the primary Essence of this Diseas For moistning Medicines although they loosen withal yet they scarce loosen more than they moisten becaus for the most part they loosen by moistning Seing therfore that the common causes of this Diseas do flow into the Tone chiefly by the Mediation of the first Essence of this Diseas And seing that neither the Animal nor the Vital Constitution can here supply the vertue of a caus we may Lawfully infer that the laxity of the Tone doth chiefly depend upon the first Essence of the Diseas This is further confirmed there is of it self a certain proness and tendency of the Body to be through wet so that the fibers of the parts must needs be loosned by it Moreover the defect of the Spirits and the stupefaction of them doth caus a remission of the Tone by diminishing the vigor of the part Therfore we may conclude that the Diseas laxity principally dependeth upon the primary Essence of the Diseas As for the flaccidity because it comprehendeth the laxity it springeth from the same causes as that doth but in as much as it includeth also a subsidence and a certain emptiness it evidently dependeth upon the defect and benummedness of the inherent Spirits the plenty and vigor whereof being augmented the lank and flagging member is easily rendred turgid and swelled In the interim we deny not but that that subsidence doth withal depend upon the extenuation and atrophy of the parts Lastly How the slipperiness doth proceed from these causes is sufficiently manifested by what hath been said above That we may at the length put a period to this matter it may be observed for the higher confirmation of those things already spoken that there is such a strict dependance between the Tone and the first granted Essence that throughout the whol cure of the Diseas they are intended remitted together almost in equal pace For at firstthe Children that are afflictedwith this affect do only go slowly leisurely whilst the Tone of the parts is yet but a little loosned but in the progress they scarce and with much ado trust to their feet then they play only sitting or as thay are carried about Afterwards they can scarce sit upright and at the last when the Diseas hath attained the highest exaltation the feeble neck cannot without much difficulty support the burden of the head all which things as they attest the primary Essence of the Diseas to be gradually augmented so also they make it manifest that the vices of the Tone are intended by an equal pace And so all these things being rightly weighed we refer the viciated Tone to the secondary not the primary Essence of this affect and by consequence we conclude indeed the thing that was in question that that depraved Tone is a secondary part of the Essence of this Diseas CHAP. VIII The Secondary Essence of this Disease in the Vital constitution WE have already propounded that part of the Secondary Essence of this Diseas which is radicated in the natural constitution in as much as it comprehendeth the common qualities it remaineth now that we examin the organical vices and the faults of continuity if any such be found out But seing that no proper faults of continuity do accur in this affect and seing that the organical vices do depend partly upon the Essence above given and partly upon the vital constitution being viciated it seems necessary in the next place to search into these faults of the vital constitution The vital constitution is aptly distinguished into the original or that which maketh an influx and the participative or that which is produced by that influx The subject of the original vital constitution are the Spirits themselvs excited in the blood of the Arteries You will say The heart rather seemeth to be the subject of this constitution But it is not so for the heart it self through the coronary Arteries receiveth the vital Spirits brought down with the Arterious blood from its left Ventricle But it is absurd to suppose the wals of the Heart to be the first subject of the vital heat and in the mean time for those to receiv that heat from the Arteries We must say therfore that the solid substance of the heart is indeed the first principal subject of his natural and inherent constitution but seing that receiveth the Vital Spirits as hath been said it cannot be accounted the first subject of the Vital Constitution which is imprinted in it by those Spirits and continueth no longer than the substance of the Heart is shedded and besprinkled with the Vital Spirits For neither can life subsist in any place without the Vital Spirit Wherfore the substance of the Heart doth so far participat of the Vital constitution as it is wash'd and bedew'd with the Vital Spirits and by Consequence thaâ— Constitution in the substance of the heart is not original or influent but participative or produced by that influx This is also confirmed in that becaus the vital heat of the blood in the hollow Parts or Ventricls of the Heart which heat is at least a part of the Vital Constitution is for greater and more intensiv than that which is within the wals of the Heart as any man may observ by the opening of the Bodyes of living Creatures the Ventricle of the heart being wounded and the Finger presently thrust in For he shall feel a far more augmented heat in the blood than in the very substance of the Ventricle however it be handled Moreover the vital Constitution is a thing transient and consisteth as the Phylosophers Phras is in motu fieri therfore it is rooted In the movable and decaying Spirits such as the Vitals which are contained in the Arterious Blood for som Member being cut off the Life vanisheth almost in a moment and by Consequence the vital constitution but the natural as we have already insinuated continueth though not in such an exaltation as when the Vital remaineth for a while after death And indeed the Life and the Vital constitution is suddenly taken away in the case aforesaid not by any positive contrary Cause But by a meer privation of the Conservant and Continent CAUSE This is most evidently confirmed because the Vital constitution is suddenly intended remitted and altered in al the parts in respect of the model or measure of the Vital Constitution excited in the Ventricles of the Heart so in a Lipothymy the heart fainting the life of the parts presently vanisheth at last languisheth but assoon as the Ventricles of the heart are refreshed with Spirits by some proper cordial applications straight way we behold the vital Constitution to be suddenly in some measure repaired in all the Parts In the suppression of the breath sudden death followeth the torrent of the vital Blood from the right to the left Ventricle being intercepted In the opening of a Vein or in any other immoderate profusion of Blood there happeneth a swouning by the sole
parts it be little and slow and in others great and swift that must be reputed unequal and disproportionate And this is the State of the present disquisition It is manifest by what hath been said That the stribution of the Blood thorow the parts first affected is extreamly sparing and slow It remaineth therfore only that we consider whether it be transmitted thorow the other parts with a quicker and more plentifull motion We have already affirmed that the root of this evil is not fixed in the Heart it self and that this Bowel of it self is not primarily il affected in respect of the left Ventricle therof It is credible therefore that the Heart unless perhaps som other Diseas be conjoyned or supervene doth rightly execute his function and expel a sufficient quantity of Blood for our turn by every stroke into the Aorta Seing therfore as hath been already proved that the Blood is niggardly dispensed from the Aorta into the first affected parts a superfluous portion of it must needs be distributed into other parts not so affected for otherwise the Aorta should not sufficiently discharge it self nor disburthen the Blood received from the Heart but it would be obstructed and oppressed with the plenty therof and this repletion upon every slight occasion would fly back even to the left Ventricle of the Heart and there kindle a Feaver And we grant indeed for this very caus among others that in this Diseas a Feaver is easily and frequently produced But seing that the Feaver is another Diseas conjoyned and separable and different from this and seing that this Diseas very often happneth without a Feaver it must needs be granted that by how much more sparingly the Blood is distributed to the first affected parts by so much the more plentifully convâ—â—ed to the other parts at least in the absence of the Feaver For seing that quantity of Blood as we said even now is extruded into the Aorta as may suffice the whole Body and seing al of it must be distributed into several parts it most plainly follows that the less is transmitted into one part the more is dispensed into another And thus it may be perceived that the inequality of the distribution of the Blood is inferred from the sole diminution thereof in the first affected parts above asserted at least probably namly from the smal and slow current of the Blood thorow the parts first affected there may be rightly collected à more quick and plentiful stream of it into the inward parts not so affected Now let us see whether the other appearances relating hither are correspondent to this Discours First It seemeth manifest by what hath been alleadged that the Head the Brain the Liver and the other Bowels are not afflicted with that cold distemper nor that stupefaction and penury of inherent Spirits wherwith the parts primarily affected are opprest For the bowels and the said parts do not receive their Nerves from the Spinal Marrow without the Skul but they are involved in the same condition with the other parts Moreover those parts as far as we can judg by the touch are at least outwardly moderatly hot and as far as we can guess by the sight they retain their native and florishing color besides they are more ful and fleshly then the first affected parts Moreover Children afflicted with this Diseas have an indifferently good appetite they do not il concoct the introsumed aliment and about the Head they retain their senses very acute they see they hear they tast they smel as subtily as others and as for their wit they many times surpass those of equal years with them unless an impediment from some other caus All which things put together do abundantly witness that a cold distemper nor a benummedness or penury of Inherent Spirits hath none or at least a very smal predominancy in those parts These things being granted we must likewise needs grant that a more liberal distribution of the Blood is dispensed to the said parts For as for the heat we have already shewed that that doth both amplify and stir up the Arteries to send forth a stronger pulsation and we have also noted above that the plenty of the Spirits doth not only cherish the pulsificative force of the Arteries and conserv the vigor of the Blood contained in them but that it doth somwhat enliven and excitate both of them and that by so much the more effectually by how much the less the inherent Spirits are affected with a stupefaction Secondly unless those parts were watered with a more liberal circulation of the Blood they would becom more soft loos and feeble then they are even as the parts first affected are observed to be For upon the defect or languishing of the Puls in any part the part presently becoms loos and weak as it happneth to al the Parts in a Lipothymy On the contrary when the Puls beats strongly the Part wherunto it belongeth is seen to be somwhat rigid and swelled For a ful Puls doth presently fil up those parts which were before sunk down by emptiness as the Lypothymy being driven away and the Puls being restored the Parts of the Body which were before loos and languid are not only wel colored but ful of vivacity and turgid seing therfore that those Parts are not affected with that softness loosness and weakness we must conclude that they are actuated with a full Puls Thirdly The very augmented magnitude of thes parts in comparison of the parts primarily affected in this Diseas doth witness that they are more liberally fed with their aliment namly the Blood which is reputed the common and last aliment of the Parts for otherwise scarce any sufficient reason can be imagined why when the first affected Parts are so extenuated these should be especially the Brain and Liver in so good a condition so ful and so plump The same thing is confirmed by the lively color of the same parts For if the Puls languish in any part somwhat of the fresh and amiable color presently retireth from that Part. Fourthly The Arteries called Carotides and the Jugulary Veyn which belong to the Brayn and the parts about the Head are observed to be very broad in this affect but the Vessels tending to the first affected parts to be unduly slender from whence we may clearly infer That the dispensation of the Blood to those Parts is unequal And here we intreat and beseech those who have an opportunity to open such Bodies as this affect hath destroyed that they would accurately contemplate whether the swelling Arteries inserted into the swelling parts of the Bones do more liberally and more commodiously transmit the Blood into those than into the other less nourished parts of the Bones and whether the Arteries of those parts are more broad than of these Although indeed we confess that this enquiry is most difficult both because of the slenderness of those Arteries and in regard of the obscurity of their
defect of the Vital Spirits Therefore seing the Vital constitution is transient and fugitive in any of the solid parts and seing it dependeth upon the proportion of the vital spirits flowing into them from the Ventricle of the heart we may rightly infer that in the solid parts it is not original but participative But in the Vital Spirits themselves by whose function the Vital constitution is diffused and transmitted into all the Parts it must necessarily be original For there is no other original subject of it to be found in the Body Yet we grant that the solid substance of the heart by his Natural Constitution especially being watred by the Vital is the assistant caus of the excitation of the Vital Spirits in the blood included their Ventricles although it cannot be the first subject of that same Vital Constitution as we have even now abundantly proved And these things for the present may suffice in general concerning each vital constitution the original and the participative and to prov that that must properly be ascribed to the Vital Spirits this to the solid Parts as the immediate Subjects of the inherence Three kind of vices belonging to this Constitution do stil await our examination The two former wherof relate to the Original And the third pertaineth to the participative Constitution The first vice concerneth the Generation of the Vital Spirits The second hath reference to the distribution of them And the third appertaineth to the participation of the Vital Constitution Of these we shal make enquiry in their order CHAP. IX The vitiated Generation of the Vital Spirits in this Affect and whether that fault be a Part of that Secondary Essence THe Vital Spirits are first excited or generated within the Ventricles of the Heart namely in the very mass of the Blood and properly they discriminate the Blood in the Arteries from that in the veyns after that they are generated they are cherished and conserved within the cavities of the Arteries until they are distributed into the habit of the Parts Yea they are not only cherished in the Arteries but in them also rightly disposed perhaps som new ones are excited though with less efficacy then in the heart This being Preadmonished We say first That in the very Substance of the heart there doth not occur any fault repugnant to the Generation of the Vital Spirits which properly can be a part even of the secondary Essence of this Diseas For the heart it self for his doth rightly perform his function in this Diseas and if any imperfection happen in the Generation of the Vital Spirits it cannot be properly ascribed to the heart but to the ineptitude of the matter to receive the form of the Vital Spirits As the ingested aliment if it be extreamly crude it may frustrate the perfection of a laudable concoction the Stomach being otherwise sound and faultless So the unapt and unprofitable blood exported to the ventricles of the Heart may render the action therof imperfect in respect of the operation and effect how sound soever it may be in it self In which case the ascription of the fault is usually and truly attributed to the indisposed matter and not to the Heart You wil reply a Feaver is somtimes complicated with this affect and at such time the heart doth unaptly Generate the Vital Spirits But that Feaver is a Diseas of a different kind and by no means either the whol or any Part of the Essence of this affect Secondly We affirm that the lesser Arteries inserted into the first affected Parts are in some degree really cooled and benummed by them through their adjacency and contact and for that caus they do unaptly conserv the Vital Spirits contained in them wherupon the Vital Constitution of them is rendred somwhat imperfect before they can be effused into the Parts themselvs And this fault of the little Arteries seemeth by very good right to be ascribed to the Generation of the vital Spirits For although it be not the function of the Arteries to propogate the Vital Spirits according to the first signification of the word yet for this very reason that they are obliged to conserv them when they are propagated namly by such a conservation as in a manner includeth a certain continuate Generation of them their faults are rightly to be referred to the Generation of the Vital Spirits For the Vital Constitution is a certain transient action as we have shewed before which while it lasteth is in a continual flux and motion and which like a flame when the continual fomentation and reparation of it is suspended and suppressed suddenly extinguished Therfore are the Arteries as a continuate Heart to all the parts of the body unto which they transmit and powr out their contained Spirits and what faults soever of the Spirits happen before the effusion of them into the habit of the Parts seing that they necessarily belong to the Original Vital Constitution and cannot otherwise be ascribed to the distribution of the Spirits they must be referred to the very Generation of them namely a continuate Generation in the Arteries wherby they are continually preserved from a sudden extinction Moreover This fault of the Vital Spirits is the depravation of the Vital and Original Constitution and seing that it is somwhat preternatural first hurting the action from whence the participative constitution floweth in like manner depraved and seing that it meerly dependeth upon the primary Essence aforesaid and is complicated in the same parts it will be a part of the secondary Essence of this Diseas Thirdly We say that the matter of the Vital Spirits to wit the Blood of the Veins impregnated with his Natural spirits returning in his circulation from the first affected parts towards the Heart is somwhat disabled by them to admit the form of the Vital Spirit For it is necessary that the Blood whilst it passeth through the parts affected with a cold distemper want and benummedness of inherent Spirits must also thereupon affected with some kind of frigidity benummedness and perhaps with a thickness and viscous quality beyond the usual degree of Nature For as the blood doth give a tincture of his qualities to the parts thorow which it glideth So on the contrary the parts themselves bequeath also as much as they can of their qualities to the flowing blood But here likewise we must grant withal that this indisposition in the parts first affected especially when it is light and smal in the return to the inward parts is very much corrected by their heat before it ariseth at the Ventricles of the heart nay that it is somtimes subdued or if any such contracted fault remain it is commonly totally abolished by the length of the journy before the return of the Blood to the left Ventricle of the heart whilst it floweth down by the right and the substance of the Lungs the same thing also may be thus confirmed becaus if that indisposition should continue till the
Palsy the excrements are many times unduly retained by reason only of the astonishment and insensiblnesse of the guts the other constitutions being sound Therefore in these cases when some natural action is hurt we must not presently conclude that the natural Constitution is first vitiated but we must with dilligence enquire out that Constitution which is first vitiated for that is to be looked upon as the root and first essence of the evil in like manner if some vital action be depraved we must not presently infer that the vital Constitution is primarily vitiated because sometimes the first Origin is more rightly deduced from the natural or perhaps the animal Constitution as for example Through the intensivenesse of cold a finger is mortified by inflamation in this case it is true that the influx of the vital bloud is plainly intercepted yet the beginning of that interception must be sought out in the natural Constitution of that very part so benumned So also in a Convulsion the circulation of the bloud is perhaps something disturbed and interupted but the first depravation must be ascribed to the animal not to the vital Constitution On the contrary in a Feaver the Head is invaded but the source of the evil will peradventure be found out in the vital Constitution so perhaps the Flesh is wasted and al the natural Spirits are decayed yet the root of the evil wil be found out in the vital not in the natural Constitution So that any Constitution of the three before named may be in several Diseases sometimes the first sometimes the second and sometimes the third cause of vitiated actions Not only many other parts of the body yea simply al the sensible which exhibit not an influx neither are subservient as delatory parts do naturally admit this threefold Constitution but besides also even the Heart it self and all the arteries and the Brain and al the nerves so that the Brain excepting the fault in its natural Constitution may be cherished and helped by the vital Spirit which is transmitted thorow the veins and the arteries being wel affected or vitiated and hurt if that be ill affected And after the same manner also may the Heart by the animal Spirit which hath an influx thorow the recurent nerve of the sixth pair the arteries also by the animal influx thorow the nerves by a way perhaps not yet found out And Finally The Nerves also by the vital Spirit deduced thorow the Arteries CHAP. IV. That the Essence of this Disease consists not in the Animal or Vital but in the Natural Constitution not as Organical but as Similar Three Limitations are Propounded THese things being Presupposed We shal proceed to enquir in what Constitution of the parts the first Root or Essence of this affect is lodged Be the first Conclusion therefore this The First Root of this Affect is not in the Animal Constitution or in that which dependeth upon the Influx of the Brain into the parts Indeed we confesse that al the nerves which without the Skul proceed from the spinal marrow are found to be loose and weak in this affect yet this doth not here seem to arise from a defect of the influx of the Brain which we thus prove First the loosnesse and weaknesse of the nerves which cometh primarily from the Brain is almost alwayes consociated with somnolency and drowsinesse but this Symptom happeneth but rarely and by accident only in this affect Secondly As we remember we never knew the Palsy or the Apoplexy to supervene or follow upon this Disease but it ought necessarily so to do and that very often at least in the confirmation of the Disease if this loosnesse and weakness of the nerves should take beginning from a defect of the influx of the Brain Thirdly We have observed the Brain to be sufficiently firm and inculpable in many dissected after death Fourthly For the most part those that are afflicted with this evil are ingenious in respect of their age which doth evidently attest the vigour and vivacity of the Brain The Second Conclusion The first root of this affect is not in the Vital Constitution or in that which dependeth upon the Influx of the Heart into the parts An unequal distribution of bloud indeed almost if not altogether perpetual may be observed in this affect neverthelesse the chief reason of this inequality must be ascribed not to the inequasity of the influx of the Heart or Arteries but to the unequal reception and unaptnesse in the parts themselves to receive it for the Heart and the Arteries do for their part indiscriminately or equally distribute the bloud with the Spirits every way into the parts But if it so fal out that an Artery of some part be interupted in his function by reason of the benumnednesse and stupefaction of that part or the parts adjacent there is a necessity that the bloud must be minutely transmitted thither and so unequally in respect of the other parts which expeditely and aptly receave the bloud Therefore in this case this inequality of distribution doth properly and primarily depend upon a preexistent fault without the artery pertaining to the natural Constitution of the parts Object But some may Object Although perhaps the aforesaid inequality hath no dependance upon the Heart yet it may so happen that a weak Pulse may suffice to distribute the bloud thorow the lesser Circulations in the inner parts which nevertheless may not be altogether so sufficient to undergo that duty thorow the greater Circulations in the outward parts which are more remote from the Heart the fountain of bloud Answ We Answer That this Objection was formerly of so great importance with one of us that he supposed such an inequality of the vital influx did belong to the prime Essence of this Disease and did therefore endeavour to deduce the reason of the first Symptoms from it But after second thoughts the matter being more neerly and deeply examined he was of Opinion That this inequality of the vital influx had no relation to the primary but to the secondary Essence of the Disease But we return to the solution of the Argument And First we grant indeed that in this affect there is an unequal distribution of the bloud and that in the internal parts and in the head it is more liberal in the external more sparing Secondly we grant that the Circulation of the bloud may be kept in the inward parts even although no Pulse apear in the outward parts but this happeneth only in a vehement either weaknesse or oppression of the vital Spirits as in a swouning and a strong hysterical paroxism or fit of the Mother in which affect some that have been accounted for dead have been seen to revive again Thirdly we grant that a more liberal Circulation of the bloud may be in the internal then the external parts yea and in some one external part more then in another as it happeneth in the inflamation of some external member
These things being granted we affirm that in the first Case the inequality of the distribution of the bloud doth not principally depend upon the weaknesse of the Pulsifical vertue for as much as concerns the heart and the reason hereof is plain For the heart as we have already said doth emit the bloud indiscriminatly or equally and with one continuation from it self into the Aorta or chief artery even at such time when as the Pulse is most weak This artery doth exonerate or disburthen it self again with al possible expedition and from hence proceedeth the inequality of the diffusion of the bloud as the bloud is more easily impelled from on rivelet then from another This inequality notwithstanding must not properly and primarily be attributed to the heart but to the recipient parts and to the particular transmitting arteries For any primary affect of the heart is necessarily universal and communicated to al the parts of the body wherefore although we grant this enequality of the Circulation of the bloud to be in the secondary Essence of this Disease yet we exclude it from the primary Moreover in the Second Case propounded we say that there is a great disparity between the cases of extream necessity and ordinary cases Neither indeed do we know whether in the said cases the circulation in the inward parts howsoever it be granted be of any moment And for so much as concerneth the present businesse we deny any such debility of the heart in this affect that the Pulse should be defective in the outward parts yea we have not observed that any one afflicted with this Disease hath been prone to fal into an extacy or a swouning which would readily happen if the origin of the Disease were rooted in the debility of the heart it self Besides when we have seen such as were sick in their tender age to endure without any loss of strength sometimes a liberal eduction or flowing forth of the bloud from the opened veins of their ears yea and seen it sometimes reiterated with good successe Finally When also they have very wel endured purgations with respect had to their age it doth not appear to us how the first root of the evil can be ascribed to the weakness of the vital constitution In the Third Case it is evidently manifest that the first cause of this unequal circulation of the bloud is some disposition of an outward part as in an inflamed member laboring under some private Disease there happeneth a more ful and impetuous Pulse by reason of the accidental heat of the artery infused by the immoderation of heat which is in that outward part Therefore seing that the Essence of this affect cannot be primarily rooted in the animal nor the vital Constitution of the parts as we have now shewed it followeth which shal be the Third Conclusion That the primary Essence or first root of this affect consisteth in the proper or inherent constitution of the parts But because the natural Constitution as we have said above consisteth partly in the common qualities and the temperament and partly in a just plenty and disposition of the inherent Spirits and again partly in the organical construction and continuity our next enquiry must be to find out in which of the prementioned constitutions it lodgeth and whether it be rooted in one alone or in many or in altogether Be the Fourth Conclusion therefore this This affect is not radicated in the Organical Constitution of the parts For although in progresse of time the Organs themselves are divers wayes affected in respect of their conformation quantity and site as it is sufficiently manifest from the encreased bulk of the head liver c. from the tumours of the bones unto the wrests the ankls and the extremities of the ribs from various obstructions and the extenuation of the outward parts seing neverthelesse that al these things depend upon a higher origin and howsoever also we may necessarily admit these things in a Disease confirmed and now variously compounded yet in the original Essence we presume for the subsequent reasons they are to be rejected First Because the depravations aforesaid in the Organical parts do not appear presently in the beginning of the Disease but encrease afterwards by little and little And although perhaps some of these may be said from the beginning to have taken root in the body notwithstanding they cannot as yet be immediatly discerned by the sense neither do they manifestly hurt any actions and for that reason they cannot appertain to the first Essence of the Disease Secondly Because the Organical vices aforesaid are not the Causes but the Effects rather of the chief Symptoms which from the beginning exhibit themselves in this affect For the augmented figure of the head liver c. the standing out of the bones and the leannesse of the external parts are more rightly refered to the inequality of the nourishment then on the contrary the inequality of the nourishment should be ascribed to them For when one part doth excessively encrease and another is defrauded of a due decent augmentation there is a necessity that a disproportionate and an unequal nourishment must not only be present in the parts but also have had a preexistence in the body whereby one part is nourished and another neglected beneath a mediocrity But seeing this unequal nourishment is a depraved action and so a Symptom presupposing some preexistent Disease and yet withal as we have said doth precede as a cause the organical vices aforesaid it is manifest that those organical vices are not the first root of this Disease As for the obstructions which indeed are for the most part conjoyned with this affect yet neverthelesse there is a great deal of reason to exclude them from the first Essence of this Disease because they neither specificate the Disease neither can any reason of the Symptoms be rendered from them neither do they perpetually besiege some certain and determinate noble part Some man perhaps who hath respect to the excessive magnitude of the liver may object that in this affect that is perpetually obstructed and thereupon the sanguification being vitiated the other things are preposteriously derived but if this swelling of the Liver did alwayes proceed from the obstruction of it then a palenesse of complexion a cachexia or indigestion and by the advantage of time the Dropsie it self should necessarily and perpetually accompany this affect Moreover The Liver should alwayes be seen to be vitiated in the colour and at the dissection hard tumors and knots should be observed in the substance of it especially in an inveterate affect and that which killed the Patient but seing these things do not frequently much lesse perpetually occur in dead bodies the augmented bulk of it must rather be refered to the irregular nutrition Moreover we deny it not but that we have observed by Anatomy in those who have perished of this Disease obstructions various tumours and knotty excrescencies in
return of the blood to the left Ventricle of the Heart the whol mass of blood in the Arteries would become crude and imperfect and seing that this blood thus abounding with imperfect Vital Spirits should be transmitted from the Aorta to al the Parts it would more or less affect them al which very rarely is observed in this Diseas For the head many bowels however som of them are found to be greater then ordinary yet they seem to be watered with a perfect Vital Spirit But although as we have said the slight indisposition of the Blood may be corrected before its return to the right ventricle yet when the contracted fault is great and more considerable it cannot be altogether overcome wherupon the Lungs in this Diseas are commonly afflicted with the most grievous Evil For when the less Spiritous and therefore the less passable Blood is continually transmitted thorow the Lungs cold and thick or viscous in process of time it must needs more or less infect and obstruct the weaker parts of the Lungs from whence proceed difficulty of drawing breath a stubborn cough hard tumors inflammations impostumes and the Ptysick Feavers also both Erratick and Hectick may from hence dirive their Origen But seing that fault may be suddenly introduced from the first affected parts it is credible although we have said the Lungs are often infected by it that it is for the most part overcome before the Blood can com to the left Ventricle And this may be the reason why the Head and the adjacent parts do look so well and flourishing namely becaus neither the Natural nor the Vital Constitution is hurt in them seing that the perfect Vital Spirits generated in the left Ventricle and distributed from thence do excite that fresh color in the face when on the contrary the Lungs do oftentimes labor under the faults aforesaid the viciousness of the Blood not being corrected before it enter the right Ventricle and the Arterious vein Moreover This imperfect production of Vital Spirits in the right Ventricle of the Heart by reason of the crudeness of the affluent Blood flowing in the Veins totally appertaineth to the secondary Essence of this Diseas and must be accounted a part of it for the Vital Constitution is vitiated wherupon the actions in the Lungs are depraved and it dependeth wholy and in every respect upon the primary granted Essence neither in the mean time doth it reside in the solid Substance of the Heart that it should therfore deserv the name of a a new diseas Here we note by the way That Physitians in the cure of this affect do ever intermingle such things with their remedies as have respect to the benefit of the Lungs and not without reason seing that it is apparent by what hath been said to how much danger that Bowel is continually subject And this may suffice concerning the faults in the Generation of the Vital Spirits Now follow the faults of the distribution of those Spirits CHAP. X. The vitiated Distribution of the Vital Spirits in this Affect and whether it be a Part of the Secondary Essence therof THis vitiated distribution seemeth to consist in three things Namly in the Dimunition Slowness and the Inequality of it The defective and also the slow distribution of the Blood and Spirits may be seen in some one Part and perhaps in all those that are first affected But the inequality cannot be observed in any one seing that it resulteth from a collation of a various swiftness and slowness greatness and smalness of the torrent of the Blood in respect of the other parts The defect and slowness of the distribution seing that they depend almost upon the same causes in the present affect they may be handled together and seing those differences are more simple then the inequality the handling of them seemeth deservedly and justly to be premised But first we must grant that the passages and circulation of the Blood thorow the first affected parts is not very difficult in this affect For although a cold distemper a want and benummedness of Spirits do seem very difficultly to admit a transition of the Blood thorow the parts affected with these qualities yet indeed other conjoyned qualities as moysture loosness laxity flaccidity softness and internal lubricity can at the least contribute as much power to facilitate the passage of it as the qualities aforesaid can oppose to the interruption of it Yea if you valu them by a just estimation perhaps they can do more but we wil not in this place assert it only we flatly deny the difficulty of the circulation to be greater For if we may compare hard bodies with soft low bodies with straight moist with dry slippery with rough we shal easily perceiv that the circulation of the blood is much more quick and expedite in those then in these And this is manifest in young Creatures in whom those qualities abound in such as are new born although the Heart be very tender the Arteries less firm the pulsificative vertu yet feeble and weak yet the passing too and fro of the blood are readily and easily exercised which in those that are older is not accomplished without a stronger pulse and an indeavor or a kind of labor of the Heart and Arteries Again according to the opinion of Galen and Hippocrates the Bodies of children are most passible namly by reason of their humidity laxity and softness Besides if we observ the formation of the chicken in the eg the matter wil be yet more plain Within few days after the incubation the Heart of the chicken is sensibly and evidently seen to beat and to begin the circulation of the Blood but if at the same time we consider the frailty of the Heart it self and how weak a coherence there is between the parts of it til in the interim it finisheth the circulation of the blood according to the manner of it such as it is we must necessarily grant that in that shapeless lump moisture and internal lubricity do expediate and facilitate that motion Some perhaps may object that in these cited cases the liberty and readiness of the circulation of the blood depends not so much upon the moisture softness and slipperiness as upon the plenty of the inherent Natural Spirits For in the Cachexia Green sickness and the dropsy the flesh is very soft moist and perhaps slippery when in the mean time the transition of the Blood is very difficult We answer those Bodies that wax tender and soft by a paucity of inherent Spirits are less indisposed and more apt to admit the circulation of the Blood then the other parts But it is not simply tru that such bodies which most abound with Spirits do perpetually obtain the most expedite and unrestrained circulation of the Blood for the Blood is more easily circulated in Fish then in Creatures of the Land as is manifest by the tender and frail Constitution of their Heart and Arteries yet
subjects Let us now apply these things to the present affect We affirm therfore that six differences of this diseas do occur in respect of the times therof For it hath a beginning and may be called incipient it hath an encreas and may be said to be confirmed it hath a state and then it it may be termed consistant it hath an encrease beyond the state and may be called desperate it hath a tru declination and may be said to be an affect remiting or simply declining and it hath a spurious declination and may be called a change as when it chancheth into som other diseas Of al which we wil speak in their order First The Rachites is called a Diseas begining when the first Rudiments and impressions thereof are though very obscurely first observed and before there hapneth any manifest extenuation of the first affected parts Secondly This diseas is said to be confirmed when an evident and manifest extenuation of the first affected parts becoms obvious to the Senses And here the Reader perceiveth we do not distinguish thes two times from crudity and coction but from another alteration of the Body namly The Extenuation made in the parts first affected for the begining of this diseas can no ways be discerned from the encreas therof by crudity and coction But otherwise so far as the nature of the thing is capable of it we shal willingly follow the example of Galen and as he distinguisheth the encreas from the begining by the manifest coction so we also put a different between thes times in this affect from a manifest alteration namly the extenuation made in the said parts Thirdly This diseas advanced to its consistence is that which having attained the highest vigor and exhaltation is arrested and for a time is neither sensibly encreased or lessened but continueth at a stand Fourthly This diseas exceeding the Mediocrity of the consistance is called desperat namly Becaus in magnitude and vehemence it surpasseth the very state of the same diseas in another Patient indifferently affected and withal is continually encreased neither is there any hope but that it will daily encreas til it hath altogether subdued and dissolved the Patient For which caus this condition of a diseas is termed desperat Fifthly This diseas is said to be truly remitting or declining when the Essence therof is by little and little diminished and when the Signs and Symptoms of it are daily mitigated Sixthly This diseas is said to be illegitimatly declining or passing into another diseas of a divers species when the Essence Signs and Symptoms therof are so lessened that new ones of a different kind and perhaps more outragious appear in their stead Thus the Rachites frequently degenerat into a Consumption a Hectick and somtimes perhaps into a slow putrid Feaver yet for the most part the same diseas doth accompany thes supervening affects to the dissolution of the Patient And let this suffice concerning the differences of this diseas deduced from the Essence This diseas in like manner in respect of the Causes is as it were taken into pieces or divided into parts namly into a natural affect and into an after-coming or newly contracted malady Again This diseas may be termed natural in a twofold sens In the first properly As when the Sick is born actually affected with this diseas In the later improperly when the Patient at his birth is not actually affected with it but strongly disposed by his native principles to fall into it If it pleas the Reader to summon those things to his memory which were said above concerning the causes of this Effect on the Parents parts he wil easily conceive the reason and foundations of this difference and consequently that wil excuse us from any further explication Only we ad that this difference is of great use in the judicial part of cure which consisteth in applications antidotal and preventive but it is not of so great moment in the Method of Cure In like manner this Affect is meerly coming after when being fomented by no Natural disposition it is newly contracted after the birth here also it is twofold For it either succeedeth som foregoing Diseas or it is immediatly produced by an erroneous use of the six non-Natural things We have sufficiently discoursed of both where we hammered out the causes of this Diseas after the birth and thither we direct the Reader Again this Diseas admitteth som differences by reason of other Diseases wherwith it is conjoyned in the same subject It must not be expected that we should give in a Catalogue of all Diseases wherwith this Affect may possibly be conjoyned we shal only reckon up those which ate the usual Companions of this Malady Som wherof have a certain dependance upon this Diseas and the causes of it others have not any or at least not any worthy of a distinct consideration Of the former kind are a Hydrocephalus the faults of breeding Teeth an Asthma the Ptysick an Hectik feaver a slow and erratical Feaver and the Ascites which is that kind of Dropsy when water hath gotten between the flesh and the Skin The Hydrocephalus hath a great correspondence with this Affect seing that this Affect also doth for the most part suppose an increas of the Head preternaturally encreased and an overplentiful afflux of the Blood unto the Brain by reason of the largeness of the Arteries thither extended And hereupon it easily coms to pass that the Brain being oppressed w th the abundance of the Blood must somtimes needs suffer the more serous portion therof as being the most permeable to evaporate or sweat out into the Ventricles and cavities within the Menynges and by consequence to produce the Dropsy of the Brain But this as we have already noted doth always appear The faults of breeding of Teeth also are somtimes justly ascribed to this Diseas going before For it is well known that they who are affected with this Diseas do commonly breed Teeth with extream pain and many times the Teeth themselvs fal out by pieces But we have above reduced this fault to the unequal nourishment of the parts and there the Reader may find further satisfaction In the mean time it must be observed that a painful breeding of Teeth may likewise precede this Diseas and sustain the force of a caus in reference to this subsequent evil as we have likewise shewed above Moreover An Asthma or difficulty of breathing doth familiarly follow upon this Affect because the Blood is somwhat cooled in his circulation thorow the first affected parts and is rendred more thick viscous and sluggish in motion neither is it always perfectly corrected before its return to the right Ventricle of the Heart Wherupon being unapt for passage it is powred back from the right Ventricle thorow the Arterious Vein into the substance of the Lungs and for that Reason doth easily introduce obstructions hard tumors difficulty of breathing somtimes inflammations impostumes Ulcers the Ptysick the
Fourthly The Tone being over soft loos flavid and withered indicateth an avoidance of such things as are wont to mollifie loosen and weaken the parts and that such Medicines are to be outwardly applied and inwardly given as may render them more firm and solid The same Tone as it is internally too brittle brings a suspicion upon all such things as abound much with an inward slipperiness and seemeth to desire some roughness or indeed astriction in those things applied or taken Fifthly The corrupted Vital Constitution on the part of the Generation of the Vital Spirits is not so considerable but on the part of the distribution of the Vital Spirits the inequality therof is of great importance and indicateth a caution to be had of those things which promove the flux of the Blood towards the Head as also of such things as retard the passage therof to the first affected parts but that choice must be made of such things as stir the Pulses of the Arteries in the parts first affected and temper those that are in the Head A slow and diminute current of the Blood through the first affected parts indicateth the same things namely an evocation of the Puls to those parts But an over facile and slippery passage of the Blood through the habit of the parts is coincident in its indication with the slipperiness of the Tone lately recited A defect of the Vital Constitution on the part of the union sufficiently vigorous and pleasant between the Vital and the Natural Spirits indicateth an election of such things as can both nourish and cherish the Spirits and also excite them to a greater activity and that their contraries ought to be avoided The Vital heat as deficient indicates almost the same thing as a cold distemper provided that regard be had withal to the strength of the Heart and Arteries and to the vigor of the Vital Spirits Sixthly The unequal Nutrition Indicateth those things which promove the even and impartial distribution of the Aliment and Heat Or indeed that which is too liberal to the parts that are nourished beyond a due measure the extenuation of the parts requireth a fuller Nourishment The irregular magnitude of the Head chiefly things extenuant and such as are of the flux from the Head The Tumors of the Bones indicate the same thing the crookedness of the Bones require such things as attract the Aliment to the hollow side as moderate rubbings but things repressing chiefly on the gibbous and bunched side as strong bindings The bending of the Joynts insinuateth an Artificial erection of them as much as is possible The narrowness of the Breast pointeth to Pectorals and such things as have a faculty to dilate the Breast but the sharpness therof indicateth such things as have a dilative Vertue Sevently The imperfect distribution of Animal Spirits and somwhat defective in the first affected parts indicateth Cephalicals and such things as facilitate the distribution as exercises rubbings and the like A defect of due stretching in the Nerves or Nervous and Fibrous parts indicateth those things as Corroborate the Nerves and strengthen the parts Thus much of Indications Curative the Preservative follow CHAP. XXVI Indications preservative THese Indications are deduced either from the Antecedent or the present causes of a Diseas Those which flow from the former kind of causes concern the Prophylactical Part here we only propound those which proceed from causes that are present and contained in the Body namly from common causes or such as are proper to this Diseas Now although that common causes do not seem immediatly to attain to the production of the Essence of a Diseas yet even in this respect that they are esteemed an impediment and may retard the cure they Indicate their taking away These causes are either impurities or excrementitious humors collected and impacted in the first passages which unless they be taken away do not only infect the nourishment inward but they somwhat dul or otherwise hinder the appropriate Medicines They indicate therfore an evacuation either by a gentle vomit or by a lenitive purgation as occasion shal rather perswade to this or that or they are common causes deeper imbited into the Parts of the Body and these also require an evacuation But seing that according to this kind of common causes it is at the same time driven away and almost with the same Medicaments as are the causes which are proper to this Diseas we shal conjoyn both the kinds of them in this present consideration The causes therfore which are proper to this Diseas as also the Common causes which have a deeper penetration into the Body may be divided into Blood and Cacochymical humors The Blood indeed although it be rather deficient than redundant in the first Affected parts yet in the Head for the most part it requires a particular evacuation which usually is performed by scarification of the Veins in the hollow of the Ear. Hither likewise we may partly refer blisters raised between the first and second turning Joynt of the Neck although these perhaps may relate over and above in part to the Cacochymical humors Cachochymical humors are divided into those which stil flow in the channel of the Veins and into those which are impacted in certain parts of the Body The causes or humors flowing in the Veins do primarily and intentionally Indicate their evacuation But if they be unapt for motion as to the execution then they require som previous preparation But because it happens for the most part that not al the humors are equally unapt but that som are sufficiently flexible and others not so but resist the Medecines in this case they indicate a less evacuation and then a preparation Moreover These humors in the chanel of the Veyns may be subdivided into Feaverish namly if there be a putrid Feaver and not Feaverish The Feaverish humors are either swelling or not swelling The swelling that is those which are unquiet or impetuously agitated do Indicate a sudden evacuation at least a lesser unless perhaps they are carried of their accord to the external and more ignoble parts as it happens in the small Pox the Meazels and the like Affects But if a Feaver be present and that acute and yet the humors are not swelling they chiefly Indicate that peculiar preparation which they cal coction that by this means they may be obedient to the Medecine to be aftergiven and than evacution but if the Feaver not be acute but Chronical although the matter be not irritated and yet som part of it be sufficiently flexible in this case a lesser evacuation is first indicated at any time of the Diseas and afterwards the coction of the relicts that they also in their time may be evacuated The humors contained in the Veins which are not Feaverish if they are fluxible they first indicate evacuation but because in this Affect slow gross and clammy humors are almost perpetually present preparation at least wher a lesser