A BRIEF TREATISE Of the NATURE CAUSES SIGNES PRESERVATION FROM AND CURE OF THE Pestilence Collected by W. KEMP Mr. of Arts. LONDON Printed for and are to be sold by D. Kemp at his Shop at the Salutation near Hatton-Garden in Holborn MDCLXV TO THE Kings Most Excellent Majesty CHARLES THE SECOND By the Grace of God King of England Scotland France and Ireland Defender of the Faith c. Most Dread and Gracious Soveraign THE Glorious Sun who communicates his beams and light not onely to the Stars and Heavens where he doth reside but also to the Ayre and Water and the remotest part of the Earth where the lowest shrubs are cherished with his Influence is a fit Emblem of your Majesty whose pious care was expressed not onely for the Nobles and Courtiers that have the honour to be near your Person but also for the Commons and inferiour people that have the happiness to be in your mind in appointing and accepting the directions of the Learned Colledge of London for the cure of and preservation from the Pestilence In a great fire begun in the City when the Sheriffs and other Officers are principally called to the quenching of it and though they discharge their places with singular discretion and fidelity yet many private persons of an active and publick spirit are admitted to yeeld their best assistance In an Invasion of a foreign Enemy or Insurrection of a Domestick Rebel others may take Armes besides the Life-Guard and Trayn'd-Bands The Plague is a Fire that is not easily quenched an Enemy which the Vndaunted Valour of the Invincible English Nation is neither able nor willing to encounter with For their sakes these Directions are published and presented at your Majesties Feet and may be useful not onely for the cure of those at Land but also for the preservation of them at Sea in both which places your Majesty hath many thousands in whose breasts the true English good natured and loyal qualities of Love and Fear Valour and Obedience do most religiously meet and who would willingly part with not onely their Lives but even their own â—ssence to add to the greatness of their Soveraign of which number is he who daily prays that your Majesty may obtain all your Desires from Heaven and be obeyed in all your Commands on Earth that being safely guarded from all dangers and diseases you may live to see your Magnificent Intentions take effect not onely for the good of England but of all Christendome Africa and the Indies and bless the Age we live in with the Miracles of your Wisdom and Government Your Majesties most Loyal Subject and humble Servant W. KEMP OF The Pestilence OF all Diseases whereunto the Body of Man is subject the Plague is one of the most venemous and most infectious peculiarly opposite to the heart consuming the Vital Spirits destroying the natural heat and corrupting the humours usually attended with a Fever and accompanied with variety of most grievous and pernicious symptomes and most commonly ending in Death Of the Causes of the Pestilence The Cause of the Pestilence is either Supernatural Or Natural 1. Supernatural When without the concurrence of Natural Causes it is immediately and extraordinarily sent from God as a just punishment for the sins of Mankind and this not onely Jewes and Christians but even Heathens Priests Poets Philosophers and Physicians have acknowledged in their Writings Who can choose but with admiration adore his Almighty Power who if he will build creates a World if he rewards it is with Paradise if he will protect his People there is a Pillar of Fire by Night and a Cloud by Day to attend them the Wilderness shall feast them with Quails and Manna the Rocks remove their station and give them drink the Sea opens to yield them passage the Sun and Moon stay their Courses to enlarge and end their Victories But if he will punish he sends a Deluge and drowns the World Fire and Brimstone descend from Heaven the Elements are the Marshals of his Camps all Creatures are his Host the Angels march in the Head of his Troops whereof he hath thousand thousands that stand before him and ten thousand times ten thousand that minister unto him one whereof slew the First born of every House in Egypt in one Evening threescore and ten thousand of the Israelites in three dayes and one hundred fourscore and five thousand of the Assyrians in one Night If he send the Pestilence as when the Israelites murmured or David numbred the People there is no natural Balm of Gilead of sufficient vertue to preserve from it or recover of it If Solomon had been then alive and made an Antidote of all his Gold that came from Ophyr or extracted the quintessence of all those Herbs whereof he knew the several operations it would have availed no more for the preserving the Israelites than the fortification of Sennacheribs Camp defended the Assyrians Can any thing help Nature against the God of Nature Can man think to protect himself with Medicines fetcht from Vegetables Minerals or Animals would they not rather prove his Enemies and sooner do him hurt than afford him help Was not one of the greatest Pope Adrian kill'd with a flie One of the wittiest Anacreon choak'd with a raisin stone One of the proudest Herod devoured with lice But blessed be his glorious Name his Clemency hath not left us destitute but revealed to us supernatural Remedies Faith and Repentance Prayer and Patience which though not prescribed by Galen or Hyppocrates nor found out by Paracelsus nor sold by Chymists or Apothecaries are revealed by God himself approved by the Prophets and Apostles and may be had for asking and never fail'd those that us'd them Many Learned Physicians have written of the Theory and Practise of Physick and experienced Doctors have publisht the Observations which they have met with in the cure of Diseases searcht into the Secrets of Nature discovered the Vertues of Herbs treated of the Preparations of Minerals enquir'd into the Operations of Animals Merchants have brought Druggs from the Indies Rarities have been sought in the Wilderness Pearls have been div'd for in the bottom of the Sea the bowels of the Earth have been digged out the Universe hath been rifled the whole Creation ransackt and yet not one Medicine found out to preserve the Doctor or make one Patient Immortal The Imperial Crown cannot cure the Head-ach nor the Golden Garter keep away the Gowt The best disciplin'd and Victorious Armies the most Invincible Navies the best fenced Cities are not able to protect from Ordinary much less from Supernatural Maladies But these Coelestial and Supernatural Medicines are of a far more Noble and Certain Operation and if any may be called 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 The Hands of God these are they Faith brings to your help Manus Christi better than all Confections it applies the Lignum Vitae of the Cross of more effectual Vertue than Xylobalsamum or
and great quantities of Opium without any hurt or prejudice What Custome will do one may see by them that are great Drinkers and smoke and chew and snuff Tobacco without distempering either their brains or stomacks They who work in Glass-Houses or near great fires seldom complain of that heat which would even melt or roast others Many of the poorer sort there be that in the cold North Countrey go bare-foot and wet-shod without catching Cold or Ague Some by using to dive in the Sea for Pearls can hold their breath the space of almost half an hour And those who are accustomed and make it their unhappy Trade to empty Jakes and Privies scarce perceive neither are offended with that smell which is ready to poyson others Secondly As the Plague is propagated by Contagion so likewise is it spread by Fear and Imagination From the heart proceed the Vital Spirits which are its Life-guard and if they by fear are dissipated or retire inwards and leave the outward parts forsaken which in infectious times are as it were environ'd and besieg'd with pestilential air in comes the Plague like a prevailing enemy and easily enters the Gates scales the Walls and surpriseth the Heart which like a Coward in extremity of danger is not able to help it self or make resistance Secondly By Terror and Fear there is not onely an easie passage made for infectious air to enter in but also the Spirits retiring to the Center of the Heart do draw after them such noxious and noisom vapours which are about the Circumference of the Body as the Sun draws towards it the vapours of the Earth and these arriving at the Heart make a notable motion in the Blood and causing heaviness compression and contraction unite that force of the venome which before was weak and scattered and makes it stronger and victorious Thirdly When either by the influence of the air or disorder of diet or corruption of humors there is begotten in the body a disposition or inclination to or as it were a seed of the Pestilence Fear and Terror do excite and stir it up and quickly bring it into action whence that which such timerous persons did most fear doth unavoidably fall upon them Lastly As the humors of the body do oftentimes work much upon the mind in like manner the passions of the mind work no less upon the body There have been some who by imagination have been cured of those diseases wherewith they have been afflicted and there have been others who by imagination have fallen into the same diseases they have feared Thomas a Vega a learned Physitian tells a story of one that was light-headed and sick of a burning feaver and being in great heat was extreamly importunate that he might have leave to swim in that Pool there pointing with his hand to the floor of the Chamber which he fancied to be water for said he If I should but swim there I should be immediately well At length the Physician being overcome with his intreaty gave him leave and presently with great content he gets out of the bed and cheerfully rowles himself upon the floor saying The water was now as high as his knees but he could wish it deeper by and by after he was more pleas'd that it was up to his middle and withall he wisht it a little higher and presently after he seem'd to be over-joyed for that the water came up to his Chin and then he said He was very well and so it was indeed for he presently recovered Whereas on the contrary there be other stories that make relation of some that did but see one infected with the Plague and of some that did but behold a-far off a Corps going to be buried of others who being in the House did but hear the noise of the Buriers and presently after have caught the Sickness and died of the Plague themselves 'T is not seldom seen that the weeping of one person will draw tears from the eyes of another When one begin to cough many presently follow after 'T is very usual that the laughing of one man will set another on laughing that seeth him laugh though he doth not know the cause why the first man laughed and the like effect we see in yawning and stretching which breedeth the like gaping in the lookers on and this doth proceed out of the action of the Object upon the fancy of the Spectator which making as it were the picture resemblance or image of it self in the others mind sendeth his spirits unto the same parts where they produce the same actions How great the force of Imagination is may be seen not onely by the longing marks that are made on Children when their Mothers cannot obtain the thing they so much fancy thus some have had the picture of a Cherry or Mulberry or some such fruit imprinted on their body but also by the impressions of those things that are made on the Children wherewith their Mothers were affrighted thus some have had the resemblance of a bird or mouse or blood or some such thing which put the Mother in a fear Did you never see some frantick distracted persons who imagining that they are bound and tied and cannot stir from the place wherein they are will lie still and make great complaints of their imprisonment and not go one step to reach any meat or drink that should be laid and placed very near them although they were never so much pressed with hunger or with thirst nay they would not rise up and run away though an enemy came to them with a drawn sword or though thieves were rifling all the room because the apprehension of being tied and bound is so strong in their fancy that it neither can nor will send any spirits into other parts of the body to cause motion So when any persons being frighted with this grievous disease shall think of nothing but the Plague and have their thoughts and fancy fixed Night and Day upon this Sickness whereof they imagine they shall surely die and not escape it comes to passe that the apprehension of the Pestilence is so strong in their imagination that they forget and neglect to send any spirits unto the Heart to bring it succour and relief against its mortal and pernicious enemy Now for remedy against these Passions Fears Terrors Frights and Imaginations which are more easily discoursed of than removed When nay and before you are forsaken of Friends and hear nothing but complaints of Neighbours the crying of Wives and Children the mourning of Husbands and Parents the sorrowing of Kinsfolks and Allies the Sickness spreading the Pestilence raging and the Plague encreasing from Tens to Hundreds from Hundreds to Thousands and now ready to seize upon your self as it hath done already upon others remember how Saint Peter and the Disciples prayed in a Tempest Call to mind what David did when he was greatly distress'd at Ziklag the Town taken sackt and burnt by the Amalekites
may be bred in the body which may prove offensive to Nature it will be convenient to have recourse to issues one in the left arm and the other in the right leg or thigh and by how much the greater is your danger the more issues you ought to make the benefit will recompence the trouble for they evacuate excrementitious humours which might become a receptacle for the Sickness for the prevention whereof they have been found a sovereign and useful remedy Mercurialis in the 23. Chapter of his Book of the Plague saith That he did not onely find these Issues to be much commended by Nicholaus Florentinus a Physitian of great authority but hath also proved them to be excellent by his own experience and that he can testifie that amongst almost an innumerable company which he saw dead of the Plague he never saw but one that had an issue and desirous to be further satisfied he made inquiry among other Physitians who testified the same that they likewise never saw one dead that had an Issue Which may be an argument that they are very helpful and there is good reason for it because like sinks they continually drain the body of superfluous humours And Skenkius in his Sixth Book of his Observations concerning Epidemical Diseases relates that many make Issues and raise Blisters with prosperous and good successe of health and safety although they do converse with thousands of them that die And for this purpose Physitians forbid the drying up of running sores the healing of filthy ulcers or striking in the itch And though some may say It is good sleeping in a whole skin yet it is not good dying in one and you were better to have your skin broken with a Launce or Cautery than with a Botch or Blain and you will find it lesse cost pain or trouble to go to a Chyrurgeon to make an Issue than to have him come to you to dress a Carbuncle Or else you may make one your self for to handle a Launcet is as soon learn'd as to sew with a Needle and you may sooner grow expert to cut your skin than to work Cut-work and though it may seem irksome to keep them alwayes running yet there is no more danger of drying them up when the Cause for which they were made is removed than there would be to heal a cut in the arm or broken shin that hath been sore or run a quarter of a year and though some have died that have had Issues and neglected other helps 't is no more disparagement to the Medicine than that a Town having good ditches should be taken by an Enemy that entred in at the Gates that lay open and secure and which ought to have been defended by other helps and forces The Third Cause of the Pestilence against which for our preservation we must defend our selves is Contagion and Infection Seeing it is almost impossible to avoid the occasions of Infection which may either assault you against your will or invade you against your knowledge or set upon you on a sudden to the end that you may break the force of it that it may have lesse power to enter in and you more strength to keep it out you must make use not onely of Purges Vomits and Issues which are not helps directly and of themselves contrary to the Plague but also you must have recourse to appropriate Medicines both external and internal Amulets and Antidotes Of Amulets Amulets are certain outward medicines most commonly made of poysonous things hung about the Neck and worn upon the Breast supposed to have a hidden power and secret vertue to defend the heart from the venom of the Pestilence They are worn upon the breast because the heart is the place principally affected in this Disease but whence and how they have their operation the learned differ and vary in opinion Some think that the heart becomes thereby somewhat more familiar and accustomed to poyson and will not so easily be hurt and overcome by it Others are of opinion That Arsnick and such like hot things whereof Amulets are made do dry up noxious humours and disperse offensive vapours as we see the heat of fire drieth moisture and hinders Putrefaction Others think that these Amulets being plac't neer the Heart the Vital Spirits do thereupon by a certain aversenesse and antipathy unite themselves together and become the stronger as we see Springs and Fountains by reason of the coldness of the ambient Air in Winter time do keep in all their heat and even smoke with warmth Others say it is done by Atraction as it is commonly said That hot Bread and Onions will draw unto them all the Infection in the Room And these Amulets by a kind of sympathy do intercept the pestilential vapours before they can be receiv'd into the body or else presently draw them out before they can settle there to do any mischief to the Heart it being in this case as with one that is stricken of a Viper or Scorpion who is best cured by applying and binding to the place the bruised body of the beast that stung him and if they cannot get that they apply some other venemous creature and the party will presently be relieved as if the venome had been drawn out by a Cupping-Glasse for one poyson having a conformity with another doth move and joyn it self unto it and affecteth union with it even as we see that holding a burnt hand to the fire draws out the heat and bathing a frozen member in Spring-water helps it of the cold and numbness But whatsoever the cause be they are much commended and Mercurialis that prescribes this saith that Pope Adrian the Sixth did wear one Take of white Arsenick two ounces white Dittany and English Saffron of each two drams of Camphire and Euphorbium of each one dram beat them into Powder and with Gum Arabick dissolv'd in Rose-water make them into little Cakes about the breadth of a Shilling and the thickness of two half Crowns and dry them in the Sun or in an Oven after the Bread is taken out Skenkius commends this Take white Arsenick two ounces yellow Arsenick one ounce powder them and with the white of an Egge or Gum Dragon dissolv'd in water make them into Cakes as aforesaid Some there be that would have onely a piece of Arsenick sewed in Silk and worn in the bosome and have little or nothing mixt with it least it should hinder its vertue and efficacy of operation others put in many things that some of them might meet with and resist the pestilential venom which oftentimes is not of the same but of a different and various Nature Sennertus directs this Take of white Arsenick two ounces Zedoary two drams Saffron one scruple Camphire half a dram beat all into powder and with Gum Arabick dissolv'd in Rose-water as aforesaid make it into Cakes Rhenanus commends this as the most perfect Amulet which hath this property to be moist and
his Wives taken Prisoners the Inhabitants carried away Captive and those few Souldiers that he had left ready to stone him 1 Sam. 30. 6. He comforted himself in the Lord his God Cast off then the love of the World let the distrust of Gods mercy be far from you use the exercise of a holy Life and good Conversation and because it is Gods doing repine not at his Providence use the aforesaid approved supernatural remedies Faith is the best fence against Fear Patience the best plaister against Sores Repentance the best Restorative and Prayer the best Antidote Of the Signs of the Pestilence Although after several evil Aspects and Malevolent Conjunctions of the Planets after bad Constitutions of the Air and distemper of the Weather after dearth of Corn and scarcity of Provision whereby the humours of mens bodies have been corrupted and several Diseases have sprung up yet no Plague hath followed and on the contrary though after the signs of healthy Seasons plenty of good and wholesome Diet yea and after a most cold and dry Winter and in a dry and temperate Summer the Plague hath risen up and spread abroad yet most commonly there have been some Tokens Signs and Fore-runners of it which have given men an Alarm to preâ—â—re for it expect it and provide against it These Signs are of two sorts 1. The Signs of the Plague immanent and approaching 2. The Signs of it present and raging First The Signs of the Plague approaching may be observed First From the Causes producing it Such as are the Position of the Heavens the Conjunction of Mars and Saturn the appearance of Comets and Blazing Stars but what and how much may be from thence fore-told I leave to Astrologers such also are the alterations of the seasons of the year from their usual temper such are also the corruption of the humours discovered by the frequency of Malignant Fevers and Epidemical Diseases the commoness of the Small-Pox and Measils which often are Fore-runners of the Plague such also are the Eruptions of Earth-quakes and digging up several places of the Earth especially old sinks and standing pools that have been formerly stopped up such is also Contagion for if the Plague is or lately hath been in any Neighbour Country it doth not usually cease there but travails from one Place and Nation to another as Physitians and Historians do at large relate Secondly The Signs of the Plague approaching may be gathered from the Effects First In the Earth If Herbs Plants and Grashoppers do wither almost as soon as spring up if the Fruits and Flowers of it be blasted and devoured by Caterpillars Spiders Moths and such like Creatures if there be more than ordinary encrease of Mushromes if there hath been a Murrain among Sheep or Cattel for though the same Plague that destroys Man doth not hurt Sheep neither doth the same Disease that kills Sheep presently assault Men yet it may so come to pass that by much and long eating of rotten Mutton bad humors bred thereby may arrive to so great a malignity as to kill men Secondly In the Water If there be a great increase of Frogs and Toads if Fishes die in Ponds or Lakes if the Water of Springs Pumps Wells and Conduits become muddy and troubled Thirdly In the Air If there be more Flies Locusts and Insects than is usual if Birds die or forsake their place if Flesh sooner putrifie than ordinary and Bread sooner become mouldy Simon Kelway in the third Chapter of his Treatise of the Plague printed at London 1593. hath these words When we see young Children flock themselves together in Companies and then will fain some of their company to be dead amongst them and so will solemnize the Burial in a mournful sort this is a token which hath been well observed in our Age to fore-shew great mortality at hand And I have heard that One did fore-tell our late unhappy Civil Wars by seeing Boys and Children make Officers muster and imitate the Train-Bands saying When he was in Germany before the Wars did there begin the Children there did do the like I remember about twenty years ago one of the Chaplains of his late Majesty King Charles the First of ever blessed memory did preach at Bristol upon this Text out of Gen. 4. 15. And the Lord set a mark upon Cain And in his Sermon did speak much against black-patches and beauty-spots and among other things said that they were fore-runners of other spots and marks of the Plague and presently within a very little while after the Plague brake out among them and all those persons that did wear them fled the Town And when Saint Andrews Church-yard wall did break or fall down this Winter I heard some prognosticate the coming of the Plague saying It fell in like manner the last great Sickness in 1625. but what reason these had to say so I do not fully understand Secondly The Signs of the Plague raging are two-fold First such as are common to other Diseases Secondly More proper and peculiar to it self When the Plague first seizeth upon any particular person before many have been infected it is very hard to discern it because it hath divers symptomes attending it that are common to other diseases and there is no one perfect proper infallible and inseparable sign to distinguish it and many excellent and learned Physicians have disputed and differed much about it but when it hath continued a while and spread it self abroad among many it is very easie to be known As man is called a Microcosme or little world not only because he partakes something of the â—â—â—ure of all Creatures he hath a simple being with things without life he hath vegetation and growth with Plants sense and motion with bruits and understanding with the Angels but also because he hath in him the resemblance of all Creatures his flesh like the soft earth his bones like the hard stones and minerals his hair like the grasse the blood in his veins and arteries distributed throughout the whole body and all meeting in the heart or liver like the rivers and waters dispersed in the earth and all meeting in the Sea and Ocean his breath like the wind his head like the heavens wherein are seated his eyes which some compare to the Sun and Stars so also is the Plague called the Great Sickness because it borroweth the Symptomes and includes and comprehends in it self something of the nature of all diseases whereof it is the Abridgement and Epitome It sometimes begins with a cold shivering like an Ague sometimes continues with a mild warmth like a Hectick Fever or a Diary and encreaseth with violent heat like a Burning Fever It corrupteth the Blood and all the humours it afflicteth the Head with pain the Brain with giddiness the Nerves with Convulsions the Eyes with dimness making them look as if they had wept and depriving them of their lively splendor it makes the Countenance look ghastly troubling
perswade them to the submitting thereto and have not in my Practise been unfortunate therein but have seen Diseases that have been exasperated by other Medicines beyond expectation cured thereby and do think it most commonly so excellent a remedy that many Patients admitting thereof would much shorten the time and lessen the cost and trouble of their Sickness and not stand-in need of one quarter of those Medicines and Antidotes those Preparatives and Corroboratives those Infusions and Decoctions those Pills and Potions Purges and Vomits Cordials and Bolus Juleps and Emulsions Extracts and Juices Waters and Spirits Salts and Oils Syrups and Conserves Electuaries and Powders Plaisters and Ointments Blisters and Glisters they are made to take and though there be many Medicines that will purge Flegme Choler and Melancholy yet none are yet known that will safely purge bloud or lessen it yet I cannot in this case of Preservation from the Pestilence advise any one to open a Vein but rather disswade them from it And because it may take better from another of more authority than my self I have gotten Iacob Sylvius in his Book of the Blague to deliver his opinion in plain English As for Blood-letting saith he it is no way profitable for the preventing of this Disease because the bloud being diminished the body is made more open and lyable to external injuries and the strength decayes by the loss of blood the food and treasure of life Of the same mind also is the most excellent Physitian Sennertus who though in the cure of most other Diseases he begins with Phlebotomy yet in this forbids it and the most learned Riverius is of opinion that bleeding causeth one to be infected the more easily as also to escape the more hardly it being in this venemous Disease as in those that have taken poyson who by bleeding draw the poyson inward and very difficulty are recovered and therefore upon the very suspition of being poyson'd most skilful Physitians abstain from letting blood Nevertheless they conclude that if there be any notable fulness of blood or necessary evacuation suppressed a vein may be opened upon 〈◊〉 account and then very sparingly but not in reference to the Pestilence And as to the present time of the year Galen forbids to let bloud in a hot and dry season of the Air. Of Purging and Vomiting Although as Hyppocrates saith in his Aphorismes That Those which are of sound and perfect health do quickly faint and grievously endure a purging 〈…〉 nor superfluous humor to draw out and work upon doth first dissipate the Spirits and then dissolves those parts of the body which are humid and moist and afterwards corrupts those which are solid and although as Crato saith there be no purging or vomiting Medicines which are primarily and directly opposite to the venom of the Plague yet because foul bodies are more subject to Infection than those which are pure and clean and the humours they abound with may disturb Nature and interpose themselves and take off and dull the Operation of any Cordials or Antidotes and being agitated by the Disease might flow and settle to some noble part and bring the party into a most grievous Fever Frenzy or some other Inflamation whereby he may be endangered as much as by the Plague There have been several purging medicines directed by Physitians and I shall prescribe these The Pills of Ruffus otherwise called the Common or Pestilential Pills are very excellent you may take of them once or twice a week when you go to bed the dose of them is half a dram for an ordinary constitution or a whole dram for a strong man You may have them at any Apothecaries or else make such like yourself Take fine Aloes two ounces fine Myrrhe one ounce English Saffron half an ounce make them into powder and with Venice Turpentine make them into pills and take half a dram or a whole dram as aforesaid The Aloes clears the Stomach from bad humors and the belly from worms the Myrrhe preserves the body from Putrefaction the Saffron cheers the Spirits and the Turpentine is good against the Pestilence Or else take this Dissolve an ounce and a half of Manna in six ounces or a little draught of spring water and one spoonful of vinegar warmed together on the fire then strain it and take an ounce of Venice Turpentine and put to it the yolke of a new laid egge and stir it about and mixe it and it will look like cream then by little and little put to it the liquor being first quite cold wherein the Manna was dissolved and stir it about and drink it up and keep warm ordering your self as is usual in other purges or vomits when it works upwards you may take posset drink and downwards broth If it had a pleasant taste those that know the vertue of it would never take any other medicine It is strong enough for any of the strongest constitution and for those that are weaker six drams or half an ounce of Turpentine is dose enough Women with child may use this Infuse a dram of Rubarb slieed six hours in six ounces or a little draught of Endive or Succory-water or Spring-water then strain it and put to the liquor one ounce or else two ounces of Manna and dissolve it over the fire and strain it and drink it up Children may take an ounce or two ounces or half an ounce of Manna dissolved in Succory of Endive-water or in Spring-water or Barly-water or Broth or Posset-drink But beware of strong purges and vomits which will sooner bring the Plague upon you than preserve you against it especially at this time when it is more probable that the Sickness is occasioned by the Corruption of the air than by the putrefaction of humors there having been no scarcity of provision whereby the poorer sort might have been necessitated to feed on unwholsome diet and therefore no necessity of taking any purging Physick I remember about four years since many were sick of a malignant Fever and the discontented party did attribute the cause to the keeping of Lent and eating of Fish what would they have said now if Lent had been strictly observed Of Sweating As purging vomiting and bleeding do draw in the humors and vapours from the circumference and outside of the body to the center and inside of the heart so medicines that cause Sweat expel them from the heart to the outside of the body and rarifie those humours into light and thin vapours which turn into a watery sweat as soon as they come out of the skin into the air and thereby drive out those humors and vapours which breed the Pestilence For which purpose it would not be inconvenient to take one or two drams of London or Venice-Treacle or of Mithridate or Diascordium or Confection of Iacynth according to the age or strength of the party or one dram of Electuary de Ov◠in White-wine Vinegar or a draught of Posset-drink made of
tell you what the most candid and judicious Sennertus saith of it in his fourth Book and 11th Chapter of the cure of pestilent and malignant Fevers Great in this case is the use of Oil of Vitriol which hath a notable faculty to stay putrefaction to open obstructions to cut disperse attenuate cleanse and separate all corrupt humours and further the activity and exalt the vertue of other medicines with which it is most usefully mingled for whereas the Syrups of Succory Endive Violets and the rest by reason of the Sugar in them are not sufficient to extinguish the heat nor thirst in a Fever but are rather turn'd into choler yet if Oil of Vitriol be mixed with them so us to make them sharp they most happily slake the thirst and allay the heat and with good success answer the expectation for which they were taken And Mindererus in his 15. chap. of his Book of the Pestilence where he treateth of the Oil of Vitriol and Brimstone saith There is no Putrefaction whose strength it doth not break no infection which it doth not overcome no depravation of humours which they do not rectifie In truth if I may speak freely if I should be hindred or forbid the use of Vitriol I would never come to the cure of the Plague or if I did come I should come disarm'd Afterwards when you find your self at any time of your Sicknesse especially at the end of any burning fit inclinable to sweat you are to follow the conduct of Nature and endeavour to second it by the use of Medicines For which purpose Take two drams of Confection of Iacynth or Diascordium or one dram of Electuary de Ovo or of the Powder of Cantrayerva or Virginia Snakeweed or of the Powder of Crabs Eyes and Claws and burnt Harts-Horn as formerly you were directed or else two drams of Gascoyn powder made without Bezar And indeed considering the uncertainty of true Bezar there may be Gascoyne powder made as well without Bezar as Confectio Alchermes made without Musk for as some cannot endure the smell of Musk so many cannot go to the price of Bezar Or else you may take some of the compounded Vinegars ordering your self for sweating as you were formerly directed As for Purging and Bleeding there have been many learned Physitians that have made diligent enquiry into the Nature of the Pestilence and cure thereof who would have it wholly omitted and do commend rather timerousness than rashness in opening a vein for neither purging nor bleeding do oppose the Disease but weaken the party In this case the Saying of Hypocrates is very considerable Where Nature aimes its course thither it behoves the Physitian to direct his help Now Nature labours by all means to expel the venome of the Disease to the Superficies and out side of the Body and bleeding and purging draw it inwards towards the heart the Center and Seat of Life What is said of War Non lioet his peccare for the first error will be your overthrow is true in the cure of the Plague the first errour will be your danger and the second day of purging or bleeding if you live so long the first day of your repentance In this Disease the blood is the life of the party which if you take away you soon destroy Paraeus a most expert Chyrurgeon in his Book of the Plague relateth that in the year 1566. when there was a great mortality throughout all France by reason of the Pestilence he diligently enquired of all the Physitians and Chyrurgeons of all the Cities where he came what successe their Patients had after they were let bloud and purged whereunto they answered all alike That all that were infected with the Pestilence and did bleed some quantity of blood or had their bodies somewhat strongly purged thenceforth waxed weaker and weaker and so at length died but others which were not let bloud and purged but took Cordial Antidotes for the most part escaped and recovered their health Of the Blain Botch and Carbuncle The Blain is an angry little blister somewhat like the Swine or Small Pox but far more painful sometimes of a blue reddish or leaden colour and being opened affordeth corrupt matter It may arise in any part sometimes there will be one or two but never many It seldome kills or hinders the cure of the party but being anointed with oil of Saint Iohns-wort will break heal and scale of The Botch is a swelling about the bignesse of a Nutmeg Wallnut or Hens Egge and cometh in the Neck or behind the Eares if the Brain be affected or under the Arm-pits from the Heart or in the Groin from the Liver for cure whereof pull off the feathers from about the Rump of a Cock Hen or Pigeon and rub the Tayl with Salt and hold its Bill and set the Tayl hard to the swelling and it will die then take another and another and do so in manner aforesaid until the venom doth not kill any more Or else take the pith of a hot Loaf from the Oven and clap it to the Sore Also it is very good to launce it for though some pain do thence arise yet Nature doth not draw back from the place pained but sendeth humours thither after the launcing Also take Wheat Flower Honey and the Yolke of an Egge and Venice Turpentine of each a like quantity mixe it well and lay it on just warm this will ripen draw and heal it Or else take an ounce of Venice Turpentine the Yolke of an Egge and Oil of Saint Iohns-Wort one spoonful mixe it and apply it warm it will draw and heal it The Carbuncle so called from its heat like a burning coal riseth in any part of the body like an exceeding angry Wheal with a certain rednesse near it and as if a hole had been made with a hot iron will quickly eat out a piece of flesh about it It ought presently to be scarified to let out the venome or else you may burn the head of it with a small hot iron and you need not fear this burning to be too painful for it toucheth nothing but the point of the Carbuncle which by reason of the scar that is there is void of sense Paraeus commends this plaister Take of Soot from a Chimney or Oven wherein onely Wood is burnt four ounces Common Salt two ounces powder and mixe them with the Yolks of two Eggs and apply it warm Others highly commend this Take of Soot two ounces Sowre Leaven Butter Venice Turpentine Salt of each one ounce Castile Soap one ounce and a half Venice Treacle half an ounce with the Yolks of three Eggs make it into a plaister and apply it twice or thrice a day Some direct to make a Circle about the Carbuncle with a right Blow Saphyr and say that presently the Carbuncle dies as a Coal that is quencht with water according to that of the Poet Sapphyri solo tactu Carbunclus abibit Dyet in this Disease