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A78096
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A short description and vindication of the true sal volatile oleosum.Of the ancients wherein 'tis prov'd the great medicine of the spirits; and consequently, an universal remedy. By T. Byfield, M.D.
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Byfield, T. (Timothy)
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1699
(1699)
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Wing B6399; ESTC R232656
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6,670
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20
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A Short Description and Vindication Of the True Sal Volatile Oleosum OF THE ANCIENTS Wherein 't is prov'd The Great Medicine of the Spirits And consequently An Universal Remedy By T. BYFIELD M. D. LONDON Printed for R. Cumberland at the Angel in St. Paul's Church-yard 1699. Price Two Pence A Short Description and Vindication Of the True Sal Volatile Oleosum THE Errors about this Noble Medicine are so many and so gross they deserve not to be refuted But the disparagement done to Learning thereby as well as Damage to the Healths and Lives of Persons has concerned me in the Preparation and Vindication of it All the Learned Masters of Chymistry who have treated of this Celebrated Medicine have declared the Subject to be the Salt of Nature alone altho they have obscurely wrote concerning its Discovery and Preparation which has precipitated many into very great Errors who not knowing the Subject busie themselves about other things altogether unfit for this Work But if they wou'd consider what this Salt is in its own Nature and what Qualities it hath and so comparing the Qualities of their Compositions with the Qualities of this Salt of Life the Thing it self wou'd discover what is Truth and what not Take a Description of it in these Particulars 1. The Subject of the true Sal Volatile Oleosum must be only one thing For Oleosum is opposite to Macrum as Fat to Lean. 2. The Virtues and Powers of the Superiors and Inferiors are concentrated in it 3. It containeth in it self the Vital Fire 4. 'T is incombustible and despiseth the Violence of the Flames 5. 'T is both Volatil and Fixt 6. It containeth the three Principles of Nature in the highest Purity viz. Salt Sulphur and Mercury 7. 'T is of great Splendor Ponderosity and Tenuity 8. It contains the Vital Tincture of the World in Potentia 9. 'T is the very Spring of Radical Moisture 10. 'T is only one Clean Bright Fat Salt I know there are many who will not approve of this Description of our Medicine especially those who are employ'd about divers Mixtures and Compositions which they call by this Name altho they have nothing of the Nature and Virtues of the true Medicine But such wou'd do well to consult the Ancient Philosophers who expound the Principles and their occult Operations Then the certainty of this Salt wou'd be evidently known by shewing Sulphur residing in it in the form of a Subtil Thin Illuminating Oil of an Ethereal Quality And Mercury as the Aereal Humidity and the inseparable Companion of Sulphur and the Medium to conjoin it with the Salt And the Principle of Coagulation is the Salt wherein is secur'd the Mercury and Sulphur for it is call'd Domicilium invisibilis seminis So you have the three Principles of Nature all in one Saline Body But Salt is always reckon'd first by Chymists because whoever has the true Universal Salt of the World has Mercury and Sulphur included You must be very wary in the Choice of your Salt for it is of most profound search and differs much from all other Salts Avicen discoursing of this Medicine says Salia cujuscunque generis sint nostrae Arti sunt contraria excepto Sale Naturae Sal Naturae in centro Elementorum qualificatione Astrorum per Spiritum Mundi absque ulla cessatione generatur radiis Solis Lunae in maâ—â— Philosophico gubernatur Arnoldus But Morienus gives the Receipt Spiritus Vniversi dicitur Sal Spirituosum illud Sal extrahitur mensibus vernalibus Sole ad nos redeunte Illud ipsum Sal ex rore Majali colligitur ex eoque fit conficitur Medicina Vniversalis If your Salt be right in the Anatomy of it you 'l see a certain Subtil Shining Transparent Oil which is the Oleosum of the Medicine full of Active Virtue and containing the Vital Fire of the World But most Temperate Equal and Similar to Life in Man For the Natural Heat or Fire in Bodies is that Vital Flame which forms its own Body and is nothing else but the Spirits or Fiery Life in Creatures And this Fire or Life which preserves Beings must be cloathed with such an Essence as can pierce and penetrate all Bodies whatsoever for where it cannot penetrate it cannot quicken and illuminate The Sun by its Fire doth excite and quicken every thing upon Earth So the Fire which is proper anâ— peculiar to every Creature does preserve in it Life For we find that when our Heat or Warmth beginâ— to decrease in its wonted Activity we grow Dull Cold and Unactive and when it ceaseth altogether we Die and Perish It may be observ'd in declining Age when Natural Heat abates that a cold Phlegmacy and rawness abounds with a crude Earthiness and such Persons have often fresh insipid Urines for want of the Salt of Life which is inseparable from the Volatil Living Fire Experience shews that wheresoever our Fire is strong Salt abounds as in Sweat Urine c. The Salter any ones Sweat and Urine is the more lively and vigorous he is So that Salt is the consequent of Fire Wheresoever Salt is there Fire is also whether it be in Air Earth Vegetables Animals c. Some of the Ancients have called the Sun the Salt of the World For which reason 't is probable the Greeks call'd Salt ἅλας and the Sun á¼Î»Î¹Î¿Ï‚ The Romans called the Sun Sol and Salt Sal representing the likeness of their Natures by the likeness of their Names 'T is said Mark 9. 49. Every one shall be salted with Fire And this Fire or Life which is in the Salt is properly that which preserves the Creatures from Putrefaction For when this Life hath once left the Salt we are told Matth. 5. 13. That it is good for nothing but to be cast out and to be trod under Foot by men Every Creature hath its vivifying Spirit or Fire and stands in need of a Spiritual Nutriment which is plentiful in the Air and to be attracted in the Form of a tender Oily Salt And since Spirit of Blood is a fine Volatil Salt what more similar and uniform than the Salt of Air to that of Blood But 't is from the Sulphur and Mercury contain'd in the Salt that it becomes capable of Production for with them the Volatil living Fire insinuates it self most intimately with its influential Virtues giving Splendor and Spirit to the Salt Thus it becomes agreeable to all Creatures for the sustaining of Life and those Bodies that are most impregnated with it are in a better State of Health and Vigor Besides 't is the true Vital Ferment of Bodies and Root of Radical Moisture For by the Action of the Fire upon the Principles is generated the Balsom of Nature and Seminal Spirits and these are coagulated in this Salt of Nature which is the Soul of the Earth and of all other things If the Earth were depriv'd of this Salt it wou'd want the Power of Sprouting and
Budding It is the only Subject under the Concave of the Moon in which the Virtues as well of the Superiors as of the Inferiors lye concentrated and out of which alone by the Chymical Art our Learned Masters prepar'd their true Sal Volatile Oleosum And not from the Lean Impoverisht Caustic Salts of any Bodies whatsoever in Conjunction with Oils Spirits Perfumes c. after every ones Fancy wherewith the World does so abound For at this rate may be made 1000 sorts Whenas there is but only one in Nature viz. A Clean Bright Fat Virgin-Salt which open'd by Art shews a transparent white Sulphur or Oil that is of so great Moment For in the white lyes the incombustible red Sulphur which cloaths the Fiery Life of Beings and is the Spring of indelible Vital Tincture I have chose to give this Salt thus open'd for the more easie mixing with Liquors and its readiness to be assimulated Besides 't is a demonstration of its Oilyness which manifests the Medicine and a piece of Art For the Body is wholly Saline and by an easie heat I can lock up the Mercury and Sulphur again and represent an intire Body of Salt So you have the three Principles of Nature in Unity This is a great Secret and a branch of oceult Philosophy Honest Avicen in very poor Latin writing of this Medicine says thus Qui ergo scit Salem ejus solutionem Ille scit verum Salem Volatilem Oleosum Antiquorum Sapientum Pone ergo tuam mentem super Salem nec cogites de aliis nam in ipso solo occultatur Medicina Vera. From what is said 't is manifest that this Salt alone hath Vital Endowments let it appear under what form soever And so it becomes the genuine adaequate Medicine of the Spirits and consequently an Universal Medicine In Man is a peculiar vivifying innate Spirit which contributes both Light and Life to the Body for conserving and sustaining the same And it manifests its own exquisite Skill as Experience daily proves in separating the pure from the impure of all our Meat and Drink This Spiritual Essence the Active Internal Agent in all Bodies is often invaded by Diseasy Ferments received from Meats Drinks Corrupt and Unwholsom Airs c. And very often no longer capable to suppress those Disorders without the help of a Medicine naturally gifted to cast a friendly Ray or Beam of Light upon the discompos'd and darkned Spirit by which it is enabled to expell what offends And of such a Nature is our Medicine Homogeneal to our Spirits whereby they are kept undisturb'd and Life and Health maintain'd Our Natural Spirits are Volatil Oily Substances therefore by Sympathy they are delighted and refresht with our Volatil Oily Salt Spirituum Oleaginitas consistit in Sale Oleoso Volatili That which Fabricated the Man must be the Conserver of that Frame Diseasy Powers aim at nothing else but its Destruction Yet no morbifick Power can exist in the Body of Man where the Spirit of Life stands clear and undefil'd As is apparent in a Pestilential Season In some Bodies the Spirits being clean and strong remain untouch't and no Venom introduc't But in others the Spirits being not so clear or strong enough to defend themselves admit of Pestilential Airs and so form the Disease Yet if timely assisted by Natural Remedies easily and readily expel the same When the Spitits have any Diseasy Impress by the means of a generous Medicine they can rectify their own defiled Air and illuminate and restore the discomposed Spirits to their pristin State so that no Disease can long abide In Sacred Scriptures we read that Elisha at the request of the Inhabitants of Jericho intending to heal their Venomous Waters went not to the Streams but to the Fountain it self and there cast in Salt So ought every Physician in his Administration of Remedies to respect the Fountain or Original not the Streams or Effects of Diseases For That by which a Disease is form'd is That to which the Remedy ought to be apply'd A true Medicine relieves the Natural Spirits dâ—bilitated or disturb'd without resolving the nourishing Juices of the Body and ejecting of 'em as Excrements and Superfluities as common Purges and other forcible Medicines do to the impoverishing of Nature The Spirits interrupted and opprest are uncapable to perform their wonted Actions and Natural Separations But a Congeneal Medicine excites their Powers to officiate amend and restore the Body The Body is the Subject containing the Spirit and the Spirit the contained Agent vivifying and agitating the Body When the Body in all its parts is intire and compleat the Spirit without interruption performs all its own Operations perfectly And 't is evident the Spirit of Man delighteth in no Remedy that is not capable to assist it in its own Acts and to be better'd by it Spiritus Spiritibus curantur Spiritus optimi sunt Morborum Medicatores Physicians are Nature's Ministers and whatsoever tends not to her Preservation is out of the way that may be called Living Eximius Medicus excellens debet esse Physicus Accuratissime sciat quibusvis Spirituum defectibus subvenire convenientes accommodare Medicinas Naturam juvare errantem in viam ducere rectam debilitatem roborare oppressam relevare succumbenti succurrere Et talia praestare si calluerit jure merito Naturae-Consultus dicendus est Medicus vero qui nec Naturam nec Naturae Spiritus nec Naturae Vires novisse didicit qui Spirituum Morbos impotentias ignorat qui Purgationibus Naturam destruit qui Medicamentorum farragine Stomachum obruit qui Naturam in actionibus suis operationibus confundit Valetudinem conculcat Et talis Medicus Naturae est destructor Hostis Medicaster Sanitatis formalitas est Potentia Naturales actiones exercendi Spiritus sunt illi ipsi qui exercent illam potentiam Positis Spiritibus radiantibus ponitur Vita amissis extinctis ponitur Mors. Illa itaque Spirituum Medicina est Sal Spirituosum quia fluidam volatilem luminosam reddit Spirituum Sanguinis humorum obscuritatem crassitiem segnitiem The true Sal Volatile Oleosum is to be prefer'd before a thousand common Medicines which prove themselves to be rather injurious than profitable Beccuse they want those Universal Virtues that are capable to answer the Spirits Necessities Moreover Experience manifests that the Relicts of acute Diseases manag'd by Medicines contrary to Nature become the Causes of Chronical Distempers Whereas true Medicine should not be contrary to our Natures But contrary to Diseases which are contrary to our Natures and friendly to our Spirits Many Droop thro' Languid and Disordered Spirits and for Relief suffer themselves to be tormented by Externals or contrary Internals Whereas a generous lively Remedy agreeable to the Harmony of our Natures and that neither dulls the Stomach nor increases praeternatural Heat but is found Temperate Clean and Subtile such a Remedy wou'd soon please the Spirit of