coming and going now red now pale so that all the humours appear to be enflamed especially choler and the spirits hurried this way and that way sometimes thrust outward and presently haled in again by which violent motions an unnatural heat in the spirits and corruption in the humours are ingendered Hereupon many times follow burning Feavers Palsies violent Bleedings loss of Speech and sometimes Death it self Nerva the Emperor being highly displeased with one Regulus fell into such fury against him that he was stricken therewith into a Feaver whereof he died within a few dayes after Wenceslaus King of Bohemia in a rage conceived against his Cup-bearer would needs kill him presently with his own hand but his indeavour was his own deaths-man striking him with a Palsey that shook him shortly after into ashes Valentinianus the Emperor in a fierce fury would needs destroy the whole Country of Sarmatia but his unruly rage brake a vein within and his own life-blood ended his bloody design Fear likewise gathers the heat and spirits to the heart and dissolves the brain making the moisture thereof shed and slide down into the external parts causing a chilness and shaking over all the body and falling upon the gullet makes one to swallow when they should speak It abuses the fancy and sences brings a Lethargy upon the organs of motion and condemns the heart to deadly sufferings As Cassander the son of Antipater upon the sight of Alexander the Great 's Statue was stricken with such a terror that he could hardly make his legs leave trembling so much as to carry him out of the place This Fear hath in it a very strange operation having bereav'd several of their senses on others diseases as a Feaver c. which Feaver hath afterwards turn'd into the Plague so that this Fear though it doth not arise from danger of infection yet it will draw it on how much more then doth the fear of the same cause work it Instead of bringing Examples for the proof hereof I shall only give you a Reason for it Fear of all Passions is the most pestilently pernicious for it enforceth the vital spirits to retire inward to the heart by which retiring they leave the outward parts infirm as appears by the paleness and trembling of one in great fear So that the Walls being forsaken which are continually besieged by the outward air in comes the Enemy boldly the best spirits that should expel them having cowardly sounded a retreat In which withdrawing they draw in with them such evil vapours as hang about the outward Pores even as the Sun draws towards it the vapours of the Earth And hence it is that fear brings infection sooner then any other occasion This therefore and all other passions by a wise watching over our selves be beaten off whensoever they but offer to set upon us But these are diseases of the soul whose Physicians are Divines They must purge out the love of this world and the distrust of Gods providence minister the Cordials of Faith Hope Patience and Contentedness and ordain the strict Diet of holy Exercises We that are Physicians to the Body are but Chyrurgions to the Soul we can but talk of Topical Remedies Thus have I run through the first part of my Method which is the way of Preservation now shall I discourse on the second part which is as followeth The Manner Signs and Symptoms of such that are infected by the Plague IT s usuall manner is at the first infection to strike at the heart which is apparent by the sinking and languishing of the vital faculties the whole strength of the body is likewise suddenly turned into weakness the vital spirits being greatly oppressed and discouraged whereas the animal faculty commonly remains for a while in good plight and perfect in the use of Sense Understanding Judgement Memory and Motion The Natural faculty also is not so presently hurt but there is concoction and all other functions performed by the Liver Stomack Guts Reins Bladder and other parts as nature requires though indeed in a little time the venom being very strong these and the brain are also overcome as appears by the symptoms that follow as Lethargies Frenzies Vomitings Fluxes c. Take notice therefore that as soon as the venemous matter strikes to the heart the Contagion hath now found out the Prince of the vital parts who if he want armour of proof to resist either of natural strength or forged out by Arts Cyclops the Physician is presently taken Prisoner by his venemous enemy who soon after takes possession of the arteries and veins In this conflict the Pulse which useth to be the truest intelligences of the heart 's well or ill fare becomes now languishing little frequent and unequal Languishing by reason that native heat lessens and a heat contrary to nature increaseth little because oppressed frequent from natures strife unequal partly from the Fever and partly from the malignant vapour that besiegeth the heart Concerning the Pulse thus writes Rodericus à Castro concerning the Plague that was at Hambrough Manus duns Medico porrigunt Pulsum quodam modo retrahuntur cum tremore quod à veneno sit cor ipsum pungente signum mihi diutina experientia indubitatum est ut eo solo saepissime pestilentem affectum cognoverim That he observed the sick stretching out their hands to the Physician to feel their Pulse they would after a certain manner pull them back again with trembling which might be from the venom pricking the very heart which was an undoubted signe he saith by daily experience by which alone he oftentimes knew a person infected pestilentially From this ground did I finde another that never failed me If in reaching out the hand the former signe appeared not then if I suspected it to be the Plague I would touch the Pulse something hard and if it were the Plague the hand would not fail to tremble and twitch back The reason is the stopping of the course of the pulse drives the venom something back to the heart by which is caused a kind of sudden Passion The next signe is the enemies Ensigne hung out at the windows the eyes I mean for then they will be various in turning and sometimes fiery shining the looks sad and the face changing colour which shew that the radical humours begin to vaste and the spirits to wax dry and enflamed Then followeth lightness or giddiness of the head drowth and bitter taste in the mouth which proceed from the superfluity of choler aggravated by the mixture of the venemous vapours vomiting likewise of vicious matter being according to the redency of any of the humours of flegme sometimes waterish of choler sometimes yellow or greenish of melancholy leaden or blackish But this is from the virulency of the venom vexing the veins and fibres in the coat of the stomack not from any strength of nature to expel the poyson as it appeareth in that no ease but
encrease of accidents succeedeth the exoneration after which follows a painful convulsion or hicket by the progress of the venom working convulsively on the fibres of the stomack shortness of breath also and often sighing shew the heart is inflamed and would fain exchange the over-heated air within the body for that which is cool without then the spirits begin to faint and sink through the fierce gripe of the venemous vapour that now insults over the yielding heart The external parts become cold and chill while the internal are all over-hot with the inflammation of the bowels By By this time the venom is gotten up into the watrish humouts of the brain and infecting them causeth head-ach whiles the hot vapours getting between the two mother-membranes cause painful prickings there whereupon followeth restlessness of the body and lack of sleep and upon these frenzie except the brain be full of moisture and the head is over-heavy and Lethargick sometimes also the venom works it self from the substance of the brain into the sinews causing cramps and convulsions The urine is altogether untrue therefore unworthy the fellowship of faithful signes and the most faithful are the sores and spots if they be right called Gods Tokens But before we proceed to describe them give me leave to express my sorrow for what I had daily observation of abroad amongst unskilful Physicians who frequently undertook the cure of the Plague who knew no more then to sweat the Patient and apply outward drawing Medicines to the sores without knowing these symptomes here specified absolutely material to the cure without the knowledge of which many a poor soul doth perish All which I shall here reckon up to see if I can deter impudent Practitioners who dare without learning to enrich themselves by filling graves and fatning Church-yards There is commonly 1. A trembling of the heart fainting or swooning 2. A Feaver though not easily discerned at first 3. Cardialga commonly called heart-ach 4. Vomiting and loathing in the stomack 5. Extream thirst and vile taste in the mouth 6. Head-ach and pricking pains there 7. Swimming or Vertigo 8. Loss of memory and foolish behaviour 9. Want of sleep 10. Delirium or Frenzie 11. Convulsions or Cramps 12. Lethargy or extream drowsiness 13. Sharp pains in the ears 14. Ophthalmia or inflammation of the eyes 15. Bleeding at the nose 16. The tongue and mouth inflam'd and furr'd 17. Spitting of blood 18. Squinansy 19. Pleurisie 20. Very short breath and continual sighing 21. Dry Cough 22. Jaundise 23. Swelling of the Belly with external pain 24. Cholick and Iliack passions 25. Extream costiveness 26. Worms 27. Flux of the Belly either Lienteria or Diarrhaea 28. Bloody-flux 29. Swelling of the Testicles very painfully 30. Suppression of Urine 31. Extream heat and pain in the back 32. Swelling of the feet and legs with intolerable pain 33. And sometimes such immoderate sweat horribly stinking that it doth affrighten the Physician from his course of sweating the Patient and yet for all this sweat the deadly danger increaseth And not one of these symptoms can be cured by the common Method of such cases because of the venemous quality is mixed with them But when I had well informed my self of these things and saw how little they were regarded by others I was much amazed to see with what peaceable consciences some men went a killing And I began to doubt whether it were not better for a man to be at peace with ignorance then to carry his trembling heart in his hand as I did all that time yet still it pleased God to bless my labours and counsels so that in what place soever I came into which was infected a very small number failed under my advice But to go forward I must enlarge my self a little in the discovery of the faithfullest and most apparent signes which are the Botch the Blain the Carbuncle and the Spots called Gods Tokens because the Searchers do sometimes mistake The Botch is a hard tumour rising in the glandulous parts called the Emunctories which are in three places on each side of the body viz. under each ear or sometimes under the jaws or chin in the arm-pits and in the groynes This tumour lies sometimes very deep in the flesh only to be found by feeling nay sometimes also scarcely to be felt but if you touch the place there is pain But for the most part it swelleth out to the bigness of a Nutmeg or Wall-nut yea even to the size of a mans fist also sometimes it is round sometimes oval sometimes long and slender as ones finger I have seen a Lad of ten years old that had one risen in his left arm-pit which ran from thence backward to the shoulder-blade making a semicircle thereon and so turning downward towards the back-bone as if under the skin had been laid a good big cord in the form almost of a circle the youth was not heart-sick but at the first taking and it so pleased God to bless the means I applied that this tumour sunk again and vanished without any suppuration But some again are flat broad and spreading even over half the breast which I have seen they are of colour various according the humour predominant at the first it is commonly moveable but grows afterwards more moderate and fixed it riseth for the most part with a pricking pain and as it grows greater is more dully painful and seems to the Patient as a weight or burden It cometh of a venemous matter putrifying and poysoning the blood which is thick gross and excrementitious of it self and something flegmatick Nature therefore strives to drive forth this venom into the Emunctories which are the sinks and receptacles of excrementitious humours When they rise under the jaws they shew the strength of the brain the arm-pits of the heart and in the groynes of the Liver According to the quantity of the humour infected so the Botches are bigger or lesser and more or fewer in number and according to the malignancy of the humour are their colours whiter redder more bluish or blackish whereof the later are still the worse The Blain is a kinde of Blister somewhat like one of the Swine-pox of a straw-colour for the most part but sometimes of a bluish or leaden colour but then it is apt to turn to a Carbuncle and when it runneth affords filthy matter of the like complexion Round about the Blister there is a red fiery circle yet nothing so fiery as that of the Carbuncle the whole taking up the bredth of a groat or six-pence I have seen of the breadth of a large shilling but very rarely These will rise in any part of the body or limbes sometimes one two or three but never many when the matter is run out the skin falls and dries up to a rusty scab and so falls off These shew that Nature is strong to expel the venom speedily and that the humours infected are not superabundant for many that have
cometh out of the Oven which afterward shall bee burnt or buried in the earth or the leaves of Scabious or Sorrel rosted or two or three Lilly roots Rosted under embers beaten and applyed Quest Is it lawful to depart from our own place and habitation in time of Plague Ans Provided a man be not tyed by the Relation of a Husband to a Wife a Father to his Children a Master to his Family a Governour and Over-seer of good Order in the place he lives in and bee otherwise free hee may fly For 1 THe departure of some may bee a means in an Infectious aire to keep the Infection from violence much fuel where fire is kindled increaseth the fervour and violence of the fire multitudes of people to an Infected place are as fuel to the fire of Pestilence 2 Such by escaping provide for their own safety without prejudice to others for what prejudice can it be that such as are not by any particular Bond tyed to them that tarry to leave those that are Infected 3 The departure of some may make much to the benefit and advantage of such as tarry for they have the better opportunity of sending succour to them this was one Reason why the people would not have David go into the field that hee might succour them out of the City 4 It is permitted to such in time of Persecution to fly yea and in time of War why not in time of Plague the Plague is an immediate stroke of God whereby such as he hath appointed to death are stricken Answ I grant it to bee an extraordinary disease but not immediate The kinde of the disease and the effects thereof on mans body do shew that it is no more immediate than many other diseases if because such as are appointed to death are strucken with it means of escaping it might not bee used no means for avoiding any Judgement might bee used For the Infection of it let experience determine that case Object 2. Is it a fruit of faithlesseness to shun the Plague Answ No more then to shun other dangers men may indeed upon distrust fly but that shews the frailty of the person not the unlawfulnesse of the action Object 3. If some fly all may fly and so the sick left without succour Answ 1. Some are more bound to venture the hazard than others as Magistrates for keeping good orders Ministers for feeding the soul near of kindred for looking to their bodies such as are under command as Children and Servants 2 Others are not so subject to Infection as Aged 3 Others are not of such use but may better bee spared as the poorer and meaner sort A discourse of fleeing or stay in the time of Pestilence whether lawful for Ministers or People By Bishop Hall HOw many hath a seduced conscience led untimely to the Grave I speak of this sad occasion of Pestilence The Angel of God follows you and you doubt whether you shall fly if a Lyon out of the Forrest should pursue you you would make no question yet could hee do it unsent what is the difference Both instruments of Divine Revenge both threaten death one by spilling the blood the other by Infecting it who knows whether hee hath not appointed your Zoan out of the lists of this destruction you say it is Gods visitation What evil is not If war have wasted the confines of your Countrey you save your throats by flight why are you more favourable to Gods immediate Sword of Pestilence every Leprosie by Gods Law requires a separation yet no mortal sickness when you see a noted Leper proclaim his uncleanness in the street will you embrace him for his sake that hath stricken him or avoid him for his sake that hath forbidden you If you honour his Rod much more will you regard his Precept if you mislike not the affliction because hee sends it then love the life which you have of his sending Fear the Judgement which he will send if you love it not hee that bids us fly when wee are persecuted hath neither excepted Angel nor Man Whether soever I fear our guiltinesse if wilfully wee fly not But whither shall wee fly from God say you where shall hee not both finde and lead us whither shall not our destiny follow us Vain men wee may run from our home not from our graves Death is subtil our time is set wee cannot God will not alter it alass how wise wee are to wrong our selves because death will over take us shall we run and meet him because Gods decree is sure shall wee bee desperate shall wee presume because God changeth not Why do not we try every knife and cord since our time is neither capable of prevention nor delay our end is set not without our means in matter of danger where the end is not known the means must bee suspected in matter of hope where the end is not known means must bee used Use then freely the means of your flight suspect the danger of your stay and since there is no particular necessity of your presence know that God bids you depart and live You urge the instance of your Minister how unequally there is not more lawfulness in your flight then sin in ours you are your own wee our peoples you are charged with a body which you may not willingly lose nor hazard by staying wee with all their souls which to hazard by absence is to lose our own wee must love our lives but not when they are Rivals with our souls or with others How much better is it to bee dead then negligent then faithlesse If some bodies be contagiously sick shall all souls bee wilfully neglected there can bee no time wherein good counsel can bee so seasonable so needful every threatning finds impression where the minde is prepared by sensible Judgements When will the Iron hearts of men bow if not when they are heat in the flame of Gods affliction now then to run away from a necessary and publick good to avoid a doubtful and private evil is to run into a worse evil then wee would avoid he that will thus run from Ninive to Tarshish shall finde a tempest and a Whale in his way not that I dare be an authour to any of the private visitation of Infected beds I dare not without better warrant no whoever said wee were bound to close up the dying eyes of every departing Christian and upon what-ever conditions to hear their last groans if we had a word I would not dilate of the success then that there were cowardliness which now is wisdome is it no service that wee publickly teach and exhort that we privately prepare men for death and arm them against it that our comfortable Letters and Messages stir up their fainting hearts that our loud voices pierce their ears afar unlesse wee feel their pulses and lean upon their Pillows and whisper in their ears Daniel is in the Lyons den is it nothing that Darius
distemper 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Morbus epidemicus an universal or popular Disease Thus much for the name in the next place take notice there are two sorts of Plagues the one simple the other putrid The simple Plague is the very influence of the striking Angel executing the vengeance of God on the bodies of men This kinde of Plague ariseth from no distemper of blood putrefaction of humours or influence of Stars but falleth meerly from the stroke of God's punishing Angel such were the Plagues of old as you may read in Exodus 12. Numb 11.16 25. also 2 Samuel 24. 2 Kings 19. whereof some die suddenly without any precedent or foregoing complaint or conceit of infection Others again though they be sick before they die yet their first taking hath been after an extraordinary manner Some whereof I have talkt with who have ingenuously confest they at their first infection felt themselves manifestly stricken being sensible of a blow suddenly given them some on the head and neck others on the back and side c. sometimes so violently that they have been as it were knockt down to the ground remaining for a time sensless whereof some have died instantly others in a short time after and those that did recover escaped without humane help or means For this kinde of Plague as it is rare so it is by all art of man incurable Therefore no method but Repentance no medicine but Prayer can avert or heal this stroke Of all Antidotes for the body that Triacle is the best esteemed which is made of the flesh of earthly Serpents but for the soul that only which is made of the blood of the brazen Serpent which was lifted up on the Cross for our sins He that by a lively faith applieth the benefit of our blessed Saviours sufferings to the Plague-sore of his soul shall undoubtedly recover if not health here yet heaven hereafter The putrid Plague is a popular Feaver venemous and infectious striking chiefly when first seizing the body at the very heart and for the most part is accompanied with some swelling which is either called a Blain a Botch or Carbuncle or else with spots called Gods Tokens This comes of putrefaction of blood and humours in the body which it pleaseth God sometimes to make the instrument of his punishing justice mixing it with the simple Plague before-mentioned This putrefaction may be caused by the influence of the Stars who do undoubtedly work upon all sublunary bodies For Astrologers are of opinion that if Saturn and Mars have dominion especially under Aries Sâ—gittarius and Capricorn a Plague or Pestilence is shortly to be expected Or if these two before-named most malevolent Planets be in opposition to Jupiter according to the Poet Coelitus imbuitur tabe difflatilis aura Mars quando objicitur falcitonensque Jovi When Mars in opposition is to Jove The Air will be infected from above The winds likewise are led into their motions by the Starry-course the Planets especially the Sun by extracting the earths exhalations which are the substance of the windes do set them so on work And the windes some are naturally wholesom others unwholesom The South-winde blowing from the Meridian is of nature hot and moist and full of showers Now when by the influence of the Stars this winde bloweth long and bringeth continual rain it causeth much moisture in all airy and earthly bodies and so much the more by how much the milder it is This moisture being in such abundance cannot be digested nor attenuated by the Suns beams or heat and therefore setling together it must needs putrifie and that so much the sooner because the heat of the Sun not being able to extract all doth inflame what remains by which inflammation the putrifaction becomes the greater In this manner are the windes in cause and moreover they do sometimes transfer the contagion from one Region to another as Hippocrates affirmeth the Plague to be brought over the Sea from Aethiopia into Greece by the South-winde Now if the Stars be pestilentially bent against us neither Arts nor Arms Perfumes nor Prayers can prevail with them who have neither pity sense nor power to alter their motions appointed them by the Omnipotent Creator But he that commandeth their course and altereth them at his pleasure he that made the Sun and Moon stand still for Joshua and drew the Sun ten degrees back for Hezekiah and caused the Stars to fight in their courses against Sisera he and he alone is able to heal all infections that can arise from their influences Other causes there are also of this putrid Plague namely corrupt and unwholesom feeding all sorts of unsavory stenches proceeding either from Carrion Ditches rotten Dunghils Vaults Sinks nasty Kennels and Streets strewed with all manner of filth seldom cleansed Wherefore I cannot but justly applaud the prudence of the right Honourable the present Lord Mayor in taking so much care and giving such strict order that the kennels and streets be very frequently swept and kept sweet every one throwing fair water before his own door thrice a day to cool as well as cleanse A good primary way for prevention of any ensuing general infection he wisely advised that said Principiis obsta Hinder beginnings These foetid smells as I said are the maintaining causes of the contagion after it is begun Corpora foeda jacent vitiantur odoribus aurae If stinking bodies lie then hence I see The Air will with their stench corrupted be So likewise the unseasonableness of the weather Quum tempestiva intempestivè redduntur saith Hippocrates When the weather is unseasonable for the season of the year being hot when it should be cold very hot one day and in the like measure cold the next moist when it should be dry and so on the contrary Now this kind of Plague is by Art curable in as many as God pleaseth to bless the means to For this therefore I intend to prescribe a course of Physick such as both my much reading and also my practice and manifest experience in this Sickness hath preferred to my best approbation wherein I will first open the way of preservation after that shew the signes of being infected and lastly the course of cure Who are most subject to infection IN the way of preservation it is first necessary to be considered Whether the Plague be infectious or not and then who are most or least subject according to natural reason to receive this infection This putrid Plague is as I have said in the definition venemous and infectious best known by experience By venom or poyson the Reader is to understand something that hath in it a dangerous subtle quality that is able to corrupt the substance of a living body to the destruction or hazard of the life thereof This working is apparent in this Sickness by his secret and insensible insinuation of himself into the vital Spirits to which as soon as he is gotten he sheweth himself
a mortal enemy offering with sudden violence to extinguish them His subtle entrance slie cruelty and swift destroying the unfaithfulness of his Crisis and the other Prognostick signes with the vehemency grievousness and ill behaviour of his symptoms do all declare by manifest proofs his venemous quality For in this disease the Urine and sweat have a loathsome and abominable savour the breath stinks and is noisom ill colour'd spots pustles blisters swellings and ulcers full of filthy matter arise in the outward parts of the body such as no superfluity or sharpness of humours nor any putrefaction of matter without a venemous quality joyned with it can possibly produce Now though this Disease may be acknowledged by the Learned to be venemous yet some ignorant persons may say it is not infectious To satisfie such I define Infection or Contagion to be that which infecteth another with his own quality by touching it whether the Medium of the touch be corporeal spiritual or an airy breath Of this kinde there are divers Diseases that are infectious though not so deadly as the Plague As the Itch and scabbiness Warts Measels Small-pox and that which is venereal too called Morbus Gallicus these by rubbing and corporeal touches do infect Also sore eyes do by their spirituous beams infect others eyes and the Ptisick or putrified Lungs do by their corrupt breath infect others that are sound But the Plague infects by all these wayes and such sick bodies infect the outward Air and that Air again infects other bodies for there is a seminary tincture full of a venemous quality that being very thin and spirituous mixeth it self with the Air and piercing the Pores of the body entreth with the same Air and mixeth it self with the humours spirits of the same body also For proof of this experience giveth us to understand that Garments Coffers nay walls of Chambers will a long time retain any strong scent wherewith they have been fumed Now the scent is meerly a quality and his substance is the Air which is also the vehiculum wherein it is seated and conveyed So doth the Pestilent infection take hold though not sensibly for the strongest poysons have little taste or smell yet certainly as experience testifieth for garments and houshold-stuff have been infected and have infected others As Fracastinus tells of a furr'd Gown that was the death of twenty five men in Verona when that City was visited who one after another wore it thinking still they had aired it sufficiently And if Alexander Benedictus may be believed feather-beds will keep the Contagion seven years Other experiences we have also of living Poultry which being applied to the sores were taken away dead though no ways crushed or hurt in the least But say some Then why is not one infected as well as another I have eaten in the same dish drank in the same cup and have lain in the same beds with infected persons and then too whilst their sores were running yet never had the Plague in my life By way of answer there may be two special causes for this The first and principal cause is the protection of the Almighty which preserves some as miraculously as his justice strikes others dreadfully Thus through his mercy he often preserves those that with faithful and conscionable care do their duties like Christians about the sick being warrantably called thereunto and not thrusting themselves either presumptuously or rashly into the business without a just and reason-rendring cause for God hath given his Angels charge over us to keep us in all our ways such as may be esteemed lawful In the next place every pestilential Contagion is not of the same nature nor hath equal conformity with every constitution Age or manner of live for some Contagion is apt only to infect the sanguine complexion some the cholerick some the phlegmatick only some children some youths some those of ripe age some antient people and where the seminary tincture hath no analogie there will be none or very little infection And first those are most apt to be infected that have thin bodies and large open Pores and whose hearts are so hot that they need much attraction of Air to cool them also they whose veins and vessels are full of gross humours the venemous matter being thick and therefore unapt to breath through the Pores their putrefaction is increased by the inward heat and so driven to malignity and thence on-ward to a pestilent quality Hence those bodies that are moist and full of phlegmatick humours whose veins are straight and therefore apter to intercept then entertain those well-concocted juices that would make the purest blood and the thickness of whose skin denyeth the transpiration of excrements these are easily polluted and infected And such are women especially women with child for their bodies are full of excrementitious humours and much heat withal which is as oyl and flame put together Also Virgins that are ripe for marriage are apt to receive infection and being stricken seldom or never escape without great means Quia spirituosum semen in motu eum sit facile succenditur vel quia intus detentum facile corrumpitur in veneni perniciem abit Their blood being hot and their seed retain'd for want of copulation the one will soon be inflam'd the other corrupted from thence infection Also young children in regard of their soft tender and moist bodies and likewise because as their meats are moister so they feed with more appetite then judgement Likewise the more pure and delicate complexions whose blood is finer and thinner then others is so much the more apt to receive mutation and the Contagion insinuates it self with more facility into all the humours but first and most easily into blood choler next more slowly into phlegm but very seldom into melancholy Those that are very costive and have not a frequent propensity to make water for the noisom vapours that are by these excrements engendred make the body apt to infection Those that fast too long their bodies being empty receive more Air in then they let out and their spirits being weakened for want of due nourishment they have less strength to resist the Contagion On the other side gluttons and drunkards let them argue what they will for the filling of the veins as they use to say to keep out the evil Air can never be free from crudities and distempered blood which easily takes infection as Hippocrates testifies Corpora impura quo magis aluntur eo magis laeduntur impure bodies the more they are nourished the more they are endangered Poor people by reason of their great want living sluttishly and feeding nastily and unwholesomly on any food they can with least cost purchase have corrupted bodies and of all others are therefore most subject to this Sickness At this present most of those houses which are infected are the habitations of poverty in some obscure close place in the Suburbs as towards St. Giles's
the like he must be well purged which none but a Physician can safely prescribe and that upon examination of his body and urine But as a general Rule all do appoint some purging Medicines twice or thrice in a week to keep the body free from the increase of superfluous humours to which purpose the Pills of Ruffus which may be had commonly in any Apothecaries shop are very apt and good But those that cannot take Pills may have this syrrup made for them which for its excellent vertue in this case is called The divine Syrrup Recip Cort. Citri Rad. Cappar Berber Santal Rub. Citrin Spodii ana drach 1. Carriophil Borrag Bugloss Mellissa Cichorei ana unc 1. Acetosae Hepaticae Marrubii ana unc ss Thymi Epithymi Scariolae Rhabarb fol. Senae Rad. Polypodii ana drach 1. Succorum Absynthii Fumariae Ebuli Plantaginis Myrobalanorum Chebul Citrin ana drach 6. cum Sacchari li. 2. ss fiat syrupus s a. cum Aceti succi Cydoniorum q. s reddatur dulcè acidus Take two or three spoonfuls of this more or less as it works but keep very warm for it causeth sweat as well as seidge In an old Manuscript I finde this called St. Ambrose his Syrrup the same a little altered is in Rhenodaeus his Dispensatory and he hath added two drams of Diagridium Let men of judgement do as they please I like it best as I have set it down Rhenodaeus gives it this title not acknowledging any Author Syrupus qui c. It is a syrrup that cleanseth the body from superfluities and by consequence doth strengthen and comfort the heart brain liver and all other members Always observing that you must forbear to take this syrrup that morning that you take your purging Medicine Women with childe must be kept soluble only with milde Suppositories and gentle Clisters wherein a little new-drawn Cassia is to be used or else a milde Potion made with some pectoral decoction and a little Cassia for stronger Purgatives will endanger abortion but these ought to be directed by a good Physician Young children also with a Violet-comfit for a Suppository dipped in sweet sallet-oyl or else a little Cassia newly drawn dissolved in a small draught of chicken-broth or a little Manna in the like broth or in posset-drink Beware of bathings especially in open standing waters within the Region of the air infected If Urine or Menstrua stop repair speedily to the Physician for counsel flie Venus as far as you may for in these times she hath but an ill name Sweat coming easily of it self and within doors the house being well aired is good so it exceed not but abroad it is dangerous Lastly it is good to keep open all issues and running sores because nature will labour to expel any venom to such a Common-sewer The fourth Point is Exercise and Rest As it is not good for us to addict our selves to laziness lest we thereby increase those superfluous humours which are never wanting in bodies to foment diseases so neither must we use as little as may be too great a violence in our labours or exercise because it consumeth the best juices we have in our bodies and spoileth our radical moisture whereas moderate and convenient exercise ad ruborem tantum non ad sudorem if used in times and places and seasonable doth stir up nourish and preserve the greatest and best assistant to life natural heats helping concoction and evacuation The best Exercise is walking with a little stirring of the arms the time in the morning and the place either in a pure air abroad or in a purified air at home in some large room where is little or no company by the heats of their bodies and breaths to distemper and corrupt the air But at all times beware of taking cold for great colds and rheums do easily turn to putrid Feavers and they as easily prove Pestilent The fifth Point is Sleep and Watching Sleep either immoderate or unseasonable hindereth digestion and causeth crudities quells the vital and dulls the animal spirits Watching also over-much dryes up and inflames the good blood and weakens all the powers of nature Let your sleep therefore be seasonable and not superfluous not upon your dinner unless custom commands it and then take it but napping for half an hour or so sitting in a chair upright Three hours at least after a light supper go to bed where let five or six hours suffice for sleep lie conveniently warm the chamber-doors and windows being shut to exclude the night-air but beware of sleeping or lying on the ground or grass for the nearer the earth the more deadly is the air And the immediate stroke of the cold vapours rising from the ground is very dangerous at all times The sixth Point of Diet is passions of the minde All kindes of passion if they be vehement do offer violence to the spirits yea though they be of the better and more natural sort As laughter if unbridled doth run even life out of breath and greatly perplexeth the body insomuch as the breast and sides are pained the breath is straitned and sometimes the soul it self is as I may say laughed out of her skin For so it is recorded of Chrysippus that only upon the sight of an Ass eating figgs he brake into such an unmeasurable laughter that he fell down and died And Zeuxis that excellent Painter who made a most curious beautiful picture of the Spartan Hellen upon the sight of a very ill-favoured old woman burst out into such a profuse laughter that he laughed himself to death Now this is a disease of the Spleen called Risus Sardonius with which there be many of my acquaintance not long since grieved But sometimes immoderate joy lives not to the age of laughter when it bindes the vital spirits so close together that it choaks the heart instantly for so Sophocles the Tragedian receiving a wonderful applause of the people for the last tragedy he wrote was so overjoyed at it that he became a Tragedy himself and died upon it The like is recorded of one Rhodias Diagoras who when he saw his three sons all at one time crowned with victory at the Olympian games ran to meet them and while he embraced them in his arms and they planted their garlands on his head he was so overcome with joy that he turned their Ensignes of victory into the Penons of his Funeral On the other side sorrow afflicts the heart disturbs the faculties melts the brain vitiates the humours and so weakens all the principal parts yea sometimes sinks the body into the grave As Adrastus King of the Argyves being told of the death of his son was taken with so violent sorrow that he fell down and died immediately Anger is also so furious a passion that it violently disturbs the spirits and faculties as appears by the shaking and tossing of the body to and fro the fiery sparkling of the eyes the colour