doctrine for they that gave this definition do also determine Qualities preternatural to be Symptoms and Heat being one of the tactil Qualities of the first rank by the same Authors can be but a symptom Now preternatural febrile Heat being only a Symptom and none of the urgent Symptoms there is at least there ought no cure belonging to it but to that Disease on which the febrile Heat is dependant and those Diseases are many and various For methods and medicines are indicated from the Disease not from the Symptom and their adaptation proper and peculiar only to the Disease not to the Symptom to causes not to consequents and dependants Since it is so why do you create such fears in the Sick and make so much bustle at the Shops about this febrile Heat designing multiplicity of Medicines against it and those very injurious since this feverish Heat being only Symptomatical gives warning and is a signal only of some latent Disease the which being found out curing lies there and there only the depending Fever is included therein and falls of course with it In Corde accensus In the Heart you say a Fever is kindled as the place of its rise But I rather think cujus contrarium that a Fever is communicated or transmitted to the Heart from all Parts of the Body at several times by several Diseases For if preternatural Heat Febris be the general and most common Symptom of Diseases caused thereby and depending thereon rising and falling with those various Diseases seated in divers Parts of the Body then all their Symptomatical Fevers must have their rise and seat in the several diseased Parts and the Heart only by consent and transmission per vasa through the vessels of communication The vital Principle or Spirit of Life that presides over and is planted in every Part of the Body to govern each member raiseth a Fever upon any morbific matter there offending and the Heart being a principle Part in office is soon made sensible and raiseth the Pulse as a signal of condolence if any disturbance be in the Body And sometimes the Head also is affected thereby and drawn into consent If the Foot be greatly pained by Gout or otherwise the Heart is grieved and frebile Heat is kindled but this Fever first riseth in and is communicated from the diseased Parts the Foot primarily affected and the Heart disturbed and heated only secundariò by consent And the Fever thus raised requires curing not in the Heart so affected but in the Foot diseased having its rise there and dependance there not in the Heart Therefore Cardiac medicines are not curative in the case nor conducing but such means as are proper for the diseased Part first complaining and the cure of this Gout-fever lies there only which being rightly applied to the Symptomatic febrile Heat abates and vanisheth as the Disease is tamed and subdued The like may be said and holds true in all other Fevers arising from several Parts of the Body diseased But a late famed Author Dr. Willis in his Book of Fevers though he agrees with these Writers that the Heart is the Fire-place where Fevers are kindled yet he differs from them in the manner how and the combustible matter what Sin verò sanguis ob sulphuris evecti copiam aut effluvia cohibita aut victum calfacientem nimis luxurians turgescere aptus evadat ejus in corde sive accensio sive fermentatio plurimum intenditur ita ut exinde calor febrilis effervescentiae solito majores in toto concitentur p. 114. He makes preternatural fermentation to be the ratio formalis of Fevers and prosecutes upon that notion through the several sorts of Fevers and gives this description Febris est motus inordinatus sanguinis ejusque nimia effervescentia cum calore p. 117. using effervescence and fermentation as synonumous and univocal all along True it is febrile Heat sometimes does follow preternatural fermentation from thence occasionally procured yet not always arising out of fermentation as the proper and only effect thereof but issuing from the governing vital Principle or Spirit of Life fons caloris disturbed and aestuating In like manner preternatural fermentation motus inordinatus sanguinis is caused by febrile aestuation They follow one another and often meet together in sickness yet are distinct and different from each other Fever and Fermentation differ in Predicament fermentatio est motus calor febrilis est qualitas Vomiting and Fever meet sometimes and are complicated Also Fluxes of the Belly with Fevers And preternatural fermentation with Fevers But they are all different symptoms and may exist separately So that preternatural fermentation is not inseparable from Fevers and cannot be so essential thereto that posito uno ponitur alterum but an adjunct that may or may not be and a Fever in Being rightly denominated so For Fever ex vi vocis from the etymon of the word importing heat denotes the nature thereof febris à ferveo vel ferbeo to be hot and 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 graecè à 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 ignis shewing Heat to be the great distinguishing character of a Fever A Sulphure accenso deflagrato Febrile Heat says that great Author is kindled from Sulphurous inflaming matter Sin ultra crasin naturalem sanguinis pars sulphurea seu oleosa incalescat statim effera cum caeteris improportionata evadit ita ut fere tota à cordis fermento velut in flammam acta sanguinis massam immodice effervescere ebullire cogat Dr. Willis Lib. de Febribus p. 158. Several other places I might recite in that Book setting forth the combustible matter of Fevers and how kindled which for Brevity sake I omit and having enough to discourse on But my Reason informs me otherwise and determines First that natural Heat and preternatural is the same in specie in kind arising from one and the same Principle or Fountain and differ gradu tantum only in moderation and gradual state Quicquid in sanis edit actiones sanas id ipsum in morbis edit actiones vitiatas Axiom Therefore that vital Spirit which heats Man naturally in a State of Health The same does preternaturally aestuate and burn in Fevers being disturbed at hostile morbous matter Secondly Febrile Heat does not arise à materia sulphurea oleaginosa combustibili from any sulphurous oleaginous combustible matter kindled as that Author asserts but from any offending matter that 's the fomes Morbi the fuel of Fevers that provokes and stirs up the vital governing Spirit to kindle aestuate and become fiery labouring and endeavouring nisu quodam irato thereby to exterminate and expel it Fevers are not kindled nor continued à materia flammante but à materia peccunte quacunque A stone in the Kidney without the help of Oleagenous Sulphureous combustible matter will readily procure a Fever Thirdly Febrile matter remains after the Patient is dead but febrile Heat is then gone and why
ignotum per atque ignotum We must proceed on for better Information atque vitae Principio seu Spiritibus animalibus inimicum Here the Life and animal Spirits are made one and the same or equal at least in vitality for so I must conclude First From the Particle seu connecting those words as Synonimous And likewise He useth seu equivalently and for that purpose in the front of the Definition Venenum seu Toxicum signifying the same Poyson by two words Secondly From the words immediately following Vnde facultas eorum expansiva penitus obruitur flamma vitalis necessario extinguitur The which do declare Febrile Venom to have Antipathy against animal Spirits as to the Principle of Life That the Stress of Poyson aims at and lies upon animal Spirits as upon the Life That the fatal stroak is given there and the ratio formalis of Dying represented by Contracting and Stifling the Expansion of animal Spirits which puts a Period to Vitality And that animal Spirits are the Biolicknium the Lamp of Life What more or greater can be said of Anima the plastic and the Regent Principle than now is attributed to animal Spirits This is Strange Philosophy to me such as I never knew before deeper than my Reason can fathom and above my Faith to believe That animal Spirits so much questioned and doubted whether they have any Being in Humane Nature though so unnecessary and improbable should now be exalted as Supream or made coequal at least in dispensing and managing vital Operations Credat qui volet Let animal Spirits be first proved 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 convincingly that there are such from the necessity of their use we may then more likely be induced to believe the new Hypothesis founded thereon SECT III. The Difference of Fevers And their Division into Classes AVthors concurring in common Doctrine have made this Difference and Division of Fevers à subjecto in quo calor febrilis insidet from their place of Residence in the Spirits Humors and solid Parts which makes this tripple Division of Fevers Ephemeral Humoral and Hectic Famosa Vulgatissima est Febris essentialis differentia qua Febris in Ephimeram Humoralem Hecticam dividitur quae tota à subjecto Febrium petitur Troph Serrier Pyretolog p. 13. Ephemeral Fever is an effervescence of the Spirits only and continues but a day or two Humoral is the esservescence of putrid humors and continues a longer time Hectic is a preternatural Heat in the Solid parts and is most durable and fixed All these Fevers must take their rise in the Heart by the common definition that 's the Center and Seat thereof You have brought all Fevers into a little compass the Heart where we may soon find them if they were there to be found And if all this were true what advantage and what use can we make of it What cunning ways will you invent to make your Practice answer this Doctrine and how will you make this Doctrine serviceable in Practice This Celebrious Division is essential general and comprehensive But quid inde boni what shall we learn thereby If you come to a Patient whose Fever is beginning and the Fever is one of these three Sorts comprised in the general Division you have no help by this Doctrine if it were true no information to determine what or prosecute with what You cannot ask the Patient how are the Spirits of your Heart How the Humors And how the Flesh but you must look off the Heart and cast about somewhere else inquiring here and there How is your Stomach have you good Appetite and digest well are you Costive how is your Head do you urine freely have you pain any where and so forth After all these and such like necessary Questions 't is very probable you may find out the place where the Fever is bred and what is the Cause thereof If so as true it is what then have we to do with the Heart but only to examine by the Pulse how affected or afflicted in the case what consent from thence or condolence what vital Signals by that Pulsation not what Sort of Fever Now after all the subtle and nice distinction of Ephemeral Humoral and Hectic we must examine most Parts of the Body the principle at least to find out the Rise and Seat of the Fever and then it will appear to be not in Corde primò accensa as you say but in Corde per consensum and that some other Part is the original cause of the Fever where the Cure is to be directed If there must be a place or places in the Body assigned for Fevers as the Rise and Seat thereof And since they are all Symptomatical and dependant upon various Diseases in divers Parts of the Body as their causes occasional Sedes Morbi est Sedes Febris then where the Disease is there is the Seat of Fevers So that the difference of Fevers from thence will not be triplex according to this antique approved Division but multiplex I wish you good Success with your Doctrine of Fevers but I should be loth to be a Patient under it least the first tryal of your Skill upon me should be the last Scene of my Life There is another received distinction of Fevers into Essential and Symptomatical And this I must take notice of because it byasseth Practisers from the right Notion of Fevers and causeth errour in the designs of Curing For this Distinction may well be set aside when as there is no Fever essential therefore no Disease but all are Symptomatical arising from and dependant upon some Disease morbific Miasm or Seminary and a Symptom thereof And this appears from the Definition of Fevers Febris est calor preter naturam preternatural Heat being the genus comprising all Fevers under it And this Heat by your Doctrine a Symptomatical Quality only The distinction then of Essential and Symptomatical Fevers is void unless you will hold a contradiction in your own learning But why some Essential others Symptomatical Riverius gives this account essentiales dicuntur quando putredo in venis communibus extra partes privatas accenditur Symptomaticae verò quando in parte peculiari inflammata putredo aut suppuratio fit a qua ob vasorum communionem vapor putridus cordi continuo communicari potest lib. de febr p. 373. They that will take this for good Reason may be so satisfied and probably they may not see the Definition of Fever therein contradicted Calor in Corde accensus ex eo and the Doctrine discordant in it self Another Distinction of Fevers there is which divides them into Continual and Intermitting This difference is apparent to vulgar understandings but the manner how the matter what the place where generated causes occasioning and promoting These are not so well known which hath produced diversity of opinions among the learned and these I shall take notice of in their due places Continual Fevers are distinguished into
Ignota Febris FEVERS Mistaken in Notion Practice SHEWING The frequent Fatal Consequents thereof HEREIN Traversing the dissenting New Hypotheses of some late Writers And Erroneous Opinions of Antique Authors WITH Remarks upon Bleeding Blistering Juleps and the Jesuits Pouder in Fevers By Everard Maynwaringe Med. D. Plurimi qui de Febribus scripserunt magno conatu nihil egerunt LONDON Printed by I. Dawks and are to be Sold by D. Brown at the Black Swan without Temple-Bar 1698. INDEX OF THE HEADS and Principal MATTER Sect. 1. OF Fevers in General Pag. 1 Sect. 2. The Definition of Fevers Examined Pag. 5 Sect. 3. The Difference of Fevers And their Division into Classes Pag. 32 Sect. 4. Of Putrid Fevers Pag. 39 Sect. 5. Of Fevers Continual and Intermittent Pag. 52 Sect. 6. Of Fevers Malignant so called Measels Small-Pox and Pestilential Pag. 54 Sect. 7. The Operations and Effects of Cortex Peruvianus the Jesuits Pouder Pag. 64 Sect. 8. Remarks upon the Jesuits Pouder used in Clysters Pag. 84 Sect. 9. The Practice upon Fevers Perniciously mistaken Pag. 89 Sect. 10. Blood Letting in Fevers Examined Pag. 97 Sect. 11. Epispastics for Blistering in Fevers Condemned as Injurious Pag. 111 Sect. 12. Of Juleps and Coolers in Fevers Pag. 123 Sect. 13. The Author ' s Compendious Method and Medicines for Curing Fevers compared with the Common Practice Pag. 140 Appendix Pag. 153 Pag. 153. Lin. 6. for praesentibus read praesentes SECT I. Of Fevers in General IN the former attempt upon this Subject I cursorily immethodically and briefly toucht upon some errours in the Notion and Practice of Fevers But since considering the great importance thereof the mortal events daily depending thereon excites me to a farther inquiry and methodical digestion for future caution in this perilous matter Nunquam satis dicitur quod non satis discitur For many lives have been cast away upon this Rock both of the Wise and the Wealthy the Good and the Great Princes and People of all sorts have had their Fate by great mistakes herein and evil conduct of the undertakers for their preservation After the many Volumes that have been writ and so much Paper wasted upon this subject of Fevers After so much experience from the living that have evaded this sickness and the Millions of People that have died with Fevers or in a febrile state I find Writers and Practisers in this Art to have wandred from the right way in their designs and methods of curing not truly discerning what a Fever is though daily talked on and practised upon Nothing more frequently presents to Physicians in Practice than a Fever Comes omnium morborum est Hippoc. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 And nothing more perniciously mistaken to the loss of innumerable Lives than that which is called a Fever supposed to be a Disease but is none which errour is as old as the Rise of Physick yet received for truth at this day not only by Professors of the lower Class but also by Physicians of the first Rank trusting to tradition who frequently blunder in prosecuting a Symptomatic depending Fever and oversee the Disease This is manifest from their Methods and Medicines in the designs and intentions of curing aiming at and endeavouring to extinguish Fevers by cooling Apozems Juleps Ptisans Emulsions Phlebotomy And a strange invention to draw out the Fever with Epispastic blistering Plaisters All which projects and proceedings in Practice are irrational and erroneous absurdly wide from the true Notion of Fevers as hereafter doth appear 'T is commonly said and from the Physicians mouth this and that Person is sick of a Fever and such a one died of a Fever both which are great mistakes True it is few are sick and very few or none die without a Fever that is a febrile heat attending their sickness or Death But this preternatural Heat is not their Disease no more than Thirst is their Disease or cold chilness or loathing of meat or weakness and weariness watching or Pain c. But if you will have all these preternatural and symptomatical affects to be Diseases and like so many Dogs worrying of a Man you have not a right understanding thereof And designing of cures to this or that Symptom under the notion of a Disease your proceedings are ill grounded and the success from thence not hopeful I wonder Physicians should be so short sighted as not to fee beyond the Fever That they should take a symptom for a Disease is a great mistake and which too often hath proved a mortal errour For if the Fever as sometimes be the symptom of a dangerous Disease 't is probable the Patient dies by male Practice the Physician directing his cure against the Fever neglecting and not discerning from whence or what Disease the Fever does depend on For Fevers occasionally procured are almost as many as there are Diseases Colic Fevers Apoplectic Fevers Soporiferous Pleurific Malignant Apostematic Vlcerous Traumatic Verminous c. hundreds All the Acute Diseases and most of the Chronit have Fevers attending or depending on them In a late Tract Inquiries into the general Catalogue of Diseases shewing the errours of that draught as to the Number Divisions and Denominations thereof For sufficient reasons I struck out the first Division called Similar Diseases of that Catalogue because the supposed Diseases contained therein upon the Inquest were found to be no Diseases but Symptoms only and properly belonging to that Tribe wherein Fevers are also contained For in the number of Symptoms by your own Authors I find Qualities preternatural And amongst them intemperies calida a hot distemper or febrile Heat necessarily included Now Heat being an eminent Quality in Human Nature and frequently is changed from its moderate natural state in most Morbous alterations then this Quality thus gradually exalted idem specie is that which you call a Fever Thus changing its denomination this Quality preternaturally graduated then passeth for a Disease they not knowing from what Principle it assurgeth and a formidable invader of the Life requiring all endeavours to oppose and reduce it by the use of contraries being so taught by a false Canon Contrariorum contraria sunt remedia That this is so in your Sense and the Practice formed against it which is no sence I shall prove from the Definition of a Fever and also from the curative means adapted thereto in their due places SECT II. The Definition of Fevers Examined A Fever is thus defined by consent of most Hippocratic and Galenic Writers Febris est calor praeter naturam in Corde accensus ex eo in totum corpus diffusus By this definition Heat is the ratio formalis or Essence of a Fever the Heart is the focus place and seat thereof Now let us examine how much truth there is in this established Doctrine or whether there be any Fever is a preternatural Heat If so then I observe first that a Fever is but a Symptom and not a Disease by your own
appears that from what Cause soever a Fever doth arise this Juleping and Cooling Mode of Practice is dangerous more or less as the Disease is in its self whereon the Fever does depend But in no Case advantageous making acute Diseases to Commute and terminate in chronic and lingering chronic Diseases to hold on their Course and become more Contumacious Febrile Heat is much safer and sooner allayed with hot things than with cold for Coolers only are but like the sprinkling of Water upon Fire which burns the fiercer for it afterwards Coolers cast a damp for the present makes a short suppression of Heat and it soon bursts out again But hot Medicines that have Spirit and Life in them do assist Nature in ejecting of the peccant Matter which being cast out Nature then returns to her sedate moderate temper Therefore one good Sudorific Medicine checks a Fever better than ten Juleps Here I shall make some Observations useful in Practice First from the Denominations of Fever and Inflammation what affinity there is and near relation they have to each other for from the Etymon of the words they seem to import a Parity as denoting only an extraordinary Heat 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 febris from 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 ignis 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 inflammatio from 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 uro But the difference lyes here Fevers are known and defined by preternatural Heat and effervescency through the whole Body Inflammation is a preternatural Heat of a particular Part. Hence we remark that Fevers are general and dilated Inflammations Inflammations particular Fevers of a Member Thus they differ in Latitude and Extent But withal observe the order of Causation Inflammation commonly precedes and lays the Foundation in this or that Part there is the fomes minera Morbi A Fever follows upon the whole Body caused by consent from thence and condolency Here you may take notice that Fevers are erroneously defined by Authors à calore praeter Naturam in Corde accenso assigning the Heart to be the focus where febrile Heat is first kindled and from whence it is maintained when almost in any other Part of the Body if an Inflammation happen there a Fever will follow taking its Rise from thence not from the Heart So that the Heart then suffers Sympathically by consent not idiopathically and primarily as Sedes Morbi Since most Inflammations cause Fevers and Inflammations so frequent as being the certain Consequents of great Pain then two things are to be noted First that upon the appearance of a high Fever you may suspect an Inflammation couched under it from whence as the Spring this Fever doth arise Secondly that the Cure of many Fevers ought so to be designed and managed as respecting and aiming chiefly at a particular Inflammation of some Part upon which the Fever doth depend And when a Fever ariseth upon this bottom as often it doth then little regard is to be had to the general Fever but the stress of Cure lyes upon removing the occasional and material Causes of Pain and Inflammation in the particular Part the Foundation of all the rest which being removed the depending Fever falls of Course Thus all our endeavours tend to make a true Discovery of Causes that when preternatural Heat does arise in the Body and begets a Fever you may know not only what to call it but also what to do by levelling at the right Mark And I must tell you also how a Fever sometimes does arise and not from Inflammation of a pained Part That is when some depraved discordant Matter or some malign venenate Miasm is mingled or got into the Blood Nature which is the Life raiseth a preternatural Fermentation and febrile effervescency in the Mass of Blood for a Purification and Separation of this exotic Mixture and admits of no sedation or rest until that work be finished From hence you may be warned of the dangerous common Practice in Fevers by Juleps Barley-Water and other such like Coolers to allay the Heat from a great Mistake of Fevers and from whence that Heat doth assurge For whether the Fever does depend upon a particular inflamed Part or a general Fermentation of the Blood for Purification in both Cases of Fevers such Cooling Medicines are pernicious and have killed thousands For by insisting so much upon them and aiming to suppress the Fever by Coolers not possible to be done that way thus mischievously spending Time the opportunity of Curing is lost and the Disease prevails The Error of those Cooling Medicines is apparent from the insuccess thereof for never was the Thirst of a sick Person satisfied by Juleps but a Draught of good Drink such as the Patient's Stomach affects that is refreshing and relieving Julops are but Cold Comfort or rather no Comfort to a Fevorish sick Man for those Cold Medicines imposed upon the sick are no Coolers in effect and are so far from assisting Nature to do the work she is strugling about that they nauseate and flat the Stomach which should vigorate and inforce the other Faculties they damp and check the Power of Nature contending with the Disease and leave her languishing for Refreshment coveted in her natural common Drink Thus cheating the Patient of that desired assistance by Drink which would be Comfortable And thus much may suffice to shew the Vanity and Insufficiency of Juleps and other Cooling Inventions to allay the Heat of Fevers Having now gone through the Common Practice upon Fevers shewing the Errors and Dangers thereof in their Designs for Curing All which ariseth from their Mistakes in the true Notion of Fevers not knowing what they are and from what Principle they proceed It remains now that I set forth the direct Ways and due Means for effecting their Cures which will appear more plainly and probably Succesful being compared with the common irrational Practice grounded upon false Notions of Fevers wholly mistaken SECT XIII The Author 's Compendious Method and Medicines for Curing Fevers compared with the Common Practice IN the first place I shall set before you the Common Prctaice upon Fevers and take the Account thereof from Riverius a French Author of great Repute much consulted with and followed by most Practisers He having Collected from the best Writers what is most remarkable and thought most useful for Curing so that in his Praxis you have the Methods and chief Matter of all the rest And his Book being furnished with variety of Medicines many that are inquisitive after Physick do peruse and esteem that Book I shall here only take notice and cursorily view the great Magazine of Medicines disposed under the several Divisions of Fevers as properly and necessarily assigned to answer all the Indications of those different Fevers variously denominated and distinguished as Diseases requiring different Methods and various Remedies But how unnecessary improper and injurious most of that trouble and charge of Medicines will appear upon inquiry into the Nature and Vanity of them As
also by comparing with our Design of Curing which is performed with very little In putrid Continual Fevers so called he proceeds thus Bleeding is appointed two or three Times most commonly If good Blood first appears you must continue to take away until the putrid bad Blood comes and then diminish that But if bad corrupt Blood comes forth first you must continue letting out until it appears good All which is so absurd and ridiculous that I shall not spend Time to expose the folly but refer you to what hath been said And if Bleeding be not thought fit then Cupping with Scarification is to supply that Place This is like the rest His Pharmaceutic Remedies are all comprised under these two Heads Evacuating and Alteratives Under the first are comprehended Purges Vomits Sweating Medicines and provokers of Vrine His Purgatives are Cassia Manna Tamarinds Catholic Electuary Lenitive Electuary Electuary Diaprunes Syrup of Roses Syrup of Cichory with Rhubarb c. and these are variously compounded and made into Potions with Still'd Waters or Decoctions Or else given in the form of Bolus by adding some Pouders to them They that know no better do appoint such as these are and the Sick must submit thereto And these I did use in the beginning of my Practice when I was a Prescriber Forty Years ago and guessed at Medicines as others now do that Prescribe to the Shops any thing will serve for a Recipe because you are to have Variety of them and a long Course But I have given sufficient Information elsewhere concerning this Matter that I shall not repeat here Clysters this Author appoints to be given often every Day or every other Day made of Decoction of Emollients and Coolers Barly Prunes Mallows Violet leaves Lettice Endive Housleek c. And dissolve in the Decoction Electuary Catholicum Diaprunum Cassia Oil of Water-Lillies or Violets The Cordials many and various which I shall not recite a Glass of good true Wine better than all that and less to do But to make Sickness chargeable and hazardous to invent much Business for the Shops and occasion the Physician to visit often to know the event thereof many things are devised unnecessary frivolous or injurious And he that does not promote the Trade of Physick after this manner shall be defamed and vilified with the Title of Quack and the Silly People are wheedled into a Belief that he is no better Tho' he be a legal Physician and his knowledge much beyond the Prescribing Practice Now whether such blinded trapt sort of Folk are to be pitied or derided and scorn'd when they Suffer in Sickness I leave it for others to give Judgment in the Case There are also Medicated Broths appointed of Roots and Herbs boiled with Chicken Hen or Capon So that you must neither Eat nor Drink but what is Physick'd In the same Chapter he distinguisheth Fevers into Phlegmatic Choleric and Melancholic and appoints particularly and differently for each And as for Spurious Fevers so termed by him arising from the mixture of various Humors the forenamed Medicines are to be Compounded with regard to the predominant Humor that the greater Quantity be appropriated to the luxuriant prevailing Humor All this is to make the World believe what nice and exact Distinctions are framed and Medicines formed adaptly thereto for Curing Fevers by the best and most certain Rules of Art But how vainly and fallaciously tho' speciously offered all this will appear when I come to set forth what is necessary in Curing all the pretended Sorts of Fevers and with how little it may be performed and not load a weak sick Person with a multitude of trifling ill-designed Medicines under the Pretence of adapting to various kinds of Fevers injuriously so feigned Besides all these internal Medicines and I named but some of them there are various external Applications appointed to allay the heat of putrid Fevers some are applied to the Heart others to the Region of the Liver the Testicles Hands and Feet To the Heart there are both Liquids and Solids to be applied To the other Parts Still'd Waters Juices of Herbs Vnguents and Liniments amply set forth in that Chapter where you may see them if you think they are worth seeing All which unnecessary troublesom and ineffectual Inventions do proceed from want of the true Knowledge of Fevers not discerning what febrile Heat is and from what Principle it does arise After all this much to do upon putrid Fevers with so many internal and external Medicines there remains as much Business with the Symptoms of putrid Fevers and there are yet more variety of Medicines appointed for them But I shall not trouble you nor my self to give the Account of them I always thought and do think so still that true curative radical Medicines against any Disease are the surest Allayers and safest Curers of Symptoms that depend upon that Disease so that no peculiar Provision of Medicines need to be appropriated to Dependants But now all this is said we have not run through a third Part of the Practice upon Fevers nor named a quarter of the Medicines But waving the Practice upon all the other Sorts of Fevers here is enough to let you understand what the Practice of the Learned is and hath been this Author having gathered from the rest and disposed it into his own Method You that like it may make Trial thereof when you are Sick and then tell what it is to your Cost and Hazard This was the Practice of an Eminent Doctor to the Court of France And the Practice in other Courts of Princes is much-what like this The Prescripts from Consultations are no better and some are worse The King of Spain hath been treated no better by his Physicians else he had not lingered so long nor relaps'd so often into his Fevorish Distemper but endeavouring to Cure they know not what it may in Time perchance be done but none can say when probably and rationally from such Doings This Great Prince has great Physicians about him for He made them so But if they were as good as great they would have done better for Him Having shewed you the Common Practice of others upon Fevers now I must give you an Account of my own and then you may compare them There are three principal Evacuations appointed by Nature to send off and free the Body from all superfluous unserviceable Matter the Relicts after Digestion And this useless or offensive Matter goes out by three several and different ways by the Guts downwards by the Vrinary Ductures and by the Pores outwards to the Circumference When there is a Failure or insufficient Performance of these daily Operations by the Debility of Nature or by Food received unfitly in Quantity or Quality or other Impediments that may obstruct or pervert these necessary grand Operations from cleansing and carrying away all excrementitious depraved injurious Matter which ought to be sent forth The remainders lodged here or there infesting