great Guts they can only facilitate the Evacuation of the Excrements that are retain'd in those Intestines whereas when they are taken inwardly they not only cause the same Irritations in all the Parts which they touch and consequently by augmenting their Natural Motion hasten the expulsion of the Matter which they contain but many of their Particles mingle with the Chyle in the Vessels which carry it to the Heart in which as well as in the Arteries they excite divers Fermentations that promote the separation of the different Particles of the Blood in the several Parts of the Body where they are usually separated from its Mass according to the disposition that each of those Remedies has to put certain parts of the Blood in Motion rather than others Thus we may observe that a visible Fermentation or Ebullition is produc'd in certain Liquors when they are mix'd with other Fluids that are dispos'd to put 'em in Motion whereas they remain undisturb'd when they are mixt with others And from the Operation of Purgatives on different parts of the Blood there arises a distinction of Names For Example some are call'd simply Purgatives which are again divided into Hydragogues Cholagogues Melanagogues and Phlegmagogues or Medicines that purge Watery Humours Choler Melancholy and Phlegm Others are call'd Emeties Sudorifics Errhines c. Now those Names are very fitly impos'd either with respect to the Parts of the Body thro' which they procure the Evacuations or to the parts of the Blood which they are particularly apt to put in Motion From hence we may observe that all those Remedies are endu'd with one common Property that is to excite a Motion in the Blood and that their different ways of Operating proceed only from the different Figure or Contexture of their Parts for by reason of their peculiar Configuration they are more easily admitted into certain parts of the Body than into others and by the Irritation they occasion in the Parts they promote the Separation which is perform'd there of some particular Excrements from the Blood And upon this Score we may reasonably say that they are proper to purge such and such Parts as for Example such as are proper to purge the Liver we call Hepatics and those that are peculiarly adapted to the Spleen are term'd Splenetics Besides according to the various situation or contexture of their Parts they are disposed to agitate Certain Particles of the Blood to which they unite sooner than to others And upon this account we may say that such a Medicine is proper to purge such a Humour This Observation is confirm'd by Experience particularly what relates to Hydragogues or Medicines that purge Watery Humours for the Evacuation of Serosities is much more sensible than that of the other Particles which compose the Blood because that which the Purgative drives into the Intestines whether it be separated by the Glands of their inward Membrane or squeez'd out of the Biliary and Pancreatic Ducts being mixt with the Slime and Excrements which it finds in the Intestines it is very hard to determine what Humour hath been chiefly wrought upon or expell'd by the Purgative Medicine CHAP. XII Of the Purgatives that ought to be used for the preventing of Diseases PVRGATION by Stool ought to be preferr'd before all other Evacuations because 't is the most natural and ordinary way and that which best answers the design we ought to have in order to the removal of the Cause of Diseases speedily to expel the Excrements that are stopt in the great Guts and to correct the ill Quality of the Blood which is the Consequence thereof Nevertheless Emetics or Vomits may be useful to some Persons when they are troubl'd with an inclination to Vomit such as those who have a strong and large Breast And others may profitably use Sudorifics namely those who are Choleric and whose Pores are very open Diuretics or Medicines that provoke Urine are proper for those who feel a heaviness and heat in their Kidneys such as are subject to the Gravel live unmarried and abstain from the use of Women Some may make use of such as occasion Spitting and others of those which expel the Excrements by the Nose Those who have a weak Breast and wet Brain may find benefit by the use of these Remedies provided they have no Polypus or other Impediment in the Nostrils In a Word every Man ought to be directed by his own Experience and either have recourse to or abstain from such sorts of Evacuations according to the good or bad Effects which he finds they produce upon him For Example a Person who is apt to Vomit without any considerable trouble when he finds his Stomach over-charg'd will receive greater benefit by a Vomit than by ordinary Purgations whereas those who cannot Vomit without an unusual disturbance ought rather to use Simple Laxatives least the Fibres of the Stomach be weaken'd by such over-violent Motions Others who labour under Faintness or Weariness provided they be not naturally too dry or lean will find themselves eased if after Bleeding they take a Medicine to procure a moderate Sweat The People in the Levant by this means prevent a great number of Diseases Those who are troubl'd with Pains in their Kidneys and whose Urine is of a high Colour or thick may after the use of cooling Remedies have recourse to Medicines that provoke Urine either alone or mixed with Laxatives Those who are naturally inclin'd to Spitting and have a moist Brain may both prevent and cure their Distempers by raising a Salivation by the use of Remedies that are proper to produce that Effect In fine every Man ought to consult his own Experience and study the Constitution of his Body and afterwards use those Remedies which he finds to be most useful and agreeable to him There is one important Rule to be observ'd in the administring of all those Remedies and that is To begin always with the gentlest and most simple It is certain that when we use Remedies meerly for prevention we ought to be our own Physicians for since the bare Presages or Signs of a future Disease cannot be suppos'd to have depriv'd us of the use of our Reason we may chuse those Medicines which upon trial have formerly succeeded and which cannot be so well known by a Stranger as by our selves Besides it ought to be observ'd that there is nothing more various or uncertain than the Operation of Purgatives on Humane Bodies Some Persons are violently purg'd by weak Medicines when a stronger Remedy wou'd not produce the least effect upon 'em There are others on whom mild Physick will not work at all and even the strongest Medicines are scarce effectual On the other hand some are so easily purg'd that a Decoction of Herbs will suffice and to others half an Hours Conversation in an Apothecary's Shop Some are purg'd by Strawberries Cherries Gooseberries Peaches Pears c. Some by sour Milk fresh Pork c. and others by
we must not only be possest of an unshaken Firmness and Resolution but be furnish'd with constant Supplies of Grace for Chastity in Youth is a sort of Martyrdom or as a Father of the Church terms it Martyrium sine sanguine This Consideration obliges me to advise all unmarry'd Persons to abstain entirely from the Pleasures that are propos'd to them by this Passion provided their ordinary Food be not too Juicy and provocative such as new-laid Eggs Capons Partridges Woodcocks Pigeons Artichokes Asparagus Celery all sorts of Salt and Pepper'd Meats as also some kinds of Pulse because of their Windiness as Pease and Beans and therefore such Persons must content themselves with less Nourishing Food and cool their Bodies more or less according to their Age and Constitutions which they may do very easily by consulting their Physicians for otherwise they may by abstaining entirely from the Pleasures of Love render themselves obnoxious to many Diseases as Stoppage of Urine the Gravel Stone Vapours Faintings the Jaundice and Green-Sickness 'T is certain that an excessive use of the Pleasures of Love is more dangerous than an entire abstinence from them for the Ebullition of the Blood ending sooner or later with Age the Passions are extinguish'd with it and the Calm we enjoy after the Storm makes us soon forget all the Pain we suffer'd to resist it whereas the Inconveniencies that remain after the immoderate use of those Pleasures such as the trembling of the Nerves Palsie Shortness of Breath Phthisis Gout c. make us pay very dear in a long and infirm Old Age for the transitory Charms we enjoy'd and the frivolous Amusements of our Youth What has been said may suffice to give us an Idea of the remote Causes of Diseases and therefore in the next place we must proceed to consider their more immediate Causes CHAP. IV. Of the Redundancy or too great Abundance of Blood the first immediate Cause of Diseases THE Blood which is the Treasure of Life when it exceeds either in Quantity or Quality may prove the Cause of Death when there is more than a sufficient quantity of it in the Body which we call a Plethora or a fulness of Blood or when it hath acquired some bad Quality which we call Cacochymia or a depravation of the Humours Bleeding destroys or removes the former and Purging the latter We may easily comprehend how Diseases may be occasion'd meerly by the Quantity of the Blood if we reflect upon the Disposition of the Organs which contain and convey the Blood and conduce to its Motion In order to this we may compare the Veins and Arteries of our Bodies to the Pipes of a Fountain the first of which or those that are next the Spring-head are very big and large but grow insensibly smaller as they spread themselves into Branches supposing for Example that the first gives passage to a Foot of Water and that the last do not give passage to above an Inch. The same Observations may be apply'd to the Blood-Vessels The Arteries which proceed from the Heart are very large and are divided into others of a middle bigness these again are divided into smaller Branches which are successively subdivided till they become so small that they are usually call'd Capillarie or Hair-like and Invisible And in all parts of the Body where these invisible Arteries are found they meet with very small Veins which grow larger as they meet and join with one another and return at length to the Heart where they terminate and are as large as the Arteries at their coming out of the Heart Now the Blood flows thro' all those Pipes and the Heart directs its Motion as a Conduit-Maker directs that of the Water in the Pipes of the Fountain And as it often happens that the Water-Pipes are either stopt or broken when a Body that is Bulky enough to fill up the Passage enters with the Water or a greater quantity of Water than they can contain so the Blood-Vessels are frequently obstructed and sometimes broken when the Liquor they contain is either redundant or thicker than it ought to be from whence proceed Fevers Ebullitions of the Blood Abscesses or Impostumes both in the inward Parts and upon the Surface of the Body Bleeding at the Nose and other Parts Apoplexies Suffocating Defluxions and Obstructions of the Intrals which make way for an infinite Number of Diseases But if the Abundance of Blood may be look'd upon as the Cause of so many Distempers 't is certain that the depravation of it may produce a far greater Number of more stubborn and dangerous Diseases CHAP. V. Of the Depravation of the Blood consider'd as an immediate Cause of Diseases occasion'd by the retaining of the Excrements in the Body SINCE the retaining of the Excrements in the great Guts is that which most frequently makes the Blood lose that good Disposition in which our Health consists and occasions a Cacochymia which we have already intimated to be the Cause of the most stubborn Diseases 't will be convenient to give the Reader a comprehensive View of this fatal Source of Distempers The Meat which we eat receives its first Change in the Mouth by the help of the Teeth which are as it were small natural Knives to mince it and of the Spittle which may not improperly be said to serve instead of Salt to help its Concoction From the Mouth 't is carry'd through a long Chanel which Anatomists call the Oesaphagus or Gullet into a spacious Cavity call'd the Stomach where either by a proper and peculiar Vertue belonging to that Part or by the help of an Acid or some other Ferment which it meets with there 't is chang'd into a liquid and greyish Substance which they call Chyle Then continuing its Journey downwards it goes out of the Stomach by its inferiour Orifice and slips into the upper part of the Intestines to the several Parts of which Anatomists have given different Names according to certain Remarks and Observations they have made upon these Parts The first part which in the dissection of several Animals they found to be about twelve Inches long is call'd the Duodenum that which follows which some pretend is not so full as the rest is term'd the Jejunum that which consists of most Folds is call'd the Ileon and so of the rest The greatest part of this Intestine is fasten'd about a Part which by reason of its Folds or Plaits resembles those Ruffs that were formerly worn about the Neck and is call'd the Mesentery Its Figure renders it very apt to retain in a small space a considerable part of this Intestine which is variously wound or twisted about its Folds 'T is in this part of the Intestines that the most useful part of the Chyle insinuates it self into the Mouths of certain Vessels call'd the Lactean or Milky which run along between the Membranes of the Mesentery And the grosser Particles which cannot enter into the Branches of those Vessels
production of new Blood does for the same reason occasion a dissipation of part of that which is already generated and consequently answers both the Indications that were propos'd But if the Disease requires a speedy Cure which cannot be perform'd by Abstinence as it oftentimes happens we must have recourse to Bleeding which by a present Evacuation of the Blood destroys the Cause of the approaching Disease ' Twou'd be ridiculous to object that Bleeding causes greater Alterations in the Body than Abstinence or a thin Diet that it occasions a sudden dissipation of the Spirits and consequently is attended with a much greater decay of Strength for that Loss will be much sooner and more easily repair'd than the Disorders that are occasion'd by Diseases CHAP. VII Of the ways to remove the Second immediate Cause of Diseases occasion'd by the too long continuance of the Excrements in the Cavities of the great Guts ' THO the Excrements that are retain'd in the great Guts are meer Impurities and extremely prejudicial to Health yet we must proceed with Caution in the means we use to expel them We must not begin with the quickest ways because they occasion great Disorders in the Body and it has been too often observ'd that inconsiderable Distempers have been exasperated and confirm'd by an over-hasty Cure and therefore gentle Remedies are both safest and most successful Instinct has furnish'd Animals with two sure and effectual Expedients to procure the expulsion of the Excrements that are retain'd in the Cavities of the great Guts viz. Clysters and Purgative Potions which 't is probable Men began to use when they observed the great Advantages which Animals receiv'd from them Bleeding and Abstinence which second the Effects of the former Remedies are also Lessons which Men owe to the Brutes and these four Expedients acting either jointly or separately are the safest and most effectual Means that can be made use of to hinder the stoppage of the Excrements in the great Guts and consequently to prevent the Diseases which proceed from such Obstructions It is easie to conceive how Abstinence or a regular Diet may contribute to the Evacuation of the Excrements if we consider that those Excrements are the remainders of our Nourishment That the more we eat and drink the more Excrements are bred in those Parts so that the Evacuation of those Excrements wou'd be an endless Work if the empty'd Guts were presently fill'd with the superfluities of a greedy Stomach But in the mean time a Diet which is only prescrib'd for prevention ought not to be so regular or thin as that which is enjoyn'd to sick Persons It is known that too nice or sparing a Diet is prejudicial to Health and is so far from assisting Nature in the Evacuation of the Excrements that it renders her unable to expel ' em Besides the Liquor which serves to dissolve the Food not finding Matter to work upon acts upon the parts that contain and receive it by drying and consuming them It may be further added that a Man who takes Physick only for prevention does not abstain from Labour and Exercise and therefore stands in need of Nourishment to repair the expence of his Spirits Wherefore to prevent Diseases one ought only to fast moderately at the same time he ought to avoid as much as he can eating in Company because People are usually wont to eat a little more than is necessary and besides he ought to chuse such Aliments as will leave but few Excrements in the Body and especially he must take care never to eat to satiety The second Expedient we propos'd to facilitate the Passage of the Excrements is Bleeding which is doubtless one of the best Methods that Nature cou'd suggest to Animals for it is certain that besides that there is no Remedy which depends more absolutely upon the Pleasure of the Person who either orders or performs it so there is none which in most Cases gives more speedy relief to the Patient Every Surgeon knows how useful Bleeding is to put a stop to Defluxions and the falling down of Humours which are always apt to fall upon wounded Parts how effectual it is to dissolve large Tumours with which Wounds are frequently accompany'd how powerfully it stops the inordinate Flux of Blood in the Wounds of the Vessels and both Surgeons and Midwives know how helpful it is to facilitate so difficult a Work Our Business at present is to enquire how it may contribute to the Expulsion of the Excrements out of the Cavities of the great Guts The Expulsion of the Excrements retain'd in the Cavities of the great Guts is perform'd chiefly by the Contraction of its moving Fibres assisted by those of the Muscles of the lower Belly and by the continual Inspiration which obliges the Diaphragma to press all the Guts All these Actions are perform'd by means of the Animal Spirits which upon such Occasions flow plentifully to the Parts which are the Organs of these Actions Now these Spirits are continually dissipated and that expence must be repair'd by the Blood of which they are compos'd provided there be a reasonable quantity in the Vessels which are appointed to contain it for when there is a Redundancy of Blood the Spirits are as it were suffocated and drown'd in the abundance of their Matter so that the best Office we can do to Nature on such Occasions is by Bleeding to reduce the Mass of Blood to a moderate quantity in order to ease her of an unnecessary Burthen which obstructs the liberty of her Actions Bleeding ought always to precede Purgations when both these Remedies are indicated by the signs of a Redundancy excessive Heat or Corruption of the Blood For we find by Experience that Purgatives operate both more gently and effectually when the Vessels are empty'd and the excessive heat of the Blood allay'd and its Depravation corrected by Bleeding 'T is further observable that we ought rather to bleed early in the Morning than at any other Hour of the Day and that when we are oblig'd to have recourse to this Remedy in very hot Weather we ought to be let Blood before the Rising or after the Setting of the Sun and in very cold Weather at Noon But in the general we ought to avoid Bleeding as much as we can when the Season is either excessively hot or cold for 't is certain that Bleeding is always attended with better Success when these Cautions are observ'd than when they are neglected With respect to the Age of the Patient we ought to bleed Infants less frequently and to take less Blood from them than from other Persons because a great part of their Blood is consum'd in the Nourishment and Growth of their Body in all its Dimensions So that from six Weeks or two Months after the birth of an Infant which is the time at which we may begin to let him Blood if there be a pressing Occasion to the Age of five or six Years I wou'd not take
the Purgatives of which Clysters are compos'd cannot much disorder the Body yet there are some Measures to be taken in order to the right use of these Remedies First they ought to precede the use of such Purgatives as are to be taken by the Mouth because they facilitate their Operation by procuring the Expulsion of the Excrements that are retain'd in the great Guts which wou'd oppose their Passage and that of the Excrementitious Humours which they draw from the Stomach small Guts Veins and Arteries for as in a Woodmonger's-Yard when People come to buy Wood for Fuel when one Pile is sold and the Woodmonger designs to sell another since it wou'd be a needless trouble to climb up to the top of the Pile to serve every single Customer he overturns the whole Pile by drawing out five or six pieces of Wood at the bottom the same effect is produc'd by Clysters which by voiding the greatest part of the Excrements and Filth retain'd in the Cells of the Intestines facilitate the Operation of purging Potions which finding the Passage free are easily able to carry off the Matter they have squeez'd out of the Arteries and the slimy and gross Humours which they bring from the Stomach and from the small Guts and besides expel the rest of the Gross Excrements which they find lodg'd in the Cells of the great Guts We must further observe that the Operation of Clysters is very irregular for in some Persons a Clyster of Oxycrate will procure wonderful Evacuations which in others wou'd be altogether unprofitable and in some the strongest Clysters will not produce the least effect And that which operates well at one time will not work at all at another wherefore we must learn to prepare several sorts observing nevertheless to chuse always such as are mild and simple rather than such as are violent and hard to be prepar'd As for Purgatives that are taken by the Mouth 't is better to take them by way of Infusion than in Substance that we may spare the parts thro' which they must pass a double Labour for besides that they must suffer the Operation of the Medicines that are taken in Substance they must also unfold and disentangle the Particles in which their Purgative Vertue consists from many others of which they are compos'd whereas the Liquor in which they are infus'd imbibes only their Purgative Particles and by reason of its fluidity infinuates it self more easily into the small Passages of the Body than the gross Substance can be suppos'd to do In order to the right use of these Medicines there are four Observations to be made The First is to take 'em by degrees that is to begin with the most Mild and Simple But if their Weakness hinder their Operation we must augment the Dose or take a stronger Medicine till such time as the Evacuation be made proportionable to the Symptoms we perceive of a greater or smaller fulness or redundancy of Humours The Second Observation concerns the quickness of their Passage which is of great importance because they cannot remain long in the Body without occasioning a violent Irritation of the parts they touch which may be attended with very dangerous Consequences for a purging Medicine has almost the same Operation on the parts of the Body thro' which it passes as a Spur has upon a Horse because as the Horse goes faster when the Rider spurs him but once and kicks and winces when he keeps the Spur constantly in his Sides so the Purgative by its first Irritations moves the Parts thro' which 't is carry'd to expel the Excrements that are contain'd in 'em but when it stays too long it enflames the Parts and renders the Humours hot and dry and consequently unfit for Evacuation so that its Operation is both inconsiderable and extremely troublesome to the Patient To avoid this Inconveniency in the use of Laxatives they ought always to be accompany'd with some Vehicle that is to say a Substance fit to insinuate it self into the closest parts of the Body notwithstanding all the Obstructions it may meet with in the Parts that are appropriated for separating the Humours as the Liver Spleen Pancreas and all the Entrals These Vehicles may be made of Decoctions impregnated with the subtil Parts of certain Plants that are proper to slip into the smallest Pores of the Capillary Vessels as are for Example the Decoctions of the Roots of wild Succory Strawberry-Leaves Dog-Grass Agrimony Sorrel Chervil and many other Herbs which are endu'd with the same Virtues Instead of these Decoctions you may use the Juice of a Limon or Orange Verjuice White-Wine Whey and many other Remedies which every one may chuse from his own private Experience to facilitate the Operation of Purgatives The Third Rule to be observ'd in the use of purging Medicines is to chuse such as do not make you costive after the use of 'em for this is the surest Mark that the Physick is proportionated to the Strength of the Patient on whom it works especially since 't is but too frequently confirm'd by Experience that the more violent the Medicines are the Patient is the more costive after the use of them One might inferr from hence that the same thing happens on these Occasions to the moving Fibres of the Intestines as to Persons who being forc'd to undergo involuntary Labour are so wearied and jaded with their forc'd Exercise that they work no longer than while the Rod is over their Heads so the Fibres of the Intestines having been too roughly and frequently shaken by the Operation of the Medicine are so weary'd with these forc'd Contractions that they cannot afterwards perform the Motions that are necessary for the Expulsion of the Excrements which gather daily in their Cavities so that we are obliged either to accustom our selves to Physick or if we neglect to use it must expect a new Accumulation of Excrements which will soon after be the Cause of a new Disease To conclude The last Observation in the use of Purgatives relates particularly to those weak Medicines that produce little or no Effect when they are often repeated in a little time for the moving Fibres of the Intestines are soon accustom'd to the Impression of such Remedies and become perfectly insensible of such feeble Irritations Just as the Organs of the Senses are not sensible of the Impression of these Objects to which they are accustom'd In this case we must change the Remedies because even the weakest Purgatives remaining in the Body cannot but occasion some disturbance in it CHAP. XI Of Purgatives and how they operate Of the Time and Manner of using them IT is certain that the Operation of Purgatives destroys the most immediate Causes of the greatest part of our Diseases whether they be taken inwardly or injected by way of Clysters However it must be acknowledg'd that the way of administring 'em occasions some difference in their Operation for since Clysters reach no further than the