and Impregnation of the Excrements by the vital spirits it will necessarily follow that both the beams of the Excrements and the body as not differing in nature and qualities are so terminated one upon another by the aforesaid means rather than by any other yea if the form both of the body and of the Excrements do depend in the same soul it will be amisse to call them Excrements untill they have utterly lost their form they got in the body rather a part of the body or something subordinate to the body and therefore the vital spirit being affected in the Excrements is also affected in the body which cannot be done without such a concatenation But this generall rule is to be observed namely That the Excrements of any parts are peculiarly allyed and tyed to the Part whose Excrements they were and that the beams that interchangeably flow from these do by a peculiar love imbrace these that flow from the part whose Excrement it is vice versa for out of that part it hath drawn more plenteous spirits and therefore hath greater affinity with it which may be perceived by manifold experiences for if you put any uscerating thing into the Excrements the Pudding will be affected with great grief and pain For example Put Pease in a firing-Pan till they be very hot and put them into hot odure and how many Pease so many Pustules will be on the fundament So the Aculeus Pastenacae Marinae stuck in the place where one hath lately Pist restrains it till you have pull'd it out again You will finde more Experiments of this kinde in the processe of this Work It is not therefore to be doubted but that the Excrements are by reciprocal beams concatenated with the bodies especially with those parts out of which they last proceeded Thence arise severall considerations whereof we will take notice hereafter onely take notice of this That upon this concatenation depends all Magnetical Physick and therefore mark it well that if any thing in the practice shall seem obscure that thou mayst addresse thy self to this place and better consider that which is already said It is added in the Conclusion that the furthest distance doth not break this concatenation which is so true that the virtue of the soul extends it self so largely that it is scarcely contained in place for the concatenation depending on the soul must needs be extended according to the virtue of the soul besides the other reason which we infinuated above of this extention where we said there do most plentifull spirits flow from wights by reason of the great plenty of vitall spirits which appear to the sences in that they need so great store of Aliment to the end that what was spent in propagating beams might by the conduct of the dispensing spirit be renewed in the body the fountain of them There is therefore no small store of those beams because being thin subtil and easily dissipated they need continual food for the reparation of them They extend themselves likewise very far and work diversly we not knowing of it and as diversly are we affected in the hurting of them when we are fully ignorant of the causes of our diseases And therefore in all sicknesses the said spirit is to be rectified comforted and multiplied and so may all diseases be easily cured which we propound especially for Phisicians to note and consider Now there is no man will deny but that which we have said of the Excrements doth also agree to the parts separated from the body as also to the blood for there is the same reason in all in blood it appeareth most evident because in Holy Writ it is called the seat of the soul or life as having greatest store of vital spirits and hurting more easily by the too much flux of it Amongst all those things confirm this concatenation that most famous Sympathetical Oyntment commonly called the Weapon-salve and our Sympathetical Water do by manifest experience clearly prove it in despite of the vain and obstreperous noise that some ignorant Divines make against it proclaiming it diabolical and superstitious whom many others and especially the learned Helmont hath put to everlasting silence Nor did the wrangling Libavius though he proudly railed after his manner write better against this than he did of and for the Philosophers Stone how ignorantly and audaciously he carried himself in both to the infinite prejudice of the Hermetical Commonwealth is known too well to them that have learned the true knowledge of things from the things themselves but of this enough Of the parts of the body separated from it he that doubteth may find in the same Helmount a strange story I will give you his own words A certain man of Bruxels being at Bolonia did in a fray lose his Nose he went to Tagliacorzo a Chirurgeon living there to consult how he might have a new Nose and fearing the cutting of his own Arm hired a Porter that for a great sum of money was content to let him have a Nose cut out of his Arm as the manner is he did so and the Cure well performed the man of Bruxels returned home into his own Country But about thirteen moneths after his return home he felt his Nose suddenly grow cold and within a few dayes after it rotted and fell quite off And where many wondred of this strange change he inquired into the cause and it was found that just at the same instant when the Nose grew cold the Porter at Bolonia died And saith Helmount there are many yet living in Bruxels that can testifie the truth thereof Thus far he The like I have heard from a Doctor of Phisick a friend of mine who did swear deeply that himself was an eye-witnesse of it Is not all our Doctrine here confirmed clearer than the light Was not the inscitious nose as animated at the first so still informed with the soul of the Porter neither had it any from the man whose Nose now it was made but only nourishment the power of the assimulation which it hath from its proper form it took it not from him but from the Porter of whom it was yet truly a part and who dying the Nose became a dead Nose and did immediatly tend to corruption But who doth not here see most openly and evidently a concatenation otherwise how could the Nose of one that was at Bolonia enform the Nose of one that was at Bruxels but by means of a concatenation Our assertion therefore is confirmed by true and undoubted experience from whence as from a plenteous spring divers fair rivelets do flow Hence arose that glorious Miracle of Nature whereby a man may at distance and in an instant open his mind to his friend though they be ten thousand miles asunder by means of a little blood flesh and spirit a secret not to be revealed to the unworthy multitude Hence that Lamp of life which at any distance sheweth by its light the
of bodies proceed from the various concoction of waters Aph. 31. The second from the various mixture of the three principles Salt Sulphure and Mercurie Aph. 32. These dispositions flow from the position of the Stars especially of the Sun Aph. 33. Every thing hath so much vitality as is required to produce the natural Actions of that species Aph. 34. Nothing beginneth to be made that doth not receive some vitallity from Heaven by which it can work somewhere Aph. 35. He that knoweth how to infuse the propitious Heavens or Sun into things or into the mixture of things may perform wonders and hereupon depends all magick operations Aph. 36. By how much the dispositions or the subjects are more formal so much more of this life they receive and so much more powerfully they do work Aph. 37. As in the eye the operations are more noble than in the foot although they both proceed from the same soul because of the purity of this Organ apt to receive a greater proportion of life so the Constellate carracters because of their formality receive a great proportion of spirit from Heaven and produce nobler actions Aph. 38. The spirit floweth continually from Heaven and back again to Heaven and in the flowing is found pure and unmixt and therefore may by a skilfull workman by wonderful means be joyned to any thing and increase the virtues of it according to the disposition of the subject Aph. 39. The heart of Heaven is the Sun and by light distributeth all things aswell to the Stars as to the Earth Aph. 40. Opacum is nothing else but a Body either wanting light or having the light asleep in it Aph. 41. He that can by light draw light out of things or multiply light with light he knoweth how to adde the universal spirit of life to the particular spirit of life and by this addition do wonders Aph. 42. So much light as is added so much life and so much of the one as is lost so much is lost of the other Aph. 43. This spirit after the first period of maturation strongly beginneth by little and little to vanish Aph. 44. Maturation is nothing else but the operation of the radicated moisture to the perfection of the Individuum so far forth as it may be perfected proceeding according to the semenary reasons propounded or purposed by Nature or the Soul Or it is an actuation of the internal spirit so far as it may be actuated Or it is the greatest Illumination of the matter that can possibly be done by such light Aph. 45. The spirit is discipated when it stirreth to act upon a matter too rebellious or when the natural mixture or Crasis of a thing is altered by the Stars somtimes too much excited it breaketh forth or being called forth by its brother spirit it goeth away to it Aph. 46. The matter is rebellious when by reason of a contrary Crasis or temperature it cannot be overcome and altered by the spirit Or when it is in the last period beyond which it cannot go nor the spirit convoy it any further for only so much spirit is given as serveth every thing to the due perfection of it Aph. 47. The temperature of a thing is altered by the Stars when the Horiscope of the Nativity cometh to the degree of apposition of the Planets that be contrary to the beginning of the life Aph. 48. The spirit is too much excited by fermentation or immoderate agitation for moderate agitation is necessary to vital operation Aph. 49. The spirit is called out by its brother spirit when it is too much exposed to it Aph. 50. In certain things it cannot be called out by its brother spirit because of its strait-society with the body but it allureth his brother to him and is strongly fortified thereby Aph. 51. Fermentation is the action of heat upon moisture by which the moisture is heated and made subject to the spirit circulating it self in the body which cannot remain in the same estate by means of the fluxibility of the body Aph. 52. He that by means and use of the universal spirit can excite the particular of any to a natural fermentation and then appease and settle Natures tumults by repeating the operation may miraculously increase things in vertue and power the highest secrets of Philosophy Aph. 53. Every man knows that by means of fermentation the spirit is as pure as it possibly may be drawn but almost all of them do want the fruit of multiplication because they know not how to joyn one brother with another Aph. 54. Every thing fermented worketh more strongly because in things fermented the spirits are more free Aph. 55. Things do abide in the same state of nature so long as they possesse so much spirit as is sufficient to perform the due execution thereof Aph. 56. Hence is manifest the cause of natural death and destruction of things Every thing tends to maturation as to the perfection thereof and when it is ripe the spirit begins to shew its forces and so by acting it is discipated and vanisheth which at length is the cause of destruction Aph. 57. He that could lay hold on the vanishing spirit and apply it to the body from whence it slipt or to another of the same species may thereby do wonders Aph. 58. From this fountain all natural Philosophy doth flow For easily may the spirit imbrued with the qualities of another body procreate in bodies of the same kind a similtude which is the violent cause of love Aph. 59. These things are aptest to intercept this particular spirit which have the greater similitude of most natural conjunction with the parts or which being applied to a vegetous body are by such a contract made more flourishing These things are to be understood of the bodies of wights especially of man where Philosophers are of more power Aph. 60. This spirit where it findeth a little matter disposed according to that likeness it makes and seats the compound produced Aph. 61. Where the spirit of one body being married to the qualities of that body is communicated to another body there is generated a certain compassion because of the natural flux and reflux of the spirits to their proper bodies Which compassion or sympathy is not easily dissolved as that which is done by imagination Aph. 62. There can neither love nor compassion be generated without the commixture of spirits Aph. 63. This commixture is sometimes done by natural or material application sometime by imagination and not seldom by the disposition of the stars Aph. 64. By natural application it is done when the spirit of one body is implanted in another by means of those things which are apt to intercept the spirit and to communicate it to another and they are known by their signature and by the Ancients called Amatoria or such things as love one another Aph. 65. By imagination love is produced when the exalted imagination of one doth predominate over the imagination
circumscribed in an Organical body The Proof and Explaination NO true Philosopher will deny this The Platonists place not the soul in the body but the body in the soul And the Peripateticks themselves do with Aristotle confesse That the soul doth execute some action without the body Nay it seems very absurd to shut up so noble an Essence in so narrow and strait a Prison Neither were there wanting some Divines who attributed acerta in ubiquity to the soul affirming it to be there where it worketh for what can be devised more unlikely than to conclude that most noble Essence as bounded and comprehended in this so exceeding small a prison The common dictate of Reason proveth That the thing comprehended so far forth as it is comprehended is more base and ignoble than the thing comprehending And it is manifest to him who considereth the nature of things That the thing comprehending so far forth as it comprehendeth is more excellent in operation and power than the thing comprehended That the Imagination worketh without it and beyond its own body I take it to be manifest and if any man doubt of it he will be convinced by experience for it worketh in the Embrio Neither can fascinations be otherwise performed But is not the Imagination the hand of the soul by which it worketh without the help of the body and yet these operations conduce not to our purpose Therefore we must shew more clearly what we mean by this Conclusion We do then under it and by it mean nothing else but that the soul must necessarily be wheresoever the vital spirit is found for the vital spirit is the bond by which the soul is tyed to the body or rather it is the undivided companion of the soul brought by the soul from heaven by which the soul joyned it self with the body by means and mediation whereof it gives the form of the body and if by the frown of the destinies it be forsaken by the particular soul it returns to its common country but is never extended further than the soul it self without which the spirit cannot subsist Then if a mans body work something without it self surely it worketh as informed by the soul and shall it not then work vitally and produce vital actions But how I pray you shall it produce them without doubt in and by the vertue and power of the form that is the soul But except I be deceived there can nothing work by the power of another and not be partaker of it Therefore the active beams that produce such effects without the body must needs be partaker of the soul by which they work And I think no man can be so senslesse to deny actions extrinsecal or without the body to Man the most noble compound and grant them to Plants and Stones but that operations depend on forms it alwayes seemed true to the most Learned The seed doth as some would have it beget the Embrio in the mother which it could not do were it not upholden and furnished with the presence of the fathers soul But I hear some whisper that this opinion can be no way consonant to truth because that then if the father should dye assoon as he hath begotten the child his soul being free from the bonds of the body goes to its appointed place And how then can it work in the Embrio But to him that considereth the matter well this will appear of no great difficulty whether we say That the soul is not utterly and absolutely free as long as any vital spirit remaineth anywhere safe and untoucht for it there sticks and abides as long and until its subject be quite turned into an other thing but because it wants organs as in an appoplexy it cannot perform any sencelike actions Or whether we will say rather The soul is necessarily present at these operations by a certain presence and yet not hindered but that in another place it may perform other works for seeing that the soul doth by wonderful and strange means produce many things in the body and is after divers manners in divers places Why shall it not when it is free from the body do the same things or the like so it wants not its Instruments of its proper natural heat which only is fit to produce such an effect But of what hath been said the cause is plain why about the Graves of them that die a violent death there are apparitions seen for the vital heat and natural moisture being not quite dissolved the soul sticks and gives sometimes in these exhallations impregnated with the spirit the shape and form of a man And the same may be the reason why sometimes in Church-yards such things appear and from the same head it is that the slain Corps bleedeth at the presence or touch of the Murderer for the soul being yet present doth by the dispensation of Providence work such things But for the better confirmation of this Conclusion there is enough said in this place others from these grounds will invent and finde out things which will be far more sublime and high CONCLUSION II. The Soul worketh without or beyond its proper body commonly so called The Proof and Explanation of this THis Second Conclusion hath nothing which is not manifest in the former and of it self is clear and confessed by all men For if the soul be without the body it can and shall without doubt work there for the soul in its essence includes Act being as one saith and very well an Essentiall Act proceeding temporally It works therefore according to the Organs informed or according to the manner of information seeing it communicates a form to the subject for peradventure it were more agreeable to simple and pure truth to call the soul not the form but rather the giver of the form yet so giving forms that both in their beings and operations they shal depend upon it and whatsoever is is dispensed and given by it Plato seems to have placed in men a three-fold distinct form yet depending on the common soul It is true that to these Inferiour forms the name of form is sometimes given but how truly and properly let them look to it that accustomed to speculations have learned to separate Vitall Actions from the soul which proceed onely from it But we omitting all these difficulties will be content to use the common means which will also peradventure serve our turns Some men will say If the soul be and work without the body or besides it by informing the naturall heat that proceedeth without it and is inherent in his beams they must needs be men consisting of a soul and of a body When I first began this Work I had thought to have passed over such Objections as ridiculous but this being one that may seem of some moment to them that are lesse perspicacious I am content to answer And first I say it is as absurd for ought I said to call the beams men as
the body they imbibe the spirit and joyn it to themselves intercepting the beams issuing from the noblest parts of the body yea having at the least some digestion they are made like the bodies in which they were concocted and therefore do more greedily attract the beams with the spirits and the spirits do much more willingly insinuate themselves into them than into any other body not partaker of the same or a greater digestion and likenesse It is likewise evinced by common experience for doth not the too much flowing of any excrement produce grievous symptoms weaknesse and in the end death and that not so much by cutting off the nourishment as by exhausting the spirits or else in the Dropsy how could the over-much flowing of the water out of the wound cause death but that the water being impregnant with these spirits carries more of them out with it than the body can bear in so short a time So in all inward Abscesses when great store of purulent matter hath filled the hollow of the breast if by the negligence or ignorance of the Chirurgion it be too much and suddenly emptied it is for the same reason followed with death or dangerous weaknesse for the body unlesse it be every-where according to the proportion requisite stored with these spirits cannot long subsist This spirit as long as the body continues in its due Symetrie is nourished from Heaven by the mediation of the Air and by the vital spirit of the Aliment All things therefore that proceed from the bodies of man or beast after what manner soever whether naturally or by the force of disease are impregnated with the same vital spirit the body hath and therefore because they are liker the bodies whence they came than those things that never were in the body they quickly imprint the qualities drawn from the bodies upon another like body which ought to occasion great care that excrement matter corruption nor any of those things that come from infected persons be left unburied for great mischief may come by them either by Nature or by Art if peradventure they come into the hands of some skilfull but ill-disposed men But if the burning of Dead Carcases after the manner of the Ancients be not permitted the Magistrates ought to take care that they be soon and very deep buried and that in moist places if it may be and far remote from the feeding of Beasts for from shallow superficiall Gravels there arise unspeakable mischiefs And I think this is one of the greatest natural causes why the Plague doth so furiously rage in diverse places for I am afraid that they to whom the charge of burying is committed are still too negligent and carelesse I would here take occasion to commend and that upon good grounds the funeral fires of the Ancients But another custome having now prevailed I am sure my words will not alter it It is known that Witches cannot hurt without the parts of dead bodies and the Excrements of him that they desire to mischieve as therefore Magistrates ought to have a care of burials so every man if he have Enemies ought to have a care of his Excrements But now let us return to the Conclusion which affirmed That these Excrements do also live which though at first do seem a little hard yet indeed to him that will consider it it is so far from being either hard or unreasonable that it is impossible it should be otherwayes nay what if I should say the hair and nails do live a certain life propagated from the soul It may be thou wilt say For they are as certain parts of the body they live with the same soul they did before thou wouldst think that more strange and yet thou canst not give a reason why thou shouldest think so Well this only I will say of Excrements that unlesse they live with the same life that wights do after a manner certainly they would want the vital spirit of which we spake before and which we have above proved and will not all this clearly demonstrate that they have and do plentifully injoy it Moreover who can deny that the nails and hairs have life that have observed in them an augmentative or assimulative faculty at least who can deny it so long as they remain fastened to the body though they want sence as the bones and other necessary parts of the Organical body do Now if they live when they remain joyned to the body these shall likewayes live when they are separated from the body as long as they are nails and hairs having still the same form as they had before Witnesse the Accidents or the substantial moods which abiding still the same depend of the same fountains from whence they flowed but no man can deny that the very form or figure or mood flowed from the soul draweth thence its life which is propagated by the presence of the soul by the mediation of the vital spirit In conclusion a man may thus argue for any Excrement All Excrements of the body by means of some manner of Digestion have changed the form they had before that Digestion and put on another as may be known by their operations and faculties which are altogether changed As for example The Excrements of a Dog healeth the diseases of the Pallet and Throat which flesh and bones howsoever prepared could not do especially if they had been stinking and corrupt and this form by which they work such things they got from the soul of the Dog and therefore being introduced and brought in by it it depends wholly of the soul and consequently cannot want vitality which vitality or livelinesse is obscure and unperceivable to them which know not the centers of things which it shall better become a Philopher to search after than suffer himself to be transported with a desire of contradiction CONCLUSION VI Between the Body and the Excrements proceeding from it there is a certain Concatenation of Spirits or beams though they be never so far asunder The like is also between the blood and any other part of the body separated from the Body at any distance The Proof and Explanation of it c. IF we confirm and demonstrate this Conclusion the greatest part of the businesse is done for this being established here is laid a firm foundation of this Act whereupon all the precepts thereof may be built yet if what we have said already abide unshaken the future difficulty will not be great But first it would be known what concatenation we do here intend when we affirm a concatenation of spirits or beams between the body and the Excrements thereof we understand thereby a perpetual flux of beams proceeding after a peculiar manner from the body and terminated as in a body after a sort in kinne and like unto it as also reciprocally flowing from the Excrements of the body That there is such reciprocall emanations is easily shewed for if you once grant the flux of beams
Disposition of the Body and by its voluntary going out the death of the Body whence it was taken Hence also proceeds that salt of blood which by its colour sheweth the same things that the Lamp did by its light of which more hereafter And hence also arose all natural Philosophy by means whereof the affections are moved and after a manner tyed nearly and only naturally But of this enough CONCLUSION VII The vivallity or liveliness lasts till the excrements blood or separated parts be changed into another thing of a diverse species The Proof and Explanation ' of it ALL things which have their original from the Elements after they are come to perfection do straightway go back again to their principals from whence they took their beginning for so it is established by Providence that what is begun by motion shall never be partaker of state or rest Yet doth not the thing immediately cease to be in that spirit wherein it is untill another form be introduced into the matter which also brings with it new moods and new operations I speak not here of subordinate forms which are known to be common to many spirits the change whereof is not alwayes required in the change or corruptions of the presence or absence of forms we can no way judge but by the moods and faculties of the subject We say therefore that vitality doth so long last in the excrements blood and other separated parts as they are not changed into other things of a divers species which being clear of it self and by that which is abovesaid needs no other proof yet this is to be noted First That things have more vertue and energie in their state than in their declinations and the nearer they are to their absolute change the lesse they work Secondly That every change of the substance doth not change the form for in things where only the superfluities are taken away leaving the essences which work in a sufficient matter well disposed and digested and are full of the vital spirit of things there the form is not only not changed but more free than it was and worketh more powerfully Moreover we see that some corruptions are necessary to the furtherances of some operations though this kind of corruption if we give it the true name is rather to be called fermentation for by it the spirits are stirred up and made more able to shew their power but there is a mean in things and certain bounds beyond which the truth cannot consist therefore we must proceed very warily lest while we strive to stir up the spirits we dissipate them which I have seen happen to many men both in this Art and in Alchymle CONCLUSION VIII One part of the body being affected or ill disposed by hurting the spirits all the other parts do suffer with it The Proof and Explanation c. I Conceive that this so common and received an Opinion by all Phisicians allowed and confessed to be true needs little proof therefore we only say this That the cause of this compassion floweth neither from the body nor from the particular form of the part nor from the likeness nor lesse likeness if it be considered only so far forth as the cause of likenesse is considered which floweth from the same or the like proportion of spirit but from the vital spirit which goeth through the whole body and is resident in every part thereof for a disease terminatively is not of the body but of the spirit for there is no disease of the body however it comes which happeneth not by the weaknesse of the spirit neither can any distemper of the body last long where the spirit by which all evils are amended flowrisheth and is strong This spirit is that nature whereof Phisicians ought to be helpers upon them the Universal Medicine is built whereas unhappy are those Phisicians and unhappily they speed who either neglecting or wronging this spirit destroy all things by their violence while they think so to cure the disease which by opening a vein do exhaust this spirit and by purging the body from hurtful humours by rank poison that kill this spirit thrust with those humours the soul out of the body And these are they which by their villany and ignorance have dimn'd the glory of Physick which being given over to vain contentious and unprofitable disputes have erred from the simplicity of Nature which though they be honoured by the hair-brain'd multitude because of their rich cloathes coaches and the like yet by the sons of Art who with great labour prying into the Centers of things have found that nothing is to be attempted against Natures will they are esteemed no better than as their excrements of Physick and so to be cast into the vaults of perpetual infamy but the World is full of Fools We returning to our purpose do say That not only the other parts do suffer with the part diseased but that if any disease of whatsoever part do last long the whole body will be at last affected or else how could death follow upon a particular disease The vital spirit is but one so continuate through the whole body and propagated through every part of it that if it be hurt in any one part of it it is hurt in the whole as the following Conclusions will more clearly shew CONCLUSION IX If the vital spirit be fortified in any one part it is fortified by that occasion in the whole body The Proof and Explanation of it c. THat which in the fore-going Chapter we said of Diseases we say now of Cures for there is the like reason of both And this Conclusion is put for no other reason than to shew caeteris paribus there is no great odds whether you apply the Medicine to the part affected or to an other part provided that by this Medicine thy intent be to fortifie the vital spirit for if this spirit be fortified in one part the whole spirit is fortified because being of a heavenly and fiery nature that strengthening is quickly found in the whole latitude thereof for it is impossible that so subtil active spiritual clear and aetherial a thing should suffer any thing in any part which it shall not very shortly suffer in the whole The Experiment whereof we see in outward poyson which infecting the nearest the spirit straight-wayes unlesse the spirit be fortified doth infect the whole spirit in the body not that the venom goeth through the whole body for it 's impossible that by the sting of a Scorpion in the foot the substance of the venom should as some dream come to the heart but because one part of the spirit being powerfully infected the infection of the whole must needs speedily follow so by Inflamation there immediately followeth a Feaver though the part that that is inflamed be never so far from the heart As of Diseases so we may conclude of Remedies but that Remedies applied to the parts affected do more and
more speedily help it is by frequent egression of spirits from the part the cause whereof look for in the following Conclusion It is very necessary therefore that thou choose a part fit for thy purpose for except thou do so thou wilt be deceived and ashamed for thou wilt not work every where alike therefore mark the Conclusion following CONCLUSION X. Where the spirit is most bare and naked there it is soonest affected The Proof and Explanation c. THis Conclusion being most necessary for practice is of it self manifest and followeth upon the premises for doubtlesse the more intimately and nearly any agent is joyned with a Patient the operation is both more speedy and better for what can hinder action but undue approximation which impediment we here study to avoid seeking the vital spirit in its nakednesse that it may be the sooner affected by a due and convenient application and may be the more speedily freed from things hurtful and extraneous and so quickly change and rectifie the body slipt into a distemper for if where it is most naked it being there free from extraneous things because it is not so fettered and cloyed with evils then certainly there if one know the right subject and use the right Instrument it may be made to free the body sooner from diseases for being fortified in one place it will straight-wayes be fortified throughout for as a disease is never truly but when the whole spirit is infected with a sickly disposition for till that time it is but as some speak in fieri which disposition at the beginning affected but one part and that affected not hindered corrupted the whole so must we also philosophize concerning the recovery of health but there are two things here requisit First That thou cease not the application until the disease be fully cured for if thou leave off before that time the part that is yet infected will if the infection be strong again corrupt and infect the part thou hadst made whole and so leave thee to begin the same labour again Secondly That one part answer another for he that will happily cure diseases must begin at the root and if the root of the disease be in the head then cure the vital spirit proper to the head if in the stomack to the stomack for though the vital spirits considered in themselves have no heterogenical parts but be every where and wholly as the light like it self yet as it is in the body by certain adjuncts very considerable And therefore the beams proceeding from the head do in that disposition contain the spirit as the head doth as from the things already said may easily be gathered The naked spirit thereof affected with the dispositions of the head if the root of the disease be in the head is to be taken and remedies applied to that before we proceed to other things It will not be a miss to confirm the truth of this Conclusion by experience There 's no man doubts but that in the blood the spirit is most naked for if it were more naked than for fear of death if it could it would fly and get it gon to its own country Therefore Phisicians know that the naked spirit in the blood is sooner infected with poison than the spirit of any other part for venom being put into a vein doth sooner dissolve and loose the whole form of the body than twice so much taken in meat or drink inwardly although it be taken fasting or without any other vehiculum which confirmeth the truth of our Conclusion I will not encourage thee to ill if out of these or any other Writings of mine thou canst draw any evil consequence If thou beest a good man thou wilt not so read them if otherwayes know assuredly that if thou do any evil God will here even in this life take vengeance of thee So we proceed CONCLUSION XI In the Excrements Blood and separated parts the Spirit is not so deeply drowned as in the Body And therefore in them it is sooner infected The Proof and Explanation c. UPon this Conclusion the whole Art is grounded and this being false all fails therefore muse well in thy mind of what hath been said and what shall be said for he that well understands this Conclusion will finde no difficulty in the whole Art therefore it had need to be confirmed with some Reasons the first whereof is this The spirit is not so deeply drowned in the excrements blood and separated parts as in the body because in them it ranges abroad as more at liberty in that it doth not so much attend Organical operations that do violently snatch the spirit inward that being congregated it may work more powerfully in secesse but all organical operation being far from the Blood and Excrements there is no need the Spirit should drown it self so far and so inwardly Moreover the beams coming from excrements blood without the veins and parts separated stick about the surface and outside and are not allured and drawn internally because that is tending to destruction the spirit retires it self and makes some stay in the superfices where also the beams joyn themselves to their fellow-beams and there rest untill at last the excrements blood and separated parts becoming clean another thing are apt either to receive these beams and the spirit that accompanieth them or to return them when they have received them Again the spirits are more naked in these especially in the blood because that when it was in the body it had the spirits more naked and scarce tyed to the body as appears evidently in blood But some may ask how this reason agrees to parts cut off for what priviledge have they above parts of the same kind I answer It is to be considered That now the door is open by which a more free egresse is granted to the spirits which now having broken the fetters begin to wander abroad more at liberty Again some will object That if this were true then by applying things to a wound we might cure internal diseases To satisfie this objection we must consider these things and first That in every wound there is not only solutio continui but also the part wounded there is in a part exotick and a strange quality introduced by means whereof the vital spirit is hurt Secondly Those things that are applied to the wound have no power to change the vital spirit labouring of another evil disposition yea the Phisician 's expectation is satisfied if one thing do but perform operation and therefore they are content with the cure of the wound Thirdly If a thing good for another disease whereof peradventure the Patient is sick should be applied to the wound it perhaps will hurt this more than it would help that Now reason perswades we should first succour that which most urgeth From these things the Answer to the Objection is manifest for the spirit then labouring of a double distemper Art commandeth to
serve Whereas if thou wilt put something in the Excrements bloud c. then observe the reason abovesaid or taught neither need you any other caution but if they be liquid or be mingled otherwayes it is enough that the things to be put in be stuck in it The Weapon-salve gives thee an example of this for unguents and for liquid things our sympathetical water is sufficient the Composition whereof we will hereafter communicate to the World a secret which most men have hitherto kept exceeding secret Application strictly taken is when signed things are outwardly applyed to the body or to the part affected or when the cure is intended to be done by Physical appensions or wearing things about one for there is one and the same reason of both and whether they be hung about one ground or whole it little maketh in some things which have copious and large spirits but in others are necessary contaction fermentation commixtion and the like in things complying with the work-mans desire in the sympathetical Medicine as in the diseases of the bladder in our Practice for the good of the Common-wealth shall be exemplified Medicines of the second condition are every-where extant among the Professors of ordinary Physick though being ignorant of the causes of the same they know onely the first and second qualities never seeking further As we in our Practice will give some selected and choice examples of it But now the time of gathering and of applying of them is necessary to be observed because experience shews that there is much virtue in that as we may see in Vervin for the head-ach But of the manner of gathering them can scarce be any certain rule given onely I will adde this If thou wilt gather herbs for pains or Diseases of the head thou mayst gather them as I will teach thee to gather Vervin in my Practice in the Chapter of the head-ach But if for Lower plants gather them in a contrary manner or so as thou doest Asarum to make a Purgative howsoever much must be left to experience Note moreover That if one would cure by Magnetick opposition it will be in vain except he first let the magnetick herbs putrifie in the ground for so the vertue is more free being loose from the bounds thereof In operation never use any dry herbs if thou canst get green ones remember to macerate and soften them in their own water before application and further observe it is not alwayes necessary to make application to the part affected but sometimes near it especially if the part be pained either by consent or contagion of another part As if the stomach because of pain in the head by sending noisom fumes or vapors up to it then thou shalt hang the medieine about thy neck but if it be a disease and affected of it self then it is but making application to the part it self and this will suffice to have spoken of naked application the thing it self not being of so great subtilty or difficulty but that it may easily be understood by any man CHAP. XI Of the Magnet necessary in this Art and divers descriptions thereof hitherto known but by very few NOw come I to discover the high secrets of this Art studiously concealed by many for the common good whereto I have dedicated my self and all my labours I am not ignorant that there may be diverse Magnets all aiming at one work the two chief that have come to my hand I will set down adding a third most consonant to reason and a fourth formed out by my own experience Use thou which thou wilt for thou shalt have no scarcity Aurelius out of some words of Paracelsus hath made him one not altogether contemptible thus he proceeded He took the dung of a sound man and let it be dryed in a shady place for so it lost the stink and the excrementitious moisture a portion of the spirit above-said being left which he by a word significant and apt enough calleth Sulphur which being dryed he useth after the manner anon to be told We neither disallow the preparation nor matter because experience shews that a Magnet so prepared will copiously attract the spirits neither will we upon the transport of Envie that incurable disease deter any man from the practice of it because it is not of our invention but proceed we to the second When about two years agoe I with my ever honoured Friend being at his house there grew some discourse upon the Argument among us my friend as he was wont spake many things very accutely but covertly of this Art and amongst the rest of this Magnet which I knew before but had never tryed it saying That it was of so vigorous attraction that being applied to the region of the heart it would so violently draw that he could not suffer it long But when I asked him the use of this Magnet he suddenly held his peace repenting he said so much How art thou so much beholden to me to impart that to thee my friend would not communicate to me who as thou seest knew something in this Art But to the point This Magnet is nothing else but dryed mans flesh which is certain hath a mighty attractive power but it must be taken if it be possible from the body of a man that dies a violent death and yet while it is warm But if we were tyed to this Magnet every man sees how extreamly we should suffer for the want of it If we will therfore hearken to reason I will before I come to my Magnet conform both to reason and experience shew you a better Magnet and not gotten with so much cruelty Take therfore the blood of a sound yong man drawn in the spring there are every where fools enow as much as thou canst get it 's no matter whether it be drawn altogether or not this blood suffered to congeal pour off the water swimming aloft and keep it while it is cold dry it in the shade and then moistâ—n it with the water poured off and dry it again repeating this so oft till the earth hath drunk up all its water then dry it and keep it for thy use But at length let us come to our Magnet which doth as it were by epitome comprehend all the body of man in it Take therefore a great quantity of mans dung but of a sound man mix it with Wine to the consistance of a Pultis add to it as much sweat as thou canst get this may be with linnen Cloth taken from sound bodies put them all together and in a clean place in the shade till they be dry then add as much fresh blood to them incorporate them altogether and so let them dry again and if any water swim again on the top decant it but keep it in a vessel very close and being dry imbibe it again with the decanted water and dry it and so till the masse hath drunk up all the water This Magnet thus
of the urine cast out Hence it appears That the Urin hath a great communion with most parts of the body for it hath great affinity with the liver reins and bladder for by these parts it passeth and therefore the Physicians judge of the disease of these parts by urine But it hath moreover no obscure consent with the whole body having been once joyned with the blood by it therefore are cured the diseases of the liver reins bladder ureters and passages of the urine besides the bectick feaver a most grievous disease of the whole body is no way better cured than by the urine as shall be shewed in the Chapter of the Hectick Feavers Whatsoever diseases are usually cured by this Art are all cured by the urine though it be better there be other preparations as is to be seen in my Practise Now as in the Chapter of the Excrements by seige here it shall not be amiss to put some Cautions The first whereof is To take heed that children pisse not in the fire for it is the constant opinion of many that by such means they get Nephritick diseases the stone or gravel and other great diseases Then that men never pisse upon sharp venemous herbs and such as by their venemous quality do violently provoke urine for from hence proceeds the ulceration of the reins and bladder nor would I willingly make water in a chamber-pot where any man infected of any stinking disease of these parts had pissed nor give my urine to fermentation with his for it cannot be but to a weak body much evil should come by this means though to the sick man by that means might come good Nay hence with specificals added against the disease might his cure be done with the addition of fermentation which ought to be done in a bladder of a beast of the same kind adding those things that have the signature both of the disease and the member as shall be said more at large in my Practise where you shall have Medicines fetched from urine whose forms if you follow thou mayest invent others of thy self CHAP. XVI Of Sweat and insensible Transpiration SWEAT is not only an Excrement of the third concoction but it may also be as it were the melting of the whole body for no otherwise doth the body come to destruction than by resolution procured by Nature or some adventitious heat for except every part should lose something of his substance and greatnesse the bodies of living wights would grow infinitly if by continual nourishment there were alwayes added something unto them Nay if this resolution were not wights would not desire nourishment at all Sweat therefore and that which is by Physicians called insensible transpiration are not only excrementitious but as it is above proved carries off with them of the resolved particles of the body Hence it is that in Magnetick or Diastatick Physick they are of exceeding great use for by them innumerable wounders are done whilest diseases are as well cured as caused Passions both of the mind and of the body are violently procured and changed By these a wise Physician may do much good and by these a prying Wissard may do much harm and cause death madnesse anger and overthrow all the goods of the mind This is the Devil or familiar spirit by which they are thought to have done wonders Hence it is that they as appears by their own Confessions without these could never hurt the bodies of men for the Devil himself cannot constrain Nature who if he do any miracles doth them only by application of actives to passives as some too vainly credulous scarce believe for these poor wretches defiled with superstition fain many things and mix much follies and lies with the truth which was done by the Ancients whence they took their tradition That because of the opinion of a Deity present their Imaginations might work violently and also all natures conspiring the effect might be produced which I leave to thy consideration whether thou canst get any good from these few words Yet whatsoever they do they do it naturally But let us go to these things that are to our purpose By sweat or insensible transplantation first in a body or in a subject fitting all diseases being in the habit of the body are cured whether they be fixed as the Leprosie Gout French-pox c. or whether they be volatile as the Scab Morphew Scurf or the like skin-deep sicknesses and of the utmost parts yea without these it is scarce possible to do any thing in this Art By the impregnation of these thy Magnets are specified by which all manner of transplantations are done by means of these the Hectick is cured the body is long preserved strong and able and the passions of the mind are stirred up Of all which we will discourse at large in our Practice Now as a wise Physician can by these means do all these and greater matters so there is no doubt but by the abuse of them as much mischief may be done And therefore take these cautions and premonitions It is not unknown That almost all Infusion floweth from the said insensible transpiration and sweat for being impregnate with much spirit and holding it fast according to the disposition thereof they work violently therefore take heed we be not partakers of the sweat or exhalation of an unsound body that we touch not the sheets so impregnate nor put on the shoes or stockings or gloves or the like but in a special manner that we be no bedfellows with them Hence on the otherside was the health and long-life of our first parents who slept upon Herbs wholsom and from them drew no small part of their long-life as we may probably conjecture for it is certainly very wholsom in summer time to sleep upon Chamomile Rosemary washed Sage Betony Balm and the like and of the same Herbs to make beds for sick folks according to their diseases and I would likewise advise thee to sleep without thy garments in the summer time covered over with wholsom herbs and thou shalt draw from thence an excellent Comfortative It is good also for a weak body to use the company and garments of strong and sound men for from thence he may draw such spirits as will fortifie weak nature We hold it a commendable custom for such people to have their garments and linen worn by them that are lusty and healthfull before they put them on but this is safest done by them that are very strong lest evil come to him that first put them on Therefore also we must take heed that we suffer not our garments to be worn by them that are diseased and that we cast not our cloathes impregnate with our sweat and transpiration in stinking and unwholsom places And above all take heed that they come not into the hands of evil men for there is a great deal of invisible mummy lyeth hid in them of which Paracelsus though obscurely makes often
mention from whence if that thou doest but understand it well and consider what is above-said thou mayest of thy self find out many more things But I sweat and insensibly transpire Thus much for this Chapter and for this time shall suffice CHAP. XVII Of the Hairs OUt of almost all the Parts of the Body do Hairs grow and they are made not only of visciditie of the Excrements of the fourth concoction growing in the pores which by addition of new matter grow in length as some do falsely imagine but they take also not the least part of their matter from the resolved parts of the body as appears by this Experiment for if by Diastatick Art thou wouldest increase hair by means of a Willow tree as shall be taught in the Practice and if thou continue the medicine longer than it is fit thou wilt assuredly bring a weaknesse upon the part which can be by no other means but because by the violence of the medicine the parts being resolved further than Nature doth suffer are lost And for the confirmation of this Truth hairs are seen to grow long after Death whereas there is no concoction So as there can be no Excrements of the fourth concoction and therefore they must needs come from the body resolved which resolution is added to the hairs by the vital spirit which is still there remaining For by any other means this addition cannot be whence also our assertion of the remaining spirit is confirmed Hence appears how great agreement hairs have with the body and whereupon we use them as Instruments in this Art It is well known what strange things the Ancient Magi did by hairs and why the like may not be done I see no reason It is also a thing well known by hear-say how love hath been procured by means of hair burned in a Candle Astrologically made which though it be not as no reason it should ordinarily known to the vulgar yet to some it is and though it be mingled with filthy superstitions yet I that am wont to reduce all operatious to the possibility of nature never thought them absolutely and precisely necessary to the producing of the effect So likewayes we have known many diseases otherwayes incurable cured by hatrs especially taken from the part affected if being duely putrified and mixed with things signed they be implanted into plants as every man may prove according to our doctrine So if hairs be taken from the four principal Emunctories no doubt but well prepared they will cure all diseases I would counsell the Readers that in consideration hereof they do not so carelesly scatter their hairs up and down which may be the cause of much mischief nor yet burn them for that as-experience showes hinders the growth of them but bury them in some wholesome ground adding unto them things to strengthen the head which will much conduce to your health CHAP. XVIII Of the pairings of the Nails and the Teeth THe Nails as well as the hairs have their original from the excrements of the fourth concoction separated from the nourishment of the bones and the harder parts and get thence their hardnesse which we see and grow in the outmost extremities for the body doth not very plentifully exhale such matter as proceeds not but from the whole compacted parts therefore the Ancients used the pairing of nails against some most rebellious diseases because it cannot be denied but fixed diseases lurk in the fixed parts of the body and therefore most Antiquity used these and we also prescribe them against Quartans Leprosies Gouts in the feet and hands and the like diseases but we have something altered the manner of proceeding for they tyed them about fishes or other beasts and so let them go alive which preparation seems too rare to have any transplantation done by it but in a very long time and many things agreeing thereto and therefore we not omitting them adde some specifick by way of fermentation which will attempt both sooner and more certainly Of the Teeth you may for the Art say as of the Nails but because they do not alwayes grow in bignesse they rather seem meet to prevent than cure for they are made of a most fixed and strong substance as we may see by them who have been long buried whose Teeth are sounder than any other Bones therefore they send out but few spirits and scarce multiplicable by Art yet because they last long sound and send always out some portion of the spirit they are fit for such curable effects as require no great plenty of spirits and such precaution especially is required but the place sheweth thee diseases of the mouth how therefore by means of these thou mayest prevent diseases of the Teeth it shall be spoken of in the Practice The rest we leave to thy consideration CHAP. XIX Of the Spittle and Excrements of the Nose THere is a threefold spittle for it either falls by distillation from the head to the Pallat or is brought up by coughing from the Lungs or by nouceousnesse from the stomach which is spit out of the mouth but that which is Domited up deserves not the name of spittle That which comes from the Lungs hath almost alwayes the originall from the head and by distillation slides into that part and there digested a while is spit out I am not ignorant that from the Lungs sometimes there proceeds bloud and purulent matter but these are to be referred to bloud and matter We in the mean time will speak of spittle which is nothing else but the crudest part of the meat and drink which nature cannot digest and concoct into good nourishment sent first from the stomach to the head by vapours and then distilling again from the head to the inferior parts then sent out by the mouth is called spittle Sometimes there comes a waterish and indigested matter which is sometimes sowr immediatly from the stomach to the mouth which containeth sowr parts of a corrupted nutriment being otherwayes inspired and hath the name of spittle These all because they have made some stay in the body do according to the former doctrine carry some vital spirit with them therefore we may use them in some lighter diseases according to the portion of spirit which they hold Of the Excrements of the Nose as much may be said but this must alwayes be remembred That you use them to the Diseases of the parts whence they proceeded onely this I will tell thee there is nothing comes from the body weaker or of a lesse spirit than those which praecede partly for the little stay that they have made in the body partly from the few places they have gone through and partly from their indigestion yet I would have thee take heed of them especially if they be new voyded and the Disease be in these parts whence they proceed lest thou shouldest repent thy carelesnesse especially take heed of the foam coming from the mouth of Epilepticks and of the
Patient will suffer But if the wound be by a cut the weapon is to be anointed from the edge to the back 3. Anoint the part of the weapon that entered the wound If thou know not this for more security anoint it all 4. It is not needfull to sew up the wound as Barbitonsors do It is enough every day to tye it up in clean linen moistned in the Patients Urine or in warm wine or water 5. Let both Artist and Patient abstain from Venery that day the weapon is anointed 6. The blood in the wound is to be stopped before the weapon be anointed 7. In a Compound-wound with fractures or fissures of the bone you must adde to the ointment either some of the pouder of Comfry or Osteocoll or of the roots of black Hellebor 8. To know if the Patient will die or live Upon clear Coals warm the weapon so that thou may hold it in thy hand then besprinkle it with the subtill pouder of sandals and of a blood-stone If it sweat drops of blood he will surely die if not he will escape 9. If the Patient keep not a good diet in his Cure spots of blood will appear on the weapon if they appear not he observes your precepts If you cannot get the Weapon wherewith the Wound was made 1. Then put a sallow stick in the wound which being imbrued in the blood thereof let it dry of it self without the help of the Sun or Fire Then stick it in a Box of this ointment and let it remain there untill the wound be fully cured 2. The stick once dip'd in the blood will suffice If the wound be big it must each day be dressed with clean linen 3. One stick will suffice but for one wound Each new wound must have a new stick 4. If the wound will not bleed scarifie it with the stick till it bleed 5. In the Tooth-ach scarifie the gum of the pained Tooth till it bleed then let the blood dry on the fleme with which you scarifie and after anoint it with your ointment and it shall cure the pain 6. If a horse be pricked in the quick draw out the nails anoint it and the horses foot shall be quickly cured without coming to suppuration After the same manner may all other wights be cured that consist of flesh and blood Take Notice 1. This ointment is of no efficacy except it have the Mosse of his scull mixed with it that is violently put to death 2. Except the weapon be besmeared with the blood of the wound dryed on it the operation is in vain 3. The Artist at his pleasure may put ease or pain upon the Patient by the weapon 4. Fractures and fissures are not well cured except the pouder of Comfry or Osteocoll be mixt with the ointment 5. The weapon is diversly to be anointed in thrusts and cutts 6. The intemperance of the Patient is discovered by the Artist in the weapon The Magnetick Cure of the Yellow Jandise by Application TAke of the Urine of the Patient as much as thou wilt mix it with the ashes of an ash-tree bake it into dough and make little Cakes thereof Then make a little hole in each Cake and put therein a little saffron with a little of the Patients Urine let it evaporate at the fire and as the Urine consumes the disease shall evanish A Magnetick transplantation of the Gout TAke of the hairs and the pairings of the nails on the feet and hands of the Patient bore a hole in an oketree to the pith put them therein and closing up the hole cover it round about with Cow-dung and within three months the Disease shall evanish The Magnetick Cure of Ulcers TAke either Arsmart or Comfrey or Flix-weed c dip them in cold water and apply them cold to the ulcer till they become warm then bury them in a clayish ground as they rot the ulcer cures The Magnetisme of Asarabacca IF a man pull the leaves of Asarabacca upward it will cause the person to whom he gives it to vomit But if he pull them downward it will onely cause him to purge by the siege This same Magnetisme is found in the tops of the Alder or Boor-tree This far have I set down some Magnetick Cures which may serve to direct thee in the rest I have not touched Now I shall set down some of the most common Magnetismes in Nature which every man may put to tryall and find out the truth thereof if he will but allow a little cost and labour The first of the Vine IT 's well known by the Vintners of France and other places That when the Vine beginneth to put forth her flowrs all that time the wines in the hogs-heads are troubled And as the flowrs are earlier or later according to the diversity of the Climates so this troubling of the wine observeth their seasons and which is most wonderfull of all in Countreys where Vines grow not the wine is not at all troubled The same cometh to passe in Ale when the Barley flourisheth The second Magnetick impressions of the breedingmother upon the Embrio WOmen having strong affections whether of desire or fear give frequently impressions to the Child in the womb whereof I will tell you two Magnetick Historeis A Belgick Woman being big-bellyed had a desire to a Cherry which another was eating and in time of her greatest longing she touch'd her brow with her finger the Child being come to age retain'd the impression of the Cherry on his fore-head This kept such a Magnetick harmony with Cherries that it was greenish whitish yellowish and red as the Cherries changâ—d their season and colours And which is most admirable and Magnetick In Spain where the Cherries sooner ripen than in Flanders it sooner became red than at home still observing a sympathie with Cherries of the Countrey where he was The second is this When in the last Northern Scots Expedition in my Imployment I attended that vertuous and valiant Gentleman Colonel William Mitchel In a Village within three miles of Rothymay I found one Henderson whose mother being big of him was affrighted at the sudden shining of the Moon into a dark room where she was and he thereby received an impression of a Moon on his thigh which doth not onely change with the Moon its figure but with the weather his colour A day before wind it becometh reddish before rain pale and in fair-weather it keepeth its own colour And this the next adjacent Farmers observe as a certain Prognostication how to dispose of their future Labours The third A Magicall Magnetisme out of the famous Van Helmont TAke the Heart of a Horse which is by a Witch killed Take it hot out of him and strike a nail thorough it then broil it on the Coals or on a Spit rost it And the heart of the Witch shall be so tormented with heat and pain that she will come in all haste to the fire and use all means to