and other Countries very frequent not gross and turbulent infected with putrid vapours and noxious exhalations from stinking Ditches Lakes Bogs Carrions Dunghills Sinks and Vaults for which causes great Cities and the adjacent places are not so healthful nor the people so long liv'd Change of Air sometimes is very necessary for the conservation of health and the recovery of it declining and lost for temperate bodies by an intemperate Air shall gradually and in time become intemperate intemperate bodies by the contrary intemperate Air shall be reduced to temperature at least shall conduce much and be very Auxiliary for the reduction Therefore bodies declining from exact temperature are best preserved in that Air opposite to their declensions as cholerick hot and dry bodies in a moist and cool Air Phlegmatick cold and moist bodies in a dry and warm Air. It is not therefore of small moment in what place you live and more especially such who labour of or are more subject to any pectoral infirmity for the Lungs being of so tender a substance and porous continually drinking in the Air are most apt to receive impressions from it according to the properties it is pregnant with and infested and many diseases of the breast arise from this sole cause and many exasperated by it and continued Hence it is that Asthmatick Phthisical and Consumptive persons shall not be cured in some places but may have cure in another Be cloathed according to the clemency season and temperature of the Air your Age and habit of body Lean thin bodies and pervious corpora rarae texturae and whose skin are loose and lax may wear thicker cloathing because such are more perspirable do magis emittere transpirare and are also more penetrable and subject to injury of the Air. Fat and fleshy people and whose bodies are solid firm and hard are more impenetrable and impervious and may wear thinner Garments Infants and Children lately cherished in the stove of the Womb being of tender soft bodies are easily exposed to the prejudice of the Air. Vigorous youth and middle Age being accustomed to all weathers whose spirits abounding do strongly resist and keep out the assaults and injuries of an offensive Air may best indure hardship Old Age whose natural heat is abated and spirits exhausted stands in need of good defensatives against external cold and to cherish internal heat Observe the seasons and changes of the Air and be then most careful for at such times you are in most danger to exchange health for sickness hence it is that Spring and Autumn abounds most with Diseases the Air then assuming new properties opposite to its former constitution sets new impressions upon our bodies which occasions the various aestuations and turgid formenting of humours producing divers symptoms according to the variety of their nature the organical difference office and constitution of the several parts The Sun being risen and the Air clear open your Chamber-Windows that the fresh Air may perfume your Room and the close Air and inclosed Vapours may go forth Bad smells and putrid vapours being drawn in with the Air are very injurious to the Lungs and vital parts contaminating the spirits and impressing upon the Crasis of those parts their tetrid nature are oftentimes the original of a Consumption and if the Lungs be weak and infirm are more apt to receive prejudice than others But fragrant smells refresh and chear the vital spirits and are very wholsome breathing forth the vertue of those things from whence they do proceed Be not late abroad nor very early for before Sun rising and after setting the Air is not so good being then infested with noxious vapours until the radiant influence of the Sun dispels and purifies and those whose custom it is to be often abroad at such times are most frequently molested with Rheums and Rheumatick Diseases of which their declining years will more evidently manifest the prejudice Likewise in moist foggy dark weather 't is better being within than abroad and if it be a cool season good fires and fragrant fumes are then both pleasant and very wholsom Be frequent abroad in the Fields when a clear Skie invites you forth and let the fresh Air fan you with its sweet breath but more especially in the morning the Air is softer and more pleasant than your Bed and sure I am far more wholsom Temperie Coeli corpusque Animusque juvatur Ovid. In the choice of places to inhabite and dwell in these things are to be considered principally First The Climate that it be temperate and suting with the nature of the person for some persons may agree well with one Climate with which others cannot cold and moist bodies agree best with a warm and dry Air hot and dry bodies with a moist and cooler Air. Secondly The situation of the place and soyl is to be noted for as much as low wet and marish Lands are not so wholsom to inhabit as gravelly Plains and dry Highland Countreys Thirdly In relation to Country and City regard is to be had and here the Country does prevail over the City for Health and is to be accounted the best place of abode The continual smoke and annoyances that are inseparable from great Cities make those places to abound more with infirm and sickly people Fourthly The Waters that supply a place do make it better or worse to live in as they are good or bad Water being of so constant and general use is much to be regarded though little taken notice of and procures many diseases from the variety of its nature being impregnated variously from the Earth it passeth through or from accidents that happen to change it from its natural properties by the admixture of any filth carrion or what else shall fall into it and therefore River Waters that lie open to such injuries are much to be suspected of unwholsomness And ill water is a great procurer of the Scurvy in many places as Pliny relates that Caesars Army by drinking of bad Water but a few days had the symptoms of that Disease The commendations of a place in relation to health and long life are these A temperate Air dry serene and clear Champain or high Lands a gravelly dry soyl watered with pure good Springs remote from the Sea Lakes or Marshes not frequented with unwholsom Winds and stormy blasts So considerable is the Climate and Air in relation to our Being that it not only changeth and altereth our Bodies but also our Minds are wrought upon by it in as much as the wit inclinations and manners of a people are different upon this score And for long Life we find that in some Countries the people are longer lived by much than in other and this from the wholsomness of the place and purity of the Air therefore the choice of places to live in is of great concernment and much to be regarded by those whose Fortunes permit them to pitch in any place for the advantages of
are retired to their proper stations By this rational course the advantages that will accrue to you are these Exercise rouseth dull inactive spirits gives ventilation opens obstructions by the motion attenuation and penetration of the subtile spirits agitates and volatiseth feculent subsiding humours abates superfluous moisture increaseth natural heat promotes concoction distribution and conveyance of aliment through the narrow Channels and Passages unto the several parts of the body procures excremental evacuations strengthens all the Members and preserves Nature long in her vigour and verdure Having set out the times for Exercise and Motion the remainder is allotted for Rest and Ease with such refections and repast as Nature requires Quod caret alterna requie durabile non est Ovid. Rest is as necessary to preserve Health and continue mans body in strength and vigour as Exercise These two although much opposite in themselves yet both in their order and seasons are very suteable and agreeable to humane Nature and both contribute to the being and long being of Man Nothing constant is liking and congruous with our Nature but vicissitude is most acceptable and delightful When the body is wearied with Labour then rest is refreshing and renews its strength but when satiated with rest does then thirst after motion and pleasant exercise Rest is a burthen if forced upon Nature longer than Nature does require and that is but for a short space Interdum quies inquieta est quoties nos male habet inertia sui impatiens Sen. So that the due timeing of Rest and Motion and limiting them to their hours and seasons most agreeable and delightful to humane Nature is that which preserves him in Health and prolongs his Being Avoid idleness and a sluggish sedentary life for want of due action and wholesom motion the body like standing Waters degenerates and corrupts If Rest exceeds the vigour of Nature is abated digestion not so good distribution of aliment to the several parts retarded and impedited by reason of an obstructed foul body excrementitious superfluities not freely transmitted and emitted the spirits dulled and all the faculties of the body and mind heavy and slow to action Ignavia corpus hebetat labor firmat SECT XV. Sleep and Watching Limited and Cautioned THE Life of Man being conversant in vicissitudes spends its whole course in these two different states Sleep and Watching the one appointed for Rest and Ease the other for Action and Labour If he were constant in the first his life were but the shadow of Death not worth the naming Nemo dum dormit alicujus est pretii non magis quam si non viveret Quidam If in the latter he could not hold out long but be tired and worn out Therefore Nature hath wisely contrived that man should not continue long in either but should be transient from one to the other and weave out his life by these short intervals and changes Watching Action and Motion Sleep Rest and Cessation these are equally requisite for our well-being So that these two variations relieving one another both become a defence and support of humane life Sleep is a placid state of body and mind bringing refreshment and ease to both Sleep takes off the Body from action and the Mind from care thought and business and gives a cessation and quiet interval from their Labour That sleep may prove most advantagious answering the intentions and designment of Nature it must be regulated in these four particulars the Time when and the Limits how long the Place where and the Manner how The Time most proper and fit for Sleep and according to the appointment of Nature is the Night when most of the Creatures also do take their rest At the shutting up of the day and the Sun departed from the Horizon the spirits are not so active and lively but incline to a cessation and then it is fit to give them their repose and rest and not constrain them longer upon duty In the morning again at the rising of the Sun they are fresh brisk and agile fit for motion and action and then they are no longer to be chained up in somnolent darkness but to be set at liberty and enjoy the bright light which chears the spirits and is a great enlivener to them Turpis qui alto sole semisomnis jacet Cujus vigilia medio die incipit Sen. Avoid day-sleeps as a bad custom chiefly fat and corpulent bodies but if your spirits be tired with much business and care or by reason of old age debility of Nature extream hot weather labour or the like that dissipates the spirits and enervates then a moderate sleep restores the spirits to their vigour again and is a good refreshment but rather take it sitting than lying down Night watching and late sitting up tires and wasts the animal spirits by keeping them too long upon duty debilitates Nature changeth Youth and a fresh florid countenance heats and dries the body for the present in time it abateth natural heat breeds Rheumes and Crudities and most injurious to thin lean bodies But go early to sleep and early from sleep that you may rise refreshed lively and active not dulled and stupid For length and continuance Moderate sleep is best it refresheth the spirits fortifies and increaseth vital heat helps concoction gives strength to the body pacifies anger calms the spirits and gives a relaxation to a troubled mind But immoderate sleep dulls the spirits injurious to a good wit and memory fills the head with superfluous moisture and clouds the brain retains excrements beyond their due time to be voided and infects the body with their noxious fumes and vapours an enemy to beauty and changeth the fresh flower of Youth Concerning the place for sleeping take these cautions First That you do not expose your self to the open Air for in the time of sleep Nature is not so well able to defend the body from external injuries of the Air but lies more open to such assaults being off her guard and retired to Rest Know also that it is a bad custom to sleep upon the ground as many in the Summer season do use to their prejudice and those whose conditions of life necessitate them to it as Souldiers although for the present they escape the mischief yet afterwards most are made sensible of the injury by Aches stifness or weakness of Limbs and many other infirmities that it procures Sleep not in any damp place Vault or Cellar a ground Chamber especially unboarded a new washt Room or new plaistered but chuse a high Room dry sweet and well aired free from smoke and remote from any noise Let your Bed be soft but not to sink in which sucks from the body exhausts and impairs strength a Quilt upon a Feather-Bed is both easie and wholesom Be careful that your Bed be clean sweet and well aired for Bedding receives the vapours and sweaty moisture that comes forth from bodies lying in them which if they be
to the extremity of Age and full bounds of nature Which that you may so do and obtain conform and steer the course of your life by the Rules and wholesom Precepts hereafter laid down deducted from the method and Law of Nature and you will receive for your recompence these promised earthly felicities Health strength and length of days the true pleasures of a natural Life Nor can such a regular course of Life be accounted uneasy or troublesome as a difficult and severe restraint but most pleasant and free except to those accustomed to the contrary and captivated thereby the leaving of which ill customs is only difficult but the Rules enjoined in themselves are facil and easy to be observed Quod assuescenti primùm difficile non erit assueto Would you see without spectacles and go without crutches or the help of a staff Would you lie easie in your Bed and sleep away the night not telling the Clock and spending the time in wishing for day Would you relish your meat with the sauce of your stomach and drink with a gust would you be young in strength when you are old in Years If you would enjoy the pleasure of your self and the real capacity of enjoying all other things then consult this following advice and exercise your reason in the advantages proposed and compare these precepts with the model of Natures designment you will find them to run parallel with and the true Exposition of natures institutions the which not being observed and conformed to exposeth you to many infirmities enfeebles nature and abbreviates Life Qui medicè vivit sine Medicis diu vivet Qui non medicè vivit cum Medicis saepè sed non diu erit He that lives by Rule and wholesom Precepts takes the best course of preventing Physick he 's a Physician to himself and needs not the help of others but they that live carelesly and irregularly contemning Physical Rules as unnecessary Observations shall be constrained to Physical Remedies as necessary helps and must often resign into the hands of Physicians which course of life can neither be easy nor of long duration But they that desire to live long to see their Childrens Children to preserve their youth strength and beauty to be free from molesting pains and loathsom diseases to preserve their senses and enjoy their endowments of mind to the extremity of Age let them conform and be obedient to the Hygiastick Laws and wholesom Rules hereafter prescribed and they may reasonably expect what is here proposed for their reward Health Vigour and long Life London From my House in Wiâ—i-Office-Câ—…er in Fleetstreet E. M. The Heads and Principal matter treated of SECT I. THE Natural Duration Casual Abbreviation and industrious Prolongation of Mans Life p. 1 Primitive Age how long ibid. Mans Age shortned ibid. the gradual declension p. 1 2. Mans Age differs by places p. 2. other Creatures keep their Age p. 3. why mans life is shortned ibid. how procured p. 4 5 6. mineral vegetable and sensitive their duration p. 7 8. Man most uncertain in Being p. 9. the reasons why p. 9 10. considerable things to be observed p. 11 12 13 14 15 16. propriety of bodies various p. 17. method measure order and season to be observed p. 18 19 SECT II. Of Health and the Excellency thereof p. 20 No content without it p. 20 21. best known by the want p. 21. Health considered strictly and largely p. 22 23. Health defined p. 23. discoverers of Health and sickness p. 24. excellencies of Health p. 25 SECT III. Of Sickness and a valetudinary State p. 27 The attendants and sad consequents of sickness p. 27 28 29. sympathy and consent of parts in mans body p. 29 30 SECT IV. The Method and Means for preservation of Health p. 31 The supports of Life ibid. how to be managed ibid. faculties dependence upon each other p. 32. compared to Clock-work ibid. necessaries to Being bounded and limited p. 33 34 35 SECT V. The choice of Air and Places of Abode shewing the benefits and injuries arising from different Air p. 37 Necessity of Air p. 37. Air disposeth Body and mind ibid. operates upon the spirits p. 38. which the best Air ib. change of Air necessary p. 39. promotes curing ibid. clothing suted to Air and Ages p. 40. changes of Air to be observed p. 41. when and what Air to be abroad in p. 42. best Place to live in p. 43 44. Places bad naturally p. 45. Places bad by neglect ibid. the great importance of Air. p. 46 SECT VI. Wholesom and Regular Eating for Substance Quantity Times and Order c. to be observed p. 47 Aliment or Food what is truly so ibid. in eating four things to be considered p. 48. meats examined by the Palate ibid. by the stomach p. 49. 54. by the constitution ibid. by the season for that kind p. 50. by custom p. 52. by the seasons of the year p. 53. simple diet best ibid. meats heavy and meats light distinguished and named p. 54 55. eight Rules for choice of meat p. 56. Quantity of meat appointed ibid. p. 57 58 59. Times convenient for eating p. 60 61 62. manner of eating and helps to digestion p. 62 63 SECT VII The variety of mans Food the several sorts of Flesh and Fish their difference in digestion and goodness p. 64 Food provided suting all persons ibid. the stores of nature ibid. of Animals for food p. 65. of Beef Veal Mutton Lamb Goat Kid p. 65. Pork Brawn Pig Venison Hare Rabbet p. 66. of tame Fowls Turkey Capon Pullet Chicken Goose Duck Pidgeon Peacock ibid. of wild Fowl Pheasant Partridge Snite Heathcock Woodcock Rails Blackbirds Larks p. 67. of sea and water Fowl Heron Crane Bittern Swan Stork Bustard Seapye Widgeon Puet Curlew Coots Fen-duck Puffin Teal Plover ibid. of salt water fish Sole Smelt Plaice Whiting Oister Maids Pranes and Shrimps ibid. Salmon Turbut Sturgeon Cod Haddock Lobster Thornback Mullet Herring Pilchard Anchove Scallop ibid. of fresh water Fish Trout Perch Pike Carp p. 68 SECT VIII Of various Sauces Spices and seasonings of meat p. 69 Preservatives Correctives Digestives Delectives ibid. the qualities and operation of Salt Sugar Honey Oil p. 69 70 71. Butter Vinegar Mustard Oranges Lemons Verjuce Pepper Ginger Mace Cloves p. 72. Cinnamon Nutmeg Olives Capers Broombuds Sampire Cucumers Onions p. 73 74 SECT IX Of Milk and Milk-meats Eggs and Spoon-meats p. 75 The difference of milk in kind and goodness ibid. Womans Milk Cowes Goat Sheep and Asses Milk compared and estimated p. 76. milk for whom good for whom hurtful p. 76 77. of Cream Butter Cheese Whey and Butter-milk p. 77 78. of Custard Whitepot Cheesecakes Rice milk Frumenty milk Potage p. 78 79. of Caudles Ponado and Water-gruel p. 79 80. Eggs their difference p. 80 81. Turky Egg Hen Goose and Duck Egg p. 80 SECT X. The sorts of Bread Grain and Pulse their goodness compared p. 82 The purpose and use of Bread ibid.
what disease it is ibid. the effects p. 20â— of Love and Desire ibid. defined and distinguished ibid. attended with other passions p. 202 203. what influence upon the body p. 203. Considerations to allay these passions p. 204 205 206. of Melancholy Grief and Despair p. 206. the decayes of Body from thence p. 207. of Hope and Joy ibid. the advantages thereby p. 208 SECT I. The natural Duration casual Abbreviation and industrious Prolongation of Mans Life IN the Primitive Age of the World mans life was accounted to be almost 1000 Years but after the Flood the Life of Man was abbreviated half and none then attained to the term of the first Age except Noah who lived 950 Years And after three Generations from the Flood their lives were reduced to a fourth of the Primitive Age and their lives ordinarily exceeded not two hundred Years About Moses his time the Age of Man was yet shorter commonly not exceeding 120 Years which also was his Age when he died yet we find upon Record in Sacred Writ and from Ecclesiastical Writers that after Moses some lived 240 and 260 yet that was rare but more frequently 120 which was then the common Age. Now the Age of Man is reduced to half that 60 or 70 years we count upon But although in general we find this gradual declension and abbreviation of mans Life in the several Ages of the World yet we must understand it was not equally so in all parts of the World together but places and climates and the manner of living of a people cause much difference in the protraction of their lives that at the same time some people of peculiar places were longer-lived by a third or fourth part then others of another Climate or Region as the Northern People And in colder Countreys they are longer-lived than in the hot Climates and this by reason of the heat that opens the Pores and causeth so great a transspiration that exsiccates and enervates the body but a cooler Air prohibits and restrains such immoderate transspiration and exhaustion keeps the spirits vigorous and united and preserves the alimentary Juyces of the body from too frequent and immoderate exsudation If we examine into the Ages of other Creatures we find little difference in their durations to what they were in the Primitive Times and infancy of the World who keeping to the Rule of Nature implanted in them do preserve their Beings and degenerate little from the integrity of their Durations allotted to them from the beginning Now why Man 's days should be thus abbreviated and shortned from what they were and the term of his life reduced to so short a continuance gradually declining in the several Ages of the World is fit matter to inquire into The causes of the abbreviation of mans life will appear if we compare the manner of our living now with that of the first Age of the World and from thence how every generation have worsted themselves by a degenerate condition of life unsutable to the institutions of Nature And since we must of necessity allow and admit of hereditary infirmities and traductive debilities of Nature we cannot but exspect unless by great reformation of the injurious customs and vices of these latter Ages but that we and our posterity shall degenerate yet still into a worse and sooner-fading state of life For as the principles of our Nature are more infirm tainted and debauched from our Parents and Progenitors than those of former Ages of more vigour soundness and integrity so they are likewise more propense and liable worse to be depraved and degenerate and consequently of shorter duration and continuance Now if we inquire into the condition and manner of living of the Antients comparing with the customs and fashion of this Age we shall find so much difference and irregularity from the appointment and injunction of Nature that may give full satisfaction to the Quaery and matter in hand In the infancy of the World Man provided and sought after the necessary requisites for his Being and was contented with a competent subsistence which Nature did purely require but in process of time Man was not satisfied with the bare reparations and necessary props of Nature most wholesome and conservative of his Being but hunted after variety and excess to please and gratifie his sensitive Appetite Thus one Agâ— taught another to be irregular and disordered and still dictated novel Inventions to the succeeding Generation to fill up and perfect what their Predecessors had prompted and begun whose lives were not long enough to lay a compleat platform of debauched Nature but must transmit their ruining practices to the following Ages to imitate and compleat Hinc illae lachrymae Thus and after this manner by such means is mans life beset with many cruciating maladies which have shortned the days of his abode here and in latter Ages acts but a short part upon the stage of the World And this is procured first by the variety and excess in meat and drink Secondly By unseasonable and immoderate sleeping and watching turning day into night and night into day Thirdly By sluggish and unwholesome ease instead of due exercise and motion or toyling unseasonably and wearing out the body when it requires natural rest and refreshment Fourthly By living in unwholesome places sucking in noysome destructive Air preferring profit and by interests before health and long life Fifthly Indulging Venus too much by immoderate and too frequent repeated acts thereby enervating all the faculties dispiriting and wasting the body Sixthly By wearing and fretting the mind with various passions changing from one excess to another and wracking the body with several disturbing moods and passionate humours Seventhly By exhausting the strength in a prodigal expence of the vital stream with frequent and unnecessary Phlebotomies Eighthly By infecting the body and stamping exotick impressions too frequently with the common virulent purgatives that alienate the crases or ferments of the parts and such like injurious Drugs not rightly corrected and ill prepared Medicines that bring detriment and damage to the body by their use Lastly To these may be added the injurious mannagement of Infants by careless or ignorant Nurses and fond Mothers greatly injuring their Children by a destructive indulgence and erroneous affectionate usage in the ordering and educating them who for the most part live not so long as others Having set forth how mans Life hath declined and shortned in the several Ages of the World and pointed at the chief procuring Causes of such abbreviation and change which hereafter we shall prosecute more fully it remains to tell you how this evil may in part be remedied and something regained that hath been lost and is still upon the losing side except recovered by a more diligent and prudent course And here I must premise a few things before I come to the point prescribing the Rule to walk by and means for attaining long life All the Creatures have their definite times
to you what is convenient which is a certain rule of proportion if you observe not to eat to a satiety and fulness but desist with an appetite being refreshed light and chearful not dulled heavy and indisposed to operation and action either of mind or body A set quantity or measure of meat or drink cannot be prescribed as a general rule and observation for all to follow in regard of the variety and great difference of persons in Constitution Age strength of Nature condition of Life and infirmities that what is convenient for one is too much for another and too little for a third The strong and healthy cannot conform to the sickly weak and infirm in quantity nor the labouring man to the sedentary and studious or the idle therefore every stomach is to be its own judge and every one ought to moderate themselves by the Cautions before-mentioned If your diet sometimes be not so good and proper for you in the quality and substance make amends in the quantity and eat the less Indulge not to the cravings of an irrational sensitive appetite but allow such a supply of daily food as will support and maintain bodily strength and not over-load it thereby the spirits will be vigorous and active humours attenuated and abated crudities and obstructions prevented many infirmities checkt and kept under the senses long preserved in their integrity the stomach clean the appetite sharp and digestion good Quicquid plus ingeritur gravat naturam non juvat But by the surplusage and over-charge the stomachical ferment is over-laid and its incisive penetrative faculty obtunded the appetite and digestion abated the stomach nauseating fluctuating and belching with crudities from whence Gripes Fluxes and Feavers do follow the spirits also clogged dull and somnolent and by their indisposition and inactivity humours subside degenerate incrassate and obstruct from whence also various ill symptoms and depraved effects throughout the body debilitating and decaying the senses enervating and stealing away the strength of the body by defrauding it of good nutriment hastning old age and shortning life Although you do not perceive the injury of your intemperance presently yet it will appear and be manifest if Physick remove it not seasonably Noxa etsi ad tempus fortasse delitescit temporis tamen successu sese exerit In Winter you may eat more freely but in Summer the spirits are dilated exhausted and drawn forth by the external heat opening the pores wherefore the appetite is not so sharp nor digestion so quick And the Rule is true though heat be not the principal cause of concoction yet it is a necessary Agent Exciter and Cooperator The third considerable in regular eating is fit and convenient times wherein take these Cautions Let not the common custom of meals invite you to eat except your appetite concur with those times and keep a sufficient distance between your times of eating that you charge not the stomach with a new supply before the former be distributed and passed away and in keeping such a distance your stomach will be very fit and ready to receive the next meal the former being wrought off perfectly no semi-digested crude matter remaining to commix with the next food and that is one chief cause of crudities and a foul stomach when a new load is cast in before the former be gone off which begets much excrements not much aliment clogs the Body and procures Diseases And therefore Avicen rightly admonisheth Nemo sanitatis suae studiosus aliquid comedat nisi ad hoc certo prius invitante desiderio ventriculo unà cum reliquis superioribus intestinis à praesumpto cibo vacuatis The Stomach that is empty receives closeth and embraceth food with delight will be eager and sharp in digestion and the Body will attract and suck the aliment strongly each part as it passeth along will perform its Office readily and sufficiently which they will not do if often cloyed with depraved and indigested aliment but slowly and with reluctancy for although they do not act by reason yet they have a natural instinct or endowment to discern their proper and fit object If you ask how oft in the day and when it is convenient to eat I answer as the quantity is not alike measured to all so the times are not equally to be appointed Children that have coming and craving stomachs do and may eat often in a day Young men and women healthful and good stomachs that labour or use much exercise may eat thrice in the day Morning Noon and Night The elder sort and such as are infirm or weak in stomach that do no work use no exercise or have a sedentary life to such eating twice in the day is sufficient And herein also respect is to be had to the nature and temperature of the Body and to custom for cool fat and moist Bodies bear hunger better than lean hot people of greater perspiration and cholerick stomachs who are gnawn by abstinence and do not well bear it especially if they omit a meal contrary to custom as Hippoc notes Apher 24. de rat vict qui bis de die cibum capere consueverunt ii nisi pransi fuerint imbecilles finnt infirmi ac 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 patiuntur Omit a meal sometimes it acuates and sharpens the stomach concocts indigested matter and makes the next meal rellish better Eat no late Suppers nor variety at once a good stomach may endure it for a while but the weaker is more sensible of the injury the best is prejudiced in time Eat not presently after exercise nor when you are hot but forbear till the spirits he retired and setled in their stations The fourth considerable for manner of eating and helps to digestion take this advice When you come to Meat leave your care and business but bring in your friend and be as merry as you can mirth and good company is a great help to a dull stomach both for appetite and digestion Eat not hastily but chew your meat well 't is a good preparation for concoction and your stomach will more easily and sooner digest for if it be but half chewed the stomach must have the labour to chew it over again with its incisive ferment Drink a little and oft at meat to macerate and digest especially if your meat be dry and solid and to help distribution of aliment but great draughts cause fluctuations and disturb the fermentation Forbear reading writing study or serious cogitations for two hours after meat else you draw off from the stomach abate the strength of digestion and injure the brain Hasty motion opens the Orifice of the stomach precipitates the food before due time and vitiates digestion SECT VII The variety of Mans Food The several sorts of Flesh and Fish their difference in digestion and goodness MAN above all Creatures exceeds in variety and choice of meats having not only for necessity and convenience but for pleasure also Nature abounds in variety
not purified by Air or Fire they will contract an ill scent and are then unwholesom to lie in But if every one ought to be thus careful of their own Beds they constantly lie in themselves you may easily then imagine how Travellers are exposed to the injuries of noysom Beds Your Chamber also ought to be kept clean and sweet which is conducing to your Health I do not mean often washing it for that brings an unwholesom damp and ill scent into a room especially a Bed Chamber and the Bed-Cloths do imbibe and receive in the moist vapour which must do some prejudice except it be in the heat of Summer hot dry and clear weather and the Windows opened to dry it soon and very well again but to do this in Winter in cold wet or foggy weather is an unwholesom ill custom but some Women are so tyed up to their old usage and fashions that no reason will prevail nothing but a sic volo and sic jubeo will keep off the washing Sweeping brushing and rubbing and searching often all the holes and Corners will keep a House but chiefly Bedchambers in such order for decency and cleanness as will answer all the intentions of washing and is not so offensive nor troublesome But air your Chamber daily by opening the Windows if the weather be dry and not thick or foggy As for the manner of posture or decumbiture the body must lie easie or sleep will be disturbed the head elevated a foot and half or two foot higher than at the Beds feet and from Head to feet the Bed to lie smooth and even and not a fall below the Pillow and hollow under the back as commonly Compose the other parts as best likes every person but lie not upon the back or constantly upon one side but by turns and first on the left side and be covered according to the Climate and Season of the Year The mind also must be in a good posture for sleep well composed and setled when you are in Bed or that will break off your sleep before due time and defraud you of your nights rest if you lie down with roving troubled thoughts they commonly will call you up before it is fit to rise and your sleep will not be so placid and refreshing Therefore when you lay by your cloaths lay aside also your business care and thoughts and let not a wandring phancy prevent your rest or awake you before due time SECT XVI Evacuations and Retentions bounded for preservation of Health ALL that the body receives is not fit to be retained our food though choicely pickt and temperately used yet all does not turn into the substance of the body but some part is to be separated and sent forth the rest to supply nourish and be assimilated This regular course being continued the body thrives and is in good order but if that which should be evacuated and sent forth be retained or that which ought to be retained be prodigally wasted and injuriously emitted then the body suffers and decays when the regular oeconomy thereof is thus subverted Hinc ingens morborum turba And here we are to consider of the various excretions that Nature does require and is beneficial and of such retentions as are injurious Under this Head is comprised excretions by Stool by Vrine menstrual Purgations Spermatick issuing transpiration by the Pores evacuation by the Nose and Ears of which the former are of the greatest concernment and special care to be had of them Excremental evacuations are various proceeding from the several digestions conveyed out by several Channels and Vents of Natures fabrication which duly evacuated are no small helps to the conservation of health and are the effects of a temperate and regular body The retention of them beyond due time argues discrasy of parts or irregular living and brings much detriment to the body by their noxious impressions and putrid vapours that infect and disturb the body If the Belly be costive and bound up if the Urine be supprest the monthly Courses stopt the Pores occluded and shut up the Soul will be stifled in the Body and the Body polluted and corrupted with its own Excrements and as these are so more or less in degree swerving from rectitude so it fares with the body better or worse And on the contrary if the Belly let pass too soon and forceably before the alimentary part be separated sweeping down both together if the Vrine flows too freely and drains the body If the Female Courses be immoderately current and exhaust the vital stream If the Sperme be involuntarily issuing and daily wasting If the Texture be too lax and pervious the Pores patent and evaporating the damage is as great as the former and as much to be feared as these evacuations are more or less enormous So that nothing but moderation and an even course between these two extreams are conservative of Health and longaevity And that this may be so all your actions and necessary customs must be bounded by mediocrity this is the Golden Chain that ties all together one Link whereof being broken the whole is broken and disunited having a dependence and mutual tye upon each other As the discharging of Nature moderately and seasonably in all her requisite evacuations preserves the body in health and strength so contrarily Immoderate evacuations cause weakness debility of Nature by exhaustion and procure several Diseases Cachexies Consumptions Dropsies c. To keep the body soluble is very good that at least once a day you may not miss to have a stool else the Faeces are hardned the body heated the stomach molested the appetite not so good the head heavy dull and sometimes pained some grosser matter which should go away by siege is brought by the Urinary passage occasioning obstructions all which are very injurious and destructive to Health Seasonable and moderate Venus alleviates Nature and helps digestion but immoderate exhausts the strength by effusion of spirits exsiccates and dries the Body hurts the Brain and Nerves causeth tremblings dulls the sight debilitates all the faculties hastens old Age and shortens Life But of this more at large in my Treatise of Spermatick Consumptions Cibo vel potu repletis superfluè evacuatis sive exercitatis coitus interdicitur Tempus optimum est manè post dormias Hyeme Vere frequentius permittitur Aestate parciús Juvenes sanguinei pituitosi liberalius parcius Melancholici parcissimè biliosi Senes emaciati Menstrual evacuations are proper to the Female Sex and come to them at certain years to some at fourteen or fifteen to others at sixteen or seventeen and then Nature challengeth them monthly as her due except she hath conceived nurseth or being grown old Nature does not require this evacuation And this is of such concernment with them that if this menstrual Flux be not right in the several requisites according to times quantity and quality the whole body oftentimes is disturbed but always some
and commands to the expulsive faculty for their emission All necessary and wholesom Customs are now neglected and disregarded the Soul too oft is wandring and gadding abroad and best when she is roving from home but neglects the airing of her Cottage and perfuming it with fresh aetherean breath The Soul is now always restless and disturbed nor shall the Senses her Attendants take their due repose but keeps an unquiet house at midnight In the second Case The regular and due order of government in the Body is subverted and changed when the Soul in the forementioned passions of Fear Anger Hatred and Revenge is disturbed and alarum'd by the assault approach or appearance of some evil or injury the Soul then summons the spirits together and commands them from their common duties calls them to her aid and assistance for security from danger to repulse the violence offered or revenge the injury hurrying them here and there from one part to another in a tumultuous manner if the assault be suddain and surprizing sometimes inward to support the heart to give courage and resolution which by their suddain concourse and confluence to the Center causeth great palpitations and almost suffocation or else commanding them to the out-works into the external parts to repel the invasion and violence of the evil presenting or approaching or to revenge the quarrel the Hands and Arms then receive a double or treble strength the Muscles being full and distended with agile spirits for their activity and strength in motion The Eyes then are staring full and stretch'd forth with a croud of inflamed spirits darting forth their fury and spending their strength upon the Adversary and Object of their trouble The Tongue then is swelled with spirits and big words that wanting a larger room for vent tumbles out broken and imperfect speeches and scarce can utter whole words The Legs and Feet then have an Auxiliary supply and double portion of spirits conveighed into their Nerves and Sinews to increase their agility and strength to come on or off But in the mean time the Heart perhaps is almost fainting so long being deprived of and deserted by those lively vigorous spirits which did inhabit and quarter there for its Life-Guard protection and support but are now called off their Guard and common duties imployed in Foreign Parts commanded here and there as the emergent occasions present to the Governess of this Microcosm In the third case mentioned the due order government and necessary execution of offices belonging to the welfare and maintenance of the body and preservation of life are neglected and weakly performed When the Soul being darkned and overspread with a cloud of sadness betakes her self to a sullen incurious recumbency and retiredness willing to resign up and cast off the government and tuition of the body and as a burthen which she now delights not to bear about begins to lose her hold who before had embraced and clipt so close suspending the virtue of her energy and vigorous emanations acting faintly and coldly those necessary mutual performances without regard to their former friendship or their future conjunct preservation The Body now begins to sink with its own weight and press towards the Earth the natural place from whence it came That active spirit which before had buoyed it up and took delight to sport it to and fro is now ready to let it fall and grovel downwards to leave it whither it must go The wonted pleasures of their partnership and society are now disgusted and rejected Food now hath lost its relish and is become unsavoury Sleep which before was pleasant as a holy-day in the fruition of rest and ease is now composed of nothing but troublesome unquiet dreams linked together with some sighing intervals to measure out the weary night by Exercise and sporting Recreations are now accounted drudgery and laborious toyling unwilling is the Soul to move her Yoke-fellow farther than the enforcing Law of Nature and necessity commands and urgeth Their joint operations which before were duly and unanimously performed are now ceased abated or depraved by the retraction reluctance and indisposed sadness of the Soul to act the wonted vigorous emanations of the Soul and her radiant influence upon the spirits is now suspended subducted and called back These ministring attending Spirits and nimble Agents which at a beck were always ready agile and active in the execution of her commands now want Commands to stir and Warrants to act by but in a torpid and somnolent indisposition unfit for action and the exquisite performance of their duties and in a sympathizing complyance with the Soul the excitrix and rectrix of their motions they are ready to resign their Offices and give over working that what they now do is faintly and remisly performed with much deficiency and depravation When the Soul is pleased and merry the spirits dance and are chearful at their work but when she droops and mourns the spirits are dull heavy and tired the Functions but weakly and insufficiently executed From the preceding Discourse may easily be collected that the Distempers and Alienations of the Soul from her genuine state of serenety and quietude is of great disadvantage to Health for as much as the necessary Functions of the Body from hence are disordered and insufficiently performed these perturbations also impressing upon the Body various preternatural effects forming the Ideas and Characters of Diseases upon the spirits which are by them communicated implanted and propagated in the body likewise the morbifick Seeds and secret Characters of Diseases which lay dead and inactive are by the oeconomical disturbance and perturbation of mind awakened moved and stirred up to hostility and action which otherwise would have layen dormant as by grief fear anger hysterical passions swoonings epilepsies c. are often procured and it is evident and commonly observed by infirm and diseased people how passion aggravates and heightens their distempers and according to the temper of their mind will their bodily infirmities be aggravated or abated I shall draw up this Discourse into three Corollaries being the Epitome of what hath been asserted and aimed at 1. There is no perturbation or passion of mind whether little or great but it works a real effect in the Body more or less according to the nature and strength of the passion and by how much the more sudden great often and of longer duration the passion is by so much are the impressions and effects worse more durable and indeleble You cannot be angry or envious or melancholy or give way to any such passion but you cherish and feed an Enemy that preys upon your life and you may be assured that passion makes as great nay greater alteration within the body than the change of your countenance appears to outward view which is not a little although but a shadow or reflexion of the inward distemper and disorder And were it possible by any perspective to see the alteration and discomposure
within made by a passionate troubled mind the prospect would be strange and much different from that placidness and tranquillity of an indisturbed quiet Soul 2. Strong and vehement passions or affections of the mind too intent upon this or that object whether desirable and to be enjoyed or formidable and to be avoided alienate suspend and draw off the wonted vigour influence and preservative power of the Soul due to the body whereby the functions and necessary operations are not duly and sufficiently performed but intempestively remisly and weakly Nor is the dammage only privative but also introduceth and impresseth upon the spirits a morbifick Idea which is ens reale seminale producing this or that effect according to the nature and property of the Idea received and aptitude of the recipient subject Phancies and Idea's are let in naked but they streight are invested and cloathed in the body have a real existence and are entia realia though at first conception but entia rationis as the longing of a pregnant Woman being but the Idea of a thing in her mind it begets various and real distempers in her body if not soon satisfied and sometimes characterized upon the Embryo in the Womb. Likewise a good stomach is taken off its meat suddenly by the coming of some unwelcom bad news the appetite is gone now the oul is disquieted and the Body really affected and altered Let these sad tydings be contradicted and the Soul satisfied of the truth to the contrary it sets a new impression upon the spirits they strait are cheared lively and active the stomach calls for meat and drink and the faculties restored to their wonted operations Whereby it appears the two passions of joy and grief as they are opposite in their objects so are their effects wrought in the Body as far distant and different 3. A cogitative or contemplative person too intent always or unseasonably employing the mind seriously and eagerly either in real or fictitious matters fabricating Idea's upon the spirits disturbs and hinders other necessary offices in the body and operations conservative of its being enervates and weakens their performance in duty impares Health and hastens old Age but those that live most incurious and void of studious thoughts too serious cogitations and disquieting passions preserve the strength of Nature and integrity of all the Faculties protract the verdure and beauty of youth much longer from declensions and decay for by how much the rational faculty is over-busie disturbed and intempestively exercised drawing the full vigour of the Soul into the discharge of that faculty and robbing other inferiour functions of their necessary influential supply and emanative power from the Soul by so much the other faculties are impoverished and abated their executions more languid and depraved and therefore it is a close Students life a careful or passionate mind disposeth to and introduceth many infirmities enervates and debilitates nature abbreviates and shortens her course SECT XXIII Distempers and Perturbations of the Soul particularly Of Anger THis Passion is a great Disease if we consider the preternatural effects and alterations it maketh for the functions of the body are disordered and discomposed by it and the whole man changed from what he was In giving judgment upon Diseases so much worse is that person to be accounted whose alteration is greater from what he was in a state of health and as the functions perverted are more in number and superiour in dignity This Disease does not take up one particular part for its quarters but it seiseth the whole Man All the Faculties are disordered and every part is discomposed and disturbed Take a view of an angry Man or rather a Man in the fury and perturbation of Anger his Reason is supprest or suspended he acts not rationally but as a mad man his face is changed his eyes stare and sparkle his Tongue stammers his Heart pants his Pulse beats high and quick his Breath is almost gone the Blood and all the Humours boyl and the Spirits are agitated to and fro by gusts like an impetuous Wind he trembles all over and this storm shaketh the whole Fabrick of his body Surely this is a great Disease that thus discomposeth and puts the whole man out of frame and order such storms as these do much weaken and enervate the ability of the Faculties disorder their regular performance and discharge of their Offices but more especially infirm Parts are made sensible of the prejudice and cholerick lean bodies An inflammation of any particular part is a great Disease but Anger is an inflammation of the whole and were this distemper to continue long a man were in as much danger of life as in the highest Feaver Therefore take the Poets counsel Principiis obsta Ne fraena animo permitte Calenti Stat. Fear Fear whether sudden and violently seizing or gradually approaching and threatning an evil to come both enervates and debilitates Nature Fear suddenly surprizing chaseth the spirits to and fro from their residency and faculties sometimes compressing and driving them to the heart causing violent palpitations and suffocation or scattering them from the Fountain of Life into the external parts making a dissolution almost to exanimation Such frightful surprizes as these are very dangerous and seldom happen but they leave some sad Characters and Impressions behind Etiam fortes viri subitis terrentur Tacit. Against this fear there is no remedy having surprized and seized the Person before deliberation can interpose to prevent it or preparation made couragiously to meet or valiantly to stand against this shock of terrour Fear that gives warning before the evil comes and threatens as yet afar off that Soul which then yields up her courage and strength of resistance is disarm'd by her own phancy and vanquished by her self is conquered with nothing in Being but with the fear of something that may be The evil although to come which possibly may be prevented and never come yet it is made a present calamity the suggestions being received and the Soul sinking under them make a pressure upon the Soul as really afflicting as the evil it self Multos in summo peric'la misit timor ipse mali Luc. Such fears as these ought to be chased away and manfully resisted that which may be is as far from us sometimes as that which never shall be The fear of things that never come are ten to those that come to pass Quid juvat dolori suo occurrere Satis citò dolebit cùm venerit Sen. As Anger swells the Soul and thrusts forward the spirits into the exteriour parts to oppose and to revenge the ill On the contrary Fear makes the Soul to shrink and the spirits to give back By this contraction of the Soul her wonted vigorous emanations in all the faculties are suspended whereby the functions of the Body are remisly and depravedly performed the spirits retire inwards the face grows pale wan and thin and the Soul pines and
the extremity and strength of passion debilitate and suppress Reason the chief contriver and manager of your design puts you upon inconsiderate immature and rash attempts and makes you more unfit incapable and unable to effect your purpose for Passion is always spurring but Reason hath its stops and pauses keeps due times for onsets and progress Thirdly That prudent and vigorous action not inane hungry volition or thirsty desire though ever so great can acquire the satisfaction of your hopes Fourthly That the ardency and heighth of desire will not imbetter sweeten or add to the heighth of your enjoyment but rather abate and lessen it in your account and esteem for what thing soever you purchase and are mistaken and deceived in you will not value at that rate you first prized it but at the worth you now find it Vehement and lofty desires screws you up to such a heighth of expectation mountain high but you must descend into fruition that 's low as the valley and when you find your self in a bottom and your Sails not so filled and puft out as formerly by the fresh gails and blasts of a strong desire your top sails then begin to flap and flag when you come in to the still calm of fruition and your lofty spirits and high thoughts will lowre amain when you Anchor in the Harbour of Enjoyment for in appearance it was great when at a distance and seemingly but now you are come nearer it is much less and inconsiderable really and what swelled you full in the prosecution of attaining will not fill you now with satisfaction but prove aery when you grasp it and soon emptied in enjoyment Non ea jam mens res habenti quae desideranti erat Fifthly That statutum est it is appointed you must or you must not obtain the thing desired which to a rational creature is sufficient without other Arguments to qualifie moderate and blunt the keen edge of desire and curb the violence of an impetuous affection but not to cowardise daunt or stop a laudable active prosecution to attain a noble vertuous and lawful end with a moderate submssiive desire Quisquis in primo obstitit Repulitque amorem tutus ac victor fuit Sen. Melancholly Grief and Despair These Passions being near allied we may rank them together as the Companions and Attendants upon adversity and misfortunes whose properties are to rob and steal away from the Soul that vivacious enlivening power which roborates and quickens all the faculties in the Body When these Passions are predominant the energy of the Soul is abated and all the functions insufficiently weakly and depravedly performed A dark Cloud of Melancholy over-spreading the Soul suffocates and choaks the Spirits retards their motion and agility darkens their purity and light these instruments in each faculty being thus disabled their offices in every part of the body are faintly executed whereby the whole body decays and languisheth witness the common symptoms of a dejected sad condition a pale thin face heavy dead eyes a slow weak pulse loss of appetite weakness faintness restlesness a weight or compression about the region of the heart with continual sighing or palpitation these are the effects wrought in the Body by Melancholy and Grief which are to be avoided as great decayers of Nature Enemies to Beauty Health and Strength Hope and Joy But these are the recreations of the Soul and are as sanative and wholesom as exercise is for the Body for the Soul plays and danceth in hope and joy Embrace therefore and cherish these as the supports of your life which raise the Soul to the highest pitch and extend her energy to the utmost These enlivening affections of the mind are the greatest friends to and preservatives of Health and strength for in this serene state of gladness all the faculties and endowments of soul are advanced and invigorated both rational sensitive and natural which implies a vigorous performance in all the members of the Body and therefore contribute mainly to the keeping or acquiring of Health and consequently the prolongation of life Content and joy prolong youth and preserve beauty make the countenance fresh the Body plump and fat for pleasantness and delight of the soul put all the spirits upon activity quicken their operations and duty in all the functions conveigh nutriment to repair and replenish the utmost borders and confines of the microcosm therefore dum fata sinunt vivite laeti FINIS Advertisement PAins afflicting humane Bodies their various difference Causes Parts affected Signals of danger or safety Shewing their tendency to Inflammations Tumors Apostems Vlcers Cancers Gangrenes and Mortifications for a seasonable prevention of such fatal Events With a Tract of Fontinels or Issues and Setons By E. Maynwaringe Doctor in Physick Printed for Henry Bonwick in St. Pauls Church Yard Bookseller Morbus Polyrhizos Polymorphaeus A Treatise of the Scurvey Examining the different Opinions and Practice of the most solid and grave Writers concerning the nature and Cure of this Disease With instructions for prevention and Cure thereof By the same Author The fourth Edition Tabidorum Narratio A Treatise of Consumptions Scorbutick Atrophies Tabes Anglica Hectick Feavers Phthises Spermatick and Venereous wastings radically demonstrating their nature and Cures from vital and morbifick Causes By the same Author The Mystery of the Venereal Lues Gonorrhaea's c. disclosed comparing the dissenting judgments of most eminent Physicians hereupon and the various methods of Cure practised in Foreign Countries Resolving the doubts and fears of such as are surprized with this secret perplexing Malady By the same Author desperati ne desperent assiduè tentando deploratos saepè curando certiùs tutiusque sanamus Medicus Absolutus 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 The Compleat Physician qualified and dignified the rise and progress of Physick Historically Chronologically and Philosophically illustrated Physicians of different Sects and Judgments distinguished the abuse of Medicines imposture of Empericks detected c. By the same Author Praxis Medicorum antiqua nova The Ancient and Modern Practice of Physick examined stated and compared the Preparation and Custody of Medicines as it was the primitive custom with the Princes and great Patrons of Physick asserted and proved to be the proper charge and grand duty of every Physician successively c. By the same Author