himself accordingly but in impossible cases he shall not meddle CHAP. IV. ANd here me thinks I see a Galenist beginning to frame a reply who after a few course complements doth thus out of his wonted gravity seek to defend his own faction Do not we quoth he the like in effect for we by our Art distinguish between easie dangerous and desperate diseases which we therefore undertake or leave accordingly For if there be only a light distemper as foulness of the stomack or bad humours clogging or obstructing the liver or the like we then by an usual purge or vomit and by bloudletting and glysters remove the same but if the distemper be more violent then by our Method we help that for that is our mystery which the prating Chymists not knowing cannot therefore do that by their medicines which we can by our method which is the master-piece of our Art for we are like to skilful workmen amid a number of tools we know our work and so can as cause presents and as Symptomes do move call in for this or that medicine and as occasion requires we can use external artificial helps when Nature is not in fit case to be provoked by a violent process This is the good old way and it is the safe way But these furnace-mongers would perswade the world that by medicines prepared by their Art diseases may be cut down as it were with a sithe which for all their boasting will not be These with several other things are pretended by them to conceal their ignorance in so blinde progresses But as it is an easie thing to lie hid in the dark the mantle of the night hiding that which the Sun discovers it will not be amiss to proceed to the true course of curing diseases and by it our adversaries will be easily quelled Basilius and Suchten both noble and worthy Artists advise as many as have given their name to Art to be doing and not to contend in bare words for it is as impossible to convince the Galenists with words without works as it was for Christ his Apostles to have convinced the Jewes by preaching without miracles therefore I shall first give you the Character of a true Physician and secondly shew you what his work is A true Physician is he whom God hath qualified with a longing desire to know nature in her operations her integrity and desects and how they may be amended For the attainment of which he doth ask seek and knock with diligence patience and constancy till it be given and opened unto him his heart is not set upon gain but out of charity to the distressed he doth persist in this pursuit of knowledge and the merciful God hears him and gives him what he seeks for then having received his talent he doth not bury it in a napkin but doth improve it untill with it he gain two and with them five and with them ten talents He knowes that diseases are all in their kinde curable without exception death only being out of the power of any man or means the definitive sentence being past irrevocably He laments the sad Catalogues of poor mortals the distressed members of Christ Jesus who flying from the Lion of sickness meet with a Bear in stead of a true Physician who in stead of bread gives them a stone and in stead of fish a serpent and yet these are the fathers of the sick so pretended to be but like old Saturn they devour and make a prey of their children He also that is a true Physician doth not seek fame and honour so much as the good of those he undertakes nor doth he startle at the sad catalogue of incurable diseases which the School Doctors have most shamefully compiled which he by his Medicines is able to overcome as the valiant champion is reported to have conquered the dovouring Monster His work is not to spend his time in turning over of leaves but he makes use of Authors so as not to conclude any thing upon bare reading without trial In a word he so behaves himself as if his great content proposed were whether to be more assiduous in discovering nature or sedulous in conquering diseases of which the latter is the main end he aims at in the former Now I shall briefly discover the objections made by Galenists against this way of medicine and shall so fully answer them that there shall be no scruple left First of all they accuse Chymical Medicines as virulent too hot and therefore unfit to be given as oft in stead of curing encreasing the disease they are say they a little too strong for our constitution being for the most part mineral and metalline or else they are saline which are very sharp and corrosive or of a fiery sulphurous nature which therefore in stead of cooling and refreshing do inflame the body inwardly therefore say they such medicines are dangerous and desperate which if they were not they would as they make their patients believe use them themselves In such discourses you shall have them run at random and their aim in all is to make the sick believe that their medicaments only are gentle safe and agreeable to nature the other forcible violent and desperate which no man but a mad man would take This is to speak the truth the only main objection which Galenists usually produce against Chymical medicines and this they varnish over with many specious colours to make the patient believe that to meddle with a Chymical medicament is no other then to cast out the Devil by Belzebub or according to the old proverb to cure a desperate disease by a desperate medicine Therefore I shall briefly yet fully answer this cavil and so answer it that it may appear to the eye of any judicious man to be but a meer Mormo which the Galenists have invented to scare the rude and ignorant with as nurses use to affright children with tales of Robin Good-fellow Raw head and bloudy bones and the like And first as to the point of Virulency which is a very great Bugbear and enough to deter the most confident Patient if once you can perswade him the remedies he is to take to be of an exquisite virulency for so a very smal error in the dose will hazard the life in stead of conquering the distemper poyson I grant is a dangerous nay a desperate thing to deal with nor is it good to admit of it into the body upon any pretence but that Chymical Medicines are such that is the point in controversie Calvin in his Preface to the King of France in which he defends his Religion from the foul aspersions laid on it by Papists hath this most just plea namely to call for his advarsaries Reasons before he be condemned by their Criminations for if it be enough to accuse who may or can expect to be found innocent So say I our Antagonists raise a great dust concerning poyson virulency and malignity which they pretend
is in Chymical Medicaments and with this clamour they have filled the world and buzzed it into the ears and hearts of as many as by their impudent confident railing they could incline to embrace this opinion whose aspersions now I shall endevour to wipe off And here I shall entreat the Readers candor in pondering the weight of Arguments on both sides before he proceed to censure for which end I shall minde thee of one general rule which is in the urging of all Controversies to observe the interest of each party and then you will confess that what ever is said on either side and not proved savours of passion not of Reason Consider that the Galenical Tribes credit honour reputation and fortunes do all depend on impugning this way of Chymical preparations no marvel then if you hear from them Demetrius his outcry Great is the Diana of the Ephesians especially since the moving cause is the same namely Sirs you know that by this Art we get our wealth our honour and all and therefore it behoves to oppose that upstart Chymistry which will if it once be accepted into the world make us to be as contemptible as common Fidlers Hinc illae lachrymae Hence it is that you hear such terrible newes concerning this Art of Pyrotechny for this Art requireth in a sense a new birth or regeneration as then it was an irresoluble riddle to Nicodemus that a man when he was old should enter into his mothers womb and again be born so is it an insufferable task for an old Putationer who hath by prescription attained the reputation of a skilful Doctor to make loss of all this his imaginary skill and to employ his time pains study and moneys in the attaining of that which he either neglecting oâ— slighting in his youth is in his age as capable of as an Asse is to play on the Harp there is therefore no way left for him to uphold his own reputation then by casting durt on that Art which is so diametrically opposite to his former way of profit Nor is it any thing of weight that he urgeth his as the old way and condemns the other as new for error wants but a few hours of the Age of truth nor was this old way elder then error and therefore to plead its antiquity is a fallacious argument of its authority and verity Yet could I if it made to my present purpose trace this noble Art of true Chymical Philosophy to a far more ancient pedigree then Galen or Hippocrates either although Hippocrates was as incomparably different from the other as truth is from error But as I said before here lies the very knot of all the Galenists have a Trade which is supported by Garrulity performed with ease and idleness and accompanied with riches credit esteem and honour their work is not attended with any pains untill they come to practise and then that only consists in visits which pains is the key of their wealth As for the properation of Medicaments that the Doctor little acquaints himself with it his Theory consisting only in turning over of leaves and his Practise in tossing of Pisse-pots and writing of Bils this O! this is their Diana they so much admire and propound to the credulous world to be adored But now a true son of Art he is not so blassed for his interest doth not hang on such a hinge but he propounds the workman to be judged by his work nor can there be too many endowed with this true skil for in the search of nature there are infinite secrets and those lucriferous to the Artist so that he need not gape after the practise of medicine for gain God in mercy dispensing his gifts for the use of mankinde gives such to whom he imparts this skil an heart to improve it without the sordid by-ends of gain and profit But admit that every Galenist were indeed a true Chymist what disadvantage could accrew thereby to any true Artist for every one would have sufficient imployment so many are the sad diseases to which mortal man is subject Experience sheweth that the Galenists envie not Chymists as Physicians but as Chymists for otherwise they can with patience bear the daily swarming of their own Tribe so fruitful is that profession of its Clients that it is incredible what a number there is of them in and about London Now it is not to be doubted but all or most of them get a living by their Art besides old Wives Quacks Mountebanks Barber-surgeons and their men Apothecaries c. who all as confidently pretend to a patrimony in the Art of Medicine as if they were the natural sons of Galen and Hippocrates Yet sad experience doth teach that for all this rabble of Physicians there is not a third part of diseases cured nor a tenth part by the skill of the Doctor If then so many get a living by pretending to that they know not and undertaking what they cannot performe this livelihood would not be diminished but rather encreased if all were holpen that are undertaken and those moreover who in numberless swarmes lie up and down in Hospitals and Spitles and many who languish at home in private both hopeless and helpless But if once true Artists were countenanced and embraced scarce the tenth pretender but would be thrown under the board for true medicine is not prostituted in formal receipts to be prepared by the hand of any blundering Apothecary but it is one of the choice secrets of nature which she hath with great care locked up nor will she open them to any who have not the true keyes It is not an overly reading of Fernelius Avicen Galen that can entitle a man a Son of this Art but it requires a mental man patient laborious and one who is not niggardly in expences such a man must toyl without wearisomness and although after several years searching with the expence of many pounds he hit not what he aims at yet must he still patiently proceed which task is more than Herculean for a lazy Pisse-prophet CHAP. V. BUt to come to the matter propounded namely concerning poysons of which aspersion I shall acquit the right Chymicall Medicines Poyson properly is that which by an over powering activity in the body doth destroy the vitals and is of divers sorts some are putrifactive poysons others corrosive others narcotick c. This in general concerning their Nature but in particular they are all found either in the Animal Vegetable or Mineral Kingdome Not to speak of those endemical malignant vapours which infect the air oft-times nor of the virulency of the Pestilence Leprosie c. which oft doth seat it self in the very wals of houses cloth paper c. But although there are several sorts of malignities which are properly so called poysons yet in the common acceptation of the word it denotes such a thing by which either man or beast is destroyed and that either by the eating of it or
the Impartial Reader 'T is a shameful excuse that Doctors usually make when many die under their hands that they proceed according to the Rules of Art if this Art be worse then the Art of a Tinker or a Cobler For let any of these be called to do any job of work that is in their Trade they will tell you straight if or no it be to be done and undertaking will perform it only the Doctor if called to a sick patient will in lieu of a large Fee tell you what the disease is at least what comes into his minde at the time which he thinks will satisfie an ignorant patient and what is this The sick man needs a Physician not a witness of his misery Well aske him concerning the cure he will tell you that he can promise nothing for the blessing is only in Gods hand but he will do his endevour A religious Answer and as he will garnish it to the vulgar specious but it is is but a visard to hide a grievous imposture For as our life so all our actions are in the hand of God 't is he that buildeth the house else in vain is the work of the workman The husband-mans breaking up his ground sowing his seed and managing his ground even this saith the Prophet is of the Lord He teacheth him and helpeth him else he could do nothing So in God we live move and have our being and when we speak of ordinary natural things to be so cautious in speaking as not to promise any thing without mentioning God is not discommendable but the contrary yet as it may be used or rather misused this may seem not only ridiculous but in a manner an affected taking Gods name in vain as for instance if a man being desired to make a garment should promise not absolutely but with proviso if God permit and give life it is Christian-like but if he desire Gods blessing as to the effect the causes being granted that is ridiculous as if he should say I cannot promise to make you a garment but I wil use all the skill I have and my endevours but it is in Gods hand whether it shall become a garment or no. So if a servant should be bidden to kindle a fire should say he could not promise to do that but he would do his endevour but Gods blessing must give the success how ridiculous were this but much more if for fuel he should take stones and for fire something of a different nature and excuse himself as having done what was on his part but Gods blessing not concurring the effect did not succeed according to desire Not unlike is it in this case a Doctor is called to a Patient taken with a Feaver and first orders him to be let bloud then purged either upward or downward or both waies the disease yet encreasing he gives his cooling Julips pectoral Electuaries Conserves and Syrups withall he prescribes Clysters or Suppositers Lotions for the mouth and such fooleries if notwithstanding the disease continue and grow more violent he then expects the crisis of Nature only he will perhaps apply pigeons or the like to the feet or vesicate the external members for revulsion sake and yet if the Patient die he holds himself excused as having followed the rules of Art and done what was to be done only the success as he saith being in Gods hand he therefore could not help it if God did not see good to make the medicines applyed effectual for the mans recovery But as it is a sad thing that the grace of God pretended should be used as a pander unto wantonness so it is no less hateful that the providence of God should be misapplied as a cover-slut of idleness ignorance and unconscionableness for who knowes not that our life is so in Gods hand as it is ordinarily preserved or lost by the use or want of things proper thereto even hunger it self would be certainly mortal if not appeased by meat appropriated thereto by the appointment of God And if stones were used for food no man would doubt to impute death in that case to the want of food as the immediate cause subordinate to the providence of God so is it in this case And in truth God can but rarely doth work miracles a man rarely is starved to death amidst variety of victuals nor pined for thirst where drink is plenty much less where he both may and doth eat and drink at pleasure So then as to the starving of a man is required want of meat drink or either of them so to the perishing of a man under a Feaver is required the defect of a true medicine or want of timely application It is not every ridiculous slop that is a Medicine nor any promiscuous care of the sick that is the true Art of cure that is a Medicine indeed and the Art of cure indeed which hath a power to perform what the Physician promiseth or the Patient expecteth So then the Art and Medicines which are required for cure and not for pretence are to be related unto actual recovery as a sufficient cause to the effect which is certainly effectual 'T is as naturall and certain for a right Medicine to cure a disease as it is for fire to inflame combustible things for the Sun to give light for water to quench fire and the contrary would be supernatural yea I am bold to affirm that it would be as strange for a true Medicine rightly applyed to miss the cure of a natural disease as for the flame not to consume a combustible object So that for Doctors to pretend that they use the means and that according to the rules of Art but Gods blessing not concurring the effect did not answer expectation is as much as if they should say that God to render their labour and care frustrate doth work miracles daily in denying the natural effect to an adequate cause And if so they may justly fear themselves to be highly out of Gods favour if he will cross and pervert the ordinary course of nature and that daily and commonly to frustrate their endevours or else they must confess the truth as it is namely that their method and medicines are not to be esteemed as an adequate cause to the effect of cure of diseases and then what is their Art but a shameful imposture and cheat of the world I would gladly any of the Galenical Tribe would salve this Argument by resolving the world to what diseases their Art Method and Medicaments are adequated causes in respect of cure and reference to recovery if to any then in such diseases they may as confidently warrant the effect as a Gunner to fire a Gun that is charged with good powder and he with a lighted linstock in his hand nor is it presumption in the one more then in the other but alas is it not evident that if a Doctor be called to a sick man though at the beginning of