evince it for first of al as concerning experience here one experience may be opposed against another and there are many Physitians who taught by experience it self do with wonderful praises extol Quick-silver in this Disease The Second reason that Quick-silver is to be rejected because it is cold is fals for the effects of Quick-silver as was said before do teach us that it is rather hot then cold Thirdly concerning the manner how it works and cures this Disease we shal fee hereafter And though that manner could not be found out yet the experience must not therefore be denied for there are many Medicines that work by occulr qualities whose manner of acting cannot be perfectly explained Fourthly though Quick-silver be poysonous yet 't is not therefore wholly to be rejected in this disease whenas other venenate things come into Physical use as opium Cantharides Oyl of Scorpions and others But Fiftly whereas some could not be cured by mercurial Medicaments this is not to be ascribed to the quick-silver but rather to the ignorance of the Physitian who did not rightly apply this Medicine or to the negligence or disobedience of the patient or to the vehemency of the Disease which could be overcome by no Medicine though the best that is But as quick-silver is not wholly to be rejected When quick silver is to be used in the Venereal Disease so we think it is not unwarily and rashly to be used but only upon urgent necessity to wit then when this disease could not be cured with Guajacum wood or Sarsaparilla For we must come to the use of quick-silver for two causes especially the first is when the Disease is so stubborn that it wil not yeild to those usual Medicines Secondly when there is something present which doth not admit of the use of the Decoction of the wood and Sarsaparilla especially the heat and inflamation of the Kidneys and Liver And Eustachius Rudius writes Lib. 5. Cap. 15. that he hath cured some who if they had used never so little of Guajacum though corrected with cold things were presently taken so with a heat of Urin that an Inflamation of those parts arising they have hardly escaped death and therefore in such cases somtimes wil we or nil we we are compelled to make use of quick-silver as the same Rudius speaketh and that oftentimes may be done safe enough so that he writes he hath anointed with quick-silver even infants infected by their Nurses at suck and hath cured them Yet we must not come rashly and inconsiderately to this unction Things prohibiting unction with Quicksilver but first of al we must confider whether there be any thing present that doth prohibit it for first of al unction with quick-silver is not admitted when the strength is but feeble and therefore in old men it seldom takes place Secondly if the body do stil abound with many vitious Humors for then the quick-silver doth not easily penetrate and by a commotion of the Humors it causeth grievous Diseases and Symptomes therefore the body must first of al be emptied Thirdly if the Air be too hot and if it be dog daies Fourthly if the body be extenuated if there be a Feaver Ulcers of the mouth and inclination to a quinsie this kind of Medicine also is not convenient for them who before the French Pox suffered numness tremblings Palsie and pains in their joynts But that quick-silver may rightly be made use of Whether Quick silver be an Alexipharmacum of the Venereal Disease we must first of al enquire after what manner it is to be given and what it can performe and do in this disease on which business the hinge of this controversie turnes Where first of al we are not of their opinion who think quick-silver to be an Alexipharmacum of this Disease Quercetan indeed affirmes it in Consil de lue Vener where he writes that Mercury is the only true and sole Alexipharmacum of this Disease especially if it be inveterate From whom Felix Platerus doth not much dissent who writes that Mercury by its occult qualities and propriety contrary to this disease doth quel the Venenate quality of that disease but this cannot simply be admitted for when as there are three things in this Disease first of al that Malignant quality imprinted on the parts dedicated to nutrition and especially on the Liver or an occult Disease Secondly vitious Humors generated in the Liver evilly affected and polluted by this Malignity Thirdly Diseases and Symptomes which are raised every where in the body by those vitious Humors we do not deny indeed that Quick-silver may conduce somwhat to the Evacuating of the vitious humors as shal be said here after and hence also to the taking away of the Diseases and Symptomes which do arise from them but that it doth overcome the malignant and virulent disposition it self which is the property of an Alexipharmacum is that which we deny For first of al experience doth not confirm it neither hath that Alexipharmacal vertue of Mercury been hitherto proved by any one by any solid argument but whatsoever it performes it doth by salivation and violent purging which is not the property of an Alexipharmacum for otherwise al Medicines purging vitious Humors should be called Alexipharmaca This rather is manifest that some cured by mercurial Medicines after a long interval of time have relapsed into this Disease that occult and Malignant disposition being left in the body Secondly that quick-silver is no Alexipharmacum appears also by this because 't is no way friendly to our body but rather hurts the brain Heart and other Members and causeth most grievous Diseases and Symptomes in the jawes which Platerus endeavors in vain to remove from Mercury and to ascribe them to the virulency of the spittle For thirdly Quick-silver causeth salivation not only in the French pox but also in other bodies which are not Sick of the French Disease and besides hurts in the mouth inflamation Exulceration Stinks injuries of the Teeth which is obvious for every one to experience and observe but that is more consonant to truth that quick-silver is to be numbered amongst Evacuating Medicines whenas 't is evident by experience that by benefit of that many thick tough and virulent Humors are emptyed by the mouth somtimes also by sweat or other waies and that it doth not much good in this Disease unless salivation ensue therefore when it is applied it can be used only for this end to evacuate virulent Humors which being emptied whenas the Symptomes caused by them do vanish 't is concluded by many that it may be administred for the Mitigation of the symptoms when as yet it doth only mitigate or take away the Symptomes by accident the virulent Humors on which they depend being taken away Which cure notwithstanding as Fernelins is of opinion is the cruellest of al and so hard that many would rather perish of the Disease than be cured with so great
of the Ancients in regard that there is here no worm that lieâ—h underneath The Westphalianâ— for the Cure hereof use as a peculiar Remedy Earth-worms of which see Wierus in the place alleadged But we shall add no more touching this affect in regard that it doth not properly apperrain unto Arthritis of which we are now treating And yet by the way I think it not fit to pass over in silence what I find mentioned in the Hâ—stories of those that were troubled with the Arthritis which Forestus bringeth in his 29. B. a nd so likewise in his 14. Observation where we find mention made of one Hugo Cornelius twenty eight years of Age who over wearied and tired out in the imployments of his Husbandry and very sleepy as he was laid himself down upon the Ground and there he slept for some certain hours at length awaking in his left hand about the wrist he felt an intollerable pain which at length seized his whole Arm insomuch that he was not able to move his Hand or so much as to stir his singers which were now grown stiff as it were and soon after he was troubled with the same pain about the Foot unto which was added likewise a very strong and violent Feaver Of all which not withstanding by purging and altering Medicaments and by the administring of Topicks he was cured in seven daies times or less Where he likewise maketh mention of another who very drunk as he was lying all night in his Garden upon the cold ground when he awoke was immediatly taken with a violent feaver and most intollerable pains of which in a very short time he died But as it seems to me those affects were not properly Arthritick but rather acute feavers contracted from Vapours exhaling out of the Earth which they both of them received by sleeping thereon in which feavers Nature thrust forth part of the vitious Humor unto the extream parts of the Body and so from this Humor there were not only pains excited in the Joynts but also in the whole Arm the Membranes of the Muscles being there affected and so great was the pravity of this Humor that it likewise snatcht away one of these two by a sudden Death Seeing therefore that neither a naked and bare distemper Whether a Humor and what kind of humor it is and whether al the four Humors may be the cause of Atthritis neither yet a windiness alone can be the cause of Arthritis most Physitians indeed therefore agree in this that it is some Humor that causeth the Arthritis but what kind of Humor this is herein they greatly differ Some of them think that all the four Humors to wit Blood Choler Flegm and Melancholly may be the cause of Arthritis and this they endeavour to make good more especially from hence that in Arthritis there appear many different colors of the swellings divers kinds of pains and various accidents the term of the declination not one and the same and a much different way and Method to be observed in the Cure according to the variety of the Causes To wit that I may use the very words of Petrus Salius Diversus in his sreatise of the Parts affected Chap. 16. in some the Colour is much inclining to be red in others yellow and in a third sort white The swelling is now and then of a considerable bigness and somtimes again it scarcely appeareth And as for the pain it is somtimes indeed very troublesom but yet not so but that it may well be born but then at other times according to the Humor the cause thereof it is most sharp and intollerable And then again this pain is somtimes soon gone and vanished but that continueth a long while But oftentimes also divers evil Symptoms do follow as an extraordinary great heat and burning in the place affected But somtimes again either there is present no heat at all or on the contrary there is a coldness that greatly troubleth the party some of these persons being offended by the Air when it is over hot and others by an Air too cool The way and course of Curing is somtimes also very varâ—ous because in some of these such Medicaments as heat are found to be most beneficial and in others those benesit most that cool the pains in those being the more enraged by things that are cold but in these they are heighthened by such things as are hot And then again some of these pains are appeased by the Evacuation of the Blood some by the purging forth of Flegm a third sort from the emptying forth of the Choler and the last kind of them by the Evacuation of Melancholly are very much mitigated and allaied All which seemeth to denote thus much unto us that the cause of the Arthritis is somtimes hot and now and then cold and somtimes the matter thereof very various and different But these Reasons do not sufficiently prove that which they ought For although that according to the various treasuring up of Humors divers kinds of Humors may flow unto the part affected yet these are not the prime and principal cause of the Arthritis but together with the Serum or Whey they are foreibly carryed unto the part affeâ—â—ed or else they are drawn thither by the pain And that that Humor which breedeth the swelling is not the principal Cause of Arthritis appeareth even from hence that in the beginning before the part swelleth the pain is most intense and violent but as the part by degrees swelleth up so the pain more and more remitteth Neither indeed is this opinion agreeable to the truth For many there are who although they be troubled with a Plethory and Cacochymy yet notwithstanding they are not at all taken and seized upon by the Arthritis Whether the bâ—ood may cause 〈…〉 〈◊〉 And in special as for what concerneth the Blood it doth not at any time any manner of way generate the Arthritis by its abundance For the blood is the Treasury of Nature and therefore although it doth abound yet nevertheless Nature doth not easily and upon all occasions expel it unto any part whatsoever but more especially those parts that are void of blood such as they are that are affeâ—â—ed in the Arthritis And then again if the blood should also happen to be driven forth thither seeing that it is milde and harmless it could not possibly stir up soâ—great and vehement pains which yet are alwaies present even in the beginning of the Arthritis before such time as the part begin to swel and grow red And iâ— the Arthritis were from the blood why should not the Tumor then be suppurated since that there is no Humor so easily brought to a suppuration and converted into Pus as is the Blood And as for Melancholly the Case is likewise very plain Whether Melancholly may be the cause of Aâ—thriâ—is and there are but few that will have this Humor to be the cause of
Ebullition of Synovia and a salt Spirit according to the Chymists be Cause of Arthritis And lastly that we may likewise a little consult the Chymists we do indeed very much expect and hope for some light to be given us by them for the cleering up of the point now in controversie But we shal hardly get any the least light or satisfaction from Paracelsus and his followers who for the most part even obscure the plainest truth For Paracelsus as he is wont speaketh very variously touching the thing in question For in his Tract touching the Podagra Gout pag. 540. he there saith that the Gout is a disease the seat whereof is Synovia which when it is exalted the Gout is then excited And that the disease is a Mineral liquor or a sowr juyce such as are Allum Vitriol Vinegar Barberries Acacia and the like for seeing that these Salts are contrary and opposite unto the Synovia if they be generated in any man and mingled together with the Synovia they then cause the Synovia to boyl over and then he afterwards tels us strange and wonderful things touching the influence of Heaven which here I scarcely think worth the relating as Irkewise those things which he hath in his 2. B. of the Gout In his Paramirum he referreth this Disease to Mercury precipitate But in his B. of Tartarous Diseases Chap. 19. he referreth it unto Tartar Petrus Severinus in his Idea Medica cap. 12. teacheth us that the excited Roots of these Podagrick Affects if they have their seat in the blood they boyl up with hear and send spiritual and vaporous Tinctures unto the Domestick places and that the Matrixes of the Roots having there gotten fruit do by a dolorous calamity of the Symptoms absolve the revolutions of the Predestinations But the truth is the differences of the pain that I may in plain and easieterms shew you what he by an affected pomp of words obscureth do all of them proceed from a diversity of the Salts of which some are more and some less sharp and biting but that these spiritual and vaporous Tinctures are received by their Matrixes that is those parts that are obnoxious unto the drawings out of the Podagrick fruits when they are resolved and they have in the general an affinity with them and therefore readily admit of and give entertainment to the guest coming unto it to wit the joynts or the Synovia of the Hands and Feet But here they do by their words obscure a thing that is in it self most plain and they likewise mingle falsities with truths For as for what they bring touching the Ebullition of the Synovia and the fervent boyling heat thereof this Synovia of Paracelsus is a meer fiction and invention of his own touching which we have already spoken in our Tract de Consens dis Chymicor cap. 15. But as for what they speak of the salt Spirits this if it be rightly explained and wel understood is very agreeable unto the truth as we shal shew you by and by And so likewise we may wel enough bear with them in this that they endeavor to explain the differences of the pains in Arthritick persons from the differences of the Salts that appear in Vegetables and Minerals in regard that our own ablest Phyfitians and among the rest that most experienced Felix Platerus are al of Opinion that the humor which is the cause of Arthritis is not simply a Water but endued with a quality of a different Nature and mingled together with the Ichores and Excrements of the Humors by which it is rendered more vehement And so we likewise judg this more fit to be rejected in them which yet Severinus delivereth unto us in words too obscure to wit that the other excrementitious humors are moved unto other parts and that the humor which is the cause of Arthritis hath in it a peculiar tendency unto the joynts as we also shewed you above The Authors Opinion touching the cause of Arthritis And therefore that we may at length conclude this controversie it appeareth from what hath been hitherto said that neither simply the blood nor flegm nor melancholly nor yet a Water is the neerest and immediate cause of the Arthritis But when I have wel weighed al those things that befal Arthritick persons and which cannot possibly be derived from the Humors as is manifest by what hath been hitherto said I cannot otherwise determine than that a salt sharp subtile humor and such as for the most part resembleth the nature of the salt spirits is the nighest cause of Arthritis And now let who wil cal it Choler or Flegm mingled with Choler or Salt or Tartar or what he please he may do it for me so that the thing be but rightly explained I for my part shal make use of the word Serum or Whey Salt and Tartar that so I may likewise by a proper and peculiar word explain a thing that differeth from Choler and the ordinary and common Flegm But now that the Serum or Whey is not only a watery humor even the Ancients have acknowledged and Galen in the sixth of his Epidem Comment 3. text 33. writeth that the serous or wheyish blood is by Hippocrates and Plato called not only a Water and a waterish humidity void of biting but biting likewise and corroding to wit which resembleth the nature of the Sallow or Willow spirits and therefore it is that it pricketh and biteth those parts that are so sensible and quick of feeling and in these it exciteth most acute and intollerable pains There is to wit in the Earth out of which Plants grow whereby both Man and bruit Creatures are nourished somthing that is salt which answereth unto Minerals and it may not unfitly be called the salt of the Earth which yet notwithstanding is scarcely to be found pure and alone but it is mingled together with other bodies from whence divers kinds of Earths have their Original and thereupon according to the great variety of Soyls it is very various and different as Muddy Clayie c. and then at the length in Plants and Animals it is called Tartar and so it cometh to be tranfused into men But this albeit that in Plants and Men it become in the many various Concoctions very subtile and volatile if it be not such before as very manifestly also it appeareth from the Salt of Urine and that at length it is mingled even with the blood it self yet nevertheless in regard that from the very first original of it it is altogether unfit for the nourishing of the body and is as Hippocrates speaketh wholly unserviceable thereunto at the length unless it be forthwith even in the first Concoction expelled forth by the belly or afterwards evacuated forth by sweats and Urines it is treasured up and being burdensom to Nature it is thrust forth unto the Joynts as having a certain kind of neer allyance with such like matter where by its acrimony
evil was no Disease but an external error For whereas he endeavors to prove that the veneral Disease is not a Disease of the similar parts because it is not a distemper nor an evil composition nor a solution of unity in this proof he labors to no purpose for al this we willingly grant but this he ought to prove that there is no other kind of Disease in the similar parts besides the distemper of the first qualities but that there are such diseases which Fernelius calls of the whol substance we more rightly of occult qualities is sufficiently proved above part 1. and this very Disease as all other venenate Diseases do shew that it can be referred to no other kind than to malignant qualities this follows from Minadous his own supposition and confession which he hath Cap. 20. where he writes that the Veneral virulency hath power not only to infect al Humors but al parts of the body and to corrupt and convert them to its own similitude The same Minadous if he had known these Diseases had not taken so much pains to what kind of preternatural things the veneral virulency ought to be referred For first of al there was no need of excluding from the number of causes those vitious Humors which are found in the bodies sick of the veneral Disease and have power to alter and change the Humors themselves and parts of the body For whereas he saith that is properly the cause between which and the action hurt the disease doth interceed that is true of the next cause but the antecedent causes also may do hurt as they have the Nature of a vitious object and external Error and in this very Disease whiles the virulent Humors do imprint a malignant quality on he parts between them and the action hurt that Malignant disposition and occult quality doth intercede Therefore whereas he thinks that Humor or venenate vapour in the veneral disease doth imediately hurt the action 't is false unless that humor have the nature of an external error For al hurt actions in the Veneral disease do happen whiles between them and the humor or malignant vapor a midling diseafe doth intercede to wit that of occult qualities But whereas he denies the Veneral virulency to be a quality The Veneral disease is not a Body and holds it to be a body first of al he confounds the cause and the disease next of al he doth not distinguish between the quality and its subject For whiles we say the Veneral evil we understand either the disease it self or its cause if the disease that is a quality as al diseases are to wit a preternatural disposition of the parts and indeed an occult and malignant quality but if the veneral evil be taken for the cause either which without being communicated doth induce this disease or which is in the body which raiseth divers diseases and symptomes and can infect others we grant that cause may be called a body But we must take notice that those humors or vapors are not said to be causes as they are bodies but as they have an occult and malignant quality which Minadous himself cannot deny while Cap. 20. he writes That that vapor or spirit which he cals the veneral virulency is endewed with an occult quality and vertue depending on its whole substance by which it is able not only to infect any humors of the body but al its parts and to corrupt and convert them to its own similitude For what similitude is that I pray to which the Veneral virulency converts not only the humors but also the parts of the body unless it be that occult quality with which that vapor is endewed Whereas last of al Cap. 38. he refers the Veneral virulency to external error because it primarily hurts the operation and is not of the constitution of the body But before denied it to be either the disease or cause of the disease or symptome in vain doth he multiply things preternatural for there are not more preternatural things than the disease cause and symptome and the Veneral virulency as he describes it doth wholy belong to the causes two manner of waies for either it induceth the like disposition into the parts of the body or it raiseth other diseases while it eats and exulcerates the parts But whenas he saith the Veneral disease taken for the cause Whether it be a Vapor or a spirit is a vapor or a spirit that is rightly to be understood for indeed it can no way be denied that it is a humor also whenas in copulation 't is rubbed against the body and sticks in the cloaths yet such is its nature as 't is also of other contagious humors that though it be resolved into vapors and the least bodies yet every one of them contains its whole essence and hath power to affect others and this thing may be declared by musk castor and the like For those things though they be bodies and humorous too yet are such that though they be resolved into the least bodies nevertheless they retain their ful strength After the same manner it is in the Veneral disease and other contagious diseases in which though the malignant and contagious humor he resolved into the least bodies yet every one of them obtaines the same essence and vertue and power to infect others But whereas he thinks that humor and vapor is not to be called the cause but an external error in that also he is mistaken for an external error belongs unto the causes from whence the Symptomes arising from an external error are called the symptomes of the cause where this also is to be observed that Physitians do not vouchsafe the name of the cause to the next cause only but also to the antecedent which do not yet effect the disease therefore there is bad nourishment by reason of vitious humors although they have not yet imprinted a distemper and vitious disposition on the parts but whereas he denies the Veneral virulency considered as a vapor to be the cause because it hurts the actions not by the mediation of a disease but next of al and imediately he presupposeth that which is not yet granted and so begs the question for this spirit or vapor hurts the very constitution of the similar part and imprinteth on it a malignant quality the which he himself cannot deny whiles Cap. 23. he holds that by this disease of venery many actions are hurt but not al in al people but the hurt of the natural faculty is common to al and that there is none that is possest with this disease who is not troubled with some fault in his natural actions and hence proceeds al that filth of excrements and the gummosities arising from thence tumors pustles pains running of the reins ulcers rottenness and such like evils and that the Veneral virulency hath a peculiar enmity and discord with the natural faculty and is inimicous to it by its
of each an ounce and an half Make a Julep for two doses to be drank presently after the taking of a dram and an half of the Amulet in the morning and two hours before supper But whenas al those simple Medicaments which are in that Antidote are not proper to this Veneral Disease we must consult with experience whether their vertue be so great as Palmarius cries it up for CHAP. IX Of Indications THose Indications which are in other diseases Indications are found also in this to wit That which is taken from the Disease called in specy Curative That which the cause doth afford Preservatory whether also are referred urgent Symptomes and last of al the Vital for they deservedly challenge a place in this disease yet in the explaining of them Authors vary much and as every one thinks of the Nature of this Disease so also he teacheth concerning its indication and cure We insisting on those things which we have formerly preposed of the Nature of this Disease and have strongly proved think thus of indications in this Disease First of al whenas this Disease is occult and Malignant chief enemy to the Liver and nutritive faculty therefore it affords a kind of genercial indication but no specifical and profitable one can be had from thence and therefore only experience which hath found out Medicines working by an occult quality hath administred profitable Medicines in this Disease and unless the Spaniards had received from the Indians such Medicaments as Lignum Sanctum Sarsapartilla China Root and the boldness of Ciyrurgions and especially Jacob Carpus had not fallen upon the use of Mercury either by chance or by argumentation whiles they read that Avicen Mesue and Theodoricus made use of quicksilver in certain pustles and a crusty Scab perhaps even to this day the true Remedies of this Disease would lie hid But though the Remedies of this disease were not found out so much by indication as by experience yet a Method in curing of it is not wholly excluded but hath its place also whenas 't is necessary that those Medicaments found out by experience be rightly applied and besides also Tumors Ulcers and the like Diseases springing from the corruption of Humors have their Method by which they are cured Yet in this case we must have a care that we do not look more on the manifest qualities and known diseases than on the occult Nature of the disease in which business notwithstanding many do fail who are tedious in curing of divers distempers preparing the Humors and directing their cure to these or those diseases Whenas yet 't is plain by experience that in a hot and in a dry distemper and in an exustion of the Humors as they speak and in a Consumption it self we do most happily use pockwood and the like hot and dry things and the Malignity being overcome the rest do easily vanish Secondly as concerning indication preservatory Preservatory here we must chiefly have respect unto that Malignity and virulency imprinted on the Humors and that is to be destroyed by proper and Alexipharmacal Medicines Yet if there be any other faults in the Humors it wil not be unprofitable also to mend them And whenas the body is either burthened with a Plenitude or abounds with vitious Humors the malignity is the easier disseminated into it and there is more plentiful matter prepared for putrefaction and the force of the Alexipharmacal means is dulled it is expedient to empty either the superfluous blood or the vitious Humors that the other Medicines afterwards may be administred more safely more commodiously and with greater benefit Thirdly the Disease and various Symptomes Curative which supervene to the principal disease and arise from the corruption of Humors are al to be removed in their proper manner Fourthly the strength is to be preserved for as no other disease can be cured Vital unless there be strength of body so nor this and al attempts are in vain unless at leastwise we have Nature willing And so there are four things chiefly to be done in this disease First of al Four things to be done in the Cure of the Veneral disease if blood abound that must be diminisht and if any vitious Humors abound they are to be prepared and emptied and if there be any manifest diseases which may be an impediment to the proper Cure as obstructions and the like they must first of all be taken away Secondly the Malignity and virulency as wel that inherent in the humors as that imprinted on the parts and principally the Liver is to be destroied by the proper Alexipharmaca of this disease Thirdly the strength is to be preserved and confirmed and first of al chiefe care is to be had of the Liver which suffers in this disease Fourthly the diseases and Symptomes which are wont to be joyned to this disease are to be taken away Here we must clear a controversie to wit Whether the cure may be perfected without sweating Whether this disease may be cured without sweating Some are of this opinion That this disease may be taken away though sweat be not provoked And first of al they prove it thus Because this evil consists in a certain hidden quality which cannot be taken away but by alteration of the body whenas contraries are cured by contraries but that alteration may be affected by the proper vertue of antidotes and decoctious administred without sweating Next of al they alledge experience by which it is evident that by the taking of such Medicaments some have recovered without sweating Thirdly they urge this That those that drink the decoction of the wood are somtimes happily emptied by nature by urine by the stool and not alwaies by sweats Aurelius Minadous contends against these de Virulen Vener Cap. 39. And first of al he writes that he never observed that Physitians commanded the decoction to be taken without sweating to which al Alexipharmacal things of their own Nature do incline men neither is the matter it self unfit to be expeld this way being Vaporous and halituous neither was there ever any one who did throughly and wholly overcome this disease without the help of some sweating especially if it were inveterate but why he holds thus he brings this reason That in his opinion the essence of this evil doth not consist in a quality but in the body affected with an evil quality and therefore he holds as a quality doth indicate alteration so a body indicates Evacuation which though it may be many waies yet most commodiously by sweating whenas this very thing is a Vaporous body and is most rightly and easily discussed by sweat and he adds this whenas there is a great quantity of Excrements abounding in those bodies infected with this disease not only in one part but al over the body but sweat is an universal Evacuation they are most commodiously emptied by sweating and he holds that sweats do very much profit
about the joynts The cause of the gout Solution of Unity in the Gout from whence it happeneth Now this solution proceedeth not as Capivaccius wil have it only from a Compression of the sensible parts about the joynt caused by a preternatural repletion of the Ligaments with a Humor flowing thereto For why the Ligaments are most solid and most thick in so much that in the first place they themselves cannot admit of the Humors and the pain is oftentimes in the highest degree when there is scarcely any swelling appearing and indeed far greater then that it should possibly be caused by compression only This pain is therefore rather caused by the distention and twinging or pricking in the sensible and tender parts about the Joynt But now what the Cause of this distention Pulling and Pricking is cannot easily be explained by reason of the difference in Opinions among Physitians touching the same For some there are that teach us how that the Gout is generated only from a distemper others from a Winde a third sort only from a Humor and some of these will have this Humor to be flegm others Choler others Flegm with Choler others assert it to be Flegm mingled with blood others Crude and Watery blood others say that it is a whey and others there are that admit of all these Humors And indeed some affirm that this Humor floweth down from the Head others again from the internal parts others from the external parts between the Skul and the Skin some again wil have it to flow forth of the Veins and others by both these waies touching which we intend to discourse more at large below in the seventh Question But in brief The neerest causes of the gout that we may here in a word state the Controversie the immediate and neerest Cause of the Gout is a Humor partly distending the parts of a quick sense about the joynt and partly pricking and lancing them to wiâ— the serous or wheyish Humor and yet such as is not waterish but Salt and sharp and as the Chymists call it Tartarous bred in the sanguification in the Liver and in the Spleen and by Nature thrust forth by the Veins and Arteries into the parts about the joynt And indeed this Humor is altogether of a peculiar Nature and much different from these other Humors that breed an inflammation in other parts and it hath its original from the same kind of Aliment that Plants draw from the Earth For in all sorts of Earth there is somthing that is saltish and partaking of a Mineral Nature Which whether we call it the Salt of the Earth or else Tartar with the common sort of Chymists it matters not with me so that we agree in the thing it self And yet notwithstanding it seems not al one to me Whether the Salt of the Earth and Cartar differ whether we call it the Salt of the Earth or else Tartar For Salt is indeed a simple Body of its own kind but Tartar as it is in truth taken here generally in this place by the Chymists is a compound of Salt and Earth yea and of Sulphur likewise From whence also it is that there are constituted Differences of such like Earths and so there ariseth a diversity of the Humor breeding the Gout in divers Bodies and places And from either the abundance or scarcity of this Salt and the mixture of it with other Juyces there arise various differences of Earths so that some of them are dirty others muddy a third sort Clayish a fourth sandy and Crumbling a fifth Limye and in some Earths there is an abundance of that we call Marle in others Chalk and in others there is somthing else that aboundeth and in some Earths in the which likewise Bread Corn grows very plentifully there is so great a store of this Salt that even out of them there may be destilled a certain spirit that dissolveth Metals That Salt or Tartar is attracted from Plants together with their Aliment out of the Earth and hence it is derived into men unto whom those Plants serve for Meat and Drink and unless it be severed and separated in a Convenient manner it is at length mingled together with the blood and being altogether unfit for the nourishing of the Body it is in the end driven down and thrust into the joynts for those Causes that we shal anon declare unto you And this Salt Humor that causeth the Gout oftentimes cometh very neer unto the Nature of spirits as the Chymists call them such as are those of Wine and other Vegetables endued with a volatile Salt as also of Salt Vitriol Nitre and Aqua Fortis which although that they are thin Subtile and Resemble the Nature of Water yet notwithstanding they contain in them a most sharp and biting Salt And this Salt is contained as well in the Arteries as in the Veins from whence likewise it is that being most subtile it exciteth very extream intollerable and most acute pains For it is not requisite that those Humors should alwaies hurt the Body in a thick and gross manner but oftentimes they are made spiritual as we shal afterwards also in the Causes shew you touching Wine And many things there are that teach us the truth of this First of all the very vehemency and fiercenss of the pain it self which cannot possibly proceed from a Flegmatick or watry Humor or else from Blood distending the parts but from a very sharp Humor being oftentimes indeed but little in its quantity and bulk but yet in power very great and most efficacious And moreover it appeareth from this that at length there are generated in the Joynts certain hard knobs and knots out of which there is taken and goeth forth a matter like unto Lime such as also some certain Wines before they be wrackt and taken off their Lees do yield forth which happeneth not at all in other Tumors which are rather turned into Pus then any such matter as this and therefore it sufficiently sheweth that the Gout hath some other peculiar cause that the rest of the Tumors or swellings have not And Thirdly the Causes do argue and prove the same since that there is nothing that maketh more for the generation of the Gout then Wine which most of all aboundeth with such a Salt and Tartar as we mentioned before there being no plant as we shall also further shew you below that doth more attract that that is Salt Clayie and Limye in the Earth then the Vine it self although indeed other Plants likewise as Wheat and Barley do draw unto them the very same matter as the Vine doth but in nothing neer so great an abundance Yea and this matter is somtimes likewise contemed in the Water and from hence it is that now and then such as are Abstemious or that otherwise by reason of their poverty they drink no Wine but Water are yet troubled with the Gout and in some places we find that
ends of all the Vessels which Conformation to alter and change is not at all within our power And he hath there asserted that the Joynts for this Reason only admit of and drink in the hot Wheyish Humor because that in them are terminated the external branches of the internal Vessels To wit that the Ebullition or boyling out of this serous Humor doth first of all begin in the greater and the internal Vessels and that from hence it falleth forth into the lesser and at length into the extream branches which having no other place whither they they may pour back the Humor they have received in it is thereupon stopt and heaped up together in the joynts in which the external Vessels almost al of them are terminated All which although it may seem very agreeable unto the truth yet notwithstanding two things there are that must here be taken notice of The former is this that although it be true that those greater Trunks of the hollow Vein and the Arteries their branches being dispersed hither and thither are for the greatest part of them terminated in the joynts yet Nevertheless there are likewise many of those branches which here and there are Terminated in the Flesh and other parts and yet for all that they Transfuse not the matter of the Gout into those parts And moreover also the matter of the Gout is not alwaies poured forth even unto the extream Joynts but that it oftentimes also stops and staies in the mid-way in the Hip Knees and Elbows The other thing to be taken notice of is this that albeit that Conformation of the Vessels by reason of which they are terminated into the Joynts cannot be changed yet notwithstanding the Laxity and weakness of the parts into which they are ingrafted may in some measure be changed by those medicaments that cotroborate although it be the least part of the Cure as hath been said that is to be expected from these But besides the imbecillity of the Joynts Why the humor that is the cause of the gout is moved unto the Joynts rather than to the other parts there is yet something else that seemeth to me to be the Cause why this humor is moved unto the Joynts rather than to any other parts which conceit of mine I submit as a Paradox only and leave it unto the free judgment of the Judicious and Candid Reader and it is this It is most certain that the Blood in our Bodies is not altogether homogeneous but obtaineth divers parts and that divers parts of the Body are nourished by those different parts of the Blood as the Flesh by the more temperate the Bones by the thicker the Lungs by the more subtile and so likewise the rest of the parts attract unto themselves from the blood a fit and convenient Nutriment And this seemeth also to be proved by the stone called Osteocolla so called because that it hath in it a notable virtue of Conglutinating the broken Bones which being taken inwardly penetrateth into the Bones rather than into any other parts and causeth that the Calli are generated in a very short time yea in those that are yong it produceth an overgreat Callus as we may see in Guilhelm Fabricius his first Century Observat 90. 91. Neither are these things done in a sound Body only but even the vitious humors likewise have not an inclination al of them neither are they al driven unto any one part but some of them tend unto one part and others of them unto other parts and this we are taught as by other diseases so more especially by the Plica Polonica above mentioned And therefore seeing that Hercules Saxonia in his Book of the Plica Chap. 26. writeth nothing but the truth when he saith that the humor the Cause of the Plica hath a propriety not wel agreeing with the Joynts Ligaments Tendons Nerves and al the Membranes but a certain familiarity with the Hairs and the extream part of the skin I conceive that I may also as rightly Assert that the Humor the Cause of the Gout hath a certain kind of familiarity and natural alliance with the Bones but that it is an Enemy unto the Membranous parts if not in an occult manner yet certainly by its Acrimony and by its twinging and lancing faculty For very probable it is seeing that the Bones as also the Ligaments and tendons are nourished by a Blood that is more Earthy as having an alliance with the Tartarous humor that other Tartarous humors also as wel the thick as the subtile are thrust forth more unto the Joynts than unto any other parts and more especially unto the Joynts of extream parts since that Nature as much as possibly she can is wont to thrust forth the vitious humors from the principal places unto the most remore parts For although it be so somtimes that Nature doth not presently thrust forth into the extream Joynts of the Feet or the Hands the matter that is the Cause of the Gout but that it stops and staies in the mid'st of some Joynt yet notwithstanding afterwards when the pains begin Nature if she be yet any thing strong driveth back again into the greater Veins the Matter by the same waies by which it flowed in and from hence she thrusts it forward even unto the extream Joynts touching which as also whether there lie any thing hid in the very Bones themselves that may make for the exciting of the Arthritick Paroxysm we shal speak more hereafter in the eighth Question Secondly Whether the Gout be generated by a collection of the humors As touching these humors that are the Cause of the Gout where they are Generated and by what waies they pass into the Joynts the Opinions of Physitians are various and different of which we shal speak further in the seventh Question But now that I may in few words comprize the sum and substance of the thing in question seeing that al swellings and the preternatural Collection of humors in any part is done two waies to wit either by Congestion by which the humor is by little and little collected and heaped up in the part or else by Afflux we cannot conceive that the former of these waies hath any place in the Gout For if by Congestion and the alone weakness of the parts the humor should be collected in the Joynts then the pain and swelling could not be bred so suddenly so easily and so evidently and the infirm part should perpetually labor and suffer in regard that the Cause of this distemper and pain should never be absent from it But now since that Persons that have the Gout are not in a continual suffering condition but that some of them are free for six months together and that afterward the matter again floweth unto the Joynts and that indeed suddenly to wit when there is a vitious humor collected in the Body which urgeth and provoketh Nature unto the expulsion thereof it easily from
time the Gout is most chiefly excited and then again in the Autumn by reason of the motion and change of the Humors that happeneth at that time And the truth is the Gout is wont in the Spring time most especially to infest the party because that the humors that have been al the Winter long heaping up are wont then to be poured abroad and moved up and down as Lucian telleth us in most elegant Verses making a description thereof in his Tragopodagra And the very same may likewise be somtimes effected by other distempers of the Air and like as the moist Constitution of the Air doth otherwise produce Catarrhs and Fluxes so it likewise oftentimes causeth the Gout And without doubt that Epidemical Gout of which out of Athenaeus we shal anon in the fift Question make mention was at first produced by some peculiar Constitution of the Air. And moreover the Course of Dyet that is observed doth make very much for the generating of the Gout and especially the drinking of strong Wines by which alone many have attracted the Gout unto themselves as Quintus Serenus writeth of Ennius And indeed there is no one thing that is more offensive and hurtful unto persons that are troubled with the Gout than the drinking of Wine as we find it to be true by common experience For there is nothing that obtaineth more of that Tartarous matter or call it what you please that is so apt and fit to generate the Gout than Wine Which matter although as we said a little before it may in some stronger bodies be separated yet nevertheless those that find themselves subject to the Gout having but weak and infirm bowels have no reason after the example of other insatiable Wine-drinkers to indulge themselves any liberty in the drinking of Wine but it is far more fit for them to abstain from it And so on the contrary many have been freed from the Gout by their abstaining from Wine The gout cured by abstinence from Wine And Trincavel in his twelfth Book and second Chapter of the way of Curing the several parts of Mans Body writeth that he knew a very aged Physitian at Venice who having been exceedingly troubled with the Gout al his life long even unto his old Age at length by abstaining from Wine for five yeers only he came to be so freed from all those troublesom and painful fits that attend the Gout that he was ever after even to the very last of his old Age and to the hour of his death altogether freed from these pains And Franciscus Alexander in Descriptione Diacorallii writeth likewise that one Francis Pechius a man fifty yeers of age and troubled with the Gout was cast into Prison by a certain Marquess and there kept twenty yeers and that he was ever after this freed from the Gout And Solenander also in his 5. Sect. Consil 1. relateth of a certain Widdow a Spaniard both that having omitted and left off the use of Wine which yet notwithstanding she had but very sparingly made use of after the custom of her Country and alwaies diluting it with Water she was never more after that troubled with the Gout And there are many other such like known Histories of them that have either been cast into Prison or else have been reduced unto poverty and so have of necessity abstained from Wine and thereby been freed from the Gout To wit whereas the next and most immediate Cause of the Gout as we likewise told ye before is some certain thing that hath as it were the Nature of a Mineral and this altogether unfit for the nourishing of the body such like as is to be found in al kind of Earths but yet in some more in some less the Vine attracteth it more powerfully than other Plants and that this is so appeareth even from that Tartar which is to be found more abundantly in the Vine than in any other Plant and in that Vines wil grow and thrive in those places wherein other Plants wil not prosper as not having aliment enough the Vines contenting themselves in a manner only with that very salt of the Earth which afterward together with the Wine although variously changed is derived into Mans body and being there heaped up it affordeth matter unto the Gout And yet notwithstanding there are likewise some kind of Meats and Drinks that make very much for the breeding of the Gout and there are somtimes Waters to be found that generate the Gout and in those places where the Gout is Epidemical not only the rich that drink Wine but the poor also that drink Water are afflicted with the Gout And so likewise Julius Alexandrinus writeth in his fifteenth Book of things that are wholsom and sixt chapter that he knew a certain person troubled with the Gout in whom by the eating of Carps and Breams the Gout was perpetually bred So that he could when he listed by this means bring the Gout upon himself And moreover The gout caused by the eating of Carps Wholsom Wines Wines they are not al of them of one and the same kind For some of them proceed from a sandy Earth and contain less of this Tartarous matter And such are those Wines that grow at Jassen a Town hard by called Gorubergensian Wines which although that they be drunk in great abundance by the Inhabitants of that place yet I never heard of any of them that was there troubled with the Gout And such Wines as these are likewise to be found in many other places Wines uxwholsom But on the contrary those Wines that grow in an Earth that is fat muddy clayish stony and that hath in it a Mineral Marl gravel stones or any thing else that is Mineral mingled with it are very apt and ready to generate the Gout and such are the Wines of Moravia Bohemia Hungary and most of the Wines of Austria And although that the Wines that do not generate the Gout leave oftentimes in the Vessel more Tartar than those Wines that do indeed produce the Gout yea and if they be distilled there is likewise more of the said Tartar found in them than there is in these like as at Vratislavia as that eminent and famous Physitian Doctor Doringius wrote unto me of twenty four measures of Renish Wine there were found almost three ounces of Tartar whereas in the distillation of as many Measures of the Tocavian Wine that is accounted the strongest of al the Hungarian Wines there were scarcely two drams of Tartar to be found yet nevertheless al this maketh nothing against what we have said For those Wines have that Salt or Tartar superficially only as I may so say and in a thick manner mingled together with them or that I may speak with the Chymists they have the Salt as yet fixed but these have a volatile Salt or Tartar most exactly mingled with them insomuch that this Salt and Tartar is in a manner made spiritual whereupon
of the heat the salt and Tartarous humor is then more heaped up and then after this the older they grow the more they are afflicted with it by reason of the weakness of the native heat and the imbecillity of the expulsive faculty For Men for the most part live not so temperatly as Women sustain greater Labors are more addicted to Venery and hurt thereby But Women on the contrary are more temperate and besides they have likewise their monthly Evacuations by and with which Nature is wont to thrust forth together with them all the vitious humors and so to expel them out of all parts of the Body Whereupon likewise it is that Hippocrates in the sixth of his Apborism Aphoris 29. writeth that Women are not troubled wâ—th the Gout until after their Courses fail and leave them But the truth is that it is not alwaies â—o that either Women or Men that are above or under the aforesand age aâ—e wholly â—ree them this Malady and albeit that Hippocrates in the 6. sect of his Aphorism Aphorisin 30. writeth that yong Men before the use of Women are not at all troubled with the 〈◊〉 and that it is a thing very rarely seen that Youths are herewith affected yet 〈…〉 its sometimes found so to be and that even these are troubled with it as we may likewate see many that are above fifty yeers old taken oftentimes with the Gout And I my self 〈◊〉 late saw a Learned Man that in the sixty second year of his age was 〈…〉 fits of the Gout Neither also are Eunuches although that Hippocrates in the Sixth Sect. of his Aphorism Aph. 28. doth except them alwaies wholly free from this Malady as we shal anon shew you further in the Nanth Question Chap. 3. Signs Diagnostick THe very Malady doth sufficiently appear of it self The Diagnostick signs of the gout and the sick persons complain of a pain about the Joynts in their Feet Hands Knees and other parts unto which there is afterward added a swelling a redness and for the most part a Feaver And indeed when the Gout begins first of all to invade a person it likely taketh him first in the great Toe of his Foot and that most commonly the left And so in all the other joynts the pain most of all consisteth and staieth in the place affected without spreading any further But in the Sciatica this pain is not felt only in the Joynt by the which the Head of the Thigh is inserted into the Hip but it is from hence by the Nerves and Membranes carried unto the very Buttocks by the way where the Nerves spring from the Loyns and the great bone by the Latin Physitians called the Os Sacrum or holy Bone and from thence the pain is also extended unto the Calf of the Leg and unto the Foot according to the guidance and conduct of the Nerve And in other Joynts also as lying outwardly there is wont manifestly to appear a swelling and redness and a great heat to be perceived but now in the Sciatick painful affect these things do not so plainly appear in regard the place affected lieth very deep and because that therein that place the top of the Skin hath not many Veins dispersed here and there in it In a word in the Gout that which most especially troubleth the sick person is the pain he feeleth and an impotency in his motion and upon this there follow watchings and restlesness a dejection of the Bodies strength and other Symptoms all which Lucian in his Tragopâ—dagra hath very elegantly described But now in reckoning up the signs by which the differences of the Causes and the different Humors may be discerned The signs of the Causes the most of Physitians are very long and prolix and they take much pains in reckoning up the signs of the Gout from the blood Choler Flegm and Black Choler or Melancholy But since that as we told you before those Humors cannot properly be said to excite the Gout but only that they are either stird up and down by that Humor that is the Cause of the Gout or that being attracted by the pain of the part affected they flow together thereunto We shall therefore in this regard here spare our selves the Labor further to treat of them But yet Nevertheless if for the better ordering of the Cure the knowledg of the affluent Humor seem to be altogether necessary and requisite it appeareth from the general discourse of an inflammation in which we have declared what a pure Phlegmone is and what signs it hath as also the signs of Oedematodes of Erisypelatodes and also of Schirrbodes what signs these have and indeed from the signs of the Humor predominant in the Body which we have elswhere explained and likewise from the qualities of the swelling and by the observing of those things that benefit or hurt the sick person it may easily be known what humor it is that floweth together with it And yet notwithstanding it is here acknowledged by the more learned and able Physitians even those who have asserted that the Gout proceedeth from divers humors that there is little heed to be given or regard to be had unto those signs that are taken from the Color heat or the like Accidents since that very many things occur which may be the Cause as of the Colour so likewise of the heat and coldness of the Member contrary unto the Nature of the peccant Matter For the humor as Guainerius saith that is the true and proper cause of the Gout abiding in the bottom of the Member doth not for the most part change the superficies of the said Member and so then the Color of the Member cannot afford us any sign or token at all but it may possibly so happen that a Humor abounding in the Body may by pain be stirred up and darwn unto the place affected and there it may cause a swelling and yet nevertheless it may not be the Cause of the Gout Chap. 4. Prognosticks I. THe Gout for the most part is a disease not Mortal Prognoslicks of the gout For albeit that the strength may be much impayred by pains and for want of rest insomuch that the sick persons may at length be forced to take their Beds yet this is not done but in a long time And we see that such as are troubled with the Gout do oftentimes live long and attain unto old age to wit for this Cause that Nature by certain intervals thrusteth forth unto the Joynts those vitious Humors from which other more dangerous Diseases might have been generated and so by this means freeth the principal parts from vitious Humors II. If yet notwithstanding there happen any dangerous inflammations or pernitious Feavers or that Nature fayl and lie under the burthen so that it can no longer expel the vitious Humors the Patients life may then be much endangered And if any such dangerous Symptom be Joyned together with the vehement pain of
which there had been boyled the Root of the greater Dock which having drunk up when he could not be cured by any other remedies of the Physitians he made a great deal of white Water his Urine being like Milk and so was freed from all his pains Or Take Sarsaparilla one ounce Sassafras Wood half an ounce the Root of the Clove Tree one ounce Citrine Saunders two drams Infuse all in three pints of Water for twenty four hours and afterward boyl the same and give of this Decoction one draught in the morning either alone or else with Harts horn Topicks The Body being thus in a due manner evacuated Topicks and the Antecedent cause that would have augmented the Disease being once taken away we then come to the very moderating of the pain and the taking away of the Conteining Cause of the pain and swelling and so unto the Topicks But if Topicks shall presently be administred before those Universal and General Remedies shall have been first made use of the Patient shall receive from thence far more hurt then benefit For either the matter which Nature endeavoureth to thrust forth to the Joynts is driven back unto the more inward parts from whence very grievous Symptoms are excited or else it is impacted into the Joynts and so the pain is exasperated or else the part is effeminated and made weak and loosened and so the flux is increased Which being not commonly taken notice of and Topicks being oftentimes most unseasonably and without any caution at al administred the sick persons do for the most part receive more hurt then good from them and from hence it was that the common and received opinion had its first original to wit that the best course is to administer nothing at al unto the pained Joynts And the truth is that it is fir becter to apply nothing call but to commit the whole business to Nature then to make use of such Medicaments as are altogether unfit and improper Now the Topicks that are applied they respect either the pain only or else withall the Cause of the pain to wit the Humor that now and formerly hath flown in exciting both a pain and a swelling Mitigaters of Pain The Pain in this Disease for the most part is a most grievous Symptom Mitigaters of Pain and which is most troublesom to the sick parties and which they most of all Curse and Bann as Lucian hath it in the beginning almost of his Tragopodagra and therefore also it is that they most of all desire the removal thereof And indeed it is altogether necessary that the Physitian should have regard thereunto because that if it be too great it causeth a restlessness dejecteth the strength and by attracting the Humors it augmenteth the Malady and so deservedly draweth our care unto it for its removal as Gaien in the 12. of his Method C. 1. and thereupon it sheweth and pointeth us unto the asswaging thereof by Anodynes Now Anodynes or Mitigaters of pain have likewise this Good and benefit going along with them to wit that by loosning the parts they make that the Humor that before flowed only unto the interiour parts about the Joynts comes now also to flow and be diffused unto the Ambient and fleshy parts And hence it is that the pains in the Gout before the swelling of the part are most Vehement and Intollerable and that so soon as the part affected beings to swel they are much Mitigated But now these Anodynes of what kind they are we have told you elswhere in our Institutions to wit such as mollifie and loosen the part affected and yet do not discuss the very Cause it self And here they may be provided of Goats Milk newly drawn out of their Dugs as also white bread and Milk together with the Yelks of Eggs and a little Saffron as likewise of the Leaves of Marsh-Mallows Mallows Colewort or Cabbage laid upon the place affected as hot as the Patient can wel endure them as also of Mallow Seeds Seeds of Marsh-Mallows Quinces Fleabane and especially the Mucillages of them Cassia newly drawn out of the Pipe with the Decoction or Water of Nightshade which as Avicen tels us is the best Remedy that can be unto which if there flow any hot Humors thereunto we may add some of the Oyl of Roses or Rose water but if the flowing Humors be cold then we are to add thereto the Oyl of Camomil and instead of Cassa out of the Pipe we may likewise make use of the Rob of the Elder Tree of white bread and Wine and indeed if the Humor be more hot red Wane but if cold or betwixt both then white Wine with the pouder of Camomile flowers and Oyl of Roses of Cheese new made of sheeps Milk and imposed upon the pained part and often changed of fresh-made Ox or Cow dung in the first beginning of the Spring as also the Water that is distilled out of it Amost useful Remedy also is the Mucillage of Fleabane Seed extracted with the Water of Roses or Night shade unto which somtimes a little Vinegar may be added and this Medicament is by Serapton and others very much commended In the very first beginning of the Disease Solenander taketh the thick stalks of Hendock and sils them with Salt and then stoppeth them with Clay or Paste and puts them in a moist place that the Salt may dissolve which liquor he keeps in a glass and with Clothes applieth it unto the pained part And he oftentimes also made use of this Cataplasm Take Mallows the whole Herb Root and all cut it into very smal pieces and boyl it in equal parts of Wine and Vinegar in a new Earthen Vessel until a third part be wasted away and then mingle therewith the thicker Bran of Rye as much as will suffice for the making of a Cataplasm and apply this hot unto the grieved part Forrestus relateth that he knew one that added hereunto a little Barly flower and that of the Water Lentile boyled in Milk with Camomile flowers and so reducing them into the form of a Cataplasm he put them upon the part affected with miraculous success as one could judg no other of it And here also very useful is the Yelk of an Egg reduced into the form of a Liniment with the Oyl of Violets and so is also the Water of the Sperm or seed of Frogs which perhaps have in them some kind of Narcotick quality Adrianus Spigelius writes that among the Moravians there is in use a very notable Remedy and noble experiment for the speedy cuting of the Gout-pains to wit the Water of Meadow Sweet distilled with its Roots and Flowers and this water is likewise in frequent use among the Silefians And it is also very convenient to foment the part affected with the Decoction of Parietary or Pellitory of the Wall And very many there be likewise that make use of Oyls and Fat 's But here we are to give you
and twinge them And thirdly although the pain be more excited while the joynt is moved yet this happeneth not therefore because that the humor is contained in the very joynt for as we told you but even now this is void of sense but because the Membranous parts about the joynt being before preternaturally distended by the humor are now more stretched forth Neither lastly doth that prove that the humor doth first of al fal forth into the space of the joynt because that the pain when the Disease first seizeth the party is perceived to lie deep before the external parts swel up which when it happeneth the pain is mitigated It is true indeed that these things do often so come to pass and that in the beginning there is very little or no swelling appearing and that yet in the mean time the pain rageth in the top of the part affected and there becometh most grievous which is afterwards asswaged when the external parts swel up But this doth not therefore happen because that the humor falleth into the very Cavity of the Joynt and from hence maketh it self a way unto the exterual parts the extream parts of the Bones being as we said before altogether destitute of sense but it happeneâ—h from hence that the whol vitions humor doth first of all by the extremities of the Vessels flow unto the Nervous and Membranous parts about the Joynts and greatly afflict them but afterwards when part of the humor is likewise distributed into the fleshy parts the pain becometh more mild and moderate when the humor is distributed into many places it doth then act less powerfully and those parts are made more loose and so are distended with less pain than otherwise like as we see the very same to be in the pain of the Teeth which at first is very great and intollerable when all the humor floweth into the Teeth and these Nerves inserted into them but afterwards when part of this humor is distributed into the Jaw lying neer as likewise the Gums then the pain is mitigated But yet in the mean time as we said before we deny not this that at length also even some of the matter may possibly sweat through into the very Cavity of the Joynt if the afflux continue long Neither do the two last Aphorisms of Hippocrates make at all against our Opinion where in the sixth Section he thus writeth Those saith he that have been long conflicting with the pain of the Hips if in these the top of the Thigh fall out of the Hip-Bone and then return and fall in again these have in that place a Mucous and snotty flegm collected And again they that by being vexed with a long continued Sciatica pain have the top of their Thigh fallen out of the Hip in these the Thigh wasteth away and unless they be burnt they halt and become lame For that Joynt doth not therefore fall forth because that the Bone is thrust out of its place by the humor fallen into the Cavity but as Galen in his Comm. upon the Aphorisms teacheth us because the bonds of the Articulation being soaked and moistened by the flegmatick humor are thereby rendred more loose But now what those parts are about the Joynt that receive and entertain the humor that floweth unto them neither do they al fully agree in their Opinions as touching this Capivaccius and some others with him determine that this afflux is made only unto the Ligaments and that in the Arthritis the Ligaments are filled ful but not so the Nerves and Tendons since that if these parts were filled there would then be Convulsions for these parts come to be affected only by the consent of the Ligaments whiles that they are pressed together by these Ligaments being filled with the humor But the Ligaments are so hard and solid that it is not credible that these especially should receive the humor flowing unto them and be replenished thereby And the pain is not therefore excited because that only the Nervous and Membranous parts are pressed together by the Ligaments preternaturally filled with the humor For if this were the Cause the pain could not possibly be so fierce and bitter but because that a sharp and gnawing humor doth prick and twinge the tender and sensible parts For as in other parts the Membranous Periostia and Nerves are the subject of the paâ—â— so likewise in the Arthritis they contain the nighest and most immediate Cause of the said pain But now that there is no Convulsion excited we have already shewn you the reason thereof above to wit because that the parts that are by Nature assigned for motion are not affected but such only as are appointed for sense as the Membranes or the Nerves likewise themselves such of them as are not destined unto motion according to the Membranes Quest 4. What kind of Feaver that is that accompanieth the Arrhritis THere are indeed very many that assert this Feaver to be only symptomatical But since symptomatical Feavers are those properly which follow the Inflammations of other parts and more especially the Bowels to wit when that heat that is in the affected Member or likewise even the putrid and sooty vapors are communicated to the heart and kindle up the heat in it and so the fewel of the Feaver is in another affected part it easily from hence appeareth that the Feaver which is joyned with the Arthritis is not Symptomaticall but primary For in the Feaver that accompanieth the Arthritis the Fewel of the Feaver is not in the part affected that is to say the part that laboreth under the Arthritis but it is in the great Vessels Yea and the Feaver either it precedeth the Arthritis or else it invadeth together with the invasion of the Arthritis and doth not in any wise follow the same And therefore this Feaver is deservedly referred unto those continued primary Feavers which now adaies we cal accompanying Feavers to wit those that are not solitary but such as have some other Disease joyned with them and that depending upon the very same cause with it to wit when by the motion of some humor which Nature endeavoreth to thrust forth unto some outward part or into the habit of the Body a Feaver is kindled or at least the matter that is moved unto any part becometh withall so putrid that it may cause and kindle a Feaver And as it is in the Erysipelas Pleuresie smal Pocks and Meâ—seâ—â— and the like Diseases so this cometh likewise to pass in the Arhtritis which so his like Feayer is wont oftentimes to precede and to invade the Party a day before or aâ— the seast most bertainly invadeth together with it although it be oftentimes very smal and therefore it is not so much as taken notice of by many sick Persons and especially such as altogether head and mind nothing but their pain But now this Feaver is continual which yet nevertheless remitetth somwhat in the morning but
it exciteth most vehement and grievous pains Neither let any be hereat moved and wonder that we say that this matter is one while spiritual and somtimes also Tartarous and so very fit likewise for the generating of those hard knots which they cal Tophi For that I may speak with the Chymists spinits may proceed from bodies and again bodies may be from spirits This matter in its original and while it was in the Earth was a body and somwhat as it were Earthy and Mineral like but it cometh afterwards to be attenuated in the various Concections both in Plants and Men and so it is made as it were spiritual which hath been acknowledged by many of Galens followers and among the rest by Cardanus who upon the 47. and 49. Aphorisms of the sixth Section writeth that the Matter to wit the cause of Arthritis is as it were a spirit And Lucian in his Tragopodagra calleth it a violent and injurious spirit And yet afterwards this thin humor or spirit when it hath once gotten a fit place to wit the bones and the places about the joynts it again betaketh it self into the body and is there coagulated like as it is a thing generally wel known unto the Chymists and other salt spirits may again be coagulated and return into bodies And yet nevertheless if any one shal assert that there is likewise a volatile Salt in the very Earth it self which the Plants draw unto themselves this doth no way thwart or oppose this Opinion of ours but the whol result of the business and Controversie in hand cometh al unto one and the same conclusion Quest 7. Where the Humor the cause of Arthritis is generated and by what waies it floweth into the Joynts IN what place the Humor that is the cause of the Arthritis is bred and by what waies and passages it floweth into the joynts in this Physitians do greatly differ among themselves which disagreement of theirs hath much hindered the Cure and made it far more difficult than otherwise it would have been and therefore not without cause is it that Fernelius in his sixth B. of the Diseases of the parts and the Symptoms Chap. 18. writeth that from the very ignorance of this thing the pain of the joynts hath hitherto been held and left for incurable and called the shame and disgrace of the Physitians We have briefly above given you our Opinion as touching this thing in Controversie But because there are many and those some of them of the more able and learned Physitians that are of another Judgment and differ from me in their Opinion as in this darkness of Mans mind it is generally wont to be even in the greatest and most serious Controversies I shal not think it time mis-spent nor my pains il bestowed in laying before you with what brevity I can their several Opinions and in the recital of them I shal weigh them accordingly And first I shal indeed begin with Fernelius who asserteth that they are much mistaken who think that the Humor the cause of Arthritis doth break forth of the more secret and inmost parts of the body into the Joynts For how saith he is it possible that any pure and sincere humor can from the bowels and the most inward seats be carried through the Veins or that that humor which was so lately mingled with the blood should now without any mixture thereof by the Orifices of the veins fall pure into the blood or if there should also together with the humor flow forth any of the blood which being collected and gotten together in the Joynts doth it not excite a Phlegmone And why likewise doth not the crude humor which is carried into the Joynts by any other passages than by the Veins cause the Arthritis For in the Cacheâ—ie the crude humors that from the bowels fall down into the feet and cause them to swell do not yet excite the Gout in them But even Fernelius himself taketh it for granted and plainly asserteth that the Head is the Fountain and Original of this Malady from whence saith he a flegmatick humor and this very thin floweth forth into the Joynts And this humor as he tels us is not indeed gathered together in the Brain as whose excrements are either purged forth by the Nostrils or else by the Palate fall down upon the great rough Artery and the Lungs or else into the Stomack and the more inward seats but it is saith he collected in the external parts of the Head and such as are placed without the Skul and by the top and superficies of the body run along downward under the Skin For seeing that there are many Veins running forth thither that are derived from the external Jugular Veins he conceiveth that they may there lay up their thin and serous excrements and that in regard the Skin of the Head is thick and impenetrable so that the humors cannot easily expire and breath through the same that therefore in progress of time they are there stored up and from thence by the superficies and outside of the body fall down into the joynts There are very many other Physitians that follow this Opinion of Fernelius of the which some of them wil have the humor the Cause of Arthritis to be collected in the Head alone betwixt the Skul and the Skin of the Head and they tel us that is the one only place from whence the matter floweth down unto the Joynts but there are others of them who although they likewise add other waies yet notwithstanding they do withall joyn this way of Fernelius and there are very few or none of them who do not believe but that this matter doth withall flow down likewise from this place of the Head But in very truth what Fernelius complaineth of touching the other Opinion that by reason of it it so came to pass that the Arthritis was almost lest as a desperate and incurable Disease and was termed the Opprobium or disgrace of Physitians I conceive without disparagement unto any mans Judgment that it may more truly be affirmed of this his own Opinion and I am of Opinion that that Physitian who seeketh for the Spring and Fountain of this Malady in the Head only neglecting in the mean time the true Fountain and sourse thereof is scarcely ever likely to cure the Arthritis For albeit it be indeed true that certain various flitting and wandring pains may be here and there excited by the serous humor falling down from the extenal part of the Head under the Skin by the outside and supersicies of the Body yet notwithstanding the Arthritis is never from hence generated neither is that matter wont to subsist about the Joynts but for the most part about the membranes of the Joynts But now the generating of the humor that is the Cause of the Arthritis is very different and of a far other nature For this is generated in the sanguification by reason of the Errors
likewise found the same to be the Opinion of Authors none of the meanest and I my self have also observed it more than once in such persons as were Hypochondriacal and such as have had the scurvy and from hence likewise it is that Diarrhaea fluxes unseasonably suppressed are turned into the Arthritis And that there may flow from the Colon Intestine a humor exciting the Arthritis we are taught both by Galen and Hippocrates in 6. Epidem Com. 4. Text. 3. And as for the waies and passages the thing is very plain as we likewise told you before touching the Scurvy to wit that from the Colon this humor may by the Meseraick Arteries be transserred into the Trunk of the great Artery and from hence be thrust unto the joynts And Secondly This also is true and certain and that which is granted by all the most learned Physitians that the Humor the cause of the Arthritis is moved through the Veins and Arteries some of these say alwaies but others of them very often and they are those that determine that the humor floweth down likewise from the Head and the thing is altogether so plain that Thomas Erastus who notwithstanding in his 4. Disputat against Paracels Page 261. defendeth likewise another way from the Head writeth that he only can doubt of this thing who doth not sufficiently attend and take notice of what is dayly done or he that hath his minde prepossessed with a prejudicate Opinion And seeing that these things are true and certain the doubt now lieth in this Whether this way be not sufficient and whether there may any other be assigned and whether the humors also flowing down from the Head under the Skin may excite the Arthritis yea or no And yet notwithstanding in the third place I conceive that this is also most true and certain and sufficiently proved above that somtimes the beginning of the fluxion is not from the Head For whereas both the part transmitting and the part receiving do both of them discover themselves by their several and proper symptoms and that in many Arthritick persons there appeareth no heaviness of the head no pain neither any other symptoms as signs and tokens of any humor gathered together and heaped up there it cannot therefore be concluded that the humor floweth down from the Head And moreover neither hath that Arthritis which is from the Collick its original from the head or from the brain as before we shewed you as likewise neither that which proceedeth from a Diarrhaea unseasonably and unduly suppressed And therefore fourthly this remaineth that may truly be doubted of to wit Whether or no the Arthritis may somtimes have its original from a matter heaped up under the Skin of the Head and from thence flowing down Which indeed very many of the most learned and able Physitians do affirm whom I leave free unto their own judgments but yet for my own part I cannot be perswaded to beleeve it for the reasons before alleadged which here to repear I hold it altogether needless in regard especially that I am able very wel to render a reason of al those symptoms that befal unto Arthritick persons although I determine that the humor the cause of Arthritis is moved only within the Vessels and that by them it floweth into the joynts especially if this be well heeded that this humor doth somtimes most chiefly flow through the descending Trunk of the hollow Vein and the great Artery and somtimes likewise that it withal floweth by the ascending Trunk and that from thence various symptoms are excited about the head What need is there therfore that neglecting those waies which Nature hath ordained as Channels for the motion and flux of the humors we should seek for unknown and unheard of waies And there is one thing that I cannot but at least touch upon and it is this That Erastus indeed in the place alleadged hath this for a sure and certain sign of the humor its flowing from the head that the sick persons do for the most part manifestly feel and perceive the humor to flow down from the head by the neck sides and back like unto a water with a kind of shaking trembling or a slight kind of cold But this sign seems not unto me any whit firm for that shivering and quaking happeneth not only in the Arthritis but oftentimes likewise in Feavers the Erysipelas smal Pox and Meazels and it is a sign and token that these Diseases are very nigh at hand when from the Trunk of the hollow Vein and Artery especially in the back by the branches that arise from them and the extremities of the Veins and Arteries a vapor from the vitious humor or likewise the thinner part thereof is thrust forth into the parts of the back For although that without doubt also the very same happeneth even in other parts yet nevertheless this Chilness and trembling is first of al excited in the back by reason of the Spinal Marrow and the very many Nerves there proceeding from the said Spinal Marrow and being endued with a most quick and exquisite sense by the which Spinal Marrow a Chilness and shivering is likewise seen somtimes to ascend and somtimes to descend touching which see more in Hippocrates his fifth Section and 69. Aphorism And thus much may suffice as touching this Controversie Quest 8. Whether there may any thing be gathered together in the Joynts that may make any thing unto the producing of the fit NOt only Paracelsus and his followers who derive the Arthritis from the ebullition of Synovia have given me occasion to think of this Question but likewise those strange and admirable Cures that have now and then been made in the Arthritis have chiefly put me upon the debate hereof Guilhelm Fabricius in his first Century Epist 47. and 48. relateth that some by tortures have been so freed from the Arthritis that they were never known afterward to undergo any fit thereof Indeed by affrightment as also by joy it is a thing very wel known that many have been freed from the Arthritick Paroxysms But how a man should in this manner perpetually be freed from the Arthritis or joynt-Gout it is not so easie a thing to render the reason thereof unless it be sought for in the place affected And there are likewise other Histories of this very thing That famous and eminent person Dn. D. Doringius related unto me that there was a Citizen of Giessa who through impatience by reason of his pain with a hatchet cut off the great Toes of both his Feet and ever after this he lived altogether free from the Arthritis Andreas Libavius likewise in his 73. Epist to Schinzeurs relateth such a story as this There was saith he a Patient an Host or publick Inholder A certain Physitian a Chevalier a person of great quality happening to be there having agreed with him for three hundred Florens promised the Cure and when he had received
at Venice who by his abstaining from wine by the space of five years was delivered from the Arthritis or Gout during his whole life even unto the very day of his Death And we likewise related unto you before out of Franciscus Alexander of one Francis Pecchius a man much troubled with the Gout who being cast into prison and there detained for twenty years was in the end freed both from his imprisonment and all his Arthritick pains and so continued free from all fits of the Gout for ever after during his Natural life And Marcus Gattinaria in that Chap. of his Book touching the Cure of the pains of the Joynts from a hot Cause writerh as concerning himself that when he first began to suffer the fits of the Gout this was the Course he took for the recovery of his health and ease from his fits to wit first of all he imposed upon himself an abstinence from Wine for two years and every month he emptied his Body by Evacuations and then he took some Pill or other for the diverting of the Humor the cause of his distemper and this he made use of twice in the week that so Nature might be diverted in her transmitting the matter unto the Joynts and that so she might rather evacuate it by the way of siege and by using this course for a while he was so throughly Cured that he was never after that troubled with any such like pains And Carolus Piso also in his Book of Diseases from Serous or Wheyish impurities in his Consil touching the Arthritis writeth that a certain man who had lived all the time of his youth infested with perpetual pains of the Arthritis and making his moan and continual complaints thereof by the counsel and advice of Nicolaus Piso in the flower of his Age he wholly denyeth unto himself the use of Wine although he were the principal of those that were set over and had the charge of a Wine-Cellar a rare example indeed of admirable temperance and so by thus doing he kept himself for thirty years together al the time of his life after altogether free from those pains And Histories likewise testifie that some even by a due and orderly regularing of their lives and others again by their being reduced unto poverty and so necessitated unto a frugality in point of Dyet have thereby been wholly freed and delivered from the Gout And this withal is a thing most strange and wonderful of which Guilbelm Fabricius relateth three examples in his First Cent. and 79. Observat that some certain Arthritick persons there have been who upon suspition of some Notorious Offences by them committed have been oftentimes set upon the wrack and put upon the extreamest of all exquisite Tortures but when they have constantly maintained their own innocency they have at once been absolved and for ever set free from their Crimes and withal from the fits of the Gout with the which they had formerly been most grievously afflicted And wonderful also is that example which the same Author in his first Cent. Epist 47. relateth of a certain envious and malecontented Person that lay sick of the Gout who though he were fastened unto his sick Bed by his painful Disease could not yet refrain from traducing and speaking ill of others Which when a merry conceited Fellow there present perceived who had also himself been lasht by the petulancy of the others Tongue about the dusk of the Evening taking his opportunity when the sick Person was left all alone by all his Family enters the sick mans House privily in a strange disguise that he had gotten like unto an Aeâ—hiopian or Blackmoor and thus disguised he goeth neer unto the Bed-side of the sick Person who astonished with the unusualness of the form his own solitariness and withall terrified with the darkness of the place it self that he lay in demandeth of him who he was and from whence he came The Whifler answering to none of his Questions but making his approach closer unto the Bed-side catcheth him by the Arms which were likewise much troubled and pained with the Arthritis and having thus laid hold on him he throweth him upon his back and to hanging upon the same and crying out with all the noise he could make he carrieth him out of the Chamber where he lay ever and anon crushing his Feet against the Stairs by which he was to go down When he was come into the Yard he there sets down his burden putting the sick Person upon his Feer speaking not a word to him all this while only staring him ful in the Face And then suddenly again he runs towards him and made as though he would once more have seized upon him and so have carried him out of the House But now he who before could not so much as set his Feet to the Ground by reason of his Disease nor walk at all upon plain Ground much less get up any whither by the Steps now runs as fast as he could up Staits and to the top of them he gets and so into his Bed-Chamber he comes and thorow the Window with the loud noise he made all the Neighborhood was raised and so come running in unto him to see what the matter was He out of Breath as he was and half dead with affrightment tels them that he was by a Ghost dragg'd out of the Bed where he lay and then being carried forth of his Lodging-room he was most miserably handled and that had he not often called upon and ingeminated the name Jesus he had without doubt been gone had there been no more men in the world And wonderful indeed it was that he who was before so sorely afflicted with the Gout should hereupon recover his health and strength and never after be troubled with any the least fit of his former Disease Fabricius hath there likewise another History of a certain Malefactor that had the Gout who being brought forth and led unto Execution his punishment being to have his Head cut off by that time be was come half way to the place of execution there was brought him an unexpected Pardon granted him by the Clemency of his Gracious Prince The miserable man was so affected with this good tidings that he who til now wanted the use of almost all his extream Members now on a suddain cast himself on his Feet with a quick and speedy motion and lived after this for many yeers wholly free from all kind of pain and trouble that formerly he had undergone by reason of the Gout And I my self remember likewise that we had here with us not long since a Noble Youth much troubled with the Gout this Youth the neer neighboring houses happening one Night to be all on Fire and the House wherein he was in danger to be burnt he suddenly for fear gets him out of his Bed and down a Ladder he runs and intending to fly into another House he fell with that Foot where