certain our selves of nothing For this would be to see with other mens Eyes to hear with other mens Ears and smell with other mens Noses and to understand with other mens Intelligence and to believe our selves no other than meer stones to commit all things to the assertions of others and not to believe our selves able to make any true discussion in doubtful matters And another of Galens Followers exceedingly condemning this same pertinacy relates a very pleasant adventure to wit That a certain publick Reader long time versed and grown old in the Books of Aristotle being one day by chance present at an Anatomy and clearly seeing that the Vena cava takes its Original from the innumerable Threds or Roots which are in the Liver full of wonder and astonishment As one that never beheld a thing incredible confess'd indeed by what his Senses shewed him the Vena cava must descend from the Liver but that he ought not therefore by crediting his Senses to contradict his Master Aristotle who constantly affirms all the veins in mans body to have their beginning from the Heart because said he it is much more easie for our Senses to be sometimes deceived than for the Great and Soveraign Aristotle ever to have faln into any Error And so much Power had his Obstinacy over him that being in the company of certain learned men shewn by one of them a little Suet about the Heart which melted by the faint heat of a Candle to defend his Aristotle by whom this is denied he durst to say that what he saw was not Fat And certainly pleasant enough is that also which is related by the most famous Redi that one who was deeply read in the Writings of the Peripateticks because he would not be compell'd to confess that the Stars and other new things discovered in the Heavens by the great Galileo were true refused the assistance of the Telescope and that another yet more obstinate would not condescend to see him open one of those little Frogs which in Summer are seen in the dusty High-ways for fear of being obliged to confess that they are not engendred in the instant of the Drops being incorporated with the Dust But where shall I have room to relate the Disputes and Contests which grew up in Rome about the Medicinal Doctrine of that famous Physician Prosper Martianus Who being endued with uncommon Learning and prudent Sagacity and gloriously employing the utmost of his Ability and Industry in searching into the Doctrine of Hippocrates manifestly shews that Galen oftentimes either did not or would not comprehend the true Sentiments of that venerable old man And Petro Castelli avouching the same thing tells us besides That Galen took the same course in explaining the most learned Opinions of the divine Plato Galen either understood not or would not understand Hippocrates or Plato to give the greater esteem to his own Writings Then he defends the most wise Old Man from his Reproofs and Taunts especially about the Causes of Feavers constantly affirming not only that Hippocrates never prescribed the letting of Blood in Feavers but where the excessive internal Inflammation required it as was also before him fully observed by Hieronymus Cardanus but farthemore asserting That according to the Doctrine of Hippocrates a Feaver is one of those Distempers which in nowise admits of Phlebotomy These and other good and sound Doctrines the learned Martianus wisely manifesting revived with them the decayed and almost extinguish'd Sect of his dear Hippocrates But I know not how I have hitherto forbore to mention one who altho a woman deserves yet to be reckoned amongst the greatest Scholars I mean the Lady Donna Oliva Sabuco She childish sports and Female Exercise Ev'n from her tender years did still despise To spin or to the Needle set her hand Of masculine learning studious she disdain'd Now she being abundantly furnished with more than masculine Wit and Understanding couragiously imployed both her Brains and Mind in the Investigation of Natural things and advancing in her Studies she set her wits upon things of greatest use and to the end Spain and the Whole might receive some benefit thereby she wonderfully gave beginning to a new and most ingenious way of Curing And writing a Letter to the most august Monarch Philip the Second of Eternal and Glorious Memory she thus displays her Wit It is as plain as the light of the Sun That the ancient Physick was in an Error according as it is read and practised in its principal Fundamentals for that the ancient Philosophers and Physicians neither understood or reach'd the true nature upon which Physick is founded and from whence it draws its original of which not only the understanding Christian Physicians may be Judges but also those that have any prospect into other Faculties being persons of Wit and Judgment And a little after He that cannot comprehend or understand it let him leave it to others that are to come or let him believe Experience and not the ancient Physick Therefore my Petition is just that these my Followers may be approved for one year since they have tryed the Rules of Galen and Hippocrates for these 2000 years and have found the Effect so inconsiderable and the Ends so uncertain as is to be seen every day and was lately observ'd in the past Epidemic Catarrhs Spotted Feavers Small Pox and Pestilences and many other Infirmities in the Cure of which that sort of Physick is so ineffectual that scarce two in a thousand live out the natural Limits of life but all die violent deaths of some Disease or other without any Remedy from ancient Physick And in her Dialogue of True Physick You cannot deny Mr. Doctor but that the Physick you use is uncertain various and fallacious and that its End and Effects are false and dubious whereas we see the ends and effects of other Arts to be certain and true without variation as in Arithmetick Geometry Musick Ascrology c. which bring to pass the end and benefit which they purpose Which end fails as you see in Physick being so deceitful uncertain and various Whence it must follow that this Art fails in its first grounds and foundations because it produces not fruit conformable to what it proposes so that when we expect Currans and delicious Apples it brings forth nothing but Galls and Medlars And a little further maintaining the same Opinion she saies You cannot deny Mr. Doctor the Inconstancy of Physick and how many alterations have been made in it and that the Art was for a long time forbidden in Rome where those wise people gave no credit to it nor would seek for Cure from the hands of the Physician for the reasons I have said which are of great efficacy Neither did the Saracens nor those of China admit Physicians And those grave and ancient Authors themselves Cry out that Life is short Art long Judgment difficult and Experience dangerous And Hippocrates That no certain and perfect
thereof as it may when kept within the limits of experience and our although weak Reason be perhaps of some help to the publick So on the contrary whenever it happens to decline to a sinister path it proves more dangerous and destructive to Mankind than Diseases themselves And no sooner were the unhappy Accidents that had befaln some sick persons and for which the Chimical Medicines were accused made known to his Excellency but he immediately ordered That we should with the greatest diligence imaginable apply our selves to search out a Remedy for such Misfortunes and also to prescribe unto Physicians where there is need certain secure and solid Rules to be observed in their Practice But whenever ruminating with my self I reflect upon the Numerosity and Quality of the Difficulties there are in such an Attempt finding likewise as many in my self I remain confused and at a stand either because it so happens in all other affairs of great Consideration or that the nature of this Art not bearing it it seems exceeding hard and difficult to give Laws to the things appertaining thereunto I should therefore rather chuse without any more ado by my silence to free my self from trouble did I not know that I should thereby contravene his Commands whose not only Requests but even Signs I ought without any Reply and with awful Reverence to obey By which as also by the Benefit that may perhaps thence redound to my Country being incited I willingly enter the Lists Now to the end every Deliberation or Resolution that is to be taken in this matter may not prove altogether vain and unprofitable I shall employ all the strength of my weak Understanding Discoursing in the first place of the Difficulties whereinto not only Princes and Magistrates but also the wisest and most intelligent Physicians have oftentimes fallen in giving permanent and certain Laws to Medicine an Art of its own nature in the highest degree uncertain dubious and inconstant Then afterwards gradually and with sober advice penetrating more inwardly we will purpose as far as the Nature of the thing will suffer the way to make a good Physician and a better Chimist Nor do I at present remember any other Remedy that may be able and fit to repair the perpetual and almost fatal Calamities of Physick And to begin with the most ancient Memoirs setting aside how short a time continued in India Babylonia and Assyria their device of lodging the Sick on the most frequented Roads of the Country to have them cured by Travellers In Egypt where all the Arts and more Noble Studies first came to light and flourished only the Kings Priests and some few of the chief Nobility were permitted to give Physick to the sick whence by Manethon were reckoned amongst the Physicians of most profound Judgment Antotides the second King of the first Dynasty of the Tinites who wrote some Books of Anatomy and Tosoretrus of the third Dynasty which was that of the Memphitians But afterwards in process of time this Profession grew common also with the Multitude and so much was the Number of Physicians increased that for every Distemper there was appointed a particular Physician who was permitted to cure no other as is testified by Herodotus Father of the Greek History in these words Medicine with them was divided every particular Disease and no more having its Physician whence all the Country is pestered with Physicians For some are appointed to cure the Eyes others the Head others the Teeth others the parts of the Belly and others internal and hidden Distempers The Egyptian Physick remaining only amongst private persons it is not easie to believe how falling from its ancient Splendor it changed through the Laziness and Ignorance of the new Physicians who were of such small parts that as the but-now-mentioned Herodotus saies The chiefest of them at the Court of the great King of Persia when he had dislocated his Foot knew not how to cure it but with their Arguments reduced him to a very bad condition Therefore we ought without doubt to believe That in Egypt the Physicians were as Diodorus relates prohibited to depart from the Precepts of the ancient Masters from which if any one happened to swerve and his Patient thereby grew worse he was severely punished for it For saies he if after they had directly followed the acknowledged Laws of the sacred Book they sail'd of curing the Patient no Charge could be laid against them But if they went contrary to the written Rules they underwent the Judgment of Death And really it was no small good Fortune of Galens to say nothing at present of Hippocrates and others that he was not born in those times and in that Countrey For he would not so easily have escaped Punishment if contemning as it were the reverend Authority of the Law he should have had the boldness to utter these words I observe this not only in the writings of Hippocrates but in all the Books of the Ancients that I am not easily drawn to believe what any one of them has left written until I have first well examined by the Test of Experience and Reason whether what they have delivered be true or false And that he was well versed in Logick is seen by such Weapons as he used to defend himself withal as Commenting upon the Ancients and reporting their Opinions intangled and obumbrated to the end they might not contradict his own A Custom which those Physicians that tread in the same steps have followed and still do follow and which does in such a manner deform his sayings and also those of Hippocrates that they oftentimes clearly appear to have written quite contrary to their first Determinations And perhaps the Egyptians deriding their own Law acted maliciously in the same manner according to the Proverb Fatta la legge pensata la Malizia No sooner is the Law made but ways are found out to evade it And to such a pitch peradventure did their neglected Boldness arrive that their usual falling presently to Purgations and for the most part with ill success forced them their first Law being antiquated to remedy it by publishing a new one as Aristotle relates in these Words The Physicians may after the fourth day stir the humors but if they will do it sooner at their own peril be it Which Simplicity I believe found not many Abettors if they considered how often Diseases happen that on the very first day need violent Remedies But what a Fool would that Physician have been that should have procured anothers Life with his own death The Grecians who out-went all other Nations as in Arts and Sciences so likewise in Civil Prudence having regard perhaps to such inconveniences would not impose any positive Laws upon Physick or those that professed it chusing rather that Infamy should be the punishment of those Physicians by whose fault the Sick should miscarry For saies Hippocrates There is no penalty set upon the Practisers of Physick only in
his other Cruelties by the Writers of that Age as also Alexander was deservedly stiled cruel for having unjustly caused Glaucias the Physician to be slain through a suspicion that he had not been diligent enough in curing his dearest Friend Hephestion As on the contrary the Clemency and Humanity of Darius Hystaspes King of Persia is highly commended who freely permitted the Physicians already condemned to dy for having reduced him to a bad Condition to be set at liberty by Democides a famous Physician of Crotona But let not any one therefore believe that the Physicians gained such a liberty by transgressing their Rules for it proceeded rather from the utmost necessity of the publick and is as it were an effect of the Art of good Government for I am verily perswaded that even the memory of the Mystery of the Medicine would have been utterly extinguished if Physicians had been proceeded against according to the rigor of Justice And what man indeed unless he were exceeding dull and stupid or extreamly rash would ever have vainly spent his Time and Endeavours in the pursuit of an Art if Medicine which has not any certain and fixed Rule in its operations may possibly be so called in it self displeasing and hard to be obtained and in its Events very dubious I say displeasing for what can be more offensive and disgustful than continually to converse with sick persons and daily to see and heal the Miseries of others and that many times without being any ways able to remedy them It is also difficult to undertake and always uncertain in its success because in the curing of the Sick not only the skill of the Physician but also Fortune and Chance claim their share from whence arose this common Proverb A Physician had need be born under a fortunate Constellation And O how exceeding often does it happen that contrary to all human expectation as Celsus writes Expectation is likewise frustrated and that man dies of whom the Physician was secure before And Hippocrates himself although esteemed a most profound and skilful Physician yet confesses That he gained more Reproach than Commendations by his Profession And therefore it is exceeding difficult or rather impossible always to judge whether the unhappy success of of distempers proceeds from the sottishness of the Physicians or from the Nature of the disease or from some other internal Cause into which no humane Wisdom or Knowledge can penetrate Most uncertain always and obscure are the Symptoms of diseases especially of the acute according to Hippocrates wherefore Celsus also said It behoves us also to understand that in acute Diseases the Symptoms of life and death are much more fallacious Besides that in the Bodies of Animals are wont to be ingendred poisons and that oftentimes presently by sudden precipitation and Coagulation and the man whom not only others but even Appollo and Aesculapius themselves would have judged most sound and healthful may have within him Imposthumes and other secret distempers which when he least thinks of it may be able to cause his death and that at the very Instant when the Medicins are prepared wrongfully therefore are the Remedies blamed and not the evil quality of the distemper And besides this some Medicines which are esteemed good and conducing to the Health of man may oftentimes occasion such disturbance within the Patients body as may bring on his death before we with our shallow Understandings can prevent it as Celsus testifies It will not therefore be the Physicians fault if sometimes his Patient grows worse by his Remedies nor can Laws ever determine any thing herein But come let us grant that a method of Curing may by Law be prescribed to Physicians how can they be punished for transgressing it or how can the Crime be so clearly manifested that they may be proceeded against in form of Law And who does not sufficiently know how all Physicians are of contrary Sects and perpetually disagreeing in their Sentiments Wherefore being either always stimulated by open Enmity or which is worse by secret Envy or else allured by the love and Benevolence of their own party they will without any respect to Truth represent the matter to the Judge quite otherwise than in Justice they ought and make him as the Italian Proverb has it See the Moon in the Well acccording to their own desire Besides that the fear of punishment which the Physician may easily incur will always keep him suspended and dubious in taking his Resolutions even when he intends to operate most effectually and thus being terrified and confounded he will for fear of hazarding his person in the greatest Maladies stand as it were fettered and with his hands bound behind him or else not to depart from the common opinion of the Vulgar however false and contrary to the distemper will oftentimes make use of vain and dangerous Remedies A thing which as it is well observed by Cardanus is oftner wont to befal the Physicians of Princes than any others who not only for fear of Infamy but also of greater Mischief forbear making use of great and unusual Remedies It will not be far from the matter to bring here an Example taken from the art of War not much differing truly in the uncertainty of its success from that of Medicine The Roman Magistrates rather pitied than punished the Errors of their Captains and it is well seen to what a height the Empire of Rome ascended thereby as on the other side every one knows to how wretched a Condition the Carthaginians were reduced by always taking contrary measures And this was yet nearer to our times manifested by the Venetians to their exceeding great damage and with the almost Universal Ruine of their Republick when they unjustly beheaded Carmagnuola for his carelesness by which Liviano afterwards being dismayed and following the Opinion of the unwary Proveditors lost the day at Vicenza and was miserably with his whole Army discomfited and cut in pieces And perhaps the putting of Vitelli to death was one of the principle Occasions that the Florentines betrayed by Baglione sadly afterwards lost their liberty And here some one may not without reason object That as well the Aquilian as all the other Laws of the Romans by us related were not made for able Physicians whether Methodical Empirical or Rational but only for such popular Empiricks as are Quacks and Mountebanks the Name of Physician being not only given to such vulgar Empiricks but even to those also that were wont to castrate little Children as may be easily seen in the Digests and Code as well of Theodosius as Justiman And certainly it is to be believed That in them alone the Ignorance of the Art took place through occasion whereof the Laws against Physicians were ordained in Rome But this foolish sort of Physicians ought indeed to be severely punished for rashly intermedling in a Mystery of so great importance as is the art of Healing and blindly ordaining Remedies at the peril