Nature being burthen'd seeks other ways for the passage of the Blood In like manner when the same immoderate Flux is from plenty of Blood there astringents profit not There is an Indicant indeed for astriction but this is the last thing or the end but he that will attain the end must also attend the means and so in that case Aperitives are rather proper So also in Hydropick and cachectick Persons bleeding at the Nose is very frequent in whom the Spleen or Liver are affected in which case Medicines that strengthen the Bowels are requisite indeed but the more chief intention is to open the Parts obstructed and therefore let it be noted as a rule When with an afflux of humors G. W. Wedelius de s m. fac p. 33. there is present either an obstruction of the Vessels or a plenty of Humors astringents do less good but rather in the first case Aperitives and in the latter Evacuators as blood-letting VIII As it is well known that crocus Martis is either aperitive or astringent so we must never perfectly rely on crocus Martis adstringens alone for first it is certain that these two differ not save that in the Astringent a more earthy absorbing and constringing quality predominates and in the aperient a more saline vitriolate which in the former is more changed and taken away by the most urgent Fire of the Reverberatory Hence in case Acid Austere or sowr Humors excite Tumults and Fluxions in the Body as is usual or Diarrhaea's from an overloose Tone by the accession of these Humors in the Body part of the crocus recorporates as it were and so loosens as much as it astringes Whence where the villi of the viscera are to be strengthned it profits much inasmuch as it exerts its vertue in opening as they call it or in correcting the less fluxile Humors but where there is loosness with erosion for instance we must deal warily with it But the less vitriolate crocus Martis is the less aperitive it is and the less ochreous the less astringent whence we must not alike absolutely trust to Mars alone Wedel Pharm p. 115. to all of it and always IX The roots of Bistort or Snakeweed and Tormentil have a great affinity but we must note that seeing the Roots of this latter are of more thin Parts than those of Bistort we must always prefer Tormentil where less astriction is required as in the beginning of a malignant Dysentery Moreover Tormentil is given with very great benefit in malignant Fevers as the small-Pox Measles Petechiae yea in the Plague and Epedimick Dysentery not because it moves Sweat but that it may bridle the ebullition of the mass of blood Frid. Hofman clavis Schrod p. 423. which is the reason also why the Roots of Tormentil enter the composition of the pulvis Pannonicus ruber Alexipharmacks Cordials Diaphoreticks See Sudorificks below in this Book and Venena or Poysons in the eighteenth The Contents The same are not every where alike profitable and the reason of their difference I. Of what kind Corroboratives should be where it is discoursed of the harm of Sugar II. The frequent use of them is hurtful III. They are to be accommodated to the tenour of the Stomach and Heart IV. In what time of the Disease they are convenient V. A new way of conveying Cordials to the Heart VI. The efficacy of Cordials that are taken VII Let them not be earthy for such as are troubled mith obstructions VIII Whether there be a Cordial vertue in Gold IX The right preparation of Antimonium diaphoreticum X. Whether one may rely on Bezoar-stone XI In what quantity it is to be given XII Whether crude or calcin'd Harts-horn is to be used XIII It has various vertues according to its different preparation XIV The right preparation of it XV. Whether there be such a thing as an Unicorns horn XVI The excellency of Treacle for prevention XVII It is not to be given to Children XVIII The dose of it XIX Whether there be a Cordial vertue in precious Stones and their magisteries XX. The hurt of common magisteries XXI The hurt of magisterie of perles XXII For what people Tormentil and Bole are not convenient XXIII A caution in the use of the Salt of Vipers XXIV The various endowments of sulphureous urinous and acid Spirits XXV Let the Gellies of Hartshorn Ivory c. be new XXVI 1 THose are reckoned for Cordials that assist the Heart labouring in any kind wherefore one is every where said by Authors notably to strengthen the Heart another to keep it unhurt by any putrefaction others to relieve a weak oppressed heart to cure its tremor or fainting and to preserve it from corruption Moreover because in the Plague small Pox and malignant Fevers the Heart is believed to be seised or beset with Poyson or Malignity therefore the remedies that are wont to help in those Diseases are not called simply Cordials but Alexeteries and Alexipharmacks This opinion concerning both Cordial and Alexeterial Medicines seems to rise from hence inasmuch as the Heart is commonly believed to be the beginning of all Life and Heat and that therefore our Health and Death depend on its immediate affection hence what things soever recreate the Soul they are supposed to do it as they are benign and friendly to the Heart But seeing we have in another place shewn largely enough that the subject of life is not the heart but chiefly and almost only the Blood and that the Soul it self on whose existence and action in the Body life depends is founded partly in the Blood and partly in the animal Spirits it will plainly follow that the remedies which preserve Life intire or recruit it when it is in danger respect these Parts of the Soul viz. the Blood and animal Spirits rather and more immediately than the Heart Therefore that the Reasons and Manners of the Operation of those Medicines that are called Cordials may be known we must consider these two things 1. How many and what ways especially the Blood being amiss or in danger as to its accension or its mixture requires aid from Medicine whereby it may be preserved or amended 2. After what manner the Heart is hindred or perverted from its due motion for it serves to drive the Blood about through the defect or fault of the animal Regiment and for which Medicines that encrease or set to rights the Spirits are indicated As to the first the Blood in respect of its accension either fails or exceeds and in each respect different Medicines namely hot or cold or as it were Oil and Water are required and therefore they are commonly called Cordials though they affect not the Heart at all for though upon the taking of them the motion of the Heart is often changed and accordingly the Pulse becomes presently frequenter or slower stronger or weaker yet this therefore comes to pass because the motion of the Heart depending
any one Tribe of them For although when we have occasion for the virtue of any Specifick Medicine the rule hold good The more simple the better yet when we propose to our selves to cure our Patient by answering this or that Indication every several Ingredient contributes its share to the cure of the Disease And in this case the greater the number of Simples is so much the more powerfully the Medicine will operate Therefore out of the Medicines mentioned and those of the same nature several Recipe's tending to this end may be made I prefer the form of an Electuary in the manner of Theriaca Andromachi before all others as excelling in virtue because the mutual confermentation of all the Simples increases their virtue producing as it were some third thing which in equal quantity is of more virtue in them conjoyned than in any one of them And for the sake of young Physicians I discover the Remedy I my self make use of which is compounded after this manner Take of the roots of Angelico Calamus Aromaticus Masterwort Elecampane Leaves of common Wormwood lesser Centaury white Horehound Germander Groundpine Scordium common Calamint Feaverfew Meadow Saxifrage St. John's Wort Golden Rod Mother of Time Mint Sage Rue Carduus Benedictus Southernwood Flowers of Chamaemil Tansie Lily Conval English Saffron Seeds of Treacle-Mustard Garden Scurvigrass Caroway Berries of Juniper of each a sufficient quantity Let all the Herbs Flowers and Roots be gathered at those seasons when they have the most virtue Let them be dried and kept in Paper Bags till they be fit to Powder Let 4 ounces of each be well mixt and made up with a Syrup of Canary Wine and Sugar into the form of an Electuary of a due consistence Let him take 2 drachms morning and evening Or in defect of this let him use this following Take of Conserve of Garden Scurvigrass 1 ounce and an half of Roman Wormwood and yâllow rind of Oranges each 1 ounce of Candied Angelico preserved Nutmeg each half an ounce Theriaca Andromachi 3 drachms Pulv. Ari. Comp. 2 drachms with a sufficient quantity of Syrup of Oranges make an Electuary Let him take 2 drachms twice a day drinking 5 or 6 spoonfulls of the following Scurvigrass Water upon it Take of Root of Horse-Rhadish sliced 3 ounces Garden Scurvigrass 12 handfulls Water Cresses Brooklime Sage Mint each 3 handfulls Orange Pills No. vj. Nutmegs bruised No ij Brunswick Mum 12 pounds distill them in the common Organs till onely 8 pounds of Water be drawn off for use Of all Medicines commonly known which help concoction Theriaca Andromachi is the best but because it is made up of very hot Simples and besides abounds with Opium the abovesaid Electuary may more conveniently be made of the chief heaters and strengthners with Sugar dissolved in Wine which will be more gratefull to the Stomach than Honey is We must take care in the mean time that those Simples be made use of that are more gratefull to the Patient's palate for seeing they must use it a long time i. e. almost as long as they live it is very convenient Idem p. 49. that it be not ingratefull to the Palate XXXIX This must be observed above all namely that all Digestive Remedies whatever whether they consist in Medicine or Diet or Exercise must not be used by the bye but constantly and daily with all diligence For since in this Disease as also in most Chronical ones its cause is passed into an habit and as it were a new nature no wise Man can think that any light and momentany alteration brought upon the Bloud and Humours by any kind of either Medicine or Diet can attain the scope of Cure but the whole habit of the body must be turned another way and the whole Man must as it were be new forged again upon the Anvil For neither is the case here as in some acute distemper when he that was as well as heart can wish but even now is on a sudden taken with a Fever and sinks down as if a Bridge broke under him from a very good state of health into a most dangerous disease The state of the Gout is far otherwise When a Man by leading an intemperate life for many years one after another omitting his accustomed exercise consuming in sloth and idleness or by too much study and unremitted intention of mind and other errors of life hath endeavoured as it were on purpose that the various ferments of the Body should be perverted and the Animal spirits which are the primary Instruments of Concoction are oppressed whereupon the preternatural Humours that are gathered do at length break out and give an overthrow when they are exalted to the highest degree and when the flesh is made soft and the joints effeminate they more readily receive the Humours falling upon them And so at length another Nature as it were is by degrees superinduced the pristine and natural oeconomy of the body being utterly overturned and destroyed For these Paroxysms which in a manner wholly take up the thoughts of the inconsiderate and less knowing sort are nothing else but a series and order of Symptomes dependent on that method which Nature commonly uses in expelling the matter which is the cause of the disease outwards Wherefore he loses his labour whoever goes about to stave off this disease by using this or that Medicine or Regiment likewise onely now and then But since this Habit is founded and consists chiefly in the spoiling of all the Digestions and in the loss of natural firmness in particular parts we must obviate both evils and as well the strength of Concoction as the firmness of parts must be reduced and restored by degrees that is according to the Model of the pristine and accustomed oeconomy of the body And however impossible this may seem to be done fully and perfectly not onely because every Habit is with great difficulty changed into its contrary but because old Age which commonly is companion and partner to this disease doth violently oppose yet as far as strength and years will allow the Cure must be attempted and as the Patient is younger or elder Idem p. 67. so he will more or less escape the Tyranny of the Gout XL. A Milk diet either of raw Milk or boiled taking nothing else unless a little Bread in it once a day has been in vogue for 20 years last past This did several good beyond all other Medicines for this disease so long as they exactly observed it but as soon as ever he returned to the diet of the Healthy were it never so mild and gentle who had used himself to this the Gout presently returning handled the Patient far worse than before for the Principles of Nature being by this course weakned the Patient is rendred more unable to keep off the disease and therefore afflicts him more dangerously and tediously He therefore that thinks of taking this course must first of all seriously
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 ouâce 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 Cânt 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
upon the Blood and so erect vigorate and compose either some Portion or the whole subsistence of the sensitive Soul that was too contracted depressed or otherwise disturbed And indeed this kind of Remedies do in a sort affect the heart it self although remotely in that seeing the whole sensitive Soul is elevated and expanded wider by giving of them the Spirits also that are appointed for the Praecordia flow the more plentifully into them and actuate them the more briskly and therefore the Pulse that before was weak or faltring by and by beats more strongly and the Blood is driven about with the greater violence This sort of Medicines are fitly enough reduced to two Heads and as they are gentle or rugged attain the same scope namely they either erect and confirm the animal Spirits by cherishing and as it were gently and softly stroaking of them or else by vexing and as it were spurring of them they drive them into quicker and sometimes more regular Motions The Cordials of the first sort as soon as they are swallowed nay sometimes being but tasted exert their Vertue and by a grateful appulse recruit the Spirits that reside in the first ways then by the continuity of these the same ovation being communicated successively to the other Spirits shortly undulates through the whole Compages of the sensitive Soul so that both the Brain and also the Praecordia being irradiated with a fuller influx of the Spirits exulting as it were they perform their Functions more briskly and chearfully For this purpose taking heed of the too great incitation of the Blood serve the Waters commonly called Cordial also the Preparations of Mosch and Amber and the Aromatick Powders that are mixt with them Such things as have a grateful savour or smell or are pleasant to look upon inasmuch as they recreate the animal Spirits are reckoned also among Cordials In the mean time other Cordials of this Classis the first ways and mass of Blood being almost untoucht seem to operate first of all in the Brain of which sort are some Cephalicks so called which though they be less grateful to the Palate or Stomach and hardly ferment or exagitate the Blood yet illustrate the Brain and exacuate and strengthen the Inhabitants thereof the animal Spirits Of this Nature seem to be Sage Betony Rosemary Vervain c. There are another sort of Cordials that operate in a different manner and help wholly on another account those namely do not gently cherish the animal Spirits and cause them to be expanded equally but rather irritate them and make them run and be carried this way and that way to the end namely that they being inordinate before and unequally dispersed crowding in some places and thin in others and therefore intermitting or perversely acting some offices of their Functions especially within the Brain or Praecordia may be disturbed and more agitated by an ungrateful Medicine which in such a case is a very good Remedy in that being thereby roused as if they were lash'd they leave their former disorders and of their own accord return into regular order Thus it is usual in swooning fainting oppression or spasm of the Heart and in almost any other failings languors or irregularities of the Spirits to give inwardly Spirit of Hartshorn of Soot of Sal Armoniack or Tincture of Castor or Asa foetida with other Liquors or to hold to the Nose these and the like as especially volatile Salts and Empyreumatical Chymical Oils Besides it may be sometimes good in sudden Defections of the Soul to sprinkle cold water on the Face to pinch the Nose very much to shake the Body and sometimes to strike a box on the Ear. Such Administrations as these give help inasmuch as they rouse up the animal Spirits being oppressed or distracted or employed otherways than they should and command them being expanded Willis and mustered as it were to their former Offices II. Seeing in almost all Diseases diminution of Strength as being more urgent draws to it self a curative Indication and perswades that before all things roborating and comforting things should be given the Sick 't is no wonder that Physicians are often instigated to appoint such But if you inquire of them what those comforting things are they produce divers Blandiments of the Tongue Confections and Aromatick Spirits never regarding whether they be hurtful to the Patient or not nor understanding that these things that please the Palate are often prejudicial to the Stomach For can these things be comforting that are administred while the fomes of the Disease still survives how shall the Citizen fortifie himself that has received unto him a domestick Enemy stronger than himself If the Disease bring a man down that was strong and in good health how will it suffer him to be fortified when he is brought down I speak not here of specifick Cordials I let those alone also that recruit and illustrate the Spirits and hinder their resolution these are not to be deprived of their due esteem but I censure only the abuse of comforting things Now those which are truly such are those that subduing the Morbifick causes add strength to the Bowels that by correcting the Ferments if any of them were weak and restoring them to their pristine vigour make them again mindful of their wonted office In which matter we have the consent of Sennertus in his Paralip ad Institut p. m. 79. admonishing That comforting or strengthning Medicines ought to be such which preserve and restore the Instruments of each Faculty to wit the Substance Temper and Spirits of the Part and that take away the Causes that violate them and that therefore respect is always to be had to the Cause of the Disease and the weakness of the Faculties and heed is to be taken that whilst we strive to please the palate of the Patient and to recruit his Spirits we do not encrease the Cause of the Disease and so also the very debility of the Faculties especially by such things as in their whole kind are foreign and have no congruence with the Spirits nor are grateful to the weak Ferments of the Viscera As to the usual Juleps without the conjunction of prevailing acid Spirits Electuaries and Emulsions and other Medicines of that Nature that easily Ferment it is certain that they are very grateful to the Well and to such as are in the declination of Fevers where the Ferments of the Viscera have again in some measure attained their pristin vigour as Galen testifies Comment 5. Epid. 14. but they are naught for the Sick and hurtful in most Diseases of the Stomach and Womb for these being in a preter-natural state are only delighted with bitter acrimonious and acid things other Medicines are quite opposite to the Ferment of the Stomach and so make the Digestions more difficult Sugar a common Ingredient in Cordial Juleps c. being Chymically dissected passes partly into a most ardent Spirit partly into a Corrosive
Salt what then is this like to do in a Morbous condition of the Stomach where all things are governless In a nidorous Crudity it will be changed like Proteus into sulphureous dross in an acid it will pass into a corrosive Salt where there is no doubt but that the preternatural scorbutick acid Salts are exalted by those of the Sugar and that thereby there is given a greater occasion for the obstructions of the Viscera also that febrile Ferments are encreased hereby To which account H. ab Heer Lib. 1. Observat 5. long ago subscribed It is certain says he that those who in Fevers have often taken Syrups Conserves and other Sugared Medicines which most Physicians have used to prescribe have many of them died for I am certain that by the Sugar which easily turns to Choler fuel is added to the Fever whence Avenzoar writes as Mercurialis cites him that those who often use sweet things can hardly be preserved Shall that which it self is always prone to ferment Hofin m. m. l. 1. c. 19. hinder other things from corruption and fermentation III. The more frequent use of Alexeteries is hurtful lest by custom Nature come to receive no benefit by them N. Bocca Angelinus cap. 32. ¶ Great caution is needful that men indulge not themselves too much in the use of Cordials For I have known many eminent both Men and Women from the more frequent use of these fall into this bad custom that it has become necessary to take a draught often in a day either of some generous Wine or Spirit or of some Strong water yea moreover inasmuch as Nature being a little accustomed to Extraordinaries remains not long content with the same to encrease them daily and to repeat them oftener so that at length the Stomach could bear or digest nothing moderate but still desired stronger and hotter But the other Viscera and especially the Liver have been so dried and parch'd thereby that the Blood being lessened as to its quantity and depraved as to its Crasis a morbiferous Cacochymie or shortning of life has superven'd There are sundry occasions that bring men into this bad custom of sipping Cordial Liquors for in sudden Faintings which are perhaps occasion'd by great Grief toylsome Labour vast Sweats or acute Pain also when one has eaten something that agrees not with his Stomach but causes a weight and a Nausea or when a swooning or stupor seems to be impendent through a Spasmodick disposition yea for many other causes it is usual to guzle vinous Spirits and then after that such Cordials being taken some time begin to be agreeable and delight the mass of Blood being a little more freely expanded and more accended by every taste of them the whole Hypostasis of the Soul is thereby amplified and excited into a kind of Ovation which subsiding again the Soul remembring that complacence and being not content with her present state affects the same again and craves after more Wherefore upon every trouble of Body or Mind assoon as the Spirits quail a little a Cordial draught is presently desired to raise them again and so by the often unprofitable spreading of the sails of the Soul the Fabrick of the Body it self as of a ship is shattered Nor does this evil custom prevail only among drunken Companions but sometimes learned Men and fine and ingenious Women that they may the more improve and exhilarate their Genius by often sipping of hot Spirits and Waters or of Aqua Vitae although it be but improperly called so undermine and often overturn their own health Willis IV. When the Stomach languishes thick Alexipharmacks are more commended than liquid that they may stay there the longer When the Heart is affected liquid are better because they penetrate more speedily as Praevotius has experimented Rhod. in Septal p. 147. V. They are not convenient before an universal state of the Disease lest they move the crude humors unseasonably or carry them to the Heart * Baldus p. 3. or lest by drawing them to the inner Parts they increase the Obstructions Alsar à Cruce Prophyl Cons p. 72. â shortness of Breath or Putrefaction therefore let them be given after Concoction is finished VI. Some say that Cordials may be made to exert their vertue by the means of the circulated Blood without taking them in at the mouth The manner of Administration is this Let the Arm be tyed above and below then having emptied the Mediana infuse a Cordial liquor through a Pipe made of a Lark's Bone one end of which is fitted to an Oxe's Bladder and the other put into the Mediana or some fair vein of the Foot squeezing the Bladder when the liquor is injected shut the hole remove the bandages and the substance and virtue thereof will be carried to the Heart by means of the Circulation VII The most Serene Prince Christian Marquess of Brandenburgh died very old His Corps being opened the Heart being dissected sent forth a very grateful Odour altogether like those Emulsions and Juleps viz. Confect Alkermes Cinamon water c. which had been given him some days before he died An infallible Argument that Medicines which are taken stick not in the first ways but by a continued use they may penetrate to the very Heart with their vertue almost intire J Sigismund Esholt M. C. an 76. Observ 225. and retaining their qualities at least partly VIII In Hypochondriacal cases Cordials are sometimes to be used Fortis consult 7. Cent. 3. yet let Powders and Earths alone as encreasing Obstructions IX The Ancients mixed crude leaf gold with many Medicines but to what purpose I pray unless to please the Eyes for its substance is too solid and compact to be resolved and brought into act by our heat Nor does it suffice that some determine the Effluvia of the Heart and Gold to be Sympathick and therefore they give leaf-gold for besides that this supposition may be destroyed with the same facility as it is asserted without Reasons it might be applied outwardly in greater plenty and without doubt with greater profit and less or no loss Schrod Phârm l. 3. c. 8. ¶ But I think it is without doubt that being Chymically resolved and prepared it has many vertues seeing Experience testifies it But whether it have also a notable power of comforting the Heart and refreshing the Spirits in an occult manner I leave every one to think what he will It is safest that every one conclude in this case not as he has read or heard but as he has himself experienced But that Gold has many other vertues is certain but what those are all say not alike for there are some who take it almost for an universal Remedy but although it cure many and those very dangerous Diseases yet it removes not all and those which it does remove it will not do it alone but there is need of other Medicines But it is especially profitable in
might break some inward Vein or some inflammation might invade the agitated parts or the restless straining to Vomit and the Fever might so grow upon him that afterwards there might be no place for remedies I therefore order him to Bleed presently to fifteen ounces which remedy proved so seasonable and effectual that the provocation to Vomit ceased even while the Blood was a running and the fever abated and declining by degrees was quite cured on the seventh day I did thus not only on the day of the exarcerbation but also in the very hour of the greatest affliction The like I did in the siege of Rochel in many up and down in the Army that were ill of a very violent and greatly putrid Fever yea that was somewhat pestilential Of all which Patients of mine not one died that used Venesection Wherefore to return I say again that Bleeding is a most effectual remedy when the disease is urgent where the end is suspected Whither belongeth that of Celsus lib. 2. c. 10. Blood ought to be let when any one is strangled with a Quinsie and when the foregoing fit of an Ague almost killed the Patient and 't is probable the next may be as bad and the strength of the Patient seems not able to sustain it Which ought to be understood both of an intermitting and continual Fever that has exacerbations for this ought to be done in both and in any other disease save where there are no hopes of recovery wherein there is greater suspicion that it will grow to a greater height than decline And that is the whole time of the vigor or state according to Physicians whilst the disease for some space of time seems to maintain an equal combat with the strength of the Body not but that it is either increased in it self or in some regard diminished but it is unknown to us LVII And shall this remedy be thought unprofitable in the declensions of diseases Some have thought it to be so for this reason That nature can overcome the residue that is less if she could lessen that which was greater in the state of the disease That indeed has for the most part been observed yet often also it is false according to that of Hippocrates Those things which are left in diseases use to cause relapses Some say here that these reliques of diseases ought not to be taken away by Bleeding but Purging but I am of the contrary opinion Leon Botal l. de cur per s m. c. 22. namely rather the former way than the latter yet not in all diseases but in very many See the reasons § 29. of this chapter LVIII If it happen that there be a great necessity for Bleeding but the strength be very languid from the beginning of the disease to the very state and Bleeding were neglected at the beginning What is to be done in such a case We must know that before all things the feebleness of the strength is to be consider'd whether it arise from oppression or from resolution If the strength be oppressed seeing it suffers nothing in its own nature we must not omit to Bleed though we did omit it in the beginning On which account Hippocrates 4. de rat vict in Acut. and Galen in commentar admonish us to let Blood in the case of the intercepting of the Blood and shutting of the Veins But if the strength be resolved and suffer as to 't is essence I had rather with Sennertus de febr follow Galen in this case who persuades us to omit those remedies that may cast down the strength of the Body and get the Physician an ill fame and to use prognosticks rather than by a doubtful remedy to take away the remainders of the strength with the life For it is contrary to all method of cure to exhaust more the vital spirits which are already exhausted And we consult more for the dignity of Physick Hofman m. m. l. 1. c. 13. if in such a case we insist upon comforting things and expect a convenient time for Venesection LIX In the progress of diseases especially Fevers that there is no place for Venesection is determin'd by Joubertus 1. Because of aphor 23. 2. In the beginning of diseases if any thing seem to be moved move it then which Galen also understands of Phlebotomy 2. There is no place for it where Purging is most required but seeing as the disease proceeds the febrile intemperies does daily corrupt the Blood and seeing it makes it feculent serous and ill coloured it becomes clear that purging is rather required 3. The strength being brought down by such a taint of the Blood and the continuance of the disease does dissuade from it And let us suppose that the tainted or infected Blood is also evacuated by Venesection yet this will not be with fruit because the good Blood is diminished with the offending humours On the contrary Gaudinus often Bleeds in the progress of the disease 1. Because the Cacochymy which a febrile intemperies introduceth upon the Blood when the Fever is vigorous has always a preternatural heat which is not only alter'd by Venesection but a good part also of the offending matter evacuated 2. As often as the faults of crudity shew themselves and there are new putrefactions if the Patient be not very weak Blood is conveniently taken away And though in the progress of the disease it be done a second or a third time it is neither unseasonable nor unreasonable 3. Is it not true in all Venesection that all things are moved inwards all places are made more open and all the humours better scattered which things are of great moment for the cure of Fevers 4. If for the sake of a Cacochymy Blood be withdrawn in the beginning why not also in the progress of the disease These things being laid down Gaudinus concludes that in each Plethora the mother of Fevers if the strength consent 't is profitable in the beginning of the disease to withdraw that which is shut up in the coction of the Blood and that not once but a Second and a Third time more largely in that Plethora which is such with respect to the Vessels more sparingly in the other which is burthensome and offensive to the strength and in both again more sparingly in the augment of the disease and more largely on the first days thereof And a little after Seeing there are many kinds of Cacochymy Purging is a proper and an accommodate remedy for them all whereby the impurity is withdrawn and evacuated sooner and more easily or slower and more hardly accordingly as the parts of the body are situated Yet in a Cacochymy of the Veins Blood is let for many reasons yet so as that what is not drawn forth by Venesection be drawn forth by Purging Here I will only mention a febrile Cacochymy which is far more profitably taken away by Bleeding again and again than by Purging because either all of it is drawn forth or
at this time also it breeds a Paroxysm and that for the causes above-mentioned with which mischief if it do not presently punish the Patient yet it does not at all free him from his Disease how constantly soever and at due Intervals he take this or that Cathartick Nay I have known some subject to this Disease who paid their devotions to Health by a Purge not onely Spring and Fall but once a Month yea and sometimes every week yet not one of them escaped the Gout which afterwards for the most part handled them more cruelly than if they had abstained from all Physick For though the said Purging may carry off some part of the Continent Cause yet since it conduces not one jot to strengthen concoction from which it is so far that it weakens it destroying nature by a fresh wound it is onely opposed to one Cause and has not virtue sufficient for the Cure of the Disease Besides we must note that through the same defect of spirits whereby coctions are vitiated in people subject to the Gout the consistence of their Animal spirits is rendred less firm and lively whereupon it is presently scattered and disturbed by any cause which does a little more violently shake and disturb either mind or body and therefore is very fleeting and dissipable as it often happens to them that are either hypochondriack or hysterick From which propensity of spirits to disorder it is that the Gout commonly follows any the least evacuation For when the tone of the body is destroyed which the firmness of spirits while they remain in their vigour preserves well compact and lively the peccant matter as having broken all bounds is at its liberty and upon this wound 's being inflicted on the body Idem p. 35. a Paroxysm presently arises XXXVI But this method as pernicious and hurtfull as it is has got some Empiricks no small credit who all of them craftily conceal the Purging Medicine which they make use of For it must be observed that the Patient while he is in his Purging course has little or no pain and if the Course can be carried on for some days and no fresh Paroxysm supervene the Patient will be quickly well of that wherewith he is at present held But then he must pay severely for it afterwards by reason of the disorder into which the said disturbance of the Humours hath precipitated nature XXXVII Then evacuation of the peccant matter by sweats though it doe less hurt than the foresaid evacuations yet it is clear that it does harm For though it do not retract the matter of the Disease into the bowels but on the contrary force it into the habit of the body yet however it does harm upon these accounts First indeed because out of the Fit it forcibly thrusts out the Humours that are yet crude and not so ripe as that they ought by right to be separated into the limbs and so solicite a Fit before the time and even against Nature's mind Then because in the Fit provoking of sweat doth force too violently the morbifick matter upon the part affected and besides causes intolerable pain and if the quantity of peccant matter be larger than that the part affected can admit it it presently throws it on other Joints whereupon there is a commotion and a great ebullition or exestuation of Bloud and other Humours But if the body abound with a serous floud that is apt to breed the Gout there is fear of falling into an Apoplexy Wherefore in this Disease like as in all other in which sweats are raised by Art to cast out the morbifick matter and do not flow by the duct of Nature it is exceeding dangerous to raise them so violently or beyond that degree of Coction to which Humours to be evacuated of themselves are arrived And that most famous Aphorism of Hippocrates Concocted not crude things must be Purged has place as well in provoking Sweats as in giving a Purge Which is clearly evident from the Sweat that concludes the Fit of an Ague which if it be moderate and answering exactly to the quantity of febrile matter concocted by the preceding Fit does remarkably relieve the Patient But if Sweat be promoted beyond Nature's measure by keeping the Patient continually in bed then a continual Fever arises and a fresh fire is kindled whereas what was burning before ought to have been put out By the same reason also in the Gout that gentle dew which for the most part arises in the morning of its own accord after every lesser Paroxysm several of which make one great one mitigates both the pain and restlesness wherewith the Patient contended all night but on the contrary if this gentle dew that is fleeting of its own nature be provoked longer and more violently than the proportion of peccant matter already concocted by the last paroxysm will bear Idem p 4â the Disease is thereby enraged Therefore in this as well as in all other Diseases which I have had the hap ever yet to see the Plague onely excepted it is not so much the Physician 's as Nature's Province to raise Sweats because it is no way possible for us to know how great a share of this same matter is already prepared to undergoe separation nor by consequence what measure we ought to observe in provoking Sweat XXXVIII Whatever things therefore help Nature in performing her Offices aright where by strengthening the Stomach that it may concoct food aright or the Bloud that it may duely assimilate the Chyle carried into it or by corroborating the solid parts that they may better convert the Juices designed for their nutrition and augmentation into their proper substance Finally whatever things preserve the divers organs of Excretion and Emunctories of the body in that state as they may be able to void the Recrements of each part in their due time and order these and all such things are good to fulfill this intention and are properly called Digestives whether they be Medicines or Diet or Exercise or any of the sex res non naturales Such Medicines are all in general as heat moderately and are either bitter or gently pierce the tongue as being things that are gratefull to the Stomach cure the Bloud and cherish and comfort otâer parts such are for example Angelico and Elecampane Roots Leaves of Wormwood lesser Centaury Germander Groundpine c. Also common Antisâorbuticks may be added as Horse-rhadish root leaves of garden Scurvigrass Water-Cresses c. But since these sharp and pungent herbs how gratefull soever to the Stomach and conducing to it in helping Digestion do notwithstanding enrage the matter that hath been a long time bred and encrease it they must be used very sparingly in comparison of those that by their gentle heat and bitterness strengthen the Stomach and render the mass of bloud more brisk and lively Several sorts of these curiously mixt do better concoct the Humours than any simple taken out of
Veins which with Hippocrates is a general name both for them and Arteries when a great quantity of this Moisture is gathered it runs by other passages and when it stops in any part of the Body there a Disease is contracted I therefore conclude with Hippocrates that the Gout arises from filthy diseased steams or from a flatuous Ventosity upon which if any Humour follows it was the Vapour that made way for it And not onely Hippocrates but more modern Physicians have held That the Gout comes from Wind. Guainerius and Matthaeus de Gradibus were of that opinion Also Guido de Cauliaco a stout Voucher of the 4 Humours tells how âe read in the Pope's Canons that the Gout aroâe from Vapours That Royal French Surgeon Paraeus was of the same judgment Several eminent Physicians hold Vapours the cause of the Tooth-ach Bastard-Pleurisie Colick Epilepsie and of Fits in Women so that they are called Vapours in English And I question not but many Diseases differing onely in Name and Place are of the very same nature with the Gout especially all those into which the Gout and they mutually degenerate Furthermore the China Physicians say Our Bodies are governed by 3 things i. e. by the innate Heat the radical Moisture and Spirits which they hold to be the Vehicle of the Heat and the Lungs from which they begin the Circulation of the Bloud to he the Elaboratory of the Spirits Upon the temper or distemper excess or defect conjunction or separation good or bad constitution of these 3 things they reckon life and death do depend And they wholly ascribe the Gout to noxious Spirits or Vapours These Vapours are as different as the several Parts and Humours in the Body that cause them Their material cauâes are first Meat and Drink thence come various Humours from each of which a different Vapour ariseth Their efficient causes are chiefly the Stomach which as it is strong or weak hot or cold full or empty breeds a different Vapour and then all parts of the Body where there is any concoction fermentation ebullition or effervescency of Humours may breed different Vapours Administring causes are all the six nonnatural things He that would be better satisfied let him reade Fienus de Flatibus That it is a malignant Vapour the Vehemence and intollerableness of the pain do prove Nor do several Authours deny it especially Galen who assigns good reasons for it Because the Gout never comes to Suppuration Because this Vapour causeth more intense pain than any Humours while they suppurate Because it creates no trouble in any part by which it passes except the Joints Bât which is of greater moment the Cure proves it for whilst in the Gout men are burnt with Moxa sometimes Wind hisseth out of tâe Burn. And if it be kept open like an Issue an ichorous filthy malignant matter weeps out of it which stinks most offensively All grant thât the Periâsteum is a very sensible Membrane Now this Vapour doth not torment it on the out side but it insinuates it self between the Bone and it and so parting the delicate and extreme sensible Membrane from its Bone and distending it causes a raging pain And the Tumour lying so deep no wonder it cannot break prison till way be made by a red hot Iron or by the milder Burning of downy Moxa This Vapour the cause of Diseases extends it self as far as any Periosteum enwraps a Bone And so the Gout may come under as many denominations as it hath Parts to afflict The Learned Languages have Christened onely three the Hand Gout Gout in the Feet and the Sciatica for all which England can afford no more proper name than Gout in general or what it borrows from other Languages As for the antecedent Cause of the Gout I cannot impute it to any particular part But I think whatever Part or Humour therein contained is apt to breed a Vapour from that same part the Vapour may be carried to the Heart by the Veins and so from the Heart communicated to the Limbs and Joints by the Arteries Which is the Reason that several are troubled with Fevers Swoonings Palpitation of the Heart and infinite other diseases when this Vapour is not cast off to the out-parts But with some the Gout is reckoned a good sign of long life This Circulation of the Vapour is a reason also that the Pains remove from the Feet to the Hands and from any one part to another And the Vapour being cast off by the Arteries might be the reason why in Ventosities the Ancients approved of Arteriotomy beyond Phlebotomy and does indicate that the burning with Moxa should be where the Arteries beat most which is not duly observed by the Chinois and Japanois If the Part be so strong as to return the Vapour by the Veins or if any one be so much an Empirick as to repell it to the Heart it proves often Tragical Wherefore I do caution all Practitioners not to use Repellents by any means PART II. The Diagnosticks A Physician can no more direct his Remedies without observing the Symptomes of a Disease than the Master of a Ship can steer his designed Course without observation of the Stars and his Compass and a competent knowledge of the Shelves on a dangerous Coast Therefore we should reckon as much of the knowledge of the Symptomes those especially called Pathognomick which live and die with the Disease as we would of the Cure it self Impediment in Motion and Pain are inseparable signs of the Gout which spring grow up come to a pitch decrease and vanish with it sure tokens of an inward latent Pain that rarely is observable by the eye With which we rank the Swelling of the Veins and the violent beating of the Arteries for Signs and Symptomes always concomitant to the Gout because we find them by experience The Pain of the Gout is a piercing distending throbbing deep continual and bitter Pain each of them a certain sign of the Periosteum's being afflicted It is piercing because a Membrane of a most delicate sense is âurt Distending because the Blower up of the Gout separates raises and stretches it Throbbing because the Authour of this Disease passes the Arteries and makes the bloud move inordinately while it is forced into the part affected it must be deep because in the Membrane about the Bone Continual because the Vapour pours in continually into the pained part as long as it hath any matter to supply it And then it must be sharp because while it abounds in quantity and malignity the Vapour cruelly and violently molests fills separates and distends a membrane of most exquisite sense nay and sometimes dissolves continuity as the violence of the Pain doth argue The other Symptome is Impediment in Motion of the same nature and degree with the former which happens not through any fault in the Member but onely in the Periosteum And this difficulty of Motion appears and disappears with the Gout And these two
his upper parts or have his Head inflamed or if his Head ake or he be phrenitick or if he have a great Ulcer which cannot safely be irritated I avoid Physick as much as I can knowing for certain that it affects the Head Sleep shews this which presently seizes them that have taken a Purge If I can I content my self with sharp Clysters and a low Diet. Vallesius 2. Epid. 6. p. 225. VIII In an Intemperature of the Head with Melancholy always some Moistner must be mixt with Purgatives Nor may a Purge be prescribed till the body be first moistned IX The Ancients said that Sneezers and Apophlegmatisms were indicated by excrementitious humours gathered in the Ventricles and substance of the Brain This latter Age thinks not that these parts do empty the humours gathered there by the Nose and Palate nor that what is evacuated is excrements of nutrition gathered in the Meanders of the Nostrils and Membranes of the Palate and Jaws but in some mens opinion they are bilous phlegmatick melancholick and serous humours derived thither partly by the Arteries from the whole body and partly from the Salival ducts Rolfinccius meth med specialis p. 605. For this reason they are indicated by the cacochymick impurity of the bloud diluted with much Serum that its flowing into the Brain it s farther mixture with the circulated bloud and its approach to the more noble parts may be prevented X. If you make use of Sneezers to unload the Brain in its Intemperature with Phlegm you must abstain from violent ones as Powder of white Hellebore Root of Lily Conval and the like because of the great agitation they cause in the Brain convenient onely for such as are in a Lethargy or Apoplexy it is sufficient if you onely put a Fibre of the Root into the Nostril and then pull it out again XI Some think that the use of Ptarmicks does rather encrease than hinder a defluxion of humours from the head to the breast and that this should not be used but in case of extreme necessity and universals premised But in my opinion they are grievously out seeing in great and sudden suffocating defluxions they are very properly and succesfully used Quercetan Phrâm degm resâât c. 18. For Nature hath ordained these Chanels for the emptying of the Brain whom Art imitating doth so promote that in an open and free passage through this same way the course of the serous humours is expedited and turned back Avicenna uses a certain vaporous Sternutatory made of very strong Vinegar in which he dissolves a little Castor the steam whereof causes violent sneezing XII As much Extract of Tobacco made with Aqua vitae as a Pease laid on the Tongue brings off a great deal of Phlegm Riverius Exceed not this quantity for if it get into the Stomach it will cause grievous vomiting XIII As often as the Head is indisposed by outward Cold of the Air Water or Snow or the Nose doth run or they be troubled with a defect of animal Spirits so often I have observed my Patients succesfully and quickly cured if as quickly as may be that be driven out of the Head again which was got into it or any other part of the body and was hurtfull to them And this either by one Sweat or which I prefer by several but they must be spirituous and volatile because they must be such as not onely alter and correct the cause of the Cold and of other evils attending it but amend whatever amiss is introduced into the body contained or containing For this purpose I commend the following Receipt Take of Water of Fumitory Fenil each 2 ounces simple Treacle or any other Aromatick water 1 ounce Spirit of Sal Ammoniack 20 drops Oil of Cloves 3 drops Bezoarticum minerale half a drachm Laudanum Opiatum 2 grains Syrup of red Poppies 1 ounce mix them Let the Patient take two spoonfuls of this Medicine and when he is moderately covered expect a Sweat which he will facilitate and obtain his desire if every half hour he take as much of it till the Sweat burst out for then he must use it more seldom and sparingly he must use now and then some plain broth with a little Wine in it to repair his strength and make him the more able to sweat the longer for nothing does them so much good as a gentle Sweat sometime As often as the natural and competent Secretion of the animal Spirits is hindred by an inward or aguish chilness or by any other that without an Ague fit doth now and then seize a man so often by the like Sudorifick rightly used the Sweat arising sometimes sooner sometimes later the desired Secretion of the animal Spirits so necessary to humane felicity is sooner or later restored for by help of this or the like spirituous Sylâius ââax med l 2. cap. 1. sâct 21. ad 36. volatile and aromatick Medicine the hurtfull and cold Vapour is discussed and dissipated in Sweat or insensible Transpiration which caused that dulness in the sense and liftlesness in motion And whoever in such an internal or external Cold do think to cure by Bleeding Vomiting or Purging they cast their Patients into greater hazards even of Life it self as I have observed more than once c. XIV The natural temperament of the Brain seeing it is very moderate we should therefore use both inward and outward Medicines for the Head with great caution lest while we change its native temper we bring some great mischief on this most noble part Wherefore their boldness is not to be approved of who attribute so much to those Waters called Aqua vitae being made of violent hot things that they affirm all Diseases of the Head may be both prevented and cured by the use of these same Waters not considering that most Diseases of the Head do come rather from hot causes than cold especially in those persons that are either in their youth or manhood Besides in our Germany the way of most mens living is such that there is scarce one in a hundred who gathers not a particular Plethora in his Head Whence it happens if the use of Aqua vitae be prescribed to one of these men that it seeing it is altogether vaporous immediately gets into the Head and disturbs it being full of various humours and disposes it either to the Epilepsie Apoplexie or to dangerous Catarrhs But that this opinion does not want experiment you may understand from this that those Apoplectick persons to whom these Aquae vitae are given Oethaeus apud Schenckium do almost all of them dye or grow worse as I have often observed and do find it observed by others XV. Some prescribe an Issue in the Coronal Suture to be made with a Cautery and do commend it for drawing out and evacuating the humours from the Brain and its Cover Although this is very familiar in some mens practice yet I have
Lethargy upon any slight occasion I used to fall into Watching which presently brought me very low Wherefore when I was once in great danger of my life and I perceived not onely the Faculties of my Brain but the Strength of my Heart to be much wasted I applied a Cordial Epitheme to the Region of my Heart and then I composed my self to sleep And as the virtue of the Epitheme penetrated and strengthened the Heart I perceived as it were a certain Beam ascend from my Heart to my Brain which gave wonderfull Relief to my Head Orthaeus apud S henckium afterwards I fell into a sweet Sleep And after this I perceived the same Experiment did good to others XXIII I shall confirm the efficacy of Plasters to the Feet in Diseases of the Head from a very rare Observation Some years ago a young Dane being returned from a far Travel beyond the Seas upon altering his Diet fell into a grievous Ophthalmy or a Chemosis rather the Balls of his Eyes starting out and his Eye-lids inverted he could neither endure the Light nor the least Breath of Air c. so that neither I nor a very skilfull Chirurgeon could find any Remedy doe good to this growing and pertinacious Evil but we were forced to make use of the last Remedies which Hippocrates in the last Section of his Aphorisms commends nor yet did the Patient perceive the least benefit by all these things wherefore I thought with my self either to leave my Patient to the Prognostick upon the sacred authority of Hippocrates or apply my self according to his rule to undertake the Cure of this Chemosis another way I enquire therefore more carefully and narrowly into my Patient's former course of life He told me how he had undergone the greatest hardships and that he was almost killed with his Toil in Candy when he served the Venetians as a Foot-soldier He protested ingeniously he never defiled himself with those Vices which are the fruits of Youth and with which some Travellers of all Nations come home filthily polluted like Dogs that have lost their tails Seeing therefore this civil young Man did among other things complain of great heat in his Feet for which he could not sleep I ask him farther whether his pain went some time off or were continual and whether new or old He told me it was continual and old Therefore I ask him how long since it began He said he could not resolve me that I could not rest here being willing to get out of him the true cause of this Disease or Symptome wherefore when among other things he had told me how he had travelled long Journeys and very fast on foot from Padua to Hamburgh and that he had performed this foot Journey in five weeks time I began to suspect that the heat of his feet had overheated his bloud yet without a Fever and that this bloud either caused or fomented the Disease in his eyes Upon this I had a mind to try how far carefull Reasoning could help practical Studies or how much Anatomy sometimes by Authours called useless and which even Galen 4. Anat. adm c. 1. seems to style rather wrangling than profitable could conduce to the Study of the Practice of Physick or whether the Circulation of the bloud could doe as much in curing an Ophthalmia as it does in curing an Agrypnia or Want of Sleep Therefore I obeyed Hippocrates l. de loc his Axiome That old Diseases must be made new ones that is as I ever understood it they must be pressed upon with new proper Remedies afresh just as if a fresh fit of any Disease should come upon one And I renewed the Cure of this Chemosis Besides in the forecited place He gives in chaâge that In Diseases that a man understands not he must give a violent Purge which Rule I followed as Ariadne's Thread Therefore Universals premised I commend to my Patient Emplastrum Imperiale Jac. Fabricii as a thing whose excellent virtues I had often tried in asswaging Pains of the Gout But because in this individual a bare hot Intemperature without matter had seized his feet I mixed with one ounce of this Plaster of Nitre prepared and Gum Caranna each half an ounce and in five or six days time not onely the Intemperature of his Feet was corrected but by chance also I found a Remedy for Corns in the Feet for when the Soles of his Feet were uneven and thick beset with innumerable Corns it happened that by using this Nitrous Plaster they every one withered away And by this method was this young Man freed from an enormous Ophthalmy that had laid him up in a dark hole eleven weeks who to this day as it is now three years since hath not suffered the least Taraxis or Bloud-shed in his Eye Henceforth therefore let them hold their Tongue who frowardly deny the Circulation of the Bloud for I verily foresee that in future Ages it will give light to many abstruse Diseases even those they call Diseases of the Form But here this Quaere must be resolved Why those things we apply to the Feet are commonly believed to benefit the Head The Reason is at hand Because by application of hot or cold things to the Feet or the Soles thereof the Bloud is quicklier altered by reason of the numerous Anastomoses of Veins and Arteries there which being altered is by means of Circulation carried to the Head So Blisters applied to the Wrist either take away or abate the Fever they take it away when the febrile ferment that is then in the Veins runs out with the Serum into the Blister raised on the Wrist they onely abate it when part remains behind And cold Alteratives cool the Bloud as when we apply Nitre dissolved in Lettuce-water or the pulp of a Lemon to the Wrist He therefore that would have a care of his Health would doe well S. Pauli Digress de Febrious malignis p. 83. if by reason of the said Anastomoses he fence his Hands and Feet well against the injuries of the Air and avoid such Objects especially extreme cold ones A certain person saith the famous P. Marquardus Slegelius being employed in clearing away some Ice wherein he used an Iron tool sell suddenly into a Swoon the Cold being transmitted by his Hand to his Heart c. XXIV In all Diseases of the Head most Men acknowledge it is good to keep the Body loose but few shew a reason for it Now I think Costiveness is pernicious not chiefly because the matter retained in the Guts often hinder the necessary use of Remedies but because Vapours are perpetually elevated from the matter retained and from other Humours of the lower Parts to the higher Parts of the Body and especially to the Head For these Vapours while they continually affect the Head otherwise afflicted are not onely burthensome in quantity but according to the different qualities disturb and corrupt the animal Spirits whereupon all the ills in the
more conversant in Books than in Observation of Symptoms that betide sick persons XLII I think the inward Cold of the head is caused by Vapours breeding Cold carried to the head together with the bloud partly indeed by their austerity rendring the bloud inept to part with its spirituous parts and partly contracting the external substance of the brain or straitning its sinuous pores and so in some measure at least denying a passage to the most spirituous part of the bloud Then is the time to swear for by this means the Vapours that produce the troublesome Cold are dispersed But in this case Idem ibid. as in the foregoing it is hurtfull to bleed purge or vomit XLIII The nervous Liquour gathered among the Fibres of the Meninges and other parts of the head sometimes by its proper incongruity whereby being sowre or otherwise degenerate it becomes disproportionate to the Fibres sometimes for that it ferments with some other humour viz. the nutritious or serous flowing thither doth vellicate the containing parts and irritate them into spasms and painfull distensions When it is thus morbifick it is either peccant in the whole mass and inflicts its mischief on the head predisposed or in it self innocent is so affected within the fibres that it is perverted and so secondarily it becomes morbifick The cure of which then depends upon the restitution of the containing parts namely if the weakness of the fibres or the hurt conformation be amended the humour that bedews them will immediately be without fault In the mean time if being degenerate in the whole mass it impart its mischief to the head prepared for aking such Medicines and method must be used as may reduce the nervous juice to its due crasis that as it gently traverseth the fibres it may not irritate them For which purpose neither strong Purges nor large and frequent Bleedings are convenient because they put the bloud and humours into violent motion and waste the strength and therefore impress a greater acrimony upon the peccant nervous liquour Yet gentle Solutives and a little bleeding will sometime doe service that the bowels may be cleansed and the mass of bloud a little purged and way may be better made for succeeding Medicines Now the Medicines that render the nervous liquour more amicable and benign to the Membranes of the head which use to be disturbed by it are such as are vulgarly held to be Cephalicks scil whose particles being active enough and also thin and subtile do pass the bloud without turgescency or tumult and then insinuating themselves into the nervous liquour they gently actuate it and so make the nervous ducts to open themselves Willis cap de Cephalatgia so that all sensible and motive bodies do more freely irradiate the animal spirits and inspire them with Faintings Spasms or Distensions XLIV Sometimes the nutritious juice is the cause of a periodick Head-ach scil inasmuch as it being mixt with the bloud and not rightly assimilated by reason of the disagreeing particles it gives it a turgescence so that the bloud boiling up into the head leaves its Refuse in the Meninges and those parts of them that were predisposed and so irritates the Fibres into painfull Spasms For this very reason I have known several after the Small-pox and Measles and other Fevers or Sicknesses whereby the mass of bloud is usually vitiated who were subject to the Head-ach every day viz. so many hours after eating sometimes sooner sometimes later first a flushing in their face then a fulness and pain in the head did invade them Moreover they were more grievously plagued upon drinking Wine or eating windy Meats The fit of the Head-ach was more or less distant from their food altogether as the Chyme began to grow turgid either upon its first entrance into the bloud or after some little stay there After provision for the whole Medicines which restore the crasis of the bloud doe much good such as Antiscorbuticks especially Idem and Chalybeates XLV One infected with the Pox was cured by a sweating Diet and anointing with Mercury after which for some time he seemed free of his Disease But afterwards the same Distemper returned and he was again cured by using a Sudorifick decoction a good while and then by a Suffitus of Cinnabar he seemed again to be perfectly cured Yet afterwards he began to be afflicted with a grievous Pain in the left side of his head which in the changes of seasons especially at the coming in of Autumn tormented him sorely and kept fixt in the same place like a Nail Many Medicines were tried to no purpose I judged this grievous Head-ach did proceed from the reliques of the Pox that was not perfectly cured yet that its next and immediate cause or at least the fomenting and encreasing cause of the pain besides the Venereal virulence must be either a sharp and biting humour flowing to that part of the head or Mercury it self gathered in that part of the head or a Caries in the skull That I might have respect to all these causes 1. I prescribed universal Evacuation by bleeding and purging with an Apozeme for four days then a Sudorifick diet of a Decoction of Guaiacum and Sarsa for thirty or forty days for often a Pox that could not be cured by Mercury has been cured by long use of the Decoction And if the Head-ach came onely from virulent humours vellicating the membranes it could onely be cured by a long diet If it would not yield to the long use of the Decoction we ought to see whether no Mercury were gathered in the part which may be known if a Bullet made of Gold be put deep into the left Nostril and if after some stay in that place it be taken out white it is a sign there is Mercury You may try the same by covering a cephalick Plaster with Leaf-gold and laying it on the part grieved for if the Gold grow white it is a sign there is Mercury which may be got out by degrees if a thin plate of Gold be always worn upon the aking place and a golden Bullet be often put into the Nostril If by this means neither the pain do cease the place must be laid open and bored for often the Cranium is corroded by sharp virulent humours and a Caries is got into it when the Skin remains whole And though no Caries should appear yet the Trepan often does good by drawing out the virulent matter Riverius Cent. 2. ââs 91. that was gathered upon the Meninges of the Brain Medicines especially made use of by eminent Physicians Aetius Teââab 2. ãâã 2. ãâã 4â 1. Euphorbium has a natural power to cure the Hemicrania thus used Mix it with Vinegar if the right side ake anoint the left if the left side ake anoint the right it gives present ease ¶ Give French-lavender boiled in Water or in Water and Wine as the best Remedy in all Head-aches Or beat wild Docks
make the disease the longer And here I would have it taken notice of that although I said Bloudletting and Purging must necessarily go before this appeasing Method sometimes nevertheless the case so requiring it omitting both these we must begin the course with Paregoricks for example when for some former sickness large evacuations have been made not long before the coming of the Colick for frequently by reason of the weakness of the bowels especially if there be an accessiou of a higher degree of heat from Wine or any other Spirituous Liquor drunk immediately they that are lately recovered of another Disease fall into this in this case I say I think it not onely unnecessary but hurtfull also by giving more purges to raise new tumults and again to disturb all anew To say nothing how in this disease the Patient for the most part before he sends for a Physician washes his Guts sufficiently by the repeated use of Clysters so that partly for this reason partly for the long continuance of the disease Idem Narcoticks in a manner onely seem proper to be used XXXV And because this pain is more naturally apt to relapse than any other all opportunity of its return must be taken away by giving an Anodyne twice a day for several days together But if when the Narcotick is left off the pain now and then return as sometimes it does nothing yet could be invented by me that so certainly conduced to cure the Patient as riding on Horseback or in a Coach the Anodyne in the mean time being given morning and evening For by such exercise the matter causing the disease is drawn into the Habit of the Body the bloud being divided into its minute parts by stirring is as it were purified anew and at length the Intestines themselves by stirring up of the innate heat are not a little strengthened and cherished Nor am I ashamed to confess that I have more than once perfectly cured this disease by such exercise when I have not been able to doe it any other way But neither must this be tried till after sufficient evacuation nor must it be left off till several days afterwards And to speak the very truth I have observed this kind of Exercise doe much good not in this case onely but in all Chronical diseases if a man constantly persisted in it For if we reckon with our selves how the lower Belly wherein the Organs of Secretion are placed is especially shaken by this exercise and that they are shaken with some thousand Trottings in one day we may easily think that by the help of the said exercise they can discharge any recrementitious juice that is settled there and which is yet of more moment that by such strong excitation of the innate Heat they are strengthened so as to perform the office of depurating the blood aright Idem which Nature has committed to them XXXVI It is manifest from Observation that when this Disease being unskilfully handled hath tired one out for a long time so that the bowels languish the Patient is worn to skin and bone and ready to dye of faintness In this case I say the more liberal use of Aqua Epidemica or Mirabilis or any such like which in his health he liked best at this time helped him beyond expectation For by help of this the few adust reliques of the innate heat and Spirits were excited and the preternatural ferment sticking to the bowels and now and then administring fewel to new Paroxysms Idem was extinguished by the more spirituous Liquors XXXVII Moreover as in the cure of the Disease so also when it is cured a thin Diet must yet for some time be continued For seeing this disease affects a Relapse above all others and that it chuses to its self the chief Instruments of Concoction I mean the Bowels now weakned by it the very least errour of this kind will presently bring considerable damage Wherefore as well in this as in all other affections of the Bowels Meats hard of Concoction must be avoided more than a Toad and what light meats are allowed must be taken onely in such a quantity as may keep Life and Soul together Idem XXXVIII When Anodynes doe no good and the pain is exceeding violent we must come to Narcoticks which are very commodiously used in a biting and a sharp humour not because they cool as is commonly believed but because they have the faculty to mitigate the acrimony of the humour to thicken it and to keep in its biting and motion But in cold thick and tough humours Opiates are not so proper seeing they make the morbifick cause worse and more difficult to cure And though they that have the Colick from cold humours do at first perceive some benefit by them yet afterwards the pains become greater the humour it self being made thicker and more unfit for motion Sennertus and so it sticks more closely to the Coats of the Intestines XXXIX Yet you must take this caution about the use of Narcoticks that when there is occasion for them they be used while there is yet strength for if they be used when strength is wasted and the Patient is near death they will not onely doe no good but also hasten the Patient's end and take away Life and Sense together Then let such things be given in a Clyster in some convenient decoction and when the Clyster is given Idem let the Patient lie on his pained side XL. But if the violence of the pain rise so high that leaving other intentions we must have an eye upon it it will be proper to use Narcoticks which by stupefying may correct the evil both taken inwards and outwardly applied Yet with due Provision always as to their quantity manner of using time and the subject to which they must be administred What are given into the Body are mixt with Purges Potions Clysters But it is convenient they have all of them these requisites 1. That by hastening to some principal Part they weaken not its faculty 2. That they be well corrected 3. That they strengthen the Spirits and be mixt with strengthers of all the vital Faculties hepatick and stomachick For there must be no other end in these things than refreshing the strength to wit that while the Pain ceases the Patients may recollect their strength be a match for the Disease and be able to subsist the time of cure Therefore it is better to give them twice or thrice in a small quantity than in so large a dose as may afterwards doe harm But when the pain is laid Martini de Morbis mesent and watching hushed they must presently be removed lest they serve to promote the morbifick cause XLI We must have a special care in the mean time that Opiates be not given unless the body be first purged by proper evacuations and they must be taken some hours before Meal upon an empty Stomach in extreme pain
in Oil and applied wonderfully eases the pain ¶ Let warm Sheeps-dung be long mixt with Goat's Sewet strow on it Powder of common Pitch Mix them and apply it warm without doubt it has a wonderfull effect ¶ A Clyster made of Dog's-turd boiled in Wine with a few Figs eases the pain of the Colick and Stone Joh. David Rulaâdus ¶ Hare's dung dissolved in Wine and drunk cures a desperate Colick 21. I do upon my credit profess that I have in one day cured the Colick coming of phlegm with 2 drachms of Diaphoenicon Saxânia and 2 drachms of Spec-Hierae and presently took away the Pain 22. A Carminative Water made of Chamaemil is of great virtue in the Colick ¶ An Electuary or mixture of Garlick is good in the Colick ¶ A Cataplasm of Chervil is good Schroderus ¶ Ear-wax is a present remedy for the Colick if it be taken in drink Sâhwentfield 23. A Lark with her feathers burnt to powder in an earthen pot and three spoonfulls of it be drunk with hot water for two or three days is an incredible remedy for the Colick and all Pains of the Guts 24. Powder of the Huckle-bone of an Hog burnt Solenander given in Wine wherein Seed of Sermountain and Chamaemil-flowers have been steeped I have often tried to be an effectual remedy in this case Varignaâ 25. A decoction of Coltsfoot in Water or Wine is a most effectual Remedy Welkardus 26. The white part of Hens dung powdered and given in Pansey or Pimpernel-water is a present Remedy especially for children Zimâra 27. Cinquefoil dried and powdered and 2 drachms of it drunk in generous Wine is a present Remedy Colica Hysterica or the Hysterick Colick It s Description and Cure THere is a sort of Hysterick disease that vexeth some Women and is so exactly like a bilious Colick as well in the sharpness of Pain as in situation even then also yellow and green humours being cast up by Vomit that I must treat of it lest it be taken for the bilious Colick Women who are of a lax and crude habit of body do contend with this evil above others and they that have laboured sometime formerly of some hysterick affection or as it often happens they that have scarce escaped after difficult and laborious travel by reason of a large Child which hath too much exhausted the Mothers strength and nature A pain very little milder than in the Colick and Iliack Passion at first seizeth the region of the Stomach and sometimes a little lower which is attended with enormous Vomitings sometime of green matter and sometime of yellow And they accompanied as I have often observed with greater dejection of mind and despair than in any other disease whatever After a day or two the pain ceaseth which nevertheless within a few weeks returns more cruel than the fit before Sometime it is accompanied with a Jaundise conspicuous enough which in a few days vanishes on its own accord All Symptoms ceasing when the Patient thinks her self well enough the least commotion of mind whether it be raised by anger or grief to which in this case Women are very subject commonly recalls the pain the same may be said of walking or any other exercise unseasonably undertaken seeing by such causes Vapours are elevated in a lax and infirm habit of body When I say Vapours whether they be such or Convulsions of particular parts the Phaenomena may equally be solved either way These Vapours or Convulsions when they invade this or that region of the body produce Symptoms accommodate to the part they invade And therefore though they cause one and the same disease every where yet they exactly resemble many wherewith the wretches are tormented Which is clear from this disease that when it possesses the parts adjacent to the Colon is as like a bilious Colick as can be Nor is it less apparent in many other parts of the body affected in the same manner for example Sometimes it affects one of the Kidneys with a most violent pain whereupon follows Vomiting and sometimes also the pain being carried along the duct of the Ureter it resembles the Stone and when it is exasperated by Clysters and other Medicines that are lithontriptick and designed to void the Stone it long afflicts the Patient after one and the same tenour and now and then which is contrary to its custome because of it self it is without all danger brings her to her grave Moreover I have seen Symptoms produced by this disease that were altogether like the Stone in the Bladder It is not long since I was called out of my bed one night to a Countess my neighbour who was taken with a very violent pain in the region of her Bladder and a sudden stoppage of Urine And because I very well knew she was subject to divers hysterick diseases and therefore guessed she was not sick of that disease she took her self to be sick of I would not suffer the Clyster to be given her which her Maid was making ready lest her disease should thereby be increased but instead thereof and of Emollients as Syrup of Marshmallows c. which the Apothecary brought I gave her a Narcotick which presently put a stop to that Symptome Nor indeed is any one part of the body altogether exempt from the assaults of this disease whether internal or external as the Jaws Hips Thighs and Legs in all which it causes intolerable pain and when it departs leaves a certain tenderness that cannot endure to be touched just as if the flesh were sore beaten But as I have by the bye delivered some things pertaining to the history of the Hysterick Colick lest namely it should be mistaken for a bilious one so I shall by the way likewise touch certain things that make for the cure of the Symptome the pain which accompanies it For the radical cure which takes away the disease by taking away its cause is for another Speculation and Place Letting bloud and repeated Purgings which are most plainly indicated in the beginning of a bilious Colick have no place here except in the case hereafter mentioned For experience teacheth that the pain is exasperated and all other Symptoms grow more violent being helped on by the tumult which these things raise And thus I have more than once observed that the repetition of Clysters even of the gentlest has brought on a long train of Symptoms Reason also will second Experience which tells us that this disease is produced rather by some ataxy and inordinate motion of the Spirits than by any fault of the humours to wit if we well consider those circumstances to which for the most part it owes its original Such as are great and undue profusions of bloud violent motions either of mind or body and things of the like nature All which things forbid the use of those remedies whereby a greater perturbation of Spirits may be raised and instead
of them Anodynes must be used though the green and ill colour of the matter Vomited seem to indicate the contrary For the speculation of Colours is too subtile and minute to be able to give any authority to evacuations which ipso facto we find hurtfull And I do not at all question but this disease which though it cause much pain yet never death oftentimes becomes mortal through errours committed upon this account Besides if one should give a very strong Vomit to day that he may as he thinks get out the matter of the disease the Patient will the next day Vomit matter as green and ill coloured as she did before Yet we must take notice that sometimes such store of bloud and humours is found that it so far hinders the operation of the Narcotick that be it never so often repeated it will never stop their fury except the Patient be first let bloud or purged which I have observed in Women of a more sanguine complexion and in Viragoes If the case stand thus way must be made for the Anodyne by letting bloud or purging or it may be by both For after either of these is done the Narcotick which given in the highest dose before would doe no good will now in a very moderate dose obtain the effect for which it was designed But this thing seldom happens and when it does these remedies must not be repeated Which things being premised we must proceed in giving Anodynes if there be occasion for them in that method which we proposed in the bilious Colick and they must be given more frequently or sparingly according as the pain returns Which method indeed onely respects the present and instant Symptome of most violent pain Sydenham l. c. p. 304. for in this place I have not undertaken to treat of that which opposes the Cause of the Disease Coma Vigil or the waking Lethargy The Contents Narcoticks are given with benefit I. An Idiopathick one must have one cure a Sympathick one must have another II. I. A Waking Lethargy is seldom a Disease of it self but is for the most part a Symptome and follows other Diseases as a Fever Phrensie proper Lethargy and such like Wherefore it requires not a peculiar method of cure onely there seems to be a necessity that other Cephalicks be joined to the remedies primarily indicated which may dispell these Meteors of the Brain like Clouds and Lightning or if both of them together Waking or Sleepiness cannot be removed let the Medicine take part with one of them that being made stronger it may conquer the other so that in a sleepy watchfulness it is convenient to cause either perfect sleep or perfect watchfulness For in this case I have often given Narcoticks with good success Willis II. The Cure of a waking Lethargy that is Idiopathick is performed by the same means whereby a Phrensie and a Lethargy useth to be cured and if it incline more to a Phrensie the remedies for a Phrensie must be most used but if it incline more to a Lethargy then things proper for a Lethargy must be most used But the cure of a Sympathick Coma depends on the cure of the malignant Fever whence it had its original Yet Remedies that make revulsion of those Vapours from the Brain must peculiarly be used in the beginning And if any thing appear to be fixt in the Brain Derivation by opening a Vein in the forehead Riverâus or by setting Leeches behind the Ears c. must be endeavoured Combustiones or Burns The Contents Whether the Cure should be performed by Coolers I. A Remedy that heals without any footstep of a Scar. II. Whether the Blisters should be opened presently III. The heat must be extinguished with Internal things IV. Medicines I. SOme according to the thread-bare Axiome of Physicians That Contraries are Remedies of their Contraries think that Burns should be cooled and therefore that Coolers should presently be applied to the burnt-parts but this opinion hath its rise from a false ground namely that Burning is onely Alteration and an Induction of a hot quality when yet the very fire and its Atoms are communicated to the burnt-parts and an Empyreuma as all must confess is brought upon it For what is this Empyreuma but the small particles of the fire which have insinuated themselves into the burnt-part And Experience it self teaches that Burns are not cured with cold things but that by them the fiery particles being repelled inwards the Pain is increased inflammations yea and Gangrene and Mortification is caused whereas hot things that take out the Empyreuma doe good For even the Vulgar know that the burnt places must not be put in cold water but rather held a while to the fire Now Likeness causes attraction and the external fire draws out the internal and what is burnt into the part Sennertus pract l. 5. as Paraeus speaks ¶ If contraction arise from a Burn it will be cured by drawing out and tempering the heat communicated to the part and by altering as well the containing as contained parts vitiated by the fire Fat things draw out the fiery heat as being the true fewel for fire And Oil of Wallnuts and Rapeseed are commended above all other things Acids allayed with a lixivious Salt such as a solution of red or white Lead made in distilled Vinegar For the sharpness of the Vinegar is taken off by the Lead changed into Ceruss or Minium whereupon the Vinegar grows sweet this Vinegar impregnated and edulcorated with the Lead if it be shaked together with some Oil will become a Mixture like an Ointment for the Oil grows thick with the acid Spirit of Vinegar dulcified by the Lead And while this Liniment is applied and the relicks of the fire penetrate the Oil its force is more broken by the Acidity joyned with it And the vitiated parts are corrected and amended of the burning especially by the acid Spirit joyned with the Fat. For seeing the external fire does first of all seize the fatness and oiliness of the parts of the body when that is consumed their Lixivious Salt that used to be tempered with it growssharper the acid Spirit vanishing together with the fat Whence it is manifest both the Oil and acid Spirit must be repaired and restored that the acrimony of the Lixivious Salt may be tempered Now both concur in the said mixture wherein is store of Oil and that tempered with an acid Spirit but refract Whence it is that the retorted Salt does not make any effervescency upon meeting with the acid Spirit because broken but is gently corrected by it and reduced to its former temper And these same things are not onely proper in Burns that cause shrinking Sylvius de le Boë prax Med. l. 2. c. 23. but in all For by these and the like Remedies I have several times cured Burns II. Take Whites of Eggs N o ij Oil of Roses 2 ounces Mix them well then let a
inclose the heat with danger of pain and making it worse Hot things are more properly applied which make the skin lax open the pores and dissolve the serous humours that would break out into pustules The intemperature of the part is removed after the same manner in both cases not so much by opposing it with a contrary Sennertus as by taking away the cause ¶ In this case the use of moist things is prohibited for they presently cool actually although they may heat potentially and therefore they obtain the force of a repellent Therefore dry and digesting fomentations are best Hence it is that if a Patient through carelesness wash in the beginning of an Erysipelas Hoeferuâ not knowing the Disease it will be exasperated swelled and the pain doubled ¶ We must have a care of things that are unctuous and have an emplastick virtue especially of Narcoticks for the sharp vapours exhale Crato 3 which if they be kept in sometimes corrupt the part ¶ It is a custome among our country people if they be taken with an Erysipelas to anoint the part affected with Oil of Bayes mixt with a little Quicksilver with which Medicine they prolong the Disease for while the Oil makes lax the Skin the Erysipelas spreads farther and farther so that you may see it overrun the whole Body on a sudden except you prevent the mischief thus i. e. unless you apply all round it a linen cloth wet in warm water which may defend the other parts If the humours that stick in the flesh be plainly extravasated they cannot flow for their thickness let the Physician therefore make them fluid with hot Medicines So an Erysipelas in the beginning is taken away by applying Spirit of Wine Walaeus V. I have seen an Erysipelas in the right cheek that was treated with suppurating Emplasticks turn to a Gangrene Again I saw a Chirurgeon with such Emplasticks who was taken with an Erysipelas in ano The reason is 1. Because the Cheeks Breasts Nose c. because of their softness are easily deprived of their innate heat When therefore strength is good and the humours are hot let Digesters not Suppuraters be made use of Sanctorius VI. This is a rule concerning Sleep When an Erysipelas is in the Legs or Thighs moderate Sleep is good But when it is in the Face we must refrain from Sleep as much as may be Crato VII Green Coriander and Barley-flower applied is a very good Medicine but not in the beginning because it is hot which its bitterness shews although it partake of moisture Fonseca VIII By the use of Linimentum simplex not yet rank and often changed I have cured innumerable Erysipelas's with success not neglecting universals and inward coolers In defect of this nothing is better than Oil of sweet Almonds nine times washt in a glass-bottle with Night-shade-water with which cold anoint the place till the violent heat be diminished Others commend Balsamus Saturni made with Linseed-oil and often anointed with a Feather This is the Description of Linimentum simplex Take of Juice of Night-shade fresh made Oil of Roses each 20 ounces Boil them to the consumption of the Juice Strain it and add to it Litharge of Gold Ceruss each 1 pound Mix them make an ointment according to art Scultetuâ IX A Leech did a melancholick Woman a great deal of good who had an eating Erysipelas in her Leg for it drew out of the Veins thereabout the hot and adust bloud which had all along supplied the stubborn Ulcer with matter which being sucked out the rest of the trouble was easily over onely by applying Bread soaked in Water N. Tulpius X. The famous Veslingius cured a certain person of an ulcerated Erysipelas in his Leg when he had first purged the Body by touching it sometimes with a Feather dipt in Spirit of Vitriol He said that these sharp chymical Liquours were therefore applied to malignant and spreading Ulcers that the corroding humours may after a manner be mitigated and their violence broken after the example of Salt of Tartar and Spirit of Vitriol both which were very sharp and by their mutual acting one upon the other their mixture produces a far more gentle Medicine Veâschâus XI In the Blisters of an Erysipelas which by force of sharp and hot ichorous Juices use to break out Fallopius advises to prick them in the beginning adding this moreover that the place subject to the Fluxion should be prickt Which operation also pleases me yet I had rather doe it with a golden or silver Needle But you must also know this that they must not be prickt slightly but also clipt with Scissers that nothing of the Ichor may be left which being kept in a Bladder might by its contact spoil the part Severinus XII I knew a man about thirty five years old of the Senatory order whose Face was often invaded with bilious bloud and then was continually disfigured with an oedematous swelling the thinner parts of the humour being discussed By the advice of Physicians several remedies were tried altering Broths Whey Waters but all in vain I advised an Issue in the Arm it was made in the right Leg but to no purpose which by the persuasion of the Chirurgeon whose Wife had found the benefit of it in the like case he admitted And he has not been troubled with this Disease ever since the year 1673. to 1679. his Face falling and all signs of the Oedema being gone XIII A Countrey fellow had an inflammatory Erysipelas in his left Hand he anointed his Hand and Arm for some days with Oil of Roses upon which his Pain Inflammation c. grew worse so that his Hand was all over gangrened From whence it is clear that Oil is a great enemy to Inflammations as Galen 15. de simpl intimates Hilâanus ¶ In the year 1668. a Butcher's Wife of Geneva called Bourdillat anointed her Face that had an Erysipelas in it with the same Oil then she had a most filthy thick scab as white as milk which almost caused a Gangrene Therefore Fortis Consult 95. cent 1. bids us wholly abstain from oily and fat things because being heated by the heat of the part they may inflame it farther XIV I happily cured an ulcerated Erysipelas by the method prescribed of Rulandus cent 1. cur 43. One about sixty three years old was taken with an ulcerated Erysipelas in his feet with great pain and swelling 1. I thus purged the Body Take of Syrup of Roses Mont. 1 ounce extract of Spurge half a drachm Pectoral Decoction 1 ounce and an half Mix them A wash for the feet Take of Roses 4 handfulls Plantain 3 handfulls let them boil a little in a sufficient quantity of water When you take out your feet and have wiped and dried them with a soft Towel anoint them twice every day with the following Ointment Take of Litharge 3 ounces Vnguentum Populeon
continuance of the Fever that as long as Medicines are given so long the Fever will continue for Nature is wearied which gathering strength again concocts the cause of the disease and expells it when concocted ¶ If a right fermentation of the bloud have gone before the despumation of the morbifick matter will be wholly made within the usual time But if cooling Medicines or Clysters have been given too late the Fever will run out a great deal longer especially in elderly Men that have been ill looked after To whom I being sometimes called after they had been sick of a Fever forty days and above have tried every thing that I might bring a despumation on the bloud but the bloud has been so weakned partly by Age partly by Clysters and cooling Medicines that I could never attain my end either by Cordials or any other strengthning things but either the strength of the Fever remained firm or though the Fever seemed to be gone the Patient's strength was very low and well nigh dead And being deprived of success in other Medicines I was glad to turn my counsel another way with no common success namely by applying the lively and brisk heat of young persons to the Sick Nor is there any reason that any one should wonder why the Patient should be so much strengthened by this method though unusual and debilitated Nature-helped so that she may discharge her self of the relicks of the matter to be separated and discharged since one may easily imagine that good store of brisk effluvia is transfused from a sound and lively body into the exhausted body of the Sick Nor could I ever find that the repeated application of warm clothes was in any measureable to doe that which the method now prescribed did perform where the heat applied is more connatural to Man's body and also gentle moist equal and lasting And this way of transmitting Spirits and Vapours it may be Balsamick ones into the Sick Man's Body from the very time when I made use of it although at first it seemed strange has been made use of by others with great success Sydenhâm XXIX In the cure of very acute and pernicious Fevers we must take diligent notice of this that they are seldom caused without some inward and peculiar disaffection of some of the Inwards and often with an Inflammation Wherefore the cure of the Hypochondria Head Breast Womb Kidneys and Bladder Riverius must never be omitted that by some means or other we may find out which of these parts is remarkably ill and may help it as much as may be ¶ As soon as I find a great burning in people in a Fever if signs of an inward inflammation which I diligently inquire do not appear yet I think of some such disaffection and I direct the course of my cure thither c. Scarce ever any one of those Fevers appears that burn violently so as to have the tongue burnt or wherein the Belly voids adust stuff but some of the inner Bowels especially suffers an inflammation Eryfipelas or at least some over-heating And they are perceived by some remarkable hardness swelling pain or heat in that region where the inward part is seated Vallesius XXX But if by reason of much loss of bloud which the Patient has sustained in the method of his cure or through often Vomiting or going to Stool or because for the present the Fever is quite off or because of his weakness or of the age of the Fever already declining there now remains no more danger of raising an Ebullition for the future then setting aside all fear instead of a Paregorick draught I give a pretty large dose of Diascordium either without any thing else or mixt with some Cordial-water It is certainly an excellent Medicine Sydenham if it be given in such a quantity as may make up a Medicine rather than an empty title XXXI To the constitution of a Continual Fever we require that its Cause be either in the Vessels that carry the Bloud and so in the Bloud it self and the multifarious parts of it or such other part of the Body as has continual commerce with the Bloud and so with the Heart it self but so as that it cannot be hindred or interrupted unless wholly nor be restored again at certain times which usually happens in Agues by internal causes We add that the Bloud may be so affected sometimes by external sometimes by internal causes that it may produce a continual Fever Among the external causes of this Epidemick Fever I observed the Air was then very hot and it penetrating as well the skin on all hands and therefore the Bloud it self as being drawn into the Lungs and there joined to the Bloud did not kindly temper it again as it was in a ferment according to Nature but by communicating to it its fiery and saline volatile parts it dissolved melted and rarefied it too much and so it greatly vitiated the vital Effervescency in the heart with its additional heat and produced a continual Fever Among internal causes I blamed Bile bred of the same fiery and saline-volatile parts of the Air but made more sharp volatile and abundant by the sharp ones and therefore causing a vitious effervescency as well in the small Guts as the Heart it self and indeed joined with notable heat and therefore without doubt a Fever The various and in many respects vitious humours which must of necessity be produced by the whole mass of Bloud being by little and little corrupted could not so well be called the cause of the Continual Fever that was then so rise as of the various Symptoms which did many ways vex divers Patients The Cure therefore of the Continual Fever as such ought to consist 1. In avoiding or correcting the bad Air. 2. In tempering the sharp Bile fixing the volatile and diminishing the abundance of it 3. In moderating stopping and reducing to its natural temper the vitious effervescency that is indeed joined with a notable and troublesome heat 4. In gently coagulating the Bloud too much dissolved condensating the too much rarefied and cooling it when over-hot or reducing it to a laudable integrity Fr. Sylvius when it is otherwise vitiated ¶ But though in the cure of our Fever we made no mention of Bloud-letting because we could very well want it and several have been happily cured without it yet it is not to be contemned since especially it is usefull to temper the heat of the Bloud and to prevent Suffocation in Plethorick persons Therefore it may be usefull for Plethorick persons for young people for those that are used to it for those that are sensible of much heat for those that desire it and for those who Idem in their imagination conceive great benefit from it XXXII Hippocrates in a Legitimate Burning-fever allows as much Water and Honey boiled there must be store of Water as the Patient shall desire and he carries the Patient with
in the increase yea at the height Although according to these various times various vapours and wind use to arise according as this or that humour has the predominance which is well known to them that attend to the complaints of the sick and observe their circumstances often differing very much among themselves For when the Fit begins and the Cold is violent the vapours that are carried up use to be more austere acid and glutinous whereas they which are every way dispersed when the heat begins are more subtile and furious and increase the eruption of sweat till the going of it off Wherefore each of them must be discussed with a several Medicine For whereas when the Cold begins and as long as it lasts Volatile Salts and Aromatick Oils and in particular Oil of Cloves are good So when the heat is violent Spirit of Nitre should be preferred as well pure as the sweet mixt with drink whereby at the same time Sweat wished for by Aguish persons is promoted and ends the Disease if it be not too much and spend the strength And when there is fear of such Vapours because the like have been observed already in the preceding paroxysms it is good a long time before the coming of the Fit to take a small quantity of those Medicines for correcting and discussing them which must therefore be most proper for preventing them By means whereof I have observed Patients grew always better Idââ and by little and little overcame unexpressible Anxieties XVIII So it is sometimes that bleeding at the Nose does follow either because over-hot Medicines have been given at the beginning of the Disease or because the ebullition has not been sufficiently restrained that is either when the Patient is in the flower of his Age or the season of the year helps towards it If it be thus things that are commonly used to stop the motion of the bloud will little avail Letting of bloud Ligatures Astringent Medicines Agglutinants things that temper the acrimony of the Bloud c. For although according to the skill and prudence of the Physician one may use this or the other of them yet the whole stress of the affair lies on this to give a check to the ebullition of the Bloud by some proper Medicine which may stop and compose its violence It is true indeed if the Symptome may be stopt apart the means we have enumerated may be proper enough especially Bloud-letting nor should I scruple to use them but certainly they do not sufficiently reach if you onely except Bloud-letting the cause of this Symptome which indeed you can with no more reason endeavour to take away by the aforesaid things than if you should offer to put out the fire with a Sword Therefore in this case when other things have been tried in vain I am wont to use some such thing as this Take of Water of Purslain Red Popy each 1 ounce and an half Syrupus de Meconio 5 drachms Syrup of Cowslip Flowers half an ounce Mix them make a draught But I would not have these things so understood as though I would have every Haemorrhage thus immediately cured because oftentimes it must rather be let alone and it may doe the Patient much good partly by repressing too great Ebullition and partly sometimes by critically putting an end to the disease And indeed it will little avail to give the aforesaid check to this Symptome before it have run out for a little time or also before a Vein have been opened in the Arm. And we must diligently observe this that this and all other immoderate Haemorrhagies have this peculiar to them that as soon as they are in any measure stopt unless some gentle Purge be given there is fear that the Patient will suffer a Relapse and therefore we must Purge although if the times of the Fever be considered it uses to be given something later Sydenham and ought so but that this Symptome happened XIX It often happens that Dropsies do follow when a Man is not carefully Purged after Autumnal Agues But they are easily cured when the disease is new by means of Aperients and Catharticks Nor am I concerned when I hear and perceive that the disease arose hence for then I conceive hopes of a good issue of the affair for I have cured some by the use of the following Apozeme even without mixing any thing more appropriate to the Dropsie Take of the Root of Monk's Rheubarb 2 ounces Roots of Asparagus Butcher's Broom Parsley and Polypody of the Oak each 1 ounce the middle rind of Ash of Tamarisk each half an ounce Leaves of Agrimony Ceterach and Maiden-hair each 1 handfull clean Senna 3 ounces besprinkled with 1 ounce and an half of the best White-wine Trochiscs of Agarick 2 drachms Fenil-seeds 4 scruples Boil them in Spring-water to 1 pound and an half In the Colature dissolve of Syrup of Cichory with Rheubarb and Magistralis ad Melancholiam 1 ounce and an half The Dose half a pound every morning for three days And let it be repeated as often as there shall be occasion Idem XX. Blackness and driness of Tongue is a frequent Symptome of Burning fevers with a violent inflammation because that an immoderate febrile heat together with sharp vapours exhales and is most readily received into the spongy substance of the Tongue on which defluxions concurring it brings roughness and blackness They of Austria and Hungary where such Symptoms of the Jaws do very often occur by reason of the frequency of most violent Burning fevers dissolve Trochiscs of Nitre prepared with Flowers of Sulphur in water as a singular and specifick remedy which they do not onely drink plentifully to quench the febrile heat but they use it also in form of a Gargarism to correct the roughness and blackness of the Tongue not because of a certain Elementary frigidity coagulating things heterogeneous with homogeneous which cannot be supposed in this place but because of an Armoniack and Vitriolate Acidity which is able to dissolve Bodies and restrain and coagulate the ferocient Spirits which may easily be demonstrated from the preparation of Mercury and other changes of natural things The vulgar preparation of Sal Prunellae with Sulphur as S. Clossaeus observes may suffice for the Prunella and other outward Ails but it is not so good for inward uses and Burning fevers contrary to their opinion who contend that Salt-petre is then finely prepared for Medicine that is if it be burnt four times at least with Sulphur and as often filtred and coagulated For they say there are crude Spirits in it which unless they exhale and be dissipated will doe no small harm to the Stomach But these Men do not take notice that the whole substance of the Petre-Stone abounds with these firm and pontick Spirits which if they call crude I will not much gainsay them But they are so far from being corrected by this detonation that the parts more subtile
I. The Leipyria of the Arabians must be cured one way that of the Greeks another II. Whether cold things may be given to one coming from a Malignant humour III. Whether Broth may be given IV. Cordial Epithems are hurtfull V. The Diet in the Leipyria of the Arabians VI. I. THE Cure of this Fever proposed by Hippocrates l. de affect v. 107. it is proper for this saith he to apply cooling things outwardly both to the Belly and to the Body to prevent Shaking at the first blush seems foolish enough as it orders Coolers that is Medicines actually and potentially cold to be outwardly applyed because they seem highly prejudicial to the hot Internals and cold Externals for being applied outwardly they drive the Heat inwards whereby the Disease increases But this Remedy does not want its reason for whenever a bilious humour burning in the Internals causes a refrigeration of the extreme parts and not the penury of the innate heat cold things applied outwardly can doe no harm yea if they be often applied the cooling virtue being communicated from one part after another to the internal parts they may extinguish the internal heat of the Bile Nor need the retraction of the heat be feared because much Cold applied all at once causes it not what is applied by little and little and endued with no intense Cold such as he supposes must be used in this case while he orders Shaking to be prevented I can confirm the Authority of my Master by experience For I have observed People so affected that the more we endeavour to reduce them to their natural state by hot things the more violently they were cooled Above all others I observed it in N. who being in a burning Fever and very cold in his external parts after they that were by had tried for a whole day to heat him with Flannel and warm Skins applied all over his Body yet in the evening we found him colder than ever The reason is Because if such refrigeration proceed from the penury of the radical moisture and spirits if while we strive to draw the moisture and heat to the superficies by heating things we dissipate and draw it out what wonder if the Body be thereby more cooled And if for this reason hot things doe hurt for the same reason what things soever can dissipate more than hot things must be so much the more suspected for example Prosp Martianus Frictions and Cuppings which are in frequent use for the Cure of these Fevers II. Avicen reckons a Leipyria among Phlegmatick Distempers ascribing the rise of it to vitreous Phlegm while gross Vapours are elevated from it when it putrefies which cannot be carried to the external parts and make them hot Or because there are cold humours in the external parts which cannot be made hot by the heat of the Phlegm putrefying within In the Cure of it he uses Syrupus Acetosus Oxymel both simple and diuretick to cut and prepare the gross and cold humour He purges with Aloes Hiera and Rheubarb and so in short he lays down the Cure of an Epiala By Galen it is reckoned among Burning severs and these malignant and he says they are caused by an Inflammation or Erysipelas of some of the internal parts Hippocrates also reckons them among Burning fevers But every Burning fever has not this Symptome onely such as is malignant and pestilential Galen referred it amiss to a Phlegmon or Erysipelas of the Bowels for I have seen several Malignant fevers wherein the out parts were scarce warm and the inner were burning hot yet there were no signs and symptoms of the Bowels being inflamed Therefore in my judgment there is a twofold cause of this Symptome the first is seeing the Nature of this Fever consists in a malignant poisonous quality and putrefaction and that it is the property of all Poison to lay in wait for the Heart because Nature that she may defend a noble part and assist it sends bloud and spirits from every place to the Heart and noble Parts whence by accident such refrigeration follows The second cause is because this Fever is caused by humours very much putrefied lodged about the Praecordia such as eruginous Bile very much putrefied the meeting of which when Nature cannot bar she endeavours to evacuate them by Vomit and Stool and therefore strives to doe it with all her force and thereupon a concourse of all the Humours inwards follows Hereto I think may be added the peculiar property of the malignant humours to incline rather inwards than outwards Here we must first give a Clyster then bleed and then use Coolers and Cordials as Juice of Lemons Citron Pomegranate Cataplasms of Barley-meal mixt with Juice of Housleek and the like Coolers must be applied to the Hypochondria and often changed Finally the same Cure is owing to this Fever as to a burning malignant those things being added whose property it is to resist Malignity And we must remember from Hippocrates 2. de Morb. l. de Affect that we use onely Broths till the Fever is over for Drink we must give small Mede we must purge onely by Clysters Primirosius l. 2. de Feb. c. 8. not by any other Catharticks before the Fever is gone III. Alteratives are very requisite in this Fever so that Paulus and Aetius have affirmed that drinking of Cold water is proper yet not in the beginning but in the state that is when signs of Coction appear And although Aetius gave Cold water to a certain Woman without tarrying for Coction yet it was an improper Leipyria caused by an Erysipelas in the Stomach whose proper Remedy is drinking of Cold water as Galen 9. Meth. 5. teaches But I in this case more willingly chuse some Alterative which may not by its quantity oppress the innate Heat but has a cooling and moistning virtue such as are distilled Waters of Juice of Sorrel Cichory yea and Water melon which may be given to a pound and a half adding 3 or 4 ounces of Scorzonera-water Fortis l. de Febr. Which Potion may be given 5 or 6 hours after the beginning of the Fever IV. But that Heat may more easily come to the external parts or at least that the Bowels may not be so grievously suffocated and afflicted thereby it will not be amiss 3 hours after the beginning of the Fit to give not indeed Broth altered with Citron-seed as it uses erroneously to be done for nothing then must be offered which has the nature of Aliment but 3 or 4 ounces of Cordial-water of totius Citri Scorzonerae and Saxoniae may by and by be given as was said after some altering Potion and then the Broth 2 or 3 hours after that namely of something altered with Cichory Borage Endive Cinquefoil and Tormentil adding Syrup de acido Citri of Juice of Lemons and a convenient portion of some altering Broth. Idem V. It is an Errour in Physicians who when in Continual fevers
the out parts are either cold or but warm do presently flye to Cordials without distinction applying Epithemes to the Heart and giving other things which may produce much spirituous substance by strengthning the action of the Heart Which indeed in the refrigeration of the extreme parts by reason of the internal heat calling the Bloud and Spirits to the inner parts are so far from doing any good that they doe a great deal of hurt For if we consider the Applications they offend in two things first because they use things actually and potentially hot whereas they should be actually and potentially cold Secondly because by their means the spirits are increased in the inner parts which should be diminished For while the vital spirits that are diffused all the Body over are by the virtue of the heat conveyed inwards they so abound there that there is imminent danger of the suffocation of the heat And this abundance of spirits is made manifest by great and quick Pulses which when the spirits are deficient appear small rare and intermittent Wherefore to endeavour the generation of spirits in these is nothing else but to bring an imminent danger of suffocating the vital spirits in the Heart to a certain extinction of the innate heat Wherefore we must then onely endeavour the generation of vital spirits by the foresaid Medicines when the spirits fail which we may know by the Pulse Therefore the said Cordial Medicines must onely be used in that refrigeration which derives its original from immoderate dissipation Proper Martianus and corruption of the spirits VI. Seeing this Fever the Leipyria of the Arabians comes from one simple humour as from a very gross Phlegm which putrefying cannot warm the extreme parts either upon the occasion of its thickness or small putrefaction we must have recourse to Phlegmatick fevers or Melancholick or Cholerick for the choice of a Diet for it is the opinion of Learned Men that it may have its original from each of these humours aforesaid Wherefore the Arabian said well You ought not says he to look to the Fits for it may so be that it may be a Quotidian Tertian or Quartan Brudus de Victu Febr. or may have its period on the fifth or seventh day Febris Maligna or A Malignant Fever The Contents Wherein the Malignity of an Epidemical one consists I. Remedies must be varied according to the variety of the Causes II. The Condition of the Matter varies the Cure III. Whether Letting of Bloud be convenient IV. Whether a Vein may be breathed when Spots appear V. Bloud must be let immediately because of the deceitfulness of the Disease VI. It is more beneficial to open the lower than the higher Veins VII The benefit of evacuation by the Haemorrhoids VIII Cupping-glasses may be sometimes used without opening a Vein IX Sometimes they are hurtfull X. Where they should be applied XI One sick of a Malignant Fever cured by setting Leeches to the Paps XII For a Delirium and Phrenzy a Vein in the Forehead must be opened XIII The utility of Vesicatories XIV They are not every where nor always proper XV. Whether we may purge in the beginning XVI Clysters must have no Purgatives in them XVII Vomits are better than Purges XVIII They are very good where there is Sleepiness XIX The benefit of Sudorificks and Alexipharmacks XX. The Difference of Alexipharmacks as to their use XXI Whether the use of Pearl Gemms c. should be prescribed XXII Diaphoreticks need not be feared because of their heat XXIII The faultring Circulation of the bloud must be promoted with Medicines that have a Volatile Salt in them XXIV Hydroticks Salts c. by what power they operate XXV How far we may trust Antifebrile Medicines XXVI Alexitericks are required when the Bloud comes out red and destitute of Serum which is a token of malignity XXVII By what virtue Antimonium Diaphoreticum acts XXVIII We must use Oxyrrhodina with caution XXIX Epithems hurtfull XXX Heating of the Feet is sometimes good XXXI The Efficacy of Plasters to the Feet XXXII Wine may sometimes be allowed XXXIII The Cure of a Malignant Fever with the Parotides or Swelling behind the Ears XXXIV The Cure of Vomiting when it supervenes XXXV The Physician must have a care how he feels the Pulse XXXVI I. I Think all that Malignity which is found in epidemick Diseases what such soever the specifick Nature of it is does consist of and is terminated in the hottest and most spirituous Particles of the Humours contained in Man's body that are more or less adverse to Nature because onely such a sort of Particles are able to alter the Humours so suddenly as we see in Malignant Diseases And I think those hot and spirituous Particles do act most by assimilating seeing by the Law of Nature every active Principle makes it its business to procreate its like and to bend and accommodate what things soever resist it to its proper disposition So Fire generates Fire and one infected with a Malignant Disease infects his fellow to wit by emission of Spirits which assimilate to themselves the Humours that are presently infected and lead and draw them to their own nature These things being premised it certainly follows that nothing can be better than to cast out the said Particles by Sweat for by this means the Disease may forthwith be utterly extirpated But here Experience gainsays and teaches that this cannot be done in every sort of Malignity For although in the Plague it self the pestilential particles both because they are very subtile and also because they reside in the most spirituous part of the bloud are dissipable and may be cast out by raising an uninterrupted Sweat yet in other Fevers where the assimilating particles are not exalted to that Subtilty and also are incorporated with the grosser humours the malignant matter is not onely incapable of being thrown off by Sweat but is often increased by Diaphoreticks wherewith Sweat is raised For by how much more these hot and spirituous particles are actuated by the use of heating things by so much the more is that assimilating faculty which they have encreased and by how much the more these Humours are heated upon which they act so much the more willingly they turn to the Assimilants side giving way to their impressions When on the contrary Reason seems to dictate that those Medicines which are of a contrary nature do not onely stay the violence of the hot and sharp Particles but also condense and fortifie the Humours that they may be the better able to sustain the assault of the morbifick Spirits but also break it And here I must appeal to Experience by which I am taught that the Purples in Fevers and the black Pustules in the Small-pox increase the more the hotter the Patient is kept but that they usually decrease and grow less upon a more moderate Regiment which is altogether proper for them Now if any one ask me how
not wholly disallow Venaesection it self in the Plague joined with a Fever or in Pestilential fevers themselves For when the body is plethorick and the strength is oppressed or the loss thereof is imminent from the plenty of bloud or when a Fever is joined with the Plague or a Pestilential fever it self afflicts a Man sometimes a Vein must be opened especially in those that are used to it when nothing in its stead seems to suffice but it must be in the beginning by and by after Alexipharmacks are given and when their operation is onely over And here I fully approve of J. Palmarius his advice cap. 23. Where he thus determines about bleeding In a Plague which is complicated with a putrid constitution where there are the Head-ach want of Sleep Tossing Thirst a dry Tongue an ill Pulse great Heat about the Heart and other Symptoms proceeding from the heat and putrefaction of the humours If the Veins be turgid with plenty of humours bloud ought to be let more or less as the fullness of the Vessels Age the Season of the year the habit of the Body and the violence of the Symptoms will bear So the strength be good and the Physician be called in the beginning of the Disease and it be taken away in much lesser quantity than in other Fevers And according to the same Palmarius the bloud must be taken from the Foot or Leg if a Bubo be protuberant in the groin or in any part below the Loins But in the Arm if in the Jaws or Arm-pits or in any other part above the Kidneys or even in the Loins themselves and that always on the same side As it is well advised by the same party that we must abstain from bloud-letting whenever a Pestilential fever affrights us with lowness of strength or fainting Besides whatever simple and legitimate Plagues do shew no signs of putrefaction in the Urine or in other excrements as those which have no Fever joined with them these Palmarius being judge abhor bloud-letting how cruel soever the Symptoms be In the Plague therefore A. Deusingius l. 5. de Peste cap. â as the Plague bleeding does no good But as there is imminent danger from the quantity of bloud while strength is good and other circumstances do not hinder it must be diminished V. Whether in the time of a Pestilential fever bleeding be proper for preservation Almost all Writers shew that a Plethory quoad vires because this is it from whence there is imminent danger of corruption must be taken away by bleeding But this opinion is not convenient always and in every place But it may be of use with this distinction In a wholsome Air in Spring and Autumn it may be admitted but not in the midst of Summer or Winter nor in very hot or cold Countreys or Constitutions On this hand the body is too much cooled on the other hand too much spent and it is not then safe to evacuate sound bodies If the state of the Air be pestilent bloud-letting must never be practised because of this plenitude for it very much exhausts the Spirits and stirs the humours and the inspired Air more easily impresses its pestilent action and the Disease if it come is conquered with more difficulty because the strength is spent by bloud-letting For as when Men have drunk poison after bleeding it more easily penetrates and is more difficultly overcome In like manner they that are well who admit of bleeding in a pestilential Air more easily receive the bad quality of the Air are worse and escape with more difficulty Besides such a Plethora may easily be exhausted by a more spare and thin diet by loosening things and cleansers of the bloud But they that have taught that when bloud abounds a Vein must be breathed were either mistaken if they spake of this plenitude or they were superfluous if their discourse was of plenty of good bloud Both because a pestilential fever does not impend from this and because it is good to abound in bloud because Life depends especially on it Which if it so redound as to distend the Vessels although bleeding be proper yet it is not our case because hereon not a pestilential fever but bursting of the Vessels extinction of the native heat c. does usually follow And although a Plethory quoad vires in a pestilential Air be not to be taken away by bleeding yet considering the causes hereof we sometimes admit some diminutions of it as if it be superfluous on account of the Diet or of some evacuation uppressed For this reason in Women I commend bleeding in the lower Veins which because it spends the strength less than in the upper Veins it may without any impending danger both relieve nature and provoke the Menses I say the same of them that have the haemorrhoids stopt or any accustomed haemorrhage suppressed Pet. Salius Diversuâ c. 20. lin de Feb. Pâst To which evacuations nevertheless I should never descend without a new and urgent indication ¶ Although letting of bloud do not draw out the Infection yet I confess in curing and preventing a putrid pestilential fever it does a great deal of good if it be seasonably used but in a contagious one which is caused by inspiration of the seminary seeing all hopes of safety consists in preserving the strength we must consider again and again lest any thing be done rashly Crato and without reason VI. Oribasius advises not to bleed in the cure but to scarifie the Legs which according to Alpinus is customary with the Aegyptians where the Plague is commonly endemical This may well be done when we would make a general evacuation for the bloud will run out plenteously amongst them the fleshy part of the three Muscles of the calf of the Leg is cut with a Razour in a streight line 4 or 5 pretty deep wounds are inflicted and they have a care that they do not close for a long time so the filthy corruption is discharged And that place is so far from the heart that it is not so sensible of this injury This also may very well be done if a Carbuncle fix near the region of the heart and if you think bloud ought to be let but if it seize other parts remote from the heart the next place to the Swelling must be bled If Carbuncles or Buboes appear in the Groin the lower Veins are opened If one appear in the Neck a Vein in the Forehead must be cut or the Veins in the Nose must be opened Or the Jugulars must be opened or one under the Tongue and Cupping-glasses must be set to the Arms and the Neck deeply scarified From the foresaid reasons yet trust experience I durst almost infer this Maxim A Malignant Tumour arising of it self if it precede a pestilential fever does in its beginning and while the strength is good admit of large bloud-letting in the Vein next it that the poisonous matter may be exhausted and
the fear of a future Fever prevented But yet if the Stool or Urine have no sign of putrefaction a Vein must not be breathed though the Symptoms be urgent But if this Imposthume follow the pestilential fever Phlebotomy will doe hurt Therefore before there is a pestilential fever we may bleed Yet seeing the Plague comes from contagion Heârnius ââde jââribuâ because of the poisonous putrefaction already conceived I should think we should abstain from bloud-letting VII Bleeding is very prejudicial to them that are sick of the Plague and it is very dangerous also for them that would be preserved from it The poison often lurks for some days weeks or months in the body out of the Vessels before it shew it self by the use of Medicines that stir the bloud But if by Venaesection you draw it to the heart it behoves you to inquire whether or no the diminution of the bloud spirits and strength through your means be not the cause why the Heart is suffocated and is not able to chase away its enemy Physicians indeed who deserve credit and are well versed in their art do say that cautious bleeding and celebrated at the beginning has ever been the chief of Antipestilential means But they that in these cold Countries imitated them P Barbetâe de ââste p. 1â3 soon left it off yea our Countrey Physicians are now wholly silent as to bleeding VIII The Circulation of the bloud tells us that all poisonous and bad humours which are either thrown off by Nature it self or come from abroad should immediately at the very first moment be drawn out from the Glandules and the Skin it self by means of attractive Medicines lest that in the space of a small time all the bloud be infected and the heart it self be oppressed and suffer violence This may sufficiently shew how dangerous it is to breathe a Vein and Purge the body in a Pestilential and Venereal Bubo yea and in all venemous wounds on the contrary how necessary it is to draw out the peccant matter by the help of sudorifick and attractive Medicines Idem And therefore that the doctrine of the Circulation of the bloud is of great use in the Art of Physick IX Purging in a Pestilential fever is suspected both because of the lowness of strength and because a Loosness and that a colliquating one quickly happens But we must note that it is not always so But when it is whether it be colliquating or because nature attempts to discharge the peccant matter Physicians are not of one opinion For the most indeed think Purgatives may be given but such as leave an astriction behind them Others judge otherwise and aright for since in this case it is either the humours themselves or the solid parts that are colliquated the colliquated matter does not require vacuation by Medicine seeing Nature discharges it of her self nor is it indicated by what is to be colliquated since such evacuation should rather be stopt nor yet as if I thought it should be stopt by Astringents because if it be altogether bad it would doe more harm kept than voided but I should recommend it to Nature while the Physician opposes the causes of colliquation But if the flux be not Colliquative but Nature onely attempts the excretion of the peccant matter by stool then it will either be Symptomatick and the matter crude and bad or critical and the matter concocted If Symptomatical it will either be moderate or too much from whence loss of strength may be feared If moderate it must neither be promoted nor hindred for there is no cure of Symptoms by themselves If too much it must be stopped with such things as respect the peccant matter and the present Disease But in Pestilential fevers wherein the Belly is not loose some would Purge others not Of them that would some presently in the beginning of the Disease others not till the matter is concocted They that doe it in the beginning some doe it in the matter turgid others when it is quiet Again some use gentle Purges others violent They that purge in the beginning when the matter is quiet fear lest it become turgid and seize some principal part They confirm it from Galen 5 method 12. Who writes that they who recovered of the Pestilence which was abroad in his time some of them vomited all of them were loose They add that a crisis must not be tarried for which comes in the state or declension for as Galen 2 Aphor. 13. says Most crises end in a recovery unless the state of the Air be pestilential They produce also the experiments of them who in long Pestilences have recovered Men innumerable by giving strong Purges in the Beginning and Encrease They that think Men ought not to Purge are perswaded thereto because immediately at the very beginning there is a great decay of strength and because Colliquation is joined with it or an internal Inflammation in which a Purge does a great deal of harm Therefore the most famous Physicians Greeks and Arabians do not mention one word of Purging Others add that all the motion of the matter is to the skin and must not be drawn inward In this difficulty we would first of all observe this that there is a manifold difference in these Fevers The first is taken from the form for one Pestilential Fever is simple another mixt The simple one is that which without the Putrefaction of other humours has its rise from some poisonous putrid matter The mixt when other humours also do putrefy The second from the subject for the poisonous quality is either in the spirits whence comes a pestilential Ephemera or in the Humours and it is humoral or in the solid parts and it is Hectick The third is from the matter for the poisonous quality may reside either in choler phlegm melancholy or bloud and they keep the periods of those humours The fourth is from the place of the matter whence some are continual others intermittent The matter of the Continual some is in the Veins other in some determinate part For according to Galen we have Malignant fevers from the Brain being affected And such also as come from the Membranes containing the Brain and from the Lungs and Heart The fifth from the degree of putrefaction and venemous contagion since in most Fevers there is much putrefaction and but little poisonous contagion in some on the contrary In some both are great in some both are little The sixth is from the Symptoms for some are quiet so that they shew not themselves at all others make the Patients very restless especially inwardly Some are colliquating the Belly others abounding in Urine Some are with Spots others without These things granted we say 1. We must not purge in a Pestilential Ephemera and Hectick unless there be a great Cacochymie with fear lest the Infection should spread thither 2. We affirm that all matter is not turâid for we see it
almost by Months The history should be remembred which is cited by Bârellâs cent 4. obs 33. Mr. N. says he more than once told me of the death of his Father who perished by the too much bleeding and purging of his Physicians while he was ill of a Quartane This disease is exasperated by such remedies and turns to a double or a treble Quartane wherefore we should rather have recourse to Speciâicks X. Sennertus lib. 2. de febr c. 19. promising what should be premised from Pedemontânus commendâ singularly 2 drachms of the powder of Aââââum in a Glass of Cretan Wine drinking it warm one hour before the Fit causing Sweat with clothes which being over he orders to take Sage Rue Shepherds-purse each 1 pugil to beat them with a little Vinegar and tie them to the wrists and keep them on 24 hours upon which the Ague ceases The Asarââ thus taken besides Sweat causes Vomit and towards the end of the Fit it also purges downwards XI I give those that are ill of Quartans onely a decoction of Turneps for several days I was told of this by the excellent Gamerius who writes how he cured an Abbat more successfully by Turneps than by any other Medicines Pare them and boil them throw away the first water quickly pour to them some new fair water and boil them to pieces Crat. âââs 256. squeeze out the juice carefully and Sugar and fresh-Butter without any Salt If the Patient be subject to Wind add some Cloves cut a little XII Although there be remedies which may stop the Fits and so hide the Ague that is hinder Nature from separating the pure from the impure by the ebullition of the humours in her allotted time and so at length from conquering the Ague yet they are dangerous and usually cast the Patient into a worse disease unless they also evacuate or that Evacuaters as they ought Hâââââus Herâ Med. l. 6. c. 3. have been given before ¶ Narcoticks indeed have an excellent virtue to stop the Fit But unless the greater share of the morbifick humour be first evacuated and obstructions much abated they may doe mischief because they retain the vitious humours in the body and breed obstructions and other more grievous diseases Yet if they be given in a small quantity and mixt with aperient and inciding things Riverâis they will doe the less harm ¶ The last year was very fruitfull in Quartans The remedies which oftnest gave help were such as stop the Ague-fit for when the indisposition of the bloud is a little amended by the alteration of the season of the year if the habitual custome of the Fits be but broke a while Nature recollects her self And such an intention though sometimes it may be answered by giving Vomits a little before the Fit for they often stop the febrile motion of the bloud by raising a motion contrary to it yet this Indication the stopping of the Fit is far more certainly yea and successfully performed by the use of Medicines which do not at all evacuate the bowels but give either a fixation to the bloud or a praecipitation of the febrile matter for a time Wherefore those I had under cure provision being made for the whole giving sometimes a Vomit sometimes a Purge three hours before the Fit I used to order the Patients to apply Plasters to the wrists and to take some Febrifuge powder in generous Wine and to Sweat gently in their Bed It seldom so happened but at the first or second time the Ague fit was in this manner stopt Willis de ââb c â and then the same remedy being repeated but the Disease went perfectly off ¶ When a tough Ague tires a Man out many fly to Enchantments and Spells or Periapta which doe many good and stop the Fit Some of them by an evident and Physical reason by virtue of Medicines applied Others onely by Opinion to wit when a firm Assent and certain Hope do second Imagination For the Spirits and innate Heat the chief Instrument of the Soul being excited and made brisker by the Soul confirmed and strengthned by such an imagination do stir up the natural force languid and asleep before which afterwards resists the Disease which if it be already in a great measure broken as it is in the declension it is easily conquered and utterly taken off by the strength of Nature who is the curer of all Diseases But in the beginning and increase of the Disease when the matter is much and contumacious they may not be used for though Nature be strong she is unable to overcome the morbifick cause Such things therefore should not be neglected when the Disease declines apace and is already broken by other Medicines The other sort is of them which may doe good on a Physical account that is applied to the Wrists whose virtue reaches the Heart by means of the circulation of the bloud to the interruption of which the original of Agues is assigned by many and do stop the turgescence and fermentation of this and the febrile matter namely some corpuscles or effluvia do pass from them into the bloud which violently fix and bind its particles or by melting and moving Idem do as it were precipitate Either way the spontaneous effervescence of the bloud is hindred just as when cold water is poured into a boiling pot ¶ But to these Enchantments or Periapta which Dr. Willis speaks of I would object the authority of the learned and pious Sennertus who l. 5. p. 4. c. 10. seems to condemn all such things as Diabolical His words are these The healing of the Wound which is attributed to the Vnguentum Armarium is for the most part Nature's work which often cures not onely slight Wounds but most grievous ones Which is evident from hence that there are so many several compositions of this Ointment and some use onely a piece of Bacon instead of it and nevertheless the wounds are cured But if by using this Medicine any grievous wound be cured which seems to be above the power of Nature it is done by the power of the Devil who by some compact either implicite or explicite is drawn to cure the wound Nor do they remove the suspicion of this matter when they object that all simples are natural and that no Characters Conjurations or Inchantments are used either in the composition or inunction For the Devil does not onely hide his compact under them but also under natural things if at his command as it is done in the first and explicite compact in which others who use the same may unawares involve themselves if natural things be turned to other uses than what GOD created them for And thus Diabolical and Magical Actions are wrapt up and obtruded as Magnetick ones If therefore Sennertus allows not a natural thing with Inchantment Why should we follow Willis his Fancy deluded by Enchantment though he give a natural reason for it XIII If
discharging of the Abdomen As to this first of all it is manifest that no immediate passage is open from the Ascitick Pond though near to the Kidneys but what water soever is carried from the Abdomen thither it must of necessity be received back into the mass of bloud and then be poured out of it into the Urinary sink But how small a matter is it that the mouths of the Veins opening upon the superficies of the Bowels if they open at all can receive And this is all that Diureticks can doe they make the bloud by melting it and driving its serosities plentifully to the Kidneys when it is emptied to draw the water fluctuating in the Belly to it self In the mean time there is no less danger lest Diureticks given unseasonably while they put the bloud too much into fusion should drive the Serum forced to separate more into the nest of the Ascites than into the Kidneys and so rather increase than remove the floud in the Belly for it has appeared by frequent observation that it usually so falls out Wherefore when Diureticks are prescribed for the cure of a Dropsie we must have a great care of this contrary effect Truely it is for this reason that from the authority of the Ancients and practice found by experience Astringents and Strengthners are always mixt with Hydropick Medicines not that such things confirm the tone of the Liver as is commonly said but they preserve the crasis or mixtion of the bloud from being dissolved with too much fusion Wherefore in an Ascites which comes chiefly or partly because the frames of the Bowels and vessels and especially the Coats Glands and Fibres and the Interstices of them are stuffed with a serous humour and greatly swelled thereby as Catharticks so also Diureticks are proper and are often taken with good success inasmuch that is as by taking of them the Mass of bloud the Serum being copiously derived to the Kidneys that is emptied does take in by the mouths of the Veins the water stagnating near them and conveys it to the Urinary passage But on the contrary in a mere Ascites where the floud of water overflows the cavity of the Belly when the texture of the Bowels is free from any serous obstruction Diureticks are given either in vain or inconveniently inasmuch as they get nothing out of the pond of the Belly and by often putting the bloud into fusion do force the Water that is apt to drop in Willis with more impetuosity XV. All Diureticks are not equally proper for an Ascites and must not be given indifferently for we may observe that they who are troubled with this Disease do for the most part make little Urine but red and lixivial which is a sign indeed that the crasis of the bloud is too strict in such from a fixt and sulphureous salt exalted and combined together and therefore the Serum is not duely separated in the Kidneys which yet is left about the turnings and windings of the obstructed inwards and so discharged into the cavity of the Belly Wherefore in this state onely such things must be given to provoke Urine as do so restore and amend the constitution of the bloud that the enormities of the fixt salt and sulphur being removed the serous part may be separated and more plentifully discharged by the Kidneys For which purpose not acids or lixivials but things endued with a volatile salt are designed For I have often observed in such Patients when Spirit of Salt and other acid Stagma's of Minerals and when Salt of Tartar Broom and the deliquia or dissolutions of other things have done rather hurt than good that juice of Plantain Brooklime and other herbs abounding with a volatile salt also the expression of Millepedes have done much good Idem for the same reason Salt Nitre highly purified or Crystallum Minerale often does good XVI Oftentimes the Dropsie is caused without any fault in the Liver because of the weakness of the Kidneys which should draw the Serum and these passages cannot be opened by any the most generous Diureticks Therefore we must endeavour to cleanse these parts the neighbouring especially and also to restore the lost faculty by Fomentations Riolanus XVII But while Diureticks are taking Clysters must be given frequently of a decoction of Mercury Soldanella Centaury Fenil Bayberries with some Hydragogue Electuary Fortis Cons 69. cent 33. or Mel. rosar solut XVIII Men commonly reckon that Diureticks in a Dropsie do carry onely that matter to the Urinary Vessels which may fall into the cavity of the Belly and not that whith is gathered there already for it is no way possible for it to be evacuatal by Urine because if the matter residing in the cavity were to be evacuated by Urine it must of necessity enter the Viscera again which is impossible But this fear is without ground for they may be given with great benefit as they are able not onely to derive the serous matter which is as yet contained in the vessels and is about to run into the Belly but also to draw back into the Veins and Lymphatick Vessels that very Water which restagnates in the cavity of the Abdomen So Rondeletius c. 36. l. 2. saw a Woman in a Dropsie cured by flux of Urine But we must know 1. That the body must be purged before and made fluid 2. That they have this advantage that they can at the same time free the inwards from obstructions of which number are Spirit of Salt Urine and its Volatile Salt Spiritus aperitivus Penoti Tinctura aperitiva D. Moebii Salt of Wormwood coagulated with the Spirit of Salt Fel vitri with a decoction of River Crabs c. Helmont has noted a passage lib. de potest Medicam Sect. 32. which agrees with this I perceived saith he that all simple Salts pass by Vrine and the Guts and in the mean time dissolve the filth in these passages and make the expulsive faculty mindfull of its office 3. That they must be frequently used 4. That they must be often changed lest Nature accustome her self to them 5. That they must be given in Powder 6. That we must abstain from them in an Anâstomosis of the Veins and colliquation of the humours Hofmannus XIX Amongst hydragogue Medicines drinking of the Waters is chief And of all these the Spaw-water is best which promises certain health to Hydropicks even confirmed for it carries off the redundant water in the Abdomen by the way of Urine and wonderfully restores lost strength to the Stomach Liver and to the rest of the natural parts and so confirms it when restored that a Man after taking of this water repeated several times every day perfectly recovers his lost health XX. Sudorificks are reckoned among evacuating Medicines which as in an Anasarca they always doe good so in a Tympany and an Ascites sometimes they doe harm If that is driness of the Liver as it often does give
Sydenham Tract de Hydrope for this reason especially because in many Diseases when the matter of them is discharged Nature who watches and provides for our good day and night does wonderfully endeavour of her self to guard and defend the Patient from the pernicious relicks of this disease Wherefore every Ascites how inveterate soever and how much mischief soever it hath done to the Bowels must be treated in no other manner than as if it were just begun What he says of External Remedies you have more at large in other Authours passages out of whom you may reade before Medicines especially made use of by eminent Physicians Aetius 1. A spoonfull of burnt Cow's-dung taken in a pint of Wine every day is very good Claudinus 2. A Toad split and applied to the Kidneys of one in a Dropsie wonderfully voids the Water by Urine ¶ One Man insensibly wasts the Water of Hydropicks by a secret remedy by applying the Stone of a Water-Snake to the Belly Benedictus 3. The flesh of a dried Hedge-hog does peculiarly help this disease if it be beaten and drunk in old Wine 2 drachms of it must be taken every day 4. A Woman was cured with this decoction onely called Syrupus S. Ambrosii It is made thus Take of Millet excorticated 2 drachms Spring-water 2 pounds Boil them till onely 5 ounces remain Strain it Put as much White-wine to it Give it hot to one in a Dropsie She was well recovered and she sweat plentifully Crato and she took it 8 days 5. I have experienced that the juice of Iris crude not boiled Gordonius cures any Dropsie which is curable by humane help 6. Mullein is a specifick herb for a Tympany 1 scruple whereof with a decoction of Seed and Root of Fenil expells Wind egregiously Grembs Hypercatharsis or over-purging It s prevention and Cure A Hypercatharsis comes when the Purgative being disproportionate in quality or quantity works more violently or longer than it should both as by too much irritating the nervous fibres it drives the animal spirits into excandescencies not easily appeased and as it in a manner melts the bloud and humours so that what is separated from them being discharged into the cavity of the bowels makes the excretory irritations yet greater The therapeutick method respects both the prevention and cure as to the first before Physick there is need of great consideration and care in the operation of it and after it For first of all we must well consider both the constitution of the body to be purged the strength and custome and the nature of the Medicine to be given its dose manner of operation and the ordinary effects then comparing things together we must proportionate the virtue of the agent according to the tolerance of the Patient 2. While the Physick works the parts for concoction the bloud and animal spirits must be kept free from any other perturbation Wherefore at this time neither gross viscous nor much food which molests the Stomach must be given The meeting with the external Cold whereby the pores of the body may be stopt must carefully be avoided finally the mind must be kept quiet and serene void of care and of severer studies 3. When the Physick has done working both the excandescence of the animal spirits and the effervescence of the bloud and humours must be quieted to which ends an Anodyne Medicine or a gentle Hypnotick must be given but if omitting or notwithstanding this care a Hypercatharsis follow Purging the Patient must presently be put in bed and be thus treated First of all let a Plaster of Treacle or a somentation with Flanel dipt in a decoction of Wormwood Mint and Spices hot and wrung out be applied to the region of the Stomach and the whole Epigastrium Then let him presently either take a Bolus of Theriaca Andromachi or a solution of it made in Cinnamon water Then a little Burnt-wine diluted with Mint water must be given frequently by spoonfulls If Griping be troublesome a Clyster may be given of warm Milk with Treacle dissolved therein In the mean time warm Frictions and sometimes Ligatures must be used to the external Limbs whereby the bloud may be called outwards and be kept from too great colliquation and effusion into the cavity of the Bowels Then in the evening if the strength be good and the Pulse strong enough a dose either of Diascordium or liquid Laudanum may be taken in some proper Vehicle Willis Hypochondriaca Affectio or The Hypochondriack Disease See Melancholia BOOK XI The Contents Whether opening of the Haemorrhoid Vessels be proper I. The necessity of preparing the humour II. Preparatives must be different according to the Humour and the part affected III. Sylvius his preparation IV. The order to be observed in preparation V. Sweats and Acids doe harm in the preparation VI. They must be different according to the difference of the Crudity VII When we must use gentle and when strong Aperients VIII We must not insist long on preparatives IX Whether Vinegar may be admitted X. Medicines of Tartar sometimes doe harm XI We must purge one way in an Acid another way in a nidorous crudity XII They must not be purged whose innate heat of the Stomach is weak XIII Sometimes we must purge violently sometimes gently XIV Women bear strong Purges XV. Detergents must be given after strong Purges XVI The virtue of Antimony in conquering a rebellious one XVII All Purgatives are not alike proper XVIII The efficacy of Clysters XIX Sometimes Suppositories are to be preferred before them XX. When Vomits are proper XXI Purging must precede it XXII Whether Spaw-waters be proper XXIII Taking of Chalybeates is beneficial XXIV Better than Bath-Waters XXV We must abstain in the beginning from strong Diureticks XXVI They are good in a splenitick Disease XXVII We must have regard to the inner parts XXVIII Whether Asses Milk be convenient XXIX Cautions in taking it XXX Whether the rumbling of the Hypochondria hinder the use of it XXXI How Whey may conveniently be taken XXXII Spiritus Vitrioli Martis is good XXXIII Elixir Proprietatis is good XXXIV Whether Crocus Martis be usefull XXXV Antimonium Diaphoreticum does good XXXVI The efficacy of Volatile Salts when there is a sense of Strangling XXXVII The use of Capers XXXVIII Wind must not be dissipated with hot things XXXIX How we must help hurt Concoction XL. The Stomach must not be strengthned by Applications XLI The efficacy of Fomentations XLII The usefulness of Baths XLIII Sulphureous ones sometimes doe harm XLIV Anointing the Hypochondria useless and hurtfull XLV With what caution Stoves may be used XLVI The cure of a Loosness coming upon the use ãâã Aperients XLVII Crocus Martis sometimes causes Belching XââââI Emulsions doe little good XLIX How the effervescence of the Humours which is the cause of many Symptoms may be checkt L. The causes and cure of a sense of Suffocation and Strangling LI.
occasions an Inflammation and Gangrene which are often increased or produced by fomentations applied amiss and overhot as also by a preposterous and violent rubbing of the swelled part and by the violent forcing back of the swollen Guts Sylvius XV. A young Man twenty four years old of a melancholick constitution fell into the Colick which after many things had been tried in vain degenerated into the Iliack passion with straitness about the Heart he swallowed a leaden Bullet of 2 drachms weight well covered with 1 drachm of Quicksilver and lest it should hurt his Jaws or raise a Ptyalism it was artificially wrapt up After three hours he broke wind and had ease Mâlchior Fribe in Misc cur on 1672. obs 96. and the fourth hour there followed two stools in which he voided above six pounds of matter of party colours yet he recovered without any harm XVI A poor Woman after an ill course of Diet fell into an obstruction of the Belly which lasted three weeks so that she brought up the excrements at her mouth as in an Ileus Divers things were used without any benefit At length she often drank the Juice of Bardorffe Apples that were rotten to about six pounds upon which she grew loose and the Woman narrowly escaped Death XVII If the Iliack passion be joined with a Rupture a supervening mortal sign whereof is the vomiting of the Chyle and Excrements when the Gut Ileon is slipt into the Scrotum after the falling down of which Hippocrates never saw any Man recover the onely way of Cure if there be any is as soon as the violent pain of the left side of the Scrotum reaching vomiting and such things have convinced you of the Gut Ileon being slipt Then without delay the very same day the ligament or vinculum inguinis must be cut in sunder with a Razor that is where the peritonaeum is joined with the Groin by a coat Duretus comm in Holletium or the testicle of the same side may be cut out Medicines especially made use of by eminent Physicians 1. A Decoction of Dill is admirable good though Men do vomit after drinking of it Bread must be put in warm water and immediately warm pieces of it must be give to eat Aegineta 2. This gives great ease Let 4 ounces of Wine of Crete and 16 ounces of Oil be boiled together to the consumption of the Wine this given for a Clyster mitigates pain causes sleep softens the excrements Benedictus and breaks wind 3. The Bloud of a Bat anointed on the hypochondria by admirable experience is reckoned to stop the pains of the Twisting of the Guts Joël 4. They that are held of this Disease are wonderfully relieved although they vomit their ordure if they eat pieces of hot bread dipt in oil They will be saved though they were in a manner dead Oribasius 5. Spirit of Turpentine given inwardly egregiously dissolves the Tartar and causes the Excrements to descend and pass the natural way Petraeus 6. If the Disease come from thick and viscid Phlegm a Decoction or Infusion or Water of Radish is highly approved and also strong Wine in which inciding and attenuating Herbs have been boiled Rhudius Inappetentia or Want of Appetite The Contents Phlegm which is the Cause of it must be heated by little and little I. It requires rather the correcting some fault in the Liver than in the Stomach II. Whether Spirit of Vitriol recovers an Appetite III. See Diseases of the Stomach BOOK XVIII I. BILE and Phlegm especially hinder the sense of Appetite Concerning Phlegm it must be observed that it as it is cold indicates heating things yet it must not be done all at once and on a sudden lest the humours being suddenly dissolved breed wind and be distributed into the whole Body and cause obstructions wherefore here we must act with caution and first of all we must take care that the Patient eat and drink sparingly and use an attenuating Diet. Salt Meats also may be given the first mess because Salt has an inciding and attenuating virtue and afterwards things that have a detersive faculty may be used such as the decoction of Cabbage boiled but a little But first of all to attenuate let Oxymel be given with a fourth part of Honey of Roses afterwards that Medicine which is called Diatrion Pipereon and that the simple which is onely made of the three sorts of Pepper for although Pepper heat violently yet it is of thin substance and parts which are therefore quickly discussed and therefore doe the Liver no harm Sennertus II. Loss of Appetite and loathing of Flesh especially follows the excessive heat of the Liver for Physicians are under a mistake who when their Patients loath Fesh so that they can scarce bear the smell of it think the Stomach is onely ill Flowers of Cichory must be given either preserved with Sugar or fresh and the obstructions of the mesaraick Vessels must be helped For Flowers of Cichory do not onely help a hot Liver but they excite the faculty of the Stomach and free from obstructions ¶ Roots of Cichory especially the wild have as much virtue in them and more Crato III. There are some who perfectly abhor the use of Spirit of Vitriol as appears from Sylvaticus controv 48. and others who infer several inconveniences from the noxious qualities of common Vitriol not prepared and not separated from its impurities but to no purpose for it is one thing to consider what Galen and Diascorides say where they onely speak of crude Vitriol another to consider prepared Vitriol of which there is great variety so that it alone to several Hermeticks may seem sufficient to furnish an Apothecaries shop The question here is concerning Spirit of Vitriol which is now-a-days frequently used That it conduces much to check great putrefaction both Experience and Crato apud Scholtzium do testifie though greater caution must be observed in dry Bodies than in moist We likewise daily experience that it does much good in a dejected Appetite then especially when the internal parts of the Stomach are as it were lined and obstructed with pituitous and mucilaginous excrements so that the Spirits which cause hunger that is the innate heat of the Stomach is oppressed and rendred unfit to perform its operation As it contains in it self a penetrating inciding and cleansing virtue so it attenuates digests and consumes the mucilaginous matter and crudities Wherefore consequently it excites the hungry Spirits that before were buried as it were which produce the usual effects in extimulating the sense of the orifice and breed hunger Horstius Infantium Regimen or The Regiment of Children The Contents The umbilical Vessels must be tied neither too strait nor too loose I. Whether Children new born should be washed in hot or cold Water II. They must not be swathed too strait III. Whether the Mother's milk be always best IV. Whether new
the foresaid change of a sound into a morbid body proceeds from the breath or from the depraved spirit and aspect of the eyes permeating dissipating or infecting or any other way changing the very tender substance of the Child At which time if any thing superstitious or maleficious come from the wickedness of the Devil the Assistence of Holy Church being first desired we must proceed to such Remedies as may dissipate dissolve and weaken the breath wind or foul and contagious spirit For which purpose it is a vulgar practice and confirmed by reason to fly to Fumigations Some of which strengthen the principal parts and the whole body and prevent Childrens being hurt by bewitching Vapours such are all Spices almost and things of a gratefull smell Others waste dissolve and dissipate the bad exhalation humour wind or spirit For example odoriferous Wine Lignum Aloes Rose-water Baytree Juniper Mastick Rue c. which by the actual heat of the fume do dissipate by the potential attenuate by their smell obscure and weaken the strength and power of the exhalations and whatever it is whether substance or quality which weakens the Child Whence it came to pass by the advice of the Ancients and experience a thousand times confirmed that Nurses defend and cure their Children of these fascinations by frequent fumes Again other fumes are written of as Exorcists experience to drive away witchcraft and to cast out evil spirits Aetius serm 13. cap. 119. describes the fume called Berenices Suffumigium In Tobias there is one of the heart of a Fish to drive away the Devil Asmodeus Of this nature are both foetid and strong smelling things Frankincense Myrrhe Stirax Ladanum Galbanum Asa foetida Rue c. How far these things drive away evil Spirits is no disquisition of mine it is sufficient to advise to join Sacrifice and Prayers which are the best Incense and the most efficacious Fume to destroy Witchcraft Anointings also are of great force in the foresaid fascinations with Oil Olive of Sweet Almonds all over the Back Belly and Limbs with a little odoriferous Wine Among several things Rue St. John's-wort Seed of herb Paris Paeony Sulphur c. are commended See Tit. de Venenis BOOK XVIII Aurium Dolor Inflammatio or A Pain or Inflammation of the Ears XXXIV Pain in the Ears uses to be so tough and grievous that there will be a necessity of proceeding to Chirurgical operations Therefore if the Age will bear it to divert the matter which the Pain draws it will be convenient to apply Cupping-glasses first to the Buttocks and then to the Shoulders And sometimes in extreme Pain I have known Issues made in Childrens Heads doe much good both because the Flux of the matter to the Ears is retarded and because the very moisture of the Brain which otherwise would run to the Ears is almost consumed by the Issues Mercurialis XXXV It must be observed that Water must never be poured into the Ears though they ake never so much because Water is very hurtfull for the Ears Wherefore Aristotle said that Divers when they must dive under the Water put Oil into the Ears that they may not be hurt Idem XXXVI It is to be doubted whether the White of an Egg be good in an Inflammation of the Ears because 1. It has a repellent virtue 2. It hinders the expulsive faculty 3. The matter producing the Inflammation being hot and moist does rather seem to require discussing things But seeing the violent pain of the Ears does necessarily require some lenient thing we approve of the White of an Egg mixt with Woman's Milk in which we grant there is a little repellent faculty having regard to the great Afflux which by reason of the continuance of the Pain would otherwise be And we grant that where the matter is little the expulsive faculty must not be hindred but where the Afflux is great we must have regard not onely to the Humours affluxed but to those that will be affluent By which reason the third objection is answered where the matter settled in the part indicates dissolution and attenuation but not that which is still in fluxion Horstius Catarrhus or A Catarrh XXXVII Paulus lib. 1. c. 7. whose Authority Avicenna produces writes that it is good to consume the Moisture of the Head if warm water be poured on childrens heads as if this were the most effectual Remedy to put an end to Distillations and Coughs of children But with Paulus and Avicenna's leave I cannot approve of the advice because the pouring on of warm water if it be too hot does harm for it dissolves the matter more and violently strikes the weak senses of the child And if it be but warm it is clear that it farther relaxes and moistens and consequently increases the sickness But I think Paulus was deceived by misunderstanding the meaning of Hippocrates and Galen who 5. Aphorism 22. said that pouring warm water on the Head cures a ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã meaning the Headach Where Galen says that pouring warm water on the Head dissipates and consumes the Moisture which causes the Headach But it differs much to cure the Headach especially in Men and to cure either a Cough or the Headach or Difficulty of Breathing in Children Wherefore if any thing should be applied to the Head in this case such things must be applied as gently exulcerate the Skin For as we see Ulcers spontaneously arising in childrens heads do preserve them from such Ails so it is consentaneous to reason that Ulcers raised by Art may doe the like Mercurialis XXXVIII A Boy eleven months old had a Catarrh with a continual Cough and Fever He frequently vomited Phlegm he sucked much Milk and pissed little After many Medicines tried to very little purpose I ordered that the Region of his Kidneys should be anointed thrice a day with Oleum Scorpionum Matthioli which made him make much water and the Catarrh abated For Mercatus lib. de Morb. pueror says that a Catarrh in children comes sometimes from some fault and weakness in the Kidneys which do not draw the serous humour whence it comes to pass that it being translated upwards becomes the matter of the Catarrh If that Symptome had continued the means propounded by the same Mercatus for the stoppage of urine in children should have been used as Clysters opening Broths Riverius c. Claudicatio or Lameness XXXIX Children though they be exposed to infinite other Dangers yet their condition is especially miserable in this that the heads of their bones chiefly of the Thigh-bone part and separate from the rest of the Bone sometimes upon a slight occasion That this conjunction is very lax in Infants and young Lambs c. if you boil them the thing it self shews for the ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã may be parted from its ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã with a small impression of the fingers ends onely If the Parents be
easily be drawn into the Stomach and could not well be killed Idem CXII It is worthy observation that Medicines accommodated to the killing of Worms must by no means be violent for besides that the Stomach is offended by them the Worms being disturbed grow more enraged and cruel Idem CXIII The onely time to take all Medicines is when the Stomach is empty because if Medicines be given when the Stomach is full their virtue which is otherwise weak is dulled and almost extinguished Idem CXIV There is no Medicine which is so generally proper for killing of all Worms nor âo present a Remedy as that they call Coral-wort or Sea-moss For Mountebanks use this Medicine and they doe Wonders with it so that I have seen an incredible quantity of humours sometimes voided with this onely Medicine Idem CXV Our Countrey Women think that all children have the Worms But when none are voided they say they are turned to putrid humours And they are not much out for as Worms inclosed in a Vial glass and covered up in warm Dung do presently turn to slime why may not the same be done in our Bodies whose heat answers to the heat of Dung Pachequur ad Riv. obs 57. when the Worms are killed with bitter Medicines CXVI Sometimes Patients have a Fever with the Worms and sometimes they have none When they have a Fever the coolest Medicines must be chosen When they have no Fever we may use hotter things Mercurialis CXVII And it is sometimes necessary to kill the Worms and stop the Loosness which the Worms cause Wherefore we must use detersive bitter things and not astringent ones lest the Worms when they are killed be retained and putrefie Let therefore Clysters be made of a Decoction of Lentils or Lupines and a Decoction of Colewort to which we may add Roses Myrobalanes or such things Rondeletius CXVIII It may be queried Whether Medicines that evacuate insensibly be proper in these cases as among others a Decoction of Guaiacum Without doubt if we consider the place where the matter of Worms resides the use of such Medicines will be no way convenient for this evacuates matter in the habit of the body Worms are bred in the Guts But notwithstanding since the Wood has a Bitterness in it and the Decoction of it is sharp and very bitter I think it an usefull Medicine for that it not onely by drying may consume the crude humours of the Stomach and Guts but is also able by its great bitterness and acrimony to kill these Animals And therefore a Decoction of the Wood may be usefull both for prevention and cure Mercurialis CXIX Galen indeed forbids Treacle to children because of the thin Texture of their body and the abundance of Heat for fear of dissipating the Spirits Yet I saw at Rome the excellent Dr. H. Savianus give it to children of two years old And I in imitation of him have given it several times to my own children when they were troubled with the Worms Wherefore I think the use of it need not so much be feared Jordanus de Peste Tract c. 7. CXX Quicksilver is good for the Worms in children but it is after they are three years old The dose for these is three grains For the first seven years seven or eight grains For the elder sort half a scruple They that are of a soft and very tender habit of body can scarce bear it but they that are of a fat and gross habit do easily For those in a Fever it is given in Grass-water for them without in Wine It is given alive not killed for so it sticks to the Stomach and Guts and causes cruel Symptoms But it must first be washed in very sharp Vinegar and then strained through a thick Leather Brassavclus Matthiolus and Frisimelica used it so Water wherein it has been steeped does the same and brings no inconvenience Augenius CXXI I know nothing that preserves children so well from Worms as frequently to mix Aloes with their Meat It may be done by gilding small Pills which for the smalness are scarce sensible Give four or five of them according to the nature of the child Augenius CXXII Because children usually are very subject to Worms which are easily bred of Crudities caused by cramming and corruption of the Food Therefore some Medicine which yet may not cause a worse mischief must be made use of for strong things especially in dubious cases must never be used Let therefore four ounces of water distilled off the Juice of Goats-rue suffice or a draught of Rose-water with Juice of Citron or Lemon or Broth altered with Sorrel adding the Juice of Citron Fortis Vigiliae or Want of Sleep CXXIII Want of Sleep in children is a Disease different from want of Sleep in old people because it is an absurd thing to think that this can rise in children from that cause namely because of Driness which causes want of Sleep in grown people Therefore it is well judged by all Physicians when children cannot sleep that it proceeds from nothing else but from Meat corrupted in the Stomach from whence while sharp Vapours are constantly carried to the Brain they piercing the Membranes hinder Sleep therefore the whole stress of the Cure lies especially upon correcting the Stomach that it may not corrupt the Meat and that Sleep may be provoked by all means Mercurialis CXXIV Whether is Saffron good in want of Sleep It seems not convenient because it heats and dries 2. It excites the Senses 3. It causes a mobility of Spirits wherefore it is said to refresh the Senses But note it must not be prescribed alone in this case but mixt with a cooling Syrup to which it adds penetration Therefore 1. It heats and dries alone but mixt with other things it procures Sleep by raising gratefull Vapours 2. Therefore it onely excites the Senses by it self 3. With hot Cordials it revives the Heart by introducing a mobility of Spirits but not when mixt with cold things Horstius CXXV Things to procure Sleep cannot very safely be given children because they dull their Wits Nurses therefore doe very ill in giving them Syrup of Popy that they may provide for their own ease Hypnoticks should rather be given to them than to children but they must be moderate as sweet Almonds Sennertus Lettuce Popy seed c. Vmbilici Inflammatio Tumor or An Inflammation or Swelling of the Navel CXXVI In a Swelling of the Navel from the bursting out of a Gut or the Cawl when external Remedies doe no good we must proceed to cutting or burning About cutting the same way almost is laid down by Celsus and Paulus But we must remember what Celsus says that Sucking children must by no means be cut but more adult children Besides the bodies of all children are not fit for cutting but such as are of a good habit of body
fixt parts are elevated Since therefore all the virtue of Guaiacum consists in that oily and resinous part and since strong boiling is required to get it out the gentle heat of a balneum dannot doe it but boiling in an open fire is requisite which nevertheless if there be a convenient quantity of water put to it causes no adustion Idem XII A. Minodaus lib. de Lue c. 4. judges the Decoction must be sweetned especially with Honey for he thinks that a small quantity of Honey if it be boiled with it and scummed does take away the bitterness and that the Decoction acquires a greater virtue in absterging attenuating opening and melting the humours and strengthning the parts Which as we allow to have place in phlegmatick bodies So since Honey easily turns to choler in cholerick bodies we reckon it cannot safely be used in hot and dry ones but we reckon Raisins Liquorice or Sugar may more conveniently and safely be added for the tast 's sake and that the bitterness and acrimony may be taken off we may put them in towards the latter end of the Decoction Idem XIII Some for such as have a hot and dry Liver do towards the latter end of the Decoction add a root or two or a handfull or two of Cichory Endive or Sow-thistle But since such Decoctions must be continued a long time we must have a care lest by addition of such things they be rendred ingratefull and loathsome to the Patient Again seeing enough Decoction is made at one time to serve for several days and because the putting in of such Herbs makes it worse to keep to prevent this we must not put these Herbs to all the Decoction but onely to about one pound at a time Idem XIV The Extract of the Wood in Saxonia's judgment is not strong enough to cure an old and strong Disease but the Decoction is deservedly preferred before it However if any one have a mind to use it it is necessary to take some liquour after it by which vehicle the Extract may be distributed all over the body Idem XV. Chymists fearing lest by a long Decoction which is made to half or to a third part the spirituous and subtile parts should exhale and be dissipated and so the virtue of the Medicine should be diminished they put some dust of Guaiacum in a retort they pour to it a sufficient quantity of Water and set the retort in ashes they fit a receiver then they put fire under it first digest it and then they distill it to a consumption of half of the Water Four ounces of the distilled Water are given But it is the best way to put the distilled Water again to the rest of the Decoction in the retort For so all the virtue may be got out Upon the Decoction remaining in the retort new Water may be poured and digested for twelve hours and afterwards may be distilled and the distilled liquour may be given instead of drink And because sometimes it happens that Children are born with the Pox or infected by the Nurses this Distillation sweetned with Sugar may be given them for a Julep Idem XVI If any Herbs have been added to the first Decoction the secondary Decoction must not be made of its Remainders because it would be loathsome but it must be made more dilute and fresh Some also towards the latter end of the Decoction add a fifth part Wine And Fallopius thinks this should not be done onely when the Patient goes abroad or his Stomach is weak especially if the Decoction be made of Sarsa But though some make a second Decoction of China yet Palmarius thinks it gives its virtue at the first Decoction yea some give the first Decoction at Dinner and Supper because it is not ingratefull to the Palate Idem XVII Some utterly reject Purgatives in the Decoctions and maintain that they should neither be put in a Decoction nor used separately from it because Peoples Bodies use to be well purged before they come to the taking of the Decoction 2. Because Purgatives and Sudorificks cause contrary motions Others would have them mixt that the Belly may be conveniently kept loose and the Bloud be cleansed Others will not have them mixt but will have a Purge to be given once in eight or ten days which is best For although the body be purged before the taking these things yet something may easily remain and now and then be gathered anew And Sweat onely carries off the thinner matter but leaves the thick Nor this way are contrary motions made for that day a Purge is taken no Sudorifick is given Sennertus XVIII Though all we Practitioners use the Quaternion of exotick Medicines China Sarsa parilla Guaiacum and Saffafras yet there are not wanting with us both Roots Woods and Barks which are able to perform the same as powerfully easily safely and pleasantly as these Exoticks which are now and then deprived partly of their virtues and exolete And our Country Drugs are such as these Roots of Prickly Bindweed Roots of Butter-bur Bark and Wood of Juniper together with its Berries Oak-wood and several such things Certainly Exoticks are not to be despised nor home-bred things to be neglected because as they are bred in our Soil so they have the greater affinity with our bodies and are observed to operate more kindly Sylvius de le Boë yea and more effectually upon the same than Exoticks XIX The best way of taking aromatick Decoctions and other Medicines that temper the acid Spirit is to take them often in a day and in a small quantity that they may introduce a gradual and therefore a more laudable change and amendment into the bloud For every sudden alteration especially if it be great is dangerous Nay we may and with advantage mix the same Alteratives with their Food and give the said Decoctions both at Dinner and Supper instead of other Drink to the end that being mixt with the Food they may together with the Chyle which they make much better be more easily kindly and profitably mixt with the Bloud and amend it insensibly As I have often found it to the Patient 's great benefit when I have done this in the Pox Idâm and in other Diseases XX. That we may sweat with more success we must take notice that the same Decoctions which were given before onely for the alteration of the humours if Sweat must be procured must either be given in a larger quantity or they must be made stronger Let them be taken therefore in a double or treble quantity and either at once or at several times but at short intervals i. e. within half an hour For so when not onely the strength of the Sudorificks is increased but the liquour it self also is augmented the eruption of Sweat will be promoted But if it be irksome to the Patient to take a great quantity and often the same Decoction
and now restored For then if too great store of them be observed in the Body they must be carried off and evacuated by proper ways and Medicines The proper ways for evacuating pituitous and serous humours are the Mouth whether it be by Vomit or Salivation and the Belly by purging downwards and the urinary Bladder by Diureticks and the Pores of the Skin by Sudorificks It is the safest indeed the pleasantest and gentlest way to cure the Pox by evacuating the peccant humours with Sudorificks Diureticks and things that purge downwards And it is done sooner but more difficultly by Salivation and sometimes Vomiting because it is apt also to promote Salivation And because a Cure cannot always be obtained onely by Sudorificks Diureticks and things that purge downwards sometimes Sylvius de le Boë yea often we are forced to have recourse to Salivation both alone and joined with the others XXXVIII When the Patient has sweat eight days that the humours may be attenuated and the body made clean I reckon nothing is a more present Remedy than anointing with Quicksilver For by the use of this alone I have observed all to recover without any danger yet stopping the violence of the humours towards the Jaws in the foresaid manner And this method of Cure is safe if administred by the skilled in the Art who must prescribe things accommodate to the supervening Symptoms erosion of the Gums swelling of the Tongue and Lips loosness of the Teeth c. which are grievous yet not to be feared not one Man I call God to witness of many that I have fluxed dying under Cure But all of them recovered of the most pertinacious Pox the taking of the Decoction a third or fourth course being in vain But when the Spitting ceases and the Strength is recruited I reckon the same Decoction must be repeated for about ten days with Sweat that all may be evacuated whatever corrupt humours are remaining in the body after fluxing Sylvaticus cent 4. obs 90. XXXIX Before Unguents are prescribed we must diligently consider whether the Disease be in the Skin Flesh Bones Periosteum or in the Head Ribs Legs or Arms. For if it be in the Skin it will cause Ulcers or Blisters or Chapping of the Hands or Efflorescence of the Skin If under the Skin Falling of the Hair If under the Periosteum Pains in the Limbs If in the Bones Exostoses Then the consistency of the humour must be considered whether it be thin or thick For a thin one buds out in the Skin a thick one lies under the Skin the Periosteum or in the Bone Then we must consider whether the humour has corrupted the substance of any part whether it have made an Ulcer in the Flesh or a Caries in the Bone For according to the difference of these divers Unguents must be prescribed For they that cure Ulcers and the Scab must be gentle but dry Things that cure Pain must be hot and more relaxing Things that cure Exostoses must be dissolving and drying It must be observed that we must use Unguents a long time for first all the sound parts must be anointed that the humours may be drawn thither But in the declination onely the parts affected that whatever is gathered in the Part may be discussed exactly And they must be anointed a long time that the humour which lies in deep may by degrees be melted and attracted and the thick may be evacuated with the thin Which few at this day doe and hence it is that usually after the use of Remedies the Disease appears greater or returns or that which did not appear before does then shew it self Rondeletius XL. Decoctions of the Wood Sarsa and China must first be tried especially when the Disease is not much confirmed For I cannot commend the Practice of some Physicians who immediately after purging the Body fall to anointing with Mercury But I am not well pleased with this Practice for it is empirical enough and void of all reason and full of a thousand dangers I tried it sometimes in a Country fellow or two who were impatient and desired presently to be cured One of them could not endure to take Decoctions and he escaped Fluxing with much difficulty several Symptoms supervening upon it yet his body was well purged before and he drank the decoction of the Wood and Sarsa as well as he could even in the time of Fluxing Wherefore as I said we must not in this Disease presently proceed to anointing much less to fuming but never unless on urgent necessity when the Disease is extreme when other Remedies have been tried and have done no good Ep. Ferdinandus hist 17. and when there is no contra-indicant XLI We do not without reason commend crude Mercury mixt with Hog's-Lard and rubbed outwardly on the Joints because it dissolves the Phlegm all the body over and then carries it to the conglomerated salival and pancreatick Glands and causes both a Salivation and sometimes Reaching and Vomiting and a Loosness And because the acid Spirit meeting with the Phlegm easily unites and joins it self with it in the Body they are evacuated and discharged the Body together and the Pox is cured at one and the same time And besides Phlegm occurring in humane Bodies perhaps there is nothing without it with which the acid Spirit does more intimately and easily mix it self with all its might than Mercury it self No wonder therefore when an acid Spirit is naturally mixt with Phlegm according to its very constitution if preternaturally the same acid Spirit be mixt with it more plentifully and easily whenever it abounds in the Body But neither also is it any wonder if by reason of the same acid Spirit 's being both naturally and preternaturally mixt with the Phlegm Mercury it self easily mixes with the same Phlegm upon which the acid Spirit does presently exert its power and by uniting it self therewith does in like manner join it self with the Phlegm mixt with it And I think this is the reason why Mercury does good in curing the Pox. And the same Mercury provokes a Ptyalism because mingling it self with the pituitous part of the Bloud i. e. the salival matter it passes together with the Saliva into the salival Glands and is a cause of the copious secretion of the Saliva which is the cause of a Ptyalism And when the Mercury chances to cause a secretion of the like pituitous matter in the pancreatick Glands then there is a plentifull secretion of the pancreatick viscid humour whereby not onely a Reaching and Vomiting but sometimes a grievous and very dangerous Loosness follows Sylvius de le Boe. XLII What was said before of crude Mercury may be said of the Precipitate or Sublimatum dulce yea or the Corrosive For what crude Mercury does in carrying the Acid dispersed in the Bloud to the Glands the same does Mercury both Precipitate and Sublimate by the acid Spirits For the acid Spirits concentrated in the
Mercury do cause such an Effervescence in the small Gut with the Bile and Phlegm that either Reaching and Vomiting or Purging or both of them follows For such an Effervescence is required as may disturb and move the humours there confluent and may irritate the Guts and Stomach to an expulsion of them To which Effervescence there always concur acid humours either contained in the Body and carried to the Guts or taken from without And those Mercurial Medicines conduce most to raise a Salivation which contain least of an Acid in them as they vomit and purge most which abound most with a sharp acid Spirit Hence it is that Mercurius Sublimatus Corrosivus given scarce to the quantity of a grain Vomits and Purges violently But Mercurius dulcis made of Corrosive with crude Mercury may safely be taken to thirty grains and above which seldom causes Vomiting often gives onely a Stool and very seldom raises a Salivation But Salivation is more happily raised with Mercury Precipitate and not too fixt to the end that the virtue on the Mercury being more at freedom may more easily mix it self with the Phlegm redounding in the Body Therefore by reason of the Acid Spirit mixt with the Mercury precipitate or sublimate the same Medicine mixes it self more easily with the Phlegm by taking of which at times and intervals in a sufficient quantity the corrupt Phlegm of the Body is moved to the Salival and Pancreatick Glands that it may be thrown out of the Body Idem and the Pox may be cured by degrees XLIII Before Fluxing the Body must be evacuated either by Purging or Bleeding For if much vitious humours abound in the Body there is fear lest by Salivating they should run violently to the jaws and choak the Patient or flying to the Brain should cause an Apoplexy or Palsie Therefore part of them must be first evacuated If also there be abundance of Bloud it is good to breathe a Vein first Fallopius also that part of the matter may be consumed the Inwards may be strengthned and may not be offended with the Quicksilver gives a decoction of the Wood for eight or ten days before Fluxing XLIV When an Ointment is made of Quicksilver killed with Spittle and with Hog's Lard Iva Arthritica Oil of Vipers and Wax chasing the Limbs both above and below every other day warm for thrice or oftner till purging follow which must be procured by Stool When the Mouth Tongue Nostrils and all the upper parts are affected which might render this remedy suspected I have often found it very successfull to give every day a Clyster sometimes Solutive of Mel. Rosar Solut. Oil of Chamaemil and a Carminative Decoction Sometimes Laxative of simple Oil by which the Humours may be drawn downwards a Diarrhoea yea and sometimes a Dysentery following which nevertheless we help by Clysters of Milk and Goat's Sewet as an Epicerastick Sylvaticus to guard and line the Guts XLV They that are fumed with Cinnabar if they then drink Wine wherewith the Nerves which were weakned before may easily be hurt do often fall into a Palsie Which often befalls them that have been anointed with Quicksilver Platerus XLVI Some reckon that Quicksilver is cold others that it is hot And some endeavour to prove from thence that Quicksilver is cold because the Damage done to Mens bodies by it is cured by the use of heating things as Sage Hyssop wild Marjoram Clary Rue Castor c. But these Medicines are not therefore used for preternatural affections from Quicksilver onely because they are hot but because they are friends to the Brain and Nerves And besides they are good against the Mercurial Virulence by a specifick property Farther if they were used as they are hot and not as they are good for the Nerves other hot things which are destitute of that specifick Virtue would doe the same Sennertus XLVII Some think Sweat should be promoted with Salivation But if Nature tend to Salivation it is not good to cause Sweat lest contrary Motions should be made However if nature tend of her self to Sweat Idem it must not be hindred XLVIII We must take care we do not stop Salivation by Astringents and that it be not too soon over It will not be so if the Mouth be continued Gargling with Salt water warm It is so far from hindring that it promotes it rather But that the Spittle may not be swallowed in Sleeping a Nodulus dipt in Brine must be held between the Teeth Hartmannus so that the filth may run out at the open mouth XLIX When I first began to practice Chirurgery I was a long time in doubt whether Women with Child and Children infected with the Pox could without hazard of their health and life be cured by fluxing The excellent Nicolas Massa did at length resolve my doubt who lib. de lue Ven. tr 3. c. 9. affirms it may be done without danger My own Experience also has confirmed it to be true A Woman with Child suckling a Child Twenty Months old was infected with the Pox and the Child also I prescribe her an altering Apozem and a purging Syrup which when she took it purged the Child also Her Body being sufficiently purged I ordered her Joints to be anointed gently once a day even to Salivation upon which the Child though he was not anointed driveled much Spittle Wherefore I ordered him to be weaned that he might not receive any more Mercurial Vapours from his Mother Thus both the Mother and Child happily recovered And about six Months after she brought forth a sound Child Hildanus L. Certainly crude Mercury is a good and safe Remedy for the Pox mixt with Hog's-Lard or other Unguents and Oils and anointed outwardly especially on the Soles of the feet and Palms of the Hands and any other Joints Although Prudence is very necessary if the Spina dorsi be to be anointed therewith which I would not have done but when anointing of the Joints is not sufficient and when no Salivation can be raised which yet it is not always safe to raise by violence For the end of anointing with Mercury is Salivation by benefit whereof together with abundance of Phlegm the Venereal Poison is purged out of the whole body Sylvius de le Boë LI. When the great gland of the Neck from whence the Salival ducts derive their original is inflamed it does not permit the use of Mercury For a noxious Salivation might be raised by it Barbette LII Weakness also in the Nerves prohibits Anointing for if they that are troubled with the Pox be subject to Numbness Palsie or pains in the Limbs which yet are not Venereal Anointing is prohibited Capivaccius for otherwise the strength of the Nerves would totally be taken away LIII When there is an Ulcer or any Disease about the Mouth Inunction is prohibited And if there be no Disease present in these parts but has been
ordinary remedies conveniently used they think the Patients are not perfectly cured upon which they cast them into new torments and at length into an Atrophy and Consumption When notwithstanding these Symptoms do usually after a little time disappear or are discussed with easie remedies A certain Nobleman besides Nightly-pains and other Symptoms of the Pox had a Swelling in his Neck bred of Phlegm and Melancholy After anointing all the Symptoms perfectly disappeared except the Swelling of which two third parts were discussed The Patient believed he was not cured yet the Tumour was discussed in a months time onely by applying Emplastrum de Vigo quadruplicato Mercurio Another after Fluxing thought himself not cured because there remained an Ulcer in his Neck about his Windpipe yet this Ulcer was cured with common remedies within a Month without any remedies respecting the Pox One among other Symptoms had a great Pain upon his Shin-bone he was cholerick and had been four times rubbed which made him very lean he used a moistning diet for a Month afterwards he was rubbed with Mercury all over whereby the pain ceased a Ptyalism was raised of yellow thin and stinking humours for a Month and then he voided thick Phlegm for fifteen days At length Incision being made upon the place that was pained before a Caries was found which being taken away by an actual Cautery and a Catagmatick Powder the Patient was perfectly cured A Nobleman being cured after the ordinary method there were great pains remaining in all his limbs so that he could not stir them without crying out Monsieur de Lort thought the pains proceeded not from the Pox but rather from a dry intemperature in the Ligaments D. Pomeret apud Riverium that knit the joints and nervous parts He cured him perfectly with a moist diet and Bathes continued a long time LXIII People talk much of a thin diet in this Disease But because it abates strength much and keeps it low it is good in acute Diseases which because they last not long the strength though brought low can continue to the end But seeing the Pox is a Chronical Disease and the cure is extended to many weeks if the strength be brought low by a spare diet it cannot hold out to the end of the Disease And the reason why Physicians keep their Patients with Bread and Raisins I take to be this Because it is a simple food and affords good juice for since variety may easily breed bad humours and since flesh and fish and such meats are more easily corrupted than Bread and Raisins it is good to forbid variety of Meats and Flesh and to be content onely with Bread and Raisins Sennertus LXIV Many commend Biscoct Bread yea they allow onely it which as we do not disapprove for strong bodies that are moist and abound with Phlegm and excrements inclining to putrefaction rather than with adust ones so we do allow Bread once well baked and not too moist as the best food and most familiar to all natures Yea Biscoct seems to have its inconveniences for it is not easily concocted and most people in the Pox have a weak stomach Besides these people abound with adust humours which are increased by Biscoct Bread on the contrary they are tempered by the common Bread as being moister Idem LXV One had had the Pox sixteen years with Exostoses in both Legs which pained him so that he could not sleep all night I perfectly cured him within a month by bleeding in both the Arms by purging with an Apozeme and by a Sudorifick Diet-drink of a Decoction of Guaicum and Antimony Sweat was procured by burning Spirit of Wine I gave an antivenereal dose once in five days The Exostoses were taken off by applying Blisters twice or thrice when they give over running and grow dry Riverius LXVI Since it is safer to prevent a Disease than to cure it some Physicians among whom are Fallopius Minadous and others do teach what way one may save himself from the Pox though he have to doe with a Pocky Woman But I think such things cannot be taught with a safe conscience as incourage so many Men to Lust when perhaps the very fear of this Disease would have deterred from it Yet Minadous thinks they are deceived that teach thus and he overthrows Fallopius his foundation who thinks the Pox is communicated by small serous corpuscles which if they be wiped off the Pox may be prevented And he shews that the Contagion does not onely enter by the external parts of the Pudenda but by the internal and penetrates the Body and that the infected vapours and spirits pass by the internal porosities and are admitted by the veins and therefore no Man can promise himself safety from washing which onely comes to the external parts of the Pudenda or from outward applications because they cannot take away the inward infection But the safest way is to keep from Whores and to remember Sennertuâ that Whoremongers God will judge N. B. The Medicines for the Pox have been so amply treated of all along the Title foregoing that I shall forbear to recite any more Lumborum Affectus or Diseases of the Loins The Contents The pain must be cured differently according to the variety of the causes I. The serous distension of them must be cured with Hydragogues II. The pain ceasing by voiding of black Vrine III. The Description and Cure of a Rheumatick Lumbago IV. I. IF we would discourse aright concerning pains in the Loins it is necessary for us to distinguish between the parts constituent of the Loins and the adjoining parts that give the occasion The parts constituent of the Loins and subjects of Pain are the Skin with the fleshy Pannicle the Muscles lying upon the five vertebrated Bones on the outside and inside with the Os Sacrum within the cavities of the Vertebrae the Spinal Marrow with its Membranes and a numerous off-spring of Nerves and the membranous ligaments knitting the Vertebrae one to another The parts adjoyning which may hurt by their vicinity or gravity or by the disposition of the matter are the Mesentery joined to the Loins the lower part of the Gut Colon the two Kidneys contiguous and sticking to the Loins by their fatty membrane the Trunks of the Vena cava and the Aorta lying upon the Loins and the Vessels arising thence which are dispersed into the Muscles of the Loins and the Spine such as the veins and arteries of the Loins and the Haemorrhoid Veins which descend along the Loins to the Podex the Spermatick Vessels also turgid with seminal Humour which in their passage impart branches to the Loins In Women the Womb with its Ligaments and the Testicles may hurt the Loins but most in a Woman with Child because of the weight of the Womb and the Child which may make the veins and Arteries that are dispersed through the Os Sacrum to trouble the Loins The remote parts which
both at once XIV Sometimes very strong Medicines are required XV. Rheubarb sometimes does harm XVIII Wormseed often does harm XIX The Cure when there is a Fever is different from that where no Fever is XX. Purgatives are useless to kill broad Worms XXI When we must use sweet and when bitter things XXII Acid things are not always proper XXIII Medicines I. ANthelminthicks doe their work chiefly either 1. By killing the Worms and they are things that resist Poison For whether we consider them as things that are bred by equivocal generation by means of putrefaction or of an animated character and seed or Egg yet it is certain they are fed in and with putrefaction Therefore such things are 1. bitter and balsamick for as they do excellently defend the body from Putrefaction so also they are the principal things in this case and all bitter things are Anthelminthick as among compounds Elixir proprietatis Pilulae Rufi c. And 2. Acids as Vinegar especially acid Spirits as of Vitriol c. not onely because they resist putrefaction but because they destroy the motion and heat of the Worms And therefore are good especially to be taken inwardly Thus onely a vitriolated tincture of Violets did excellently in a Boy who was almost killed with the Worms Thus also all Nitrous things kill the Worms because they are bitter resist putrefaction and because of an Acid Salt that is eminent in them Therefore Soldiers put Gunpowder to their Shirts to prevent Lice And 3. Sharp things pregnant either with a Volatile Salt alone or with Oil. Wherefore Garlick is reputed to be famous for the Worm in the Heart If any one carry Camphire about him he is never troubled with Lice also Spirit and Volatile Salt of Hartshorn powerfully kill Worms And these things do not onely kill Worms by irritating them but because of their exceeding Penetration whereby they are adverse to their Life and to putrefaction And 4. Terreous Alkaline and other Lixivial fixt Salts as Coral-wort the Powder of which Empiricks sprinkle on Earthworms and so kill them burnt Hartshorn Salt of Wormwood and Carduus Benedictus though they doe it not so powerfully yet nevertheless they belong to this class G. W. Wedelius 5. Watry things give onely a vehicle to the rest unless they be signed with some Mercurial Character All these things destroy the animated seminary annihilate and greatly resist it II. Or 2. By Suffocating they hindring transpiration wherein the life of Worms and Insects consists Such are all oily and fat things which obstruct the Pores and check Ventilation and so as it were suffocate such as Oil olive of sweet and bitter Almonds And though these be commonly too weak and we cannot so well trust these alone for killing of Worms yet they are of excellent use to make other things work better Idem III. Or by Melting and Destroying Such things as dissolve annihilate and corrupt the mucous and glutinous substance of them and also by their acrimony are as a kind of Poison to them Such are especially Mercurials Nothing under the Sun is so much an Enemy to Worms and to every animated Seminary as they are for they consume their aliment and as it were kill them in an Ideal antidote at least as appears in the decoction of Quicksilver For it is not onely adverse to them in Substance though crude it does not so easily expell them because it easily passes them by Wherefore it may be ground with twice as much Sugar in a glass Mortar very fine Also Mercurius dulcis may very fitly be given And also which is Helmont's experiment water whether simple or specifick boiled with Mercury as if it were influenced by some Mercurial Star though by the boiling the Mercury loose nothing it is very effectual against Worms But we must take notice that Glauberus p. 2. fumi Philos p. 79. condemns shaking of Quicksilver with water or beer and especially because it is said that the water is irradiated not corporally but onely virtually intimating that the subtile particles of the Mercury are by the shaking confounded with the Sulphur and that this may be demonstrated by the settling He adds also that he never saw a good operation whether from Infusion or from Mercurius dulcis But this virtue cannot be denied it though it must be acknowledged that Mercury is better at killing than expelling of Worms So also Cinnabarines kill Worms wherefore though not so well some go so high as to affirm that Cinnabar of Antimony if there be any antepileptick virtue in it it is onely in a Sympathick Epilepsie arising from Worms Idem IV. Or throwing them off by disturbing them Wherefore it is certain that all Purgatives properly so called are Anthelminthicks especially those they call Cholagogues These because they act in a twofold manner not onely as they are bitter sharp and resinous all which things are enemies to the Worms but also as Evacuaters and as they irritate their exit they are the best and the noblest Medicines of all to drive Worms out of the Body especially Aloes Coloquintida or Trochiscs of Alhandal Rheubarb Spec. Diaturbith cum rheo which Heer observat 26. writes very well that they are most excellent Medicines Wherefore if there be any instances of great Worms being voided all or most of them at least Idem were performed by Purging V. There are yet two other Anthelminthicks which we cannot safely nor ought to trust to be added to these ordinary ones which are yet sufficiently commended by grave Authours 1. Sweet thiâgs which though as a surfeiting Food they may kill Worms accidentally by repletion yet these things do not hinder the breeding of them anew So some give raisins to Children troubled with Worms and Sennertus says a Decoction of Sebesten is a most experienced Medicine if it be given to Children every day before meat So they hold that Honey and other sweet things doe no harm but good in Worms because they easily turn to Choler and so are rather enemies to Worms But it is evident that sweet things do not turn to Bile equally in all so that they doe no good in Worms unless by cheating them and insnaring them so as they may suck in Gall and Poison instead of Honey Idem VI. Whatever divers affirm that Earth-worms dried and given do by a certain property expell the microcosmick Worms which might be deduced from the mucilaginousness that is in them and from transpiration being hindred by consequence or from their volatile Salt yet to say nothing that sufficient experiments are yet wanting it is uncertain whether Worms that were voided out of the Body when they are prepared and taken again do expell those of their own kind nay the quite contrary may be produced seeing it is certain that Seeds of Worms are by this means propagated and Worms are rather bred according to the experience of many Authours notwithstanding that upon taking such a Powder
temper may sometimes be thus affected from the intemperies alone either of the Brain or Spirits Hippocrates when he reckons up the signs mentions onely Fear and Sadness Matthaeus comm in 9. Almans by the authority of Rhasis will have strong and long cogitations to bring on this Passion without changing of the complexion really and that men become sad when they cannot obtain the effect of things they think of We often see how fruitlesly Physicians torture such Melancholicks with Purgings and divers other Remedies who are cured presently after onely by the change of their imagination One that believed he wanted an Head was cured by onely putting a leaden Cap on his Head without any purging alteration c. which could not have been if that clammy and stubborn humour had been present We meet with many such Stories whence 't is clear that such imagining persons are not always to be troubled with Medicines which bring hurt to the body and no relief to the mind for the cause lies not always in the humours but in an intemperies alone or also in the Spirits which being either quieted or sent off far from the Heart and Brain the malady ceases and joy succeeds sadness for nothing can obey such motions but the Spirits An intemperies cannot pass off nor so stubborn an humour be evacuated and lose the destructiveness of its nature so suddenly especially in a malady that is confirm'd by a long tract of time Hence Rhasis 1. contin says That sometimes there is a Melancholy when the humours are good and he that has this disposition needs not any Medicine and this is when any thinks of some fact with great eagerness and is cur'd by onely changing his imagination either by words or some other device Avicen also confesses that it may be caused by an intemperies without matter But besides there is another species of Melancholy that depends not at all on an humour viz. that which is caused by Love to which men of all temperatures are subject especially the sanguine and such whose testicles have a hot intemperies the Melancholick are not so often nor so strongly affected in such cases That this is not caused by any humour as it is an humour appears from hence that it spares no humour and may be what humour soever prevail and besides it invades those who are of a good constitution of humours what such soever those be onely from the apprehension of a lovely object and seldom invades those who labour under a putrefaction or corruption of humours but such as are otherwise healthfull and can be cured neither by Hellebore nor other Evacuations If a Disease at length succeed such a long imagination the Madness preceded the Disease Primiros err vulg l. 2. c. 25. and this depends on that and not that upon this VII Because Melancholists are constant onely in inconstancy they are apt to refuse Medicines in which case I recommend the Flowers of Antimony reputed by Fonseca a specifick Remedy of Melancholy and oft experienced by my self also so to be given to fifteen grains at the least or half a glass of thin White-wine in which six grains of the glass of Antimony have been infused for a night Fortis cent 1. cons 24. that at length we may come to the use of Hellebore VIII Before the giving of Hellebore the body is to be sufficiently moistned drinking every morning for a week a pint and an half of clarified Whey with the Juice of Borage or distill'd Whey with an Emulsion of Melon-seeds The Hellebore is to be given in the form of an Extract beginning with half a drachm with a little Cassia and after an hour giving a good quantity of prepared Whey especially when the Hellebore is biting Idem IX Of what avail the Extract of Coloquintida is in Melancholy is shewn by the example of a Maid that was ill of a dumpish Melancholy for almost a whole year and afterwards upon my giving of her Extract diacolocynth dissolved in a decoction of Prunes returned to a sound mind beyond all hope and expectation It expelled the morbifick matter by stool in great plenty with rumblings and the stools were all mucous and phlegmatick and so slimy and viscid that they would hang together like a Rope After she was come a little to her self she thought that all her body was full of a black and melancholick humour and therefore she diligently viewed her excrements amongst which I got some writing Ink to be poured Another woman that was of a melancholick constitution and barren being afflicted with melancholick Passions expecting now and then the Heads-men and Executioners Ch. Garman misc cur ann 1672. obs 202. was cured by me at length with giving her the Extract of Trochisc Alhandal and by a good wile ¶ I obtained the same effect by an infusion onely of Senna with Tartar in the water of Balm Borage c. given for three days without the addition of any other Purger The Noble young Gentleman Bernas of the Illustrious Family of Wattenville labour'd under a great Melancholy both essential and hypochondriacal He had addicted himself to the Study of Physick and had taken very many Remedies Upon the use of a laxative Ptisan he voided such stinking thick tough black stuff that being fully persuaded that he had expelled pieces of his Guts he got me to be call'd yea a Minister also that might take Care of his Soul I bad him be of good chear and shewed the conquest of the Disease demonstrating to him that that filthy stuff was expelled out of the Mesaraick vessels Spleen and neighbouring vessels and that the Viscera and Guts were not violated at all Being setled in his mind and merry after four days in the year 1658. he returned into his own Countrey and by Letter certified me of his firm health returning me thanks X. Purging inasmuch as it withdraws the Fuel of the Disease from the first ways and removes the Impediments of other Medicines ought to be made use of at the beginning and to be repeated betwixt whiles But whereas some think that for the quicker rooting out the Disease Hellebore and Elaterium are chiefly to be used and alledge the authority of Hippocrates we shall find if we mind the success that these are not so generally convenient but that they do often hurt those that take them very much For strong Purgers do in no wise take away the cause of the Disease viz. the Dyscrasie of the bloud but rather increase it And moreover they do farther weaken and cast down the animal Spirits that are already dejected But Hellebore is therefore prescribed so often by Hippocrates because in his time there were hardly any other Purgers known at least they were not in frequent use But now 't is much better to drain the receptacles of the humours by gentler and milder Medicines and to cleanse onely the bowels and first ways without great commotions of the bloud and spirits Willis
Bowels but onely from the obstruction of the veins that come to the Womb Frid. Hofmannus according to Minsicthus his advice Vomits must be avoided VII The Terms being near in some Viragoes and restagnating because of the narrowness of the Vessels do create a great deal of trouble to the ferment both of the first and second digestion so that thence there arises loss of colour in the face and other symptoms representing the green-sickness in Maids especially if over and above there be an Astral Influx that hinders the Terms the said Symptoms do not onely grow worse but the Cure also proves very difficult In the mean time at the beginning violent Expellers which onely disturb the morbifick matter and doe no good must be avoided but they must be moderately moving and also they must help the fermentation of the first and second Concoction Of which rank are Extract of the lesser Centaury Juniper Mugwort Species Dialaur Minsicthi Extract Splen Bov. Elixir proprietatis Paracelsi Vterinum Crollii if instead of Spirit of Wine Spirit of Baum and Sage be used adding toward the latter end a sufficient quantity of Salt of Mugwort for these things moderately provoke the Terms strengthen the concoction of the Bowels resist putrefaction and are good against Worms Frid. Hofmannus if there be any VIII Galen 5. Aphor. 46. says that if the Mouth of the Womb be compressed by a swelling the Terms must not be provoked The reason is because the swelling would increase and the Disease would be inraged by giving things to provoke the Terms Thus they are in errour who when the Vessels of the Womb are compressed either by a swelling or too much Fatness they do open the Saphoena and they do not see that the swellings increase Therefore the Basilick vein must be opened Sanctorius IX If the Terms flow not for want of bloud as after long Fevers great Evacuations and in any notable extenuation of the body they must not be provoked before the body be recruited with convenient restorative food before a sufficient quantity of bloud is bred and before the Disease the cause of extenuation be conquered which when done the Terms usually come of themselves But if it do not so fall out to the end Nature may be recalled to her duty bloud may be taken from the lower Veins according to the measure of the strength But we must take notice that every extenuation does not denote want of bloud but onely that which succeeds consuming Causes Riverius X. We must never use Remedies to provoke the Terms unless universal Evacuations were premised lest the humours being moved in great plenty to the Womb should increase the obstruction or being much attenuated should fall on other parts and produce much mischief So Schenckius reports that a Physician of Venice gave a Woman for the suppression of her Terms a Decoction before he had evacuated the Phlegm which was the cause of her Obstruction upon taking of which she fell into a Palsie Fortis XI But they must be given in a great quantity because much of their virtue is abated by the way from the Stomach to the Womb. Riverius XII If they be given at the going in or out of a Bath they exert their virtue the more powerfully because the Medicine gets into an open and warm body and yet much more effectually if they were given before bleeding in the foot Idem Some generous Remedies in a pertinacious Obstruction XIII Seeing the suppression of the Terms is caused for the most part by the obstruction and stuffing of the Vessels that go to the Womb and through the Womb we shall pursue this sort most And whereas we have shewn that this said obstruction is produced either by a viscid and glutinous Phlegm or by such a bloud it easily appears that inciding and detersion are indicated and required by the tenacity of the humour for its cure and the provoking of the Menstrua And both Acids and Aromaticks and things abounding with a lixivial Salt as well fixt as volatile and therefore fixt and volatile Salts themselves But because Acids serve to produce a glutinosity especially when they incline to Austerity therefore in curing of this Disease Aromaticks are deservedly preferred which Experience also it self testifies to be better than Acids Whether things be bitter or not but of various tasts they must be called Aromaticks And whoever is conversant in the Chymical mutations of things Natural he will find both far more powerfull things and more easie to be used than these things that are commonly used As Volatile Salts made of infinite things of all Bones Horns Hoofs Hair Bloud Urine Flesh and all parts of Animals whatever that is all Volatile Salts are good though I should prefer Oleous ones before the rest because they doe their work more kindly and successfully Whence also it is manifest that fixt Salts are less to be valued because since they are purer they operate the more violently And the said Volatile Salts may be conveniently used at any time and especially when all the bloud is glutinous at Dinner and Supper in a draught of Wine Beer Broth or any other liquour the Patient shall chuse But when the whole mass of bloud is not glutinous and pituitous though the said Volatile Salts may be used at meal-times yet they may be used to greater advantage at another time and especially when the Phlegm first dissolved by the motion of the body heat of the Air c. and carried to the Womb is by and by coagulated there again by the subsequent Cold for then it is good to take Volatile Salts upon an empty Stomach and also to dispose the body it self to a Sweat for so the virtue of the Medicines will the easilier penetrate to the farther end of the vessels and passages And above the rest I recommend Spirit of Sal Ammoniack to all when a stoppage of the Menstrua happens suddenly and lately upon heating and cooling of the body by benefit of which alone I have very well cured several in a short time by giving 3 4 5 or six drops as it is stronger or weaker in a spoonfull of Wine twice or thrice a day And not onely a Volatile Salt it self but all things also abounding with it whether Sudorificks or Diureticks are very proper It will be usefull also in a suppression that comes gradually to add such things to the Deobstruents that are used towards the latter end For Example make the following Apozeme Take of Root of Parsly Lovage each half an ounce shavings of Guajacum three drachms Saffafras half an ounce Juniper Berries two ounces Bay-berries half an ounce Scordium Penni-royal each half an handfull tops of lesser Centaury half an handfull Millet-seed two ounces Boil them in fair Water to 25 ounces of the Colature add of Syrup of Mugwort Carduus Benedictus each one ounce and an half Tincture of Cinnamon and Castor each half an ounce Oil
affectus or Distempers of the Feet The Contents A cruel Pain cured by a Cautery I. The Sweat and Stinking of the Feet is to be cautiously stopt II. I. A Woman for five years together was taken two or three times a day with a very cruel Pain in the Soal of her left Foot it rose from a thick Flatus mixt with tough Phlegm a weakness of the part accompanying with heat redness hardness Many Remedies being used in vain at last an actual Cautery is affixed to the Pained Part after the falling off of the Eschar there flow'd for fifteen days a virulent Matter in great plenty Zacut. prax adm p. 2. obs âât and the Patient was freed of her Pain II. Seeing Excrements are collected about the Extremities of our Bodies the Hands and Feet as the most remote from the Heart more naturally or plentifully than in any other parts of the Limbs so that our Hands grow dirty and our Feet are almost crusted over with virulent and stinking Sordes we must be very careful not to hinder the usual defecation there Wherefore such as pull not off their Boots or Shoes when they go to sleep do great injury to their Feet And those consult ill for their health who to hinder the stinking of their Feet put in their Shoes Myrtle Leaves Filings of Iron c. For as the Arteries endeavour to discharge themselves of their Excrements in these parts so when the Defecation as I may call it is hindred any way the Veins are made to absorb the same together with the Arterial Blood which is carried back to the Heart by means of the Circulation and wants still to be defecated Simon Paull quadr bot Penis affectus or Diseases of the Tard The Contents A Caution in cutting off part of the Tard when it is gangren'd I. We must not after Section use an actual Cautery to stanch the Blood II. The abuse of Cathereticks in rooting out of Caruncles III. Cautions about taking away a Caruncle IV. The Penetration by Rushes is dangerous V. A Caution in putting up a Catheter VI. How a Caruncle may be consumed without injuring the Urethra VII Quick-Silver and Precipitate safely cure a Caries of the Yard VIII The Cure of a Crystalline Bladder of the Glans IX The Vlcers of the Glans are to be handled gently X. The Cure of a Phimosis XI When the Prepuce grows to the Glans they are to be very warily parted the one from the other XII How a Node of the Yard is to be cured XIII The Cure of a Phimosis and Paraphimosis when caused by a wholsom Coitus XIV The Cure thereof when gotten by a Clap. XV. Coolers and Repellers are not to be used in the beginning XVI The Cure of a Paraphimosis in Infants XVII I. IF any Portion be to be cut off from a Gangren'd Yard we ought presently to put into the Vrethra some Pipe or a Wax Candle for Pissing otherwise all that which remains of the substance of the Yard retires within the Body so that thereby the Urine cannot pass forth The Erection of the Yard perishes by the Incision Walaeus meth mod p. 157. for the Spirits can no longer be retained in the Nervous Bodies II. When the Yard is cut off an actual Cautery for stanching the Blood is very dangerous both because it obstructs the Urinary Passage and also is apt to cause an Inflammation in the Bladder and Circumjacent parts I order my Servants to take care of stanching the Blood by holding continually one after another Stupes to the part wet in Water and Vinegar Hildan cent 3. obs 88. and besprinkled with an astringent Pouder III. To root out Caruncles in the Vrethra many do too boldly put up Wax Candles besmeared with Corroding Medicines by the over great biting whereof I have not only seen loss of substance in the Vrethra H. a Moinichen obs 17. but also a Gangrene which infected not only the Perinaeum but also the inside of each Thigh and consumed these parts with a foul Mortification to the destruction of the Patient ¶ A Noble Person being troubled with a Caruncle from a virulent Gonorrhoea when the Surgeon had injected with a Syringe a sharp Liquor into the Urinary passage there presently arose a great Pain whereupon followed an Inflammation and a Fever his Urine was quite suppress'd Hildan cent 4. obs 54. and he died in a few days IV. The original of a Caruncle in the Yard is sometimes to be attributed to a Gonorrhoea in the inflammatory stiffness whereof the Chord as the Vulgar call it being broken in Copulation or to speak more artificially the Membrane of the Vrethra being torn which is contracted and mâde shorter by force of the Inflammation and Tumour after a large Hemorrhage such as is usual upon those strainings and violent tearings there remains an Ulcer out of which by degrees there arises a Fungus namely a Preternatural Tumour and Disease in the Urinary Passage that cannot be safely and certainly rooted out any other way than by such Medicins as consume it by immediate contact Those Spongy Thymus's use to run with a Purulent Matter which has generally been taken for a Gonorrhoea by such as have less accurately consider'd the source of this Malady Hence there appear Threeds of Pus floating in the Urine part of which Matter I think also to flow from the Prostates which have been afflicted a long time by an Intemperies not wanting Malignity destructive of the Natural Heat and injurious to all the Functions I cured a Nobleman that had been afflicted fifteen years with such a Caruncle Considering diligently all the difficulties but especially his delicate Nature the most exquisite sense whereof reputed even the easiest Chirurgical Remedies for the cruellest Torments I put mine hand to the work and having premised Universals I consumed the whole Caruncle with little pain by an often repeated application of a Catheretick by a Wax-Candle it was pretty hard and three Fingers breadth long possessing almost half the length of the Vrethra The nearness of the neck of the Bladder gave me no small trouble when I came to the end but especially that small Tubercle which by a gaping mouth gives passage to the Seed into the Vrethra whose bulk being increased by an afflux of Humours would have impos'd upon an unskilful Artist and persuaded the further use of eating Medicines But take this as a Secret from me in the Cure of a Caruncle That 't is better cured by delay than haste As often as the lips of the Ulcer swell being irritated by Medicines Theodor. de Mayerne tract de Arthrit p. 145. they fall again by the application of Lenients and which is strange the most pertinacious obstacles vanish of themselves in a few days V. Because it happens sometimes in a suppression of Urine that there are found a great many Caruncles that hinder its passage and the application of Medicines if neither Baths nor Anointings
was Hippocrates'â way who when the Lungs are swoln draws Blood from all the parts of the Body the Head Nose Tongue Arms and Feet that the quantity thereof may be lessened and it may be revelled from the Lungs In Diseases of the Lungs he bids us Bleed as long almost as there is any Blood in the Body The Circulation of the Blood being supposed the Lungs are easily emptied by Venesection if it be denied I see not how the Blood can be revelled thence for if it be to flow back again into the right Ventricle by the Vena Arteriosa the Sigmoides Valves hinder and the three pointed Valves stop its regress into the Cava out of the right Ventricle Thereâore by the Circulation the Blood is exhausted thence by opening the Veins of the Arm and Foot ãâ¦ã and the Opinion of Fernelius is withal destroyed viz. That in Diseases of the Lungs Blood is rather to be drawn from the right Arm than the left because the Blood cannot pass back into the Cava but by breaking through two stops and obstacles placed in the Heart II. And if Blood be to be let at several times and not all at once for fear of swooning yet it is to be let pretty freely for the first time for unless there be a plentiful bleeding on the first days suppuration is to be feared But when the Lungs abound with much Blood we ought not to be afraid of opening a Vein three four five or six times Yet if it succeed a Quinsy or Pleurisy Enchir. med pract we must take greater care how we Bleed III. Phlebotomy is requisite in almost every Peripneumony yea sometimes it ought to be repeated often for the Vessels being emptied of Blood do not only withdraw the fomes of the Disease but also resorb the Matter settled in the part affected Now in a Peripneumony as also in a Pleurisy the Blood that is taken away after it is cold has a tough and discolour'd thin skin on its surface Further we may observe that sometimes all the Blood and sometimes only a portion of it undergoes this change for if the Blood be received into three or four Porringers it will appear bad sometimes in all but most commonly in the second and third and pretty good in the first and last Wherefore 't is commonly advised to bleed always so long till that which is so depraved shall begin to run out and if the strength will endure it to let the Blood continue to run till it appear good again Indeed as frequent Experience so likewise Reason does well enough approve of this practice in as much as in this Disease the whole Blood does not presently acquire that lentor or sliminess the portions that are first depraved are mostly gather'd together about the place of obstruction and stick all about in the lesser Vessels Wherefore the Blood that first comes out will often be faultless but then the Vessels being emptied will receive the other Morbifick Blood that stagnated before and restore it to the Circulation And seeing its portions that are placed near march all in a body as it were when they arrive at the Orifice of the Vein they will issue out together and when they are issued forth that which comes after presently appears purer Willis IV. Wherefore in this case let the Orifice be always large and let the Blood not only issue forth in a full but also in a continued Stream for otherwise if in the middle of the bleeding whilst the naughty Blood is running out the Orifice be stopt with ones Finger as some use to do lest the Spirits should fail when it is opened again the Blood that comes out next will be pure enough the bad Blood if there shall be any behind having slid by and will not return presently to the Orifice Idem V. If it be feared lest the strength should be cast down by Venesection one may apply Cupping-Glasses with Scarification to the Arms and Breast which draw the Blood from the depth of the Breast to the Skin and External parts Yet 't is convenient they should be first applied to the Muscles of the Arms that the Blood may in some measure be evacuated and averted from the Lungs and afterwards to the Shoulder-Blades and to the Breast if it be fleshy For though it seem to be a near place yet it is at some distance from the Lungs and the Attraction is made from the inner parts to the outer Sennertus ¶ For Diversion Aretaeus substituted empty Cupping-Glasses in stead of Venesection ordering them to be applied to the Bâck and other parts of the Body and for derivation to the Breast and Sides Paulus proposes Scarified ones Fortis cons 49. cent 1. which yet are not to be applied but to the deplorable ¶ If the Body be fleshy so that the Cupping-Glass when it is set on will not afflict the Skin that invests the Bones there apply one for by that means the Humours will be drawn aside to any part of the Body and the Spirits are called out to the outer parts whereby the Lungs are oppressed Nor do I approve of their Opinion who when there wants sufficient strength for Venesection at the beginning supply it with Scarified Cupping-Glasses applied to the Breast and Back seeing Galen is altogether against it 11. Meth c. 17. and 13. cap. 19. For at that time it will be sufficient to fasten them first to the Muscles of the Arms that the flowing Humour may after some sort be evacuated and diverted and afterwards let them be applied to the Breast Mercatus if as was said before the Body be fleshy VI. Purging is sometimes convenient in a Peripneumony before the seventh day though it be then thought pernicious Mr. N. sixty years of age was ill of a Phlegmatick Peripneumony which was known by a Cough difficulty of breathing a Fever a pain under the left Shoulder and a flushing in his Face And whereas he seem'd to be full of much Phlegm and had vomited up a pretty quantity thereof and had had three or four Stools by a Clyster which had been injected the next day after bleeding which he did but once a Purge was given him of an infusion of Rhubarb with Manna and Syrup of Roses by which he was very well purged on the fourth day of his illness and the next day after was freed from his Fever and the other Symptoms River cent 1. obs 98. ¶ The impetus of the Matter is to be revoked by pretty sharp Clysters and the plenty of Crude Humours to be lessened thereby But we must take heed of disturbing the Belly too much for as Hippocrates tells us a Flux of the Belly is dangerous in a Peripneumony unless that be frothy which is expelled wherefore Avicen does not commend the purging of Humours in this Disease for the Humour being moved is exagitated more furiously and flows more plentifully into the part affected besides that the
the colour of the Blood let forth and from other signs that there lurks a Cacochymie in the Body which feeds and increases the Disease we must come to purging especially if it be perceived to tend toward the first region of the Body from rumblings of the Belly Vomiting loose Stools anxiety about the Stomach But it is to be done betimes Hippocrates 4. Acut. aph 6. determins the fourth day simply for purging But Galen writes rightly that such things ought not to be injoined the Patient simply according to the number of days but that what Hippocrates hath determin'd ought to be follow'd and therefore we must purge presently in the beginning or afterwards when the Humours are brought to maturity for which cause he writes that he sometimes gave a Purge on the first day or the second or third and sometimes on the fifth Therefore the Humours that abound in the common Ducts and are apt to flow to the part affected are to be purged in the beginning at which time aversion is the most desired but afterwards when the Disease comes to its vigour and the Humours are concocted 't is better to be quiet Sennertus ¶ I deny not that a Revulsive Purgation is sometimes convenient in the beginning though seldom but it must be attempted by mild Medicins and as Vallesius says in Epid. or Galen himself the Fever must not be high Let Blood be let sufficiently and the Humours must degenerate from the nature of the Blood and the faculty must be strong to bear the Medicin and the Constitution of the Patient well known XXII So much as Venesection profiteth in a true Pleurisy so much doth purging hurt though never so kindly and gentle for by moving the Humours it increaseth the Fluxion or if the Fluxion had already stayed it renews it to the great damage of the Patient Add hereto that a loosness is bad in Diseases of the Breast wherefore we must refrain from Catharticks the whole Course of the Cure the Belly is only to be loosened every other day with an hard Clyster Enchir. Med. Practic XXIII Hippocrates 2. Acut. v. 21. advises to open a Vein when the pain reaches up towards the Collar-Bone but to loosen the Belly if it descend under the Midriff for it is no new thing for Pleuritical pains to be felt sometimes under the Midriff For what hinders why when an Inflammation seises upon the Pleura part of the Morbifick Matter that is diffused below through the fleshy parts should not by pain give signification of it self under the Midriff where the Side is soft or in the region of the Hypochondres Surely nothing Hippocrates testifies this 1. de Morb. sect 2. v. 220. treating of a true Pleurisy And sometimes says he it causes a pain in the parts below the Side And he teaches the same l. de loc v. 258. 3. de morb v. 230. And 't is reasonable that that should happen seeing the Morbifick Matter inclines by its natural gravity rather downwards than upwards Attending to this inclination of the Humours according to the vulgar saying We must lead by convenient ways whither Nature tends when the Disease tends downwards he propounds purging by the lower parts but Venesection rather when 't is more inclinable to the upper parts He thought this distinction so necessary that he esteemed him who proceeded otherwise not to benefit but to hurt For as Bleeding takes not away the pain that reaches below the short Ribs so Purgation is unprofitable when the pain possesses the upper parts and extends it self to the Collar-Bone For whilst the Humours which tend upwards and which may easily be evacuated that way are drawn downwards by Stool Expectoration is hindred than which nothing is more hurtful in a Pleurisy that extends upwards For seeing the Matter contained in the Breast is not brought forth by the Purge the Spittle as Hippocrates says being retained and sticking in the Lungs causes difficulty of breathing and not long after the Patient dies of Suffocation Now 't is easie to give a reason why we should Bleed when the pain extends upwards and Purge if it descend below the Midriff for as often as a Pleurisy depends upon a Plethora and is fed by it a pain and weight seises upon the upper parts because there are Veins there which are joined with the Veins that are dispersed through the inflamed part whence those being filled that are in the place of the inflammation and cannot contain all the plenty of Blood the upper that are continuous to these must needs be filled and extended whereupon the bordering parts happen to be pained and grieved But some will say Why does not that happen in the inflammations of other parts where we see only those parts to be pained wherein the inflammation is I answer It is peculiar to these parts viz. the Sides as being Membranous and not Fleshy not to be so capable of a plenty of Humours as the Fleshy whence when Humours flow thereinto the Veins thereof are so filled that their extension is communicated to the neighbouring parts whence there happens a dilatation of the pain Therefore because a dilatation of the pain supposes a plenitude towards the upper parts which can be taken away better by no Remedy than by Venesection Hippocrates does therefore advise Bleeding in this case But when a Pleurisy depends upon a Cacochymie the pain is not communicated to the aforesaid upper parts because the Veins are not so filled that their distention should reach to the upper parts yea inclining to the lower it infests the parts under the Midriff for every Humour except the Blood uses to tend rather downward than upward because it partakes less of Spirits by whose vertue the Humours in the Body seem to have neither lightness nor gravity for Blood alone wants the motion of gravity or levity because it is governed by the Spirits which it is plentifully endued with but the other Humours do descend by a natural gravity rather than ascend unless some cause concur that may raise them to the upper parts or may hurt by Vapours as otherwhere we have said does happen to the Bile which being in the Stomach causes pain in the Side Therefore because a pain descending to the Hypochondres indicates the Pleurisy to arise from a Cacochymie whose Remedy is Purgation therefore Hippocrates approves of this in stead of Venesection not only in this case but as often as it happens that a Pleurisy arises from a Cacochymie Whence 3. de morb v. 284. he says If the sick Person be naturally Cholerick and being not purged be taken with a Disease you shall purge Choler well for these things concurring a Cacochymie must needs prevail Seeing therefore Hippocrates hath left us this practice approved by long Experience and confirmed by evident Reason I cannot sufficiently admire at Galen's boldness who perverting it durst write that it was always safer to Bleed but much more at the Physicians of our time with
great deal of Pus were cured in a little time by this Remedy In both out of the hole made in the Skin by Section there flow'd in three or four days time pure Pus and from that time their spitting such Matter diminished And after that Efflux increasing daily had continued for some time the spitting ceased wholly and the Patients grew quite well II. A Gentleman of a middle Age that was robust before and always healthful without any manifest cause grew to be betwixt well and ill as it were for being without Pain Vomiting or Cough at least that was any thing considerable he became in a little time languid without appetire uninclinable to sleep thirsty and hot about his Heart After that divers methods of Cure had been tried in vain the Disease shewed it self at length for whilst one night being more restless than usual he turned himself strongly in his Bed an Abscess breaking of a sudden in his Lungs he expelled by Cough a vast quantity of very stinking Pus The Vomica being burst such Medicins were diligently given as might cleanse and heal the Abscess might purify the Blood and clear the Lungs and deliver them from an imminent Tabes as my Tinctura and Spiritus Diasulphuris together with Pectoral and Vulnerary Decoctions and distilled Waters Likewise Linctus and Balsamick Pills were taken from day to day in a constant method and betwixt whiles Clysters and gentle Catharticks and Diureticks were interposed First Vaporations then Suffumigations both Sulphureous and Arsenical were used morning and night After that these had been used long and diligently without benefit he consented at length to the opening of his Side On the left side of his Sternum there appeared a Tumour betwixt the fifth and sixth Vertebra In stead of a Caustick I applied hereto a Suppurative Plaster and in three days the top of the Tumour became red and soft out of which being opened the next day there first flow'd a thin Ichor and a while after yellow and concocted Pus and afterwards it continued to flow more plentifully From that time his stinking Spittle decreased and in fourteen days quite ceased the Morbifick Matter finding both a more easy and more convenient exit by that hole Though by the effect it was manifest that the Duct of that Orifice did lie open inwardly into the Breast and perhaps to the middle of the Lungs yet no Liquor that was injected by Syringe could penetrate or be driven thither so secret and very intricate are the passages which Nature forms for her last relief that no hurtful thing can enter in by that way whereby the Morbifick Matter is expelled That Aperture of his Side was at length changed into an Issue and a Pease or Wooden Pill being put in it every day it continued to pour forth Ichor plentifully for half a year and the Nobleman in the mean time getting quite rid of his Pectoral Infirmity and recovering his robust habit of Body became quite well in every respect At last the Issue being translated into his Arm he carried neither the Disease nor the Issue any longer in his Breast Idem An Intermitting Pulse The Contents The cause depends sometimes on the irregular motion of the Animal Spirits I. An instance of a Pulse returning upon the voiding of a Worm II. I. THere are two distinct Reasons of the breeding of this Affection for though the Pulse intermit sometimes because the Heart for that time ceases from motion yet when we judge by our feeling it seems to intermit sometimes in the Wrist whilst the Heart is felt to beat very frequently and incessantly in the Breast because when that passion its tremor urges only a very small portion of Blood is cast forth into the Aorta in every Diastole Wherefore the Aorta being empty and flaggy and wanting a load to promote that it may nor act often in vain it sometimes intermits its contraction Moreover in Malignant or deadly Fevers if at any time the Pulse be frequent and weak it now and then also intermits not that the Heart ceases sometimes from motion for it does then especially labour incessantly but in as much as the Blood is not poured forth into the Aorta in a sufficient quantity at every Diastole so that this having not enough to bestow its labour upon idles sometimes But moreover the Pulse does sometimes intermit because the contraction of the Heart it self is suspended for some turn or its pause is twice as long which indeed any one shall easily perceive in himself or in another by laying his Hand upon his Breast yea those who labour under a weight or oppression of their Breast do plainly perceive of themselves how often their Heart ceases from motion Moreover this Affection does every where seise upon not so much the languishing and those who are ready to die or are dangerously sick as those who are strong enough and in most regards very well Wherefore it ought not according to the Vulgar Opinion to be taken always for an altogether destructive sign From what has been said I think it appears that the cause of this Affection depends not on the mixture or crasis of the Blood but only on the irregular dispensing of the Animal Spirits out of the Cerebel into the Cardiack Nerves and from thence into the Tendons of the Heart For we may suppose that through those Nerves being somewhat obstructed the Animal Spirits descend not to the Tendons of this Muscle in a sufficiently full stream or Influx wherefore when their store is a little defective the Pulse of the Heart ceases now and then for one turn till being by and by recruited with a fresh store of Spirits its action may be renewed Though this Affection do oft want present inconvenience or danger and requires no very hasty Cure yet for preservations sake lest more grievous Diseases follow some Remedies and Curatory Method ought to be used at least let the Diet be rightly ordered in every regard during the remainder of the Patients Life Moreover let a light Course of Physick be prescribed to be observed solemnly every Spring and Fall namely to the end that as much as may be any Morbid Seminaries cast into the Brain or apt to be bred there may be taken away and prevented Hither we refer the Preservatory Method and Medicins which use to be prescribed against Fits of the Apoplexy Willis II. Mr. N. a Man of sixty was ill of a Dysentery for many days and afterwards of a Tertian Ague and at length when he seem'd to begin to recover his Pulse appeared to be intermitting for three or four days with anxiety of mind and dejection of his Spirits The Cause betray'd it self which was a Worm as thick as ones Finger and half as long as ones Arm upon the voiding whereof the Pulse returned to its former state River cent 3. obs 3. A GUIDE TO THE Practical Physician BOOK XV. Of Diseases beginning with the Letter R. Rachitis the
Pauli XIX I question whether there be any hopes of curing an Ulcer in the Kidneys I do not remember that I or any Man else ever cured one However something may be given to asswage the Malady and hinder it from growing worse To which purpose I have found nothing better than Balsamus Sulphuris both anisatus and succinatus juniperinus and terebinthinatus but made with the Oil of true Turpentine not the common but the Succinatus is the best in this case Sylvius dâ le Boe. ¶ I remember I cured an Ulcer in the Kidneys Anno 1662. in the Illustrious and Noble Mr. de Molendins Deputy Governor of Newenburgh who besides a sense of heaviness in the region of his Loins voided Pus and Blood yea and Bodies like Worms and by the Advice also of the Doctors of Paris he was cured besides Bloodletting and Cupping c. by the frequent use of Trochises of Alkekengi with and without Opium and also with Chalybeate Milk Renum Dolor or Pain in the Kidneys XX. I saw a Man who was afflicted with an intolerable pain in his Kidneys which could be eased neither by Phlebotomy nor Purging nor by any outward applications but by opening the Hemorrhoids For the Matter that stuck in the Kidneys caused it and as soon as way was made the pain ceased Yet it does not follow that the Hemorrhoids must presently be opened if any one be so afflicted but if they swell we may open them boldây Hollerius XXI In pains of the Kidneys such things must be omitted in Clysters as breed Wind And for this reason neither Cassia nor Diacatholicon must be put in them Soleuander Renum Imbecillitas or Weakness in the Kidneys XXII A young Man Twenty eight years old had for several months always made a red Urine thin enough in consistence and almost like to the Water in a high Fever The Physicians used Medicins as for an over heated Liver At length he came to me and seeing he appeared not to be in a Fever I asked him whether at any time he had had a Fever On the contrary he answered as if he had been continually cold for some months his Body was extenuated his Spirits low with shortness of Breath and what he had taken had done him no good Therefore I had a mind that he shou d leave his Urine till the next day that I might consider the Sediment which was indeed as red as Blood for it was nothing else but Blood the rest of the upper part was but low coloured of a pale yellow an argument that there was no Fever Therefore I concluded there was no heat in the Liver but that the Kidneys were weakened and that the mouths of the Veins being too open did let out the thin Blood Therefore I altered the method of Cure and used things to strengthen the Kidneys and bind the Veins he used a good Diet and drank Goats Milk And so the Urine left off being red and his Body began to thrive and his strength to come to him Dodonaeus obs 32. And at length the young Man recoverd See Calculus Renum BOOK III. Renunciatio or Inquest The Contents Judgment concerning a dead Body by what mischance it died I. Judgment concerning a Childs being smothered II. Concerning a wounded Man whether he received the Wounds alive or dead III. Concerning drowned People IV. Of a Body killed by Poison V. See A. Paraeus of Inquests and Codronchius his Book De Methodo Testificandi I. IF a dead Body be found in the House or abroad and the Question be Whether it was slain by Thunder or came by some other Mischance If by Thunder the Body smells of Sulphur so that Dogs nor nothing else will touch it Under the part whether it be whole or wounded the Bones are broken and the Wound is black The Body falls on the wounded side Brute Beasts fall on the contrary side If one be Thunderstruck waking Schmitzius Med. pr. p. 204. he has his Eyes shut if sleeping on the contrary It does not corrupt II. One may know a Child has been smothered if it was well before If it froth at the Mouth and Nostrils And if the Lungs when they are dissected Idem be frothy III. If it be enquired Whether a Wounded Body received the Wounds alive or dead If alive the lips of the Wound are red and Bloody and the place about it is black and blue Idem IV. He that lies drowned if the Body were cast in alive all the Belly is swelled with Water Mucous Matter comes out at the Nose Froth comes out at the Mouth and the Fingers ends are as it were excoriated Idem V. If a Man naturally abounding with good Humours and who keeps a wholesom Diet die suddenly If his Body appear black or blue or of party colours or flabby and stinking it must be concluded that he has taken Poison Idem Respiratio Laesa or Shortness of Breath The Contents A Vein may be opened in a fit of an Asthma I. Whether Purges be then proper II. Out of the Fit we may purge violently III. Vomits are sometimes proper IV. An Orthopnoea cured with Scammoniate Medicins V. Whether Clysters may be given VI. Expectoraters ought to be mild VII Whether Diureticks be good VIII Cock-Broth must not respect the Lungs only but the Head as the Mandant part IX Spirit of Sulphur is not proper for all X. When the Fit is coming we must have a care of Expectoraters XI The Cure of an Asthma XII For what and when Intercipients are proper XIII We must proceed to burning in an inveterate Asthma XIV Whether both an attenuating and spare Diet be proper XV. An Asthma is sometimes caused by Wind. XVI One caused by Metallick Fumes must be cured by appropriate Medicins XVII Respiration is often hindred by the fault of the Stomach XVIII It may be hurt by a cause in the Neck XIX An Asthma caused by a Convulsive motion of the Nerves of the Lungs XX. The Cure of a Scorbutick Asthma XXI I. A Vein must be immediately opened in the Fit of an Asthma if Blood seem to abound but indifferently for when the Veins are emptied of Blood the Breath will be more free But if the Disease be old and Blood hath been often let we must abstain from it lest when the innate heat is abated a greater stock of Phlegm should follow Bleeding in the Foot is excellent when this Disease is Sympathick Riverius ¶ Bleeding must not wholly be neglected which Galen allows to hinder Suffocation and Hippocrates prescribes in a dry Orthopnoea Yet we must abstain from it in the Fit of an Orthopnoea because then the strength is low And Blood may especially be let when the Patient is hot and moist of Complexion and the whole Body abounds with Humours We must Bleed but sparingly in the Arm or rather the Hemorrhoids may be opened by and by if it shall be needful Fortis
Chesnuts Apples Rice boyled in Milk Pine nuts c. make the Spirits thick Rondeletius p. 1002. V. A certain Nobleman came to me to request a Remedy for his Impotency He was able to lye with elderly Women but was insufficient to get a Maiden-head because at the very first touch he lost his Seed but it was weak and watry like whey He was of a good habit of Body and Fleshy I said because I could not in so healthy a body see any other cause of his Impotency that I thought he had an Ulcer in the Intestinum rectum and that from thence the Parastatae and the other Vessels necessary for the preparation and ejaculation of Seed being continually blasted with a putrid vapor were not sufficient to breed so much Seed as was sufficient for a long tension of the Member and a florid coition While they wondered that I should mention such a cause I told them I had formerly seen the same case in Italy and that I remembred I had read of the like in Hist Mirah Marcel Donati I immediately ordered a Suppository only of Honey and it came out besmeared with much Pus Then I ordered some brine to be injected by a Syringe which he said after several injections that is when the Ulcer was cleansed made him smart much I judged when the Ulcer was healed H. ab Heer 's Spadac Obs 10. that he would be well But he neglected the Cure and died VI. I have learned from Soldiers that while they were led through Rivers so as that water came up to their genitals Ph. Salmuth that they were thereby made more Effeminate VII They are not to be harkened to who after over much Venus forbid bleeding Of which opinion I was formerly whilest I follow'd my Masters rules to a tittle from which I immediately declined when I begun to act my reason with Judgment and to the great benefit of several who either immediately or the next day after coition have fallen into grievous Feavers and tedious pain in the Kidneys From whom truly I did not take much less blood then if Coition had not preceeded taking my Indication rather from the nature of the Disease and its greatness and from the fulness of the Veins than from a false opinion of superfluous evacuation Because the languidness of strength which follows coition is not caused so much by evacuation of the sanguineous matter although Seed be bred of Blood as from the wasting the strength of the Body by the toil and heat which necessarily attend Coition But admit that not only the vital Spirits but also the animal and natural be spent sooner and in greater plenty by superfluous Venus than by any other laborious exercise of the Body Whether therefore is there so great an evacuation made of the matter that is in the venous kind that if Inflammations arise in the Kidneys which are often caused by too much Coition blood should not be let when the said Inflammations are raised by afflux of hotter Blood into the said parts and the Loins that are heated with too much motion Certainly no yea it ought to be taken away immediately while it is fluid lest being by long staying fixt to the part it cause an abscess Nor must we spare Bleeding if a Feaver take one without pain of the Loins if the greatness of the Disease require it since they that are given to Venus for the most part fair high Botallus to enable themselves Medicines especially made use of by eminent Physicians Against Salacity 1 Glow-worms which shine in the Night if they be eaten take away Venus wholly ¶ It is a peculiar Remedy if 3 drachms or half an ounce of Coriander be taken with a little water and Sugar 2. Omitting purging this Decoction is very much commended Take of white water Lilly 1 ounce and an half Purslain Lettuce Mint each 1 handful Rue 3 drachms seed of Agnus castus 1 drachm and an half flowers of white water Lilly 1 pugil boyl them in water P. Forestus To one pound of the Colature add of Syrup of Poppy of water Lilly each half an ounce mix them 3. Destilled Oyl of Rue is excellent taken inwardly and applied outwardly Hartmannus in a few drops 4. The use of Salt Nitre in the water of water-Lilly morning and evening is admirably good Hofmannus in too great Salacity 5. This is an excellent Remedy Take Oyl of Roses 1 drachm and an half Chamomil half an ounce juice of Nightshade or Housleek or Purslain half an ounce Argenti spuâa and Ceruss each 2 drachms a little Wax and Vinegar Mix them N. Piso make an Unguent 6. The immersion of the virile Member in cold water makes it immediately fall Fel. Platerus Against Impotency 1. Take the Patient's Urine as much as you please boyl it in a pot covered Joh. Agricola and if any one have bewitched him he that did it will be in great anxiety will discover himself and take off the Inchantment 2. If a live Mullet be suffocated in Wine and a Man drink of it J. Caes Baricellus Athenaeus holds he will be unable to use Venery 3. Take of Mel Anacardinum fresh Butter each half an ounce Boyl them together till they grow thick stirring them well The dose is the quantity of a Pease as you go to bed It excites Venus wonderfully 4. If the right great Toe be anointed with Oyl in which Cantharides have been dissolved P. Bayrus it will cause an admirable erection 5. Orchis Root whose Root is cover'd with a red skin but is white within Crollius does powerfully excite Venus especially given in Wine 6. The continual use of Essence of Amber is of admirable efficacy in curing Impotency to Venus Pet. Joh. Faber For there is nothing more effectual for restoring the innate Spirits 7. Extractum Diasatyrionis is most excellent in this case Rod. à Fonseca yea and the Extract of the Roots of Satyrion it self if a Pill of it be given is excellent to excite coition 8. Partridges dung dissolved in its Gall Grulingius and anointed on the Glans does wonderfully encrease Venus 9. The sperm of a Stag killed in Coition is a great arcanum to provoke Venus Hofmannus 10. Take of Oyl or Essence of Saffron 8 or 10 drops a little Aurum fulminans well edulcorated let it be given in Malmsey Wine when the party goes to bed It strengthens Venus to admiration Cunrad Kunrath ¶ Essence or Tincture of Salt impregnated with Sol is an excellent strengthener in Impotency 11. Nettle seed boyled in Butter and given for 3 dayes powerfully helps in Coition Joh. Marquardus 12. This is a most effectual Unguent Take of Oyl of Elder 1 drachm Pyrethrum Euphorbium each 1 drachm Musk 5 grains let the Palms of the Hands Hieron Mercurialis the Soles of the Feet and the Genital be anointed 13. Nothing is found more
of a spoonful or a spoonful and an half Take of Salt of Tartar 1 ounce small spirit of Wine 1 pound and an half Let them be digested till it grow yellow Then when it is poured off the dreggs infuse therein of leaves of black Hellebore steeped in Vinegar 1 ounce yellow Sanders 1 drachm the yellow rind of Oranges 1 drachm and an half Make a hot and close digestion for 3 dayes Let the clear colature be distilled in Balneo to half and let the remaining Liquor be kept for use Or Take of the root of sharp pointed Dock Polypody of the Oak Nettle Chervil each 6 drachms leaves of Eupatory Speedwell each 1 handful Sanders white and yellow each 1 drachm and an half Carthamus 1 ounce Tartar of white Wine half an ounce boyl them in 2 pounds and an half of Spring-water to half Add of Rhenish wine 1 pound and let it be presently strained To which put of the best Senna half an ounce Rheubarb 6 drachms leaves of black Hellebore half an ounce the yellow of Oranges two drachms Make a close and warm infusion for 12 hours Let the Colature be kept in a Glass stopt The Dose from 5 drachms to 6. Within 4 or 5 dayes they may be repeated as occasion shall require Too often and violent purging destroys the strength spoils the Bowels and in the mean time removes not the Disease After once or twice purging if bleeding be indicated let it be done in the Arm or in the Haemorrhoid Veins by Leeches It is not much matter which Vein is opened for the opening of the Salvatella is not of such moment as is commonly believed All the tedious controversies among Authors about bleeding the Jecorary or Cephalick or any other which should be best are at an end since the Circulation of the Blood is known Phlebotomy is indicated by the plenty and badness of Blood which it is better to take away in small quantities at several times than to take a great deal at once For when the Sanguineous Liquor becomes very impure it is more certainly amended by no sort of Remedy than by letting of it often and in a small quantity because as often as the old corrupt Blood is taken away new which is better and more pure succeeds In the interim care must be had that it be not taken away in too great a quantity at once for when its store is hastily diminished sanguification fails so that a Dropsie or Cachexy follows Therefore since the greatest pains in Physick should be bestowed upon eradicating the cause of the Scurvy especially and upon its own account for this end moreover Digestives and Specifick Remedies or Antiscorbuticks as we intimated but now must be used at all times except the purging dayes to which if there be need Diaphoreticks or Diureticks may be added There are in Authors many sorts of Receipts of Medicines that perform these Intentions I have a mind here to recite some of the choicest which I have thought good to distinguish into two Classes according to the twofold nature of the Scorbutick cause namely the Sulphureo-Saline and the Salino Sulphureous Dyscrasie and first of all I shall treat of those that are proper for the latter sort of Distemper that is where need is of Medicines endued with a certain incitation and very full of volatil Salt Digestive Remedies which restore the ferment of the Stomach and help the functions of it and other parts serving for chylification and Antiscorbuticks or Specificks which remove the Dyscrasie of the Blood are either joyned in the same composition or at least are taken successively on the same day Among Digestive Medicines there are justly reckoned Cream of Tartar salt and tincture of Crystal Tartarus Vitriolatus Chalybeatus Elixir proprietatis Mixtura simplex The use of any of these twice aday does much good Moreover you may easily mix magisterial Tinctures and Elixirs of divers sorts both digestive and appropriate to the Scurvy with the two following Menstrua Take of rectified Spirit of Vitriol 6 ounces alkalisate Spirit of Wine 16 ounces Mix them and distill them in a Glass retort with 3 Cohobations Keep it for use in a Glass well stopped Elixir proprietatis is better made and more easily with the said Menstruum than the common way Take of Winter Bark Lignum Aloes lesser Galangal root each 2 drachms Cinnamon Cloves Cubebs each 1 drachm Seed of Bishopsweed Cresses each half a drachm When they are bruised pour on them the foresaid Menstruum till it stand 3 Inches above Digest them in a body in a sand Furnace 6 dayes Keep the Colature in a Glass well stopt The Dose is 20 drops in Canary or some proper Liquor twice a day Take of the whitest Amber Gum Ivie Carannae Tacamahacae each 1 drachm Saffron half a drachm Cloves Nutmeg each 2 scruples When they are bruised pour on them the foresaid Menstruum and draw the Tincture according to art The Dose is 20 drops as before Take of blew Salt of Tartar 4 ounces digest it in a body with 1 pound of Alkalisate Spirit of Wine to the extraction of the Tincture This may be another Menstruum with which you may make Elixirs out of Gums Spices c. in the same manner as you did with the former Menstruum While these sort of Medicines are given Evening and Morning another sort of Medicines that are Antiscorbutick must be given at medical hours that is at eight before noon and four after which for the most part we give in a solid and liquid form together taking the solid first and drinking the liquid upon it There are several forms and compositions of both sorts ELECTVARIES Take of conserve of Scurvy-grass Roman Wormwood Fumitory each 2 ounces powder of Winter's Bark root of Angelica Wake Robin each 2 drachms Species diatriÏn SantalÏn 1 drachm and an half powder of Crabs Eyes 1 drachm salt of Wormwood 2 drachms With a sufficient quantity of Syrup of Citron rind make an Electuary Take of the Conserve of Scurvy-grass leaves Brooklime made with an equal quantity of Sugar each 3 ounces Troches of Capers of Rhubarb each 2 drachms salt of Wormwood Scurvy-grass each 1 drachm With a sufficient quantity of Syrup of Juice of Scurvy grass make an Electuary I usually prescribe Conserves of the outer Peels of Lemons and Oranges of the purple flowers of the Ash-Tree of the flowers and leaves of Lady-smock of the root of sharp pointed Dock and English Rhubarb made with an equal quantity of Sugar which being mixt either among themselves or with other Conserves and Powders may go to the making up of such Electuaries as these Take of the Conserve of the yellow of Oranges of Lemons of flowers of Ash each 2 ounces root of Contrayerva 1 drachm and an half lesser Galangal half a drachm root of Aron 2 drachms Species Aromat Rosat 1 drachm salt of Wormwood 2 drachms With a sufficient quantity of Syrup of Nutmegs make an Electuary The Dose of these
a day after a solid Medicine Also Infusions made by themselves are sometimes of excellent use Take of Scurvy-grass 1 handful shavings of Horse-rhadish root half an handful Winter's bark bruised 2 drachms Let them be put in a Glass with white Wine or Syder and Scurvy-grass water each 1 pound Make an Infusion in a Cellar for 2 or 3 dayes The Dose is 6 or 8 ounces twice a day as before 3. Juices and Expressions The most commendable way of using Antiscorbutick Herbs or Fruits is to take the Juices and Expressions of them by themselves or with some other proper Liquors twice or thrice a day for so it is presumed the virtue of the Medicine is given intire and untainted Take of Water-Cresses Brooklime each 3 handfuls when they are bruised strain out the juice keep it in a Glass stopt The Dose is from an ounce and an half to 3 ounces twice a day in a draught of Beer Wine or distilled water Take of leaves of Scurvy-grass 4 handfuls Wood-sorrel 2 handfuls When they are bruised and the juice strained out it quickly grows clear when it is stopt up in a Glass for the sowerness of the Wood-sorrel precipitates the grosser parts of the Scurvy-grass The same succeeds if the juice of Orange be mixt with the juice of Scurvy-grass The Dose is 2 or 3 ounces twice a day Take of Scurvy-grass 4 handfuls Brooklime water-Cresses each 2 handfuls long Pepper 3 drachms shavings of Horse-rhadish 2 ounces Put them all in a glazed pot with 2 pounds of Rhenish wine or if you had rather Spanish stop the mouth of it well and let them stand for 2 dayes in a cool Cellar Then make a strong expression The Dose is 3 ounces twice a day after a solid Medicine Take of Scurvy-grass 3 handfulls Brooklime Water-Cresses Wood-sorrel each 1 handful When they are bruised pour to them Snail and Worm water each 6 ounces Make a strong Expression which must be kept in a Glass stopt The Dose is 2 ounces twice a day 4. Syrups Syrups are not so well approved on in the Scurvy for the same reason as Decoctions for as much to wit as the virtue of the most efficacious simples evaporates in boyling yet because some may have occasion for such a Medicine to sweeten some appropriate Liquors I will here propose our preparation reserving as much as may be the virtue of the Ingredients Therefore take of the leaves of Garden Scurvy-grass 6 handfuls the Peels of 4 Oranges and of two Lemons shaven thin shaving of Horse-radish half an handful powder of long Pepper 3 drachms When they are all bruised together strain out the juice which being put up in a Glass well stopt let it be set in a cool Cellar till it clarifie by settling then let the clear Liquor be poured off by inclination into another Glass and being close stopt let it be kept in Balneo Mariae in the mean time for each ounce take an ounce and an half of Sugar and let the whole quantity be dissolved in aqua lumbricorum and boyled up fit for Lozenges to which by and by let the foresaid Liquor be poured hot by degrees and mixt with a Spatula As soon as it is incorporated let the composition be taken from the Fire and when it is cold let it be put in a Glass Let this Bag be hung in the Glass Take of Cinnamon bruised 1 drachm and an half seed of Cresses Rocket powdered each 1 drachm Mix them 5. Distilled Waters Distilled waters because they are a neat and a pleasant Remedy have the greatest share in making up Antiscorbutick prescriptions There are some such very useful and curious Remedies in our Dispensatory such as Aqua Raphani composita lumbricorum and limacum Magistralis Besides famous receipts of such waters given us by Quercetan Dorncrellius Sennertus Doringius and other Authors Moreover it is very easie for any Physician to prescribe such Receipts proper for every Patient's condition according to the occasion For there are in them Antiscorbutick Ingredients and moreover such things as respect some particular accidents and Diseases to which when they are shred and bruised some convenient Liquor as white Wine Syder or Whey made with either of them is poured then the whole mixture is distilled in such Organs as they distil Rose-water I shall here subjoyn a Receipt or two which I make use of Take of the Leaves of both the Scurvy grasses Brooklime Water-Cresses Broom-tops each 3 handfuls Leaves of Germander Ground pine each 2 handfuls Horse-radish root half a pound Root of Aron Angelica Masterwort each 4 ounces Calamus Aromaticus 1 ounce Cinnamon Cloves each half an ounce When they are bruised and shred pour to them of the best Syder 8 pounds let them be digested for 2 dayes in a glazed pot stopt then let them be distilled in a common distillatory and let the Waters first and last drawn be mixt In Winter time when green Herbs are scarce you may prescribe in this manner Take of Leaves of Scurvy-grass 4 handfuls tops of Broom Pine Juniper each 3 handfuls Winter's bark 4 ounces When they are bruised pour 8 pounds of white Wine or Syder or Whey made with either of them and let them be distilled The Simple water distilled off Aron Leaves in Spring time is an effectual Medicine against the Scurvy if 3 or 4 ounces of it be given every day twice with some other Medicine The Simple water of Scurvy-grass poured again to the fresh Leaves bruised and distilled off again and so repeated by frequent cohobations becomes an effectual Remedy Furthermore a burning Spirit of Scurvy-grass is prepared in this manner Take of Leaves of Scurvy-grass as much as you please bruise it and make it up into Balls such as are made of Woad for the Dyers then let these Balls be put in a glazed pot and pour either Scurvy-grass water or Wine till it stand 4 Inches above and set it exactly stopt in a cool place 3 or 4 dayes Then let the whole matter be distilled by Alembick The distilled water may be rectified in a Body The burning Spirit comes first 15 or 20 drops whereof may be given in some convenient vehicle 6. Antiscorbutick Wines and Beer I use to make a Simple Antiscorbutick Wine of excellent use in this manner in the Spring or Summer time Take of Leaves of Scurvy-grass gathered in a serene time as much as you please Juice it and fill a Vessel of 3 or 4 Gallons Put a spoonful or two of yeast and let it work for 2 dayes Then stop the Vessel and let it stand in a Wine Cellar for 6 Months Then let the clear Liquor a little yellow like Spanish Wine be drawn off into Bottles and kept for use It lasts uncorrupt for several years The Dose is 3 or 4 ounces twice a day Medicated Wines a Glass or two of which may be taken at medical hours or at Dinner every day may be made in this manner Take of Scurvy-grass 4 handfuls of shavings
not to the Breast We do the same also when the Mouth of the Stomach has an Inflammation because it rests upon the Spine along the Neck and Breast to the Belly Wherefore Nurses when Infants and Children are troubled with Vomiting and Turning of the Stomach they think the Gullet and the Mouth of the Stomach are convulse and they set a Cupping-glass to the Belly and they garter up the Skin about the twelfth vertebra of the Back they take it in their Fingers and lift it up or they force it into a Cupping-glass or Jug with Tow kindled as Aetius does Langius Ep. 44. l. 2. which one would think succeeded well and the Vomit stopt because the Gullet and Mouth of the Stomach were restored to their former seat VI. As often as hurtful or sharp Food or Physick or rather Poison is contained in the Stomach and causes the Hickup it ought to be expelled either by Vomit upwards a shorter way or by Purging downwards a longer way which may be understood also of any Humours in the Stomach or small Guts which cause the Hickup I prefer among Vomits Antimonials before all the rest both because they do with success evacuate all Humors promiscuously and because they are most amicable to Humane Nature Silvius de le Boe. reducing all the Humors in Man by some peculiar way to a very laudable State by degrees if so be that too great a quantity of them be not taken at once VII When after Narcoticks have been conveniently used and a Vomit taken and little or nothing is voided upwards or downwards and the Hickup continues if the signs of bad Humours being in the Stomach or in the Guts nigh which cause this Ail you may then safely either the same day but in a less quantity or the next day in little a larger quantity give a Vomit to the end the peccant Humors may either be further corrected or discharged upwards or downwards or both ways For so the cure of the Hickup will be performed safely not unpleasantly and soon enough which is truly rational and dogmatical relying especially on Experience and on sound Reason not on a faint and commentitious one and therefore on a false one Medicines especially made use of by eminent Physicians 1. There are many who by affrighting People unawares in the Hickup obtain their end others advise to rub the Ear long with the little Finger Jul. Caesar Baricullus And Lysimachus has given out that Sprinkling with cold Water and holding ones Breath stops the Hickup 2. Among the stronger sort of Remedies for the Hickup there is Powder of Dittany if it arise from Cold or Wind with Cretan or Falernian Wine But a Decoction of Dill Alex. Benedictus about 3 Glasses of it drunk at once wonderfully stops the Hickup with pain Rod à Fonseca 3. This Fomentation is very good if Castor Pepper and Mustard boyled in strong Vinegar be applied with a Sponge to the Stomach 4. This is Aselepius his famous Remedy Take of Galangale Saffron Spikenard green Roses Mastiche each 4 scruples Asarum Aloes each 2 scruples Lat. à Fontae Opium 1 scruple with juice of Fleawort make little balls The Dose 1 scruple every Morning See § 1. of the Hickup Sitis or Thirst The Contents The Method of cure is not alwayes the same I. Sweet and Sugered things increase rather than quench Thirst II. The use of Nitre III. Medicines I. THirst is a Passion of the Mouth of the Stomach which is sometimes afflicted by Sympathy sometimes by it self If by it self all agree it must be removed by drinking If by Sympathy with the Lungs not drinking of Water but inspiration of cold Air alone is sufficient to asswage it Nor is it sufficient to know that the primary Affection is in the Lungs and the consent in the Stomach we must consider also whether the Thirst that is caused in the Stomach be proper by consent so as that it be partly caused and partly causing by reason of the Fomenting it by the Lungs for not only Coolers and Moistners should be directed to the Lungs but to the Stomach also Continuance of time and a soft habit declare that an Idiopathy is made Sanctorius l. 2. c. 7. Because that all Sympathy if it continue long and the part affected be soft becomes Idiopathy ¶ The Hermetick Physitians contend that immoderate Thirst comes from thirsty Spirits bred of sulphureous Impurities which will not be sated with simple Cooling and Moistning but with other Spirits analogous to themselves Thus we see in Ague-fits intense Thirst is a little stopt by drinking a great quantity of Water which yet more easily gives way to acid Spirits of Vitriol Riverius l. 9. cap. 4. Sulphur Salt and the like mixt with a far less quantity of Water ¶ If an irregular Thirst arise such as is usually caused by the Dropsie while the Stomach receives Nitrous Salt or a Putrid Vapor or Humor from the Peritonaeum it cannot be stopt by drinking but the plenty of the Salt or Nitrous Humor will be encreased whereby it is also encreased and exasperated but by such things as dull the Sense of the Mouth of the Stomach or qualifie and make gentle the Humors and Vapors so Starch and the Water of it so Mucilages and sometimes fat Things do good to Admiration Mercatus But when the faulty Thirst comes from the heat of the Lungs you may cure it by inspiration of cold Air and often Washing the Mouth with very cold Water ¶ Both watry things which dilute and carry to the Urinary Passages the lixivious Salt of the Bile and Acids which powerfully break and turn its Acrimony and Oyly things which smooth the same Acrimony to wit Milk and Emulsions made of Oyly Seeds âr Sylvius l. 1 c. 1. cure encreased Thirst above all other things And the Watry things may conveniently be joyned both with the acid and Oyly ones and so they will do the more good ¶ It sometime happens that Thirst is encreased by the Serum where because Water abounds in the Body together with the lixivial Salt Frid Hofmannus m. m. l. 1. c. 19. plentiful drinking is not convenient but an acid Spirit such as Spirit of Salt aperitivus Penoti c. diluted taken by spoonfuls whereby the hurtful Acrimony of the lixivious Salt is powerfully amended ¶ The Cause of it is the Nidorous ferment of the Stomach made over salt and sharp as we see it happens in Feavers Salt Catarrhs the Dropsie c. The Stomach since it has a Coat common with the Gullet and Palate easily communicates it Quality to them and also causes Thirst Want of Moiststure is not sufficient to cause Thirst wherefore Thirst ceases not by drinking unless it carry along with it a Medium Analogous to seize the ferment Wherefore Acids quench a false Thirst just as Water quenches the Fire Idem l. 2. c. 4. Well rectified Spirit of Vitriol
intention consisting in a due constitution of the Pores is commonly performed only by outward administration Willis VI. An old Man 72 years of Age was in the year 1657 very ill of a Diaphoretick Sweat so that he was all over in it almost Night and Day and what ever he eat or drank he immediately perceived it pass out at the Pores of the Skin The Cause of this Disease was abundance of serous Humors complicated with the Scurvy which were gathered in the Mass of Blood by a depraved and vitious fermentation in the Organs designed for Sanguification which did not transmute the acid Salts of the Meat into volatil Salts The Disease had lasted 3 Months before my Advice was taken but it was quickly cured by me only with Ivory without Fire and an Emulsion made of the four greater cold Seeds and Cichory and Bugloss-water giving now and then Jalap and Crystall of Tartar Forbearing Wine Sowr Meats and other things that breed Scorbutick Blood He lived until he was fourscore and three years old Hofmannus Suffocatio or Suffocation or Strangling The Contents Bleeding is often convenient I. Fear of Suffocation from the Lungs distended with Wind. II. How they that are strangled with an Halter may be recovered III. By what means they that have been Suffocated in the Water have been brought to Life again IV. The Cure of those that are Choaked with Smoak V. With the Steam of Must VI. With the Veins too full of Blood VII With Worms coming into ones Throat VIII With the swelling of the Thymus IX With poysonous Mushromes X. Men may be taken with Fits like Hysterick ones XI An easy Remedy in fear of Strangling XII 1. FOr them that are Strangled or Choaked the suffocating Humor having recourse to the Throat either because the Blood is forcibly carried to the Heart or Brain whether it come from the Womb or from some other Place Bleeding is never amiss in this Symtome that is if you find the Pulse strong and the Veins full Bleeding is also good when it comes from drinking cold Water as Diascorides advises for Bleeding is not convenient because the Water is alwayes hot or because Infectious but because there is much in the Veins Bocallus II. Sometimes Wind distends the Lungs so violently that it causes Suffocation unless help be given by opening the Breast by Paracentesis which is often done at Paris to the great advantage of the Patient and the ease of the Breast though no Water run out but Wind break out violently Hippocrates calls them ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã whose Breast is distended with Wind. Riolanus III. Anne Green a lusty young Woman about 22 years of Age was tried for killing her Child and hung on the Gallows for half an hour Her kindred who stood by that she might be dispatched of her punishment by a speedy Death some of them beat the poor Wretch on the Breast others hung on her Feet and others lift up her Body that as it fell down again it might draw the Halter closer She was reckoned by all People to be Dead and was taken from the Gallows The Physicians waited for the Body to dissect it but Dr. Petty and Dr. Willis who were to dissect it observing her to breathe altered their Minds and consulted how they might save her Life They directed all there Care to procure the free and accustomed Motion of the Blood Therefore forcing open her Mouth they poured in Spirits and Waters which in a small quantity do very efficaciously strengthen the Heart They diminished the quantity of Blood which would otherwise have been burthensome to the oppressed Heart and took at several times repeated in all to the quantity of 20 ounces that the Heart might when eased of the abundance of Blood more easily and readily distribute the rest into the whole Body and might the more eagerly draw to it self that which stagnated in the Veins or moved too dull They laid Cataplasms round her Neck and anointed her all over with Oyls and hot Spirits that the Bruises might be discussed and that the Blood might pass more freely to the Head by the Carotides and repass by the Jugulars They ordered Clysters full of Spices to be given her both that they might get out the Excrements which perhaps might be troublesome to the Guts and might prove more prejudicial to other Parts and that they might quicken the Motion of the dull Blood in the mesenterick Vessels Upon this she first scratched her Hands by and by she could open her Eyes and move several Parts and was able to Cough Afterwards being further helped by the dexterity of the Physicians she could understand the by standers talk observe and laugh She found a Pain and numbness in the bruised Parts and in a few dayes time she was well and was able to go about her Affairs Wepferus IV. A Girl not three years old fell into a Vessel full of Soap-water and being full of it she seemed to Breathe her last she slept profoundly rattled and scarce drawing any Breath was quite Choaked such a murmuring Noise coming upon her as is usual in People that are dying I was called and I ordered that a Decoction of Barly unhusked Liquorish and Figs should continually be poured in a little warm and when she had Vomited gently and had cast up all the Soap-water and freed her in a few hours from Suffocation her Mother if I had not hindred her had given her Rhenish Wine which indeed is amicable to Nature but it might not only have easily carried the poysonous Matter in the Soap to the Heart but it might easily have raised an inflammation and a Fever In the year 1577. when a great many Boyes and Girles had got upon an old rotten Bridge to see a Soldier that was fallen into the Water The Bridge broke and a great number fell into the Water and were in danger of their Lives to whom when I was called they all escaped by taking a Decoction of Chamaemil Flowers in Beer by which we made them sweat in Bed which I did to several others and they all recovered Forestus My Son Frederick Bonet 20 Months old she that tended him having left him was walking over a Pit full of new quenched Lime and being thrust by one about his own Age he fell into it She who had the care of him coming immediately jumped into the Pit threw him upon the edge of it and she her self could scarce get out by reason of the deepness of the Pit and softness of the Lime She immediately poured some Wine that happened to be in the way into his Mouth when he breathed not at all but seemed as one dead by means whereof he vomited the Water and some signs of life appeared By and by lest the Acrimony of the Lime wherewith his whole Body was smeared should hurt him she cut the Girdle wherewith his Clothes were tied and put him naked into a Pale of Water and
proper XIII Medicines I. WHether may Blood be let when People are in a swoon In a spurious Syncope which the stopping of the Blood in the Veins breeds which according to Hippocrates and Galen l. 4. acut must be esteemed twofold one from store of Blood in the greater Vessels another only from the Carotides and jugulars Blood must immediately be taken away ere it being deprived of its Spirits become concrete and the Disease be incurable as much as convenient considering the strength and fulness of the Body Which when done and a spare course of diet is followed we must divert what is contained in the Body to the lower parts and afterwards what concrete Blood there is we must make it fluid with drinking hot things and by gently rubbing the whole Body But in this case it is very rare that one can make the Blood fluid unless the Spirits be much stronger than before for if not or if the Pulse be bad it is a sign that the Blood is then concrete in which case we must wholly abstain from Blood-letting and make use of such Remedies as may make the concrete Blood fluid as Hares-rennet in water and Honey or water and Honey with Marjoram boyled in it with the addition of a little Oxymel or half a drachm of Treacle or Mithridate dissolved in the said water But if you be certain that the Blood is not concrete you can no way sooner bring the Patient to life again than by letting him Blood Which when you have done once if the Patient bear it well and if the Blood run high you may try the Remedy again till you find the Patient relieved but if no Blood will come you may reckon it is concrete and you need try no more II. A Woman as she saw her Husband fighting with his Neighbour fell into a Swoon I was called and by my order she was cured by Bleeding In this sick Woman the Blood had for fear and grief retired to the Heart as to a tower by which when the Heart is suffocated I have observed several have died both because the vital faculty is extinguished by too great abundance and because the Spirits cannot pass through the Vessels for want of which the extream parts grow dead In so great decay of Spirits let the Physician never omit Bleeding But âf by reason of extream loss of strength and the abolition of the pulse in a manner the Physician be doubtful let Cupping-glasses be set to his Hips and Thighs with scarifications instead of Bleeding Fontanus III. It often counterfeits an Apoplexy but without ratling nor does it leave a Palsie behind it If it return often violently at length it oppresses and suffocates the Heart not only because the excursion of the Blood is intercepted by the plenitude of the Vessels but because some thick substance of the Blood being forced within the Ventricles of the Heart oppresses it which causes an Asphyxy in the motion of the Heart and Arteries This Disease is as frequent among the Germans as the Apoplexy from their athletick habit of Body which is contracted from their continual good fellow-ship and drinking Yet they take no care to take down that plethorick habit by Bleeding liberally And so no wonder if through such abundance of Blood Riolanus they fall into an Apoplexy or a Cardiack Syncope IV. Vinegar of Roses is not good for every Syncope for seeing contrary causes must needs be removed by contrary Remedies therefore it is manifest that the dissolution of the Spirits must be cured one way and their suffocation or infection another Wherefore we conclude with Capivaccius 2. pract cap. 9. that a Syncope coming from a dissolution of the Spirits may be very well taken off by the use of cooling things applied especially to the Forehead Face region of the Heart and Wrists in which case Vinegar of Roses is proper for Vinegar penetrates and Roses cool and concentre the Spirits But if suffocation be the cause attenuation and dissolution of the Morbifick matter is of necessity required which cannot at all be done by cooling things wherefore here we must have recourse to Cresses Nigella Mithridate Cinnamon water rubbing the extream parts c. If there be Malignity we must provide for the Heart by Bezoarticks No wonder then if in the absence of Physicians Patients often dye in a Swoon For it may so happen that the Spirits which are otherwise suffocated may by applying some common cooling Remedy be further conglobated about their principle and by this means the vital faculty may be utterly suppressed Horstius V. When a Patient is liker to one dead than alive so that he can neither open nor shut his Mouth much less swallow any thing as he should then it will be the best way to take some Aromatick Oyls either simple or compound mingled only and stirred together a little with rectified Spirit of Wine or more nearly joyned together by a greater artifice and long circulation and pour 3 or 4 drops into the Patient's Mouth and sometimes more and especially by a Silver or Golden pipe into the Throat to the end they may penetrate both into the Stomach and Guts from whence the cause of so grievous an evil is often dispersed to all parts and into the Pipes of the Lungs to the very Blood that sticks in the Pulmonary Vessels Sylvius de le âoë and so correct and amend this urgent harm VI. A Noble-man complained to me that he immediately fell into a Swoon as he turned himself on his left Side and his Spirits were so far gone that he was got out of it with much difficulty When I inquired into the cause I reckoned some Melancholick Humour having some ill quality in it sent a poysonous Vapor from the Spleen to the Heart which must be the cause of this Malignant Symptome nor was I deceived in my conjecture For when he was put in a right course of Diet after his Body had universally been purged of Melancholy and particularly his Spleen by giving Medicines to open the Obstructions thereof and his Heart strengthened Riverius he was cured of it VII In a Swooning Fit sometimes such things must be given as powerfully concentrate the Spirits and acid Vapors and sometimes such as discuss glutinous ones Subtil things to the end they may penetrate to all parts may be mixt with them such are Spirituous things and volatil and Oyly Salts especially such as are prepared by art of divers parts of Animals or of certain Plants These are good Aromatick Tinctures drawn by means of rectified spirit of Wine from divers Spices or from any Aromatick parts of Plants or Animals either by infusion alone or also by destillation for example Take of water of Mint Fenel each 1 ounce Scurvy-grass Aqua vitae Matthioli each half an ounce Laudanum opiatum 2 grains Syrup of Mint 1 ounce oyl of Cloves Nutmeg destilled each 2 drops Mix them Give it by spoonfuls Let no
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
Also Emplastrum de baccis lauri is very effectual in expelling of Wind. ââânertus For Intemperature 1. In a cold intemperature of the Stomach I have long experienced this Plaster to be of wonderful virtue Take of Diachylum majus Pitch or Turpentine each 2 drachms Diarrhodon Abbatis 2 drachms as much Wax as is sufficient Make a Plaster and apply it to the Stomach ¶ Oyl of Fir Indian Balsame and oyl of Mastich are also wonderful good in a dry cause Mercatus 2. Crocus metallorum Absynthiacus is excellent good in all Diseases of the Stomach Mynsichr 3. In a hot and moist intemperature of the Stomach I have often with success used this Electuary of Steel Take of prepared Coriander half an ounce Species Diatrion Santalon 2 drachms Roses powdered 1 drachm prepared Steel 6 drachms Sugar dissolved in Rose water what is sufficient Mix them Make an Electuary 4. This is an effectual Cataplasm in a cold intemperature of the Stomach which Rhases ad Almansorem makes of Styraz Spike Wormwood Calamus Aromaticus and Mastich sprinkled with old Wine and juice of Quinces ¶ In an intemperature of the Stomach coming from thick bile when it sticks fast to the Coats of the Stomach there can scarce be a better Remedy than Hiera ¶ In a cold and moist intemperature the following water is good which is good for a weak Stomach purges it of slimy Humours cures a Cachexy and hinders the breeding of Worms Take of Gentian lesser Centaury each 3 ounces Galangal Cinnamon Mace Cloves each 1 ounce flowers of Sage St. John's-wort Rosemary each half an handful white Wine 4 pounds Sennertus Digest them 8 dayes and then destill them 5. Flowers of Roman Wormwood and tops of Melilot boyled in Wine and strained The Colature drunk is highly commended in a cold intemperature of the Stomach ¶ Syrup of Carduus Benedictus is reckoned a present Remedy in a cold and moist Stomach if taken warm in the Morning Weikardus Ventris Dolor or the Belly-ach See the Colick Book III. Vertigo or Swimming in the Head The Contents The Method of Cure I. Whether a Vein may be breathed II. A Vein may he breathed in the Fit III. What Vein must be bled IV. Sweating may do good V. Arteriotomy sometimes does good VI. Issues Setons Burnings when and where they are proper VII Cured by an Issue in the Leg. VIII Whether we may Purge IX We must use gentle things X. Vomits are good XI Errhina do no hurt XII When Repellents may be applied XIII What Posture of Body should be used XIV Medicines I. AN accidental Vertigo or any that is new is for the most part cured by Bleeding and Purging sometimes For the cure of one that is habitual and inveterate there are three Medical Intentions 1. When all the matter for the Disease to feed upon is taken away we must endeavour to preserve the Brain free from new afflux of Morbifick matter for which purpose when a right course of Diet is ordered sometimes bleeding and a gentle purge given frequently at intervals will be convenient Let a dry and airy place be chosen let immoderate and unseasonable sleep and study be avoided let him abstain from Mornings and Evenings draughts instead of the former let him drink Tea or Coffee made with a few leaves of Sage mixt with them let an Issue be made in the Leg or Arm and sometimes let the Haemorrhoid Veins be opened let the Party affected alwayes rise betimes and every Morning wash his Temples and Fore-head with cold water and rub it with a course cloth 2. The second Intention will be to take away the procatarctick causes wherefore we must endeavour both that the cacochymick Dyscrasie of the Blood and the weak and too lax constitution of the Brain may be amended For the First Medicines that are powerful alteratives as temperate Antiscorbuticks chalybeates and sometimes Spaw-waters or Whey are proper To which because of the latter thing indicated cephalick Medicines must alwayes be added such namely as are made of Coral Amber Man's skull Male Paeony root Misletoe Peacock's dung c. 3. The third Intention which is properly curatory takes away the conjunct cause which nevertheless when the procatarctick are removed usually ceases of it self For if the approach of all extraneous matter into the Brain be prevented there will nothing remain but pure Spirits which having got liberty and room enough within the callous body they disperse themselves thence every way However for this scope of cure we must give now and then Medicines endued with a volatil Salt whose very subtil and active particles recreate the Animal Spirits such as especially are spirit of Harts horn Soot Sal Ammoniac impregnated with Amber Mans Skull c. Tinctures of Coral Amber Antimony Elixir of Paeony and the like Moreover it may not be amiss to adumbrate the method of cure a little more particularly in showing what must be done upon account of the cure in the Paroxysm and what for preservation out of it 1. As for the first although the coming of the Vertigo how cruel soever it seems have for the most part no danger in it and goes often off of it self because the Patients think they will dye and do desire the aid of Medicine in such a case after a Clyster has been given let Blood if the Pulse indicate it Then apply a blister to the Neck and smell to strong things as Castor spirit or volatil Salt of Harts-horn Urine or Sal Ammoniack These Spirits also may be given twice or thrice a day with a convenient dose of Cephalick decoction at the hour of sleep take a bolus of Mithridate with powder of Castor The next day if the Disease be not gone let him take a gentle Purge Or if the Patient be enclined or easie to vomit let him take a Vomit than which there is scarce a better Remedy 2. And now we must consider what must be done out of the Fit for the cure of an inveterate and almost continual Vertigo Therefore when I have put the Patient in a course of Bleeding and Purgeing according to his constitution and strength it is my custome to advise him to take a Vomit once a Month if nothing contra-indicate For which end the weaker sârt after they have stuffed their Stomachs with slippery meats may take 2 or 3 ounces of Wine or Oxymel of Squils and afterwards drink store of Carduus posset drink till they vomit Others may take a Vomit of Salt of Vitriol or Sulphur of Antimony or infusion of Crocus Metallorum As for Issues Blisters Bleeding the Haemorrhoids Plasters or Caps for the Head also Plasters to the Feet or Wrists for revulsion or derivation sake let the Physician consider whether they be needful And because all things agree not with all People the Physician must try divers Medicines and various Methods sometimes one sometimes another The Vertiginous may drink for their ordinary drink
Aristolochia rotunda ¶ This is a sure Remedy for Ulcers with worms in them Take of Savin 2 handfuls Camphire half a drachm the middle rind of an Hazle 1 pugil Boyl them in a sufficient quantity of Wine pour it into a Vessel put the Ulcerous Foot into it and immediately little Worms will come out Swimming upon the Liquor Repeat this several times Joh. Agricola and the Ulcers will be cured 2. Black earth Snails which are found creeping among the leaves and grass without Houses in Spring time Enzelius mashed together and applied to Ulcers soften all Ulcers wonderfully 3. To inflamed Ulcers apply the narcotick Spirit of Vitriol which is made of calcined Vitriol and Spirit of Wine mixt together and putrefied in a close Glass for a Month. This Spirit separated is good not only to allay all Inflammation Faber and pains of Ulcers but of the Gout it self 4. I take water Frogs and hang them in a Cucurbit so as they may not touch the bottom and burn and so the water which is drawn off get a strong Smell I put fire under it and draw it off gently in Sand and keep it for use For it is most precious in malignant and cancrous Ulcers also in a Polypus Ozaena and in Ulcers of the pudenda and sedes it extinguishes Inflammation and corrects malignity I put not out the fire till they be perfectly dry and no more water will come over but I keep that which comes last by it self for it smells something strong and is not so grateful in Ulcers of the Mouth and Nose The Frogs thus dried I put into a melting crucible and burn them to white ashes They are good not only to stop Blood Guil. Fabricius but in all malignant and sordid Ulcers for if they be strewed thereon they cleanse and correct malignity 5. This is a most excellent Oyntment Take of Oyl of unripe Roses 6 drachms Myrtle unguentum populeon each 3 ounces leaves of Plantain Nightshade each 1 handful shred them and mix all together let them stand 8 dayes shaking them every day then strain them add to the colature of wax 4 drachms Mix them upon the fire till they melt stirring them with a stick when it is warm add of Litharge of Gold 6 drachms Ceruss 2 drachms prepared tutty 2 drachms Camphire 1 drachm and an half Mix them in a Mortar for 2 hours Eust Rhudius 6. The root of Dragons is excellent for Cacoethick Ulcers 7. The juice of Pimpernel with the purple flower Poterius with the Herb bruised and applied to malignant Ulcers perfectly cures them Rhumelius 8. Mercury precipitate corrected is a singular Remedy against all Ulcers 9. Many in a deplorable condition have been happily freed from their Ulcers by a decoction of Mint wherewith the Ulcers are washed Morning and Evening and afterward some powder of Rue strewed on Mart. Rulandus ¶ Oyl of Sulphur and Emplastram Diasulphuris anoynted and applied does the same 10. Some cure the most desperate Ulcers with this mixture They take of Mercury sublimate 1 drachm they powder it very fine they pour to it the best rectified Spirit of Wine 1 pound They set it in a Glass Body in Sand till the Sand grow hot and the Spirit of Wine burn They boyl also a drachm of Lignum Guaiacum in 3 pints of water half away when the water is cooled and filtred they add the said Spirit of Wine Sacââ which mixture is applied with lint and tents to the Ulcers 11. Take of Salt of Litharge it is prepared as Sal Saturni with destilled Vinegar 1 drachm Spirit of Turpentine 2 drachms macerate them in hot Ashes till the Liquor grow red It is of admirable vertue in inveterate Ulcers Tumours Schroderat and Wounds 12. I have often experienced the following Plaster to be good Take of Vnguentum diapomph diapalma griseum each 1 drachm gum Elemi 2 drachms Saccharum Saturni 1 scruple a little Wax Mix them and make a Plaster ¶ Spirit of Wine especially is excellent in deterging and cleaning putrid Ulcers Sennertus and therefore should be mixt with other Medicines 13. The following unguent is effectual in absterging Ichors and foulness of Ulcers Take of juice of Parsly half a pound Myrrh 2 drachms Turpentine 1 drachm and an half Boyl them all together make an unguent wherewith rags and tents may be smeared and put into the hollow of the Ulcers Valleriola this cleanses well without any harm Vomitus or Vomiting The Contents Bleeding is good for some I. The efficacy of a Cupping-Glass II. It must sometimes be cured by Vomiting III. The efficacy of Clysters in stopping one IV. When nourishing ones must be given V. Cured by Elixir Proprietatis VI. Stopped with Medical Waters VII With a draught of cold Water VIII The way to stop it when caused by corrosive Poysons IX How when caused by a Malignant quality X. In Scorbutick Persons it is better stopt with Milk than with astringents XI How it may be stopt when the meat is cast up because of the depression of the Cartilago Xiphoides XII The stopping of it when a Vomit works too violently XIII A periodical vomiting of black Choler stopt by the use of Lenitives XIV One caused by a great laxity of the Stomach cured by eating of biscoct bread XV. The cure of one caused by the obstruction of the Arteries of the Spleen XVI A pertinacious Vomiting of Meat from the palsie of the Mouth of the Stomach XVII Some is stopt by a Narcotick mixt with a Purge XVIII Cautions about anoynting the Stomach XIX Plasters are better than Oyntments XX. When the Stomach refuses necessary Medicines how they may be kept XXI The cure of one coming from a Malignant Fever XXII When Meat may be given XXIII Some Vomiting is Idiopathick some Sympathick XXIV The cure of it when something is bred in the Stomach XXV When it comes from a sharp and hot matter XXVI From the fault of the Stomach that corrupts what it takes XXVII From the resolution of the Stomach and the nerves being affected XXVIII How Laudanum must be given XXIX Medicines Barbette I. BLeeding must of necessity be celebrated in an Inflammation of the parts otherwise it does harm ¶ A young Man of a good habit upon the breaking in of a hot matter out of the right Hypochondrium fell suddenly into vomiting and could be cured by no means but by Bleeding though the Physicians were very doubtful about it for after it the intemperature of the Liver ceased A Seaman who had a vomiting and an appetite could not stop it by setting a Cupping-glass to the bottom of his Stomach but only by taking away some Blood for when the hot evaporation of the Liver was abated Rhodius which did pierce the upper orifice of the Stomach the Patient recovered II. A Countryman 34 years old fell into frequent vomiting after his Meat which lasted for some dayes so that he
altogether on the influx of the animal Spirits by a wonderful consent and co-action betwixt each Portion of the Soul is most exactly proportioned according to the accension of the Blood Wherefore accordingly as the Blood doth intend or remit its effervescency or aestus by the Medicines that are taken presently the animal Spirits that move the Heart exactly obeying its condition cause the Heart to beat more quickly or slowly and also if the animal Spirits be affected by the same Medicine the Pulse is likewise on that account rendred more or less strong or vehement whilst in the mean time the vertue of that Medicine reaches no more to the Heart it self than to the Hands or Feet or any other Muscle Therefore that the first rank of Cordials whereby the Enormities of the Blood are cured may be rightly ordered it will be fitting to consider how many and by what ways its liquor both as to its accension and its Crasis or mixture is wont to be perverted or depraved and moreover what sort of Medicines vulgarly reputed Cordials are required for each of its disorders First therefore the Blood is sometimes not accended enough nor circulated with vigour as we may observe in many languishing People namely such as lie long Sick or have suffer'd great Hemorrhagies or other immoderate Evacuations or are worn out with old Age who namely together with a weak Pulse and decayed Strength have their extreme Parts for the most part cold and pale the reason whereof is because the Blood is become almost vappid and effete through the too great wasting and depression of the Sulphureous Particles and therefore it is accended very sparingly in the Lungs To which is often added that the animal Regiment failing also the Heart being destitute of a plentiful influx of Spirits does not enough exagitate the Blood that it may effervesce and be accended the more briskly The Remedies to be used in this case are generous Wines Strong or Burning Waters or such as are more mild distill'd with Spices or Aromata Aromatick Powders Species and Confections Chymical Oils and Spirits Tinctures Elixirs and other things endued with sulphureous and spirituous Particles to wit such as may exagitate the Blood more and make it more inflammable and turgid and seeing the same do withal exsuscitate and comfort the animal Spirits they therefore make the Heart beat more briskly and strongly Secondly The Blood through its sulphureous Particles being too much loosed and driven into a fervor is often too much accended and disperses an over-intense and very troublesom heat through the whole Body wherefore that it being so much rarefied and flagrant may be kept within the Vessels and also eventilated the Heart beating vehemently and quickly drives the Blood about with great labour and endeavour Therefore in this case cold and attemperating Cordials are to be used which may bridle and allay the fervour of the Blood and also kindly recruit the animal Spirits that they may now perform the more difficult tasks of life For which ends the distilled Waters of Borage c. the juices of Sorrel Citron c. are wont to be used to which Opiats are often added with profit for the impetus of the Heart being a little bridled the Blood does more happily and sooner remit its effervescence But the Blood is not only depraved and perverted as to its too much or too little accension but diversly also through its Crasis or mixture Nor are Cordials presently requisite in all its Dyscrasies but only in those which being excited in Fevers seeing they are sudden and outragious threaten a total Corruption to the mass of Blood The Blood effervescing feverishly is in danger as to its Crasis two ways chiefly namely 1. Either the Band of the mixture is too strait so that all the Particles are so complicated and combin'd with one another that the Excrementitious cannot be extricated from the Profitable and the thin from the thick as it happens in some continual and putrid Fevers which although they be but little or not at all Malignant yet because they can have no Crisis either by Sweat or Perspiration sometimes end in Death Or 2. The Blood in Fevers has its Crasis perverted the contrary way namely by a too great Laxity of its Particles in which case Cordials of another sort viz. Alexipharmacks are required For it often happens that its Compages is too much loosened and pulled asunder as to its Crasis by heterogeneous Particles either bred within it self or pour'd into it from somewhere else so that the common band of its mixture being dissolved its Parts every where fall asunder and then the Portions of the coagulated extravasated or stagnating Blood being fixed here and there putrefie and are corrupted and at length the whole mass is so much vitiated that it is no longer fit for continuing the vital Flame or for extilling the animal Spirits into the Brain wherefore all the Functions must then needs flag by degrees and life perish at last The Cordials requisite in this case must consist of such Particles as being conveyed into the Blood and circulated with it persist still unconquered but yet are withal benign which while they enter into all the Pores and Passages of the mass of Blood do everywhere exagitate the other malignant Particles pull them from their Concretions and at length either subdue them or drive them forth by which means the Blood being freed from its poysonous mixture and withal from all its private Coagulations and being again divided into its smallest and elementary Particles recovers in short time its former salutiferous mixture Moreover that it may appear more plainly in what manner Alexeteries preserve the Blood and Juices of our Body from afflatus or taints or free them from corruption when they are already touched therewith we must consider how other Liquors that are liable to Putrefaction are preserved or when they are seis'd upon thereby may be restored Therefore concerning Beer we may observe that being of its own nature soon apt to grow sowr it is made durable by boiling Hops in it likewise that common Water which otherwise would soon putrefie continues a great while unalter'd by boiling or infusing bitter Vegetables in it of which sort there are also Alexipharmacks Moreover that the juices of Herbs and some other Liquors being already grown musty if they be smoaked by burning of Sulphur recover their former vigour Besides that Wine Beer and other kinds of Drink being grown almost dead and good for nothing do often revive by exciting a fermentation in them anew The reason whereof is that seeing the corruption of any thing consists in the exsolution of the elementary Particles and in their departing from one another whatsoever detains them in motion and perfect mixture while they tend to flight and confusion preserves that Concrete so long safe and sound Moreover if any thing do again bring together the Elements that were loosed and going to depart from one another 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 obtând 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
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 âhort 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
Helmont reckons the frequent use of Thermae or hot Bathes amongst the impediments of life It is certain indeed that by their use the antecedent cause as fluxions or Humours turgid with wild or preternatural Salts is removed whence they have profited some gouty persons whose members were swelled by the preceding distemper and they have found ease for a time but what becomes in the mean time of the minera or fountain of the Disease this being left untoucht especially in Diseases that consist of their ferments how should it not be made more fierce and tyrannize more over the Body Not to mention that being sometimes administred to the hypochondriacal by operating more vehemently on the ferments of the viscera they destroy them without our observing it and change the whole mass of Blood and the nervous juice by their violent action and exalt the heat of the Bowels which is the cause that occasion is given for new ebullitions afterwards and a source of new fluxions springs up the members become slippery and relaxed the Body being softned by them and lurking fluxions especially in less prepared Bodies being dissolved thereby from a little fire there has arisen a great flame the malady growing worse Whence Omichius in Epist 7. l. 5. Timaei speaks very much against their use saying That he had so ill success from the use of Thermae or hot Baths in the Gout that contracting an Hectick heat thereby he was almost become tabid yea and that his fits were more frequent and cruel than they used to be ever before I have known none proceeds he that was freed from fits of the Gout by the use of them but that every one found the fits rather stronger and frequenter as soon as they enter'd into such Baths Hence some attribute to some Thermae a certain arsenical poison that is an enemy to the vital powers F. O. Grembs l. 3. c. of the shortness of Man's Life § 77. p. 472. Perhaps through the arsenical poison of the Sulphur whose halitus affect some mens nostrils Although besides this deleterial quality they want not others also which are like those occult ones that are drawn from the class of Minerals seeing it is clear by experience that they have in process of time produced in the indisposed besides erosions of the viscera cachexies atrophies in some swoonings and other admirable Symptomes So that some are of opinion that the same thing happens to some Thermae especially taken inwardly which Disp contr Paracels p. 3. p. 211. Th. Erastus T. Zwingerus in his preface that he prefixed before Santis Ardoyni's book of poysons and Oporinus in his Epistle concerning Paracelsus's Medicines and their deleterial vertues have left written viz. That many who for a time have found help from these Remedies have died in a short while after The examples are odious but I leave these things to be further examined by others See Moser of the abuse of Thermae and Acidulae Fred. Hofm Meth. Med. lib. 2. c. 6. and the history of the Life and Death of Bacon Lord Verulam XII Dry Baths in an heated air seeing they too much inflame the Body and drive Humours violently toward its surface are not so approved of as moist Yet if such Bath be made of the steam or smoak that arises from the decoction of a moist Bath we may a little heat our Body thereby and so dispose it for its entrance into the moist bath that this latter may operate the better XIII Note that Baths are not so convenient when Epidemical distempers rage especially the plague for by opening the pores they make the entrance for the contagion the easier Wedel de c. m. ext p. 98. XIV Baths are not good when the Serum is much encreased or moved whether in a state that is partly according to Nature or in a preternatural whether as to the whole Body or to some certain parts hence they are wont not to succeed so well in the cacochymical and plethorick whence they do hurt in the cachexie Dropsie as also in the cough coryza catarrhs upon the breast yea there have been some who being troubled with a coryza or defluxion of rheum into the Nose or Ears have upon their entrance into a Bath lost their smell or hearing Nor are they good in Inflammations of the parts In Catarrh deliram p. 360. as in an erysipelas Nor is Helmont's opinion to the contrary to be regarded who says that such Baths are often good in destillations because they are not profitable even to the Gouty themselves for we have observed that the parts being thereby swelled Wedel de c. m. ext p. 101. have occasioned the greater afflux of Humours XV. It is clear by experience that hot and Sulphureous Baths do very much exalt the Saline and other morbid particles in Mans Body that dwell within the viscera or are contained in the Humours and bring them suddenly to the highest pitch namely by exagirating of them they make them more unruly and drive them forward out of the first ways into the Blood and from thence into the Brain and genus nerveâum and moreover join together those that were severed and quiet before and excite them into a certain effervescency Wherefore those that are subject to either an hereditary Gout or Stone and as yet have had no fits of those distempers do often perceive that by the use of Baths the fruits of both these Diseases are presently ripen'd in them Willis de morb Convuls cap. 9. XVI Sulphureous Thermae or hot Baths contain four things 1. Water 2. An oiliness 3. An acid Spirit 4. A little lixivial Salt For Chymists know that all Sulphur does chiefly consist of an oil and an acid Spirit and it is manifest 1. from its ready burning whereby it is clear that oil abounds in it for only fat and oily things are the fuel of fire 2. From its long continued burning which depends upon an acid Spirit 3 From the oil that may be drawn from it per campanam which testifieth its acid Spirit Seeing therefore Sulphur consists of an acid Spirit and oil it is manifest that Sulphureous Baths abound with the same Now these are generated of a Water endued with a very acrimonious lixivial Salt concurring with the minera of Sulphur by which Salt and the acid Spirit of Sulphur there is raised an effervescence and with the effervescence an heat and so the Water also and the Oil do join after a sort into one These Baths have a notable penetrating vertue wherefore they reach to the inmost parts of the Body that are affected Now that which penetrates so is the acid Spirit that is intimately mixt with the lixivial Salt and temper'd with the oil by the vertue of which oil it tempers also the acrimonious Humour that sticks to the Membranes and twitches them and gives occasion for convulsions c. I say it both tempers it by its oily substance and also corrects the same by
fine commending that saying of our Master's That in desperate cases 't is better to let our Patients dye than to kill them XXXVII 'T is a question where there be a Cautery without pain to which it is rightly answer'd if we speak comparatively That there is For those things that are of greater activity and forthwith corrupt the part cause little or no pain Crystals of Silver afford such a Cautery that are made of Silver with aqua fortis Moreover we see such a thing in the Body not only outwardly in a Gangrene and mortification where we may Mechanically and Elegantly as it were conceive such a like caustick Salt but also in a painless dysentery G. W. Wedel de s m. fac p. 64. when so great an Acrimony comes so suddenly on the membranous parts that it forthwith takes away all sense whence it is then absolutely mortal Cephalicks or Medicines for the Head See Book 3. Of the Diseases of the Head in general The Contents The distinction of Cephalicks I. Which are those that are called Volatil II. Which fixed III. Which of a middle nature IV. Cautions in their administration V. The hurt of Cephalick Waters Spirits c. VI. I. CEphalick Remedies respect either 1. the Membranes and Herves and their irritation tension which is very considerable in the Membranes and twitching and these are profitable in pains of the Head Falling-sickness Tremblings and Convulsive motions whether they be discutients or demulcents with a Balsamick Sulphureous vertue such as are paregoricks Germander Ground-pine Vervain Penny-royal Betony Rosemary-flowers Castor Amber c. or inverting and absorbing acrimony as chiefly Cinnabarines whence it appears how these very Medicines are good both in the Falling-sickness and Head-aches and also in pains of the Joynts in Pleuritick pains and so in the pains of any part of the Body The more correct Opiats belong hither also Or 2. they respect the Humours especially the Lympha or Serum and withal the Spirits and Vapours or thin Steams and indeed if these exceed in quantity then Evacuaters and diverters that are endued with a volatil oleous Sulphur such as are good in Catarrhs and repletion in the Vertigo Night-mare for some sort of Epilepsie in weakness of Memory c. as Peony wild Thyme Majoran c. but if they fail in their due quantity then Restorers Moisteners and diluters as inwardly watry Medicines Liquids Potions Decoctions drinking freely which are necessary ia Madness Melancholy too much watching if the Humours be acrimonious thin and salt then fixers and temperaters Or 3. they respect the Spirits which failing require Restorers volatil oleous Balsamicks in particular Ambergriefe Apoplectick Waters distilled Oyls c. which are profitable for prevention of the Apoplexy strengthen the Memory restore the Planet-struck c. But if the Spirits are unruly and too plentiful if they estuate and are enraged they are temperated by moisteners and restorers of the Serum by acids that restrain ratefaction nitrous Medicines that promote evaporation Opiats that tye as in Madness and Phrensie whence they are also good in want of Sleep Or 4. the vapours or halitus which being excessive preternatural and extraneous inasmuch as the Blood being too halituous or infected with a preternatural Sulphur just as we see in People drunk makes the Spirits turbulent are corrected as well by gentle aromaticks and strengtheners such as are vulgarly called Hinderers of Vapours from rising up to the Head and discussers of them as Coriander digesting powders that help concoction and strengthen the Stomach as also by acids which obtund the Sulphureous and Cholerick Humours as in Drunkenness But when these Vapours or halitus fail then roscid vapours all which yet is more rightly attributed to the Serum imbued with these qualities are restored both by moisteners whence in burning Fevers it is advisable to prescribe Epithems either of Rose-water only or Emulsions that notably moisten and cool and also by such things as breed an halituous Blood by gentle Aromaticks whence both Sennertus and Simon Pauli advise and experience her self also bears witness that want of Sleep in old Men is not so well helped by Opiates alone or by refrigerating Medicines as by sweet evaporating ones and such as are endued with an oleous Sulphur such as are species diambrae diamoschi and Wine it self which we have known some use with good success to the end namely that the Serum may be brought to its proper state and prevail by a resoluble Sulphur Or 5. Cephalicks respect the pores of the Brain it self either by opening of them when they are too much shut and obstructed or by shutting of them when they are too wide and gaping The pores of the Brain are opened by volatil Medicines especially Urinous if at any time they are depressed and closed up through the plenty of Humours or by subsidence compression or other causes and grant not a free passage to the Spirits as especially in the Palsie Apoplexy loss of Speech thick Catarrhs in which Distempers such Medicines as open the pores of the Nerves are of the greatest avail also in immoderate Sleep and the like Diseases Lethargy Sleeping Coma and others as for instance the Spirit of Sal Armoniack with which and the Spirit of the Lilies of the Valley I have cured a number of paralytick Persons sometimes also discussers are to be added And when the Pores are too wide they are closed both by Medicines that increase the Serum in substance and that bestow on the Blood a gentle resoluble Sulphur G. W. Wedâl de s m. fac p 80. whence they are good and are indicated both in want of Sleep raging deliriums Phrensie and in other intemperatures II. Cephalicks Volatils are 1. such as are endued with an Oleous Aromatick sweet Sulphur in one word Balsamicks as the Leaves and roots of Angelica the leaves of Rosemary Majoran Sage Rue the wood Sassaphras c. aad their Spirits Oyls and Volatil Oleous Salts And these are withal Paregorick and pacifie the irritated membranes and restore the fainting Spirits yea they correct also the hâlitus or vapours and widen the pores 2. Vrinous Volatils as the most renouned Spirit of sal Armoniack the Spirit of Urine whence the tincture of the Sun and Moon or Gold and Silver do almost wholly borrow their vertue 3. Acid Volatils as the cephalick striated Spirit of Vitriol Aqua Apoplectica Mulicrum c. although these are more fixed as it were Helmont was almost the first that observed that Cephalicks commend themselves by their volatil Salt So also Conserves Condites and other preparations of Vegetables belong hither Idem III. Fixed Cephalicks are either earthy as Perles Corals Cinnabar or Acid or Nitrons or watry diluters and these are of use to absorb and dilute Acrimonious Humours that irritate the membranes to bind doze and pacifie the enraged Spirits and to procure liberty to the pores inasmuch as they absorb the Acrimony of the Humours IV. Cephalicks
't is safer to allow a too full than too spare a Diet though as to the quantity we must rather look to subtract Which being observed the two places in Hippocrates which seem to contradict one the other may be easily reconciled the one is 2. de Vict. rat Acut. where he says We must much less intend the addition of Meats but it is often altogether expedient to subtract And the other 1 Aph. 5. Sick Persons offend in a thin Diet whereby they come to be more hurt inasmuch as any errour here is wont to be worse than in a little too full a Diet. For in the former place Hippocrates speaks of the quantity in which the same form of Diet being observed it is always better for us to be more sparing but in the latter he speaks of the form of Diet Sennert instit lib. 5. p. 2. Sect. 3 c. 3. which if it be thinner than it should be it brings greater inconveniences than if it were a little too full IV. Some have thought that it is the same thing in Acute Diseases to give a little of some more solid and stronger Meat as to give such a quantity of some thinner Spoon meat as yields so much nourishment as the little solid Meat that is taken in its room But their opinion is refuted by Hippocrates Lib. de Veter Medic. v. 91. Whosoever says he take dry Meat Hasty-pudding or Bread although but very little they are ten times more and more manifestly hurt than if they had used Spoon meat for no other reason but because of the strength of the Victuals in respect to the Disease and in respect to him for whom it is convenient to sup but not to eat Here Hippocrates manifestly affirms that when we eat something that is stronger than the condition of the Disease and the nature of the Patient require it always does harm though in a small quantity it does less harm than in a greater Which I would have common Practisers to note who use so readily to allow both Bread and Flesh Martian in dict loc and other solid food in acute Diseases V. Whether is Meat therefore to be detracted because there is a necessity to evacuate the Body I answer Though Meats are taken to recruit the Blood that is contained in the Veins yet the Blood that is stored up in the Veins takes not away the necessity of eating afresh otherwise Athletick Persons c. should need no Meat but might belong preserved without eating which they cannot Their Bodies namely for retaining their strength need some profitable juyce for the nourishment of the solid Parts and fresh Meat and Drink for the recruit of the Spirits otherwise they faint in their Mind and all their Faculties though they are full of Humours 'T is not therefore because evacuation is needful that there is no need of Meat nay perhaps sometimes there will be need of grosser Meat that the Faculty may sustain the Disease and the Evacuation It would be strange if you should bid your Patient eat nothing because he must be let Blood for by this means he will come to languish before so much is evacuated as is expedient What is that therefore which Hippocrates says Lib. 1. de Vict. Acut. t. 19 Whosoever use Barley-broths in these Diseases let them not permit their Vessels to be emptied one day as I may say but let them use them without intermission unless it be convenient to intermit them either for a Purge or for a Clyster Certainly it is not convenient that that meat which is fitting for the Disease should be let alone even for one day unless some other thing intervene which may cause an intermission as if at the hour the Patient was to Dine there unexpectedly happen a rigor or chilness through the beginning of another invasion of the Disease it is manifest that Dinner is to be omitted for that time So if when as the Patient used daily to eat at Noon some certain day he takes a Purge he must be dieted on that day not as he was wont but as the Purgation indicates The same thing may happen when a Clyster is to be used namely when the former meat is not descended the disposition requireth that the Clyster be injected and meat intermitted Valles comm in praed locum pag. 19. VI. When the Crisis is at hand Hippocrates withdraws Spoon-meat lest Nature be diverted from her work and the Crisis hindred But because by a Crisis Hippocrates commonly understands any solution of the Disease and not only that which is made to health suddenly and with some sensible evacuation Spoon-meat is not to be withdrawn before every Crisis but only in that which happens by the means of some sensible evacuation which he intimates a little after if the Patient be disturbed For when there happens a disturbance upon the Diseases proceeding to its highest vigour then there is to be expected a Crisis with a sensible evacuation according to Aphor. 13.2 From which opinion of Hippocrates there may be easily gathered a reason why in Diseases of the Breast 't is convenient to encrease Spoon-meat about the Crisis namely because in those Diseases there is no Crisis that has a disturbance preceding it and indicating a sudden Crisis with sensible evacuation seeing the matter is brought out by little and little by spitting which Spoon-meat will not hinder yea it will further it both by moistening the Parts of the Breast Martian comm in v. 138. V. Acut. and also by strengthning the Faculty VII There are different opinions whether the reason or manner of Diet should proceed by incrasfating or extenuating I shall make appear which is the truest by two Conclusions The first is When the Disease is known is simple and the Faculty strong the indication being taken from the Disease if that keep the matter for one critical evacuation the reason or manner of Diet ought to proceed by extenuating The reason is because all the times fall in together for the Disease when it is in the beginning state augment as to the alteration of the matter is in the beginning as to its Essence and as to its Symptoms Seeing therefore the Disease and Symptoms are less in the beginning and greater in the augment and yet more vehement in the state the indication being taken from the Disease it self we must seed more fully in the beginning more sparingly in the augment and the most thinly of all in the state The second Conclusion is When the Disease keeps not the matter from the beginning but that begins to be Purged out by degrees the manner of Diet ought not to proceed by extenuating but by incrassating The reason is when the Disease is in the augment or in the state as to the alteration of the matter the Patient hath now escaped the danger and the Disease hath had a Crisis because it is in its declination as to its essence and as to its Symptoms Therefore the
the white and use only the Yelk XXVIII Those who generally forbid Fish in sickness go contrary to the Ancients Experience and Reason Galen 1. ad Glaucon and 8. m. m. in the cure of an exquisite Tertian and Quartan grants Fish that live in stony Rivers Likewise in his Book concerning meats of good and bad juice he commends them so that it is certain they cannot hurt sick people he sayes they are grateful to the taste breed good Humours and that their frequent use is very safe which he confirms also in lib. 3. de alim Hippocrates that is more ancient than Galen lib. de Affection does also very much commend Fish the chiefest Physicians have followed these granting them in sundry Diseases Reason also consents for Fish that are easie of concoction and brittle do not easily putrefie nor burthen the Stomach and by their quality resist a Fever Some Interpreters of the Arabs say they are good in Fevers especially in Cholerick by reason of their cold and moist temperament and yet they are not good in that they easily corrupt and putrefie which distinction is vain if so be good Fish and such as live in stony Rivers be chosen for these are not so easily corrupted but afford a laudable juice nor do they nourish very much but yield a thin aliment to the Body such as is agreeable to many Diseases In those Diseases namely wherein meat may be granted Fish are often to be preferr'd before Flesh that nourishes more is more hardly concocted Primiros de vulgi Error l. 3. c. 25. See Zacut. Princ. âed histor lib. 1. quaest 19. and yields a more Acrimonious juice to the Body I mean not every sort of Fish but the best and the well drest as our age knows how to dress them well and I prefer boil'd Fish with the addition of vinegar juice of Lemon c. before broil'd or fry'd XXIX That which some expect from Crab-fish Cochles Snails Calves Lung and other parts of Animals the more sagacious Practitioners reject because the natural Balsam that glues the Lungs in Phthisical persons and refreshes the juiceless Body of the Hectick is not placed in a volatil Spirit or Salt that is raised by distillation but subsides in the bottom like earth or fixed Salt is corrupted and becomes unprofitable Distillations of flesh per descensum are to be preferred which are fit for the recruiting the Spirits Let a well flesht Capon be cut into pieces throwing away the fat Skin and extreme parts add if you please Veal or Mutton cut likewise separating all the fat from them Cast these into a glazed pot laying under them a wooden grid-iron that the bottom may be empty close the pot with a cover and lute it on with dough boil it in Balneo Mariae or a Kettle of Water for 5 hours three or four times a day give two or three Spoonfuls of the clear Liquor that distils out of them either alone or in some other Broth. XXX Our Ancestors used to prepare Restoratives on this manner They took the flesh of a Capon rejecting the fat and having cut it into bits and washt it in Wine or some Cordial Water they mixt with it Conserves accommodated to the Distemper or part also Powders and Waters adding sometimes some Gold-money or a Gold-chain all which being shut in a glazed Vessel they boiled in Balneo Mariae till the Leg of the Capon were boiled in the Kettle As for example in burning Fevers Take of the Conserves of Violets Bugloss and Water-Lilies of each an ounce of the powders of diamarg. frig and de gemmis of each two scruples and six leaves of Gold put them all in a glazed or glass Vessel that is carefully closed and well stopped with paste or lute which being put in another Vessel full of water is boiled till the Leg that was put in that other Vessel be boiled But there is an errour in this manner of composition in that no respect is had of the Medicines for they mix raw flesh with Cordial powders and boil them together forgetting the theorem of him that commands That such things as require long boiling are never to be mixed in decoctions with such as are more thin and light For if one boil the Flesh throughly the powders will be burnt but if they would not have the Cordial and odoriferous powders to be destroyed the flesh must needs remain raw and therefore they will never make a good Medicine Nor is that token of boiling enough to be received for seeing the Leg is to be boiled a good while because of its hard and carnous substance the Powders will not only be spoiled by this token but the flesh also it self will be too much boiled and dried away And those that boil Gold-chains dissolve nothing therefrom but the Quick silver or sordes But we instead of raw flesh take that which is half boiled or broth boiled for a quarter of an hour and let them heat and throughly mingle in warm water and then administer the strained liquor Being thus prepared it will neither be crude nor roasted nor boiled too much as in Diseases of the Breast Take of the broth of a Capon throughly boil'd half a pint of the water of bugloss and Violet Flowers of each two ounces of the water of Maiden-hair three ounces of the Powder of diamarg frig and diair simpl of each two drachms of pulv de gemmis one drachm and two leaves of Gold Rondelet p. m. 988. mix them and boil them in a double Vessel for a quarter of an hour then strain them c. XXXI It is not good to use Emulsions alone either for Meat or Drink I knew two Infants that died by this means viz. by giving them always and only all the day long Emulsions instead of Drink with an intent to strengthen and nourish them Hence I use not even in general to prescribe easily for Infants Emulsions or however not to be taken in any great quantity for Infants are endowed with a plentiful moisture a weakly Stomach fermentiscible and often bilious Humours bred of Milk or Meat corrupted So also if Patients presume to use Emulsions alone thereby to quench thirst they easily fall into the other extreme for it holds universally Wedel de med comp ext p. 66. Aliments are not to be confounded with Medicines XXXII Seeing your fructus horarii such as Cherries Plums Apricocks c. are profitable to attemperate the Summers heat but are hurtful and dangerous through their easie corruption they ought to be taken as much cooled as may be because seeing corruption is wrought by external heat be-being cooled they will continue without putrefying till they are concocted and will attemperate much more On the contrary being hot they do not attemperate at all and easily turn into a salt Phlegm or a serous kind of Choler whereby it comes to pass that almost all that eat hot fruits commonly fall into Tertians or other worser Fevers
not though the Disease be long or as if this did not encrease all Putrefaction XLI In some Diseases great respect is to be had to the Patient's manner of living otherwise they will be very hardly cured A cleanser of Jakes having smelt too good odours fell Sick and was at length cured by the smells he had been used to Zacutus placed a Patient that liv'd by the Sea-side in the Sand and cover'd him with it that he might cure him A Physician cured a Countrey-man that others had given over by allowing him Pulse and Rye bread And that the Region wherein we live makes many impressions upon us which we must have regard to I have observed that as we that live upon the Land grow nauseous and vomit in a Ship which Symptoms cease when we are returned to our accustomed Land so I have seen a Sea-man namely a Venetian that endured the same Nausea by riding on Horse-back that we do on the Sea â Poreâus Obs 59. âent 3. XLII Sleep procured by Art gets the Physician great esteem A certain Physician said that the way whereby he curried favour with his Patients was that they might have quiet rest the Night after he was called which he procured with the Syrup of ââd Pâppies which he prescribed for that Night I my self also being delighted with this Stratagem often please my Patients by giving them a magisterial Anodyne But how comes it to pass that Sleep coming either of its own accord or procured by the use of Soporiferous Medicines is often very offensive to the Sick who when they awake complain of a great weariness and uneasiness and find fault with those that wait upon them for letting them sleep so long desiring them to waken them if perhaps they should drop asleep I answer that even the healthful when they sleep immoderately are said to be soakt because their flesh is made more moist and the habit of their Body pufft up or bloated through the suppression of the fuliginous Excrement which ought to be digested and exhale by waking and the same thing happens sometimes in Persons ill of Fevers yet we must not therefore abstain either from spontaneous Sleep into which a man falls when his Spirits are enervated with heat or from that which is procured by Art Rolfinc de febribus c. 133. for all the uneasiness goes off in a little while and the Spirits are refreshed The Diet of Febricitant Persons in general The Contents Whether Food is always to be denied in an Ague-Fit I. Whether simple Food be alwayes best II. Whether the Food should be alwayes moist III. Whether the Meat be to be seasoned with Salt IV. Whether Milk may be granted V. Whether Fruits are to be denied altogether VI. Whether Fish be proper VII Whether Eggs be hurtful VIII Raw Lettuce may be granted IX Whether the juice of unripe Grapes or Verjuice c. be rightly put to their Meat X. The use of sweet things is hurtful XI Ptisan is extreme good XII Whether Wine be good in Putrid Fevers XIII Whether simple water be to be granted XIV Beer is not to be denied XV. How Drink is to be given to People in acute Fevers XVI It may be granted in the Paroxysms XVII It is to be given sometimes cold sometimes hot XVIII The same cooling Drink is not to be given to all without difference XIX Whether Barley water be to be rejected XX. Water is not to be boiled long XXI Cold water is not to be given through the whole course of the Disease XXII Whether the Sick are to be fed more liberally in the Winter than in the Summer XXIII When Sleep does good when hurt XXIV I. IN an Ague-fit food is not to be given according to Hippocrates aph 11. 1. For Nature as Galen in comm teacheth by the concoction of the new aliment is called off from the concoction of the morbifick Humours And besides in the âit all the Body is defiled with an impure vapour which taints and in a great measure corrupts the meat that is newly taken But if the Fit be so long or the Body of the Patient so hot and dry lean and of so thin a texture that it is easily dissolved and cannot hold out to the end of the sit he must eat somewhat even in the fit it self which will be better done in the state than at other times although even in the beginning and augment meat may be given if necessity urge So Galen 10. meth c. 5. in Agues was forced to allow victuals even in the beginning of the Fits to such as were of an hot and dry temper who can least indure fasting lest they should faint away In imitation of him Amatus Lusitanus cur 68. cent 4. gave to one in the beginning of the Fit that vomited clean Choler upon which he swooned bread soaked in water and sprinkled with Vinegar and so he hindred the foresaid Symptoms River That hurt which may happen from giving of meat in such like cases is obviated by giving some Veal or Chicken broth cold in France they call it Veal or Chicken water because it has a middle consistence betwixt mere water and broth thoroughly boiled for by this means the acrimony of the heat is attemperated and the imminent driness is hindered and yet Nature is not called off from her office of concocting the Morbifick matter which she more easily conquers when the acrimony of the Humours is mitigated and the fear of driness avoided Hippocrates sayes aphor 1. 11. It is hurtful to give meat in Fits we must therefore abstain the whole Fit if it may be but if not then till its declension but if we may not do that neither however we should avoid the beginning and three hours before unless in picrocholis or those who vomit up Choler who faint away through the acrimonious Choler that at that time flows plentifully towards the Mouth of the Stomach unless there be some fresh food there by the mixture wherewith it may be dulled for if meat be put off in these as it is wont to be in other febricitant Persons of an intermittent there is often made a continual Fever and for a simple one and one that would end with sweat if meat should be given in the beginning there ensues a syncopal or swooning one and for one that would end in health a mortal But if meat be given even in the very time of the Fit it sometimes not only hinders these dangers but also prevents the Fever it self which chiefly happens in those that vomit Choler Yea and moreover in others in whom there begins to be moved a Choler that is not so much thick and putrid as little in quantity thin and very adust and fumous through the twitching whereof the sensible parts begin in many to be pricked and quake and yet this Choler by taking something to eat presently or perhaps by drinking some Wine diluted with water is so attemper'd that they give over
are not fitting for all XV. Crudities do not always hinder their use XVI Let the Body be pure before the administration of them XVII Their success is doubtful XVIII They should be often used to make them successful XIX They are not to be mixed with Meats XX. The vertue of the cold Seeds is in the husk XXI Honey and Sugar increase their vertue XXII A safe Preparation of Cantharides XXIII The efficacy of volatil Salts XXIV Tartar requires but small Preparation XXV How the Roots of Asarabacca become Diuretick XXVI Some are gentle some strong XXVII When the stronger are to be used XXVIII I. THe Origins of many Diseases happen for want of a due separation of the Serum but as to this separation seeing there are faults of divers kinds the offence is for the most part either in defect or excess for sometimes the Serum does too pertinaciously adhere to the Blood and on the contrary sometimes it parts too soon from it and in this regard the Blood being not able to contain the Serum doth spue it out of the mouths of the Arteries in many places and almost every where and so depositing it in the viscera or the habit of the Body procures an ascites or anasarca and sometimes sending it off immoderately to the Kidneys it causes a diabetes When the Blood is too tenacious of the serum for the most part it is either over hot through a Fever having its compages too strict and the thicker Particles so incorporated with it that the thinner cannot easily get therefrom or being filled with scorbutick Salt and Sulphur it becomes very clammy and tenacious so that the serosities do difficultly slide out of the embraces of the rest And seeing the departure of the serum from the Blood is hindred or perverted so many ways Diuretick Medicines also are of a different Nature and Operation which yet may be distinguished 1. as to the End according to which they respect the mass of Blood or the Kidneys or both together 2. as to the Matter in which respect they are either Sulphureous or saline And these again are various according as the saline Particles are in a state of fixity fluor or volatility or are moreover nitrous or alkalizate 3. As to the Form these Medicines are of divers kinds Drinks Powders c. II. When the Blood through an incorporation and mutual combination of the fixed Salt with the Sulphur and Earth becomes so thick and tenacious that the watry Particles do not easily part from the rest the Diureticks which may loosen its compages and fuse the serum must be of such a sort as are endued with a volatil or an acid Salt for such Particles do chiefly dissolve the combination that the fixed Salt has entred into And seeing this disposition is common both to the Fever and Scurvy in the former the most proper Diureticks are both the temperate acids of Vegetables and also the Salt of Nitre the spirit of Sea-salt of Vitriol c. likewise those endued with a volatil Salt as the spirit of Hartshorn of Sal Armoniack the Salt of the juice of Vipers In a scorbutical Disposition when the Urine is both little and thick the juices of Herbs and both acrimonious and acid Preparations are of notable use also the salt and spirit of Urine Idem of Sal Armon of Tartar c. III. Sometimes the Blood keeps not its serum long enough within its compages but being subject to fluxions or rather coagulations and depositing the serum here and there in great plenty it raises Catarrhs or Tumours in divers places Or the Blood being habitually weak and withal dyscratick or intemperate namely inclining to sowrness is apt to coagulate as to its thicker Particles so that in the circulation the thinner being thrown off every where and falling upon the weaker Parts cause sometimes Cephalick or Thoracick Distempers sometimes an Ascites or Anasarca and from a like cause we think a Diabetes also springs For many dangerous Diseases which are mistakingly ascribed to the dyscrasies of the Viscera arise from this cause namely inasmuch as the Blood being of an evil temper and liable to coagulations cannot continue the thread of the circulation entire but in divers places deposits the Serum that is too apt to depart from it The Diureticks to be administer'd in this case are such as do not fuse the Blood but take away its coagulations as are those endued with a fixt volatil and also an alkalizate Salt moreover those that strengthen and restore the Ferment of the Kidneys as some sulphureous and spirituous For these purposes are sulphureous and mixt Diureticks the lixivial Salts of Herbs Shell-Powders the Salt and Spirit of Urine c. Hog-lice the roots of Horse Rhadish the seed of Smalledge Nutmeg Turpentine and its Preparations the spirit of Wine the vertue of all which is not to fuse the Blood and to precipitate the Serosities out of its mass these things acids chiefly do and in those cases often hinder making water but to dissolve the coagulations of the Blood so that its compages recovering an intire mixture and being circulated more quickly through the Vessels it resorbs the Serum that was every where extravasated and deposited and at length delivers it to the Kidneys to be sent off We shall shew afterwards how the Diureticks of every kind operate according to these two almost opposite ends of curing IV. As to saline Diureticks we must know that what Salts soever of a different state are mixed together do catch hold of one another and by and by are joined together and while they are so combined that other Particles which are loose from the mixture do retire by themselves or fly away This is seen when a fluid or acid Salt is joyned to a fixed or alkalizate also when a fluid or fixed is put to a volatil or acrimonious From this affection alone of the Salts does all the matter of all Solutions and Precipitations whatsoever depend Wherefore seeing the Blood and Humours of our Body abound with very much Salt which uses to be diversly changed from one state to another and thereupon to acquire a morbid disposition and seeing moreover there are divers kinds of saline Diaphoreticks namely such as are endued with a fixt fluid nitrous volatil and alkalizate Salâ there will always be need of the great discretion and judgment of the Physician that the saline Particles in the Medicine differ from those in our Body In what manner this should be done we will set forth by running through all the kinds of saline Diureticks 1. Amongst the Diureticks imbued with an acid Salt are the Spirits of Salt or Nitre also the juice of Lemons and Sorrel White Rhenish Wine and Cyder are of greatest note with the vulgar and often perform that intention For these alone fuse the Blood and precipitate it into serosities as when an acid is poured into boiling Milk But this happens not alike to all nor equally to every
antecedent cause viz. viscid and clammy Humours and so open and respect the ways but also help the rarefaction and fermentation of the Blood so that the flux returns on the very day whereon the Purge is taken And amongst other things Aloes also helps here whence Frid. Hofman relates that he had a Maid whose Terms could be no other ways promoted but by the use of pil Ruffi V. Or they restore and recruit the Blood it self and so make it fluxile whither belong Restoratives and a full Diet for it would be absurd if it fail in quantity to promote its motion Hence as women have a more serous and fluxile Blood namely such as is apter for turgescency and on this very account acquire a serous Plethora so we must also wholly provide for this VI. Emmenagogues are not to be given to women with Child whence they are always warily to be prescribed to those we suspect for whores when they complain of an obstruction of their Terms for though unless when there is a disposition to abortion they often drink the decoction of Savin c. in vain yet in a doubtful case we must not ascend above Steel-Remedies and moderate Aperients Neither are too hot Medicines to be given to Women with Child such as heighten the rarefaction of the Blood for as Women with Child through such preternatural rarefaction and fermentation or being seized upon by burning Fevers use for the most part to have their Terms preternaturally and consequently to suffer abortion so we must much less intend that by Medicines which also is the very reason why Purgers are not so convenient VII Aperients alone or provokers alone are not to be used indifferently Physicians often err egregiously who gives Term-provoking decoctions yea the distilled oyls of Juniper or Savin the Spirit of Sal Armoniack and the like all day long and indifferently thinking these to be Specificks whereas those are chiefly to be esteemed for such which satisfie this or that more special intention VIII 'T is therefore the best to begin with Aperients and to subjoin Provokers or drivers both internal and external Hence for a week or two before the accustomed time are wont to be given Aperients moisteners digestives preparers yea Purgers themselves and Blood-letting upon which the hinge of the matter turns G. W. Wedel de s m. fac p. 189. are not to be made use of at another time for if they be the whole curation will be to no purpose and ineffectual Frictions The Contents Whether they be convenient when a crude juice abounds I. They are suspected in hot and cold Diseases II. Whether they evacuate all the Body III. Scratching supplies the place of Friction IV. I. FRiction or chasing may seem to some to be inconvenient for those in whom is heaped up a plenty of crude juices because * 4. deruend valerud Galen writes that those who have but little good Blood and abundance of crude Humour must neither be bled nor purged nor must they use exercise or bathing and therefore neither friction seeing it also moves the Humours and because he forbids bathing which hath the same vertues as friction seeing both draw towards the Skin Galen also in * â Meth. c. 4. another place in the cure of Fevers that arise from obstruction forbids to cleanse the Skin before the evacuation of the whole Body lest a crude abstersion draw to the Skin whence there will be a greater obstruction of the pores which same thing will happen upon friction But Galen is indeed of a contrary opinion for in lib. de s m. c. 6. he says thus of this affection that those who are so affected are not to be evacuated by Bleeding but by frictions and indifferently heating unctions c. And 12. meth c. 3. he cures those who fall into a swooning through the abundance of crude Humours by much and strong friction of the whole Body yet he denies bathing to the same persons which though it have the like vertue as friction yet differs there from in that it rather melts the Humours than incides and attenuates them whereas friction does the contrary Hence it comes to pass that bathing causes fluxions those Humours flowing which are melted I say it causes a distribution of crude Humours which friction does not do as attenuating more than melting wherefore where there is need of moistening Galen uses bathing rather and where of opening obstructions friction rather But friction also draws towards the Skin wherefore it will also encrease obstructions I said that friction as it draws does likewise attenuate and seeing it draws less than bathing and extenuates more it is the far more profitable of the two in this affection and besides what is already said if by chance it should cause something of obstruction by extracting the crude Humours that might be amended by anointing with some oyl that is moderately heating and concocting so that friction and unction ought to be used by turns but not bathing at all as also neither Exercise because it causes a distribution of crude Humours from the inmost parts In Fevers that spring from obstruction we abstain from cleansers of the Skin till we have evacuated the whole because in that case the obstruction of the Skin is a great part of the malady and such as ought to be removed before the Fever it self and in the mean time we may use great evacuations but in this affection we speak of the evil is least at the Skin for it has its seat principally in the viscera Swooning hinders great evacuations to be used Valles l. 8. contr c. 7. and therefore we are glad to fly to frictions II. Frictions in hot and acute Diseases such as the Pleurisie have always been suspected by me for 't is certain that the Blood and Humours wax hot thereby are rendred more Acrimonious and therefore rush with the greater violence to the part affected In cold Diseases as Apoplexy Epilepsie Palsie and the like they may seem to have place but because thereby the Blood and Humours wax hot and like a vehicle carry the crude and cold Humours to the part affected we must use them warily Fabr. Hild. Cent. 5. Obs 30. especially in the beginning of the Disease and while the matter is yet in fluxion III. Galen 4. aph 2. teaches plainly that by much friction the whole Body is not diminished nor evacuated Yet it is most true that as to the external parts and such as are next to the Skin the whole is exhausted as far as the vertue of the friction can reach as the same person hath explain'd himself 14. meth c. 7. and Hippocrates himself 6. Epid. where he hath written that friction in a great compass doth heat and dry the Body and thereby empty the Spirits And indeed seeing the Veins and Arteries are heated by it and thereupon an heat is both excited and called out by little and little we must hold that the whole Body is
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 âurt 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. Viâriol 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 inâo the thin air I prescribe opening herbs that are defin'd for the Spleen or Liver to be boiled in pottage
to eat little Ulcers in the Skin for Issues Where note that both the lixivial Salt and acid Spirit obtain their notable acrimony from the fire seeing both are prepared from a saline matter by the force of a sharp fire Now seeing no such or so great fire can be kindled in our Body as is needful for the making of an acid Spirit it is not to be supposed that any acid Spirit is properly prepared in the Body but only principally separated and freed from the temperating Impediments viz. Oil and volatil Spirit A pretty pure acid Spirit has often been observed in the Body even without the use or abuse of any thing that has been manifestly acid Thus diverse-coloured stools are observed in Infants yet commonly of a various green and smelling acid whence doubtless Epileptick Fits have their origine from an acid Spirit fermenting in the small Guts with the choler Thus torturing Pains in any part of the Body that sometimes arise like lightening on a sudden or otherwise rack cruelly yield a certain Argument that there is an acid Spirit separately in the Body that is very moveable and gnaws the sensible Parts So rottenness of the Bones shews that there is a too pure acid Spirit in the Body which is clear from the intolerable Pains that often go before and which can only be deduced from acidity Namely the acrimony arising from a lixivial Salt abides more fixt in the same place and seems to burn the Part affected while an acid Spirit is judged to hit or tear or perforate by repeated gnawings the Part that is seised upon by it This conjecture of mine has been confirmed by spittle that has sometimes been so acid as to set the Teeth on edge like other acids taken into the Mouth The matter of acid Humours is supplied to the Glands from the arterial Blood wherein that there are acid Spirits is evinced both by its coagulation into clods when it is let out of the Vessels and also by the corrosion and consumption of the Bones that is made by the arterial Blood in an Aneorism The acrimony of an acid Spirit is temper'd chiefly by a volatil Spirit that sweetens the same being easily united to it Thus Spirit of Wine being cohobated with Spirit of Salt does so lenifie the same that it is then called sweet by Artists The same is temper'd by all sweet things but these do more difficultly unite with it if it were not for the lixivial Salt that is mixt with the fat For as an acid and volatil Spirit are easily joined throughly with one another and an Oil is easily mixed with a lixivial Salt so on the contrary a volatil Spirit and lixivial Salt do more difficultly combine together Idem Disput Medic. vij § 43. seqq and the most difficultly of all an acid Spirit and Oil. ¶ Though all acrimony seem to produce a sense of heat in sensible Parts yet from the cure there appears to be a different acrimony one indeed joined with heat and another destitute of it And seeing we have not only discover'd two sorts of acrimony that are found in our Body but besides from their conflux because of other things that are joined with them a double effervescence is observed to be produced both an hot and also a cold which are not only manifest to sense and therefore distinct from one another but yielding to different Remedies and so also differing from one another It may deservedly be queried what sort of heat that is which uses to accompany now and then for instance the flux of the Terms whether that which has its rise only from an hot effervescence or also from a cold or whether from each acrimony offending without such an effervescence By neglecting this question and the clearing and determination hereof we should undertake an Empirical rash and often a pernicious cure For seeing the heat may be produced from divers causes it is also to be cured diversly according to the diversity of the cause And if any object that I have taught that both sorts of acrimony may be allay'd and temper'd by the same Medicines both spirituous and oily and watry and that therefore it matters little what acrimony offend seeing the same Medicines are profitable in both cases I answer that both sorts of acrimony are indeed temper'd by the same Medicines but not alike quickly and powerfully seeing oily Medicines do both more easily and quickly and powerfully temper a lixivial Salt as on the contrary spirituous volatils an acid Spirit so that though all things that temper either sort of acrimony are always administred with Profit and especially when there want signs that may demonstrate sufficiently whether of them do primarily and chiefly offend yet as often as it can be known which offends it is better to use chiefly those Remedies that are especially conducible to the tempering of it which as it is sometimes known from concurring signs and symptoms so it is frequently concluded from the different operâtion of the Medicine that is given that is à juvantibus vel nocentibus from helpers or hurters according to the golden axiom of Practitioners The heat therefore that is produced for instance from the menstruous Blood in the ways through which it is poured forth has sometimes yea indeed often its rise from an acid Humour that is in the Womb and which comes forth with the Blood whether it make none or an hot effervescence therewith If the acid Humour that is found preternaturally in the substance of the Womb cause no effervescence with the menstruous Blood there will rather be felt a troublesom gnawing than a true heat in the Parts affected But if the same acid juice do cause an hot effervescence with the menstruous Blood then there will be raised an heat and often a redness also even in the extreme Parts and both will be observed when the acid does either notably gnaw only or also burns withal but as often as the offending matter is more gentle or more broken then we cannot so distinctly conclude in what regard the acrimony offends I am therefore of opinion that in the heat that accompanies the flux of the Terms an acid always offends Idem Prax. l. 3. c. 3. § 416. seqq whereto is sometimes joined a more or less cholerick Blood whence the said heat uses to be diversly changed and felt ¶ An acid acrimony is temper'd by several oleous things by Oil it self any sort of Milk Broth of flesh especially such as is fat Emulsions prepared of divers sorts of Seeds especially of sweet Almonds Moreover by sweet things Sugar Honey Raisins and sometimes by spirituous things or others that concentrate an acid such as Corals Perles A lixivial and aromatick acrimony such as is in Pepper Cloves Rocket and the like is temper'd by both the aforesaid oily and sweet things yet 't is safer to abstain wholly or in a great measure from them A Salt acrimony such as is in
yield to it those inconveniences must needs follow that are reckoned up in that place The knowledge whereof is derived indeed from many things but chiefly from the Urine which if they be thin and crude indicate that the matter is fixed in the Part and that there are no Humours in the Body that can be drawn out by a Purge in which case we must abstain from Purging but by no means if the Urine be thick or cloudy for when these are present in any Inflammation we must betake our selves to Purging from the beginning The present saying is therefore to be thus interpreted That we must not as some do persist in its universality so as that we should always abstain from Purging in all Inflammations whatever Nor is Hippocrates condemned by receiving this Exposition because he pronounc'd it universally for he tacitly hinted that exception when he added the reason of his Opinion For a Disease that is as yet crude yields not c. As often therefore as the Humour contained in an inflamed Part is of such a Nature as will yield to a Medicine or finds an Humour in the rest of the Body which it may draw and carry forth a Purge being taken colliquates not the sound Parts P. Martian comm in l. c. nor is the Disease increased XIV Some are of opinion that there is no need of such great strength of the Faculty for Purging as for Bleeding but not medling with other mens Judgments I think that a strong evacuation by elective Purgers requires greater strength of the Faculties because when such a Medicine is once given it is no longer in the Power of the Physician because it self also has a vertue that is adverse to the Body and because Purgation is not performed without great commotion of the whole and dissipation of the Spirits And though some * Aph. 23. 1. where Hippocrates says that vacuation may be made even to swooning apply it to Purging yet I believe it has only place in Bleeding For who could adventure to Purge even to swooning without rashness and danger of life seeing none can promise himself thât Purging shall proceed to swooning and yet not tând to Death âorât Inst Med. disp 19. q. 4. inasmuch as there can no restraint be laid upon Purgers that can bridle their excess XV. How can Purgation be performed at the beginning as often as the Urine shall be thick and cloudy though there be no Concoction of the Humours which yet is so suspected with thinness of the Urine I answer As often as the Urine is thin it is a sign that nothing of the morbifick matter is expelled with the Urine either because it is thrust into some Part and so closely fixt that no portion thereof can be separated thence which mixing with the Urine might make it thicker or because Nature being intent upon the concoction of it holds it so closely as to let none of it go from her When therefore none of the noxious Humour is spontaneously expelled it is an evident sign that it is so rebellious as by no means to yield to a Purging Medicine But on the contrary when thick Urine is made it is a sign that a portion of the morbifick matter is expelled with it and this indicates that the remainder of it though not at all concocted yet is so disposed that it will obey a Purging Medicine Yet it is to be noted that Purging is not always convenient as often as the Urine is thick because when this crassitude proceeds from Concoction begun 't is by no means lawful to purge lest the concoction begun be disturbed and this we distern because it appears not at the beginning of the Disease but afterwards and of thin becomes thicker by degrees for in this disposition of the Humours we must abstain from Purging But when there is turgency crudity hinders not Purging as Concoction begun does And therefore when the Urine shall be thin at the beginning and afterwards shall become thicker by degrees then it signifies that Concoction is begun wherefore we must abstain from Purging till there appear signs of perfect Concoction Likewise when there ensues thickness of Urine in Fevers either from the colliquation of the Humours or from malignant Putrefaction or the like preternatural cause Martian comm in Aph. 23. 1. neither is Purging good in that case ¶ Hippocrates forbad that Purges should be given where there are no signs of Concoction in the Vrine now he gives the Reasons explaining the harms that arise from unseasonable Purging Namely if you Purge unseasonably the Urine will not be concocted and the crises will not be made in due time but both being taken away I mean Concoction and Crises the Fevers will be lengthened Quite contrary to what vulgar Physicians expect who when crudity of the Vrine lâsts longer than they would have it presently Purge thinking that Nature that is not able to concoct so much matter will be better able to overcome it when it is made less and take care to Purge their Patients before the Critical day and therefore most on the sixth day to the end namely that Nature may better perform the Crisis But they are deceived for Nature is then only made more powerful over the remainder by evacuation when evacuation is made rightly and according to Art as when a Plethory is lessened by Bleeding or Purging is performed because of turgency otherwise there is nothing that can more hinder Concoctions and Crises for those things are not evacuated that ought to be but a great deal of good Humours is drawn forth the bad are only stirred by the stirring retention is disturbed which being taken away Concoction must needs be so also and by the taking away of this a fit expulsion and crisis is also taken away because it is the order of the natural Faculties that the retentive should minister to the concoctive and when Concoction is finished that the work of the expulsive should succeed otherwise all things will be done unseasonably and tumultuously and therefore without benefit Hence you will easily understand which not a few admire why seeing the Ancients so much esteemed the Crises of Diseases and writ so many things of them so few occur in our days Certainly this is the reason Valles comm in lib. de vict Acut. p 206. because the most are unseasonably Purged and unseasonable Purging takes away seasonable Crises XVI As to the universal times of Diseases we must know that evacuation is granted in the beginning when the Humour is not as yet confused but in the state and declination seldom and not but by gentle Medicines for if you administer a strong Purge in the declination Walaeus m. m. p. 37. you will confound anew the Humours that have been already separated and will make the sick relapse XVII According to Trallian Vacuation is not to be put off when there are any signs of Concoction for thick Humours are over-concocted and through
Symptoms XLI Very many commend Mercurius Vitae wonderfully for evacuating all vitious humours in the Stomach and all parts of the Body upwards and downwards and therefore they use it not only for the French Pox but also for the Gout Dropsie Agues Melancholy Madness and very many other Diseases Yet it is to be used warily as are also other Mercurial Medicins and not save when the Body abounds with many thick humours But let it not be given in lean cholerick and weak Bodies Sennert Cent. 1. Ep. 33. The Dose is from One Grain to Four or Five ¶ That this Pouder contains no Mercury in it is clear from hence because this being deprived of its Congelative Salts resumes the former species of Quick-silver and is all of it collected in the Retort Willis's Phar. p. m. 66. This Pouder being too fiercely Vomitive if it be ground with Sea-salt calcin'd and sweetned with often washing becomes far milder and safe enough XLII Mountebanks give Mercury Precipitate without choice for the long continued pains of the Pox the Dropsie Quartan Hypochondriack Melancholy and for cold Diseases of that kind and that to four or six Grains in the Yelk of an Egg or Mithridate and Treacle And as soon as any one has taken it all sorts of humours from the whole circuit of the Body burst forth upwards and downwards often with so great violence especially if the Body be weak that the Patients Spirits being exhausted and his faculties enfeebled he either dies suddenly or on the Day he takes it being without strength without Pulse without Voice he lies like one dead His Mouth is sometimes inflam'd by the contagion and his Gums contract putrid and very stinking Ulcers and in the most the throat becomes so swell'd that for many days they can swallow nothing at all Yea and in some the Mind is so alienated that a Fever arising Palmar de morb contag they die at length frantick Therefore let it be rejected out of the List of Catharticks as a most ready Poison and be banished by publick Laws XLIII Myrobalans should never be mixed with any strong Medicin because those violent things staying longer in the Body through the binding Vertue of the Myrobalans do sometimes bring great harm upon the Body Rondelet Cap. 36. l. 1. Wherefore those Medicins ought rather to be mixed with others that purge hastily XLIV Some that think themselves very wise order Myrobalans to be rubbed with Oil of sweet Almonds whether they be to be reduced to Pouder or broken grosly for Decoctions But indeed they do ill that chafe those Myrobalans with Oil that are designed for decoction for the Oil hinders at least the Water that is poured upon the Myrobalans from insinuating it self into them Zwelfer Pharm Class 2. and passing through their substance XLV Pills of Aloes whether those of Frankfort or others that they may operate rightly ought to be taken in three Doses at three times namely the first a little before or a little after a slight supper the second the next Morning the third the same day in the evening Thus as I my self have experienced and * Tom. 2. Obs 12. l. 2. Horstius witnesseth they must needs evacuate plentifully and pleasantly seeing one Dose drives forward another as it were Hoefer Herc. Med. l. 1. c. 5. XLVI Gummi Gotte is a powerful Hydragogue less violent than the root of Esula or Spurge Mesereum and Elaterium it vomits also The Dose is from two Grains to four or six though some imprudently give it to half a scruple The best preparation of it is to dissolve it in rectified Spirit of Wine and then by pouring common or Rose Water upon it it will be precipitated to the bottom Sylv. de le Boe m. m. l. 2. c. 9. The Pouder being of a very fine Yellow is called its Magistery and it becomes a far more excellent Medicin than when taken crude XLVII The chief use of the Salt of Tartar is in a loosning Ptisan which is made of two Drachms of Senna infused in eight Ounces of cold Water with a Scruple or half a Scruple of the Salt of Tartar by which the Tincture of the Senna is powerfully extracted River pract l. 11. c. 4. so that this Ptisan purges far more powerfully than the common XLVIII A. Spigelius relates that the use of the Pouder which Marcus Cornacchinus has recommended in a particular Book was prohibited at Rome under pain of being condemned to the Gallies because a certain Physician had formerly kill'd several with it But because by his own experiments especially in Tertian Agues he had found it not only an innocent but also a very wholsom Medicin he thought that hardly any other cause could be imagin'd than that that Person had not prepared his stibium according to Art Namely whilst he would make it a Diaphoretick by the Addition of Nitre without doubt he unskilfully reduced it into a glass whence proceeded those gripings and subversions of the Stomach with swoonings springing from Convulsion and other lethiferous accidents But the unhappiness of the Mistakers ought to have derogated nothing from the excellency of the Medicin Velschius Obs 98. ¶ Many preparations have been invented even in Purgers particularly in Scammony and Jalap the best amongst which is the Magistery made with six eight or ten pounds of the Spirit of Wine poured upon one Pound of Scammony or Jalap without the Addition of the Spirit of Vitriol or Salt of Tartar which rather hinder than further the extraction of the Rosm Indeed these very Magisteries are almost the same with Extracts save that seeing they are more globous and plentiful besides the extraction which is of the same Nature with Solution by pouring even simple Water upon them they are precipitated to the bottom if so be the Spirit of Wine be very well rectified for when the same is sufficiently drawn off they subside even of themselves So that they are the more depurate part of the Purgative or Alterative it self and so choicer and purer than the rest Hence we may learn what to think of sulphurated Scammony for though 't is to be confest that the Medicin for whose sake it was formerly so prepared viz. the three-headed Cerberus of Scammony Sulphurated Antimonium Diaphoreticum and Cream of Tartar mixed in a different quantity at pleasure is excellent in Fevers and other Diseases and that we have always experienced the use hereof to be safe yet the sulphurated Scammony is it self far better omitted and very profitably exchanged for its Rosin Whereof these are the reasons 1. Because that which is sought for is maimed 2. That which is not desired is retained The purgative Vertue is maimed which consists in a Sulphureous Salt Whence Helmont says truly That as much of acidity as the Scammony receives so much does it lose of its Vertue for every acid is in it self contrary to purging though by accident some especially the very
Roses solutive 8. A very troublesom flux came upon a putrid Synocha sometimes in the form of as Diarrhoea and sometimes of a Dysentery upon the tenth day the Fever not abating both distempers were taken away by Bleeding twice on the eleventh day But seeming to grow worse again upon repeated Purging letting that alone I betook my self to Bleeding only which I used twice again Upon the first Bleeding he was a great deal better but upon the second quite well 9. A considerable Lientery had afflicted Mr. N's Servant for eight days from which he was very manifestly relieved by Bleeding of him and the next day quite cured by a decoction of Senna with a little of the infusion of Rhubarb 10. A Man of seventy years of Age being troubled with a Diarrhoea for eight days and being afraid of Bleeding because of his Age I prescribed him an infusion of Rhubarb which doing him no good he was at length recovered by Bleeding Now as I reckon Bleeding the principal cause of the recovery of all these and very many others that by God's blessing I have recovered of various and grievous fluxes of the Belly as well new as old Leon. Botal lib. de curat per s m. cap. 5. as well with a Fever as without it So on the contrary I think the death of many ought to be referr'd to the want of the said remedy c. ¶ Galen 6. Epid. sect 3. comm 29. cured a Woman that was very much wasted and had lost her appetite and had long labour'd under a suppression of her Terms by very large and repeated Bleeding Imitating Hippocrates who 5. Epid. num 2. cured a Consumptive person of an extream leanness that could not be helped by any sort of Medicin by Bleeding him in both Arms even till he was become Bloodless These were followed by Benevenius l. de abdit cap. 44. and Epiphan Ferdinandus hist 69. The former restored a Woman to her former health that having her Terms supprest for a year was become nothing but skin and bone by repeated Bleeding The latter recovered another from a Catarrh complicated with an Hectick Feyer also by the help of Bleeding In these seeing the wasting and leanness were owing to a vitious Blood that was black Melancholick and unfit for nutrition that Blood was to be taken away that fresh and such as would nourish might supply its place For the parts do not attract to them naughty Blood but refuse it just as people that are an hungry refuse meat offered them that is ungrateful to the tast even though it be put to their Mouths The parts likewise are delighted only with semblable and familiar aliment Avicen indeed 4. 1. cap. 20. does greatly forbid Phlebotomy in bodies that are very lean but he is to be understood of such a leanness as arises from defect to wit from a want of Blood and Spirits For such an one is cured by addition not substraction On that account in Hectick and other marcid and tabifick Fevers Venesection is to be rejected because such wasting and witheredness supposes want Also a natural leanness and slenderness which is the offspring of an hot and dry intemperature the chief sign whereof is absence of fat refuses Venesection because in such the faculties are not strong For the predominancy of heat the loosness of the Pores and the thinness of the Blood and Spirits make them apt to be enfeebled and grow faint upon Bleeding Of these Galen speaks 9. meth 15. Those that are naturally lean and of an hot and dry temperature are greatly offended by evacuations XXXVI Bleeding is prohibited by urgent Symptoms as Pain want of Sleep and immoderate excretion for these deject the strength Likewise every immoderate Symptomatical evacuation that dejects the strength as also Critical by the Nose Womb or Pleuritical forbid it Those have little skill to do good who seeing a drop or two of Blood drop from the Nose in burning Fevers hoping for a Trophee cry out That here is occasion for Phlebotomy If the Hemorrhage be large they do it more boldly affirming Nature to be burthened But hereby the Critical Motion of Nature is hindred Others seeing bloody Spittle in a Pleurisie urge bleeding but the same is forbid by the Oracle 6. Epid. 3. 44. A Pleurisie hinders bleeding in spitting of Blood which is profitable in other kinds of spitting of Blood An Hemorrhage of the Womb in a Pleurisie is esteemed by some as an indication for bleeding by others an hindrance Cleomenes's Wife being sick of a Pleurisie had her Terms flow plentifully on the fourth Day by which she was so much relieved that all her Pain Cough and difficulty of Breathing ceased upon it Others distinguish If the time for the flowing of the Terms be at hand Venesection is permitted Rolfinc meth gen lib. 4. sect 2. cap. 8. if shortly expected and the Disease be urgent Blood is to be let first in the Feet and then in the Arms. XXXVII Pain forbids Bleeding because it weakens Yet if a great Inflammation be joined with the Pain it is rather commanded according to Galen 1. Aph. 23. Otherwise it is hurtful as in a Cardialgia or gnawing Pain at the Stomach that dejects the faculties 1. ad Glauc Cap. 14. ¶ In the Pain of the Kidneys Idem ibid. and Colick from Wind Bleeding is good not per se or properly but by accident that the matter in the Veins being lessen'd the Kidneys and Colon may not-be so easily inflamed and pressed with a Phlegmon Add hereto that by opening a Vein the flux of other parts is sometimes lessened through the communion that these have with the whole Body and because of the thinness of the Spirits which may be carried through all the narrow passages Wherefore Hippocrates 2. Epid. 5. feared not to flie to bleeding in a pain raised from Flatus for says he Venesection cures Flatuosities Yet in this Disease as also in a great Nephritick pain I know many Physicians that have practis'd Physick a long time who having been much against bleeding their Patients tormented with pain when their Patients have been bled at their own desire Botal c. 9. have plainly seen how far they were from the right XXXVIII By Venesection there seems to be a retiring of the Blood from the circumference to the centre 1. Because to avoid a vacuum the fluxile humours do necessarily tend towards the Centre to fill up the place of the evacuated Blood 2. Hence the external parts look pale and cold after Venesection 3. Often the Inflammation of some Internal part is increased 4. Galen 4. de tu San. Cap. 10. 11. intimates this where he advises that the Body should not be replenished presently after Venesection lest the Veins snatch crude juices to themselves 5. Avicen does therefore not open a Vein in those who are bit by a Serpent before the Poison be dispersed lest it tend inwards On the same account he forbids bleeding after the small Pox
contributes indeed to the relish but serves chiefly for a stimulus to the ferment also pepper'd things Antiscorbutick plants the root of Aron the Mustard of the Italians c. These things correct an acid crudity and attenuate viscid phlegmatick Humours 2. Acids as Vinegar which being used moderately profits both in drink and fomentation Spirit of Vitriol simple and that of Copper which Chymists call sal esurinum the Spirit of Salt some not unadvisedly reduce the ferment we make Bread withal into pills and give it for helping the ferment of the Stomach these things correct a nidorous and phlegmatick crudity 3. Hither refer the coats of an Hens gizzard but hardly any constant help is to be expected therefrom unless perchance by accident inasmuch as they withal absorb the bilious Humours that pervert the ferment IV. When the ferment exceeds in an Acrimony either saline or bilious whither an hot intemperies also belongs it is corrected 1. both by blunting of it as fat things do in the boulimus or Dogs appetite and also by diluting it as watry things do and likewise by absorbing it as Lixives and earthy precipitants which are called Alkali's do such as are Crabs-eyes and testaceous Medicines Where note that these very things may also by accident by restraining as it were and reducing into order chiefly an acid Humour exceeding in the Stomach sometimes raise and reduce the appetite whether alone or mixt with acids as for example the tragea Stomachica of Quercetan or Birckman Thus I have very often observed that precipitating Powders viz. such as have been prepared of shells only with native Cinnabar have raised an appetite For regard is to be had both to the proportion of the Acrimony that exerts it self in the Stomach preternaturally for the ferment of the Stomach is not as it should be if it be excessively acid and also to the continuation of the use for all Lixives and Alkali's otherwise destroy the appetite and enervate the ferment whence in the boulimus the oyl of Tartar per deliquium is a secret Thus 2. the ferment is perverted 1. by sweet things because by their mucilage they obviscate and blunt its saline Acrimony 2. Acid Salts as for instance it has been observed that arcanum Tartari that is otherwise a very famed Medicine has by being too much used cast down the appetite 3. All nitrous things inasmuch as they both dissolve the heat and the saline menstruum whence in the continual use of Nitrous things we must see that they cause no disturbance in the Body 4. Saturnine or Lead-Medicines especially the sweet and earthy whence in the use of saccharum Saturni and the preparations thereof we must have a care we hurt not the Stomach 5. Strong urinous Lixives as the Spirit of sal Armoniack 3. and lastly the ferment is fixed and obtunded by Opiats which are not good for the Stomach as such and unless the ferment prevail Vomiting is apt to follow the next morning and by the use of Opiats the appetite is cast down For as the Stomach rejoyces in a Balsamick concocted and pure sulphur so it is prejudic'd by such as is inmature impure and ungrateful But these things that have been rehearsed are good in all excessive Acrimony whether it be with a diarrhoea or cholera as also in a Cardialgia or pain at the Stomach where besides Carminatives oleous and the more temperate anodyne Medicines are required they are good also in the hiccough heat of the Stomach or soda c. V. External Stomachicks ought to be 1. Acid as sowr leven vinegar 2. Aromaticks so called with Wine whether in the form of a Plaster or Cataplasm and they are chiefly resolvents and revellents as in an hiccough Vomiting likewise Carminatives Earthy things are not so profitable VI. Note that it is very good so to joyn and dispose Stomachicks that respect may be had both to the ferment and heat which is done by mixing both sorts together thus the sweet Spirit of Salt and thus Elixir proprietatis macerated with the Spirit of Sulphur is good VII In an hot and dry intemperies acids are to be avoided and things void of acrimony are to be used powders also are to be avoided unless they be very much diluted for otherwise they stick to the Stomach but mucilaginous things are good Hence the Spirits of Vitriol or Salt do cause a burning in the Stomach by spoiling it of its native fermental viscousness whence an erosion of it is apt to follow This happens chiefly in the cholerick and such as have first too much distended its Coats with drinking of Wine whence the acrimony is more intimately insinuated into its unfolded plaits VIII In altering the Stomach we must have a care we hurt not the other viscera whether we use inward or outward Remedies and especially that we hurt not the Liver which lies next to the Stomach which we shall do if we exceed the bounds of mediocrity IX The Stomach is not to be overwhelmed with plenty of any sorts of Medicines whether such as are design'd for it self or with others for as it receives the first benefit therefrom so also does it the first prejudice Thus in a certain Bishop was found the magisterie of Perles Gr. W. Wedel de s m. fac p. 97. in others other things X. As in all Medicines though destin'd for other Parts and Diseases we must have respect to the Stomach how it bears them and is affected by them so does that hold and is to be understood principally of Salts Indeed amongst Stomachicks Lixivi al Salts are also commended and prescribed as for instance the Salts of Wormwood and Juniper enter the Stomachick powder of Birckman and sometimes the same have place in the weaknesses of the Stomach but rather and almost only in case the ferment be tainted with a preternatural acrimony and then they must be used with other Aromaticks For by the confession of all this ferment is Saline and if it be asked to what classis of Salts it is to be referred it is deservedly referred to that of acids for it is somewhat acid in its farewel as we say yet it follows not from thence that every sort be it never so fixed and excessive helps the action of the Stomach but rather there arises from it a taint or crudity and the chyme grows not Spirituous And though sometimes when it exceeds with too great an acrimony it encrease the appetite yet it is vitious and the particles are not rightly parted from one another thereby whence in this very case in the appetentia canina and boulimus they profit more than any thing else Thus I once cured an Hypochondriacal Person that could not be satisfied with eating with the Oyl of Tartar per deliquium And the middle Salts do incide indeed and resolve but injure the tone of the Stomach if used too long and too plentifully whence Tartar Vitriolate and arcanum tartari being taken long and in
of them above a Month. Moreover Pains fixt in the membranous Parts and cruelly tormenting are seldom cured without this administration For sometimes the Humours and morbifick Particles which being deeply rooted yield not at all to Medicines working by Stool Sweat or Urine seem to be pulled up by the roots by Vesicatories which lay hold on the Disease with hands as it were Idem III. Yet this Remedy though very general uses not to operate so easily and happily in some Diseases and Constitutions For those who are subject to the Stone and to a frequent and grievous Strangury scarce ever have them applied without prejudice and therefore for the avoiding of a greater mischief let none that are so affected use Vesicatories save in malignant Fevers or acute Cephalick Pains As to the various Temperaments and Constitutions of men in respect whereof Vesicatories are more or less convenient or profitable there occurs this threefold remarkable difference hereupon First Some do almost always endure well the use of this Remedy and the Blisters that are raised thereby in the Skin do pour forth an ichor plentiful enough without a dysurie or any great inflammation of the Blistered place and then they heal up of their own accord which effect succeeds only in a well temper'd Blood namely where together with a moderate and rightly constituted salt and sulphur there is a sufficient quantity of Serum whose latex departing easily and pretty plentifully from the rest of the Blood carries along with it the more acrimonious Particles of the Medicine which it has imbibed and partly pours them forth by the blister'd place and partly conveys them forth by the passages of Urine without injuring them and by this means are the aforesaid profitable effects produced in the mass of Blood But secondly this Medicine neither agrees nor works well with others because it makes the Part to which it is applied look very red or rather fleys it with cruel Pain and great Inflammation and yet the Blisters that are raised there though they torment the Patient awhile yet pour they forth but very little or hardly any ichor and besides these to whom the blistering is so painful are moreover cruelly tormented with a Strangury This troublesom and also fruitless use of a Vesicatory happens often to Persons of an hot and cholerick temper whose Blood namely is endued with a plentiful Salt and Sulphur with a moderate quantity of serum thoroughly soaked into one or other of them Wherefore seeing its latex which ought to carry away the acrimonious Particles of the Medicine does neither easily nor plentifully that it may presently wash them out depart from the rest of the Blood those Particles sticking still in the Skin infect and as it were Poison the Blood it self that passes that way and hindring it from its circulation cause it to be collected and to stagnate about the extremities of the Vessels whence they are inflamed Moreover the serous latex being separated at length by the Kidneys being little and acrimonious of it self and moreover stinged with Particles from the Medicine irritates the neck of the Bladder and often corrodes it by its acrimony Thirdly The third case of Vesicatories though more rare is when the Blisters that are raised in the Skin do forthwith pour out so vast a quantity of the serous Humour that presently 't is necessary to use with diligence Medicines that repell and shut the mouths of the Vessels or otherwise there is danger lest a dissolution of strength and failure of the Spirits should follow I have known this to happen so constantly in some that afterwards they were forced to abstain from the use of Cantharides whatsoever need there was of them The reason whereof seems to be that the Blood being endued with too much salt and acrimonious serum had a compages too apt to dissolve wherefore the serous latex being too acrimonious and impetuous of it self as soon as it is incited by the Particles of the Medicine which loosen the too easily dissolvible compages of the Blood presently breaking forth impetuously out of the mass of Blood it issues out in a full stream as it were through the mouths of the Vessels gaping into the blistered Part. Idem IV. Besides this too great efflux of the serum raised from the first application of a Vesicatory the same happening sometimes late in malignant Fevers and in others that have a bad or no Crisis and continuing for some while wholly consumes the morbifick matter and often delivers the Patient from the very jawes of Death In such a case after that the Blisters have on the first days poured forth little or no ichor Nature at length attempting a Crisis this way there runs abundance of serous matter out of the same and so it continues to run for many days yea sometimes weeks till the Patient that was before esteemed deplorable recovers his health intirely The Blisters running thus plentifully as it is not easie so neither is it safe to close them before the whole minera of the Disease be consumed One recovering very difficultly from a malignant Fever having in divers Parts of his Body blistered places which daily discharged a great deal of ichor after a while applied strong repercussives to them all and so presently stopt their running But scarce had they been stopt two days but relapsing he was presently seised with a languor and frequent failing of his Spirits wiâh a cold Sweat and a small and weak Pulse and being not relievable by any Medicines viz. Cordials died within three days the reason whereof seems to be that the malignant matter being suddenly driven back had faln upon the Cardiack Nerves whose action being thereby hindred Idem the Vital function soon failed V. When we apply Cantharides outwardly to raise Blisters we oâly use the belly rejecting the wings and feet for these hinder the belly from operating so strongly as it would nor is there any danger that the external Parts of the Body should be hurt by applying only the belly But if we give them inwardly to provoke Urine we give the belly indeed Capivac Praât l. 3. c. 19. but lest this should do harm we mix with it the wings and feet which Parts hinder the belly from hurting so much ¶ when the Skin is to be ulcerated with blisters the extreme parts of the Cantharides are to be cast away Th. Bartholin cent 4. Epist 54. wherein there lies hid a more benign quality VI. Let young Physicians beware that in prescribing Remedies that have Cantharides in them they offend not in the quantity nor always follow the prescriptions of others for they commonly commit an errour in the Dose when for a few Ounces of Leaven and the other Simples which the Vesicatory is made up of they prescribe some Drachms yea sometimes an Ounce and an half of the Powder of Cantharides and because Cantharides are so light that fifty hardly weigh a Drachm 't is easie
praecordia for a weak appetite often vomiting loathing of meat puffing up of the Stomach and praecordia Jaundise and Cachexie Agues Megrim Vertigo Falling-Sickness and all Diseases of the Head that are contracted by a Sympathy with the praecordia Fernel m. m. l. 3. c. 3. and which the impurity spread from the praecordia into the rest of the Body hath produced II. Though Vomits be of notable efficacy yet they ought not to be taken by all without distinction For in some the tone of the Stomach is too loose and weak and their constitution so tender that they make the Spirits presently to quail and dissolve the strength Some Mens viscera also are too pertinaciously sensible and though they be hard to Vomit yet when they have once begun they do not easily give over Willis Pharm rat p. m. 57. but by a frequent straining to Vomit their strength is very much dejected and they oft fall into a swoon III. I think that opinion to be untrue and to lean on very trifling foundations which determins that some Vomitories act upon choler others upon phlegm and others upon Melancholy and drain forth this or that Humour separated from the rest and alone as it were And the reason why a viscous and as it were phlegmatick matter is sometimes chiefly expelled is because the filth of the Stomach alone almost is thrown up the receptacles of the choler being not shaken by the straining But when the châler Vessels are milked out the excretion becomes cholerick for the greatest part The vomiting of a black Humour for the most part depends on the tincture of the Medicine for it is that which colours the matter which is cast forth with a vitriolick blackness Willis ibid. p. 55. ¶ Sylvius de le Boë m. m. l. 2. c. 10. is of a contrary opinion appealing to experience I observe says he that some Vomitories do chiefly expell phlegm others choler and others any Humours indifferently which though it have been observed by few yet ought it to have been observed Thus 1. Peach flowers do expell bilious and serous Humours even by vomit 2. Asarum also evacuates choler upwards 3. Turbith casts glutinous phlegm up by Vomit 4. The seed of Carthamus brings up both phlegm and water 5. Elaterium purges water and choler both upward and downward 6. The Root Bark green tops and flowers of both Dwarf-elder and Elder bring up water by Vomit 7. Gummi Gotte water and choler Add to these the root of Jalap which expells water by vomit as well as by stool IV. As to the choice of Emeticks the chief reason of their difference is that the milder be given in some Diseases such as may disturb nothing beyond the Stomach and may gently bring forth those things only that float in its cavity or stick to its coats but in other Diseases the stronger are more convenient that the convulsion being imparted also to other viscera whatsoever excrementitious thing stagnates therein or is collected any where may be moved out of its lurking place Now this evacuation as it is more violent than that by stool so if the strength bear it well it uses in some Diseases to profit more at once than ten Purges for by this means the weighty phlegm that sticks clâse to the folds of the Stomach which all Purgers would slide by is swept out with a Broom as it were Moreover the neighbouring parts the Pancreas Mesentery Spleen and Liver it self are strongly shaken so that the obstructions bred therein as also whatsoever stagnations of the Blood and Humours are easily removed by this kind of Remedy the preternatural ferments bred any where in the Body and the more recondite Seeds of Diseases are seldom extirpated without Vomitories but the use of Emeticks is found chiefly profitable in the Diseases of the Brain and genus nervosum For by this sort of Remedy not only is the filth of the Stomach and Bowels which defiles the chyle and Blood cleansed away in great plenty but also the glandules of the viscera which are the Emunctories of the Blood and nervous juice are milked the choler-vessels and other receptacles of the excrements are plentifully evacuated so that the same being emptied do the more readily receive the Serum and other filthinesses and superfluities of both Humours that otherwise would be apt to overflow into the Head Besides all this seeing there are innumerable little mouths of Arteries gaping under the downy crust into the Stomach these being notably twitched by the Emetick do pour fourth all sorts of vitious and malignant Humours in the Blood to be evacuated by Vomit and for this reason chiefly is it that Herculean or stubborn Diseases are well cured by Emeticks and hardly at all without them for these Medicines being of an active and untameable Nature do not only by twitching the Arteries squeeze the superfluous Humours out of the mass of Blood but also by entring into the Veins innumerable whereof gape into the Stomach Willis pharmac rat p. 55. do fuse the Blood and do precipitate and cause to be separated its serosities and other recrements V. Custom and facility seem to me to be of the greatest moment in raising a Vomit for if these be wanting 't is of far greater difficulty to be purged by vomit than by stool though not of less profit yea of far greater though purging by stool be safer Hence it comes to pass that prudent Physicians and such as take most care to cure safely are commonly content with purging by stool but Mountebanks who slighting the dangers of the sick would for Honour and Glories sake do some great thing by hap hazard undertake the most violent vomitings as for my self though I would never design to purge by stool and vomit much at once because that is an accident of a very bad Disease namely the cholera morbus yet I do not dislike that temperate purgations of both kinds namely both vomiting and dejection should ensue upon the taking of a Medicine nay I hope well therefrom Valles m. m. l. 2. c. 5. both thick and thin Humours being evacuated and purged as well upwards as downwards VI. Yea sometimes Vomitories may be joined with Sudorificks for there is no harm in their being taken and operating together seeing the motions by vomit and sweat are not contrary to one another but only diverse For the pipe or chanel of the Guts together with the Stomach and Gullet are unskilfully and unfitly esteemed the centre of mans Body and the pores of the Skin its circumference For if any part might be said to be its centre there is the greatest reason the Heart should be so esteemed from which the Blood is carried into all the parts as likewise the several parts for its circumference seeing the Blood is carried back from them to the Heart and that according to the circular motion of the Blood Now if the Heart be determin'd to be the centre of mans Body
then the pipe of the Guts through which the Gall-bladder and Pancreas discharge themselves and the mouth it self into which and by which the Salival glands unload themselves and sometimes the Stomach it self with the small Guts are no less to be esteemed for its circumference than the external Skin through which the sweat is expelled and the Piss-Bladder by which the Urine is evacuated Reason does not only argue this to be probable and likely but experience proves it to be true which hath more than once assured others as well as my self from the excellent success and great benefit of the Patients that Humours offending in the Body are expelled at the same time and by the same Medicine both by vomit stool sweat and Urine Which experience hath taught to be profitable in not a few distempers such experience I mean as is certain and consenting to solid and sound reason And that the same may be safely and with good success done in the Plague Sylv. Append Tract 2. §. 594. I make no doubt See Book 6. under the Title of a Pestilential Fever VII Lest any should think that Choler only does affect to pass upwards by Vomit daily experience teacheth us that both insipid and salt and acid water as well thin as thick yea tough phlegm is vomited up by many of their own accord in abundance which where it is observed to be done if nothing gainsay 't is convenient to follow the said guidance of Nature that is to promote the motion of the Humours that is spontaneously made upwards Now I reckon that the Humours are moved upwards spontaneously that is by Nature as often as being carried through the Pancreatick and Bilarie duct into the small Gut and meeting with the phlegm produced chiefly from the spittle that is continually swallowed or with the aliments Medicines or poisons that are taken in and are sliding out of the Stomach through the pylorus they raise an effervescence as well with one another as with these and that such as through which they are driven upwards to the Stomach in some and that either a less or larger part Idem tract 6. §. 163. or altogether VIII Let such Vomits as are strong be given especially to delicate Bodies and weak Stomachs after meal But if you would have a plentiful evacuation in such as are more strong give them on an empty Stomach especially Antimonials whose vertue is soon dulled Prepare the more tough Humours by Inciders Openers Oxymel with some Syrup made acid by the Spirit of Vitriol or Sulphur by bathing by long fomentation of the Hypochondres for many days and after give a Vomit After every Vomiting give some fat broth In vomiting foment the Stomach with some relaxing fomentation and afterwards with a strengthening one Ex sâhedis Dom. Turqueti de Mayerne At night if there be need let Laudanum be given the next day some Conserve Tablets or strengthning Wine IX The Ancients used Vomits frequently and purging by stool but seldom and Hippocrates for prevention never used purging by stool but always by Vomit as appears from 3. de diaeta and l. de insomn For because it cannot be so manifest what Humour abounds most whilst no Disease does as yet appear he therefore purges by Vomit whereby not only that Humour which is agreeable to the Medicine is brought forth Prosp Martian com in v. 153. l. de nat hom but also any other whatever which happens to abound in the Body ¶ Because the Stomach gives to all and receives from all therefore does Hippocrates use vomiting for prevention whilst a Disease of any part is imminent Idem comm in v. 136. l. de insomn X. Some refuse Vomitories because we are not so accustomed to them as the Ancients as if in our age no Disease had its Crisis by Vomit or there were not to be found men who vomit very easily both of their own accord and by Medicines whence we daily observe that many sick persons after they have been physick'd a long time in vain by rational Physicians have been wholly cured of most stubborn Diseases by taking Antimony or the like violent Remedy given by some Empirick nor are men in more danger by the use of these than by our Benedicta's commonly so called which though they be gentle and easie yet are even they observed sometimes to cause deadly superpurgations For the harms that proceed from a Medicine depend not altogether on its strength but its unfit use whence a Physician does no less harm by giving a weak Medicine to him that needs a strong one than if he gave a strong one and perhaps one that works upwards to him that has need of one that is gentle and works by stool Yet I deny not that purgings upwards are far more uneasie in the very act of Vomiting than purgings downwards so that the Patients think themselves even ready to dye yet when the evacuation is over the clean contrary follows seeing those that have been purged by Vomit are presently better and are made more chearful and ready to perform all operations they are not thirsty they have a good appetite and are very quickly recruited the contrary whereto happens to those who have been purged by stool Nevertheless Physicians now adayes preferring pleasantness before all things Idem comââ in v. 231. l. 3. de morb without any regard to the Disease or season or any thing always prescribe purging by stool to the great prejudice of art XI We must take heed of purging too Acrimonious or corrupt Humours by vomit for the sense and excellency of the mouth of the Stomach can hardly endure the contact of the vitious matter unless it be first very well prepared Mercat de ind med l. 1. c. 9. and mixt with other lenient and moist Medicines XII Vomitories require their just and exact dose for being given too sparingly they lose their vertue and purge by stool It is a sign of a just dose if yellow and green stuff be vomited up and it is a sign of too small a dose if only waterish and white Humours be cast up Now those colours were not in the Humours before but are brought upon them by the Medicines Thus children vomit up the milk colour'd Walaeus whereas it was white before XIII What some affirm that a Vomit taken in never so great a dose works no more strongly than if it were taken only in a moderate quantity is wholly untrue and an experiment thereof is not to be made without danger for if there be more particles of the Medicine they will also imbue the more fibres and entring deeper into them will provoke them the more grievously Willis phaâ p. m. 5â so that more cruel and frequent convulsions of the Stomach must necessarily follow XIV It is not safe to agitate the Stomach with violent vomiting Medicines nor is it good to use ones self to them seeing no wise man will make a piss-pot of a pot
insensible transpiration by Urine or Stool But these are seldom seen in Children for in them the dissipating heat or consuming drought usually waste the humidity that should nourish The external cause is either the aestuating dissipating heat or the violent cold extinguishing the heat or the use of Salt meats XXIX If the heat appear as it were extinct by a cold disease or humour then indeed Children are usually very hungry although sometimes their stomachs are squeamish that is when Phlegm putrefies or becomes mucilaginous and the more they cram the leaner they grow Moreover they are of a white colour and though their body be extenuated their eyes face and feet swell being forerunners of another mischief You cannot heal this disease by change or increase of diet but by such things as waste and concoct the Phlegm and make the heat more brisk In which case it is good for Children when they are weaââed to take a very little Wine with Biscoct-bread or in drink so it be much diluted for it concocts phlegm and crude juices corrects the cold intemperature and excites the heat Aromaticks are also good which if they cannot be given a sucking Child you mix them in all the Nurses victuals for they thin the Milk and make it pass easily XXX There is a Disease very frequent in these Countries in which Children that suck and those that are weaned are consumed with an Atrophy to a Skeleton onely the Belly as if there were a soft Parenchyma lying underneath being swelled and so far like the Rickets but that there is not such a tension of the joints and for the rest it comes without any concourse of Worms or of any other cause but onely through some fault in the lacteal ducts and glands For the method and cure of the common Consumption turning to an Ascites of a Tympany and the like Diseases sometimes used in this case has not been sufficient Nor yet afterwards have the remedies usually prescribed in a more accurate method for Schirrhi and abscesses of the mesentery wâich indeed are rather the products of the inveterate Disease Laxatives Purgatives Aperients and Strengthners and external Anointings Bathings c. been found to satisfie expectation or to hinder those that are so held from being carried off at last by an Hectick with a supervening Epilepsie colliquative Flux Lientery and other Symptoms Within these few years a little Daughter of N. was brought to me than whom in all my practice I have not seen one more Consumptive she had taken an infinite number of Medicines Being much intreated and the case being desperate after I had given the Prognostick I happened I know not how upon Tinctura Martis aperitiva Vitriolata and upon Arcanum duplicatum which it may be might go nearer to the root of the Disease than any usual things for all their known energy Therefore we gave for the first week every day and for the next every other day in the morninâ 2 drops of the Tincture for every year of her age and at 4 a clock in the afternoon likewise for every year of her age 1 grain of the Arcanum And so in a few days she began to be better in plight and in a short time after Nature recollecting her self of her own accord she was perfectly restored and is at this day brisk and corpulent enough After which Observation being farther confirmed by reason I have after that to this very day cured several in the same manner without the help almost of any other Remedies And this Martial Tincture is made of Vitriol of Mars made with Spirit of Wine and of the Acid of Tartar each 4 ounces boiled sufficiently in 3 pounds of Steel water and insensibly exhaled in stirring to the thickness of Honey which by pouring on 3 pounds of Spirit of Wine is dissolved by digesting little sediment if all things have been done as they ought being left And so the liquour is saturated and after little or no abstraction or exhalation is set by for use and it may be farther tinctured if you please with essence of red Popy Dan Ludovââi Eââemâr Câââm aâ 3. obs 251. You may have Arcanum duplicatum in Schroder Pharmac l. 3. p. 474. and Hofman in Clavi p. 344. XXXI A Boy two years old was brought to me Anno 1567. the Son of Mr. David Merveilleux Counsellour to the most Serene Prince of Longeville my intimate Friend consumed with a great Atrophy together with a Loosness His Breast was diaphanous if it were held to a Candle He was given over by all especially by a City Pastor who practised Physick I believed he was not desperate because he had a liveliness in his eyes And he was recovered by taking Milk in which red-hot Flints had been quenched adding Sugar of Roses and a little terra sigillata Within a month he throve upon it now he is a lusty Man and follows the Wars XXXII Sometimes Childrens Atrophy comes from Worms which are bred under the Skin in fleshy parts of corrupt nutriment This is an approved cure Take 1 ounce or 2 of Bryony-root boil it in Lye of Oakashes till it grow like pap Anoint the Body of the Child with this either in a stove or in some warm place then the Worms put out their heads at the pores and then presently tâe Skin must be shaven with a Razour for so the heads are cut off the Worms and the cause of deficieât nutrition is removed And this operation must be performed once and again namely till it be evident that all the worms are gone Then the Children must be bathed often in Bathes of a decoction of a Sheep's-head and Feet Mallow Marsh-mallow Pellitory and Linseed c. XXXIII And there are not wanting some who affirm that Women witches suck children lean In which matter which I leave for others to discuss it is enough to know that they are emaciated because we find children are bewitched because perhaps they are infected with the Touch Sight and Breath of some infected maleficious Body For their tender bodies are easily made worse by any thing But how comes it to pass that a beautifull and healthy child presently grows worse discoloured and lean You must know that such a sudden change may happen in children either because the child by its innate principles is at the very perfection of health according to the indigence of its Age beyond which it cannot go one degree nor continue in the same then it must needs go into a worse state At which time I think we should use no Remedy but it may be hoped that by a good moderation of life and diet he may be brought to the utmost extent of Age which he is able to live while Nature grows stronger and the body arrives at a more solid state by the same action of Nature For so it happens to us all while we commit no errour in our life otherwise that alteration is a fore-runner of some Disease at hand Or again
is little and sticks not firmly to the sides of the Womb that has not as yet acquired a thickness capacious enough to suck up and contain the Blood that is as yet fluid about the Womb in the Hypogastrick Vessels by Bleeding in the Foot it may be recalled as in the Menstrual Purgation and so be withdrawn from the Womb Riolan anthropogr l. 6. in fine and therefore an Abortion would follow IV. The Diseases that seise upon Women not with Child as Vomiting want of Appetite and the like in them need Purging rather than Bleeding because they are caused by a Cacochymie abounding in the Stomach and the whole Body But in Women with Child they need Bleeding more because they are caused by the Blood retained from the very beginning of their being with Child And Experience hath taught that the Vomitings which often afflict Women with Child in the first Months are aggravated by Purgations but are much relieved by Bleeding yea are wholly removed if it be repeated every Month till the symptom wear off River V. According to Hippocrates aph 1. sect 4. one would think that we should reckon Purging to be safer than Bleeding for he there permits Purging in a certain case and time but on the contrary concerning Venesection he writes absolutely 5. aph 10. that it causes Abortion But Purgers do cause a great agiration and generally have a quality that is injurious to the Body and besides provoke the Terms and cause Gripings Whereas on the contrary Bleeding is administred with less perturbation of the Humours nor does it hurt any otherwise but as it deprives the Foetus of its aliment which fear is vain if there be a Plethora And it appears by Experience that Bleeding has better success than Purging when there is present the same reason of Indicants and Permittents Add that many Acute Diseases spring from plenty of Blood for which Bleeding is the properest Remedy VI. Hippocrates aph 1. sect 4. hath defined the use of Purgation in Women with Child Women with Child are to be Physick'd if the Matter be Turgent in the fourth Month and till the seventh but these later more sparingly But we must have a care when the Foetus is very young or when it is full grown Galen in comment says that Foetus are like to the fruits of Trees Now these when they are newly shaped or set have but weak Stalks and therefore they easily fall off when a violent Wind shakes them but afterwards when they are grown somewhat bigger they are not so easily shaken off the Trees and yet when they are come to their full growth and are ripe they fall off of their own accord and without any extrinsick violence In like manner Women suffer Abortion in the first and last Months because in those Months the Foetus is not so firmly knit to the Womb. But in our times Purgers are administred almost in every Month of their being with Child in Diseases which are produced by a predominance of Excrements and a Cacochymie when the Matter is turgent or concocted as often as there impends greater danger on the part of the Cacochymie than from the commotions raised by the Purge Physicians have been made bolder herein upon the account of the gentle and harm ess Medicins that we use now adays as Rhubarâ Myrobalans Cassia Manna Senna Agarick and the like Yet we must always have regard to Hippocrates's opinion that Purgers may be given more safely in the middle Months but are to be used more waâily in the first and last River ¶ Being with Child hinders Purgation for fear of Abortion and though even Acute Fevers be present and the Matter be Turgent yet the offending Humours may be corrected and evacuated by divers Remedies without strong Purgers For such Medicins are common at this day as prepare the Humours and bring them to the ways of the Ducts without making use of any violent Remedy And we must know that in the Diseases of Women with Child there is sometimes a very great fermentation of the Blood because of some Preternatural ferment raised in the mass of Blood which Purging Medicins as such can no ways bridle and moreover 't is very doubtful as yet whether that fermental Effluvium will follow the guidance of the Purgers See Zacut. M. P. H. l. 3. hist 14. Fr. Hofm m. m. p. 53. Schenkius obs l. 4. p. 554. VII Cassia is not to be given to Women with Child as no more are most Diureticks because through the nearness of the Womb with the Bladder which they provoke to expulsion they may do much harm Besides Cassia by its superfluous moisture relaxeth the Womb and weakens the Cotyledons and 't is also suspected for breeding Wind. Zacutus thinks that it may be so corrected by the addition of Spices and Carminatives as to become harmless but Experience witnesseth that it is not sate to use it VIII And the Evacuation that is made by Clysters is altogether unsafe because it may cause Abortion by compressing the Womb. When therefore there is need of them and Women have been accustomed to this kind of Remedy they ought to be made up in a less quantity and to be made of those things which are endued with a vertue rather to mollify and loosen than to purge strongly IX The use of Pills ought always to be suspected both because they disturb the Body more and also because of the Aloes which for its notable bitterness is offensive to the Foetus and is believed to open the mouths of the Veins But if its use seem necessary at any time in the more grievous Diseases of the Stomach which are often wont to afflict Womân with Child in their first months of being so let it be well washed with Rose-Water that its acrimony may be taken away or let it be mixt with astringents and strengtheners as Mastich and the like X. Diureticks because they are apt to provoke the Terms also ought to be suspected and if the necessity of the Disease do sometimes require them let the more gentle be chosen XI The drinking of Acidulae or Mineral Waters is to be denied viz. the Medicinal drinking not the extraordinary wherein a draught or two is granted for pleasure or to quench thirst First because by opening inciding attenuating and absterging they provoke the Terms whereby Aliment is withdrawn from the Womb Secondly because the Belly is thereby loosened but things provoking to Stool are hurtful aph 34. 5. and 27. 7. Hereby the Foetus is deprived of Aliment the bands whereby it is tied to the Womb are loosened and the Foetus is offended by the frequent stench of the Excrements as they pass by XII Sudorificks if they be of the milder sort may be safely used Experience teaching that they are beneficial to Women with Child that are infected with the Pox or Plague or the like Diseases for when there are vitious Humours in the Body if Nature be not infirm such thângs help
more than they hurt and Nature joins her self as a Companion with the Medicins against the Morbifick Causes which being banished the Spirits and Faculties are restored XIII Concerning a Bath Avicen thus admonishes But if superfluities be multiplied in them 't is fitting they bathe often But indeed it is naught unless towards the later end of the ninth month for it dejects the Spirits softens and loosens the bands that contain the Foetus breeds Crudities and which is worst provokes the Terms by unlocking the Vessels and fusing the Blood But to sit in a Bath is profitable for those who are near their labour for by it the Womb is dilated the neighbouring parts are softned and an easy passage is granted to the Foetus XIV As often as a Woman with Child is struck with some violent affection of mind a fright anger or sadness whereby there is danger she should fall in Travail before her time first a Vein must be opened in her Arm especially if she be Plethorick and a small quantity of Blood taken that is if her strength and Spirits permit otherwise let her drink a Glass of Wine c. Secondly Let the Spirits and Humours that are disturbed and rossed all the Body over be allayed by Anodynes and Opiates administred prudently sometimes Aromaticks and sometimes Acidish Medicins being added according to the diversity of the Disease Thirdly If any other Disease as Fluxes of the Belly Vomit c. follow let such Remedies be used as are proper for them Sylv. XV. A very thin Diet is not to be prescribed to Women with Child in Acute Diseases lest the Foetus be defrauded of due nourishment and yet we must not pass to that which is very thick lest the Fever be increased thereby Therefore we must keep a mean and a thinner Diet is to be prescribed in the first months and a thicker and somewhat more plentiful in the last months for the necessity of the Foetus If we err any way 't is safer to err in too full than in too spare a Diet for health is to be expected from the strength of tâe Mother and Foetus XVI I have more than once obsârved that the use of Butter has been hurtful to Women with Child P Borell obs 26. cent 3. as also to those who are subjâct to Fits of the Mother wherefore I advise them to abstain from it XVII Some disapprove of Exercise because it hâats dissolves the Spirits raises a Fever causes thirst and procures abortion by precipitating the Foetus But these things are to be understâod of too much or unseasonable Exercise otherwise that which is moderate discusses the Excrements that are collected by idleness relieves the Faculties that are oppressed by the plenty of retained superfluities diffuses the Blood and Spirits to the Members whereby the whole Body becomes vigorous But let it be omitted in the first month because the Foetus is then contained but by weâk bands In the second let it be seldom and slow In the third more brisk In the fifth sixth and beginning of the seventh more frequent In the later end of the seventh the eighth and to the middle of the ninth abate of it Whether it may be granted when her full time is at hand see the Title Partus XVIII Women with Child that labour of a Pica or depraved Appetite are not to have the same things prescribed them which are convenient for others for neither Purgers nor other Medicins that absterge violently are to be used for fear of miscarriage For seeing this symptom happens chiefly in the first months it follows that we must proceed warily especially seeing Hippocrates forbids purging about that time And in the fourth month about which time it would be safer to use Medicins the Malady ceases of its own accord the Matter being either spent by frequent Vomitings or much alter'd by the concoctive faculây seeing such Women eat little because of the loathing that is joined with it the stronger attraction of the Foetus helping which through its growth draws and spends much Blood at that time Therefore this Malady is no otherwise to be remedied but by a convenient Diet ordered for attemperating of the offending Matter by a slight abstersion and gentle provocation to Vomit namely if Nature incline that way not neglecting those things which may serve to strengthen the Stomach inwardly and outwardly Horst probl 6. dec 19. ¶ The Pica of Women with Child admits of neither Purging nor Vomiting but only requires those things that Corroborate the chief of which are the Water or Salt of Cinamon and of Orange or Citron rinds with the magistery of Corals and Perls If the thing they long for cannot be got Hartm prax Chymiatr c. 133. that the Foetus may suffer no prejudice presently give her to drink some of the Water of white Vine or Briony XIX The Vomiting of corrupted Meat and of other Humours cannot hinder Bleeding Johan Raymund Fort. consult 60. centur 4. seeing it self is the Remedy of Vomiting See before Sect. IV. XX. If Nausea and Vomiting be very urgent and be very afflictive to Women with Child so that there be fear lest some greater mischief supervenâ Opiats and Narcoticks may be used as both tempering the acrimony of the Humours and also bridling their vitious Effervescence likewise dulling all sense and so powerfully restraining and staying over great and troublesom Vomiting and by the help of these they are reduced to a convenient tranquillity and their Stomach and small Gut are strengthned by which means both other altering Remedies and also even Aliments themselves may be taken with the better success For indeed all these things are taken in vain while a violent loathing and vomiting continue Sylv. de le Boe Prax. l. 3. c. 6. which is to be wholly allayed before either Aliments or gently altering Medicins can be retained XXI We must act cautiously and with premeditation in stopping of Vomiting for we must not do that unless in case of evident necessity Fortis cons XXII If a Flux of Blood happen to a Woman with Child that is hastening to the time of her Travail by which she is much enfeebled the mouth of the Womb is to be closed without delay lest the ambient Air draw forth a greater quantity of Blood and the Spirits that are spent are to be recruited that she may be able to bear the pains of her Travail Now her Travail is not to be promoted either by things taken in at the mouth or by Clysters for by these the flux of Blood would be increased but 't is necessary to pull forth the Foetus by force putting your hand up into the Womb. The weakness of the neck of the Womb whose Ligaments are relaxed favour this operation so that the mouth thereof gapes as if often pains had preceded Unless the Waters break forth of their own accord the Membranes that contain the Foetus are to be gently burst by
rouses them into a new fermentation it drives Putrefaction from the Concrete although already begun and procures a firm concretion to it again That such alterations and freeings from corruption can be performed on Liquors made by Art every one knows and indeed in the Plague and malignant Diseases Alexipharmacks seem to perform the same Effect for these being taken often inasmuch as they exagitate the Blood continually and drive it into an higher ferment notwithstanding the influence of the hurtful miasmata or impurities they conserve its mixture intire yea after the malignity has made impression and the Crasis of the Blood begins to be loosened and dissolved in the manner aforesaid such Remedies being still exhibited for promoting Sweat or Perspiration inasmuch as they decoct the impurities of the received taint and induce a new fermentation opposite to the other corruptive one they often deface the Impetus or impressions of the pestiferous Malady As to the Cordials by which the too strait Compages of the effervescing Blood is loosened and opened for the setting at liberty the febrile Matter and other Recrements those are of affinity with some Diureticks and Diaphoreticks yea sometimes they are of common or reciprocal use inasmuch as the vitiated Crasis of the Blood sometimes cannot be relieved unless its Compages being first unlocked there lie open an exit for discharging the Serum by the Reins or the Pores of the Skin Saline Medicines do chiefly execute all these intentions of Cure for as we have otherwhere noted the opening of any Body whether liquid or solid is hardly performed but by a Saline key For commonly all concretion or compaction is from a Salt of one sort and the dissolution from some of another sort that snatches into its embraces the first Salt and then Precipitation is caused by some Salt of a different condition that destroys the Combinations of the former Therefore we reckon Salines among Cordials no less than among Diureticks and Diaphoreticks because there is the same reason in all In the first rank Cordials endued with a volatile Salt offer themselves and are justly preferable to all other as the Spirit of Hartshorn of Blood of Sal armoniacum compound viz. distilled with Amber Treacle and other Alexeteries the Spirit of Skulls digged out of Graves Hither may be referred also the Salt of Vipers the Powder of Toads closely calcin'd which I have known famous and very profitable in an Epidemick Pestilential Fever Such Remedies as these have recalled many from the very jaws of Death and indeed afford help often in a various and manifold respect namely first inasmuch as encountring either a fixt or an acid Salt and snatching them into their embraces they open the mass of Blood too much thickned and straitned by the febrile effervescence and so promote the Separation and Secretion of the Morbifick Matter And secondly in that they relieve the animal Spirits and rouse them up from their sluggishness to execute their Office to which may be added that in Malignant Fevers these Medicines subdue and often extinguish the poisonous Particles of the Morbifick Matter The Second place among Saline Cordials is of right owing to Remedies endued with an alkalisate or petrifying Salt for these are commonly reputed very notable Cordials Of this sort namely are the Bezoar Stone Perles Corals the Bone of a Stag's heart and the Horn of the same the Powder of Ivory the Eyes and Claws of Crabs and other Powders of Stones and Shells which common Experience witnesses to be often given with benefit And the reason of their helping seems to consist in this That the Particles of the Alkaline Salt in the Medicine encounter the Particles of the acid Salt within our Bodies and by and by do intimately cohere therewith and therefore destroy the ragings or whatsoever other undue combinations thereof To this Classis of Cordials are Bole-Armene terra Lemnia Sigillata and other chalky Medicines deservedly reckoned but not upon the account that they succour the labouring Heart as is vulgarly thought but because they destroy the Predominances of an acid or fixed Salt either in the Bowels or in the mass of Blood and by and by allay and correct the Enormities produced thereby Thirdly If I should exclude Acetous Medicines or such as are endued with a fluid Salt from this list of Cordials every one almost would tax me for these are esteemed by most to be notable Alexeteries against the Pestilence Wherefore in the cure of Malignant Fevers Treacle and Bezoartick Vinegars are highly cryed up yea Vinegar or Acetous things are usual Ingredients in Waters distill'd for that use for the same reason Spirit of Vitriol the juice of Citron Sorrel Pomegranats c. are reckoned for Cordials and Alexeteries and that indeed justly because these do excellently dissolve the Combinations of fixed Salt with adust Sulphur and master their outrages and therefore by such Remedies as these the Coagulations and Extravasations of the Blood that use to happen in Malignant Fevers are often prevented or cured Fourthly for the same Reasons for which the aforesaid Saline Medicines are reckoned for Cordials others also whose basis is a fixt Salt are reputed such or are put into their Compositions For seeing Salts of divers sorts are bred in our Body and they commonly pass from one state to another hence not one kind of Salt but Salts of different kinds ought to be given according as the intention is On what account Medicines endued with a fixt or lixivial Salt do take away or correct the Enormities of an acid Salt predominating within the Bowels or Blood was shewn above Fifthly A Nitrous Salt is justly numbred among Cordials as without whose Particles to be inspired with the Air in taking our breath the life of Animals cannot subsist but this being taken in at the Mouth as a Medicine is accounted a famous Antipyreutick in that it takes away Thirst and bridles the febrile Heat which yet it does not only by helping the mixture of the Blood but also its accension for we think that Nitrous Particles together with Sulphureous are requisite to constitute a flame and the more of the Nitrous there are the clearer and brighter the flame is Wherefore seeing a Matter which for the greatest part consists of Sulphur with Salt and Earth mixed being kindled sends forth but an obscure flame and such as is vitiated with Smoke and Sootâ but if Nitre be added burns clear and calm with brightness We think 't is just thus in Fevers when the Blood being filled with adust Feculencies smokes with a suffocating heat rather than burns out Nitrous Particles being taken in at the Mouth and transmitted to the Blood make it by and by to burn brighter and clearer so that the Compages of the Liquor being unlocked both its serous and fuliginous recrements part the freelier from it But moreover some Medicines have the name of Cordials because they exert their vertue on the animal Spirits first and more immediately than
yellow or green are brought forth by every Medicine Moreover which is more if you go unto the Apothecaries Shops themselves and there examine the forms prescribed by Physicians you will often see that the most celebrated Physicians have used one and the same Medicine in purging many and divers Patients XCIX Yet from hence it follows not that any Purge may be used indifferently in any Distemper For the Humours that require to be moisten'd must have moistening Purgers as the Syrup of Roses solutive the Syrup of Senna many sorts of infusions of Violets c. Those which are thick and ought to be incided require Jalap white Mechoacan Scammony c. Nor matters it that Rhubarb evacuates yellow bilious Excrements Crocus Martis aperitivus blackish melancholick and also that Flowers of Antimony do tinge with a Saffron colour for it follows not from hence that the said Purgers do electively purge such like Humours for we must know that these colours are not naturally in the Humours but that they proceed from the Medicines as the Flowers of Antimony tinge the Humours by their Sulphur Saffron and Rhubarb heighten the yellowness of the Urine And if some things have this faculty without the Body to bring a certain colour upon things Frid. Hofman m. m. l. 1. c. 7. why may not Purgers themselves being resolved have the same effect C. The Purgative Faculty of Medicines sometimes lies hid in the resinous Part sometimes in the Salt Hence Rhubarb Agarick Jalap Turbith are very well extracted by the Spirit of Wine and their Extract purges very well But if you will extract Coloquintida whose vertue consists in a Salt you labour to no purpose for it operates chiefly in substance Walaeus p. 291. CI. The plenty of Medicines has made us poor If you examine all the Purgers that Authors have collected many of them are to be expelled out of that order so that we shall seem to be reduced to scantiness For there are some of them that either through their sluggishness or their vehemency are not to be used at all or very seldom and with great judgment The sluggish are Hyssop Turpentine Dodder of Tyme Polypody Lapis Armenus lapis Lazuli all which are to be expunged out of the Catalogue of Purgers nor are Turbith Hermodactyls to be admitted though otherwise enough famed and cryed up The juice of Violets does nothing The too violent are black Hellebore for it disturbs the whole Body you may make tryal of it by putting a little of the root of it in an Issue The seed of the American Rieinus Elaterium Gummi Gotte may be used but seldom Walaeus met meâ p. â2 May we not therefore at all use strong Purgers I answer that we may in two cases namely in the Dropsie and Melancholy c. CII Purgers as I have known by long Experience if they be mixt with aperient Medicines in a less quantity than may serve for Purging so that the vertue of the Aperients prevail do not at all move the Belly yea their vertue because it is of great activity being turned to the passages of Sweat and Urine by the vertue of the Openers ârosp Martian comm in v. 214. l. 2. §. 2. de morbis does so increase the vertue of these latter that both together make a most effectual Remedy both to open and also to provoke Sweat or Urine CIII Whether may metallick Purgers be used safely enough for preservation I like very well the desire of Claudius Deodatus in his Panth. Hygiastic l. 3. p. 63. 6. that we would abstain from such as much as may be For though there seem to precede a due and convenient preparation yet it can hardly be says he but that some pernicious and poisonous qualities wherewith the said Metals abound should escape the hand of the most ingenious Chymist that prepares them and so being taken within the Body should if not suddenly yet in progress of time exert their vertue and privily and by stealth prey upon the Nectar of our life For adds he I have known but very few hitherto that having used this sort of Purgers familiarly Doring Epist ad Sennert 32 cent 2. have either come to a due and just old age or have not contracted a Cachectick constitution of Body CIV Vegetables need not always like Minerals a long preparation to open their compages or Body for these often operate more strongly while the mixtion is intire For those whose vertue consists in a subtil and volatil consistence ought not with much labour and Chymical preparation to be reduced into Extracts Magisteries or Quintessences because most of them as Rhubarb Manna Cassia Senna Myrobalans c. being reduced into Pills or Powder or infused or boiled in a fit Liquor do operate better and more easily which being vexed with too much Artifice do either wholly lose their Purgative vertue or exert it slowly and with trouble It is usual for drawing out the tinctures of Vegetables to impregnate the Liquor they are infused in with the Salts of Tartar or Wormwood for so the infusion soon gets a deep colour Though I do not condemn this Custom inasmuch as the fixed Salts of Herbs effervesce with the acid juices of the Stomach and Intestins yet we may detect the deceit that lies hid therein seeing the Salts do not draw forth that deep tincture but only cause it to appear for if you add the salt of Tartar to an infusion of Rhubarb Senna or other Vegetable that is already made and strained its tincture or colour will presently become deeper The reason whereof is that the Salino fixt particles being very obtuse do stuff the pores of the liquor so as that the beams of the light as they pass through are very much refringed and therefore any tincture being made deeper by the salt of Tartar becomes presently clearer and thinner by pouring in some Spirit of vitriol whose particles are sharp-pointed without the precipitation of any matter Yet however some of the Cathartick vegetables are mended by Chymical preparation for such of them out of which being full of Salt and Sulphur the active and benign particles may be separated from the remaining more dull and malignant and may be reduced into resinous or other kind of compendious Extracts I say a dissolution and new composition of these may be undertaken to good purpose Therefore for the due preparation of some Catharticks we extract the Sulphureous and some of the saline part with the Spirit of Wine as in the resinouS Magisteries of Jalap Scammony Mechoacan c. For some we use saline Menstruums Williâ c. CV Yet I have met with some Instances of such as having taken such Spirit by the direction of a Physician have been very ill upon it undergoing notable gnawings of their Stomach and Intestines trembling of their Limbs weakness of the whole Body and more than a two days want of appetite The reason whereof in my opinion is that the
Purgative parts of the Spirit have returned by way of precipitation in the Stomach or Intestins to the former habit of their rosm especially if any thing was drunk cold upon it and the precipitated Particles sticking in the coats of the Guts cause griping and a weakning of the Faculties whence they often create Swoonings Convulsions and Tremblings and unless they be absterged in due time and their fierceness be dulled superpurgations Idem CVI. There must needs be some salino-sulphureous stimulus in Purgers that may solicit Nature to excretion for we observe that the vertue of Purgers is obtunded by Acids which is a manifest sign that by this means their saline and sulphureous stimuli are infringed Thus Hellebore Coloquintida yea Antimony it self or rather its crocus and glass are corrected and mitigated by the Spirit of Vitriol or distilled Vinegar CVII There are not a few even Practitioners who think that purging Medicines as often as they operate not when they are taken hurt very much which Opinion I now laugh at because Experience hath taught me the contrary c. For Purgers if they be given duly that is in convenient quantity time and measure will always benefit never hurt the Sick though they do not presently purge out any of the offending Humours Sylv. Append tract â § 234. See the title of Sudorificks for in such case they alter and correct them and prepare them for a kindly evacuation afterwards CVIII If Choler abound in the Body in the Spring-time seeing it is to be feared lest by the following heat of the Sun it be poured too plentifully out of the Gall-bladder and many Diseases arise hence a Prudent Physician will lessen the choler and that chiefly by Stool as a more accustomed way and a more easie manner but not by Vomit unless in those that use to vomit and do it easily who are commonly made to vomit even by Catharticks themselves Idem m. m. l. 1. c. 15. CIX That Antimonium Diaphoreticum hath a Faculty to open Obstructions is true but it does not this of it self but when it is mixed with Purgers For it is certain that Antimonium Diaphoreticum being joined to other Purgers does increase their Purgative vertue so that a less dose of them may serve without any griping of the Belly As for instance If to half a scruple of the root of Jalap you add three or four Grains of Antimonium Diaphoreticum Frider. Hof man Clav. Schrod p. 306. it will work as much as if you gave a Scruple of the Root alone Purgers The Contents The fermentation of Purgers varies their Dose and Vertues I. Whether Aloes open the mouths of the Vessels II. Whether it purge the whole Body III. Whether it hurt the Liver IV. Whether to be given presently after Meat V. Whether it need correcting VI. Whether to be washed VII It is hurtful in a dry intemperature VIII The correction of Agarick IX The Seed of Carthamus hardly purges X. Cassia is a Purger and not a Lenitive XI Cautions in the giving of it XII Whether it be diuretick XIII To whom it is hurtful XIV Catholick or general Purgers XV. How to correct Coloquintida XVI Dwarf Elder Elder and Flower-de-Luce hardly purge XVII Hellebore needs a stimulus XVIII It is commmly given in too small a dose XIX Purging Ointments to anoint the Belly with are not safe XX. Whether Extracts be to be preferred before the Substance XXI The vertue and manner of giving Crystals of Luna XXII The great Hierae are not safe XXIII Hydragogues are for the most part hurtful XXIV How Jalap is to be given XXV It should not be given when the humours are in motion XXVI It is safer to use it than Scammony XXVII How its Rofin is to be used XXVIII Whether it operate in Infusion and Decoction XXIX Whether Lapis Lazuli be of the Number of Purgers XXX To whom Manna is hurtful XXXI At what hour to be given XXXII Whether it evacuate only thin humours XXXIII Cautions to be observed in its use XXXIV Mechoacan is an Excellent purger XXXV Wine hinders its operation Ibid. How Merc. dulcis mixt with Merc. vitae becomes a Cathartik XXXVI 'T is safe to use Mercurius dulcis XXXVII Mercurials are the best Chymical Hydragogues XXXVIII The vertues of Merc. dulcis XXXIX Other Purgers are to be joined with Mercurials XL. Mercurials are not proper for all XLI The Virulence of precipitated Mercury XLII Myrobalans are not to be mixed with strong purgers XLIII Whether to be chafed with the Oil of sweet Almonds XLIV How gentle Pills of Aloes are to be taken XLV A neat preparation and correction of Gummi Gotte XLVI The efficacy of a Laxative Ptisan XLVII Pulvis Cornachini is a safe medicin XLVIII The temperature and correction of Rhubarb XLIX It s substance purges more than its infusion L. Its purging Vertue is not taken away by roasting of it LI. It affects the head LII Scammony when diluted with Broth is very hurtful LIII It is the best Purger being rightly corrected LIV. How it is to be given XXV When Senna gripes LV. What Dose is sufficient LVI It is not offensive to the Stomach LVII The correction of Turbith Vid. Sect. IX In what time the Infusion Syrup and Honey of Roses are to be finished LVIII Whether the Syrup of Roses be a Lenitive or a Purger LIX The Syrup of Roses made of several Infusions does not cool LX. Syrup of Violets made of repeated infusions is to be preferred before that made of their juice LXI The abuse of Wormwood-wine Where is treated also of the abuse of Purges and Clysters LXII Wine is fittest for preparing potions of Resinous things LXIII Simple Extracts are better than compound LXIV Extracts are somewhat sluggish in their Operation LXV A Caution about infusing Senna and Rhubarb LXVI Potions made of Electuaries are more certain and safe than those that are made of Infusions LXVII 1. IF purging Medicins be given alone they ought not to exceed the highest Dose if they be given with others if there be no fermentation neither then is the Purger to be given beyond its highest Dose But if there be a fermentation we may exceed the highest Dose because the Vertue of the Purgers is refringed by fermentation Thus the highest Dose of pilulae foetidae is a Drachm and an half wherein Euphorbium is given to fifteen Grains whereas the highest Dose of it self alone ought not to exceed twelve Grains But these Pills unless they be fermented are not to be given in this Dose The Hiera of Alexander is compounded of Aloes Agarick Polypody Opopanax Sagapenum Hellebore Coloquintida Scammony But some make a doubt of Scammony For Alexander adviseth when we give a Purge to mix nothing with it for a Stimulus such as is Scammony for the Purge is rendred unprofitable by the Scammony or Stimulus For when we would purge Phlegm or Melancholy which matters are purged with difficulty 't is not beneficial