Method of curing Poisons consists in Alteration by Medicines which either in quality or in their whole substance are opposite to the poison It is my advice that we especially observe these two ways of curing virulent Diseases and poisons while we cure Pestilential fevers Because seeing all Poison of its own genuine property does first of all affect the heart the House and Fountain of life and then is on a sudden dispersed through all the Bowels and habit of the Body What is more necessary than that you should first of all give assistence and relief to the heart by those Alexipharmacks which either in their quality or whole substance resist the destructive poison of the Plague But if a Bubo break out in the Groin an Imposthume in the Arm-pits or a Parotis behind the Ears about the Emunctories of the Brain Heart or Liver or in the mean time a Carbuncle bud out in the Arms or Legs then as in poisonous wounds you must hastily apply Medicines to the place affected which may draw out the venome and scarifie the Abscess before maturation or open or burn it with an actual or potential Cautery if the Patient fear fire which by their heating and burning virtue not onely attract noxious humours but also often open gatherings made by them But whether beside these things the noxious humours of this Disease be to be evacuated by Bleeding or Purging is not yet determined But seeing the cause of the Disease is mixt with the Bloud in the Veins What hinders but that after ten or twelve hours from the taking of the Alexipharmack and when the Sweat is ended and the Spirits refreshed we may breathe a Vein in the same side in some proper place under the abscess or Carbuncle age and strength concurring seeing Phlebotomy not onely draws out the infected humours but also opens obstructions and abates the heat of the Fever Nor need you fear the revulsion of the humours inwards when the Abscesses are covered with strong attractive Medicines which resist revulsion Wherefore Galen and Paul advise to begin the cure of a Carbuncle with Bleeding till one swoon yet exclusively which I do not disapprove But whether strong Purges in the cure of this Fever be so convenient I cannot easily say because they do but the more disturb the noxious humours and disperse them through the whole Body and draw them again inwards and waste the strength and they participate also of a poisonous quality and use very often to cause a Bloudy-flux and Loosness which is usually otherwise peculiar to this Fever and for the most part is a mortal symptome wherewith all that were taken in the long Plague of Rome who could not be helped by Bole Armenick died as Galen 3. Epidem relates But if the obstructed Belly do not void it Excrements who will disswade the use of a lenient Clyster And if the Disease have passed the state that the reliques of the Disease may be extirpated a Purgative Medicine of Rheubarb Agarick Cassia Tamarinds Manna can doe no harm as those strong ones Diagridium Coloquintida c. seeing they savour of Poison can do no good I have cured several who were given over for dead in this Plague by this method If before the beginning of the Disease one went little or not at all to stool then I procured one by a Suppository or a gentle Clyster afterwards I gave a Sudorifick Alexipharmack which according to the age and strength might provoke Sweat for two or three hours or more I applied Epithems to the Heart And if an Abscess or Carbuncle arose I presently applied Plasters to draw out the Poison Then about six or seven hours after Sweating but the strength first refreshed by some Broth I opened some convenient Vein But every day after the taking of the Alexipharmack both morning and evening I gave some alterative Potage which might both in quality and whole substance resist the poison of the Disease and also strengthen the Heart such as are made with juice of Lemons Citrons Oranges Sorel and Wood-Sorel with a little Vinegar and Sugar And in the declension of the disease if the appetite were languid I first Purged the Bloud from the reliques of the Contagion by Medicine that the Body might safely be nourished Last of all I ordered the Chirurgeons not to hasten the healing of the Sore or Carbuncle Joh. Langius lib. 1. Epist 18. and I charged the Cooks to give the Patient his proper Meat and Drink at the time prescribed By which way of cure a vast number of sick people recovered ¶ Hence it is evident they are under a mistake who being content with Alexitericks onely do give them to every Age without method relying onely on Experience And that all method should not be rejected seeing a Pestilential fever has not onely one Indication of Cure but two or three For the Fever requires cooling the Putrefaction requires alteration evacuation c. IV. Men are of quite different opinions whether Bleeding be convenient in the cure of Pestilential fevers some approving others disapproving the opening of a Vein in the Plague But neither opinion taken simply is reckoned safe by Peter Salius for he finds in either what he may deservedly disapprove They that judge we must proceed onely by Alexipharmacks in the cure of a Pestilential fever wholly rejecting Bloud-letting they he says have regard onely to the pernitious quality but they slight the putrefaction or fermentation rather of which nevertheless in such cases most reckoning should be made for except you remove it the Fever which is putrid cannot be removed and you will scarce be able to cure this unless you abate the quantity that causes and upholds obstructions and which is grievous to Nature Wherefore we must indeed give Antidotes to infringe the base infection yet we must likewise doe our endeavour to take away the Putrefaction whose cause we shall then try to remove when we shall attempt eventilation by exonerating Nature and diminishing the matter But their opinion says he who have admitted and commended Bleeding in a Pestilential fever I am afraid has been broached to the destruction of Mankind For he reckons this to be an Axiome of eternal verity That a Vein should never be breathed upon the account of a Pestilential Affection Or Bloud-letting must by no means be admitted in a Pestilential fever But seeing sometimes Nature must be eased of her Burthen and the body must have vent he shews another way besides cutting a Vein whereby we may satisfie this Indication without loss of strength that is by application of Leeches to the Haemorrhoid Veins or by scarifying of the lower parts I indeed think that opening a Vein in a genuine and simple Plague is for the most part hurtfull because by frequent experience it is oftner found to doe hurt than good in Pestilential fevers and I judge that those remedies that are instead of Venaesection may more properly be used in the simple Plague But I do
Hypochondriacal affection yet they are thick privately and in their retirement and besides the Saline volatile Parts there are also others whence the Symptoms vary widely thus Serum or Lympha so long as it is in its own Sphere and under the dominion of the Natural heat appears thin but when it slides out of the Vessels or out of the Body it waxes thick as is seen in Catarrhs Thus Aperients of this sort especially volatil are good in the Apoplexy when the original of the Nerves is obstructed also in stoppages of the Nostrils in intermitting Fevers or Agues in straitness of breath c. And in this case Purgers also are excellent seeing all of them have a saline melting Spur in them XI Aperients are indicated 4. by somewhat acid acrimonious austere sowr pontick when namely the Blood is fixed as it were by a preternatural acid when the juices are constringed by austere particles so that the Blood circulates not orderly nor its volatile Parts meet and part freely And in this case they are commonly called absorbing saturating and precipitating Medicines Whence also appears their very large use as for instance in vertiginous Distempers of the Head in the Epilepsie Apoplexy Palsie opening and absorbing Cephalick Cinnabarines are good especially those that make the Blood fluxil and for this very vertue are very comprehensive they are also profitable in Diseases of the Joynts Hip Womb also volatil Salts both alone and also when made more oily So in Diseases of the Liver and Spleen yellow and black Jaundice Scirrhus Dropsie ill habit and especially in the Hypochondriacal affection and Scurvy the same Medicines do the business For if it be asked How Medicines of Steel act and open 't is very well answer'd By absorbing just as Spirit of Vitriol Nitre Salt or aqua fortis it self being poured on Steel have their acid particles infringed are saturated grow sweet and turn to Vitriol for thus it is in the Body whence Corals also are commended by Glauber as an excellent Medicine in the Hypochondriacal affection taken to a scruple or half a drachm Thus the same are good not only in these affections but also in the Nephritick XII And these very Aperients consider'd generally act two wayes 1. by altering so that they correct the offending matter it self and re-establish the ducts passages and vessels 2. by evacuating in which regard Purgers also themselves are excellent Aperients for they also are indued with subtilty or thinness Hence is the practical rule In obstructions of the viscera we must not only open or not insist upon Aperients only but must also evacuate that that which is opened may be evacuated And in chronical Distempers these are to be used by turns first we must open then Purge and then again continue Aperients And this also is to be observed that Aperients being added to Purgers encrease their vertue XIII Now Aperients themselves are of divers kinds and as Montanus and experience testifie in general most of them exceed not the second degree of heat and they ought withal to be endued with a thick strengthening earthy substance that their heat be not so soon dissipated XIV In Aperients the active principles are predominant especially a fixed Salt and the Mecurial principles and aeral parts are mixt with the earthy and they are for instance 1. Acrimonious either with an aromatick energy or with the vertue of a volatile Salt as the five opening roots the roots of Burnet Aron Antiscorbutick plants Mustard the Arabian costus c. 2. Aromatick and oleous volatils as Menth Penyroyal Cinamon cubebs costus Mace carminative Oils volatil Salts oleous Antiscorbutick Spirits 3. Bitter as the roots of Cichory and Gentian Worm-wood Agrimony Germander Gum Ammoniack Aloes c. 4. Acid as pickled capers the volatil Spirit of Salt of Nitre of Tartar the Clyssus of Antimony which penetrate notably the juice of Citron the Cream and Crystal of Tartar mineral waters call'd acidulae 5. Watery which dilute temper and yield a vehicle Whey distilled waters 6. Absorbing fixed and lixivial as the Salts of plants the Tincture of Tartar which cleanse notably and purge the filth out of the veins Also earthy whether alkaline as Ceterach Liver-wort Crabs-eyes Corals Tartar vitriolate or vitriolate as vitriol vitriolum Martis crocus Martis aperitive the filings of Steel in substance tinctures of Mars In â—hort the most select Remedies of them are comprehended under a quaternary number and are either Martial Tartareous Vitriolate or Antimoniate XV. So also all Diureticks are aperient which are chiefly profitable when there is obstruction in the upper part of the Liver and when the malady is throughly wedded to the Blood XVI Now Aperients and Resolvents are more proper after Vniversals for otherwise the Humours are rather fixed and driven further in than the coats of the passages and vessels freed hence both purgers are convenient and also Blood-letting which is often very profitable in a great obstruction if there be present also a fault in the Blood XVII We must not insist only and continually on Aperients singly especially volatil but strengthners are to be intermixed otherwise the tone of the parts will be violated and the Body will be precipitated to a bad habit hence the hypochondriacal often use them in vain if they neglect tonicks withal and those mistake far more that by using volatil Spirits continually strive to overcome obstructions by them only XVIII There are to be mixt with Aperients such Medicines also as respect the part affected that the native heat of the parts may be preserved so Cephalicks are to be used for the head c. Thus as by the obstruction of the Kidneys a stone is bred so Aperients are good for it but such as dissolve the coagulum withal XIX Let them be given on an empty Stomach not with meat nor presently after for in general aliments are not to be confounded with Medicines and in particular Aperitives because they precipitate the chyme into the lacteal vessels and so increase the abstructions XX. Before all things we must see that they dry not too much whence moistening or liquid Aperients dilute and temper more and are greatly to be observed in diseases of the Liver Womb and Spleen I have often observed the contumaciously Hypochondriacal when they had been in vain long vexed with the stronger and drier Aperients to become very well upon the use of moistening ones whence Galenical Medicines are fitly mixed with Chymical and hence Mineral Waters have their vertue that they carry the dissolved Salts along with them But Pills are fitter where the viscera do more abound with excrementitious Humours To repeat these things summarily Aqueous and liquid Medicines dilute and temper more earthy absorb more saline drive more by Urine acid incide more G. W. Wedel de s m. f. 43. acrimonious attenuate and resolve more sweet cleanse more bitter do more strengthen withall XXI In all chalybeate Medicines this is alwayes to be
First wash the part well then lay on the following Liniment Take of Honey of Roses half an ounce oil of Vitriol 1 drachm mix them make an Ointment Herc. Saxonia l. 2. p. c. 25. 7. If the Ulcers be Malignant I use either Water of Tartar or Vitriol wherewith all malignant Ulcers are conquered River prax Med. l. 6. c. 5. 8. If there be no Inflammation the onely and best Remedy is Spirit of Vitriol or Sulphur which in those that are grown may be used alone Dip a little Cotton bound to the end of a stick in it and give the Sore a light touch for so a simple Thrush is cured in a moment Sennert l. 2. p. 1. c. 18. 9. In Childrens Thrush this is an approved Remedy especially when it is malignant and Epidemick They hold a living Frog to the Child's Mouth that it may draw out the Malignity which when it is weary and dead they hold another and so on but this is a filthy Medicine Apoplexia or the Apoplexy The Contents Whether Bloud must be let I. The Jugular Veins may be opened II. When Fomentations must be used before Bloud-letting III. Bloud-letting not good for all IV. A Sanguine Apoplexy cured by bleeding in both Arms at once V. Where Cupping-Glasses should be applied VI. The Efficacy of Cupping applied to the fore-part of the Head VII Cured by Blisters VIII Shaking the Body and stirring them up to walk when proper IX Plucking the Hair bending the Fingers rubbing the extreme Parts c. whether of any use X. Whether a Man should be Purged XI Violent Purging is convenient XII Whether a Vomit may be given XIII The Vomit must be strong XIV Clysters must be very sharp XV. Suppositories should be given frequently XVI Apophlegmatisms of Hiera to be rejected XVII Vinegar should not be mixt with them XVIII Whether Sneezing be proper XIX Whether Fumes be proper XX. The Efficacy of Stillatitious Oils and Volatile Salts XXI The great Antidotes are not allways proper XXII Whether for the Cure a Fever should be raised and when it succeeds the Apoplexy whether it should be extinguished XXIII An Apoplexy negligently cured of a small one became Mortal XXIV What Posture is best XXV They that are past Hopes are not to be quite given over XXVI Medicines I. I Judge a Man may nay must according to Prudence and Art let bloud in every Apoplexy according to the Constitution of the Patient and quantity of bloud in the Vessels and that plentifully For so the Patient will endure the longer Sylv. de le Boë Pran l. 2 c. 21. and the Apoplexy will be easilier cured as experience testifies without which I know not whether upon consultation one would not be afraid to let bloud in ancient people When therefore the Physician dare not let bloud experienced persons advise well that Scarification should be used or at least Cupping with Scarification in stead of bloud-letting And because so great a Man as Sylvius relies here altogether on Experience but remains dissatisfied in his Theory as who pleases to consult the place cited may see I think it very pertinent to consider how exactly the excellent Wepfer hath laid down the Theory For to discover so abstruse and latent Causes he produces Anatomical Histories or Observations wherein the Phaenomena in Bodies of several who died of this Disease are declared In three that died Apoplectick the extravasated bloud was either gathered here and there into great Clods or had discoloured the substance of the Brain all over in another a Floud of Serum had overflowed the Brain within and without From these marks of this most occult disease thus discovered the Authour concludes the places principally affected are not the large Ventricles but the medullous substance of the Cerebrum and the Cerebellum which is every way porous and furnished with narrow passages as well that Vital Spirits may flow thither from the bloud as that the Animal may flow thence And indeed he concludes that the Cause of every Apoplexy wholly consists in these Two i. e. in one alone or both together namely either because the Afflux of bloud through the Arteries to the Brain is denied or the Efflux of Animal Spirits from the Cerebrum and Cerebellum through the Nerves and Spinal Marrow is stopt or for both these causes As to the First he proposes how the bloud may be stopt three ways i. e. First Either by reason of the Obstruction of the inner Carotid and Vertebral Arteries which happens in the bigger Vessels and especially about the Ascent of the Cranium from bloud concrete into grumous Lumps or in the lesser Vessels which cross the Brain from their being stopt with viscous Matter Or Secondly The influx of bloud is kept from the Brain by reason of the Compression of those Vessels which sometimes happens when the Paristhmia or Glands of the Neck are so swelled with Serous humours that by pressing the Arteries that pass under them they stop the passage of the bloud to the Head Or Thirdly The Afflux of Bloud may be hindred when a Vessel being opened within the Cranium the bloud is plentifully poured out which should otherwise go to the benefit of the Brain As to the other Cause of the Apoplexy i. e. the hindring the spirits in the efflux he reckons it is caused two ways either by obstruction of the Origination of all the Nerves caused by serous Matter or by sudden Compression of the same which either too great gathering of bloud in the Meninges or in some certain parts of the Brain or in its Ventricles or some phlegmonous Disposition do produce Seeing the Apoplexy according to the opinion of the Moderns consonant to the doctrine of Hippocrates arises from the stoppage of the Circulation of the bloud or as he speaks from the standing of the bloud and not as Galen would have it from the oppletion of the Ventricles of the Brain All hope of safety consists in a speedy revulsion and retraction of the Matter from the Head nor can there be found a Remedy which can so speedily avert derive nay and evacuate the humours from the Brain as Letting of bloud therefore we prefer it before all other means in curing the Apoplexy and we think it proper for all Individuals whether they be plethorick or no. The thing it self speaks for several Apoplectick persons have been restored and perfectly cured onely by letting of bloud When the bloud is taken from the Arm that also in the Jugular Veins is drawn downwards and then comes some portion of the Matter that is in the Sinus's which although often it be phlegmatick yet it is found not without bloud but may be removed and drawn back with it And for that cause unless some weighty reason hinder we order large bloud-letting in Apoplectick persons which may reach the humours above and remove them and sometimes we repeat it twice or thrice in each Arm that the Veins being emptied on each side
commended for a Catarrh It is made of the Shells of all the Myrabalans with their Kernels first dried each 2 ounces and a half Cinnamon 1 drachm Cloves Galangal Johnstonus Cubebs Cardamome Grains of Paradise Nutmeg each half a scruple dried red Roses a drachm and a half Flowers of Rosemary Lavender each one drachm bruise them and put them in as much Wine as is convenient 14. This is an experienced Medicine in stopping all Destillations Dâ—m Leo. and very good for those that incline to the Phthisick and Consumption and that are troubled with a Cough Take of Cinnamon Galbanum Storax Calamus Pepper black long and white each half an ounce Opium 3 drachms Honey what is sufficient The dose is the quantity of a Bean taken morning and evening in Honey-water Lotichius 15. Nothing better can be devised to digest attenuate and evacuate successively by sweat matter settled in the Lungs than a Decoction of Guaiacum-wood which others as well as I have used with singular success as the Bezoardick of this Disease 16. An easie Medicine is made of water in which unripe Quinces are boiled Simon Pauli against sharp Catarrhs that are most troublesome at night It must be well sweetned with Sugar a spoonfull or two of which must be given to the Patient when he goes to bed 17. This is a very good conserve to stop a cold Catarrh Sennertus Take of red Roses 2 ounces Species Aromatici Rosati 2 scruples Nutmeg 1 scruple white Frankincense 2 scruples with Syrup of dried Roses or of Betony make an Electuary Take the quantity of a Wallnut when you go to bed Arnold Villa novanus 18. Very good Pills to stop any Rheum flowing from the Brain and to comfort the Brain Take of Amber Lignum Aloes Ladanum Frankincense Storax Calamita Myrrh each 1 drachm Wax Opium each 1 scruple Musk 4 Grains with very good wine make small Pills give 7 of them late at night This wonderfully stops a Rheum from a cold cause Chlorosis or the Green-sickness The Contents Whether Bloud may be let I. What Vein must be opened II. Diaphoreticks must be slowly used III. Steel must be differently prepared according to the diversity of the parts affected IV. What Preparation of it most proper V. Whether Tartarum Vitriolatum be proper VI. Openers not to be used before evacuation of the whole VII Sweet things hurtfull VIII Whether Exercise be convenient IX Whether the absurd Appetite may be gratified X. Whether Marriage be proper XI Medicines I. BLoud must be let when the disease is new and when it takes its rise from stoppage of it before it acquire a malignant quality sufficient strength and plenty of bloud being supposed Author Enchir Med. Pract. Otherwise the disease would grow worse if it be throughly radicated if the Body be cool and if phlegmatick crude humours do rather abound than bloud ¶ Though it is clear that Hippocrates Of Maids Diseases Fortis cons 52. cent 2. proposeth bloud letting yet it must be omitted if the bloud be turned into Cacochymy and crude humours predominate if the Stomach be affected and the native heat be not very strong Riverius II. A vein in the arm must be opened in the beginning although the Menstrua be supprest for if bloud should be then taken from the foot the obstructions of the veins in the Womb would be greater when their fulness were encreased III. In reference to the Cachexy Medicines should be administred which depurate the fleshy part and clear it of bad humours i. e. Diaphoreticks insensible evacuaters and insensible digesters To which intention sweat would answer some convenient Decoction premised or the use of Viperine Powder But because our main scope should be to open the veins of the Womb provoke the Menstrua and purge the whole body by ways proper and customary to nature therefore lest the humours should be diverted from the centre to the Circumference laying aside this intention Fortis Cons 52. cent 2. we must first make use of aperient Hystericks and promoters of the Menstrua IV. Because in this Disease Steel is very usefull and necessary we must in this case take notice whether the Veins about the Stomach and Mesentery or the Liver and Spleen be more obstructed for if the proper vessels of the Stomach be most obstructed Steel must be given prepared in a more gross manner and vomiting Medicines may be mixt with it or a vomit may be given before the use of Steel or on the intermediate days for so when the bad humours are cast up by vomit the Bowels do easily recover But if the humours hanging in the places near the Stomach be carried to the more inward parts labouring of obstructions the disease will be made worse But if the Liver be especially obstructed Steel must be given prepared very fine and Epatick Medicines and such as purge downwards but by no means such as purge upwards must be mixt with it And if the Spleen be affected Sennertus splenetick Medicines must be added V. The Physicians School doth profess that Steel obtains the chief place in stubborn obstructions which yet must neither be powdered too fine nor burnt too much For the former degenerates into Quicksilver and then it provokes vomit and purging The latter is deprived of its Sulphur and Mercury by which means it becomes rather an astringent Crocus Martis than opening Fortis Wherefore in this case a Crocus Martis prepared with Spirit of Sulphur will be most convenient VI. Whether is Tartarum vitriolatum good in this disease I hold the affirmative because such Medicines are convenient as incide the cold and viscous humours and attenuate them concoct crudities open obstructions and absterge the sticking matter all which virtues are most efficaciously in Tartarum vitriolatum for if Tartar considered by it self have no small aperient and absterging virtue much more must be allowed to it Vitriolate Yet we must have a care we proceed not inconsiderately to the use of this Medicine nor presently but the first ways must be prepared before by lenitives which done when we have purged twice or thrice gently we may come to the use of it yet according to the difference of its nature a whole scruple or an half may be given twice a day in some proper destilled waters Horstius cent prob 9. Qu. 5. or decoctions in which some convenient herbs and roots have been boiled then the prepared matter may be purged and carried off by an infusion of Rheubarb VII Rondeletius l. 1. c. 31. Before the use of attenuating and opening Syrups the common ways must be purged namely the Stomach and Guts from excrements and crude humours left the same things befall us which befell a certain Physician who when by aperient and attenuating Syrups he would have brought her Menses he threw her into a Palsey ¶ The Stomach must first be emptied by a clarified potion of
Heaters are requisite And for this reason Cordial Medicines though they be hot must never be neglected in Diseases of the heart II. Without doubt Worms are bred in the heart and in its Caul This Disease is very familiar to Virgins and is known by prickings and pains of the heart and by Worms voided and not voided Convulsion is the Diagnostick Common Cordials whether hot or cold can doe little or nothing in the Cure In the beginning before there be Convulsions Bezoar-Stone may doe something if it be given with Salt of Tansie or of Dittany of Crete or the common from 4 grains to 8. The Specifick Cure is such Let the Worms be first purged away with this Take of Quicksilver purified and then mortified with fasting-spittle or juice of a Lemon about a Scruple Conserve of Roses half an ounce powder of Benzoin 2 grains But if any Man be afraid to take this let him onely infuse 1 drachm or 2 in cold water over night and pour it off next morning and drink it or let him take 2 or 3 ounces of distilled-water of Onions or Garlick for these things if they expell not the Worms kill them at least And when the Worms are voided if the Convulsion-fits return which is a most certain sign of a Worm in the heart let Specifick Extracts be given as of Garlick Horse-radish Water-Cresses of each 1 Scruple in some Broth or Pottage wherein Horse-radish has been steeped before By this method they are quickly cured If extracts be not at hand Hartmannus P. Chrâ—â—iâ—â— c. 111. let a like quantity of all the Juices be mixt together and 2 or 3 spoonfulls be taken every morning And their Salts rightly prepared doe the same thing A Medicine especially made use of by an eminent Physician Take some Juice of Garlick Horse-radish and Water-Cresses give it and the Patient will presently be cured Believe one that has experienced it it is true A GUIDE TO The Practical Physician BOOK IV. Of Diseases beginning with the Letter D. Deglutitio laesa or The Swallowing hurt The Contents The cure of strange things swallowed either sticking in the Oesophagus or got into the Stomach I. The Oesophagus freed from obstruction II. One that could not swallow sustained by Injections in at the Mouth III. The Cure of it hurt by the ulcerated Jaws IV. When a Pipe may be used to get down Food that cannot otherwise pass V. I. WHAT things contrary to nature are swallowed either come into the Stomach or stick in the Oesophagus This is an Instance of the former A Maid eighteen years old as she was eating swallowed a brass Pin with the Point downwards which sticking in the Oesophagus created cruel Pain When she had tried several things and continued a whole year in this Condition the Pin was by my advice thrust into her Stomach with a Shoomaker 's Wax candle thrusting it gently twice or thrice a-day and anointing it first with Oil of sweet Almonds which was done without pain and quickly after it got into the Stomach It has given no more trouble as yet A Woman as she was cheapning goods held a Farthing in her mouth and having forgot it as she was eating a peice of Cake that was offered her she swallowed it before she was aware Then she had a dull pain and Copperish taste in her stomach I being consulted because for some reasons I would not give her a Vomit ordered her constantly to use slippery and fat things and gave her from six to nine drops of rectified Spirit of Salt twice a-day so that by little and little the ill taste was abated and in a while the sad sensation ceased Here it happened as Theophrastus in his Book of Fire speaks pag. 142. That the Stomach melts money And acid Spirits are not so hurtfull to the Stomach but they lessen the weight of Brass and Silver by getting out their Vitriol so that afterwards they may pass the Guts more easily A Boy of twelve years of age swallowed an Imperial Spanish Half-crown that he had in his mouth which stuck in his throat the Chirurgeon tried as much as he could to get it out but all in vain so that he was forced to drive it into his Stomach which being done not without much trouble care was taken of the Oesophagus which was pained and almost wounded by giving Traumaticks and Paregoricks The Patient in the mean time as soon as the money was received into his Stomach was very well onely he had a pain in his throat and swallowed with difficulty nor has he found any trouble to this day the Silver having remained now nine years fixt in its place A Boy three years old when he had put two Links of a brass Chain an inch long in his mouth swallowed them unawares and as they stuck in his throat he roared out for pain but as soon as they were got into his stomach he seemed to all nothing but ate and drank heartily His carefull Parents searched the excrements every day for several weeks but in vain for they found nothing so they certainly concluded they were by little and little wasted in the stomach But the excrements were never observed to recede from their natural state The Boy lives now very well in health A Boy five years old when he had swallowed a leaden Seal that uses to be fastned to Cloth was troubled with grievous pain till it got into his stomach and was cured by giving him distilled Vinegar G. Wolfg. Wedelius Misc cur an 1672. obs 141. whereas at first his Parents were afraid of his life yet nothing of so broad and thick a piece could be observed to be voided but he is now very well And it was the best advice to give him distilled Vinegar because by dissolving the body of Saturn it turned it into Sugar II. One being very hungry was eating a boiled Hog's-foot and a piece of it with the bone stuck in his throat for two days A Chirurgeon turned a long piece of iron Wire like a Hook at the end put it down his throat by the Hook whereof the piece of the foot was caught Riverius cent 3. obs 71. and with main strength drawn out of his throat III. A man being taken with a true Quinsey had the upper orifice of his stomach so close shut with the Inflammation that he could swallow nothing at all While Remedies were using that he might be able to bear plentifull Bloud-letting and other Remedies for reparation of strength a Catheter was put into the Oesophagus and a Syringe fitted to it by which Broths were got into his stomach and Medicines also Idem cent 3. Obs 72. by help whereof he was cured of his Disease IV. One asked my advice saying he was troubled with Wolves in his Nose Flanderkins calls Snot concrete in the Nostrils Wolves which Nurses take out of Children with Pins heads and moreover that he had some pain in his Jaws which reached to the middle
manner of Juleps Emulsions Ptisans and even simple Water assoon as they are taken This most grievous Symptome is immediately cured to a miracle by taking a drachm of the Salt of Wormwood in a spoonfull of fresh Juice of Lemon Riverius as I have learned by experience L. A certain Person was sick of a slight Tertian in the fit he was so troubled with vomiting that he swooned at the very thought of it I gave him above half a scruple of Pills of Aloes in a Dose two hours before his fit they did their office by gently purging him in the fit Rolfinccius so that he was well in a short time LI. It is manifest from Hippocrates 1. de rat vict who granted Water to one in a Pleurisie when he was very thirsty that when Symptoms arise to that height as to add to the Disease or waste Nature's strength the Indication for Diet should rather be taken from them Nevertheless we must doe our endeavour to give such things as may if possible be proper for the Disease or at least not inconvenient For Hippocrates in the place forequoted has this passage But when any Pain torments you must give Oxymel to drink in the Winter hot in Summer cold And if his thirst be very great he must use Honey and Wine and Water Reason tells us the very same thing that the Intention of Cure must not be changed for every violence of the Symptoms but for that which is considerable for since Symptoms are the effects of Diseases by taking away their cause they vanish but if they be considerable they give the stronger Indication for Cure And their greatness is to be defined when they are the cause of some preternatural disposition which either adds to the Disease or wastes the strength of Nature Which soever of these things happens to be the cause of the greatness of a Symptome the Symptoms may justly then supply the course of Diet and Indication for Cure As to a pleuritick Person who is a little thirsty you must give Oxymel or Melicrate which of them the Disease shall require But if he be troubled with violent thirst you shall not use such things as respect the Disease and its Cause but such as lay thirst for much thirst dries the spittle and makes the Disease difficult of coction and increases the heat of the Fever wherefore we must give Melicrate and Water taking the Indication from the Symptome for Water should not be given for the Disease sake by reason it is an enemy to the maturation of the Grief Thus therefore the greatness of Symptoms must be defined so as the method of Cure and indications of Diet may be taken from them But when such Symptoms arrive at the said greatness that is are instead of a Cause in reference to the Disease they are either as an urgent Cause or Sine qua non the Disease cannot be cured Wherefore the Indication is stronger which is taken from them than from the Disease as may be gathered from the doctrine of complicated Affections Brudus de Viâ—â—â— Febr. l. 3. c. 27. LII In giving of Medicines Cautions and Rules of no small moment are taken from the Pulse Purging and Vomiting are prohibited by an over quick and violent Pulse and also by a very low one for while the bloud is too effervescent evacuation is not very proper both because what is noxious is not voided and also because the strength is much weakned by the perturbation And when the Spirits are broken and the strength is low Physick casts it lower and sometimes rather destroys it Wherefore when a Physician designs evacuation upwards or downwards let him first feel the Pulse and let him attempt these motions onely when Nature is strong and sedate that she may be able to attend the operation of the Medicine and to support the Patient's strength Nor is there need of less circumspection for Diaphoreticks and Cordials which if they be used in the Fever fit they too much increase the violent motion of the Heart and very often break its strength Also when the Pulse is very languid if hot and strong Cordials be used Life may easily be extinguished as when a little flame is quite put out by a strong blast wherefore it is a vulgar observation that Cordials often hasten Death for that in putting the bloud into too great a motion they sooner waste its strength And yet there is need of the greatest Caution and direction of the Pulse in giving Narcoticks for they because they doe their work by extinguishing and fixing the vital Spirits when they are over active if they be used in a weak or faultering Pulse they either render the Spirits too weak for the Disease by diminishing them or they bring a perpetual Sleep by too much suffocating them Wherefore in a languid unequal or formicating Pulse Opiates should be avoided as you would avoid a Snake or a Toad Williâ— de Febr. c. 10. Febris Alba seu Amatoria The White or Love Fever See The Green-sickness Book III. It s Description and Cure HIppocrates in his Book de Virginum morbis calls this the Wandring Fever some have named it the White Jaundice For several Symptoms give intimation of a white and cold humour seeing first of all the menstrua being stopt in time of youth in a hot and moist constitution have caused a coldness in the whole body by suffocating the innate heat obstructions in the Mesentery and Womb concurring not a little thereunto and it may be in the hollow of the Liver which hindring the ventilation of the natural Heat increase the suffocation of it upon which many Symptoms testifie a cold Intemperature The primitive Cause of this Maiden Disease was the intense Meditation of this Virgin in which the innate Heat and Spirits being diverted from the Stomach Crudities were bred the original of Obstructions in the lacteal and mesenterick Veins whence arose a hypocondriack Indisposition and complaints of Illness at the Stomach and rumbling of the hypochondria Moreover the mass of bloud was infected which being made thick and not having free passage through the Veins of the Womb at set times but setling in them has gathered obstructions in the Womb also and made the monthly purgation less which being increased a perfect suppression of them followed For the bloud not having an efflux saith Hippocrates lib. de Virginum morbis through the quantity it rebounds to the Heart and Diaphragm and when these places are filled the Heart becomes foolish then from fatuity comes torpidness then after torpidness a delirium takes them as when a man has sate a long time the bloud being depressed out of the Hips and Thighs into the Legs and Feet causes a numbness and after the numbness the Feet are unable to walk till the bloud return to it self c. And it returns very quickly for it soon flows back because of the rectitude of the Veins and it is not a dangerous place of
Phlegm and it into Choler II. The common Symptoms are Inflammations inward or outward which we must help neglecting all other things And if this be internal revellents repellents and alteratives are proper and therefore Bleeding application of Substypticks and inward Coolers will be necessary But if they be external through the translation of the humours or a Crisis naturally procured by their settling Or if the matter by reason of long sickness be attracted to some part it must be diligently observed by the Physician that he abstain from all Diversion procured by Bleeding and Medicines especially Purges but they must insist on slight Preparatives Alteratives and Clysters In the mean time the care of the part recipient lies upon the Chirurgeon hat the Inflammation turn not to a Gangrene the innate Heat in the whole and part being weakned by a tedious Fever Idem III. Wormwood must not be given before Coction because it causes loathing Rudiuâ— l 3. c. 33. the Humours being moved in the Stomach IV. A true Hemitritaeus to wit a Continual Quotidian and a Tertian between whiles requires a more subtile Diet than is proper for interpolated Fevers but a grosser one than what is convenient for continual Fevers from one simple Humour because it is longer than any one of them And since Nature has a dispute with two Humours contrary both in quality and substance she stands in need of strength and time to conquer them both therefore upon both accounts namely that she may continue a long time and that she may have strength against both her enemies she has need of more ample Alimony We must mix therefore either such things as may repress the Qualities of the peccant Humour together with the Meat and of contrary Qualities or we must use temperate Meats One may not administer such things as respect onely one of these things for the Physician must be carefull of both Fevers I call that meat temperate which suffers onely from the natural heat You may apprehend that this is not fit for them that are sick of a Hemitritaeus because the Bloud must of necessity have a bad quality which is bred of it in Fevers for in the Tertian the part effective of the bloud is out of its natural temper that is hot and dry because of the heat and sharpness of the putrefying Bile Wherefore temperate meat by reason it suffers onely from the natural heat and cannot by contrary qualities correct the intemperature of the part will be affected with them wherefore the Bloud which will be bred of it will grow hot and dry according to the intemperature of the part which will in a moment immediately be turn'd into Bile The like judgment may be given in a Fever which has its rise from Phlegm that makes the Body preternaturally moist wherefore things must be mixt with the meat which are of contrary qualities or that must be taken in which both qualities are found which I rather approve but if moreover it be incisive it should be chosen before the rest Vinegar is one of those simple Medicines which is remarkable for the foresaid qualities For it is good for both the Humours moreover it is endued with subtile parts whereby it cuts but if you mix this with any thing that is abstersive you have that which we require Sugar is one of those things which is moderately abstersive and is convenient for People in Fevers Wherefore you may reckon that a mixture of Sugar and strong Vinegar which Physicians have named Syrupus Acetosus is very convenient for a Hemitritaeus which you may use in this manner Take of Time Parsley French-barley each 1 handfull stoned Raisins 1 handfull the Bark of one sharp Radish a little Salt Boil them well with a fleshy Hen Take 1 pound of this Decoction as much sharp Syrupus Acetosus as will make it palatable let them boil till they are mixt give him to drink when be ought Make Broth of the rest Use this before a violent fit and in its declination but on the more moderate day use the same Brudus de Victu Febr. â— 3. c. 24. and give the Patient the extremities of the Hen. IV. One of the Arabians in a Hemitritaeus feeds the Patient with Gourds Spinage Orache and the like But he is mistaken as I think upon a double account Of the very Nature of the body and Of the Meat it self Cold Meats must not be given at the hour when Nature is intent upon separation lest they oppose Nature and repell the periodick expulsion the contrary way which is made from within outwards and stop the Pores by reason whereof the fit will be made longer as is manifest to them that diligently consider the nature of Meats and search what they are able to doe at all hours Hereto you may add the Meats which are made of Herbs are obnoxious to corruption because they breed a watry Bloud which soonest conceives an extraneous heat It is therefore the wisest way not to give Meats of this nature when the corrupting cause is strong Idem ibid. Febris lenta or A Slow Fever It arises from an evil disposition of the Bloud THAT is reckoned among Symptomatick fevers which is vulgarly called Slow They that are sick of it are hotter than they should be especially after eating any motion or exercise The Urine for the most part is red the Spirits are low and Strength decays they are indifferent well as to their Stomach and Sleeping they neither cough nor spit much but they waste every day like consumptive People and without any manifest cause The Blame is generally ascribed to obstruction of some of the Inwards through whose fault the Aliment is neither concocted nor dispensed aright But it seems to me that such an affection is founded immediately in an evil disposition of the Bloud whereby it inclines to an over salt and sharp temper and therefore is rendred less fit for nutrition and equal circulation for the Bloud in the Heart just like Oil in a Lamp if it abound over much with saline particles burns not pleasantly and quietly but with crackling and great evaporation of parts whereby it is sooner spent and yields but a languid and weak light Formerly I opened one who died of this Disease in whom the Bowels designed for coction were well enough but the Lungs were sapless and dry and were beset all over with a kind of fabulous matter like Chalk And ofttimes in this Disease the Mesenterick Glands are full of such chalky matter But whether the salt bloud first caused such Diseases of the Bowels or the Discrasie of the Bowels first infected the Bloud is uncertain Willis de Febr. c. 11. It is probable that one of them depends on the other and the causes of either Disease are reciprocal Febris Leipyria or A Fever wherein the inward Parts are violently Hot and the outer Cold. The Contents Hippocrates his Cure by applying cold things is methodical
drink are unfit for Generation And earthy things which precipitate and abate the motion of the Bloud and consequently of the Seed so among Vegetables Strawberry and Agrimony c. Terra sigillata Coral Bole Armenick Os Sepiae which and its Magistery is not amiss made use of for curing a Gonorrhoea all the Saunders c. And acids which obtund the vivid Sulphur of the Bloud and are also apt to hinder the glutinous consistency of the Seed Therefore all acids are commended So I have observed that Hepaticum rubrum or Crystalli tartari vitriolati and Santulati have done much good in abating nocturnal pollutions One by the constant use of Spirit of Vitriol whereby he endeavoured to correct the weakness of his Stomach had his pudendum and testes shrunk up and extenuated And Nitrous and Mercurial things in as much as they make the Seed fluid so nitrous things in general which also invert the Sulphur Thus one in Timaeus who was extreme libidinous at length by taking a large dose of Nitre ceased to be such But beside this Mercurials intimately possess an acid Salt rendring the Serum and Seed fluid exhaust the Nerves for business and are apt to weaken the musculous and nervous parts therefore Mercurius dulcis is highly commended in a Gonorrhoea simple and virulent Or finally Middling things which are apt to correct the motion of the Serum and Fluxions and so they moderate the Afflux mitigate the Acrimony by their balsamick virtue keep the consistence entire and strengthen the seminal Vessels cleanse them when ulcerate lax and virose and divert them another way such indeed as are proper for Catarrhs in general or for any known Fluxions of the Serum to wit Succinates wherefore I have observed that such diverting things for Example Essence of Amber joined with the Bezoardick Anodyne has very happily cured a Gonorrhoea Whither pertain also Sudorificks of the Woods c. For we must take notice that the class of such things as abate Seed has a great latitude they cause chastity they are proper for the Faults Fluxions and Ichorescency of the Seed wherefore they are convenient Wedelius de s m. fac p. 225. chosen with judgment in all Gonorrhoea's nocturnal Pollution simple and virulent in rampant Lust yea and for Women troubled with the Whites XIV Of the aforesaid things many applied outwardly conduce to temper the heat so leaves of Vine Willows Agnus Castus use to be applied outwardly leaves of Water-Lily which yet are of the lowest rank Saturnines deserve to be remembred here before all others which as inwardly they are adverse to Venus so outwardly they contribute much to the same end hence plates of Lead are usual not onely by reason of their native Coldness whereby they repell and allay but also because they extract the saline Acrimony as it were magnetically which we may gather from hence because every part affected under this leaden cover uses to be moist in which sweat the sharp Salt increasing the heat goes out continually and by its Acrimony endeavouring to dissolve the Saturn it visibly sticks thereto which plentifull attraction of Salt is made by benefit of the Mercury wherewith Saturn abounds Now Mercury does entirely love the company of the Salt and so it procures Exhalation and having first made an actual refrigeration Idem it causes a potential one XV. A certain Doctor of this City cures a virulent Gonorrhoea successfully with Cantharides which he steeps in Rhenish Wine giving the infusion tempered with some other Liquour but because in the beginning he could not go on with the cure without great torment and exulceration of the Bladder M. J. Matthial ad T. Barth Cent. 4. Ep. 55. at length he mixt it with Oil of sweet Almonds Syrupus Fernelii and juice of Mullein and so in three days sweetly removes the Disease by plentifull Urine ¶ I have in another place commended an Infusion of Cantharides for a virulent Gonorrhoea and difficulty of Urine the happy success whereof I have tried more than once But we must observe that the Cantharides lest they doe hurt must be used whole And when we make a Vesicatory the extremities may be taken off wherein there is a more gentle faculty which may be kept for this infusion to purge by Urine If this infusion be ordered in due manner T. Barth Ep. 54. it provokes Urine as far as I could ever observe without exulceration or torment so that there is no need of fat things XVI The virtue of things that diminish Seed varies according to the different Constitutions for as every Agent in general acts according to the manner of its reception so when Contraries occur in Authours for example that Agnus Castus Rue Mint do diminish Venus and provoke it do abate Seed and produce it these Effects must be ascribed to the difference of Bodies Wedeliuâ— So green Mint increases Venus dry abates it XVII This same virtue of theirs is different according to the state of the Seed and as simple wasting of it or astriction is indicated for all things are not convenient for all Persons Thus in nocturnal Pollutions cooling acids watry and gentle styptick things are proper In a simple Genorrhoea acid and nitrous things for lixivials whatever Practitioners deliver to the contrary must rather be avoided In a virulent one Merculiar ones in the beginning but acids and nitrous things are not so good Nitrous things are potent in abating Lust but they must not be made use of in the Flux The middling things are better for the Flux Idem than when it is stopt XVIII In diminishing of Seed we must have a care we run not into the other extreme or contrary Therefore in general Absynthiacks Saturâ—â—nes and other things which we have reckoned up are not so proper for new married Persons that is in a large quantity and in young People we must have a care how we meddle with them especially for such as are troubled with nocturnal Pollutions Nocturnal Pollution is a Disease of that age wherefore the Seed and its Orgasm should be checkt and its acrimony may be abated but it ought not to be extinguished I knew an old Man of Seventy of a hot Constitution who had been troubled with nocturnal Pollutions from his Youth to his extreme Old-age Idem and nevertheless he was blest with a numerous Issue XIX Mercurials rather increase the Flux of Seed than check it that is of themselves they make the Seed more fluid wherefore we observe that after the use of them and giving of Purges the flux of Seed is always as it were increased How proper therefore however it be in the beginning for a Gonorrhoea either virulent or simple given with a Purgative that is Mercurius dulcis yet this is done for the sake of abstersion mundification and diversion rather than for astriction Wherefore it is conveniently given in such a manner as that the Ulcer of the vesicae
he relieved by Medicines I reckoned he was ill of a Dropsie in his Breast because there was no Cough nor Ratling no viscid and thick Spittle as in a true Asthma his Legs also were oedematous and his Belly began to swell He had not lain down in Bed for two months but sate panting and choaking in his Chair and was ready to draw his last Because I despaired of his Recovery I was unwilling to prescribe him Medicines but being prevailed on by importunity the next day I give him a Bolus of Calomelanos 1 scruple Diagridium half a scruple with Conserve of Roses It purged him seven times and he voided abundance of serous matter upon which he found much ease that day and breathed more freely After two days the same Medicine was repeated with the like success and the night following he lay down in Bed without any oppression of his Breast When the Swelling of his Belly was abated one might handle his Hypochondria and I found his Spleen big and scirrhous therefore I prescribed him Apozemes with Salt of Tartar and Spirit of Sulphur and Fomentations and Liniments to be applied to the Hypochondria with the foresaid Purge repeated every third day Which being continued for 15 days he was brought into a much better condition so that he thought he was perfectly cured but when one month was over all the Symptomes returned his Belly swelled more and in two months more he died Here the great efficacy of Calomelanos may be observed which was able to doe so much good in a mortal Disease Idem III. Sudorificks are very good to discharge the serous matter and I saw a Man of threescore cured by taking a Sudorifick Decoction of Guaiacum and and Sarsa for 15 days by causing Sweat with the vapour of Spirit of Wine Idem IV. It seems the safest way that the matter should be evacuated sensibly by opening the Breast And it should be done betimes according to Hippocrates 6. Epid. s 7. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Cut watry gatherings quickly lest the Lungs be corrupted by the Water V. The ingenious opening of the Breast must not be past by which Hippocrates lib. de nat Mulieb propounds when he orders a Rib to be bored through in the middle for so the Water may by a Tent be more easily kept from running out all at once than by making Section in the intercostal Muscles Wherefore when Water is to be got out it is best to boar a Rib but when Pus is gathered in the Breast P. Martianus it will be best to cut in the Muscles VI. Evacuation of the Serum in the Breast must be attempted by Urine The Emperour Maximilian the Second found great benefit hereby who when he had laboured of a Dropsie in his Breast with a Palpitation of his Heart for twenty years he sometimes made 6 pounds of Water in one day and when that motion of the matter stopt he died Crat◠VII A healthy strong young Man being formerly accustomed to immoderate exercise of Body at length felt a fulness or as it were a puffing up in his Breast in so much that the left side of his Lungs seemed to be swollen and the Heart seemed to be thrust out of its place to the right side Afterwards on a certain day he felt as if some Vessel were broken within the cavity of the Breast and after that for half an hours time in that region not onely he himself felt something fall from aloft into the bottom of his Breast but it might be heard by the By-standers Therefore since it was without doubt that then this Noble person had a Dropsie in his Breast because the Lymphae-ducts a great number of which branch themselves all over the Lungs which run to their left side being broken dropt out their moisture into the cavity of the Breast after some Medicines had been tried without any benefit Tapping his side was unanimously resolved on Therefore after provision had been made for the whole the Chirurgeon applied a Cautery between the sixth and seventh Vertebra and the next day having cut a hole in the cavity of the Breast he put in a Pipe which being done immediately a thick liquour and white like Chyle or Milk ran out About 6 ounces onely of this were taken away at the first time and the next day as much The third day when a little larger quantity was let out he was immediately seized with a great languidness and was feverish and very bad for a day or two after it Wherefore till he had recovered his former temper and strength we thought good to let no more of this matter out But afterwards a little evacuation of the same being made every day the cavity of the Breast was almost all evacuated And yet he carries a Tap with a Spigot in the hole which being opened once in 24 hours a little moisture still runs out In the mean time he has a good Stomach he looks well and is strong and goes about his usual business After Tapping I ordered him Cordials and afterwards a Traumatick Decoction to be taken twice every day But there is a necessity for preventing filth from gathering in the Breast that this hole be left constantly open Willis instead of a Sink Hydrops Anasarca or A Dropsie in the Flesh The Contents In a simple one we may purge violently I. Sometimes Bloud-letting is good II. Opening and strengthning things must be given between Purges III. Whether such Diureticks are proper IV. Diaphoreticks must be given plentifully V. The efficacy of anointing with Oil of Scorpions VI. What Baths are proper and when VII When a Stove does harm VIII We must have a care how we apply Issues and Blisters IX Cured by Acupuncture X. The Efficacy and Choice of Chalybeates XI I. IN a simple Anasarca we may purge violently and it often does abundance of good And indeed from this Disease being sometime cured by Purging Empericks have good opportunity to brag of their Cures and some of their Medicines are indeed highly cried up for curing of Dropsies For forsooth if they chance ever to cure one or two of an Anasarca with specifick Hydragogues or Elatericks they have enough to set out themselves and their skill although they may kill an hundred Asciticks with the same Medicine Wherefore though Preparations of Spurge or Elaterium and other Hydragogues have sometimes done good in certain cases yet if they be given indifferently to all Hydropicks or at all to weak Constitutions and such as have bad Inwards either in tone or conformation they oftner kill than cure And the reason why Catharticks operate more successfully and effectually in this Disease than in other sorts of Dropsies is because in an Anasarca the morbid matter which is the Lympha resides partly in the mass of Bloud partly in the habit of the Body within the pores and vacuities among the ends of the vessels wherefore when a strong Purge is given it presently
them l. 2. serm 2. c. 10. yet not till the Body and first ways be exactly purged XXVII There are some who for several years in the beginning of Autumn and Spring have their Spleen swell with a pain in the Hypochondrium and a livid colour all over their body growing worse and worse which nevertheless is often cured by voiding abundance of Urine as black almost as Ink for a week Martini XXVIII The errour of the Physicians of our age must not be imitated who either give onely heating and drying things for breaking and dispersing of the Wind neglecting in the mean time the Intemperature of the Liver in which case indeed it is very likely the Disease is much increased Or if obstructions in the Spleen be urgent they cure by violent Coolers and Moistners wholly neglecting Digestives and things that are able to open and soften its obstructions Idem XXIX Asses Milk is good made purgative with Diagridium and three pounds of it taken for eight or ten days every morning for it will temper the heat of the Liver Sylvaticus and will purge hot humours ¶ It will not be amiss to take two pounds of Asses Milk with two drachms of Cream of Tartar Idem XXX But it must be taken as soon as it is milked with Sugar in it but by no means with any Bread lest it tarry too long in the Stomach and fill the Head the taking of it must be continued for forty days In the mean time lest any gross part of it should curdle in the Mesentery and stick there every ten days one ounce of Cream of Tartar dissolved in Broth may be taken Fortis cent 3. cors 29. to the end those ways may be cleansed XXXI Concerning these words Aph. 64. 6. It is bad to give Milk to them whose Hypochondria are swelled and rumble it must not be passed by that he joined these two Symptoms to shew that Milk may be given to such whose Hypochondria do onely rumble and to such who have them onely swelled For if the Liver swell with Bile Milk is proper so lib. de in t eff v. 225. in the second Hepatitis from Bile flowing into the Liver from which it grows hard and painfull he gives not onely Asses Milk or Goats to purge but he gives Cows Milk also for several days to temper the Bile In like manner when the Belly rumbles without any swelling Milk is not prohibited because if the rumbling be caused by Bile running up and down the Belly it may be good to give Milk Wherefore Hippocrates forbids giving of Milk when the swelled Hypochondria do also rumble for these things depend on abundance of Wind having its rise in the Hypochondria for which Milk is bad not onely because it is windy but also because since persons so affected are subject to acid corruption Martianus Comm. in cit Aphor. the Milk in their Stomach through analogy easily turns sowre XXXII If great heat be found in the Hypochondria an hour before Meat half a pound or a pound of Whey made of Goats Milk may conveniently be given which both tempers the heat and cools the veins of the Mesentery and wastes the matter which is the cause of this obstruction but the use of it must be continued for eight or fourteen days And that it may doe no damage but may be more effectual convenient Powders or Pills may be used before the Whey Take of root of male Fern Cinquefoil Wormwood Carduus benedictus Germander Spleenwort Agrimony each 1 drachm With Syrupus Acetositatis Citri make large Pills Give six or ten of them Or make an Extract of these Powders So the Whey will have more power to open and penetrate and it will doe less harm by cooling But it must of necessity be taken in a large quantity especially when the Stomach is not very weak namely three pounds or more And let one glass be drunk after another sipping it and after taking the Whey he must walk to the end it may insinuate it self and may carry off the matter that causes the obstruction by stool and urine Nor need the large quantity be feared For if it must pass the Veins and be voided again presently by stool and urine a great quantity is required So Bath and Spaw-waters must be drunk in a great quantity Sennertus XXXIII Concerning Spiritus vitrioli Martis there is a question whether it perform in Hypochondriacks the same that other Chalybeates do Since there is no small alteration of the Substance and other Acids are Enemies to Melancholicks and exalt black Choler I think truly it does not doe all things that other Chalybeates doe my reason is because other Chalybeates give a stool but this does not which must be ascribed to the change of the Substance Yet nevertheless I make no question but it is good for Hypochondriacks because of its aperient virtue Nor does its Sowreness hinder for onely the excessive use of Acids hurts Melancholicks and exalts black Choler on the contrary their moderate use is proper Idem XXXIV I think Elixir proprietatis is very good for them for by reason of the Aloes and Spirit of Sulphur it egregiously opens the obstructions It corrects the putrefaction of the humours not onely because of them but because of the Saffron and Myrrhe It egregiously discusses Wind because of the Myrrhe and Spirit of Wine chiefly And it strengthens the Heart and Stomach by its whole Substance Idem XXXV Crocus Martis tinges the excrements which denotes the extraction of the Vitriol the sating of the austere humours and in a word the actuating of the Medicine just as by the mixture of Vinegar and Galls in water Ink is produced But if the excrements be not tinged it is a sign unless a very small quantity be sufficient that the Medicine is not well actuated Wedeliu◠XXXVI You write that in hypochondriack Diseases Antimonium Diaphoreticum is commended Indeed I should not wholly reject it had it any portion of the Nitre left in it for so it would be far fitter of open obstructions of the Vessels But if it be wit◠out Nitre I am afraid lest when the thin humours are spent Doringius ad Sennert cent 2. ep 30. the gross and earthy ones grow harder and increase the obstruction ¶ Do you doubt whether it consume onely the thin humours or attenuate and put in fusion the gross ones also I affirm the first and now the same may also beneficially be given for gross humours also but I affirm it with a distinction For the gross humours are either already actually tartareous or onely mucilaginous and phlegmatick in these I allow it in the former I deny it A scorbutick Man was cured by me whose bloud when it was let grew like a gelly in water And among other things I gave him Antimonium Diaphoreticum Sennertus Epist 35. XXXVII If an austere pancreatick Juice be bred which frequent
Corals make an Electuary Take of Species diamargarit frigid diarrhodon Abbatis each 1 drachm and an half powder of Pearl 1 drachm whitest Sugar dissolved in Treacle water and boyled to the consistency of Lozenges 4 ounces oyl of Cinnamon 6 drops Make Lozenges according to Art As for Opiates and Anodyne Medicines in some ails of Scorbutick Persons I had rather be deprived of any sort of Medicine beside than of the use of them for I have not found a more excellent Remedy not only for pain and pertinacious watching but in Asthmatick Paroxysms Vomitings Looseness and also in the Vertigo and Convulsive passions whenever nature is beyond measure irritated than to procure Sleep by giving a safe narcotick In the mean time great care must be taken not to give them if any thing in the constitution of the Patient or in the condition of the Disease or time forbid the giving of such a Medicine Beside the usual Hypnoticks in Dispensatories to wit Laudanum opiatum Nepenthe Philonium Diacodium and Syrup of red Poppy I know moreover two preparations of Opium which I use to give in form of a Tincture or liquid Extract from 10 to 20 drops in some appropriate Liquor The diet or course of Life to be observed by Scorbutick Persons is of very great moment in the method of Cure which if neglected or managed amiss other prescriptions of Physick conduce little or nothing to health A diaetetick regiment extends to divers things but it is especially concerned about Air and the site of ones Habitation meat and drink and motion and rest of the Body As to the first such Mansions and Places of Habitation as in respect of the Air or Soil breed the Scurvy must be avoided they that desire either to cure or prevent this Disease must make it their business to chuse an Air moderately hot and dry which also must be thin and pure and sufficiently eventilated Meats of good juice and of easie Concoction are proper the gross and viscid mouldy and rusty also unfermented food or much compounded pulse Milk meats unripe fruits must be avoided I am so far against all things preserved in Sugar and that have much Sugar in them that I think the invention of it and its immoderate use has contributed very much to the vast increase of the Scurvy in this last age For this Concrete consists of a very sharp and corrosive Salt yet allayed with Sulphur as appears plainly from the spagyrical Analysis of it For Sugar distilled by it self yields a Liquor scarce Inferior to Aqua stygia And if you distil it in a Copper Still mixt with a great quantity of fair water although the fixt Salt ascend not so much yet a very hot and pungent Liquor will come over like the strongest Aqua vitae Since therefore we eat such a quantity of Sugar mixt with almost all our Victuals it is very likely that by the daily use of it the Blood and Humours are made Salt and sharp and therefore Scorbutick A certain Famous Author has ascribed the cause of the Consumption in England to the immodarate use of Sugar among us I know not but that the cause of the frequent Scurvy may rather be derived from hence Let the drink be midling Beer mild and well clarified and besides altered with Antiscorbutick Ingredients without an ingrateful tast it must not be thick and sweet nor over stale and sower This may be drunk in a moderate quantity and almost only at set times of Dinner and Supper The custome which has prevailed among many that when they get out of their Bed they immediately take a large Mornings draught as they commonly call it which is very pernicious For by this means seeing the Sanguiferous Vessels are over filled with a stock of fresh Chyle poured in almost at once and Crudities and Morbifick faeculencies are bred in the Blood and the Sanguifick faculty is much weakned truly it were better for most Men unless they whose Stomach while it is empty uses to be troublesomely Contracted and Corrugated to fast till Dinner Nor is the common custome of Mens swilling their full Cups immediately after meals less pernicious Wine and Syder so they be mild sincere and not adulterated taken in a moderate quantity do no harm but if they be adulterated roapy harsh or eagre nothing is more hurtful and injurious to our health Exercise and Labor are of such excellent benefit as well for the cure as prevention of the Scurvy that many either preserve or recover their health by this Remedy alone For the Blood and Nervous juice of such as are idle and lead a sedentary life like standing waters contract slime and filth But by the constant and much exercise of the Body the Humours and Spirits grow clear and vigorous the excrementitious and heterogeneous particles evaporate the obstructions of the inwards are opened and their tone is strengthened Willis Medicines especially made use of by eminent Physicians 1. When I could get no constant ease at last I took some Cream Chamomil flowers Water Cresses and Juniper Berries boyled in Milk and applied the Cataplasm hot and by Gods blessing I think I have found a Panacaeon for all Scorbutick pains ¶ Take of Elder flowers 2 handfuls boyl them in Wine add 2 drachms of Soap and make a sufficient quantity of Ly Balth. Brunnerus a cloth dipt in which and applied mitigated the pain powerfully 2. For a painful Scurvy All things premised that should be premised let a Decoction of Worms be taken to cause a Sweat afterwards let the joynts be rubbed with this Spirit Take of Flowers of Lilly Conval 2 handfuls Rosemary 1 handful Castor Seeds of Scurvy-grass each 6 drachms Rocket half an ouâ—ce infuse them in the best rectified Spirit of Wine 8 ounces set them in the Sun for 3 dayes strain them out well add of Spirit of Worms 2 ounces and an half Joh. Drawitzius Camphire 1 drachm and an half Mix them with these things I have successfully Cured Scorbutick Gouts 3. Our Syrup for the Scurvy is made of juice of Brooklime and Scurvy-grass with Sugar I have not found a better Medicine for the Scurvy ¶ For the pain of Scorbutick joynts I applied a bag full of rosted Salt rosted Millet Bran and Chamomil Flowers Forestus and when the Bag was applied the pain ceased as if it had been charmed 4. The Essence of wild Pine Take of the tender Branches of wild Pine or Fir a sufficient quantity boyl them in a sufficient quantity of common water for an hour or two Digest and thicken the Colature to the consistence of an Extract pour to it Spirit of Scurvy-grass or of some other Antiscorbutick Herb afterwards digest and filtre it and you will have an Essence The Dose whereof is from 20 to 30 grains in a due Vehicle Grulingius It is highly commended in the Scurvy and Contracture 5. Wall Rue has an excellent efficacy in Curing the Scurvy with which
In the performance of these tasks necessary to Sleep the order is not alwayes one and the same for sometimes the Animal Spirits do first and of their own accord forsake these spaces the Nervous juice running immediately into the vacant places And sometimes the Nervous juice mixt plentifully with the Serum first invades these passages driving thence the Spirits though against their will and forcing them inwards But the operation of Coffee seems contrary to both these effects for immediately upon drinking of it its adust Particles that are very nimble and restless being carried into the Blood do put its Liquor a little in fusion and force the serous Liquor to the Kidneys and habit of the Body Moreover when they arrive at the Brain they easily open its Pores which by their mobility they keep very open whilest they joyning with the Spirits despoyl them of all their other Particles as well Sleepy as Nutritious and so being light and fleet do put them every where into motion and cause them to be expanded through the whole compass of the Brain when it is free from all gravative oppletion and obstruction Yet in the mean time while the Spirits are in this manner constantly and unweariedly exercised the Nervous juices are deprived of access and assimilation their stores are not sufficiently and after their wonted manner recruited indeed the old Spirits are rendred more nimble and unwearied but the recruits of new ones are diminished Hence it may most easily appear that this drink though in common use and in some cases very useful and medical perhaps in others is hurtful and not so wholesome And that the matter is so not only reason but vulgar observation does commonly shew in as much as excessive Coffee-drinkers oftentimes grow lean and subject to the Palsie and impotency to Venus The first effect is so frequent and every where known that we only therefore forbid them the drinking of Coffee because it inclines to leanness Because when the Blood by continual and too frequent use becomes sharp and retorrid it is therefore less fit for to nourish As to the Diseases of the Brain and Nervous kind I reckon that when I am sometime called to cure them no man prescribes it to be drunk so frequently as I for it is my custome to send them more to the Coffee-Houses than to Apothecaries Shops Truly in most Cephalick Sicknesses that is Head-ache Vertigo Lethargy Catarrhe and the like where there is a moist Brain but a slowness and torpidness of the Animal Spirits with a cold constitution or not very hot and a watry Blood Coffee is often drunk with advantage for drunk every day it clarifies and illustrates both parts of the Soul and dispels all mists of the Functions whatever But on the contrary they that are lean and of a Cholerick Constitution or Melancholick who have a sharp and retorrid Blood a hot Brain and too eagre and restless animal Spirits ought altogether to abstain from that drink because it further perverts the Spirits and Humours and renders them altogether unapt and unable to undergo any Functions For I have observed many who have not had sufficient plenty of Spirits and besides troubled with the Vertigo palpitation of the Heart trembling of the Limbs or numbness have been worse as to those Diseases upon drinking of Coffee and have presently perceived an unusual languidness in their whole Body Willis V. A Maid about 20 years old was about the beginning of Autumn held with a double Tertian for 12 dayes and was cured of it by Remedies Her Fits returned again but some new Symptomes came in the Fit namely much Sleep redness of Face prominence of Eyes a pricking pain in the left side and a great difficulty in swallowing I suspected an hysterick affection was complicated with the Ague fit and I prescribed her hysterick Remedies notwithstanding which the Disease continued After a few dayes the Symptomes returned without the Ague which confirmed my opinion for the pain of her left side went to her right sometimes pricking pains appeared in divers parts of the Abdomen with a pain in the Stomach and loathing and sometimes a Fit of the Mother Before the Fit came she took by my advice 4 little Pills of Laudanum and a little after the Fit came but within 2 hours when the Laudanum began to work all things abated she was well the whole Night whereas the foregoing she had been tormented Riverius Cent. 2. Obs 20. Hence this Paradox may be gathered that a Sleepy Disease may be Cured by the use of Laudanum VI. In a Coma our chief endeavour must be to prevent the efflux of new morbifick matter into the Brain and to discuss and get out what is got thither already Moreover the animal Spirits must be awakened and all torpidness and sleepyness taken from them To this end we must Purge Bleed Cup Blister make application of revulsives and discutients give Cephalick Medicines and such especially as are indued with a volatil Salt and use several other wayes of Administration But if this Disease follow some other Sickness or come upon any Man whose Body is already much wasted his Blood vitiated or much depauperated we must first consider well of Bleeding and Purging before we do either nay for the most part we must abstain from them yet sometimes that the conjunct cause of the Disease or the matter fixt in the Brain may be put in Motion it may be convenient to take away a small quantity of Blood either by setting Leeches to the Fore Head or Temples or by Cupping and Scarifying the Shoulders Willis VII I saw a lusty young Priest taken with a Coma after a relapse into a Fever with a tremor in one side without sense for want of Strength in the Parts When he had taken a very sharp Clyster with 3 drachms of Coloquintida and 2 ounces of Honey of Roses and Salt in it without any effect Praevotius ordered him 7 Blisters which doing little good J. Rhodius Câ—nt 1. Obs 36. they proceeded to make a cautery in his Head behind upon which he amended VIII The strong scented stillatitious Liquor of Lavender rubbed on the Forehead and temples revives those that are taken with a small Catalepsis a Hemiplexia and now and then with the falling Sickness and oftentimes with Swooning But where there is plenty of Humours especially if they be mixt with the Blood the use of this is not safe nor of any composition drawn off Wine in which such Herbs Flowers or Seeds and certain Spices have been macerated which most People give indifferently For by the use of these hot things which fill the Head the Disease is increased and the Patient indangered especially when Bleeding and Purging go not before I thought fit to give this caution because commonly some unlearned Physicians and over bold Apothecaries do immediately give such Compositions and things of the like nature not only to Apoplectick Persons but also to those
man wonder here that Laudanum opiatum is added For I maintain that Opium has an excellent virtue in hindring and restraining the vitious effervescency of sharp Humours both in the small Guts and in the Heart and elsewhere without which effervescence noxious and sharp Vapors could not easily be raised and produce Swooning Fits To this mixture many very efficacious things may be added made of divers parts of Animals Tincture of Castor Spirit of Salt of Sal Ammoniac of Urine the Volatil and Oyly Salt of Blood Bones Horns Hoofs The Oyls must be rectified and not only in part be freed from their Empyreuma Sylvius de le Boë but made more penetrating and potent The rectification must be made with Spirit of Wine tartarisate VIII We must observe that when Swooning proceeds from the offence of the Stomach things that call out the Spirits are not proper but rather things that repel them to the Heart as throwing cold water or Rose water in the Face Fortis IX In fear of Swooning and in small Faintings accompanied with troublesome cold the following Mixture may be prepared of Shop Medicines a spoonful to be given often between whiles Take of water of Mint 2 ounces Aqua vitae Matthioli 1 ounce or Tincture of Cinnamon half an ounce oyl of Cloves 6 drops Scurvy-grass 1 ounce Mix them I do not only commend volatil Salts and Aromatick Oyls from Experience but because reason perswades the same drawn from the analysis of the Salts and Oyls and from the efficient cause of this Hypochondriack suffocation that is viscid and acid Phlegm or viscid and acid or austere Vapors compared together For these Salts and Oyls have a virtue to dissolve and incide every Viscid to temper and correct every thing acid and austere and to discuss and dissipate whatever is balituous and windy X. Spirit of Roses refreshes the Heart and Brain and revives the Spirits one drop or two perfumes a great quantity of Water Therefore in Swooning and Fainting the Dose of it is from 5 drops to half a Scruple or a whole one But some mistake and give it cool when yet it is as hot as other Spirit and is fully separated from the cooling parts of the Roses For we must know that simple Medicines made of Vegetables have for the most part the virtue of the Plants whereof they are made and may be put to the same uses Sylvius de le Boe. unless these Plants have different parts Therefore Rheubarb in substance binds XI We must have a care of such Patients that we think not of burying them presently for several have come to themselves in the Grave Let this one Instance suffice In the year 1582. my Host at Cleves who lives at the Sign of the Eagle told me that 17 years before he was taken with a most grievous acute Disease and at length he fell into such a Swoon that all men thought he had been Dead that Johannes Wierus was called to him and found that his Soul was not then separated from his Body and therefore ordered him to be covered up warm in Bed and Cordials to be given him and while he was busie about the recovery of his Patient the Friends were preparing for the Funeral but the next day he came to himself Hildanus XII All that faint for want of Spirits must not be brought to themselves one and the same way for it is necessary to consider in what manner the cause makes its impression and to oppose that For although all immoderate evacuations dissipate the Spirits yet you must cure one way if it proceed from too much Sweating another way if from a Loosness another if from loss of Blood and another if from Vomiting For they that Faint for Sweating or great heat and have a weak retentive faculty are easily raised by throwing a little cold water or Rose water or Vinegar not all over their Skin but only their Face and Hands and that suddenly both that the Skin being condensed the Spirits may not wast so much and that the Patient by the sudden retrocession of the Spirits may be the sooner raised and for the same reason you must take care to cool the Air by throwing such cooling things on the Floor and by Fanning it that the Skin may be made close and the Spirits be thickned Which Remedies you must not use if a loosness be the cause of Swooning for by throwing cold water the Humours are driven inwards which it is requisite to draw outwards Nor must you do it if one faint for plenitude or obstruction But if it arise from some passion of the mind which may draw the Spirits outwards you may use the same Remedy as if it came from Pain or Evacuation In the same manner also you must raise the Patient by pulling him by the Nose especially if the Humors purge downwards If it proceed from Vomiting you must bind heat and rub the Legs if from a Looseness the Arms. Those that Faint for loss of Blood you may raise by the same revulsions and by applying warm wine to the stones in a Man and to the Breasts in a Woman But you may fetch these and all others again by such things as revive the Spirits as white thin odoriferous Wine diluted with steel water If it be occasioned by Sweat by using Sudorificks or holding new baked Bread besprinkled with them to the Nose But in looseness of the Belly Bread in red Wine is of great moment if there be neither internal Inflammation nor a delirium nor any heat Epithemes and sprinkling of cold water by turns and intervals lest all efflux of Vapors might be stopt The use also of cooling astringent things is good such as the juice of a Pomegranate But let them that Faint for Sweat abstain from frictions and Wine except to smell to To them that Faint for Vomiting you must give a draught of old white or black Wine especially if it arise from crude and viscid juices as a draught of cold or hot water if the Humour be bilious sharp or salt All which things you must do except the revulsions if the Patient Faint through violent heat XIII They that are subject to Swoon because of Pain passion of the Mind and diaphoretick evacuations must use such things as allay pain but that which does most good is a thing that stupefies a little for either by stupefying the Sense or procuring rest it stops the Flux a little till the Spirits are recruited and are able to defend the Patient from the cruelty of the Pain and other accidents But because in these Persons the Spirits are extream low Mercatus I advise to use them sparingly and with caution Medicines especially made use of by eminent Physicians 1. It is good in all Swoonings to apply a large Cupping-glass with much flame to the left Shoulder J. Caes Claudinus 2. When the Body is purged Spirit of Wine rectified and perfumed with Amber and Musk and
perform their other Offices more strongly than the former They are also Balsamick such as preserve the vigour of the Blood intire and avail to long life Hot in the third degree à priori are those wherein volatile or fixt Salt do more eminently predominate with or without an accession of Sulphur whence belong hither for instance 1. all volatil Salts as of Scurvigrass Cresses asarum c. 2. lixivial Salts or the fixed Salts of plants 3 acids which have also an acrimonious virtue 4. acrimonious and biting things as Pepper Burnet 5. stronger Aromaticks as Cloves Mace c. A posteriori those which alter manifestly sensibly and with hurt as it were if there be any excess so that neither the tongue can endure them long without trouble nor the body in any great quantity Whence these rarifie the Body more increase its Sulphur and volatil Salt tame the fixing Humours take away a cachexie discuss wind open the pores of the Nerves and so are good in the Palsie are antiscorbutick powerfully break the Stone refresh the weak Spirits and rouse the Apoplectical and Hysterical Hot in the fourth Degree à priori are those which have a more acrimonious and almost caustick Salt whether volatil as Onions Pepper-wort or fixed as Mercury sublimate which predominates over the Sulphur it self although present whence such are 1. most acrimonious 2. rubifying 3. eroding hence they afford vesicatories and potential Causticks that erode and corrupt more strongly A posteriori those which are of the greatest activity most vehement and as it were instantaneous operation and not without great hurt Yet these also have their certain mansions for Arsenick operates more powerfully and sooner than Onions c. IV. Medicines cold à priori are such wherein there are no volatile hot acrimonious aromatick or aereal particles but the active principles particularly the Sulphur and Mercury are more sparing or subjugated and the Salt in like manner is either absent or has attained a fluor and is remarkable for inverted acid particles or else they are such in which the passive principles water and earth are found more prevailing and the acid Salt as aforesaid Cold Medicines are opposed to hot even in their actions so for example acids fix the bitter and acrimonious obtâ—nd the oily and so forward A posteriori those which being referred to our heat do not encrease it but demulce it when it is un governable and bridle choler For as the hot rarefie the Blood exalt the Sulphur with their sharp darts and acuate the volatil Salt so the cold do concentre the same depress its Sulphur and fix and coagulate its volatile Salt Those chiefly are in this place reckoned for cold that are Vnivocally such which for example either dilute and demulce as 1. watry whence Juleps the whey of Goats milk the decoction of Barly the juice of Birch of Quinces and other acidulous juices which most of them are such in the first degree and others moistning withal do notably cool so also all mucilaginous and purely gummous are cold as the white of an Egg Tragacanth Harts-horn Aloes Mans-Skull Gellies the root of marsh-Mallow Gum Arabick the four greater and four lesser cold Seeds which have a certain oiliness but such as is watry and temperate Or they tame and infringe the Sulphur and volatile Salt as 2. Acid juice of Citron Sorrel Berberries and 3. nitrous Pellitory Mercury Spinach Orach Violet Or they respect ebullition and motion as precipitants as 4. earthy for example plants the flowers of Balaustins parts of this nature of Animals and Minerals also Woods as Sanders Oak and especially those which are properly called earthy as bole Armene terra Lemnia c. Stones as crystal jacinth and those which are of an alkaline Nature Or they constipate and constringe as 5. austere styptick sowr which are examples of the third degree Tormentil snake-weed the rind of Pomegranats acacia or the juice of Sloes hypocystis Or they plainly destroy as 6. poisonous which are endued with an excrementitious earthy and watry and with a stinking and impure Sulphur and so induce a contrary consistence on the Blood as Hemlock Henbane Stramonea or apple of Peru whence they are poisonous As Medicines hot in the fourth degree kill by eroding so those cold in the same degree by suffocating and coagulating Medicines cold Aequivocally and energetically are those which either dissipate and procure the exhalation of Sulphureous soots as prevailing by a volatil Sulphur and being themselves hot as Spirit of Wine camphor or take away the Cause as well the fermentation and ebullition as obstructions as openers Such namely as are Sulphureous are all of them heating unless they serve for dissipation and hot exhalation on which account they cool by accident the Lixivial Saline do more rarefie the Blood and so do also heat it but the Acid do concentrate and refrigerate the same the mean as Tartar vitriolate are of a middle nature but they rather commonly heat cut Phlegm c. especially common Salt So that the cold may be referred to the summa Genera as it were as consisting of watry earthy and non-lixivial Saline particles V. Here the question may be determined whether Acids be cold or hot For there are not wanting some that affirm them to be hot arguing from their acrimony biting and that corrosive vertue that they are endued with Those that maintain them to be cold produce their effects also that are manifestly cold as for example that acid Spirits allay thirst and cool the Body by blunting the bilious Humours Here seems necessary a distinction first between the hot Sulphureous and the hot Saline secondly between the external use and the internal or between that which belongs to the solid parts and that which belongs to the moist and spirituous The hot Sulphureous that is those which have Sulphur predominant chiefly with a volatil Salt do all of them increase our natural heat but those that want Sulphur and possess a fluid Salt as Acids have indeed acrimonious cold biting particles but he would be absurd that should use them for restoring or invigorating the innate heat or the Sulphur and volatile Salt Whence although in their external use they cause an erosion in the solid Parts and through their acrimony cause the Parts to be pained and grow red which very thing we may also observe in a more tender Stomach and from a larger Dose as the Patients do sometimes perceive an aestus and heat from the unwary use of the Spirit of Vitriol yet with relation and respect to the Blood to our heat or to the Heart they are and are deservedly called cold Others determine that they cool by accident inasmuch as being joyned with cold vehicles by their penetrating vertue they make those more apt to cool others otherwise as for instance that they cool by the perspiration of the fiery heat c. There is the like reason also of the nitrous for through the disposition of
an exact mixture of the lixivious Salt and acid Spirit whereby the acidity is overcome that is always hurtful and is the primary cause of gnawing in convulsions c. For the subtil lixivious Salt of the Baths being in a manner volatiliz'd is the best and perhaps the only thing for coagulating the more subtil acid Spirit Therefore it will be the office of Art to imitate nature and to render the lixivious Salt volatil and fit for coagulating the subtil acid Spirits Fr. Sylvius Pr. l. 2. c. 23. § 236. and withal for curing the distempers arising thence XVII We must abstain from hot Baths whilst obstructions are present in the hypochondres the mesaraick Veins stuffed with tartareous juices and the mass of Blood impregnated with Salts that are as yet with wild acrimonious and acid for by the Bath these might be melted and fused and being so Frid. Hofm m. m. lib. 1. c. 11. might be carried into other parts and more principal viscera and there raise other more grievous Symptomes Caputpurgia or Purgers of the Head Errhines or drawers out of Phlegm by the Nose and Ptarmicks or Sneezing Medicines See Capitis affectus in genere or Diseases of the Head in general Book 3. The Contents The Nose is the Emunctory of the Head I. Ptarmicks and Errhines operate by irritating the Membrane of the Nostrils II. How Ptarmicks and Errhines differ III. Errhines respect especially the private or peculiar fault of the Nostrils IV. Ptarmicks relieve the Head V. When they are chiefly to be used VI. What Distempers they are bad for VII They are owing to the Humours VIII When Errhines are to be used and when Apophlegmatisms IX White Vitriol is an effectual Errhine X. I. WE take it for granted that the Nose is the Emunctory and van as it were of the Brain for whatsoever some have imagin'd to the contrary concerning the publick use of this Sierce which is destin'd for the service of the whole machin yet by the opinions of the Ancients and the experiments of the more sagacious Moderns it is certain that the fountain indeed of Catarrhs is not to be sought for in the Brain but in the inseparable companion of the Blood the Serum for of Blood and Serum as of hot and moist do the elements of life consist or in the abundance of the Lympha separated by the glands into which the Lymphatick Vessels either end or arise therefrom But to affirm that the Brain is altogether free priviledged and exempt in Catarrhs Wedel de s m. fac p. 228. See Willis cer Anat. c. 12. is to deny that it is water'd with Serum which is absurd or that it is not affected in a coryza or other Catarrhs which is against experience II. The reason of the activity and operation of Ptarmicks and Errhines consists in the solicitation irritation and twitching of the sensible Membrane of the Nostrils by an external cause hence whatsoever things do more nearly affect and as it were tickle this Membrane the same do move excretion either simply or with sneezing Thus not only a feather put up the Nose causes sneezing as also even the unequal afflatus of the ambient air the Sun-beams c. but also especially all those things that are communicated to the Nostrils which are endued with a saline quality and acrimony whether fixed as white vitriol or volatil So all acrimonious things and all Purgers are Ptarmicks Idem III. The more the saline goads are left to themselves the more they stimulate the less they are left to themselves or the more obtuse they are the less they stimulate The former are called Ptarmicks that is which stimulate with Sneezing the latter Errhines that melt the Humours without Sneezing Hence that the saline spicula may approach the Membrane of the Nostrils the more intimately Ptarmicks are given in powder or in a dry form for so they operate more and the more finely they are powder'd the more strongly so that they differ not but in degrees The saline spiculum touching the Membrane of the Nostrils on this manner three things follow 1. The irritation it self 2. The fusion and liquation of the Humours Idem 3. The excretion it self IV. Errhines are more used for the private service of the Nostrils Ptarmicks more for that of other Parts Errhines are most useful and profitable in a Coryza Ozoena Polypus for cleansing dissipating and procuring a free passage for the Humours V. Sneezing Medicines ease the Head both in general and also in special when the Body is evacuated and the antecedent fewel taken away for they are not good when the matter is too plentiful and stagnating Whence in a Coryza and Catarrhs they take place rather in the declination and state Idem than in the beginning when all things are crude VI. They are chiefly of use when the faculty is asleep as it were in the Watch-Tower of the Body Hence if they operate not when they are exhibited they often signifie the faculty to be even dead which I have often seen in Child bed Women and others in as much as Nature is no longer sensible of the goad nor actuates which holds good also in others Idem as for instance in Purgers VII When those parts are indisposed that necessarily concur to sneezing Sternutatories are not proper whence they do harm in venereal pains of the head in fractures in luxations of the Ribs Idem Ulcers of the Lungs Spitting of Blood Ruptures c. VIII Ptarmicks are owing to the Humours for the bringing out the Serum that stagnates about the coasts of the Brain and withal discuss whatsoever sticks there Hence they are rather to be used in distempers arising from a positive cause than from a privative and hence also they are not so convenient in too much driness and for the Cholerick and Melancholick but more for the Phlegmatick in whom the Serum is more plentiful the coagulation whereof it is the chief property of these kind of Medicines to hinder Idem IX Few know when Phlegm is to be drawn from the Brain by Errhines and when by Apophlegmatisms or when by both By Errhines and so through the os cribriforme is to be drained away that snivel that is collected in the space betwixt the right and left part of the Brain and is sent into that space from the Cortex of the Brain By Apophlegmatisms and so through the os Sphenoides that must be drawn out which is collected in the Ventricles that are made for this purpose Hofman in Instit ex Riolano and is driven thither from the Medulla of the Brain X. I have found that white vitriol dissolved in simple or some cephalick Water and applyed gently with a feather to the nostrils does in a due quantity liquate Catarrhs according to ones wish and draw them forth so that I have sometimes happily used it even to Infants new born that were hardly able to suck and were
be emptied I add that whilst they draw from the Hemorrhoidal Arteries 't is very like that the Heart will be wonderfully helped thereby Rolfink de febr p. 274. See §. 3. Hepaticks or Medicines for the Liver See Hepatis affectus or Diseases of the Liver The Contents They respect either its Vessels Ducts and Pores I. Or the Choler which is either to be restored II. Or temper'd III. Or its tone IV. What and how sweet things help V. How Steel-Remedies profit VI. The too much use of Aperients is hurtful VII Astringents have not place always VIII The abuse of Syrups hurteth IX I. HEpatick Remedies respect either its Vessels Ducts and Pores in the concrete respect being likewise had to the Lymphatick Vessels and Gall-Bladder or the Choler which it separates and transcolates or its tone fibres and parietes or Parenchyma Aperients do chiefly respect the Ducts for this Bowel is principally and above all others subject to Obstructions because of the very numerous Vessels that it has so that the chief Hepaticks are Aperients Hither belong also Diureticks which unless there be withal an over dry intemperies or if there be such of them as are more dilute are most agreeable to the Liver Thus to repeat only a few 1. Bitter things are profitable that cleanse cut and attenuate the clamminess of the choler 2. Others of thin Parts whether Aromaticks as calamus Aromaticus Spicknard c. or Acids as red Liverwort Mineral Spirits 3. Absorbents Lixivials and especially Steel Remedies And these have a notable use in Obstructions in a too mucilaginous choler Jaundise Dropsie Cachexie and the like II. Moreover those that respect the Choler do either restore it if it be sluggish and defective or bridle it when it exceeds and is impetuous lessen it when it abounds and mitigate it when it boils and burns as it were Those that restore the Choler are 1. Partly contrary to those that restore the Ferment of the Stomach and are for the most part the same which encrease the heat of the Stomach namely Sulphureous Balsamicks as all Aromata or Spices likewise spirituous as Wine and its Spirit 2. Partly the same being endued with a volatil and simple and with an oleous acrimonious Salt as Mustard Erysimum or Hedge-Mustard Water-cresses which are like a spur to it for Choler consists chiefly 1. of Oleous Sulphureous Bâ—lsamick Parts 2. of volatil Saline both which are immersed in a little watry mucilage and limited with watry Particles Hither belong also sweet things which encrease choler and that by contributing partly mucilaginous clammy parts whence also the same are said to breed Obstructions partly Sulphureous also if they happen upon an hot and dry Body And these are good in an Anasarca as also partly in an Ascites a serous Cachexie loose Tumours and where in other cases there is need of rarefaction of the Blood for such things as then more intimately rarefie the same do exalt choler They likewise profit the Phlegmatick that have no gall as it were III. Having hapned to mention sweet things we must see why Galen 8. de Comp. Med. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 writes that Raisins are familiar to the Liver in their whole substance and why the same thing is not equally attributed to sugared things That familiarity of Raisins with the Liver gave foundation to the Electuary of Raisins in Riverius that notably strengthens the Liver The reason may be because they temper the fluxility and sluggishness of the choler and kindly moisten withal which sugared things do not do IV. And the choler is temper'd and bridled when it exceeds both by accident by certain openers as Preparations of Succory where note that some things are called coolers which yet are hot as we may see by these mention'd inasmuch namely as they loosen the stoppages and cleanse gently withal partly evacuating Cholagogues and also per se by 1. Diluters thus when choler offends the Whey of Goats Milk with a little Cinamon c. is good whether the anima of Rhubarb be taken with it or the clyssus of Antimony be dropt into it both which I use with success hither belong mineral Waters Potions c. Now these very Diluters are a vehicle to Aperients whence note that in the Jaundise such Aperients as dilute more and in the Dropsie such as dry more profit most And those very Aperients that are diluters withal do set the lympha at liberty and make its motion free and withal restore the Serum which is and is called the bridle of choler 2. Bitter things which both cleanse and open the Pores of the choler so that it is hastened more to the Guts and evacuated the vertue of Wormwood Aloes and Rhubarb is known 3. Acids hither belong acidum Tartari red Sanders or the red Liverwort of Dresden because these do tame and blunt the Sulphureous part of the choler and fix and enervate the volatile Saline 4. Earthy and absorbing Remedies especially the Nitrous and Alkaline thus also lixivial Salts themselves belong hither likewise Shells Corals Perles species and Pouders c. likewise Nervines themselves or Cinnabarines which I have found profitable in Diseases of the Liver and I have happily cured a stubborn Pain of the right Hypochondre with Tetters breaking out all the Body over with these especially For it is to be noted what Experience testifies that earthy Medicines do precipitate and absorb both choler or cholerick Humours and also acid and even serous Humours whence we cannot absolutely conclude that wheresoever Alkaline Medicines profit there an acid offendeth for Experience witnesses that the earthy profit in many Patients and Diseases where by the consent of all an acid offendeth not but the choler regurgitates and is frothy which they dissociate inhibit and bridle in its preternatural motion V. Lastly The tone and fibres of the Liver are strengthned both by 1. Moderate Astringents whence it is a common opinion among Practitioners that it delights in Astringents 2. Absorbers especially Steel ones and the vitriolated that are made of these 3. Correcters of any excessive temper but chiefly a moist and consequently a loose Hence Mercurials also and Mercurius dulcis in particular is greatly commended by which with a Bezoartick Steel Remedy Sennertus writes that one was cured who was given over in a Dropsie that on no other account than because Mercurius dulcis makes the Serum fluxile whence it opens Obstructions cures Loosness by diverting the Serum another way and thence evacuating it by convenient ways c. Thus Antimonials likewise are good inasmuch as they notably precipitate and dry discussing the superfluous Humours VI. So Steel-Remedies do chiefly perform this whence there is a caution given concerning their use by Gul. Gilbert in his Book of the Load-stone 1. cap. 15. who sayes that Steel is granted in loose Livers and moist Maladies because it dries also in the Green-sickness over-grown Spleens namely where moisture abounds but he denies it greatly in
answer In the preparation many parts of the Vitriol are separated from the Spirit whence we cannot observe all the effects in the Spirit that are seen in the Vitriol intire and some may be seen in the first that are not taken notice of in the latter Vitriol vomits the Spirit stays vomiting So Sulphur is inflammable its Spirit not so yea it rather resisteth a flame The Spirit of Vitriol hath an eroding faculty if given alone but that is common to it with other Liquors as Vinegar the juice of Citron c. Your Acidulae or Mineral Waters are drunk with profit that have their vertue from Vitriolick Spirits It is safely given in convenient Liquors It s hotness is corrected while its particles are severed by a mixture with Water or other Liquors in that proportion that an hundred particles or atoms of Water are mixed with ten or twelve of the Spirit 2. The Medicine was not known to Antiquity yea * x. m. c. 2. 11. c. 9. Galen suspects the use of Vitriolate waters in putrid Fevers because being applied to the Skin they both cause an astriction of its pores and too much heat the Body Answ We must not therefore reject it because it was not known to Antiquity Galen disallows of the external use of Vitriolate Waters because they constringe the Skin 3. He says there are safer Medicines Answ The Spirit of Vitriol is safer if it be taken in a due quantity That it has done good in Fevers there are innumerable witnesses few say that it has done â—urt It does not as yet appear that there are safer Medicines 4. The too great astriction that was in the Vitriol is also in the oyl now astringents do harm in putrid Fevers Answ The astriction in the Spirit is not so great as to do harm there rather seems to be none in it all acids do not astringe yea they attenuate deterge take away obstructions loosen the Belly it cures the flux of the Belly not by binding but by strengthning and condensating there proceed indeed effects from densation that are like to astriction but are not astringents and acids are different But suppose it astringe there is no danger from thence for the inciding attenuating and opening parts are by far the more powerful 5. Viâ—riol is poyson according to Dioscorides Answ It is Poyson in a large sense in which all things that kill by their quantity are called deleteries c. Rolfinc Ep. de febr c. 136. where more objections are made ¶ Spirit of Vitriol being given indecently and too long puts on the nature rather of a Poyson than a Medicine Being added to Humours that boil already enough of themselves just as if you mix this Spirit with the Gall of some Animal Rolfinc cons 2. l. 4. p. 405. it causes greater disturbance and procures a quicker ascent of vapours XXIV Chymists make Universal and general Digestives of Tartar as 1. It s cream and Crystals 2. The magistery of Tartar vitriolate 3. Misiura simplex But these are not truly such it is safer to rank them in the number of particular Digestives They are not good in a bilious Cacochymie and for salt sowr and acrimonious humours In those they may increase the ebullition and do harm They are more profitable for a simple cacochymical melancholy but not so good for a Pontick and Acrimonious which has the seeds of fire in it As much as they avail to incide thickness so much they irritate fervid and adust humours and hurt by inflaming Rolfinc meth gener c. p. 477. They are in some sort good for phlegmatick humors XXV The Cream and Crystal of Tartar absterge incide thick and tartareous Humours open obstructions and loosen the Belly and either of them is a pleasant Medicine if a drachm thereof be given in the broth of flesh or in boyled water with a little butter in it with three four or five grains of Diagridium or extract of Scammony it will give the liquor a somewhat acid taste The Crystals are not so acid nor so diuretick as the Cream and therefore they are safelier given when the body is not purged Sennert Epist 28. cent 1. the dose is from a scruple to a drachm XXVI As to the Crystal of Tartar let the younger Physicians note that it is of greater efficacy than is commonly believed seeing we seldome make use of it in our practice through the carelesness of Apothecaries and deceit of Pseudochymists or those common distillers that sell chymical Medicines to Apothecaries none whereof almost is sincere but all adulterate The carelesness of Apothecaries is for the most part so great that they chuse rather to buy the Crystal of Tartar of those distillers than make it themselves though no preparation of Medicines in the whole art be easier because it is sold them at a low price whereas it would stand them dearer to make it Now the cheat lies in this that those Impostors put in their decoctions but a little Tartar and a great deal of Alum not that Tartar is dearer than Alum but because Tartar yields but a little quantity of Crystals whereas Alum will all of it run into them Hereby are Physicians disappointed of their end seeing Alum is indued with an astringent vertue that is contrary to the opening faculty that is desired by them And another hurt is done this Medicine that this sort of Crystals is drawn out by decoctions made in Brass pots whereby the malignant quality of the Brass is imprinted upon the Medicine For it is a very well known and vulgar precept of pharmacy that acids be not boyled in brass vessels because they easily penetrate and draw a certain tincture from the brass that is very hurtful But the Crystals of Tartar are very acid and by some are named Acidum Tartari And yet this errour is very commonly committed even by the Apothecaries themselves for almost all that make these Crystals with their own hands use brass vessels so that I have seen some Apothecaries have Crystals of Tartar of a Sea-green colour from the Verdegriese that had been drawn from the Vessel wherein they had been made Therefore Physicians will consult for their own conscience for their esteem and the health of their Patients if they make Apothecaries make the crystal of Tartar with their own hand and in Glass Iron or earthen Vessels River pract l. 11. c. 4. XXVII Though I leave every one to his own judgment and experience in the use of Tartar yet by long use I have found that there is more of an opening and loosening faculty in Tartar it self than in its cream or crystals drawn by the solicitous hands and thoughts of Chymists seeing in boiling and by so many washings its purgative vertue that rests chiefly in its earthy and saline parts does most of it vanish inâ—o the thin air I prescribe opening herbs that are defin'd for the Spleen or Liver to be boiled in pottage
Heer 's obs 1. de May. â—â—e Tr. de Aâ—thr with the addition of a spoonful of white Tartar cleansed by washing only and dried XXVIII The Salt of Tartar has a great opening vertue and may profitably be put in opening Apozems Opiats and Pills but its principal use is in a loosening Ptisan which is made of two drachms of Senna infused in eight ounces of cold water with a scruple or half a drachm of Salt of Tartar whereby the Tincture of the Senna is powerfully extracted so that this ptisan purgeth far more strongly than the common and being continued for many days looses all obstructions from which effect I have known stubborn Quartans often thoroughly cured by the use of this ptisan continued for fifteen days If you fear the Acrimony of the Salt of Tartar it may be corrected with the Spirit of Vitriol or Sulphur as for half a drachm of the Salt let there be fifteen drops of the Spirit River Pract. XXIX Of the Spirit of Vitriol with the Salt or Spirit of Tartar is made Tartar Vitriolate which incides and attenuates cold and viscous Humours concocts crudities opens obstructions and cleanseth away the sticking matter and does all these things very effectually For if the Tartar of Wine have of it self no small vertue to open and absterge if Vitriol alone do this as natural acid and vitriolate Waters demonstrate which are very profitable in all Diseases that spring from obstructions much more is this to be granted to Tartar vitriolate where prepared and very well purified oyl of Tartar by pouring oyl of Vitriol drop by drop upon it is fixt not without excandescence But it is to be observed that if it be exactly prepared according to Crollius it will creatâ— a nausea G. Horst Dec. 9. probl 5. where is another preparation and in the more delicate often cause a vomiting through the over great quantity of the oyl of Tartar in respect to the Spirit of vitriol Therefore it will have the better operation when equâ—l parts are taken XXX The cream and crystalls of Tartar and Tartar vitriolate are so common at this day that many hardly prescribe any Medicines without putting some of these in them Yea Crollius calls Tartar Vitriolat an universal Digestive And I confess indeed that Medicines made of Tartar have a very great vertue in inciding and attenuating Melancholick and thick Humours and therefore in opening obstructions But whereas it often happens that in Hypochondriack Melancholy there are often found black choler and Salt and sowr Humours and such as are altogether Acrimonious and have the Seeds of fire as it were in them surely Tartar Vitriolate and such Acrimonious Medicines are not proper for such Humours seeing they do not blunt their Acrimony but those are rather to be used which temper the bad qualities of such Humours Sennert pract l. 3. p. 3. c. 3. and contrary qualities are to be opposed to contrary ¶ When sometimes there arise dreadful Symptoms from the use of Tartar vitriolate as Vomiting a pain at the Stomach Frid. Hofm clavis Schrod p. 610. c. it is not to be imputed to the Salt of Tartar but often to the impure Spirit of Vitriol XXXI Seeing volatil Salts may be drawn from all the parts of man with small trouble whereof therefore I conclude they consist none ought to wonder that amongst Alteratives and correctors of the depraved Humours of Men I often praise and commend Volatil Salts but such as are mild whereunto here also I deservedly give the preference in correcting and amending the hurts accrewing from the air any way infected Fr. Sylv. de le Boe p. m. 407. or from bad aliments that stay in the Body c. XXXII Viscid Phlegm is incided both by all Aromaticks and things that abound with a volatil Salt and also by Acids and most effectually by Aromatick Gumms Idem append Tr. 5. §. 571. as Galbanum Sagapenum Ammoniacum Bdellium Opopanax Mastich and the like ¶ Volatil Salts being taken for continuance even together with meat are good to prepare tough Phlem as not only inciding and correcting of it but driving part thereof to the ways of the urine and expelling of it in the form of sediment which yet fails by degrees in the urine and on that account yields an undoubted sign that the phlegm is corrected and overcome for the greatest part Idem pract l. 1. c. 30. ¶ Nothing does so incide and correct a too glutinous tough and clammy Blood as any volatil Salt used for a continuance at any time at dinner and supper with Wine c. Seeing every Chronical and tedious distemper draws its original from a phlegmatick Humour at least has the same joined with its cause which yields to no Remedy more easily or sooner than to volatil Salt used according to art Idem c. 43. §. 17 2◠¶ Phlegm as it is a concrete Serum so it requires attenuaters heaters resolvers or things that make it fluid with moisteners But note that we must not dry too much for so it becomes more concrete whence besides Aromaticks and bitterish Acids as Spirit of Vitriol Wedel â—â—id Phlegmaticks are very good yet not omitting heaters and moisteners XXXIII I have learned by some years experience that the consistence and from hence the glutinousness of the Choler as also of other Humours in the Body are increased by the frequent use of austere or sowr things and on the contrary that the same are lessened by a continued use of volatil Salts Acrimonious Aromaticks Idem c. 44. XXXIV The Salt or Vitriol of Steel gains the preference of all other Remedies because it opens obstructions strengthens the Viscera and corrects an hot intemperies the dose is from twelve grains to twenty with a Syrup or conserve c. The ungratefulness of its taste is amended by making it up into pills with the mucilage of Gum tragacanâ—h Let it be of constant use and therefore prepare a great quantiâ—y We give you here an easie preparaâ—ion that cannot be compared by Beguin and others take of oyl of vitriol or Sulphur half a pound of the Spirit of Wine a pound pour them into a new and clean frying pan or Iron dish and cover it wiâ—h a Board within fifteen days there will be a saline concretion which set in the sun that it may be throughly dryed moving it now and â—hen with an Iron spatula in the winter it may be dryed over a very weak fire or in a stove when the Salt is very well dryed put it up in a glass phial well stopt for if it be expos'd to the air it is apt to grow moist The pills made of it with the mucilage of Gum tragacanth will be made harder by adding a little of the Powder of the Gum it self and when they are made up keep them in a glass that they wax not moist River pr. l. 12. c. 5. This Remedy may be continued for