world even your faith For the trust whereby we rely on Christ and wholly commit our selves to such a Protector By confidence in Christ we must drive away the devills gets us the Victory against the Divels and the Princes of this world so that we can win and carry from him being cast under us rich spoils When therefore we would do any thing against this adversary and would resist his charms and witchcrafts the Dutch call that Toverye or would cast ill spirits out of mens mind it must be done by confidence in Jesus Christ contemning all old wives superstition and heathenish vanity and other Magical execrations For God by his Son who is the brightnesse of his glory Heb. 1. All things are attributed unto Christ and expresse Image of his person doth do all things in all men ruling all things by the word of his power He hath merited this prerogative by his singular obedience humility and meeknesse toward the Father For when he was in the form of God that is Philip. 2. Christ is equall with God like and equal unto him he thought it no robbery to be equal with God but he humbled himself and took upon him the form of a servant being made obedient unto death even the death of the Crosse so ignominious and execrable wherefore God hath highly exalted him and hath given him a name above every name that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow both of things in heaven things on earth and things under the earth and all tongues should acknowledg and confesse that Jesus Christ is the Lord to the glory of God the Father upon whom redounds all the glory of the Son The amplitude of the name of Jesus High matters are done by the name of Christ and so of the Father to the Son If therefore any man purposeth to go about any businesse to ease minds afflicted or dispossesse devills out of mens bodies let him attempt to do it by calling on God the Father in confidence of the name of Christ For so shall he obtain all his desires and shall not fail of what he seeks for By the force and power of this Majestical name so a man do not doubt and distrust Gods promises diseases abate affections and perturbations of the mind are allayed tempests and Seas are calmed the divells as Christ promised Mark 16. By trust in Christ all kind of diseases are driven away when he was to ascend into heaven fly away poysons grow dull serpents are charmed and grow harmlesse the clouds of the mind are dispelled fear and terrour and horrour of death are discussed all ill thoughts are dissipated and vanish away the mind obtains a quiet and peaceable conscience so that nothing can come which may make us afraid because God the Father through Christ Jesus supports us by his spirit Wherefore we must raise up our minds unto the living God by the Conduct of his Son and whatsoever thou determinest to go about remember to do it in the vertue of that wonderfull name Jesus For to him is given all power in heaven and in earth Math. 28. Mark 16. Acts 2. and there is no other name given under heaven wherein we may look forsalvation which is so terrible to wicked men and to devils but to those that trust in him is he power and Wisedome Salvation Act. 4. 1 Cor. 1. Revel 2. Life and Resurrection He even Jesus Christ is appointed by God to be the judge of the quick and the dead he is the faithfull Witnesse and Prince of the kings of the earth who loved us and washed us from our sins in his own bloud To him as the Apostle Peter saith in the Acts of the Apostles Acts 10. all the Prophets give testimony that every one who believeth in him might receive remission of sins through his name John 17. In Christ is remission of sins This is life eternal which Testimony Christ ascribes to the Father that they may know thee to be the onely true God and whom thou haste sent Jesus Christ unto whom is referred and from whom is derived all the force of divinity and all the Wisedome and Vertue of God may be ascribed unto him Since therefore this name is so renowned and Sacred and of so great Majesty and power we must be exceeding carefull that we use it not in vain or upon light respects and irreverently as those ridiculous exorcists did Acts. 16. who when they strove with certain rites and words conceived for gain and oftentation to drive forth the evil spirit in the name of Jesus by vertue whereof Saint Paul wrought so many miracles by this abuse they fall into great danger and their admiration or rather ridiculous practice was very hurtfull unto them The exorcists wounded For he that was possessed with the Devil leaped forth upon them and cruelly tore them so that they were forced to save themselves by flight There were also in our memory some Popish Priests The exorcists of these times are furnished with foolish and idle doctrine who having no faith in the name of Christ nor any sanctity of life attempted to do the like but they were so mocked and made ashamed by the evil spirit that they were forced to depart with quaking and leave the businesse undone Yet if any man would go about to do any such matter and to cast forth Divels out of mens bodies let him imitate the example of Saint Peter and Saint Iohn The miracle of St. Peter and Saint John Act. 3. who used no ambitious words yet raised up the lame man thus In the name of Iesus Christ of Nazareth Arise and walk and he presently his legs and ankle bones receiving strength leapt up and stood on his feet and walked and entred into the Temple with them leaping and walking and praysing God Since therefore Jesus Christ the onely Son of God is equal and coeternal with the Father All glory is given to Christ Colos 1. Heb. 1. in whom also are hidden all the treasures of Wisedome and knowledg ruling all things by the word of his power it is fit that placing all our confidence on God by Jesus Christ by his vertue and defence we should resist Satan sin and hell and all other enemies of mankind For great and excellent is the strength and force which God hath set forth in Christ Ephes 1. as Saint Paul saith when he raised him from the dead and made him to sit at his right hand in heavenly places above all power principality and dominion and above all that is named not onely in this world but in that also which is to come And he hath put all things under his feet and he hath made him the head over all Christ is head of the Church Christ doth all things in all men that is the Church which is his body the fulnesse of him who filleth all things in all men that is Christ
is he by whom God filleth and accomplisheth and perfecteth all things in all men especially in those who trust in him and as the Apostle Paul saith are sealed by the holy spirit of promise which is the earnest and pledge of our inheritance for the redemption of the possession that is acquired and purchased for us to the praise of his glory Wherefore Saint Paul who was accustomed to innumerable combats and was forced to endure many assaults perswades all men that whensoever any dangers are at hand or death is threatned or Satan makes war against our mind they must resist and stand out against all these with an undaunted and resolute courage Christ supporteth us in our afflictions â—â— Ephes 6. For so he animates and upholds the Ephesians Finally my brethren farewell stand fast in the Lord and in the power of his might Put on the whole armour of God that you may stand against the wiles of the Devil For we wrestle not against flesh and bloud that is frail and dying men though sometimes they are troublesome enough but against Principalities and powers against the rulers of the darknesse of this world against spiritual wickednesses in high places In which fullnesse of words and plentifullnesse of sentences A simile from the industry of Souldiers and also by an elegant metaphor taken from the conflict and assault of an enemy he shews that the Devils and their servants do work and frame their stratagems and subtile practises with wonderfull fraud against all those that are Christs and have given up their names unto him The weapons of Christian warfar Wherefore since our enemies are so formidable and so well acquainted with spiritual wickednesse he shews by the way what weapons we must use to resist them with Take saith he the whole armour of God by an example taken from those who are well armed to go to battel and stand in readinesse that you may be able to resist your adversary the devill and when you have done all Ephes 6. and ended the businesse to stand like to those who are not put to flight and compelled to turn their backs Stand therefore having your loyns girt about with the girdle of truth and having on the Brest-plate of righteousnesse and your feet shod that you may be ready provided to the preparation of the Gospel of peace And above all taking the shield of faith wherewith you shall be able to quench all the fiery darts of the Wicked and take the helmet of Salvation and the sword of the spirit which is the word of God to which he adds as a supply of auxiliary forces Prayer is arms against the Devill prayers and supplications in the spirit which prevail so far as to gain us the victory that God in so doubtfull a conflict as it were a dubious event in war may as Saint Peter saith 2 Pet. 3. who treats upon the same argument restore strengthen confirm and support his afflicted ones who are near inclining unto ruine And since of old the authority of Pythagoras was of such esteem amongst his Schollers and his doctrine so much reverenced An argument from Christs authority that it was held for an Oracle and spoken as it were by Apollo that they would presently to perswade belief as if it were wickednesse to deny it object 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 He said it it is but just and the reason of our salvation requires it that we should give to Christ the same honour and reverence and in asserting his doctrine We must object Christ hath said it and establishing the profession of faith say to those that are deaf to his words Believe it to be true for Christ our Saviour hath spoken it For his doctrine is not mans doctrine not weak not cold Christs doctrine exceeds all Wisdome Colos 2. Colos 1. but it is lively quick saving effectual divine and that brings felicity unto man which it is fit we should ask for from Christ only who is the fountain of all Wisedome and goodnesse and in whom dwelleth the fullnesse of the Godhead bodily in whom we are made perfect By him as Saint Paul saith God the Father hath plucked us forth from the power of darknesse and hath translated us into the Kingdome of his dear Son God hath given out all things in Christ by whom we have redemption in his bloud and remission of our sins who is the Image of the invisible God and the first born of every creature for by him all things were created which are in heaven and in earth whether they be visible or invisible thrones dominions principalities powers All things were made for him and by him and he is before all and by him all things subsist And he is the head of the body which is the Church the beginning and first born from the dead that he should be the chief in all things holding the Principality Because it pleased the Father that in him should all fullnesse dwell and to reconcile all things to himself by him and to make peace by the bloud of his Crosse Since therefore God the Father hath so largely and abundantly powred forth all things upon Christ let us strive and hasten to come to this most plentifull and overflowing fountain and with full assurance let us be bold to ask and hope for all things from him The force of Faith and try to accomplish what we desire If we will put the devils to flight cure diseases escape dangers kill venemous beasts make all poysons to be harmlesse remove Mountains from their places you must know that all these things are to be done by the vertue and power of Jesus Christ and by firm confidence in him For Christ promiseth to him that believes that all things should be plain open and easie which he testified to his Disciples in his last Sermon before he ascended into Heaven Mark 16. Mark 16. when he saith Go ye into all the World and Preach the Gospel to every Creature He that believeth and is Baptized shall be saved but he that believeth not shall be condemned Now these signs shall follow those that believe In my name shall they cast out Devills They shall speak with new Tongues They shall kill Serpents and if they drink any deadly thing it shall not hurt them They shall lay their hands upon the sick and they shall recover that is they shall be well so soon as they are touched All these things shall be ever ready wheresoever the progresse and profit of the Gospel shall require a miracle But in the Souls these miracles are allwaies wrought by the Ministers of the Gospel Miracles wrought in the Souls when they drive filthy vices out of mens minds when by the effectual force of the spirit and wholesome doctrine they cure the diseases of mens Souls when they free the heart from coveteousnesse hatred wrath lust calumny backbiting and other venemous affections and adorn it
that they are very unlucky in businesse they undertake For when a man lyeth with his wife that hath her courses he stops her flux and the blood is forced back again you may see the same in vessels and Cask of Wine and by blood running from your nose in which we stop the liquor running forth by thrusting in a stople or some rag that is wound together Yet it is not necessary nor fit to stop the blood running forth when as the mans seed mingled with such filthy moisture cannot make a perfect man For the matter is naught and unfit to receive a decent and proper figure And therefore Moses had good reason by Gods command to forbid men to lie with women during their uncleannesse Touch not a woman that is unclean of her blood For it can hardly be expressed what contagion and mischief comes thereupon when men do not refrain from women that are impure For this contagion will by degrees seize upon the whole habit of the body and secretly breeds the Leprosie and the Pox. And it doth this the sooner if the woman be diseased of some contagious disease as whores commonly are For then she will presently communicate her infection Whence are monstrous shapes in the body and mind Wherefore no man need much admire that there are so many monstrous births or from whence come so many strange shapes that there are so many scald heads maimed and crooked people with bow'd and bent legs that there are so many swellings about the fundament and the groins so many Bube's so many swoln Emrods and as for the mind Bube's in the groins that there are so many dull stupid forgetful foolish mad and unreasonable people for all proceeds from disorderly and unseasonable venery or from the corrupt faulty seed of the Parents are derived on their posterity Therefore let every man Consider how Cruel they are to their children that bring such mischiefs upon them and chiefly they are here understood that are conceived in the fourth Moon Born in the fourth Moon cal'd commonly Pist against the Moon that is when womens courses are upon them at what time they should not dare to copulate with men For the children they then conceive want all those gifts and properties that children begot at seasonable times are endowed with They are fit for nothing that is good and vertuous or to perform any noble actions And if they do any thing well they have no successe in what they undertake and never see any prosperous end For they are by Nature imperfect and their natural faculties are short which help men in their businesse not by their own but their Parents faults who undecently in procreation violated natures laws Whence it is that many things are wanting in them or else given them sparingly and with some ill qualities that others obtain bountifully and they suffer no lesse losse in their minds For they want almost their common senses and are extream dull without that sharpnesse of wit quicknesse of Invention counsell and prudence that others have Informer years a woman that was an Islander took Physick of me she married a Sea-man A history of a thing done and conceived by him her belly began to swell to such a vast magnitude that one would think it would never hold to carry the burthen When nine Moneths were past that makes three quarters of a year the Midwife was cal'd first with much a do she was delivered of a rude lump which I conceive was a superfaetation after a lawfull conception there were fastned to it on both sides two handles like to arms for the length and the fashion of them It panted and seem'd to be alive as sponges and Sea-fish cal'd Viticae in Dutch Elschowe Sea sponges which flote in the Sea in Summer in infinite numbers and being taken out of the Sea they run abroad and being long handled they melt with a burning and pricking left behind them whence they had their name After this a Monster came forth of the Womb with a crooked beck and a long round neck with brandishing eyes and a pointed tail and it was very nimble footed So soon as it came to the light it made a fearful noyse in the room and ran here and there to find some secret place to hide it self at last the women with cushions fell upon it and strangled it Leeches in a Womans body This kind of Monster because like a Leech it sucks the blood from the child they call it a Leech commonly a Sucker At last this woman extreamly tired and almost ready to die brought forth a Man-child of which the Monster had so eaten up the flesh that so soon as it was christned it had very little life remaining in it But the woman hardly restored to her strength reported the whole truth to me of all the pains she endured and I prescribed unto her a wholesome course of life and to restore her forces for she was grown very feeble and lean These and many such like things should teach all men and women to use all decency and orderly proceedings in their mutual embracings Lecherous people are marked lest Nature should be wronged thereby In which respect some lascivious people are much to be condemned who think they may do what they list when they use copulation and will no wayes have their pleasure bounded For taking no care whether their stomachs be full or empty or the meat be raw or digested whether it be day or night regarding no opportunity of time obey nothing but their own lusts and boast themselves to be so lusty that they will never be weary with copulation but these insatiable Lechers seem to me to be ignorant for what end the genital parts were given to man since they use them not to get children and propagate their kind but for obscene purposes for barren pleasure but at last they pay for their unruly lust when their parts and joynts are tormented with Gowts and Aches CHAP. IX By what means he that will may get a Boy or a Girle and by the by whence Hermaphrodites are bred and people of both Sexes God is the first cause of conception IF any one would have a Boy or a Girle he must first know for certain that the successe and happy beginnings of those things are to be obtain'd by Prayer from God who is the principal cause of every effect For sometimes though the naturall faculties of Man be as they should be yet are men and women barren and want Children which God threateneth by Hosea Ch. 9. barrennesse from God to those that defile themselves with unlawfull copulation or seek for to be fruitfull from any other but from God Because saith he they went to Beelphegor that is the Idol of Priapus and were addicted to filthinesse they shall not conceive their glory shall flye away as a bird from the womb from the birth and from the conception I will give
dignity Differente in Souls and that there is no odds between the Soul of a wise man and good and of a fool or wicked man and that the organs of the body onely hinder the actions and the faculties of the Soul are ill performed by reason thereof But I out of no desire of contention or contradiction am perswaded that it is otherwise For though I know that the mind growes dull by a sharp disease or by a blow on the head by some fall or bruise and that a man may so forget all things yet it followes not that all Souls are equall and that all men had Souls alike to judge or reason with For every mans Soul be it never so well adorned and the like pains be taken to make it skilfull in Arts and Sciences cannot attain to the same Excellency nor is alike capable of the same Learning and Knowledge that another mans Soul is For some are not at all disposed to learn Arts and it is against nature to bend their minds that way For as Torches and Lights some shine more than others do and give more light and as some burning matters A Simile from lighted Torches burn fiercer than others do so the Souls of men are of a different light and the minds of men are far distant in gifts one from the other And as Angels differ in order dignity office Ministry one from the other Angels are of different excellencies as Seraphims Cherubins Thrones Powers Vertues Archangels and the whole Hierarchy of Angels demonstrate so I see that there may be a difference set between mens Souls They all agree in this that they dwell in a mortal body that hath the shape of a man though some look more like savage beasts and are next unto them That all men are given to procreation that the same Lawes of Nature should govern them all That the same force of reason urgeth them That the essence of their Soul and form of their substance is created by God That they are all immortall and all endowed with one spirit But because the force of the Divine Nature doth not so strongly shew it self in all nor are all equally capable of his gift Disparity of Souls and some make themselves unworthy of so great a Benefit it comes to passe that the Souls produce their actions by another force and effect nor are they in their present condition state dignity and order equal nor shall they be equal in glory in â—he next life For so the Prophet Daniel clears this point Chap. 12. As many as sleep in the dust shall awake some to life eternal some to disgrace and punishment and condemnation And they that are learned shall shine as the Firmament and they that have taught many righteousness shall shine as Stars for ever and ever I find St. Paul observed the same difference between incorporeal substances taking a similitude from the Stars For as one Star is brighter than another and their bodies are very divers so great is the difference in the souls of men and in the resurrection one Soul shall be far more glorious than another 2. de Anima But God as Gregory Nyssen testifies hath appointed according to the several species of Animals that their Souls should be different one from another and for every body he hath assigned a convenient soul So to Bruit beasts God hath not given a reasonable understanding but natural industry whereby they shun all snares and dangers Wherefore every kind of Animals is moved by the same Inclination For every Hare is fearful every dog smells well Bruits are governed by Nature not by Reason and will hunt after wild Beasts all Foxes are crafty all Wolves cruel and greedy of their prey Every Ape will imitate mens manners But this is not so in Man For there are infinite reasons and wayes of mens Actions nor are all men enclined to one operation or to one thing as Bruits are that are ruled by nature onely and their actions tend all one way But the act of reason which belongs onely to man is diverse in divers men and as the condition of their soul is different so are their actions Hence arise so many sundry opinions in men As therefore St. Paul saith 1 Cor. 12. The manifestation of the Spirit is given to every one to profit withall and men have several offices appointed to them which God dristributes to every one as he pleases dividing to every man his Spirit as he will so every man hath his own proper soul made by the same God but not of the same dignity not endowed with the same understanding of things yet so as it is capable both of vice and vertue and by its imbred force it may embrace the best things and avoid what is evill though she can do all but weakly where she wants Divine assistance The Mind is a white paper wherefore methinks that comparison of Aristotle is not absurd who makes the mind of Man like a clean table whereon are no pictures drawn but yet is fit to receive any whatsoever be they Monsters of Vices or Images of Vertue To this belongs that comparison of St. Paul 2 Tim. 2. A Simile from large Houses As in great Houses there are vessels not onely of gold and silver but of wood and earth whereof some are for honourable others for inferiour uses So God hath sent many differences of bodies and souls of men upon this Stage of the world and hath provided them with diversity of persons and ornaments yet not without hope of attaining a more excellent gift For care and endeavours are taken from no man whereby they may contend after that which is best and attain felicity but God helps those that strive and drives them on when they faint in their industry Let no man accuse God So he that is wicked by his own wickednesse may purge himself and become a vessel of honour fit for the Masters use For the great anâ— good God hath assigned to every one a particular habit of body and a soul agreeing to his Nature which yet are subject to be altered many ways For sometimes a man falls off and degenerates from his Integrity and excellency whether you consider his Soul or his body and forgetting his originall he wallowes in the mud of vices But sometimes being secretly prompted by God he breaks out from the sins he was entangled with and endeavours to do that which is good and honest in the sight of God and Men. We may see examples hereof in Saul and the prodigal Child Luk. â—5 Every man therefore hath his own mind and his own soul but by Gods donation they have several gifts and endowments and the Divine Spirit doth not equally fill every mind All receive of his plentiful fountain but some more What is meant by the distributing of the pounds and talents Matth. 25. some lesse as we may understand by the distributing of the
no man living shall be justified If thou Lord shouldst observe what is done amisse who might abide it but with thee there is mercy and plenteous redemption Despair must be cast away CHAP. XV. Whether there be a reasonable Soul infused into monstrous births and to abortives and whether they shall rise again to life And by the way from whence Monsters proceeed ALl those that are like men and according to the order of being born received from our first Parents by that way and means proceed from both Sexes though they are monstrous in shape and deformed in body Deformity unmans no man have notwithstanding a reasonable soul and when they have run the race of this short life they shall be made at last partakers of the Resurrection But those that are not from man but by mixing with other Creatures and exercise their Actions otherwise than men do shall neither be immortal nor rise again So the wood-gods Satyrs houshold gods Centaurs Fairies Tritons Sirens Harpies and if fabulous antiquity hath invented any other things of this nature they have neither rational souls nor enjoy the benefit of the Resurrection There are indeed amongst so many millions of men many that are deformed in body and are of an horrid aspect with hogs snowt and uncomely Jaws yet all these though they are far from the natural shape of Man are referred to the number of men For they speak discourse judge remember and perform other offices of the Soul and perfect their actions after the manner of men though they somewhat degenerate from mans dignity and his imbred force of Nature Whence monstrous shapes proceed Now a Monstrous habit of body is contracted divers wayes For fear frights influence of the Stars too much or too little seed Imagination of women with child and divers phantasms which the mind conceives deform the body and cause Children to be of a shape not proper to the Sex Sometimes the whole course of Nature is changed either when the seeds are vitiated or the Instruments be unfit so that the natural faculties to propagate and form the Child cannot perform their offices exactly A Simile from the Industry of an Artificer For as the most Industrious Artist cannot bring to perfection a work happily begun where the matter is naught or the Instruments are dull so Nature wanting the forces of her faculties or not having a fit matter doth all things ill and fails of her end Some there are that by their operation do make some parts of the body otherwise than Nature made them So in Asia as Hippocrates testifies Of Ayr and places there were great heads that the Nurses made their heads to be long figured for that they thought was a sign of a noble and generous spirit as a Hawk nose was amongst the Persians whereby at length it came to passe that though the Midwives ceased to presse the childrens heads yet nature whilest she was forming the child agreed with the ancient custome and what they did by great Industry Nature did of her own accord Also nutriments and the qualities of the outward Ayr make some parts deformed So they that dwell in cold moyst Countries have great heads great bellies fat bodies Countries change the conditions of Soul and Body babber lips swoln cheeks Many Countries produce Pigmies and little men very short Other Countreys produce people with great throats and scrophulous tumours with flat noses crooked legs Yet though many things be wanting in these people and the parts be either ill framed or wrested amisse yet because they are born of women and some force of reason shines in them and they are led by the same Laws of Nature Orthodox Divines say There is a rational soul in them and that they shall rise again The Resurrection will restore bodies deformed to their right shape And by rising again they shall lay aside all deformities of their bodies that were ill favoured to behold and be well formed like as men are and all lame crooked imperfect limbs shall be made perfect And though in some the force of reason shines lesse because of the unaptnesse of the organ as in children old men drunkards mad-men in whom the force of the Soul is hindred or oppressed Yet every one of them hath a reasonable soul and what is defective shall be made up at the resurrection But imperfect and abortive births and all mischances where the limbs are not fashion'd or very imperfectly because these want the reasonable soul they cannot be call'd men nor shall they rise again Difference between abortion and a mischance Physitians make a difference between abortion and a mischance For a running forth of a mischance is when the seeds were for some dayes joyn'd in the womb but by the slipperinesse and smoothnesse of it they run forth again before they come to make a perfect shape so that a rude unframed mass runs out that was the rudiments of a Child that should have been and a shadow of what was begun but it was cast out untimely as seeds and buds from trees that bear not fruit to maturity But Abortion oft-times shews the parts of the Infant perfectly made up which when it is 42 dayes old is endowed with a rational Soul and is alive Whence if it chance to be cast forth by some sudden accident it shall one day rise again For though many things be wanting in it and it is not come to its full magnitude yet in the Resurrection all shall be made up that time would have produced A Simile from children increasing And as children have many things in possibility that with progresse of time and increase of years do shew themselves as teeth nails hair and full stature of body which by faculty of the seed increases by degrees and come to perfection so in the Resurrection all things wanting in the body and parts that are imperfect shall be made perfect Whosoever therefore is born of the seed of man and not from some foul matter or vitious humours concurring though he be of a monstrous body and ill favoured shape yet shall he rise again from death to life all faults being repaired by vertue of the Resurrection and framed decently for that Omnipotent Work-master of all things Makes nothing weak Prudentius who doth the body raise For were there fault it were not for his praise What is by chance or sicknesse or by care Or otherwise decay'd he will repair Nothing is impossible to God For that is easie for him who made all things of nothing For as Augustine saith It is more easie to create men than to raise them when they are dead It is more to give that a being that never was than to repair what was before And the earthly matter never is perished in respect of God who can easily restore to its former nature what is vanished into the Ayr and other Elements or what leannesse or hunger hath consumed or
nourish And this they would maintain by an Aphorism of Hippocrates It is more easie to be filled with drink than with meat but I think they are fouly mistaken For he meant that moyst liquid things are the best remedy to restore strength lost For liquid things soon refresh those that are consumed which though they nourish not so much as solid meats yet they are much sooner distributed into the body Wherefore the opinion of Cornelius Celsus is most true and is not contrary to Hippocrates When you eat meat L. 1. Celsus explained it is never good to eat too much and oft-times too much abstinence is ill But if a man be intemperate it is worse in drink than meat Whereby he intimates that immoderate drinking of wine doth a man more harm than to glut himself with meat For drink presently penetrates into all the parts and goes into the veins undigested and pricks the nerves and brain But meat sticks in the stomach till it be concocted and if it be burdensome it is easily cast forth by vomit which is not so easie and ready for Nature after drink Liquid poysons most hurtfull This is proved by Cats Dogs Dormice Rats if they eat any morsels that are mingled with poyson they easily vomit them up by Natures faculty provoked which in moyst things is very hard for them to do wherefore poysons given in drink are more dangerous than given in meat for the venom is suddenly carried to all parts of the body and corrupts the vital parts and if it be drank in wine it destroyes the sooner But immoderate meat is a dangerous thing to choak a man and the stomach so swells and is extended by it that you would think it would break Fat things resist poyson especially in those that are hard to vomit Therefore it is good to use moderation in both But there is nothing more dangerous than a venomous potion if there be no fat under it for if there be the venom passeth slower into the veins and doth not altogether lay hold of the vital parts and it may be cast forth by Vomit sooner So when we would prevent venomous potions we must eat butter oyl and all fat things for so the venome will not stick so fast to the body and penetrates not so soon into the veins and it is soon carried forth again by vomit and so they are good against drunkennesse also but if it stay long in the body it corrodes and exulcerates the internal parts and makes a passage to the heart the fountain of life Wherefore so soon as one hath taken venome of some dangerous meat repercussives sowr sharp astringent things that bind and shut the pores must be avoided and abovs all things sleep Sleep is dangerous after poyson taken or when one hath the Plague For as they that are stricken with the plague when they grow sleepy if they do sleep they are sooner dead and Nature is more sluggish in resisting the contagion so in venomous bitings and poysoned potions if men fall asleep they are in worse case and the venome sooner takes hold of the vital parts Wherefore they must be pulled and kept waking lest the venome run inwardly toward the principal parts An elegant Simile from the Incursion of an Enemy For as enemies with little labour and without any trouble almost enter Cities and Forts without any resistance when the Citizens and Watchmen are drunk and dead asleep so the body of Man when diseases come upon him or when venomous potions are drank in can hardly hold out and escape but must needs be subdued when the faculties and powers of nature are oppressed with sleep and are sluggish and idle and not cheerfull to make opposition against diseases Whence it comes that they are forced to yield to the Conquerour not onely with the losse of health but of life also CHAP. XIX Wine makes a man drunk otherwise than Beer or Ale doth How the nerves are produced from the brain THough the brain be naturally moyst and soft yet the nerves proceed it as threads from the distaff of Wooll or Flax whose paces are distributed into all parts of the body For from this principal as from a fountain nerves are dispersed into all the parts as boughs from the root of a Tree A Simile from the branches of a Tree which are distributed into many branches The whole body partakes of sense and motion by the nerves and when these are affected and the principal part is hurt it is deprived of its gifts or faintly performs its office Hence it is that drunkards dote reel and stumble Drunkards look ridiculously because their brains are clowded with grosse and thick vapours But since all men that are drunk with wine do appear more ridiculous in their customs and manners for none play the fools more and make all that see them laugh when they look upon their faces eyes and behaviour than such as drink themselves drunk with beer For these fall not every way but onely backward and lye on their backs but such as are drunk with wine fall forwards and ly upon their faces So that these hurt their cheeks forehead noses and faces by falling but those their shoulders and hinder part of their head And the same you may behold when they fall fast asleep in their cups For they that are whittled with Ale or Beer sleep open mouthed with their head leaning on their shoulders but such as are whittled with wine sleep with their face and chin leaning upon their breast The reason is because the fumes and vapours of wine rise to the forepart of the head and possesse themselves of the forepart of the body but the vapours of Ale and Beer fly to the hinder part of the head and body Hence it is that these are sleepy and forgetful and not so full of prate and clamorous CHAP. XX. Men that are tall and grosse bodied are sometimes not so long-lived as those that are slender and cannot so stoutly struggle with diseases But commonly little men will drink more wine than grosse men and will be longer before they be drunk DAily examples shew that men with grosse fat-bodies are spungy A great body body hurts the wit and cannot so well resist diseases For they are loaded with their body that their spirits are not so lively merry and ready Whereupon when any little disease comes upon them or light inconvenience they are faint-hearted and complain very much For they are cast down with the very first brush and their mind fails them And if any dangers by Sea or Land be to be undergone or any thing falls out amisse they presently tremble and are pale with fear That is so because their native heat is feeble and their spirits small and their blood colder and farther because the natural vertue is sent far and a great way which being compacted and united in a small body is better than that which is
life and will not easily let it go because that she finds the greatest force of spirits to be in it which being exhausted the whole body pines away and the works of nature are performed worse than they were But when some nutriment is given Meat to be offered before blood letting it will run forth more readily For the spirits are quickned by eating and much cheered by drinking and moderate exercise and the blood runs all over the body and makes it more ruddy and well colour'd But it is a question whether it be fit to sleep presently after bloud-letting Whether we may sleep after a vein opened I unlesse one be used to it or be weary with heat and long travell do not think it fit or good for ones health in the spring and summer to sleep at noon nor do I think it good for to sleep presently after opening a vein especially if ones belly be full or his body fat After blood-letting be temperate For some of these are of opinion that after blood-letting they should restore their strength by cramming themselves with meat and drink Who become sleepy and drowsy and fall asleep with no small losse to their health and danger For their brains are so filled with thick vapours and the veins do so swell thereby oft-times that the orifice opens and the blood runs forth again to the great inconvenience of their health I remember that this fell out upon one of our Magistrates who in the Ides of May An example of one that died by sleeping when prayers unto God and abstaining from â—abour are commanded for three dayes he had a vein opened at that time and as the custome is at dinner he eat green garlick and drank wine plentifully about noon his head being fill'd with fumes he first slept then died Wherefore he that would do best for his health the day a vein is opened should live on a sparing diet and abstain from sleep so long as he can but if it come upon him against his will and he cannot hold open his eyes yet let him keep from sleeping so long till the force and motion of the bloud be setled which is done after one hour and half Then he may quietly repose himself and taking care not to hurt that part of his body that was cut let him lye half down and lean his head on a pillow if he cannot sleep upright in a chair But if he sleep above two hours he must be pulled that he may awake lest the spirits should grow dull and the body should be oppressed by a general dark vapour whereby the party falls to vomiting and loathing and can hardly shake off his yawning CHAP. XXVI Physiognomy that is the reason how to look into the Nature and manners of men and with which by the marks and signs of the body we may judge of the motion and propension of the mind is not to be disliked Moreover I shall prove by Testimony of Scripture what is most convenient to be observed hereby The countenance and eyes are the Tables of the mind SOme Arts are held unlawfull and not fit to be used because they are near of kin to false Imposture and because they have some curious and neat observations But Physiognomy which by the face eyes countenance lineaments and the whole habit discovers the propension of the mind and body is in no part of it to be referred to unlawfull arts for the most excellent men were very studious in it and carefull to adorn it But since there is no part of the body though never so small base and ignoble that offords not some argument of the imbred nature and to what the mind is inclined yet the chief marks and tokens appeare in the face and countenance and which is the most certain discoverer of the mind in the volubility and aspect of the eyes For in them do shine hate anger Indignation fear hope joy modesty arrogance jealousy covetousnesse aemulation and all internall affections of the mind in the outward habit of the body So when God saw Cain sad and his countenance cast down he said unto him Gen. 4. Why art thou sad and why is thy countenance fallen Also Joseph when he saw his fellow Prisoners sad he asked them why is your face more sad than ordinary Gen. 40. for he observed that there was some ill apprehension in their minds and the certain notes of it were seen in their Countenance To which appertains that of Isaias Cap. 3. A place of Esaias explained The shew of their Countenance doth witnesse against them Whereby he shews â—â—at wicked men may be caught by their looks For their countenance shews what malice they are fill'd with what they meditate what they desire to undertake and whither their wicked intentions are bent There are many things to prove this that we may read in David and Solomon's lives Psal 34. whereby they do condemn the wickednesse of some men and expresse it by their forehead eyebrows eyes rolling up and down biting of their lips their nostrils wrinkled their cheeks swoln their proud gate unseemly behaviour their nodding and fierce countenance Whence saith the Wise man Prov. 6. A wicked and ungodly man goeth with a proud lock he winketh with his eyes speaketh with his feet teacheth with his fingers frowardnesse is in his heart he deviseth mischief and continually soweth discord But in those that are of a pleasing and mild spirit all things appear well in their countenances Their standing going lying down their countenance eyes hands motion serve all to expresse an honest and comely mind as also in the face wisdome honour honesty and other vertues appear But though all things do not exactly answer the praedictions of this art and many things fall out contrary to the marks that are outwardly on the body and that either by reason of education or the Industry of Parents or else by the grace of God yet for the most part they are true and the event is certain For in such as are marked with some visible note Art finds out the truth Notes of the body shew the condition of the Mind For where there is an errour about some principal part there the mind partakes of some inconvenience and cannot perfectly perform her offices So they that are deformed with a bunch-back so it be a natural Infirmity and not accidental nor come by any fall or blow are commonly wicked and malitious because the depravation is communicated to the heart that is the fountain and beginning of life Next to these are squint blind blear-ey'd people and such as have rolling eyes and such as cast their eyes aside because Nature failed about the brains But deaf mute stuttering stammering people and such as cannot speak plain by reason of the weaknesse of the nerves and muscles are not free from vice yet they do not deserve to be much blamed for it For the lesse noble and generous
and is healthfull for the body by the vertue that proceeds from it and that not onely by a hidden and secret faculty which it hath from the stars as Marsilius thinks but from a vertue that proceeds out of it A similitude from Jewels that recreates the vitall spirit For as Jewels are clowded by the ambient ayre and receive in a grosse vapour and abundance of fumes so they do send out of them a thin and invisible vertue For though a Jewel be a solid body yet natural heat and touching and rubbing it draws forth the force within it and communicates it to the brain and heart For a Jewel called Erananos vulgarly a Turquois doth change often and wax pale and lose its natural colour as I have often seen it where he that wears it is sick or not in good health and as the body grows well so will this stone revive and will represent a most amiable sky-colour as in the clearest day from the temperament of its native heat Polluted people desile Jewels And there is scarce any Jewel but will change colour if a man be intemperate or not continent as he ought to be For their inward vertue perisheth and all their beauty and lustre is defiled Whence it is that he that commits adultery or defiles the marriage bed and all that run a whoring can never keep their Jewels beautiful and perfect but they are clowdy and dark by the foul vapours they contract from those that wear them and from whores whose company they frequent For they draw some venemous qualities to them from corrupt bodies that exhale such virulent vapours and infect them as women when they have their courses will foul a clean looking-glasse But if Jewels were ineffectual and of no vertue Exod. 28. Moses would not so accurately and diligently have commanded to adorn the Priests vestment which they call Rationale with twelve Jewels whereof both Ezechiel and St. John in the Apocalyps make mention wherein he would not have men to observe the beauty and alluring rarities of the colours but the wonderfull force and effects of them also concerning which because other men have spoken so largely I shall speak of stones that are taken out of the bodies of Animals birds and fishes whereof many of them stick in the stomach and some in the head of them When Autumn begins and the Moon increaseth there is a stone taken out of the belly of a Swallow The Swallow-stone called a Swallow-Stone or Chelidonius from the bird it comes from this is a present remedy against the falling sicknesse for it dryes exceedingly and drinks up the viscous and clammy moisture that is the root of this disease For the swallow whose dung blinded Tobias's eyes Tob. 2. is of a hot and dry nature whence it is that they make their nests so artificially of moyst and soft mud and hang them up in arched and vaulted places For by touching of it they consume the moysture and make the mud hard Hence it is that Physitians make Cataplasms of them and find the powder of burnt swallowes to be most effectual in dissolving the quinsey and other swellings of the throat Also snails that are very great yield unto white something long rough The Snail-stone what vertue it hath and hollow stones in their lower part which I use to take out of their heads and to keep them for many uses For they cause one to make water that hath the strangullion and being bruised and their powder given in wine they make the urinary passages slippery and give ease That kind of stone grows of a clammy matter and slippery humour which makes an easie passage for the humours and so do these stones help in childbirth for they dilate and loosen the places and cause the matrix to open wider but one or two of them put under the tongue hath a strange force to cause salivation Wherefore I advise such as are thirsty and dry to role one of them in their mouths For it will make the tongue moist and run with humour and stay both heat and drieth Crystall is of the same vertue if a while steeped in cold water it be put into the mouth Amongst hearbs Purslane Cucumbers Housleek commonly called Jupiters beard do the same Also Toads yeild a stone that sometimes represents the picture of that Creature but they are very old A Toad-stone and have layn hid a long time amongst reeds or amongst thorns and bushes before the stone grows in their head or comes to any magnitude And there is a Toad stone kept and preserved in the family of the Lemnians that is bigger than a small nut which I have often proved that it will discusse swellings and tumours arising from venemous beasts if you oft rub the places with it For it hath the same nature the toad hath that it will draw forth and consume all venome For if a Rat Spider Wasp black Betle or rere-mouse fasten upon the part and hurt it our country folks presently run to this remedy and by rubbing the place with this stone the pain is abated and the swelling allayed There are also many kinds of Fish that have exceeding hard stones in their heads as the Sea-wolf the Coracinus Umbrae the river-Pike the Muller and Haddock whereof there is great plenty in winter The Low-Countries call them Schelvisch from the rough scaly skin it hath For those that are called from the form of their body and ash-colour Asells or Coo-fish are for the most part without these stones especially the females for out of the head of a male I took a white stone that was like the keel of a ship on the lower side All these kinds bruised and given in wine ease the cholick and break the stone of the reins not onely by their weight and heavinesse as some think but by an imbred property whereby they discusse and dissipate the collection of humours A stone is taken out of the head of a Carp The triangular stone of a Carp powdred will stop the blood that runs out of the nostrills by its great astriction which you may perceive also by tast CHAP. XXXI Of the events of dreams and how far they ought to be observed and believed SInce of old time men were wont to observe dreams with incredible vanity and superstition and to credit and believe them The great and good God that would have no man troubled in undoubtfull and uncertain things that disturb the tranquillity of the mind forbad that no man should be curious in observing them and make rash interpretations upon them Levit. 19. Deut. 13. and fain doubtfull events For by these impostures many have fallen from God and turned to false worships And if God when we are asleep doth warn our minds that are dull to seek out what his will is and doth put into our souls such things as were good for the salvation of them and are agreeable to his word and doctrine
Jaws fumes rise from these and infect the spittle with a contrary quality Whence it is that sometimes we perceive a salt sowre sweet Sweat and spittle have their forces from the humours or sharp taste in our spittle as there is in sweat also Hence it is that when men are fasting their breath stinks exceedingly and the unsavourinesse of the breath offends all near us that talk with us For some foggy ill smells evaporate and boyl forth of the body as out of some muddy lake and these being of a venemous nature infect the fountains of spittle And this moysture that swims in the mouth and moystneth the tongue and waters our meat is nothing else What spittle is than a flegmatique excrement that ariseth from the stomach from the nutrimental juice received in and flees to the brain and so is sent down to the tongue and Jaws Hence it is that those whose stomachs abound with flegme are alwaies full of spittle in their mouths and is overwet with immoderate moisture but such as are hot about the entrals and dry with a feavorous heat their tongues are not wet at all Who have a dry or moist mouth but crack as the earth doth when it is over-dried and parched by the heat of the Sun Since therefore the qualities and effects of Spittle come from the humours for out of them is it drawn by the faculty of nature as fire draws distilled water from hearbs the reason may be easily understood A simile from distilled hearbs why spittle should do such strange things and destroy some creatures And if the spittle of a sound man be effectuall for many uses that it will not onely destroy many creatures but kills Quicksilver also and fixeth it what shall we think of such that are sick of the Leprosy the Pox and many other contagious diseases I know many that have catcht the small Pox and measils by onely putting their mouths to the cups whereon the spittle of those that were infected did stick by reason of the clamminesse of it and venemous mud that fastneth to the teeth so that for the same cause the bitings of all creatures are dangerous by reason of the contagiousnesse of their spittle except the nerves and muscles be not hurt by it CHAP. XLV Of the use of Milk Beestings Creame The dutch call the first Beest the latter Room also what will keep these from cloddering in the Stomach Milk Who it is good for THe use of Milk is not alike wholsome for all people for those that have cold Stomachs it grows soure in them and fills the body with wind and those that are very hot of temper in them it burns and sends forth stinking vapours and offends the Head And since the nature of Milk is so that it will thicken and be condensed by heat Milk is thickned by heat and melts by cold and melted by cold it follows that it is soonest clottered in a hot Stomach and nothing will hinder this more than Honey and Sugar adding a little Salt to it But since I have known many strangled by clottered Milk coagulated in their Stomachs their breath being stopped when they began to vomit I think some wanton young men and lascivious suiters do very ill who at their afternoon meetings use to stuff themselves with Creame and Biestings and other Milk-meats and drink Wine abundantly with them to the great detriment of their health For Wine makes Milk curdle Wine and milk mingled are naught and become like to Cheese wherewith the Stomach being offended and is not able to concoct it all turnes to corruption and these are the foundations and seminaries of great diseases Milk corrupts Fish So fish and Milk and all soure things mingled with Milk and drenched with Wine cause Scabs and the Leprosy For all things cramb'd in thus promiscuously corrupt and are made subject to putrefaction Those gluttons that when a Cow hath new Calved love Beestings Beestings shall find nothing more hurtfull to man so that Children that within three dayes after they are born do suck their Mothers Milk are very ill by it and onely escape Death For it coagulates and clotters in their bodies and stops the Channells of the blood and the Veins so that nutriments cannot passe fitly and without hurt But these things dissolve Milk and Clottered blood also Cummin-seed Oyxmel and Vineger of Squils Angelica Master-wort CHAP. XLVI Why Gouty people are Lascivious and Prone to venery and as many as lye on their backs and on hard beds Gowty people are very lascivious SUch as have the Joynt-Gout are most commonly Lascivious and lust exceedingly partly because they have been used to it by long custome by the immoderate use whereof they came to have that disease partly because their Nerves are grown stiff and stretched out by it and by lying often on their backs the humours flow to the generative parts They also that ride much or lye along on Ship-boards and lye hard on their backs are very Prone and given much to Venery For the Nerves destinated for mans generation that run to the genitall parts grow hot so that by the agitation and influence of humours the loines are provoked and there is erection made thereby By the same reason if any man hurt or bruise his great Toe of his foot immediately from this effect the groin and cods swell that is that wrinkled cover of the Testicles is in pain by it arising from consent and by reason of the interweaving of Nervs and Veins As if any man puts into a fire that is very hot a pair of Tongues or other iron A simile from Smiths not only the part put into the fire will be red hot but also that part which is farr from the fire grows so hot that it cannot be handled so pain is communicated to the parts that are on the same side and the sickly affect is conveighed to the neighbouring part So from the Stomach Intestins Matrix Spleen Liver the head is affected and when the brain is hurt or troubled with any distemper the mischiefe is derived from thence to the parts that are under it And therefore Mid-wives though they know not the cause of it The generative parts are signs of good health or sicknesse use to search and see the Testicles of Children when they are sick and their privy member by the observation whereof they can judge young men also may perceive certain signes of recovery of death of health or sicknesse For if the cases of the Testicles be loose and feeble and the Cods fall down it is a signe that the naturall faculties are fallen The Testicles hanging down or close up what signs they are and the vitall Spirits that are the props of Life But if these secret parts be wrinkled and raised up and the yard stands stiffe it is a signe all will be well But that the event may exactly answer the praediction we
that they see clearly by day because the day light runs into these dark shady eyes and moves and enlightens the spirits But at night they see ill and not so exactly as others because they want the outward light to move the humours and spirits to sharpen their sight Grey and blew colour'd eyes whence and how they see but where the humour of a mans eye is transparent and clear but the spirit is small slender and weak they have Owls eyes or grey and blew colour'd that is temper'd with blew and white of which colour are lanthorns that you may see through Lanthorns are a light grey for with these are made plates for lanthorns and of this colour are the eyes of Owls and many other creatures They that have such eyes see weakly and confusedly by day because the day light and brightnesse of the Sun dissolves and dissipates the visual spirits that are not very strong but in the night because the organs of sight are enlightned with a natural and imbred light the spirits being collected and heaped together they see clearly what is in their way These kind of eyes sparkle What eyes twinkle in the night and shine in the dark and like glittering Stars they send forth their beams so that besides men many living creatures not so much by their craft in hunting as by the faculty of sight they are endued with find no inconvenience by the darknesse of the night whereas the bright day hurts them and blinds them as we see in Owls Creatures that see clear in the night night-Crows Bats Cats Rats Mice Dormice who see worse in the day by reason of the too great light but the darknesse of the night sharpneth their eyes for you see that if you hold candles or Torches before them they can hardly see wherefore Sea-men when they Sail at night desire not that the Moon should shine too clear but a dark kind of sky that is not covered with too thick clouds For so they can see farther and the rayes are lesse dissipated by a light object and do not vanish away so soon Sea-colourd eyes Sea-colourd eyes are tempered with white and green it is a moyster colour than the rest but not so clear and smooth and neat Wherefore by reason of the grosse moysture of it and the small spirits they that are so affected see not very clearly especially in a bright Ayre which offends them chiefly But if the humour and spirit be of a moderate temper Eyes and sight moderately disposed the colour is between white and black very clear and thereby is the sight performed most exactly The colours of the eyes vary according to age The colour and sight of the eye by what reason it is varied and by reason of the thicknesse thinnesse plenty paucity of the humours and spirits which thing is also manifest in the leaves of plants which when they first shoot forth are yellow then as they grow elder they wax green and again as the plant grows old they become yellow or Sea-colour So when children are first born their eyes are grey and blew Sea-green green Owl-eyes but as age comes on they grow black but in old age they grow white as their hairs do or degenerate into Owl-like eyes Also Dioscorides hath from the opinion of other men L. 1. c. written that by medicaments the colours of the eyes may be altered For the shells of small nuts burnt to ashes will make the pupills of young childrens eyes black that are grey and blew being powred in and anointed on the forehead with Oyl Also the wind the constitution of the Ayre the climate diseases affections and passions of the mind immoderate venery hunger immoderate sleep watching and surfetting change both the colours of the eyes and the qualities of the humours and spirits Counsels in restoring the eyes Wherefore a moderate diet and course of life must be kept least the organ of sight than which God hath given us nothing better in our bodies should receive any damage Emptinesse and fullnesse to be observed in recreating the eyes And if the eyes begin to grow dark for want of humours or by drinesse or want of spirits with grief of mind weeping watching wearinesse old age immoderate venery or be extenuated and wasted with immoderate study we must use such things as are restorative for our bodies and foster our eyes What things restore eyes that are decay'd as new rere Egs sweet wine Raysins sweet Almonds Pistaches Chestnuts either rosted or boyled soft Turneps the vertue whereof by reason of the plenty of their windinesse riseth to the head and wonderfully refresheth the visive spirits that are wasted also the brains of birds that fly much do the like as of Sparrows Linnets Spinks They do unadvisedly who without any choice or making any difference apply to their eyes Rue Celandine Rue sometimes hurts the eyes the galls of Vultures Kites Hawks that are of a burning and biting faculty and they waste and devour the spirits and humours that make the sight they are indeed fitly applied when the eyes are dark and misty from superfluity of humours When Rue and Celandine are good for the eyes Radish and Rapes good for the eyes and when the pin and web take away the sight and deform the eyes for they dissolve the congealed and collected humours that by their thicknesse hinder the spirits to be brought thither so all things that are abstergent and extenuating are good in this case as are common Radish that procures a good appetite Fennel-seed leaves and roots Eyebright French-Lavander and all things that cleanse the brain of thick vapours Wherefore let Schollers that must study by the help of their eyes avoid Garlick Leeks Onions and all strong â—â—â—elling things and that send forth such sâ—â—â—king vapours and are hurtfull for them Garlick and all strong things are hurtfull to the eyes For these spoil the eyes memory and damnify all the senses But such as use hard labour and exercise none of these things can hurt them But outwardly we must look on such things that refresh the sight Green things delight the eyes and are delightfull to behold as are all green things whereof there are innumerable kinds and differences in the fields woods Gardens Groves to be found but of stones Emrods are by their green colours good for the eyes the full greennesse of the Emrod and with which the eyes can never be satisfied as also the Prasius the Topaz the Jaspâ—r the Saphir Eranos commonly called a Tarquesse and the Lazul-stone Whereby the visive spirits are collected and do not vanish so they sharpen the sight of the eyes But that some by looking on the eyes do collect the inclination of the mind and thoughts The eyes are tokens of the mind I am not against it For they are the Indexes and do shew forth the inward affections thoughts conceptions though the tongue be
silent So in some peoples eyes and countenance there shines meeknesse modesty placability clemency probity and many more tokens there are to be seen of a pleasing and sedate mind And in others by looking on their eyes you may discover pride arrogancy hautinesse cruelty craft fraud anger envy hatred indignation fear elation joy sorrow despair Also Physitians in diseases do carefully observe the constitutions of the eyes For if they be sprinkled with rednesse or streaked with bloody streaks Arguments of the mind from the eyes The divers disposition of the eyes they shew a frensy or madnesse from the inflammation of the brain but if they be wan and dark lead-colour they shew the extinction of natural heat and losse of life But instable winking moving unquiet eyes and unconstant signifie alienation of the mind and doting but faint moist flagging full of tears dark trembling stiff shaking swoln hollow hid dull twinkling eyes besides the diversity of affections of the mind in sound people they shew in sick people also not without danger of life distemper of the brain from plenty or want of humours from heat or cold Pore-blind what condition of mind they are of But pore-blind goggle ey'd squint-ey'd and such as look obliquely and a-skew besides their muscles drawn awry and pulled divers ways they have this errour in their Natures also which vice because it principally consists about the Brain which is the habitation or rather the Court of the mind as it doth outwardly much deform the eyes so it enclines the mind to some vitious affections for most of these that want good education are false crafty deceitfull quarrelsome inconstant subtile to circumvent and have wonderful tricks to gull men with Wherefore the Hollanders when they describe a man that is so marked call him A Proverb from sight of the eyes against wicked people a slim gast een loos ende listich schalck Een boos wicht that is an overthwart crooked crafty knave that you cannot safely trust for that he doth all his actions with fraud deceit fallacy catching deceits impostures and dissembling tricks to do other men mischief and himself profit All those men partake of this nature and condition who in the principal and chief part of their bodies have any remarkable sign namely on their head Heart Liver whereof I spake more largely in my Physiognomie the second book Chap. 36. CHAP. VII The Reason why some are born without some parts and want some Limbs others have some parts double and superfluous and serving for no use Redundance of matter brings things double DAily examples shew that some are born with double limbs and such as grow to the rest as with appendixes to their Feet Armes Head and sometimes they are distinguished by joynts And as deformed Whence are depraved Births and monstrous shapes proceed from faulty and corrupt seed and the ill constitution of the Womb the Stars also joyning their forces in the production of them so by redundance of humours and plenty of seminall excrement the parts of the body come forth double the imagination of the parents being busied about some such thing in the formation of it For if at any time that sex which is shaken with the smallest affections and prints them upon the Child conceives any thing in the mind or thinks that things are double before their eyes by the concourse and Flux of humours that fall down on those parts about which the thoughts are employed do serve to frame double parts that are superfluous or parts of some other kind For such absurd imaginations are observed in living Creatures So lately a Lamb was yeaned with a Head of a Sea-Calfe at the sight of that Sea-Monster So the yeare before there was seen a Sheep and a Calfe with double Heads and I saw and handled a Hen When double things are represented that had four feet and four Wings But since Women in conception and all the time they go with Child have divers species and things in their imaginations and sometimes it falls out that double representations of things are made to them from grosse vapours rising from beneath or with distracted and broken Spirit that should be directed to the point of the Apple of the Eye whereby their sight is divided and cut into two all this affection is carried to the Child that 's breeding What imagination in a woman can do and some parts being handsomely formed imagination fastneth to them other needlesse parts For the force of imagination is so strong that if a woman once fasten her eyes and thoughts upon any object all the faculties of nature and that force that serves to form the Child the humours running from all parts which are at her command fall down thither and imagination is wholly intent to do the businesse hence it is that somtimes she frames divers and unusuall shapes double parts and superfluous appendixes and fastneth strange limbs to the body But from defect of humours and penury of nutriment Whence come parts to be wanting or where the naturall faculties in making the parts are too weak and not forceable enough it falls out that men want some parts or have them disproportioned and too small and though Nature sometimes have matter enough to make the Child of and hath force and strength enough to do it yet she is now and then hindred that she cannot bring all things to perfection and frame a comely and well proportioned body How hands and feet come to be wanting or maimed so that the Infant is born sometimes with some parts cut short or maimed and not made up for sometime a woman may have a narrow Matrix a hard and callous Spleen Hips sticking forth and turned inward back again and other Obstacles that will not suffer the Infant to grow and to be perfect in all parts for the tender parts of the body by reason of so great impediments cannot be dilated nor diffuse themselves nor enjoy the nourishment comes to it but is stopt and stay'd that the parts cannot grow beautifully and well formed For I think it falls out here A simile from Trees planted in stony ground as it is with Trees that are set in stony grounds so that the roots cannot spread every way but being hindred turn back again and grow crooked and being repulsed they return So in the body of a Woman when the Child is framed either it is hindred by the narrownesse of the passage or for want of nutriment or by reason of some hard thing that comes against it so that the limbs cannot be framed with joynts and distinctly as they should be So I saw a noble mans Daughter with a maimed and spongy hand A History related which when the Parents ordered mee to handle her I found by touching of her fingers that the joynts which by nature should come forth were turned inwards and retorted so that they represented no shape of fingers for all the
if they be dressed and transplanted will become as Garden plants A simile from country Clowns For as a country clown who is rude and uncivil if he be brought to the Court and put into rich cloths and used to dainty fare in time and long custome he will become a Courtier and be like a Gentleman though sometimes there will be something observed in him that will smell of his former condition and rural behaviour so will plants lay aside their wild condition and harsh natures by dressing and manuring them by mans industry On the contrary Garden plants will grow wild and degenerate unlesse great care be taken to dresse them A simile from a Courtier who degenerates into a Clown even as some Noblemen that frequent the company of Clowns in the Country and are commonly amongst them lose their Ancestors Nobility and ingenuous behaviour and fall from their liberal education heroick Majesty and civility of life and become rude and savage as many clowns are And as Garden plants and fruits are the more beautifull by mans industry and care about them Wild plants before Garden plants and are fairer than the wild ones are yet they came from wild ones at first so that they will become like to them again unlesse they be manured Hence studious Reader thou mayest conjecture what force there is in manuring of all things From plants to men we must consider of education and of education especially for man what care will do to preserve the body in health that the safety of both parts and welfare may be preserved than which nothing is more to be desired CHAP. XI That Lampreys which the Hollanders commonly call Pricken if they be dried in a Chimney they will burn like Torches and Links if thâ—y be lighted Whence they are called Lampreys LAmpreys that are so called in Latine Lampetrae from licking and sucking of Rocks are like to those called Muraeâ—ae in form and figure of their bodies but they are not so great they are slippery small fish with a long and round body like to those small Eels the Hollanders call Ael for Palincks are longer with seven holes that they are distinguished by on the left side Description of the Lamprey There is in those small fish from head to tail not a back-bone as in the rest but a nerve that is foster than a Cartilage whereby they turn themselves as they will exceeding nimbly for they turn and wind themselves round like a hoop they contract dilate and stretch themselves they leap and play creep and go forward as they list Lampreys have their vital spirit in their tails For their vitall spirit is in the extream part of their tail and they are sooner killed there than by bruising of their heads The Hollanders call them Pricken because with their sharp nose they will stick fast like bloud-suckers to planks of Ships Nets and to mens Bodies and they bite hard at all things prick crop and tear them therefore because they fasten their sharp teeth in things they are called Pricken also This fish hath taught me an experiment that I suppose every man hath not observed Dried Lampreys will burn that hath a natural reason for it and you will find it so if you try it For this kind of fish like to a Candle turned the wrong end upwards will serve for a Torch to burn when it is dried in a Stove or an Oven or Chimney as the manner is with the Hollanders to keep Herrings Salmon Gammons and legs of Bacon shoulders of Mutton Flitches Puddings Saucidges dried in the Smoak or hanged in the cold North-wind untill Summer be almost ended Wherefore this fish put to the fire or lighted with something as with straw that is dipt in Brimstone or Matches whereby we light Tallow and Wax Candles Torches Links will presently take fire and flame like to a Torch and give light to the whole family to do their work by at night For it being full of a Rosiny fat and very greesy all about it so that broyled on a Gridiron like to an Ecl it will flame suddenly and burn the fingers of him that toucheth it when it is dried in a smoky Chimney with Turf burnt there the flame of it will do as much service as a Candle will The back of a Lamprey is a Nerve and no bone For being that the Nerve which runs down his back serves in stead of a match or Cord wrapt together that the flame lyes upon and the congealed fat feeds it with Oyle when it is put to the fire or flame it will burn and give a grear light in a Chamber though it will soon melt away and not last very long nor continue like a Tallow or Wax Candle of Oxe or sheeps far that will not so soon be spent and consumed Yet where all sorts of lights and Candles are wanting one may use the commodity of this fish especially if you dry them at what time they are very fat When Lampreys grow fat which is wont to be at begining of the Spring in March and April and then again in Autumn that is about the two Equinoctials when the weather is neither too hot nor too cold CHAP. XII Of an Egg laid by a Cock and at what age he useth to lay it then what is bred out of it also concerning the Cock-stone and the Jewel Aetites THe Cock above others that are tame and house-birds is very couragious The Cock is terrible to the Lion and hath a red comb standing upright on his head to adorn him he crows and claps his wings and so he terrifies the Lion that is a generous and undaunted creature he is full of force that he is not easily tired by treading of Hens though he tread them often And whereas all living creatures after copulation are sad and sorrowful onely the Cock is joyfull All creatures except the Cock are sad after venery and he proclaims it by his crowing that his spirits are cheered but when he begins to grow decrepite and worn out with old age which hapneth to some at seven years or nine or at the most in the fourteenth year as he is strong or weak or hath trod continually whereby no living creature but becomes feeble he layes an Egg in Summer about the rising of the Dog-Star When a Cock layes an Egg. I suppose it is made from the corrupt excrement of seed or confluence of ill humours it is not very long or oval as hen Egs are but it is round sometimes of a yellow colour or box-colour or bright yellow or divers colour'd wan out of which some think the basilisk is bred Description of the Basilisk the Latines call it Regulus a venemous beast of a foot and half in magnitude with three tufts on his forehead as if he were Crowned with a Kingly Diademe his body is upright and very dangerous and his eyes glitter wherewith he kills those
seven days as the acrimony of the liquor is you shall find the shell of it grow so like a tender skin that you may draw it through a ring a man wears on his finger By the same reason and effect an egg soked in Aquavitae will be consumed and come to nothing as I have proved As also a flint wet with Vineger and the Gravel-stone called Tophus The Tophus is next to Gyp-Teras wherewith the Masons rough-cast walls and make Cisterns which the Dutch call Teras will melt in it and be resolved into powder for both liquors have a penetrating consuming fiery force that eats and consumes all solid bodies whereby it come to pass that those who use these things in too great abundance as also Salt and Cummin-seed immoderately What will make men lean grow lean and dry and are wholly consumed for they hinder the growth of young people Ill â—â—â—â—ours eat the bones and that they cannot grow tail and comely They waste the native moysture by help whereof the body springs up to a decent proportion So Salt biting burning nitrous humours do eat up the membranes in the body the flesh Muscles Nerves Solid-bones and those that are as hard as stones as the teeth and the Ossa Petrosa of the head A simile from Worms and as Catterpillars feed on stalks and herbs and as Wormes feed on wood Rust eats iron they eat and make them rotten Moreover a raw egg is so solid and firme long-wayes at the two ends that the strongest man cannot break it let any man try it and he shall find it is no fiction for unlesse you bend it something to one side it will not yeeld though you presse it never so hard with your hands nor will it break by the hardest thrust against it for that shelly force will make such resistance that it cannot be broken or the frame of it dissolved though a man put all the force he hath to it and presse his hands together with all his might For it is so defended by the sides that it supports it selfe every way nor doth it become pliable that it may be thrust or bowed inward So poles beames peices of wood iron set an end upward will bear vast weights and never bend nor be crooked by them Country Farmers wives are not ignorant of this that on market dayes come to the Cities and bring victuals to sell to Towns for they do not set their eggs in their panniers lying down or inclining which way they will commonly fall of themselves but they set them upright so that the narrower end for it is copped at both ends stands highest which they do for this reason that they may not break and may bear a weight lying on them upon which parts also an Egg put into Salt water will flote An Egg will flote in brine and so will Ambergreece CHAP. XV. The Moon by a wonderfull force of Nature every Moneth otherwise than the rest of the Stars do searcheth all the sound parts of mans body secretly and undiscerned but the sick parts manifestly and not without sense or pain and stayes in them sometimes two sometimes three dayes By the way whether a Vein may safely be opened in that part that the Planet governs at that time The Stars rule inferiour things THe beginning and increase of things and the universe do demonstrate that the Stars do by their influence govern inferiour bodies for the nature of things is not idle sluggish and slothfull but lively quick agil prompt effectual and hath great force given unto her by God by whose word all things flourish and subsist Gen. 2. Psalm 31. Nor is the exceeding beautifull frame of the heavens made onely to feed our eyes and to gaze upon as also the motions continued order and disposition of the heavens but that we might receive some profit and help thereby For God Earthly bodies are subject to the Stars The nature of things subject to the Stars The mind free from the Stars besides delight and contemplation that we enjoy by this great work abundantly hath created all things for use and hath made all plants Seas Rivers Mettals Jewels Stones and all things else that are dug forth of the earth or adorn the superficies of it and distinguish it with variety and very bodies of men and the humours in them subject to the Stars So that from the Stars they feel some motion impulsion and effects But the Spirit of God onely doth move and agitate the minds of men that are loose and free from all mortall concretion and were inspired by Him and they have no commerce or society with the Stars unlesse perhaps sometimes they are drawn aside to corporeal delights by consent and conspiring with the body when reason is against it whose ministery and help every mans mind and Soul is forced to make use of But since the Moon is a Planet that is more conversant and next unto man and most near to the Earth St. Paul Rom. c. 7. she more than the rest employs her forces upon mans body and runs through every part by a peculiar vertue and effect sometimes not without most bitter sense or torment For if there be any fault that lyeth hid in any part that part is most cruelly shaken and torn with pains the force of the Moon rending it or else by moving the humours that are in it Wounds deadly from the effect of the Moon and stick close to it So all diseases and distempers are exasperated and grow worse by the Moons forces when she is in the joynts so that wounds will hardly grow well or come to cicatrize and sometimes become mortal when they are made on that part the Moon then rules in By the same reason the head Throat Lungs Breast Liver Milt Reins Bladder Bowels also the Nervous parts feel hurt or their distemper becomes greater when the Moon is in those Bowels All parts feel the Moons motions So the Breast is narrow and short-winded the Nerves Membranes Muscles are contracted and grow stiff when the Moon runs in them For the humours wherewith all the parts are moistned and fed both those that are wholesome and the rest that are unwholesome and faulty are exposed and are under the rule of the Moons motions But since the course of the Moon for the most part brings hurt and danger to weak and feeble bodies Whether that part the Moon is in may be cut it may be made a disputable question whether in that part wherein the Moon stayes and governs a Vein may be opened for in this matter most men are fearfull and dare not adventure to do it though the disease be urgent and require this help presently But I think we ought to do it in time and to go about it without fear and with great confidence of bringing help and driving away the disease A simile from outward calamity for acute and swift diseases will allow
most part when nine Moneths are past produceth Mankind either Male or Female of the same shape and form with the progenitors But to proceed in relating the other parts of what I have undertaken The third time to make up this fabrick is set when those three principal parts shew themselves evidently and perspicuously namely the Heart from whence spring the Arteries the Brain from whence as some threads from a distaff the Nerves proceed and the Liver from whence the Veins are propagated To frame these the faculty of the Womb is busied from the time of conception unto the 18. day of the first Moneth But lastly which time reacheth to the 28. or 30. day the outward parts are seen exquisitely elaborated and distinguished by their joynts and then the child begins to grow and to pant from which progresse of dayes because all the Limbs are parted and the whole artifice is perfect it is no longer seen as an imperfect child or Embryo that is a concretion that springs forth but is held to be a perfect and absolute child Males for the most part are perfect by the 30. day but Females on the 42. or 45. day It is by reason of heat that Males are sooner perfected than Females for heat extends the humour like to soft Wax Why Males are soâ—ner perfected than Females diffuseth and dilates it and by its force frames and fashions it So heat and vigour of the body and the alacrity of nature in Men makes them to move in three Moneths When the child stirs but Women in four Moneths At which time also his hair and nails come forth and the child begins to stir and kick in the Womb so that great bellied Women can plainly perceive the motion of them and are troubled with nauseating and loathing of their meat and farther they desire to feed on some absurd meats and such as are strange to nature as Rubbish Coles Pots shels some have longed for raw fish and mens Limbs I knew some that longed for live Eels and Congers and rent them with their teeth in pieces and swallowed them down Yet there are many Noble women that are not subject to this enormous appetite and desire for that they have not much excrementitions or faulty humours heaped up in their bodies but it is otherwise with the common people for those women are ravenous and have heaped up much filthy and feculent humours and blood in their containing vessels within from whence about the third Moneth after conception proceed nauseating loathing sowre belchings and the preternatural desire and coveting of many things is stirred up in them I saw at Bridges a City in Flanders An example of two twins that suffered abortion an abortion of Twins that hapned in three Moneths they were both boyes and from this longing desire the woman miscarried because she could not have what she eagerly longed for The child was a finger long or something more and of the same thicknesse all the Limbs of it were perfect and no want in any part so that you might plainly see the eyes with a black pupill the Nostrills Ears Fingers Navell Privy Member Thighs Shanks Calfs Ankles Feet and Toes When both these children panted and appeared to be alive they were brought to the font to be Baptized when that was ended they appeared no longer to be alive The scituation of the child in the Womb. Moreover I shall shew by the way how the child lyeth scituate in the Womb. It is carried in the Mothers Womb fastned with a long string to her Naver as the Apple is fast to the Tree by its stalk by which by the help of the umoilical Vein it is nourished and drinks at a fountain of pure bloud not by the mouth and lips which are of no use yet for to eat by as the Arse and Bladder serve not yet to cast forth the excrements by For the umbilical vein springing from the Matrix enters the Liver in two parts and is terminated in vena porta from which the most pure bloud by the seminary vessels is derived to the Matrix Hence it is that the bloud and spirits like auxiliaries and a supply of more forces are alwaies carried downwards that none of these may be wanting Wherefore by these channells and rivers of Veins and Arteries that proceeding from the Mothers body are carried to the Womb and then are presently fastned in the Navel is the child fed and by the faculty of the seed that is fostered by the heat of the Womb and is moistned with bloud is it perfected in such a time in all its parts But the Infant is equally ballanced in the middle of the Womb as it were in the Center of it lying all of an heap and being something long is turned round so that the head a little inclines and he layes his chin on his brest his heels and ankles upon his buttocks his hands on his cheeks and eyes but his legs and Thighs are carryed upwards with his hams bending and they touch the bottom of his belly the former and that part of the body that is over-against us as the Fore-head Nose Face is turned toward the Mothers back and the head inclining downwards it hath its eyes and face toward the Coccyx that is the rump bone that is fast to os sacrum the Dutch call it destier this in the birth parts together with the os pubis and is loosned whence it is that commonly males come with their faces downwards or with their head turned somewhat obliquely that their faces may be seen but Females are commonly scituate the contrary way so that they come forth with their faces upwards and look up toward heaven and cry Births contrary to Nature But these things do not alwaies proceed according to natures order for many births are contrary to nature and many children there are not born with their heads foremost and their bodies longwayes and with their hands lying on their hips but some come to the door with their feet crooked and wide some with their necks bowed and their heads lying obliquely with their hands stretched out as they have that swim and with their shoulders downwards with great danger to themselves and their mothers and no lesse trouble to the Midwives But when all things proceed orderly and naturally the child when the time is accomplished in the Womb endeavours to come forth and inclining himself roles downwards For he can no longer lye hid in these hiding places than he can find nutriment by the Navel and the heat of the heart can subsist without external respiration Wherefore being grown great he is desirous of nutriment and of light and he so desires to take Ayre Whence comes pain in Child-birth that he breaks the Membranes and coverings wherewith he was covered and fenced against any attrition and with bitter pangs of his mother he comes forth to the light and that not onely from the narrow and straight passages
affection and feavourish cold which our countreymen call Wanlust the old Latines called it Helucus Helucus is a nauseating affection which word signifies those that loath and are nagging by reason of some surfer or sleeping at noon-day and who are alwaies forced to yawn To sleep aâ— noon good for old People But old men and such as are of ripe years may safely sleep at noon that is after dinner so that there be some distance between chiefly in Summer and hot weather for that distemper of the Ayre makes men sleepy and at that time we may take the convenience either to sleep sitting in a chair or lying down on a bed our heads being laid high upon a pillow For by such refreshment in sleep the spirits both natural and vital from whence the animal spirits of the brain receive their nutriment are restored and revived But immoderate watching is hurtful for all ages but most hurtfull for old age as is also fasting for both these dry the brain Watching dries and besides that they make men frantick and doring they dry the whole body and make it lean and starved Wherefore if by immoderate watchings fastings or night lucubrations or too much labour or immoderate venery our forces and spirits are exhausted and worn away and we grow lean the vital moysture being consumed we must renew our strength with moistning diet and sleeping drinks Sleepy remedies that moisten the Brain such are Lettice Spinach like Mallows in effect Orach Buglosse and Burrage the fresh seed of Poppy Water-Lilly-flowers called commonly Nenuphar or water and Marsh-Lillies the Hollanders call them Plompen or Waterlelien to these add Violet flowers Pine-kernels sweet Almonds Pistaches or fistick nuts creme of Barley Raysins and Currans that have small kernels but no stones Dates Oranges or Citron-pills Candied with Sugar or Honey for the vital or innate humour is refreshed by them and the Brain which is the seat of the mind is moistned with a moist dew and sweet vapour from whence ariseth sweet sleep and rest How drowsinesse may be shaken off without trouble or tossing up and down But if any man be naturally drowsy and he hath no spirit to any brave actions let him continually labour and exercise himself let him avoid all moist and cold meats and eat onely such things that by their heating qualities can dry up the superfluous humours that are the cause of sleep as are Hysop Rosemary Sage Origanum Marjoram Savoury red Coleworts Ginger Pepper Nutmegs Cloves and many more that relieve the brain that is filled with moyst vapours and raise the mind that is oppressed with damps and thick mists and make it ready and prepared for to conceive honest intentions CHAP. XXVII What profit or disprofit comes by fullnesse or emptinesse or when the belly is bound too much or is too loose THe same moderation must be used in all other things that may profit or hurt our health as are repletion and inanition whereby the body is either refreshed by meat and drink or is emptied when it is full of humours Moderation must be used in â—aring But as students and magistrates must be frugal in diet so they must not keep too sparing a diet least their spirits should waste who must also observe this accurately that their bellies be not too costive or too loose For both these if they exceed the mean are equally hurtfull to our health What loosen the belly For if it be too loose and we go to stool too often it will make the body lean and starved and keeps us from sleep dries our brains and impairs our memory but if we be too much bound and costive it clouds the memory and makes our eyes dull causing troublesome and tumultuous dreams grosse thick humours being carryed to the Brain What hearbs make the Belly slippery But such things as gently soften the belly are violets Lettice Spinach Orach a kind of Mallows which Martial shews was commended by the Antients for that use The Country Wife to make my belly loose Did bring me Mallows c. To these add Buglosse and Borage Chervil in Dutch Kervel Betes Blites Damask-Prunes Grapes and Currans with small stones Mulberries Figs. Physical things that do it are Mercury Fumitary Polypod Senna Rheubarb Wild Saffron Epithyme Cassia Manna or aery honey for Sammoney Tripolium or Turbith Melaerean c. deject our forces and therefore are to be exhibited to none but such as are strong as when we seek for a hard wedg for a hard knot But if the belly be more loose than is good for our health it may be stopt with the frequent use of red Mints What bind the belly or by the Syrrup of it which is frequent in the Apothecaries shops Also Quinces stop the belly and whatsoever is made of them Red Roses to these add Medlars before they grow soft and tender Cornels with a stone kernel within them but with a very good pleasant taste that is sowre and astringent Pontick Sumach our men call it Ribes which wonderfully stirs up appetite and discusseth loathing of meat and strengthens the stomach to retain the meat especially in Summer-time when the cholerick humour causeth the belly to be loose and makes fluxes for which use we have the juice of it made up with Sugar which Avicenna calls Rob What is Rob in Avicenna and this is ready and will serve to stop a loose belly and to get one an appetite and desire to his meat as also Pomegranates that have red corner'd stones in them and are some sweet some sowre CHAP. XXVIII Students and Magistrates must often purge the passages of their excrements The passages ordained for excrements must be purged GOd that made the body of man hath not in vain created so many wayes and passages to purge forth the humours and to wash away the excrements lest a man might be choked or oppressed by the abundance of them or the vapours that arise from them So the head purgeth it self by the Nostrills Ears the Palate and unburdens it self by neesing and spitting The Breast and Lungs by the vocal artery send forth flegme by coughing the Stomach and Ventricie cleanseth its sink by vomit and belching The Intestines purge themselves by the belly and with breaking wind backward the guts are cleansed from their excrements The Reins and Bladder send away the Urine by the urinary passages but the superficies of the body discusseth all fumes and sweat through the skin that is full of holes and pores Wherefore since the body cannot be well unlesse all parts be rightly constituted and do their office as they should care must chiefly be had that no errour or distemper arise that may vitiate or impair the actings of the organical parts for the mind it self useth the ministery of them and by them doth famous things If any disease offend them if the head be heavy or full of flegme if the stone strangury or dripping of