others whose Judgments have been opposed by better experienced Sophisters as by Pythagoras Samius Melissus Zeno and as is more expressed by Aristotle the Prince of Philosophers above the rest concludes upon one World namely this we live in The World saith he is that in which all things are contained and without which there is nothing that is or can be found So by consequence if there were any thing without the World then the World could not contain all things therefore no World but this Question may be more fully determined There is but one World and that perfect as there is but one most perfect Creator the absolute Prince and Governour thereof without this World there is neither Place nor Time Place there is not because there can be no Place without a Body if no Body then no Motion if no Motion all Time is excluded Nam Tempus est mensura Motus For Time is the measure of all Motion I shall conclude with that which was spoken by the mouth of Moses In principio creavit Deus Coelum Terram In the beginning God created Heaven and Earth Manifest it is then that there is but one World for some have strove to maintain the Permanency as that it was without beginning and shall always continue without end The Foundatirn being laid I come now to prove what the Principles of Natural Bodies are whether unalterable or not and also the opinion of some learned Men in these things now I joyn my opinion with that of Hipparehis Heraclitus and Ephesius who give the sole Pre-eminence to Fire as the beginning of all things the Reason thus That Fire condensed or moistned is made Air but a degree more thicker than gross Water and at length made more constrict turned to Earth so bring them retrograde Earth Rarified Converted to Water by Evaporation into Air and being purified transmigrateth into the Nature of Fire and by reason of the perpetual shifting of this one Element the order of the Birth and Breedeing of all things do consist and hence new work to arise Now give me leave to lay down some Opinions of Philosophers concerning the beginning of the World as Thales Milesius counted to be the wisest Man in that Age that lived in Greece held opinion that Water was the beginning and breeding of all things so Aristotle and Plutarch report of him The weak Foundation he builded upon was because he saw and found by experience that there was a Moisture in the seed of all things and as well in the Elements This cannot be for Water is soon drank up by Air neither can that Argument hold good that a Child not Born to turn to Water but Corruption Anaximenes the Auditor of Anaximander reasoned that all things were begot or procreated from Air by those reasons that Air was capable of all Impression Action and Quality and naturally apt to be transchanged from one Form to another a property which the rest of the Elements cannot challenge Some say the Creation proceedeth from two namely Calor Frigus Heat and Cold the Fire which gives the Motion and the Earth which supplyeth it with Form I shall not trouble the Reader any more with Opinions but conclude with these words Compescat se humana temeritas id quod non est non querat ne illud quod est non inveniat Let Mens rashness bridle it self and that which is not let him by no means seek lest that which is he can no ways find Concerning the Elements Aristotle saith That the Beginning of them are Heat Cold Moisture and Drought Likewise that they have a repugnancy among themselves and therefore cannot be lasting Ignis in Aethereas volucer se sustulit Aras Summaque Complexus Stellantis Culmina Coeli The swift Fire lifts it self above the Air And mounts aloft to embrace round the fair And bright Roofs of the Starry Heavens it claims Prime place and girts them with a Wall of Flames Air next with subtile breath it self extends Both through the middle part and spacious Ends Of th' empty World with gentle breathings feeding The Fire next to the Stars The third succeeding Is that moist Element which fills the Ocean Ebbing and flowing with continual Motion The moving Waves a gentle Stem do breed Which so exhal'd from them the Air doth feed The Earth remotest from the former height Sits lowest as supprest with its own weight Drought or Dryness is proper to the Earth which challengeth it to it self Cold is inherent to the Earth but not peculiarly because it hath that Quality common with the Water and as Water challengeth Coldness so it hath humidity common with the Air and as the Air claims Humidity so by a kind of fellowship it draweth a Heat from the Fire and as the Fire doth vindicate Heat as proper to it self so it participateth of Dryness with the Earth which claims that quality to it self Thus it is manifested what is proper to every Element distinctly and what is common among them which they borrow one from another by which they are connext and knit one to another it was necessary that they should be first distinct and separate that each of them might preserve its own nature Needful it was also that they should be connext thence might grow the Composition of Bodies so that one might adhere to another according to their common Qualities The Bodily matter and the matter of the four Elements were created with the Spiritual Creatures that is to say with the Soul and the Angels who were created together which is proved by the testimony of Saint Augustine saying That by Heaven and Earth ought to be understood the Spiritual and Corporeal Creatures created in the beginning of Times From these moveable and changeable Elements all things in the World have their beginning and ending It is likewise observed that God in the Creation of the World began above to work downwards for in the first three days he laid the Foundation of the World and in the other three days he furnished and adorned those parts The first day he made all the Heavens and matter of the Earth and came down as low as the Light The second day he descended lower and made the Firmament or Air The third day lowest and made a distinction betwixt the Earth and Water Thus in three days the three Parts or Body of the World was laid and in three days more and in the same order they were furnished For on the fourth day the Heavens which were made the first day were deckt and stuck with Stars and Lights The fifth day the Firmament which was made the second day was filled with Birds and Fowls The sixth day the Earth was replenished with Beasts and lastly with Men. And thus did the Almighty accomplish and finish the marvelous work of the Creation I shall not enlarge upon Beasts Vegetables nor Minerals here but come to treat on Men which is my intended business only this all Creatures whatsoever Man
opened its self out of the Fiery Mercury and that is out of the inward ground God Created them in his Likeness out of the three Principles and made them Images and breathed into them the Understanding Fiery Mercury viz. according to Time and Eternity so he became a Living and Understanding Soul CHAP. IV. What is the Object of the Digestive Faculty THe four Administring Vertues are Attractive Digestive Retentive and Expulsive But the Digestive Faculty is the principal of them all and the other like Footmen and Handmaids to attend it The Attractive Faculty draws that which it should digest and serves continually to feed and supply it The Retentive Vertue retains the substance with it till it be perfectly digested The Expulsive Faculty casteth out and expelleth what is superfluous by digestion I think no one will deny this that hath but a spark of Reason but that the Object of the Digestive Faculty is nothing else but this viz. an earnest desire and eagerness after those Things of Nature it self or Vital parts of the Bodies after solid Bodies which are digestable or agreeable to its self and so joyn with its Spirit from whence that old saying may be made good What is one Mans Meat is another Mans Poyson To this my good friend William Bacon comes very nigh which is the truest sentence in all his Book In these material matters viz. the digestive Faculty or Vertue wherein lyeth the Ground-work of the Bodies of Mankind for when this Vertue or Digestive Faculty is debillitated both Spirit Vitals and Body decay and also the Fundamental parts on which Physitians whet their wits on viz. in searching out for such Medicines and Spirits as to strengthen and renew the digestive faculty things which will best agree and suit with the Vital Spirits For if a sick Person take never so much nourishment into his Stomach it will not nourish the Body or Spirits but hurt and prejudice the same and turn to Corruption For prevention of which disastre incident to most men I will here lay down a few Regulae Salutares or wholsome Rules of Dyet for advice viz. Mensae ne sint aequales sed Coena semper LeviÌ„or Nuâ—lus sumatur Cibus nisi priore Concocto ad quod octo hâ—raeâ—i imbecilli stomacho requiruntur And withal let them take this Rule by the way with them that Nature may not be over-burdened which is the cause of distempers and twice worse than robbing it of its accustomed duties Semel in septimana una mensa omittatur Cum scilicet natura minus videbitur indigere There is besides Dyet another Preservative for Nature against Distempers that may oppose it that is by using a Rule in sleep viz. Somnus octo horas non Excedat nec septem sit brevior Somnus diurnus omnino fugiatur The Exposition or Construction of these few Sentences are so plain that they expose them in English to the open view of their Curteous Readers CHAP. V. Whether there may be an Vniversal Medicine or not MR. Bacon declares thus According to my Hypothesis I conceive there may be for if there be but one formal Cause of Diseases and also to prove it so because in Womens Causes for he tells us that the same Medicine which preventeth Miscrrriages the same to turn the Child in the Mothers Womb and to bring it away and truly says he I have a Medecine of mine own may well be called Panaceas and besides it may well deserve the Name of Polyaceas I must Answer Mr. Bacon plainly that he doth not understand the Bodies of men or Physick I cannot compare him to any thing but that great Mahomet who deluded the People by a Pigeon which he brought up and trained to take Pease out of his Ear and so made the People believe that it was an Angel from Heaven which informed him of all Transactions and by that means he was worshipped as a God Now 't is convenient to give some Reasons to convince the World that there is no such Medicine as a Panaceas or Universal Medicine for almost all Diseases First some slender Arguments viz. Are all Mens Children of one Substance and Constitution or can one Pair of Shooes serve one Pair of Feet And also of all the multitude of People in the World are not each of them discernable one from another sometimes you may see two will resemble one the other at first sight but bring them together and discern them both with a strict Eye and you shall soon perceive a great alteration But some may say that there may be an Universal Medicine in case of an Universal Distemper as Pestilence Small-pox Feavers c. which generally happens in Cities Towns and Countries No there cannot be any Universal Medicinal Rules for one particular Person For it is well and often observed in the time of the Plague some are taken with a Giddiness in the Head some a Pain in the Side some no Pain at all before they fall down dead some Persons have the Sore break out in one place some in another And so in all other general Dâ—seases which will be tedious here to nominate which may tend all to one Distemper The Reasons why it is so I will give you else-where Also it is well known that the four Complexions do not agree one with the other for what is good to Cure the Sanguine is prejudicial to the Melancholy Experience tells me that a small Portion will purge the Sanguine Man but a double Portion will hardly purge the Melancholy man because his Nerves are very close I am certain and do very well know that many lose their Lives by the Delusions of such new Fellows and Pretenders to an Universal Medicine Some have a good Receipt for the Pox Some have a good Receipt for a Feaver Some have a good Receipt for the Scurvey Some will say they had it from a very learned Person and that they keep it not as it is as a rare Jewel I will not deny but that it may be good to its kind but it may want a true Application I have Experience that many dye with the Running of the Reins and Pox because they put their Lives into the Hands of such Men that do not understand the nature of their Bodies for it is well known by Woful Experience that these Distempers break out several ways according to the Nature and Constitution of the Bodies of men and Women For in some it remains in the Secret Places in some Persons in the Head and in other some in the Legs and Shin-Bones This one Argument should be enough to Convince the Ignorant viz. that several Natures being mixt together should make so great a War and Disturbance in the bodies of Men and Women Some Seed is very hot and some very cold and by consequence your own Reason will tell you that what is good for one Body is sometimes prejudicial to another There may be an Universal and Nutrimental assistance
to the Sick viz. good Cordials and the Quintessence of good things and these the Vitals and Digestive Faculty eagerly suck in and revive and nourish more than ordinary as in Cold Fire is an Universal help and assistance But this cannot be taken in a Physical sense God by his Providence hath sufficiently furnished us with Natural Things both for Nourishment and Physical Uses known to all but still they want the true application thereof and if it were not so Men would be very unwise to bestow so many Pounds in educating their Sons and bringing them up to understand Things of this Nature or the Little World I am here obliged to give you some Account why it is so difficult to know the Humour abounding and perpetual motion of Mans Body I have shewn already how the Bodies of Mankind are nourished and guided in the first Chapter and therefore shall not rehearse here again but begin thus The Natural Faculty and Vertue reside in the Liver to nourish the Body and is dispersed through the Body by the Veins From this are bred four particular Humours viz. Blood Choler Phlegm and Melancholy Blood is made of Meat perfectly Concocted it is by a third Concoction transmitted into Flesh the superfluity of it into Seed its Receptacle is the Veins by which it is dispersed through the Body Choler is made of Meat more thin perfectly Concocted it is the spume or froth of Blood Cleanseth all the Humours heats the Body and nourisheth the Apprehension as the Blood doth the Judgment it fortifies the Attractive Faculty as Blood doth the Digestive and moveth Man to Activity and Valour its Receptacle is the Gall. Phlegm is made of Meat not perfectly Digested it so fortifies the Vertue Expulsive as makes it slippery and fit for Ejection it fortifies the Brain by its conâ—similitude with it yet it spoils apprehension by its Antipathy the Heart thereby sustaining it and the whole Body from the Fiery Effects with continual motion its Receptacle is the Lungs Melancholy is the Sedement of Blood fortifying the Retentive Faculty and memory and makes them sober and stedfast for study stays the unbridled toys and fooleries of Lustful Thoughts and reduces them home to the Centre it is like a Grave Counsellor to the whole Body its resident place is the Spleen Blood is the chief of all these four humors yet without the other three viz. Choler Phlegm and Melancholy man connot subsist These four Humours are the four Elements which mans Body is guided by which I treated on in the First Part of this Book Reader view over the Nature and Consistence of these four Humours or Elements and let your Reason be your Guide whether one sort of Medicine will serve to Conquer these four Elements No not if the World and the whole Frame thereof could stand or subsist with two only as you see 't is impossible to be by the First Part of this Book The advice and counsel we ought to have of a Physitian is this viz. Physick the sick person ought to take Or what dyet c. Or what Vein to open Or what humour to purge and how much and what dose whether in Pills or Potion or the like Now there is no Physitian or Pretender hereunto unless he is well skilled in the perpetual motion of these four Elements for without this Art the Physitian can never safely judge viz. when to purge or Evacuate either by Potion or by Vomit or by Letting of Blood or for what Humour or by what Quantity in all which Cases Astrology prescribes Rules and without these no one can attain to the Art of Physick otherways they are but like Blind Men that grope out their way with a Staff I have shewn already in the First Part of this Book that the Principles of the Elements and Natural Bodies proceed from Fire but the main Principles and Beginning and Ending of the Life of mankind is taken from the Horoscope to be the First motion of Time I will open by Example all or most Authentique Writers yea Picus himself attributing the Ebbing and Flowing of the Sea to the Moon as a true and positive Cause according to Gallen's Precepts Lib. 1. Chapt. 2. de Locis affectis and his practice of the Pyoney Root in Curing the Epilepsie Lib. 6. de simplicibus Medecis Quo tangente afficimur quo seperato Cessat affectus Causam esse apud omnes in Confesso est sic enim ignem ustulationis gladium sectionis Causam esse Credimus We see by Experience that the Moon placed in the Heavens at such a Position the Sea Flows and at such a Position it Ebbs after this way may be taken the first beginning of life and motion of mankind viz. from the Horoscope and fixed stars and from the seven Planets viz. Saturn Jupiter Mars Sol Venus Mercury Luna at the minute of time the Child is born and according to their motion to the Square and Opposition Aspect one with the other or from the opposite places from whence they were at first And according to these Perpetual motions of the heavens as you see so are the four Elements and humours of mans Body changed saith Hippocrates and Galen But because these Rules do not lie in my way here I refer the Reader to Mr. John Gadbury's Book of Nativities Mr. John Partridge his Works or such like Ingenious Persons CHAP. VII A short Accompt of the Fixt Hermorphrodite I shall not Enlarge upon it but give a Word or two of the meaning of what it is A fixt Hermorphrodite is only that which consists of two parts viz. fixed and Voluntary Body united together The Antients tell us that it is these two parts pure and united together It will be too large here to lay down the full discourse thereof because I intend to satisfie the World in a short time in full of this Hermorphrodite and also of a seeming Potential Fire which Mr. Bacon speaks of Here Mr. Bacon is pleased to tell us that he can produce a fixt Hermorphrodite which I leave to your discretion to judge of at present but in my opinion 't is a meet fancy or as they say to build Castles in the Air. CHAP. VIII A Word or two in defence of Chymical Medicines THe Word Chymical arises from Spâ—gyria which is but Distillation of which there are three Principals and Cheif Distinctions and Discriptions First It is a certain Art of Extracting the Liquor of the Humid part of Things by vertue of Heat as the Matter shall require being first dissolved into a vapour and then condensed again by Cold. Secondly Distillation is the Art of Extracting the Spiritual and Essential Humidity from the Phlegmatick or of the Phlegmatick from the Spiritual Thirdly Distillation is the changing of gross thick Bodies into a thinner and more liquid Substance or Seperation of the pure Liquor from the Impure Feces So by this Means you may see what great power and dignity God hath