth of the Greenness or till the greenness is brought forth which is the Soul thereof And another Know that the Soul doth rule in the Greenness VII Also the colour of the Peacock appears before the Whiteness for which cause saith one Know that all the Colours which are in the World or are possible so be thought of appear before the Whiteness and then the true Whiteness follows VIII Of which a certain Philosopher saith But when the pure Stone is decocted so long till the Eye of the Fish as it were grows very bright a profit or good may be expected from it and then our Stone will be congealed into its roundness IX Another also saith When you shall find the Whiteness supereminent in the Vessel be certain that in that Whiteness the Redness is hidden and then it behoves thee to extract it X. Notwithstanding decoct till the whole Redness be brought forth and perfected XI For it is between the true Whiteness and the true Redness that a certain Ash-colour appears of which we have spoken after the Whiteness appears you cannot err for by augmenting the fire you come to the Ash-colour XII Of which another saith Slight or undervalue not the Ashes for God will return them to thee liquid and then at last the King shall be crowned with his red Diadem Nutu Dei by the good pleasure of God CHAP. LIX Of the manner of projection upon any of the Imperfect Metals I. I Have perfectly compleated the end of the promised Work viz. of our great Magistery for the making the most excellent Elixir as well Red as White It now remains that we shew the method or way of Projection which is the compleatment of the work the long expected and much desired cause of rejoycing II. Now the true Red Elixir tinges a pure and deep Citrine or Yellow to infinity of parts and it transmutes all Metals into most fine Gold III. The true White Elixir also whitens to Infinity likewise and it makes or tinges every Metal into a perfect Whiteness But you must know that one kind of Metal is much more remote or far distant from perfection than some others are and that some are much nearer to the said perfection than others IV. And although every Metal may be brought to perfection by the Elixir yet those which are nearer to perfection are easier sooner and better reduced to that perfection or transmuted into perfect Bodies than those that are more remote V. And when we have found a Metal which is as it were a kin or nearer to perfection we are excused in some measure from making use of or projecting upon those Metals which are more remote therefrom VI. Now what Metals are remote from and near to perfection and what are yet more near and as it were a kin to the perfect Bodies we have taught in these Chapters in which if you be indeed wise you may plainly see and truly determine which they be VII And without doubt he who is lawfully initiated into the Mysteries of this our Art may be able through his own Ingenuity and Industry by studying in this my Speculum 〈◊〉 to find out and know the true matter of our Stone And he will know and understand well upon what Body the Medicine or Magistery ought to be projected for perfection VIII For the Masters of this Art who have invented or found out the Prima Materia and the whole Mystery they have I say plainly demonstrated and as it were indigitated the direct way of working and made all things naked and plain to us when they say IX Nature contains Nature Nature exceeds Nature and Nature overcoming Nature does rejoyce and is transmuted or changed into another Nature And in another place every like doth rejoyce in its like for that the likeness between things is said to be the cause of Sympathy or Friendship of which many Philosophers have written notable things X. Know then that the Soul doth soon enter into its own Body but with a Forreign or Strange Body it can never be joyned or United In another place If you shall endeavour to joyn it with a Forreign or Heterogene Body you shall wholly Labour in Vain Also The nearness of the Body to perfection makes a Transmutation the more Glorious XI For the Corporeal by the Power of the Operation of Nature is made Incorporeal and contrariwise the Incorporeal is made Corporeal and in the compleatment the spiritual Body is made wholly fixed XII And because it is Evidently manifest that the Elixir is Spiritual and so very much exalted beyond its own Nature as well for the White as for the Red It is no wonder that it is not to be mixed with Bodies XIII The Method or way of Projection then is that the Body of the Metal to be transmuted beliquified or melted and then that the Medicine or Elixir be projected or cast upon the melted Metal XIV Moreover you must Note that this our Elixir is of a mighty strong Power and of great Force for one part being projected upon a Million or Ten Hundred Thousand parts and more of the prepared Body it does incontinently penetrate it transfuse it self through the whole and transmute it XV. Wherefore I deliver to you a great and hidden Secret Mix one part of this our Elixir with a Thousand parts of a body near to perfection put all into a proper Vessel inclosing it firmly and then put it into a Furnace of Fixation first with a very gentle fire
take out the Matter grind it on a stone and dry it very well Imbibe again with rectified Oyl of Eggs or with Sal Alkali or Oyl of Salt of Pot-Ashes or of Nitre or Tartar until it will flow with Ingress Project one part upon five parts of Tin prepared and it will be perfect Luna of the second Order without Error XVII Another White Medicine for Jupiter and Saturn prepared Take Talk Calcined and grind it with as much as it self of Sal Armoniack sublime it three or four times dissolve into Water and therewith Imbibe Luna calcined as you did in the former so often as until it has drunk in as much as its own weight is and give ingress to it with the Oyls aforesaid and project one part upon 10 parts of Jupiter prepared and it will be all fine Luna XVIII Another White Medicine for Saturn and Jupiter prepared Take Luna 1 pound dissolved in its own water made of Nitre and Vitriol to which add Talck calcined and dissolved 1 pound Distil off the Water cohobating 3 or 4 times congeal and incerate with Arsenick sublimed until it flow and have Ingress project 1 part upon 8 parts of Jupiter prepared and 't will be all fine Luna These three Medicines you may project upon Saturn prepared for the White but then the Saturn must be prepared and calcined for three days by Sect. 21. of the former Chapter XIX A Solar Medicine for Jupiter and Saturn prepared Calcine Sol amalgating first with Mercury as in Luna express the Mercury through a Cloth then grind it with twice so much as it self of common Salt prepared set the whole over a gentle fire that the remaining Mercury may receed Extract the Salt with sweet water dry the Calx from which sublime as much Sal Armoniack reverting the sublimed Salt four times dissolve it in A. F. made of Vitriol Nitre and Alum dissolve also Crocus Martis made by calcination or Copper calcined red joyn these Waters in equal parts draw off the Water by distillation and cohobate four times then dry the matter and imbibe it with Oyl of Tartar rectified as heretofore is taught until it flows as Wax and by projection will tinge four parts of Saturn or Jupiter into Gold Obrizon XX. Another Solar Medicine for Saturn and Jupiter prepared It is made with Sol dissolved as in the former and a like quantity of Verdigrise calcin'd and dissolved being both mixed and incerated by distilling and incerating with Sulphur prepared until it flow like Wax and tinge 8 parts of Saturn or Jupiter prepared splendidly XXI A third Solar Medicine for Saturn and Jupiter prepared for the Red. It is made of Sol dissolved Sulphur dissolved and Verdigrise dissolved mixt and prepared as in the last Sect and then increated with Oyl of Hair prepared or of Eggs for both are one one part of this projects upon 10 parts of Saturn or Jupiter prepared for the red and it will be most fine Gold according to its degree these Medicines only altering in the second Order XXII There is also another preparation of Jupiter by Sect. 22. of the former Chapter XXIII And in Sect. 23. of the former Chapter you have the Regimen of Jupiter for the White which generates or produces fine Luna such as being tryed upon the Test produces a Body perfect in Whiteness and perpetually generating its life CHAP. XLIV Of the Alchemy of Mars I. TO prepare Mars or Iron Calcine it as Venus with common Salt cleansed and let it he washed with pure Vinegar Being washed dry it in the Sun and when dried grind and imbibe it with new Salt and Vinegar and put it into the same Fornace as we shall direct in Venus for 3 days Esteem and value this Solution viz. The water of fixed Sulphur wonderfully augmenting the color of the Elixir II. The whole Secret of Mars is from the Work of Nature because it is a Metalick body very livid a little Red partaking of Whiteness not pure sustaining Ignition fusible with violent fire extensive under the Hammer and sounding much III. It is hard to be managed by reason of its impotency of fusion which if it be made to flow by a Medicine changing its nature is so conjoyned to Sol and Luna that it cannot be separated by examen without great Industry but if prepared it is conjoyned and cannot be separated by any Artisice if the nature of that fixation be not changed by it the defilement of the Mars being only removed Therefore it is easily a Tincture of Redness but difficultly of Whiteness And when it is conjoyned it is not altred nor does it change the colour of the commixtion but augments it in quantity IV. Among all Bodies Jupiter is more splendidly more clearly more brightly and more perfectly transmuted into a Solar or Lunar Body than other Bodies but the Work is of long labour though easie to be handled Next to Jupiter is Venus chosen of more difficult handling but of shorter labour than Jupiter Next after Venus comes Saturn which has a diminished perfection in Transmutation and is easie to be hand led but of most tedious labour Lastly Mars among all the Bodies of least perfection is in transmutation most difficult to be handled and of exceeding long labour V. And the more difficult any Bodies are of fusion the more difficult they are in handling in the Work of Transmutation the easier to be fused the easier to be handled and what diversity of perfections are found in any particular in the lesser or middle Works yet in the Great Work all Bodies are of one perfection but not all of a like easie handling or labour VI. Hence it appears that Mars or Iron is a commixture of fixed Earthy Sulphur with fixed earthy Argent Vive of a livid whiteness the highly fixed Sulphur predominating which prohibits fusion Whence it is evident that fixed Sulphur hinders fusion more than fixed Argent Vive But Sulphur not fixed hastens fusion more than unfixed Argent Vive By which the cause of speedy or slow fusion in every body is seen VII What has more of a fixed Sulphur is harder to fuse than what partakes of a burning fugitive Sulphur which appears because Sulphur cannot be fixed without Calcination and no Calx gives fusion therefore in all things it viz. fixt Sulphur must impede the same VIII The causes of the corruption of the Metals by fire are 1. The inclusion of a burning Sulphur in the profundity of their substance diminishing them by Inflammation and exterminating into Fume whatever fixed Argent Vive was in them 2. A Vehemency of the Exterior flame penetrating and resolving them with it self into Fume and the most fixed matter in them 3. The rarefaction of them by calcination the flame or fire penetrating into and exterminating them Where all these causes of Corruption concur those Bodies must be exceedingly corrupted Where they all concur not they are by so much the less corrupted IX The causes of the
their nature we see not a Coagulation of it to be made which is firm and stable but fugitive and of much infection Which indeed happens by reason of the flight of the Spirits but the other from the commixtion of the Adustible and Earthy substance of them XXI Hence then it is manifestly evident that from whatsoever thing the Medicine thereof is extracted that must necessarily be of a most subtil and most pure substance of its own nature adhereing to it and of liquefaction most easie and thin as water and also be fixed against the violence of fire For this will coagulate it and convert the same either into a Solar or Lunar nature Studiously exercise your self upon what we have spoken and you will find the Mystery out XXII But that you may not blame us as if we had not sufficiently spoken thereof we say that this Medicine is extracted from Metalick Bodies themselves with their Sulphur or Arsenick prepared Likewise from Sulphur alone or Arsenick prepared and it may be extracted from Bodies only But from Argent Vive alone it is more easily and more nearly and more perfectly found because nature more amicably embraceth its proper nature and in it more rejoyces than in any extraneous nature and in it is a facility of extraction of the substance thereof seeing it already hath a substance subtil in Act. Now the ways of acquiring this Medicine are by sublimation as is by us sufficiently declared And the way of fixing it follows But the way of Coagulating things dissolved is by a Glass in Sand with a temperate fire until their aquosity vanish XXIII The way of fixing Argent Vive is the same with the way of fixing Sulphur and Arsenick and these waies differ not unless that Sulphur and Arsnick cannot be fixed if their most thin inflamable parts be not separated from them with the subtil Artifice of dividing by this ultimate way of fixation But Argent Vive has not this confideration therefore in this method they need a greater heat than Argent Vive In like manner they are diversified because these Sulphur and Arsenick must be elevated higher by reason of their slowness than Argent Vive and also because they require a longer time to be fixt in and a longer Vessel for their fixation XXIV Of the Medicine Coagulating of Argent Vive It is taken from such matter as the matter it self is viz. as we have before declared and that is because Argent Vive seeing it is easily made to fly without any Inflamation may suddenly adhere to it in its profundity and be conjoyned with it in its least parts and likewise inspissate and conserve it in the fire by its own fixation until it be better able to sustain the force of Fire consuming its humidity and convert it by the benefit of this in a moment into true Solifick and Lunifick according to that for which the Medicine was prepared XXV But seeing we find not any thiug more to agree with it then That which is of its own nature therefore by reason of this we judged that with That the Medicine thereof might be compleated and we endeavoured by Art to make the Form of the Medicine agreeable to the same viz. That it be prepared in the method and way now mentioned with the instance of long continued labour by which all the subtil and most pure substance of it may be rendred perfectly White in Luna but intensly Citrine in Sol. XXVI Now this cannot be compleated so as to create a Citrine Color without the mixtion of a Thing tinging it which is of its own nature But with this most pure substance of Argent Vive the Medicine is perfected by this our Art which most nearly adheres to Argent Vive and is most easily fluxed and coagulates it for it converts it into a true Solifick and Lunifick with Preparation of that always preceeding XXVII The grand Question is from what things this substance of Argent Vive may best be extracted To which we Answer It must be taken from those things in which it is But according to Nature it is as well in Bodies as in Argent Vive it self seeing they are found to be of one Nature In Bodies more difficultly in Argent Vive more nigh or easily but not more perfectly Therefore of what kind soever the Medicine is to be the Medicine of this Pretious Stone must be as well sought in Bodies as in the substance of Argent Vive XXVIII But as to the Fixing of Argent Vive you must know that it may be done without being turned into Earth and likewise fixed with conversion of it into Earth For by hastening to its fixation which is made by precipitation it is fixed and turned into Earth Also by the successive sublimation of it often repeated it is fixed likewise and not changed into Earth but gives Metallick fusion This is manifest to and proved by him who has experienced both fixations thereof even to the Consummation of the Work both by the hasty precipitation and also by the slow with continually repeated sublimations XXIX This therefore is because it has a viscous and dense substance the sign of which is the grinding of it by Imbibition and mixtion with other things For Viscosity is manifestly perceived in it by the much adherency thereof That it has a dense substance he that has but one Eye may manifestly see by its aspect and by poising the vast Weight thereof For while it is in its own Nature it exceeds Gold in weight being of a most strong Composition Whence it is manifest that it may be fixed without consumption of its humidity and without conversion of it into Earth XXX For by reason of the good adherency of parts and the strength of its mixtion if the parts of it be any wise inspissate by Fire it permits it self no farther to be corrupted nor suffers it self by the Ingress of a furious flame into it to be elevated into fume because it admits not of Rarefaction of its self by reason of its density and want of Adustion which is made by combustible sulphureity which it hath not XXXI Hence is seen First The Causes of the Corruption of every of the Metals by fire which is 〈◊〉 From the Inclusion of a burning sulphureity in the profundity of their substance diminishing them by Inflamation and exterminating them also into fume with extream consumption of whatever Argent Vive is in them of good Fixation 2. From a multiplication upon them of an exterior flame penetrating and resolving them with it self into fume of how great fixation soever that which is in them is 3. From the Rarefaction of them by Calcination for that the flame or fire does then penetrate into and exterminate them Therefore if all Causes of Corruption concur such Bodies must needs be exceedingly corrupt But if not all the corruption is according to the number and proportion of the Causes which remain XXXII Secondly The Causes of