they enjoy a less quantity of Inherent Spirits But because they live perpetually in the waters therfore is their flesh more moist and slippery Whence it most evidently appeareth how effectual the inward lubricity and moisture are to facilitate the passage of the Blood As for those that are invaded with the Green sickness or afflicted with a Cachexia we grant indeed that the circulation of the Blood is difficult in them yet not only through a defect of inherent Spirits but by reason of stubborn obstructions lodging in the whol body Wherefore it must be granted notwithstanding the cold distemper the penury and stupefaction of the Spirits which procure a difficulty to the circulation that such a Mediocrity is imposed upon it by the moisture softness and internal slipperiness that the passage of the Blood may be reduced to a just if not an extream facility But if the moisture softness and inward slipperiness be so considerable to effectuate an easie circulation of the Blood Truly the distribution of it through the parts first affected seemeth to be expected more swift and not more slow We answer that the facility of the transition of the Blood is opposed to the slowness of the motion or to the smalness of the passage For a swift motion may be slow and in a smal Channel But the facility is here opposed to difficulty striving and labor which in this case if the circulation were difficult should happen to the Artery in the passage of the Blood But that the Arteries do undergo some labor in expediting the circulation of the Blood into the first affected parts shall anon be demonstrated we only affirm in this place that the facility of the passage of the Blood doth not sufficiently argue either the swiftness of the motion nor the widness of the passage For two causes do chiefly conspire to hasten the course of the Blood through the habit of the parts One is the aptitude of the part recipient or that through which the blood ought to flow and this cause is meerly passive and slothful the other is the impulsion of the Heart and Artery and also of the Arterious Blood contending to stretch and dilate it self This cause is active and full of vivacity For upon the cessation of this impulsion the distribution of the Blood will presently after totally cease however the passage may be otherwise supposed to be most easie manifest therfore it is that this impulsion is the principal active cause of the swiftnes and slownes and also of the quantity of the distribution of the Blood Wherfore those causes which do any way advance or hinder this impulsion do now come to undergo a more accurate examination For by these we shall know whether the destribution of the Blood in the parts first affected be really more sparing or slow than is meet These causes do chiefly concur to excite that impulsion First the plenty and activity of the Vital spirits contained in the Blood Secondly the perfect soundness of the Heart Thirdly The firmitude heat and just magnitude of the Arteries Fourthly An irritation both of the Heart and Arteries whether extrinsecally or intrinsecally caused These we will run over in their order that it may appear in what condition they are in this present Diseas First As for the plenty and activity of the Vital Spirits we have already shewed that in this affect the imperfect Vital Spirits are frequently excited in the right Ventricle of the Heart Seing therefore that the Blood tainted with these imperfect Spirits must be driven into the Lungs there is a necessity the destribution must there become more sparing and slow by reason of the defect of the Spirits Again seeing that the vital blood as we have also shewed above is somwhat cooled in the Arteries which are terminated in the first affected parts it is necessary likewise that the passage of it through the said parts must be diminished and more dull Secondly The vertue of the Heart unless peradventure by accident through the complication of some other Diseas is seldom seen to be viciated in this affect Thirdly For so much as concerneth the Arteries we cannot accuse their condition of any notable defect in reference to their strength But there is a manifest fault both in their heat and magnitude First in their heat the Arteries inserted into the first affected parts must necessarily by their cold distemper be somwhat affected with the like distemper For seing that a distemper of the parts first affected is active and permanent it is unavoidable but they must more or less introduce a like quality into the parts so neerly bordering to one another For natural agents are busily industrious to assimilate all Bodies placcd within the Sphear of their activity but especially such as are circumambient and neerly adjacent But if any man doubt whether that coldness of the Arteries can retard and lessen the current of the Blood through the first affected parts let him consider that frigidity is of it self an enemy to any kind of motion For it is the quality of cold by its own Nature to arrest Violences and impetuous oppositions to condensate to induce sloth to superinduce Somnolency stupefaction and immobility and when it attaineth a more intensive degree to congeal and mortifie the parts Therfore it must needs cast a Remora to the torrent or the Blood waving through the parts affected with that quality Besides In the opening of a Vein we have often observed upon the cooling of the member that the Blood hath flowed more slowly and sparingly and if the member be warmed again or the pulse be excited by rubbing or any other motion or means that then the Blood floweth again with a more plentiful and liberal current Moreover the application of cold things is sensibly effectual to stop Blood preternaturally bursting out of any part as on the contrary hot things do provoke the ebullition of it It may be objected That the Pulse is many times actuated and intended by the cold outwardly opposed as by the handling and playing with snow we see that not only the Pulse but the heat also is augmented in the hands of those that sport themselves with it We answer Cold things of themselves do alwaies move the passage of the Blood through the habit of the parts but that by accident they may intend the circulation of the Blood if at length they provoke the pulses of the Arteries as in the said case of the snow it happneth to beat stronger marches But this never comes to pass in this present affect For as we have already shewed the circulation of the Blood in this Diseas however it may suffer Immunitior or Retardation yet it continueth sufficiently easy and expedite neither doth any irritation of the puls arise from thence as anon we shal perceiv more plainly For seing it is manifest by what hath been said that the Arteries reaching to the first affected parts become more cold then ordinary or is
the expenses exceed the incoms and by consequent those parts are extenuated The third Reason ariseth from the unequal distribution and indeed defective in the first affected parts of which we have already superabundantly discoursed Secondly We affirm that in this affect the greatness of the Head and especially of the Liver as also of the Brain is unreasonably increased Somtimes the Palsy in the Head is conjoyned which nevertheless we suppose to be of a different Species and no part of this Diseas although we grant that this affect may somtimes give occasion to the supervening Hydrocephalus Moreover we have somtimes seen the Consumption being superinduced upon this affect and long continuing also the Face and the parts about the Head to be somwhat extenuate before death But this was produced by the Consumption not by this Diseas we now treat of But that we may give a reason of that greatness unmeasurably increased in the Parts aforesaid We note First That the parts belonging to the Head and almost all the Bowels do receive the Nerves from that part of the Spinal Marrow which is included within the Skul and therfore that these parts are not necessarily subject to that unhappy condition of the first affected parts Wherfore no reason doth compel us to affirm that these augmented parts are either affected with a cold distemper or a penury and dulness of Spirtts or that the attractive retentive or concoctive faculties are therupon vitiated and by consequence that those parts are totally exempted from the first cause of that extenuation which befalseth the parts first affected Secondly we observe that neither loosness nor flaccidity nor softness nor internal slipperiness are predominant in those immeasurably augmented parts and that these qualities as it happneth to the first affected parts do not yeeld a more irritated expulsion then is requisite so that the exportation should be feared to exceed the importation which we have shewed to befal the extenuated parts Thirdly We observe that the Blood in his circulation by how much the more sparingly it is distributed to the first affected parts the more liberally it doth water and nourish these parts This we have already proved and it is needless to insert more arguments to that purpose These things therfore being observed the Reason is playn why the parts aforesaid are unmeasurably and irregularly augmented For if the attractive retentitive and concoctive faculties be not weakned in them according to our first annotation and the expulsive be not immoderately irritated according to the second and in the interim if sufficient aliment be dispensed to them according to the third the bulk of them must needs increas beyond proportion Thirdly We affirm that the protuberancies or swellings of the Bones in the Wrests Ankles and the ends of the Ribs do vitiate the Organ in a twofold respect namly in respect of the greatness and also of the figure The parts vitiated in both respects are obvious to the Eys and therfore we shal supersede al further proof But why are the Bones stretched out after that manner in those places Truly it is very hard to render a Reason therof neither perhaps dare we engage our selves by promise to give satisfaction in all respects herein to the curious Therfore instead of an answer we dedicate to the Reader these subsequent observations as not altogether unprofitable First The Bones in many do agree with the substance of the Bowels For first they consist of a certain similary matter severed from the preterfluent Blood not needing any laborious assimilation and seem to admit a most easie nutrition till they arrive at the exaltation and highest pitch of their encrease Moreover they seem to be nourished until by age they are brought to an extream driness and they seem not to be obnoxious to any considerable extenuation so the substances of the Bowels are similary being joyned together by the separation almost of the Blood alone and they likewise easily encreas and are difficultly and rarely extenuated Secondly The Bones are nourished almost after the same manner as the Parenchymata or substances of the Bowels Through the Arteries they receive the blood through the Veins they amandate and conveigh away the superfluous portion of it and instead of Vessels of the third kind whereby the excrements are expelled they are furnished with Cels and Cavities Some perhaps may doubt of the Arteries of the Bones because so hard and rigid a part may seem unapt to admit any pulsation of the Arteries within it we grant indeed that the Bones in regard of their hardness and stifness are less apt for the pulsation of the Arteries and therfore we acknowledg that they admit not within them any notable ramification or branching of Arteries but if any man will from thence infer that no Arteries are admitted into them truly herein he must expect our absolute denyal for they are living Parts they are nourished they grow and they exercise the Attractive Retentive Concoctive and Expulsive faculties Again they receive the Blood which they cannot do but by the conduit Pipes of the Arteries and this is manifest by the bloodiness of them when the Bones of Living Creatures are either broken or any other way divided In yong Creatures the spongy substance of the Bones and the very Marrow is sensibly perfused with Blood and the greatest part of their Cavities is filled more with Blood than Marrow In elder and greater Creatures you may observe both Veins and Arteries through the Membranes enwrapping the Marrow all which things do sufficiently prove that the Blood is distributed into the very Bones But wise Nature who in the conformation of all the parts doth most equisitely and aptly proportion all things foreseeing here that the Veins and Arteries could not conveniently be extended by a longer carnification through the substance of the Bones by reason of their hardness she casteth that vast number of them some being as smal as hairs into almost inconspicuous little holes in the Bones But if you soundly boyl the Bones of greater Creatures these Orifices of the insertion of the Vessels may very easily be perceived in the outward superficies if you remove the Skin enwrapping the Bones But let this suffice concerning the Veins and Arteries of the Bones seing that this matter is somwhat incoherent with our scope As for the Vessels of the third kind seing that the excrements of the Bones were not about to prove altogether improfitable nor could commodiously be expelled out of the Body Nature instead of a Vessel of the third kind hath made certain Recepticles namely Cavities and Cels into which she would exnoâ—rate and cast aside the excrements namely that fat part which is altogether improfitable to furnish the Bones with nourishment There are some who suppose the Marrow to be the principal nourishment of the Bones but very inconsiderately seing that the Marrow as we have said is altogether unapt for the generation and nourishment of the Bones for the bones are not
defect of the Vital Spirits Therefore seing the Vital constitution is transient and fugitive in any of the solid parts and seing it dependeth upon the proportion of the vital spirits flowing into them from the Ventricle of the heart we may rightly infer that in the solid parts it is not original but participative But in the Vital Spirits themselves by whose function the Vital constitution is diffused and transmitted into all the Parts it must necessarily be original For there is no other original subject of it to be found in the Body Yet we grant that the solid substance of the heart by his Natural Constitution especially being watred by the Vital is the assistant caus of the excitation of the Vital Spirits in the blood included their Ventricles although it cannot be the first subject of that same Vital Constitution as we have even now abundantly proved And these things for the present may suffice in general concerning each vital constitution the original and the participative and to prov that that must properly be ascribed to the Vital Spirits this to the solid Parts as the immediate Subjects of the inherence Three kind of vices belonging to this Constitution do stil await our examination The two former wherof relate to the Original And the third pertaineth to the participative Constitution The first vice concerneth the Generation of the Vital Spirits The second hath reference to the distribution of them And the third appertaineth to the participation of the Vital Constitution Of these we shal make enquiry in their order CHAP. IX The vitiated Generation of the Vital Spirits in this Affect and whether that fault be a Part of that Secondary Essence THe Vital Spirits are first excited or generated within the Ventricles of the Heart namely in the very mass of the Blood and properly they discriminate the Blood in the Arteries from that in the veyns after that they are generated they are cherished and conserved within the cavities of the Arteries until they are distributed into the habit of the Parts Yea they are not only cherished in the Arteries but in them also rightly disposed perhaps som new ones are excited though with less efficacy then in the heart This being Preadmonished We say first That in the very Substance of the heart there doth not occur any fault repugnant to the Generation of the Vital Spirits which properly can be a part even of the secondary Essence of this Diseas For the heart it self for his doth rightly perform his function in this Diseas and if any imperfection happen in the Generation of the Vital Spirits it cannot be properly ascribed to the heart but to the ineptitude of the matter to receive the form of the Vital Spirits As the ingested aliment if it be extreamly crude it may frustrate the perfection of a laudable concoction the Stomach being otherwise sound and faultless So the unapt and unprofitable blood exported to the ventricles of the Heart may render the action therof imperfect in respect of the operation and effect how sound soever it may be in it self In which case the ascription of the fault is usually and truly attributed to the indisposed matter and not to the Heart You wil reply a Feaver is somtimes complicated with this affect and at such time the heart doth unaptly Generate the Vital Spirits But that Feaver is a Diseas of a different kind and by no means either the whol or any Part of the Essence of this affect Secondly We affirm that the lesser Arteries inserted into the first affected Parts are in some degree really cooled and benummed by them through their adjacency and contact and for that caus they do unaptly conserv the Vital Spirits contained in them wherupon the Vital Constitution of them is rendred somwhat imperfect before they can be effused into the Parts themselvs And this fault of the little Arteries seemeth by very good right to be ascribed to the Generation of the vital Spirits For although it be not the function of the Arteries to propogate the Vital Spirits according to the first signification of the word yet for this very reason that they are obliged to conserv them when they are propagated namly by such a conservation as in a manner includeth a certain continuate Generation of them their faults are rightly to be referred to the Generation of the Vital Spirits For the Vital Constitution is a certain transient action as we have shewed before which while it lasteth is in a continual flux and motion and which like a flame when the continual fomentation and reparation of it is suspended and suppressed suddenly extinguished Therfore are the Arteries as a continuate Heart to all the parts of the body unto which they transmit and powr out their contained Spirits and what faults soever of the Spirits happen before the effusion of them into the habit of the Parts seing that they necessarily belong to the Original Vital Constitution and cannot otherwise be ascribed to the distribution of the Spirits they must be referred to the very Generation of them namely a continuate Generation in the Arteries wherby they are continually preserved from a sudden extinction Moreover This fault of the Vital Spirits is the depravation of the Vital and Original Constitution and seing that it is somwhat preternatural first hurting the action from whence the participative constitution floweth in like manner depraved and seing that it meerly dependeth upon the primary Essence aforesaid and is complicated in the same parts it will be a part of the secondary Essence of this Diseas Thirdly We say that the matter of the Vital Spirits to wit the Blood of the Veins impregnated with his Natural spirits returning in his circulation from the first affected parts towards the Heart is somwhat disabled by them to admit the form of the Vital Spirit For it is necessary that the Blood whilst it passeth through the parts affected with a cold distemper want and benummedness of inherent Spirits must also thereupon affected with some kind of frigidity benummedness and perhaps with a thickness and viscous quality beyond the usual degree of Nature For as the blood doth give a tincture of his qualities to the parts thorow which it glideth So on the contrary the parts themselves bequeath also as much as they can of their qualities to the flowing blood But here likewise we must grant withal that this indisposition in the parts first affected especially when it is light and smal in the return to the inward parts is very much corrected by their heat before it ariseth at the Ventricles of the heart nay that it is somtimes subdued or if any such contracted fault remain it is commonly totally abolished by the length of the journy before the return of the Blood to the left Ventricle of the heart whilst it floweth down by the right and the substance of the Lungs the same thing also may be thus confirmed becaus if that indisposition should continue till the
insertion and also in respect of the hardness of the Bones Fifthly Hither also belong things hurtful and helpful for children afflicted with this Diseas are manifestly benefitted by rubbings motion and various agitation of the Body by exercises strengthning Oyntments and the like means which raise the heat in the Members on the right-side and the other parts primarily affected and irritate the Pulses and augment them after any sort whereby the distribution of the Blood may be more neerly reduced to some equality with the contrary things they are damnified In like manner such Medicines which promove the dispensation of the Blood to the first affected parts as those which are moderately hot benign and familiar to Nature and so attenuant incident and deobstruent that at the same time they do not in the least degree wast but cherish and augment the Spirits help very much towards the cure of this Diseas the contraries do either produce or foment it being produced All these things being considered we must conclude that the destribution of the Blood in this affect is irregular and unequal And thus at length we have finished the disquification of the faults in the destribution of the Vital Blood we now proceed to the examination of the faults if any such there be of the Vital participative Constitution in this Disease CHAP. XII The faults of the Vital participative Constitution in this Affect WE have already said that the Origine of the Vital Constitution is grounded in the Arterious Blood and especially in the spiritous part thereof but because the solid parts also do somwhat truly participate the nature of Life we justly ascribe unto them the Vital participative Constitution Now this Constitution consisteth in Three Things First In a certain union of the Arterious Blood with the substance of the solid parts through which it passeth Secondly In the Vital heat excited in those parts Thirdly In the enlivening and exaltation of the Natural Constitution and of all the Natural faculties of those parts First As for that union of the Arterious Blood it must be justly reputed the first part of the participative Life For the solid parts are therfore said to participate of the Nature of Life or the Vital Constitution because the Vital Spirits are contained in them For Life cannot consist without a Vital Spirit Therfore when the Vital Spirit is distributed in and with the Arterious Blood to the solid parts through the Arteries and these parts do suck in that Blood into their substance it comes to pass that the said parts are counited with the Vital Spirits and so they participate of the Nature of Life Moreover Seeing this union is not permanent but transient and consisteth in motion it seemeth to consist in the confluence and mutual embracement of the inherent natural and influent Vital Spirit but the conditions which are requisite to make this a natural concourse are First That it be in all respects moderate and not impetuous Secondly That it be in all respects strong and not feeble and stupified Thirdly That it be friendly and peaceable not hostile and Turbulent that it be gentle not tumultuous that it be neither too slippery and smooth nor too rough Fourthly That it end not in any kind of dissipation of the Spirits but rather in the appeasing and apt disposition of them for their return into the Veins More such conditions might perhaps be added but because they very little belong to this Diseas we shall here superceed any further examination of them We only note that the mutual concourse and union of the Vital and natural Constitution by their Spirits doth not occur in this affect with that activity vigor and complacency as it usually doth in sound Bodies And this scarce needeth any proof seeing that it is manifest by what hath been said above that not only the natural constitution of the first affected Parts doth labor under a cold and a moist distemper a defect and benummedness of Spirits but that the Vital Blood it self is also somwhat damped and stupified in the tops or ends of the Arteries before it can be conveighed into the first affected parts so that that union must needs be performed without either a sufficient vivacity or pleasure For when the vigorous Vital Spirits do meet together with the Natural Spirits no less vigorous they are united with a kind of curteous strife and delightful contention Whether that we may illustrate this matter by an example the natural Spirits as a Bride do here allure and in a manner repel the Vital Spirits who as it were act the part of a Bridegroom But the Vital Spirits provoked with their heat and driven on by the vigor of the Pulses do more confidently invade the Natural Spirits and penetrate into their confines and regions whilst the Natural Spirits in the mean time however as it were with modest resistances repulsing the assault receive them at length not without a certain pleasure For the very corporal pleasure is established upon and encreased by a kind of amorous strife and the principal part of Life it self consisteth in such a contention about the Reciprocal union of the Spirits for to that end the Vital Spirits are both generated and destributed that at length they may pass through the solid Natural Constitution of the Parts and may profoundly imbue them with their vital power and vertue but seing this peneration cannot be effected without endeavor and resistance it must needs be that the vigor of that contention resistance be either more or less according to their copiousness vivacity and heat of those Spirits that maintain the conflict Therefore because in this affect both the Natural and the Vital Spirits are more cold fewer and less active their concours and union must needs be dull and undelightful Moreover it must be noted in this affect which also we have shewed above that the permeation of the Blood thorow the first affected parts is to easy and slippery wherupon even for this reason that concours and union of the Spirits in those parts is rendred more slothful and less pleasant Besides hot exhalations although for the most part they are sparingly raised in this affect yet being raised by reason of the softness loosness and internal lubricity of the first affected parts parts they evaporate sooner then is meet wherupon they leave those parts cold and feeble Secondly As for the Vital heat communicated to the solid parts which is the second part of the Vital participative Constitution that partly depends upon the aforesaid union or the Incorporation of the Arterious Blood with the solid parts but partly it consisteth in a certain expansive motion or endeavor like to that expansive endeavor of the Arterious Blood excited in the very solid parts The first is very perspicuous for the Arterious Blood through the impregnation of the Vital heat when it is receaved into the solid parts must needs with their substance communicate their heat also unto them The
Blood those parts do somwhat increase whilst the other parts of the Bones by reason of the narrowness of the cavity of the Artery are not perhaps sufficiently nourished with Blood wherby to obtain an equal nutrition and increas And from hence at least probably we deduce the inequallity of the nutrition of the Bones in this affect But the condition of the Blood wherby in this Diseas it is apt to obstruct an parts thorow which it floweth seems to have a peculiar respect to the quality of the Bones For in the Bowels the Lungs excepted the Blood doth seldom Generate obstructions as also ne ither in the first affected Parts However it be the Bony substance either because it is incapable of the internal slipperiness or because the nutritive juice in the mas of Blood is peculiarly apt to congeal in the parts so vehemently fixed or lastly because it hath in its own nature some affinity with the Bones we say the Bony substance is easily infested with obstructions in this Diseas and therupon it happneth to be unequally nourished The Faults of breeding Teeth are likewise to be referred hither seing that they also seem to depend upon this unequal nutrition of the Bones For if the Teeth should be equally nourished they would be of a uniform substance and would not fal out by pieces as it here frequently happneth For the similary parts when they are equally nourished acquire not such an interrupted and unequal consistence as to be easily broken in pieces Wherfore seing the Teeth are parts naturally delighting in a similary substance were they equally nourished they should enjoy an equal and uniform consistance and would either continue firm in their gums or would fal out whol And there can scarce any other reason be given why they should be broken and fal out more on one side or in one part then another We grant indeed that their aptness to break may hitherto conduce very much but we conceive that even that aptness to break doth in great part depend upon the unequal nutrition aforesaid For otherwise the Teeth do usually obtain a very firm solid coherent substance and the truth is they seem to consist especially in this viscous affect of a very matter For the Blood for the most part is observed to be more viscous and thick then ordinary so that this aptness to break off the Teeth cannot be so easily ascribed to a defect of viscosity in the matter as it may much more probably to the inequallity of the nutrition We conclude therfore that the standing out of the Bones and likewise the faults of the Teeth do proceed from the unequal nutrition of these parts arising from a peculiar obstructive disposition of the Blood having reference especially to the Bones Now we proceed to the crookedness of the Bones in this affect Fourthly In this affect the Bones are frequently somwhat crooked especially the Shin Bones and the lesser Bones of the Legs also the Bones of the Cubit the lesser of the two long Bones of the Cubits and the bigger Shank-Bone somtimes the Bones of the Sholder and Thigh som Joynts also becom crooked somtimes inward somtimes outwards the whole Spine is likewise many times bended somtimes it is wreathed like the letter S namly partly forwards partly backwards and somtimes partly to the right Hand partly to the left Some ascribe this crookedness of the Bones to the bending faculty of them for say they in the tender age of Children the Bones themselves are not so stiff stubborn and inflexible as in their riper years and therfore upon the invasion of this Diseas they are rendred in some degree easily flexible Therfore they rebuke the Nurses which too soon commit the children to their Feet supposing that the Bones are made crooked by the sustained burthen of their Bodies Others also tax the Nurses of imprudence in swadling them But we cannot yeeld our ful assent in all respects to these Reasons And first we flatly deny that the Bones of Children afflicted with this Diseas are more flexible or less stiff and friable then the Bones of others For we have already proved that the Bones in this affect do not differ in respect of their similary substance from the Bones of sound persons Besides no man hitherto worthy of credit hath attested that he hath seen the Bones flexible in this Diseas Moreover if we should grant that in this tenderness of years the Bones might perhaps be somwhat bended yet they would not continu so bent like lead or wax but being left to their liberty they would return again to the proper position and figure of the parts For they consist not of any ductile matter and therfore by being thus bent they would either be broken or else doubtless they would endeavor to reobtain their former situation As for the ignorance or negligence of Nurses although we do not altogether excuse it yet cannot we justly impute this crookedness of the Bones to their carelesness We see the Children of Poor People are ordered and handled with less care and sooner committed to their feet then the Children of the rich yet the Children of Poor People are more rarely afflicted with this infirmity then the Children of the rich Besides we have known Nurses use all manner of diligence as swadling them and every other way laboring to prevent this incurvation yet al their pains otherwise prais-worthy hath in this respect been succesless Therfore we must indeavor to find out some other cause of this crookedness A B C D E F G A B C D E F G A B Now that we may accommodate these things to the present business if the Bones aforesaid be more plentifully nourished on one side and therfore do grow out more on that then the opposite side there is a necessity that that must grow crooked For here the overplentiful nutrition of that side hath the same power after the same manner to bow the Bones as the interposed wedg hath to bow the Pillar save that the wedg is fastned only in some places of the side of the Pillar and the over-plentiful nutrition of the side of the Bone is commonly equally made according to the whol length therof For the aliment received into the Bone in what part it more liberally admitteth it that part it obstructeth and like the wedg thrust into the Pillar it extendeth it into an augmented length wherupon the Bones must needs be bowed towards that side which is not lengthened in an equal degree with the other Moreover if the production of one side of the Pillar happen only in one or two places therof and not in many as in the third figure then so much the neerer the inflexion of it approacheth to the figure of a part of a Circle or a Bow But if the said side according to the total longitude therof should be equally lengthened beyond the opposite side doubtless it would be bended towards the opposite side would exactly resemble
unaptly be referred Moreover the Spirits also although they prohibit all extream hot things yet they allow of these as mōderat and very congruous to Nature In like manner there is little or no particular repugnance between these causes and the Indicates albeit in respect of time and the order of administration som dissent may be observed as we shall see afterwards in due place Wherfore in what respect and how far these agree together whilst we intend a cure we do at once respect not only the Spirits but in som sort the causes by choosing such curative remedies or by mingling such ingredients with them which are able both to attenuate the thick matter to cut into the viscous to open the obstructed passages and the like In like manner whilst we are chiefly imployed either in preservation or in the rooting out of causes we make choice of such evacuants or els we compound them with such remedies as are also partly contrary to the Diseas And all these things we do to that purpose as that as hath been said we may be subservient to the most intentions we can Now having found out the actions simply requisit in the Species in the next place we shal enquire out their du circumstances 1. In regard that this is a great Diseas it requireth a great quantity of the Remedy in respect of it self For a Remedy unequal to the Diseas cannot extirpate it It is necessary therfore that the dose of the Medicine be equally to the magnitude of the Affect But in this Diseas the Spirits permit not so great a quantity of Remedies to be given at once Wherfore that quantity must be divided given by turns For this is a Chronical Diseas and of slow motion neither doth it necessarily require an hasty Cure and although the Spirits cannot wel endure either vehement Remedies or such as are given in a large dose yet they permit the use of Evacuant Medicins by an Epicrasis Wherfore by turns we must somtimes make use of Remedies Preparatory somtimes Evacuant somtimes Alterant and somtimes strengthing Secondly For so much as belongeth to the place of administration the general Rule is that the remedy ought to arive at the seat and penetrate to the very Cause of the Diseas If therfore it must have a passage into the Vessels it must be taken at the Mouth but if it will suffice to touch only the thick Guts it must be injected by the Fundament If the humors be naturally ready to move upwards expel them by vomit if downwards evacuat them by siege In like manner you must humor the inclination of Nature and root out the causes by spitting by Urin or by sweating Particular evacuations must be instituted in the very affected parts or in the parts adjacent For so the force of the Remedy doth the more surely make way to the seat of the Diseas and the morbifical Caus And for the same reason external and topical Medicines must be applied to the next convenient place Yet you must know that there is a certain Sympathy between som parts in which case the remedies ar frequently administred to the part wherwith that consent intercedeth and neither to the affected nor the adjacent part Thirdly The form of the Medicament doth partly depend upon the Rule last propounded For if the scope be to lenifie the Jaws or the Windpipe we chuse a licking or lapping form that by degrees the remedy may slide over the affected parts and stay the longer upon them In like manner if the Stomach be affected we often prescribe Pils Pouders or Electuaries that they may the longer abide in the Stomach To the Kidnies we rather design liquid things that they may the more easily be carried down to them with the wheyish part of the Blood The forms do also in som part depend upon the very nature of the Diseas as in burning Feavers liquid things are for the most part convenient dry things are scarce admitted on the other side in moist Diseases and when the Belly is oversoluble more solid forms are preferred Finally the forms of the Medicines do also partly depend upon the nature of the Ingredients So Cassia worketh most effectually in the form of a Bolus Hartshorn Coral and the like in the form of a Pouder in like manner bitter things such as beget a vomiting and stinking things are concealed in the form of Pills somtimes also they are guilded or els they are enwrapped in Wafers and exhibited in the form of a Bolus Now it must here be noted that for the most part the form of the Remedy is not so considerable as it gives place to the more easie and commodious administration in respect of the Admission or Reception of the Sick For many cannot swallow Pills others presently reject their Potions by vomit others are perhaps avers from other forms In this Affect in regard that all Children almost are loth to take Physick that form is to be preferred before the rest which shall be observed to be least distastful to them Fourthly As for the time of action you must so endeavor to sit your administrations that they may as little as possible be interupted with times of eating exercise or sleep for at this age the Spirits are scarce preserved sound and perfect without an interposition of those things by just internals Remedies evacuant opening attenuate and incident must be taken early in the morning upon an empty stomach and if they must be repeated the same day four of the Clock in the afternoon upon an empty stomach likewise is the most seasonable hour Strengthning and astringent Medicines and such as provoke sleep are to be taken rather in the evening than in the morning but perhaps som of these are most agreable after meals Medicines that are mingled with the nourishment ought to be gratful to the Palat lest they subvert the stomach and hinder concoction or caus a loathing of the meat or els empair the Spirits As for the order of proceeding there occur two general Rules The former is That that must first be don which being premised makes way for the following Remedies and therfore that ought first to be removed which hath the consideration of an impediment in respect of what must follow The later is That we must ever give our first help to the more urgent and weighty Indicant unless som impediment intervene If the Question therfore be Whether the Diseas or the Caus of the Diseas doth first require the help of Physick The answer wil be obvious according to the first Rule For the causes are reflected upon under the notion of an impediment in respect of the Cure of the Diseas for they cherish it and infringe the vertu of the Medicins Wherfore before that we are intent upon the vanquishing of the Diseas we premise all possible endeavors to root out the Caus or at least to lessen abate and retund it that it may oppose no considerable force to
retard the rooting out of the Diseas Yet in the interim whilst we are busie in the removal of the Causes the Essence of the Diseas must not be totally neglected as we have before admonished Yea when we have so subdued the Cause that it cannot for the present much interupt the Cure we may the Causes not being utterly over-come and cast out the more diligently and earnestly attempt the resisting of the affect yet with this condition That if the Causes revert and becom new impediments that then we are obliged presently to undertake the subduing and evacuation of them so that in this Chronical Affect somtimes the Causes somtimes the Diseas must be resisted by turns and the Spirits do better undergo this change of action than if we should continualy make our battery against the Causes till they were absolutely rooted out Moreover When the Causes of the Diseas in this Affect are unapt for motion by reason of their toughness grosness and perhaps setledness they must first be freed from this impediment and prepared before they are evacuated For according to the Rule of the great Dictator Quae movenda sunt fluida prius facere oportet In like manner that thickness toughness and setledness of matter if it be present indicate Remedies attenuant incident and opening But these things are not safly taken the impurities still flowing back into the first Passages for then perhaps they are carried along with the Medicines into the Veins and more defile the Blood or at least hinder the efficacy of the Remedies These therfore have the nature of an impediment and must be in the first place removed Lastly Universal Evacuants must be premised before Particular and Topical Remedies especially where it is not permitted at once to mind both intentions For the Universal Causes flowing in the Body are easily surrogated in the room of Particular Evacuations and renew the Afflux to the first affected part but the thinner part of Particular Causes and that which is most apt for motion is evacuated but the thicker perhaps is more impacted Wherfore Universal Causes yet flowing to and fro in the Body as considered are Impediments in respect of Particular Evacuation and by consequence must be first expelled The latter Rule was That we must releeve the more urgent and weighty Indicant first unless there be an interuption of som impediment That is termed an urgent Indicant which threatneth the most danger Now every such Indicant is supposed to induce great afflictions into the Body and not without manifest danger to wast the Spirits Therfore in this respect we must somtimes first help the Diseas the Caus being neglected Somtimes also we must neglect both the Diseas and the Causes and adress our endeavors to the pacification of the Symptoms as in a vehement Flux of the Belly long Watchings profuse and immoderat Sweating and the like But even in these cases we must have a prudent regard both to the Diseas and the Causes and when the urgent Symptom is corrected or the violence of the Diseas repressed then we must return to the regular Method of proceeding for this Rule belongs not to the ordinary and legitimate order of Cure but to the Method of Necessity Moreover to perfect the right administration of Indications there is required an exact and accurat knowledg of the Medical Matter whereof we shal discours in the subsequent Chapters CHAP. XXIX The Medical Matter answering to the Indications proposed and first the Chyrurgical THE Medical Matter must be found out by Experience and Analogismes or Arguments drawn by an answerable necessity from the Caus to the Effect although the truth is we conceive not any other Reasonings to be absolutly excluded It is vulgarly and not unaptly distributed into three kinds The Chirurgical the Pharmateutical and the Diatetical Of these in their order The Chirurgical commonly received and approved in this Affect and famous above the rest are chiefly two Scarification of the Ears and little Fountains or Issues But our enquiry as we shal see anon shal be extended to many more namly of Cuppin-Glasses Leeches Blisters Ligatures and Swathing-bands But the opening of a Vein the Spirits cannot brook as every one knows who but observes the frailty of the age the extenuation of the habit of the parts and the smalness of the Veins The Scarification of the Ears shal lead our discours The Empericks who undertake the cure of this Diseas make more of it than one would imagin For in their practice they celerate it with great vaporing and without it scarce hope for a happy cure But we although we disallow not this kind of remedy have seen many Children successfully recovered without the use therof And they themselves who attribute most unto it for the most part take away no considerable portion of Blood Yet some affirm that they have seen a large quantity of Blood drawn away with good event However it be it is credible that those Children do with most ease endure this remedy and obtain most profit by the use of it which are of a Sanguin complexion and wel habited and who are affected with an Alogotrophy rather than an Atrophy or a Consumption or any other remarkable extenuation of the parts Our Practitioners for most part repeat this operation two or three times in a week They seldom do it with an Instrument or sharp Pen-knife but most commonly with an ordinary blunt Knife taking no notice of the pain and crying of the Child Moreover For the most part they perform it in the hollow of the Ear but some extend it to the inward and outward circumference of the upper part of the Ear yea to the whol circumference No man hitherto as we know have attempted the Scarification of the hinder side of the Ear although indeed it is not easie to give a reason why it should conduce less being administred there than in the hollow part Yet it may be lawful for us to offer our conjectures why the hollow of the Ear should be chosen before the other parts for this operation which notwithstanding we will not confidently assert although we suppose we can at least probably assert it if that be true which the most diligent Chyrurgion Fubricius Hildanus hath written in his Observ 4. Centur. 1. de nervo quinti parts For this conjecture is grounded upon this Observation and if that be ruinous this perhaps must perish with it The Conjecture is this The distribution and use of the Nerve and of the fifth Pair before mentioned being supposed Scarification in the hollow of the Ear may very conveniently both free that Nerve from any kind of oppression and likewise shake off the numbness and give it vigor For the hollow of the Ear is the next place unto it which we can come at with an instrument Wherfore evacuation being here made may immediatly drive away the matter which commonly oppresseth the very beginning of that Nerve and withal causing pain and encreasing the
an ounce make them into Lozenges according to art of a dram or two scruples and an half weight of which let the diseased take one at a time Take the best Rhubarb one dram and an half Raisins of of the Sun the stones being pickt out one handful a pint of ordinary Ale infuse them for twelve hours strain it and give it to Children that are greedy of drink in the night season Take Aloes succotrine seven grains Rhubarb in pouder eleven grains with syrup of Roses solutive so much as is sufficient to make it into pibbles which must be given in preserved Cherries the stones being taken away or else you may guild them for the more easy swallowing CHAP. XXXIII Specifical alterant Medicines THe causes of the Diseas being now prepared and in part evacuated or at least so subdued that for the present they cannot retard the cure you must proceed to these Medicines specifically alterant which as it were fly at the very throat of the Diseas and in regard wherof the premised Medicines both preparatory and evacuant took place Now these specificals may be defined to be Remedies diametrically contrary to the Nature of the Diseas and such as directly impugn it These are either Simple or Compound the Simple which hitherto we have had knowledg of are these that follow the root of Osmund the Royal or rather the spike of the root the middle being thrown away the root of the male Fernbrake or rather the little buds before their peeping forth out of the earth the roots of Grass Succhory Asparagus Madder Eringo all the Maiden hairs Ceterach Harts tongue Liverwort Betony the flowers and leavs of dead Nettles Borage sage Rosemary Tamarisk Southernwood Pontik Wormwood The greater Sulendine Saffron Turmerick the roots of Sarsaperilla Salsaphras China the three sorts of Sanders the wood of Guiacum and its Bark flowr of brimstone steel prepared Crocus Martis salt of steel wine steelified syrup of steel white and Rhennish wine Sperma Ceti Musk Ambergreece Castoreum Earthworms the Livers of Frogs and yong Ravens Woodlice washt in white Wine bak'd inan Oven and beaten to powder and such like things But if any demand After what manner or by what action these Medicaments do especially over-rule the Essence of this affect We answer That perhaps it is not necessary that we presently fly to occult qualities which for the most part is but the Sanctuary and refuge of ignorance but that the primary and secondary parts of the Essence of this Diseas above described ought to be reduced to Memory for by making a comparison between those parts and these Medicaments we shal plainly discern an obscure contrariety and repugnance between them For this Diseas consisteth in a cold and moist distemper inherent in the Spirits together with want and astonishment of the Spirit and weakness of the parts afflicted on the contrary these remedies heat and dry cherish the Natural Spirits dissipate that numbness which is in them and strengthen the parts Moreover In regard that these remedies with their heat and driness obtain withal a manifest friability and thinness of parts it comes to pass that they cut through all viscous matter they attenuate all gross and thick humors and procure a certain equality of all the juyces that have their circulation in the Sanguinary Mass and an even distribution consideration being had of the distance from the fountain of heat both of heat and Blood Herupon the external parts which before were lean enjoy a more liberal heat and nourishment and the Parenchimata of the Bowels which were irregularly encreased are delivered from thick and viscous alimentary juyces and therupon are somwhat lesned by this means that Alogotrophy or irrational Nourishment of the parts from whence so great a series of organical faults resulteth is corrected Finally These remedies do also strengthen and cherish the sinewy parts and likewise the extream weakness of the Bone of the Back You will say That all the Simples above recited by us do not fully perform all these things For the several kinds of Sanders though they may by their driness friability and thinness of parts strongly impugn this Diseas yet by their coldness they seem rather to come neer to the parts of the Diseas we say therfore that Simples of this Nature ought not to be given alone but being commixt with some other which may prevalently correct the noxious quality in like manner some Simples extreamly hot as Saffron Castoreum Flowr of Brimstone c. are very repugnant to this Diseas yet you must refrain the administration of them unless they be duly attempered Moreover Sarsaparilla Sassaphras Osmund the royal the kinds of Fernbrake all the Maiden-hairs Hartstongue Ceterach and the like their heat and driness being conjoyned with a notable friability and thinness of the parts they contribute very much to the equal distribution of the Blood as also to subdue many other parts of the Diseas But they scarce lend a sufficient strength to the sinewy and fibrous parts wherfore they seem to crave an admixture of Cephalical Remedies Again Lignum Vitae by its heat driness and friability and by its Balsamical and Rosinish substance doth very much strengthen the Tone of the parts and is contrariant to some other parts of the Diseas yet becaus it helps very little the contemperation of the Juyces contained in the Sanguinary Mass but on the contrary is rather an hindrance therunto it ought not without great caution to be prescribed and that in a small quantity and well corrected Lastly Among the Simples here recited some are received to strengthen all the Spirits rather than to subdue the Essence of the Diseas as Sage Musk Ambergrees and the like which come not into use but when they are mingled with other effectual and more apropriate ingredients If any shall further demand Which among all these propounded Simples are to be valued as the most noble and effectual we comprehend our Answer in these Rules First They are the most noble Medicines which joyntly make the strongest opposition against most parts of the Essence of the Diseas Secondly Those Caeteris paribus are to be esteemed the more noble which directly affront the Essence of the Diseas especially if at the same time they advance the equal distribution of the Blood and Vital Spirit wherby so many organical faults are corrected Thirdly Such things as oppose the Diseas most eminently by an essential contrariety provided they be not as well too strong for Nature as the Diseas Fourthly Those which are both repugnant to the Diseas and yet withal grateful to Nature in no wise offering any violence to her Fifthly Those which are most grateful pleasing to the sick Child such as administred trouble not its Pallate These things being premised we shall now subjoyn some examples of compound Medicines Decoctions and Physical Drinks Take the Spikes of the Roots of Osmund the royal six in number Pauls Betony Hartstongue Ceterach Liverwort