Nature being so many Centuries after Adam the yeares of Noah necessarily must have bin shorter by many score then were his Grandsires yeares had he not tasted Nectar from that plant from which Adam was excluded I meane an inferiour species of that tree of life For had it beene equall in power whereas he lived after his plantation Three hundred and fifty yeares a good cordiall to an old man hee had beene now alive and so should have beene for ever Moreover in Six hundred yeares hee could not but conclude and determine most naturall questions by experience and thereby sufficiently taught out of universals how to draw his particular conclusions or otherwise by resolving them into their naturall principles make a sensible discovery of Natures secrets And out of this fulnesse of knowledge and experience doth he plant his Vineyard So that by inference the excellency of this subject doth appeare transcendent Now let us really consider the nature and quality of it with its difference and use both in respect of aliment and medicament and application to every individuall of what age or temper soever And to the end we may act asmuch as wee speake Let us looke upon the quality of Wine philosophically and at the first view wee shall discover a two-fold heate in it as it flowes from a living body viz. an animall and elementary heate for though wine cannot be said to be animatum such as giveth a soule or life yet it may carry with it and to it selfe an impresse central orimplanted heate from a soule as may bee demonstrated plainly in other things for the seed of animals aswell as of plants have not a soule in act according to the doctrine of Aristotle Yet it doth take from a soule such a generative power like unto the soule which Aristotle saith is nothing else but a vitall heate which hee hath distinguished from igneous and elementary So as in the generation of a living creature the first moving is animal or the plant from which the seed issueth but the seed is the instrument which by a power received from the plant that is to say by a vitall heate begetteth another being like it selfe Since therefore there is in semine a vitall heate distinct from elementary why may we not say the same of wine which in like manner issueth from an animate body Then wine hath a double heat or one conflate or moved out of two and that which is great and intense doth not consist of an indivisible but in some certaine latitude and it is now greater or lesse according to the variety of Species as also from the diversity of places for in more hot places where the Sunne effects a stronger heate there grow hotter Wines and this heate in them is not externall but rather naturall and implanted in the wine For from the heate of the place it commeth to passe that the vitall and elementary heate which constituteth the naturall heate of the wine doth become greater and more intense So as wee cannot deny in wine that double moisture and Galen is of the same opinion when as hee distinguisheth the substance vinosa from the substance aquosa for vinosa qualitas hath that humidity which doth unite the parts and the watrish substance only that which is contracted from aliment For so long as the Grape was conjoyned to the Vine there did flow thereunto a watrish humour by which it was nourished and after the Grape is separated from the Vine still doth retayne that waterish humour which as yet was not converted nor assimulated into the substance of wine neither can have any further conversion because the wine is now no more animatum or able to produce it into act But this is that humidity in wine which is spent and wasted in boyling or otherwise and the other heate remaineth only which is innate and fixed to the substance of wine and hence it is that the boyling of wine makes it more sweet the other humidity being thus spent it returnes to its true naturall moisture And this I hope will be a sufficient satisfaction for the nature of wine in generall from whence its familiarity with humane nature will appeare Now we proceed to the specificall difference of wine and wine and these differences consist chiefly in name for although some differ among us in name yet there is no specificall difference but if you take them naturally there is in such a specificall difference which addeth to the name as colour tastes and smell The nature of them all corroborative nutritive mundificative apperitive and these are not only testified by the ancient learned Phisitians but also proved out of their owne existence or prime animation which hereafter shall bee demonstrated To returne therefore to the difference in name or names they are so various and endlesse as that will relish more of curiosity then utility to render many of them being more phantastically imposed out of the exuberate singularity in Merchants of all nations But so many as Philosophers Phisitians or Poets have taken notice of I shall briefly set downe and so passe to the colours In the first place let us take notice of the generall name Vinum and so called à vi from the strength of it as Varro would have it but I rather render it vinum quasi divinum and so a species of the tree of life in Paradise The Ancients they had many sorts of wine differing in name as Fortinum newly exprest from the grape Protopum such as fell from the Vine before the grapes were trodden others which take their names from the regions in which they grow as Chium Lesbium Falernum Caecubum Surrentinum Calenum Signinum Tarraconense Spoletinum Ceretanum Fundanum Malvaticum amongst the French many others as vinum Belonense Divionense Monlispedonense Remense Burdegalense Aurelianense Andegavense and these agree better with sound bodies in preserving their temper then with infirme constitutions There are weake wines in France which agree better with feaverish dispositions then with cold phlegmatick tempers as Parisiense Limonicense Forense Allobrogense with many other But now you know their names and partly to what temper they are proper let us take a taste and principally strike these foure vessels viz. sweet acute austere and milde observing also foure colours in them viz. white sanguineous yellow and blacke the first three commonly used and knowne to us by the names of White Claret and Sack and these also admit of their differences for there are severall sorts of Sack and Claret so also are there of white wines some sweet some austere some thick others lympid and cleere and all these nourish much but especially the sweet wine with this caution that the liver spleene and reines bee void of obstruction For the sweetest Wines though they nourish most yet because they obtaine a body generally more crasse therefore they are said to obstruct very much Now having Philosophically shewed their nature and difference specifically it remaines that I
dry The fift age is virile or manly and the constant media betweene flourishing young age and old age Yet doth it not so participate of either as that it is intemperate or infected thereby it beginneth at Thirty five and is extended-to Fourty nine The sixt and last is Old age which with the exhaustion of naturall heate becommeth cold and dry in temper but excrementitiously moist by reason of languishing heate This last age also as the first doth admit of division into these three parts The first is fresh old age beginning at Fifty and extendeth to Sixtie and all this time may doe the Republique good service and execute offices as other men The second age is a media or middle old age beginning at Sixtie and extending to Seventie and in this Classis by reason of naturall imbecillity they cannot deserve of the Common-wealth The last is decrepid age and this concludeth our life and being in this life it beginneth at Seventie and is extended ordinarily to Eightie And further according to the purity of naturall Principles These are the periods and differences exactly of mans age The first ingresse hot and moist the last egresse cold and dry the middle temperate sight and touch being sensible witnesses of this truth Holy Iob testifieth with mee that man springeth up like a flower and continueth not long in one state Thus having circled out mans life à puncto ad punctum it will appeare very probable that mans life may by art be preserved free from any disease arising out of the mixture of naturall principles from the infant age to decrepid old age except the Principles be cast impure from whence proceedeth weaker tempers and many distempers which wee call hereditary diseases And these also by art and the artificial use and application of Wine may be much altered and life beyond all expectation prolonged For the nature of Wine is so agreeable and familiar with the naturall principles of man as if by the Phisitian it be directly applyed it shall so strengthen the weakest temper as shall make it subsist against a forcible distemper conveyed in materia spermatica The best opportunity of performing or acting this duty is ab incunabulis to take the child from the mothers brest and from temper to temper to proceed otherwise the temper universally may be spoyled before or so injured by unskilfull application of medicaments as may cause to faile in the understanding Yet much time may be gained in any such case and that which is counted the shame of Phisitians and puts them so often to their wits ends viz. a Consumption hereditary or accidentall and universall of the whole body is no way to be cured better than by the right use of this plant All Phisitians in this case have hitherto flone to milke of Asses and the like But what is milke comparatively with this juyce which indeed is fit for Princes to receive and Phisitians duly to study upon that they may learnedly and rightly apply it For as Kings are the life and soule of the Republique and State so for this cause great care and judgement ought to be urged for their safety and the extension of their lives to extreame age healthfully which in many hath beene shortened by Outlandish devices and kickchawes But if the learnedest Phisitians shall throughly contemplate this subject they shall soone see where the extension of Kings lives is involved Experto crede Roberto I speake not phantastically or from any palate-pleasure For my owne sickly temper durst not within these few yeares so much as taste Wine til time and study enabled my judgement better and now I take it daily and by the concurring benediction of the Almighty and not thinne and extenuate as formerly I have beene but sound and strong as any of my yeares that hath had so many violent sicknesses I could also speake of strange effects I have wrought in others but lest I should be challenged for ostentation I will forbeare it being also a thing somewhat unjust to publish persons and their imperfections to the world which were privately committed to my care Nor is testimony in this case needfull since I have proved the probability of effecting these or such like by reason and argued the nature and mixture of this subject philosophically and upon this ground I defire rather to bee credited then upon any other And so I will returne from my digression and take up my subject againe and see if I can fit it now to all ages The Infant age is the first and most difficult as some thinke to reconcile because Galen saith vinum Infantibus sit nocivum by reason of their temper which is hot and moist And so they understand Galen to speake of the qualitie but hee was not so weake a Philosopher or Logician as not to understand that mixt bodies are maintained preserved and nourished by their Simile Nor did hee ever argue against ijs nutrimur quibus constamus which is to bee understood of mixt qualities rightly applyed that such are most apt and disposed in their owne nature to assimilate with their like as is this mixture in Wine to our materiall Principles of nature So that Galen cannot bee understood to speake of the quality but rather the quantitie exceeding just proportion with the manner of application as if by the excessive quantity you will adde so much oyle to the Lampe as shall extinguish it or at such times when it shall disturbe it by moving of some other heterogeneall with time of it selfe with the helpe or secret and insensible motion of Nature will consume But had the mixture in it selfe beene hurtfull there would appeare but little reason in Hippocrates which dyeteth children which are hereditarily subject to the stone either of the bladder or reines with white Wine rather then with milke Now hee was not ignorant of diseases hereditarie that they are conveyed to the children in the Principles of Nature and that Wine in it selfe was most agreeable to maintaine their constitutions without any alteration of it to move affectedly my selfe also have advised it and not only in the same case but also in Consumptions and many other affects with singular successe And in truth if Wine hurt any temper the discretion of the Agent is to bee questioned not well observing or knowing the true specificall differences each way By these expressions I hope those that understand beleeve also that the first is set at libertie to make use of Wine now I must present a health to the next which wee called Pubertie this temper is more hot and lesse moist then the former So that by way of contemperation of the heate and humectation of the moist the same Wine is still usefull and most proper But when and how long and how much and how fitted is only knowne to the Phisitian and hee guided by his judications Adolescency which is the media or of a middle temper neither hot nor cold may not feare
swarving from true naturall Philosophy by this right it doth appeare possible to maintaine the Unitie of heate and moisture till they spend themselves in their owne naturall motion and is to cut off their being by unskilfull courses either in dyet or medicine And if a Simile will bee acceptable I suppose Hippocrates to bee very happy in his when hee compareth the life of man to a candle in a Lanthorne or set up in some other place where neither wind or raine or other tempest can seize upon it In such a place the candle will bee longer burning out then when it is exposed to common injuries of winde and weather by which it is either suddenly blowne out before the oyle or tallow bee spent or else blazeth out in a shorter time And these injuries are to the bodyes of men plagues wounds and all manner of diseases compelling nature violently to yeeld its naturall being which otherwise might and would be further extended I confesse according to the truth of that Contra vim mortis non est medicamen in hortis That naturall death cannot bee avoyded because the heart cannot bee made moister when as by age it is exiccated Yet I doe not thinke it wise or religious in a negligent way to betray our lives to death before the time as some doe in a phantasticall way others in a desperate but all like fooles goe to the slaughter alike when as they runne upon such dangers inconsulto medico vel amico By this time I hope the fatality of mans life will not bee questioned much nor the possibility of extending it to extreame old age and by no meanes so familiar and safe as Wine Now if I should proceed further to every circumstance conducible to the practicall part it would bee a worke of long time which I cannot well spare and of exact judgement wherein I could bee content to receive directions from others more able and learned then my selfe That which I have done is rationally to satisfie the world in the thing it selfe which hath beene in allages questioned both in respect of mans life that it is not to be extended As also in respect of Wines that they are not so proper to extend it Now if you looke backe upon the Principles of mans life and the Principles of wine none will I hope condemne my Philosophy though some may differ in opinion and many such there will be which in such infinitie aswell of judgements as of faces cannot bee helped nor avoyded Therefore it is not in me to satisfie every fancy nor doe I desire to bee understood of the Vulgar But rather that wisdome should bee justified of her Children and to such are these my indeavours offered a sacrifice after the manner of those devout Children in Plutarch which by reason of sudden inundation of waters were disappointed of their yearely oblation which they used to offer up to Iupiter yet rather then they would bee wanting therein they religiously concluded in stead of a Ram to offer a Limon which Iupiter accepted in that case of necessitie So my selfe having lately waded thorow Fountaines Moores standing Pooles Rivers Wells and the Sea it is impossible my braine should bee free of Inundation and consequently my Wine pure without mixture of water and much weaknesse Yet if my devotion may bee well pleasing to Iupiter let it be blessed to the world And whereas I have like Hercules his dogge but only besmeared my lippes with this Crimson juyce other Herculian braines may vent it in a plentifull manner by which every sense shall bee refreshed every capacity filled and every understanding truly delighted FINIS PVlchrum tuum vir clarissime ac doctum de vine tractatum non oscitanter perlegi ac tibi remitto Ab isto subjecto Noacho agnomen obtigissê existimo Quum isto fuerit gentilium Ianus bifrons nullus dubito Nota illi fuere quae ante diluvium gesta quae aliquot annorum centurijs post illud accidêre Ille à liberaliore vini potu pudenda detexit tu ab ingenio vini arcana in publicum bonum revelas Si quis sitqui ex assidua Authorum lectione qui tibi viam praeruêre existimet se quae ad hanc materiam pertinent abundè percepisse nae ego illum existimo latè falli Inveniet in tuo opusculo non pauca hactâ—nus non observata quibus instructus possit quae in rem suam sunt pervidere aliorum sanitati consulere Quamobrem fraâ—â—o â—â—â—lign◠〈◊〉 voris dente perge 〈◊〉 iui gloriam aternitati consecrare Scribebam Londini 7 Calend. Mart. anni abexhibito incarne Messiâ supra millesimum sexcentesimum trigesimi sexti Tui si quis alius studiosus Alexander Reidus Imprimatur Tho. Wykes R.P. Episc Lond. Cap. domest
THE TREE OF HVMANE LIFE OR THE BLOVD OF THE GRAPE PROVING THE POSsibilitie of maintaining humane life from infancy to extreame old age without any sicknesse by the use of Wine By TOBIAS WHITAKER Doctor in Physick of London LONDON Printed by I.D. for H.O. and are to be sold at his shop in Popes-head Ally 1638. To the Reader Gentle Reader IF I would have made any particular Dedication I could stoope no lower then a Prince the subject meriteth asmuch had it beene handled accordingly and if it had yet I durst not flye so high though Riolanus taketh boldnesse to tell Henry the fourth of France that the faculty deserveth the patronage of a Prince both in respect of antiquity necessity subject and office For Antiquitie a twinne with the Divine for so soone as the soule was breathed into man it was then Corpus humanum vivens sanabile and so the subject both of Phisicke and Theologie for had Adam never sinned yet must his body have been preserved and maintained by diet which is part of physick But after his fall so violated his equall temper that as then hee became subject to mortalitie and naturall decay Then came in the necessity of medicine and ever since for this necessitie sake hath the Almighty commanded an honour to bee given to the Phisician for he hath created him an Angell of mercy Also in respect of the subject about which this art is exercised it rightly challengeth precedence of all other faculties except Theologie for it is the body of man a world a wonder the image of God himselfe and such a piece of architecture as the Almightie would not vouchsafe to frame without a Councell The office then of preserving and maintaining it must needs bee high and eminent and may well befit a King to exercise Such esteeme it had obtained when Avicenna Isaac and other Princes were Phisicians nay the faculty hath crowned some to this day with title of Prince witnesse the house de Medicis And if I should say it comprehends all other faculties I dare attempt the proving of it First in respect of government as Agents they ought to be obeyed in practice even by Princes for they are subject to sicknesse and must die like men and Iudges which have power to condemne poore malefactors or others yet they must receive their sentence of death from the Phisician if they come to a faire and timely end And as they make lawes for the well ordering and governing the Republique So doth the Physician prescribe rules for the preservation of harmony throughout this little world but ab quantum mutatus ab illo 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 was his Motto in Homer Now if Stercus and Vrina can bee pickt out of the vanities of Cornelius Agrippa it shal be thrown upon the purple robes of the Physician by the ignorant or impudent For Science hath no enemy but ignorance nor is vilified among any except pigritious and impudent persons Then let the ignorant prattle still the Physitian shall be the instrument of all common good in a Republique and if no valetudinarie man of any condition bee able to effect any solid good either to his King Countrie or selfe as he is not and the power of restoring and healing him bee given principally to the Phisician And if also upon that prolongation of life if upon but one houre or moment eternity doth or may depend then consequently the Physician must bee acknowledged an instrument of salvation principally to the body accidentally to the soule What if I shall seeme in the eyes of others to advance my faculty higher then their judgements wil imbrace yet can I not justly deserve a frowne where a probable truth is manifest nor is my intention hereby to undervalue any person or judgement nor overvalue my owne whatsoever Cicero shall affirme to the contrary in these words Nemingem unquam neque Poetam neque Oratorem fuisse qui quenquam meliorem quà m se arbitraretur but rather to vindicate my faculty of those contempts and disparagements which various dispositions cast upon it What I have written concerning the subsequent subject begs neither acceptation nor encomiastick favour nor doe I quit my selfe of temerity Suffenus will be a companion for the best learned and some wantonnesse will escape the tongue and pen of the wisest man in this or that thing Therefore I doe feare no frowne except from my naturall Prince and those whom he hath commanded me to feare and obey and thus as a loyall subject I doe In testimony wherof I have indeavoured to open this mysterie of life and health to my King and Countrey If I have frustrated any expectation in the handling of it let my velle be accepted in magnis est voluisse satis THE TREE OF LIFE OR THE BLOVD OF THE GRAPE THis subject is bloud in that is life 't is of the Vine and that the plant of life And if I should say a Species of that in Paradise my opinion might not in all places and amongst all persons bee rejected magis and minùs may be the difference for as that was called the Tree of life so is the Vine and they doe not only agree in the appellation but in their nature and effects also In testimonie hereof Aselepiades the Phisitian both to my former distinction as also to the appellation affirmeth The nature of Wine to be neerest to the nature of the Gods and their nature is incorrupt Secondly he adviseth the application of it to unsound bodies to reduce them to a sound and incorrupt temper and in some sence to eternitie for such a state there is in this world as will be more plainly demonstrated in our following discourse How necessary then is this subject and how difficult to explicate Necessary because life is short difficult because art is long yet if by this Act I shall bee an instrument to protract life and abreviate art not only shew the plant but teach the use it may prove worth my labour and Countries acceptation How ever reason and Philosophie shall be my guide neither Hippocrates nor Galen nor any other authority further then they are my owne and agree with reason and truth As for the abbreviation of art preservation of life and restauration of health wee will comprehend in a small circle and render in a few words the summe of all Classick Writers to this purpose especially the Foureteene bookes of Galen his method of curing and Six of health preserving and in these few words exprest viz. Dyet and Medicine for thus chiefly and substantially and by these two wayes are life and health extended and restored quantity quality and manner of application in them observed Quantity as it is vsque ad vasa ad vires Quality as it corresponds with humane bodies in generall or with this and that individuall Lessius seemeth to mee to dote more upon quantity ad vasa then any other thing conducing to the preservation of life and
either White Claret or Rhenish in their order observing the seasons with the inclination of celestiall orbes and the measure Iuventus being more hot and dry must also apply himselfe to these forenamed Wines somewhat more dilute which is easily effected by water Virile age holds out a cup of more rich Claret from 35 to 49. and goeth out with a draught of the smallest Sacke Which Senectus makes stronger by addition of Aligants and the richest Sacks and Muscadine and continueth them unto the last period of life Thus have I now applied it generally to every age and briefly cleered my proposition As for the Sex male or female betweene these I shall make no difference of temper Nor doe I give eare to some that make foule stirre de Lana Caprina or to prove divers temperaments of Sexes and that the procreation of women is more in the left then in the right side Ergo they must bee more cold and more weake But whatsoever they fancy this is only to bee observed without any further dispute That temperaments are not conflate out of heate more obtuse or vehement but depend on the perfusion and consent of the foure Elements Therefore having distinctly discoursed of temperaments I have also included Sexes As for the manner of using this subject Thus it is as followeth Hitherto I have taught the nature and use of Wine both Philosophically and medically and how familiar a nutriment it is to man and still say it must bee so both in respect of its substance and forme else I understand not Aristotle his alimentum simile and dissimile For although all aliment of what substance soever must receive forme of heate before it bee converted into bloud by which it doth nourish both fluent and fixt heate in us Yet such nor so apt is any substance for forme to sanguifie or nourish as Wine and if it be possible it will augment innate heate and moisture For 't is oyle not water that augments the flame a proportion observed else it puts it out so that it is the true Nectar by the use whereof Principles of life are augmented naturall humours multiplied spirits refreshed strength restored care expelled and bodies in youthfulnesse conserved To conclude 't is all in all to a naturall body For although in generall aliment is said to bee liquid airie and solid yet 't is humidity that nourisheth For medicament also I have proved it proper The Arabian Phisicians are of opinion that to take this liquor once every moneth in such a quantitie as shall be approved by the learned Phisicians is wholsome Phisicke it doth much recreate the Animal faculties reconcile sleep provoke urine and sweat dissolve superfluities and they affirme it to cure the Quartane with other diseases circumstances conducing to the profitable use of it after this manner which circumstances I obscure because I am desirous to entertaine time with substance only Custome is to be mentioned as somewhat substantiall for it over-ruleth the rest and the time generally most fit to receive Wine is with meate and then such Wine as best fitteth the temper of the Individuall But those that meane to use this subject rightly must not be without their Phisitian or out of their view for let their temper or distemper bee what it will so it be not some fatall stroke or wound by the wisdome of the Phisitian and his skill they may sinsibly perceive the prolongation of their life and by this meanes which is so pleasant to universall Nature The Chymist his best Rhetorick is exercised about the pleasantnesse of his extract smalnesse of quantitie But here I present a taste for pleasure beyond all mineralls forsafetie 't is incomparable either with them or Vegetals Excesse in this may be more easily repaired nor is the offence in nature of so great moment Now because there will be some difficultie in getting true naturall Wine without sophistication therefore I should thinke it fit were it so pleasing to Authority whereunto I humbly submit that as it hath beene heretofore with us and is still in other Countryes Apothecaries might have libertie to sell it and so by the direction of the Phisitian to make many medicate Wines fitted and in readinesse upon all occasions But that I may draw to a conclusion I will briefly lay downe or rather take up two maine objections one moved by Galen the other from the sacred Scripture apprehended erroniously both indeed at the first view or blast will seeme to shake both my foundation and edifice also Galen after all his ratiocination is raised out of his Urne and presents to me in his Commentary upon the Aphorismes these words Wine debilitateth as Venus and Frambesarius makes bold with his doctrine and delivereth it for a truth and in these words Vinum Venusque nocent eodem modo The objection I confesse is instar omnium and very materiall whether hee be taken to speake of the use or excesse of Wine In the first sence it doth oppose all that I have formerly taught and proved in the last a fit opposition to Avicenna Rhasis and Averrohes they advising wine once a moneth usque ad obrietatem Now if Galen bee not understood to speake of excesse then as I have said before neither Wine nor Venery can hurt debilitate and weaken the body for both rightly used are profitable the one to preserve the individual the other to propagate the species and venus as well as vinum both exhilarate the minde cheare the spirits refrigerate the body and cause sleepe So that at the first view Galen doth seeme to speake of excesse only or principally But that I may reconcile him with the Arabian Phisitians my part is now to explicate and render him in his owne proper sence and meaning This exception is not so much or principally against the quantity as the qualitie and misapplication both in respect of time and temper As when the quality of wine exceedeth in strength the temper of the body to which it is given and at a time unseasonable as upon a fasting stomacke and then to exercise the act of Venery intemperatly upon it and in this sence is Galen to bee conceived chiefly But I apprehend Plato and Ambrosius in another sence meerely distasting the nimium ebriety and intoxication in a voluptuous way and to speake truth after such manner abused 't is poyson both to mind and body inflameth the bloud debilitateth the nerves vexeth the head and to bee short is worse then any poyson For this cause Moses not only calleth it Venenum but the poyson of Dragons which admitteth of no cure Therefore Wine in this manner taken and according to this sence is more detestable for the strongest poyson of Animalls or minerals can but vulnerate the flesh but wine is powerfull to wound the soule Yet such is my candid censure of those Arabian Princes in Medicine that they never used it after this manner themselves or advised it in a voluptuous way to others
I meane to ebriety but as a medicament rightly and properly judicated Thus they made use of wine rather then any other medicament because of its familiarity with the Principles of humane Nature Well knowing that ebriety as it is simply into xication may be effected by other medicaments aswell as wine and if not wine then wee are inforced to use the other for soporificks and the like So that by this time I hope the doubt is cleere the ancient Phisitians reconciled and my selfe moving towards the next objection grounded upon Scripture There are a sect in the world and in this Region that stiffely defend the fatality of mans life and that no man can bee preserved prolonged or restored That diseases of every kind are or else to bee inflicted by an inexpugnable necessity determined of God and immutably fixed And these Ignaroes have base and meane thoughts of those which defend the contrary supposing it to bee a superfluous curiosity to avoid contagion to seeke remedies for diseases or to arme themselves against their enemies because God foreseeth death of this kind or the like And the Almighty foreseeing death of this nature and at this time and to this or that individuall Ergo it is not to bee avoided though the Lord shall say every mans perdition is of himselfe Dangerous and impious must this opinion needs bee for if it be granted what needs the Church or any private person put up any prayer to the Almighty for the restauration of life and health and preservation out of danger and to what end or purpose was the gift of healing dispenced to the Phisician if death and dissolution of every kind bee predestinated so as by no meanes it can bee shunned or prevented Nay to what end should wee pray for our daily bread or health c That we may therfore expurge this pernicious and intolerable mistake concerning the divine providence of God some things about his celestiall administration of universalls are more highly to bee taken into consideration and repeated by which the dignity and eximious utilitie of medicine may bee fully shewed That therfore the vicissitudes of humane actions and things happen not by chance or fortune but by the ordination of the Almighty ought to bee embraced by all Christian pious people and that God is the omnipotent and eternall builder of the Universe and framed it of nothing as is proved by divine testimonie This building being thus powerfully framed is also by the same efficacie conserved who hath also constituted to every particular created thing by its selfe a beginning and an end of subsisting and moving and doth take notice not only of principall but also of subsequent causes of things as if the Lord did governe moderate dispose and order them according to his free will and yet all this government is void of fatall violence and most commonly commeth to passe mediatly and by deputed causes which the vulgar call second causes which the divine Majestie doth use as the instruments of his will while hee doth so manage all things which he hath created as also himselfe may suffer them to exercise their proper motions for the will of man by divine ordination is the beginning of humane actions freely choosing what seemeth best to its selfe especially in externalls And according to Aristotle the nature of motion is the cause of this or that thing in which it is primarily per se As for example in the Sunne perpetuall rotation in weights of their inclination to Center Yea the causes so answer the effects as if the effects bee necessarie the causes are also necessary and of contingents the causes are also contingents nor doth the presence of God which is certaine and cannot bee deceived take away the contingency of naturall events But the future effect is disposed as it were by a divine providence necessarily or contingently Nor is it so that the Creatour is bound to the necessitie but moderateth all things freely according to his free-will and pleasure As did plainely appeare when hee caused the Sunne to stand still a whole day And when hee caused the Sea to divide it selfe and stand like firme walls about the Israelites As also in the case of Daniel The three children in the fiery furnace And Duffus Milcolumbus King of Scots who being cruelly murthered Anno Dom. 961. neither Sunne or Moone was seene for the space of sixe moneths after And although hee can thus dispose of causes and life and death absolutely at his own pleasure yet it behoveth us rightly to take that constitution of tearme of life not absolutely for a fatall determination but for a divine ordination of servient causes by their naturall power of sustaining or corrupting life For since life as the Philosopher speaketh is nothing but a duration of heate conjunct with moisture and duration of vitall heate and extinction of the same are naturall effects depending in like manner upon naturall causes which without doubt for the various internall disposition of naturall heate and moisture as also externall causes not only the quality but also the quantity of life it selfe may bee varied For it doth attaine the internall condition of lively Principles so long as the heate and moisture are so united in Animals as one is not destroyed by the other and so long they live but either of these separated each from other perish And in whomsoever innate is more vegetious and strong and radicall moisture more pure in substance copious in quantitie and also temperate in them life is more long Thence it commeth to passe that our ancient Fathers by reason of puritie in the internall causes of life have exceeded the age of nine hundred yeares Succeeding ages departing from that puritie of Principles by little and little are come downe to shorter ages And in these our ages the Countesse of Desmond and Thomas Parre are extraordinary examples For ordinary old age is Threescore and tenne if more it must bee by the extraordinary power and purity of the radicall Principles For radicall heate is the principall Agent of generation in the liquid substance of seed and bloud in the first conception soone after renders it more dry and exhibits the rudiments of every member and by drying still more doth publish the exact species Then it doth augment after it is come into the world and bringeth it to perfection Hence by the continuate efficiency of the sameheate all the parts being exiccated above measure are lesse able to administrate their offices whence followeth a necessitie of decay and extinction at last of naturall heate and this is a naturall death according to Galen Which by decrepid old age by siccity and defect of nourishment without sense of paine according to nature is extinct And is unnaturall and violent when by any other internall or externall cause or injurie it is put out before decrepid age For so with care and skill it may bee prolonged For as I have plainly argued and yet not
yet such a quantity as is not ad vasa as if Satiation were the Usher of diseases corruption and mortality which I suppose differeth very much from the sence of Galen that is to prescribe a pondus or streight weight and measure of nutriment to all tempers and such a weight not to be exceeded upon any occasion But if hee be understood to speake only to men in religious Orders and such as impoverish their bodies to elevate their mindes to pious thoughts and exercises then his Twelve ounces will bee better understood and little blamed but in a physicall sence cannot stand with the principles of art For Hippocrates and Galen both will tell him diseases are cured by contrarieties Inanition by fasting must bee cured by repletion in feeding and this inanition may bee extreame or not extreame and then no constant Pondus ought to be observed But if I understand those Worthies then thus I explicate their doctrine in this point and so will leave the Iefuite to his owne order As for the quality of aliment that it be Homogeneall pleasant and familiar to humane constitutions and tempers not only in generall but also to every individuall is a point that the Ancients were strict observers of and not without much discretion For the judgement of a Phisitian is most seene in his election of aliment in quality answering the temper of the body For though a disease must be cured by his contrary yet the temper of the body must be preserved by its own Simile as heate by heate and moisture by moisture but the degree whether more or lesse intense is judicated by nature and to be ordered by the Phisitian But this is a paradox to vulgar practicers who argue falsely upon a true ground for when Hippocrates saith Contraria contrarijs curantur they like an ignorant Iury will runne altogether upon contraries both in curing and also in nourishing according to my Simile making no difference betweene honesty and dishonesty or contrary and contrary 'T is true contrary remedies must be and are most rationally administred in affects of the body because a crooked sticke must bee bent as farre the other way to make it streight according to Aristotle But if contraries shall bee adhibited to a harmonious temper 't is the cause of discord and conflict in Nature As for example In a hot and moist temper to use a cold and dry dyet Therefore it appeareth plainly that the quality of aliment ought to bee most observed But for Quantity that is left to the free choice of Nature because naturall choice is never ultra capacitatem recipientis But to speake more fully to Lessius who in a religious way disputeth principally for temperance yet so severely that I must tell him as a Phisitian the Fathers of our Art preferre excesse so it be not in the highest degree of excesse before such temperance and of two evils the least For they lay it downe Canonically that all affects of plenitude or fulnesse are safer for the body then diseases of emptinesse And I apprehend much reason and variety of reasons in this axiome First because universall evacuation is sooner effected then repletion Secondly because accidents of various formes cannot be avoided for they are infinite and the least affliction falling upon an extenuate or lessiate body for want of a sufficiencie of excrementitious humours to move in giveth not only a dangerous assault to the radicall spirits but without sudden resistance of art must tyrannise nature before enfeebled and kept under cannot of it selfe resist to expell it Which meere resistance of nature or labour to expell noxious humours doth beget a Feaver and that only ex conatu natura according to Christophorus à vega naturall heate is fired and not otherwise by the ascent of putrid fuliginous vapours to the heart or if medicine be adhibited yet such a body must suffer from both and life be shortned Contrarily where there is a sufficient quantity of excrementitious humours for diseases to involve themselves in there are they reteyned with lesse danger or oppression to the radicall spirits and removed by medicine with as little offence as I shall demonstrate more Philosophically in this manner Alberius amongst other Philosophers doth constitute a twofold moisture in mixt bodies One which he calleth Humidum continuans and from this continuating humidity proceedeth an unction of parts for otherwise they would bee altogether dry and consequently disunited But there is no naturall body void of this humidity though never so hard or dry but hath a sufficient moisture to conjoyne their parts together inter se and every Alchymist proveth this truth by practice and daily extracting oyle out of the hardest and dryest bodies Therefore this humidity is rightly nominated by some Phisitians Oleaginosum Humidum oylie humidity consisting of ayrie and aqueous moisture The other humidity is Humidum quasi nutriens as it were the nourishing moisture and this is a watrish humidity in the mixt body nothing advantagious to the continuation of parts and is easily resolved because of its tenuity so is not the oleaginous because of its crassitude So that where a proportion of excrementitious humours by reason of a severe dyet is wanting in the body of man both disease and medicine must needs bee more powerfull over the fixed moisture and heate which is the ligament of life Contrarily where there is a second moisture to entertaine either effect or medicine doth lesse harme But I intend no controversie with Lessius therefore I will returne to my proper subject and shew how every temper may be preserved void of all distempers or such as arise out of the materiall principles of nature by the true use of wine and also pove it to be an excellent remedy applyed according to proper judication and may prove specificall in diseases of every nature arising out of the aforesaid principles passing as dilucidly and briefly as may bee through all the parts of this discourse Curiositie hath newly conceived and will now suffer abortion if a taste of this promised juyce be not suddenly presented whose nature and excellency is encomiastick sufficient so transcending all other nutriment as that just Noah makes it the first act of his husbandry and planted a Vineyard before either corne or any other graine as is affirmed by sacred testimony The reason if I should presume to offer Ne Sutor ultra crepidam I must expect from divines and justly if I should adventure to explicate any text of holy writ without qualification yet will I not so inthrall my fancy or suffocate such motions as may bee advantagious to a rationall man without prying into the Arke as not only to take notice of this plantation to be the first act of husbandry but especially of his age which was Nine hundred and fifty His age extended Twenty yeares beyond Adam in whom the principles of Nature were most firme and pure And no reason can argue otherwise but that in course of