into its natural posture he remained dull as it were stonied yea sometimes he staggered And although he had an Issue made for it in his neck and right arm yet he found no good by them He tried the Leaden waters to no purpose Praevotius advised him with good success to medicinal wines Turpentine with Castor a decoction of box China root Misletoe of the Oak Mastick Tree Sage and Groundpine Velschius Obs 14. Besides Treacle with Sugar of Roses And among external things Goose grease with Spirit of Rosemary applied with Scarlet to the nape of his neck after embrocation Medicines especially made use of by eminent Physicians Accorombonus de Catarrho 1. I affirm I have seen several cured by the continual use of Diacodium who have been in manifest danger of a Consumption from a thin and salt Catarrh ¶ Take of Cloves Cinnamon Mastick Mace Benzoin each 1 drachm Cipresnut red Coral Pomegranate flowers each 2 scruples mix them make a powder and apply it to the Coronal suture both I and others have often tried the virtue of this powder and we have found it stop destillations in so short a time Idem that it has appeared wonderfull both to our Patients and us 2. The tincture of Luna is very good for destillations Agricola Take of Spirit of Vitriol 4 drops Tincture of Luna 8 drops Water of Mother of Time half an ounce Oil of Amber 5 drops Mix them give it every day ¶ This is a secret for Catarrhs never enough to be commended Take of white Sugar 3 pounds Root of Liquorish Elecampane Flower de Luce each 2 ounces Spring-water 24 pounds Boil them filtre them well To 8 pounds of the Colature add of the herb Speedwell Maiden-hair Lung-wort Scabious Horehound the cordial flowers Colts-foot red Poppy each 5 Pugils Roman Nettle seeds and of seeds of Carduus benedictus Anise Fennel each half an ounce infuse them 2 days and boil them again to a third add of Gum Guaiacum China root each 2 ounces Cinnamon lesser Cardamome Cloves each 3 drachms boil them over a gentle fire for an hour Idem filtre them and strain them Drink of it four or five times a day 3. In a suffocative Catarrh I use with great success water of Violets or colts-Colts-foot Bartolettus with white Spirit of Sulphur dropt in drop by drop in danger of suffocation and I have delivered several from imminent danger 4. Take of Aloes Penniroyal Calamint Mint Citron rind Petr. Bayrus each a like quantity make a powder incorporate it with Ladanum and a little Acacia and apply it to the Coronal suture having first shaved off the hair 5. Terra Lemnia or Bole Armenick with wine is a most excellent Remedy in a cold Catarrh Alex. Benedictus for they effectually hinder suffocations 6. A decoction of Turnips with butter and Sugar is very good or if there be any wind in the Turnips Crato it may be corrected with a drop of Oil of Aniseeds ¶ In a salt Catarrh I have found this a most wholesome remedy A Decoction of Honey with Roses which is made thus Take of pure water 6 measures Honey half the quantity boil it and scum it put a bag full of dry Roses in it and boil them for a convenient time Drink of it every morning Also red Bole Armenick laid upon the Tongue and Palate at night especially stops and dries a Catarrh and wonderfully strengthens the head Idem so as it seems an Inchantment it is as good as any Treacle 7. A Lohoch of Oak of Jerusalem in diseases of the Breast is excellent for the Destillation falling on the Breast it is made thus Take of the juice of Oak of Jerusalem Scabious Speedwell Colts foot each half a pound Barley Cream 3 ounces Sugar half a pound Gul. Fabricius Boil them to the consistency of a Syrup add of Species Diaïrews simp half an ounce powder of Anniseeds 2 drachms Flower of Brimstone 1 drachm Mix them 8. This is very good Take of Rosemary Marjoram Nigella red Roses Cloves Nutmeg Goclenius Indian Spike each half a drachm Make a Powder take it in a Pipe fasting like Tobacco 9. In a thin suffocative Catarrh destilling violently upon the Asperia Arteria and raising a continual cough Graba in Elapâ—ograplica a little burnt Hartshorn held onely in the Mouth or put upon the Tongue is accounted an excellent Remedy for the Catarrh is presently thickned and the cough comes but seldom ¶ Oil of Amber hath an admirable efficacy to stop a Catarrh if some powdered Amber be put in a bag and heat in Spirit of Wine and sprinkled with some drops of Oil of Amber and applied to the Crown of the head Idem the nostrils and Temples being both anointed with it at the same time 10. This is an exceeding good sternutatory to dry and stop the Catarrh and strengthen the Brain Petr. Michael de Heredia Take of Darnel Seed of Nigella Castor each 1 scruple Marjoram Rosemary Sage each half a scruple Musk 4 grains Mix them make a powder and snuff it up Linseed infused in strong white Wine Vinegar then dried and strowed upon some coals its fume received by the nostrils doth wonderfully stop a defluxion ¶ The destillated water of flowers of white Dittany is also a celebrated Remedy snuffed up into the Nostrells ¶ This promotes expectoration of the thick matter Take of the powder of Elecamparte seed half an ounce Savine seed 2 scruples Honey 2 ounces fresh Butter 3 ounces Mix them 11. Frid. Hofmannus Sassafras wood is of excellent use in this disease so that it is reckoned the true and proper Alexipharmack of Catarrhs especially if it be infused with Spirit of wild Time which is done thus Take of field Mother of Time destill it from strong wine let it stand a few days and destill it from fresh Mother of Time and then infuse Sassafras wood in it ¶ Nothing stops immoderate Catarrhs better than the following Cataplasm Take of sowre leaven 2 ounces Amber powdered 2 drachms make a Cataplasm and apply it to the Crown when it is shaven ¶ Also in a suffocative Catarrh Tacamahaca dissolved with some Oil of Mastick spread upon lether and applied to the Crown of the head when it is shaven is very good 12. For a Catarrh with hoarseness I have had good success in this Medicine of Forestus Gt. Horâ—tiuâ— Take of Liquorish juice white Sugar each 2 drachms seeds of Purslain Cucumber Melon Citrul each half a drachm Aniseed Gum Tragacanth each 1 drachm Penidy of Sugar 2 drachms and an half Make them into sublingual Pills ¶ I have had experience to my honour of this Electuary in several in difficult expectoration which threatned a Consumption Take of Elecampane Root Quinces boil them with Honey and add some flower of Brimstone ¶ In thin destillations I successively use Pilulae de Styrace Cratonis 13. Pope Adrian's Wine is highly
Fall breathe a Vein in the Arm in Melancholick persons bleed the Haemorrhoids in Women provoke the Menses if they be stopt Galen confidently affirms it is a present Remedy in sharp Pains violent Defluxions and high Inflammations Th. de Mayerne de Arâ—hr p. 94. And if these three meet in the beginning of the Gout Who will deny it in so urgent necessity Since the Excellency of this Remedy is such Can any other more certain or of less dubious event be tried Should not this when pains are urgent be preferred before Purging VII In a fresh Gout or in one not very inveterate Willis cap. de Arâ—hrit in a hot constitution especially to let Bloud in the beginning of the Disease often gives relief But in an habitual Disease a cold Constitution and old Age it usually does more hurt than good inasmuch as it depresses the Vigour of the Bloud and Spirits that are not raised too high without any diminution of the Morbifick Matter VIII A Magistrate of Copenhagen An. 1665. was taken with a Second Fit of the Gout his pain lay most in the Great Toe of his right Foot and the Veins of that Toe strutting out very much I ordered him to be bled where his Pain lay most the Bloud sprung out as violently as if it had been out of the Median Vein S. Paul Quadrip Botan Class 3. Bonus Henricus Afterwards I applied the following Cataplasm and he was eased of his pain to the admiration of all men so that within three days he was able to go abroad without any inconvenience Take of fresh Allgood without the Flowers 4 handfulls dry Flowers of Elder Chamaemil each 2 handfulls Boil them to mash in a sufficient quantity of Elder-Water add of Gum Caranna half an ounce Camphire half a drachm Mix them make a Cataplasm IX A Vomit is an excellent Preservative against the Gout which may be provoked by the help of Emeticks where there is abundance of Humours where the Joints are lax and the Disease draws nigh and when the Patient lives at large and hearkens not to the Advice of Physicians but indulges himself to the loss of his health But there is another sort of Vomit very usefull and less troublesome If you would understand the Reason of it you must know the Original of the Gout must not be derived from the Liver or Brain but from the Stomach the first source of the material cause which is afterward diffused through the wâ—ole venous kind According to the advice of the Arabians it is convenient to be drunk once a month which is not unbecoming so that a Man turns not Swine but retains his Reason This Advice suits well wiâ—â— those Swill-guts that swallow all things without scruple Let such stuff their Guts once or twice a Month more than usual with any sort of Food but especially Fat things Th. de Mayerne Traâ— de Arâ—hritide p. 16 26. and then drink what Liquour they please in greater quantity than ordinary Let them thus charged stand quiet for an hour then walk gently for half an hour and then let them put their fingers in their Throats to make themselves vomit that together with what they have gorged themselves they may throw up that Ropy stuff which did stick to the sides of the Stomach but is now washed off with drink and mixt with the food X. A Purge should be given at the first and in the very beginning of the Fit for so the Humour that is flowing and about to flow will be diverted from the passages of the Joints to the Guts And in this Purgation two very remarkable things should be observed first not to Purge with a gentle lenient Medicine that may rather stir than evacuate the Humours and so throw them upon the Joints upon which the Pain and Swelling use to increase but with some smart Purge that may evacuate the Humour and avert it from the Joints Secondly to wrap some Defensative above the Knees and Elbows that the flowing Humour if any be on Motion by taking of Physick may be intercepted make an Ointment of Bole Pomegranate Rind and Flowers Root of Bistort Riverius c. 3. de Arthritide Tormentil Roses with Whites of Eggs and Vinegar which you may apply and bind on with Swathing Bands and Roilers XI As to Purging in the beginning of this Disease it is a thing much controverted while some Physicians do religiously abstain from all Purging before the Declension or end of the Fit Others on the contrary give a strong Purge in the beginning of the Disease and frequently with good success The Reason of this Difference seems principally to consist in this namely that some Gouty persons have as yet a firm constitution and tone of Humours and of the Vessels that contain them and have Joints not yet weakned Wherefore as soon as the bloud or nervous juice are stirred by Physick their Superfluities and Recrements are not presently precipitated to the diseased Place but by yielding to the irritation and motion of the Physick they are discharged into the Guts by the mouths of the Arteries and the mean while the empty Vessels do draw and suck back some part of the morbifick matter Willis cap. de Arthritide But otherwise in tender and weak Constitutions upon the least commotion of Physick the Excrements of both these Humours fall upon the Gouty part Therefore they for whom a Purge is convenient must be Purged with a strong and good working Medicine XII Violent Purgers although they seem to doe good yet they strangely influence the Body while they waste the Radical Moisture and Natural Heat and much weaken the members of Concoction so that within a little time there is as much Excrementitious Humour bred as was purged out Wherefore men must have a care of frequent using such Medicines and unlearned Physicians Crato XIII Bayrus an Italian Physician extolls his Caryocostinum to the Skies the Simples whereof since they are very hot and that its operation is pretty violent I scarce think it proper for dry bodies but onely for those that are very moist and cold And although he affirm that when he was extremely afflicted with the Gout and the pain was very violent he hath taken this and always recovered his Feet so as to be able to walk to the Close-stool without leading I do verily believe him as being a learned Physician and a well-experienced old Man Yet it is clear that Gouty persons should not be purged with their Pains upon them Th. de Mayerne in Tract de Arthritide p. 36 49. or if they be it must be done to purpose otherwise you certainly exasperate the Disease This danger will be prevented if the same day you take your Purge you take at night a dose of Laudanum by which means the fury of the Humours will be laid the Spirits fixt and when the Cause is diminished the Ail will abate and Nature will be restored
shews that all salt things are proper for this Fever Nor must they therefore be rejected because they breed thirst Brudus XXXVIII Besides in a pestilential Fever we must take diligent care of the Stomach that the Patient may be able to retain what he takes otherwise we can neither help the strength nor oppose the disease Wherefore my reason tells me that Salt-fish would be of use if it be such as is easily concocted for it is certain that it dries the stomach exceedingly causes an appetite and immoderate thirst settles a subverted and nauseating stomach As I was writing these things it was told me that an old Chirurgeon in England used successfully to feed people sick of the Plague with Salt-fish which the English call Herrings the French Anchoyes which if he cannot have instead of them he uses a less sort of Fish which take the Salt and Smoke better But you must warn your Patient to abstain from drink till an hour after eating of them but afterwards give him as much cold water as he can drink at one draught The use of such Fish is most effectual against the thin corrupt humidity in the stomach And how much such Salt-fish strengthens the stomach represses loathing and causes an appetite their very smell declares whereby no small appetite is procured to the stomach He therefore that is content with these reasons let him use them broiled being steeped in Vinegar or in Juice of Sorrel Idem XXXIX It is a difficult thing to prescribe a Diet for these Fevers For a thin one is not convenient 1. Because it is given that Nature may be at leisure to fight with the morbifick matter But in pestilential Fevers it is our onely care to prevent a War between Nature and the pestilential Humour because usually in such contest Nature is overcome 2. A Diet that is thin and easie of concoction is sooner overcome by the violence of the pestilential Contagion than by Nature Wherefore although it were very usefull and necessary for the breeding of Spirits which in such Diseases Nature most loves yet in this Disease we may not use it And gross Meats must not be given because they cannot be overcome of the natural heat as being languid also because they do not afford matter for spirits and they add to the cause of the Disease although they be necessary for a greater resistence against corruption For which reason I advise to mix such things as afford most plenty of spirits with such as resist the pestilential Contagion Such as it is evident they are that are dry by Nature and immerge themselves deep into the body with a quick penetration communicating a drying faculty to the whole with a little astriction Wherefore Salt and all salt things especially such as are of a thin substance as also all sowre things are admirably good They indeed increase the Fever but it is better to stop putrefaction and repair the substance than not to heighten the Fever Nor is it contrary to reason to increase thirst for it is desirable because 1. It shews that the action of the sensory faculty in the mouth of the stomach is perfect 2. The Patient will be delighted with cold water and he may drink plentifully of it which is an excellent Remedy Mercatus XL. But it is not adviseable to use Salt-flesh which the Northern part of Spain uses because it is hard of concoction Yet it were better to use the Juice of it when it is well rosted The Juice of Flesh breeds abundance of Spirits and strengthens the Stomach Therefore it must be our great care that we doe not offer the same meat so often till the Patient loath it Wherefore the Physician should think with himself of divers meats that he may use every one of them when it is proper All sweet and unctuous things whatever is hot and moist should carefully be avoided Lentils with much Vinegar Salt Saffron and Parsly boiled are convenient Brudus XLI Celsus lib. 3. c. 7. orders the giving of hot and strong Wine in the Cure of a pestilential Fever Which we must think was observed by him or by Physicians before him in the peculiar and particular nature of some Pestilence For even in our age many were sick of the Plague and recovered who had a great desire to Wine and acknowledged they did receive great benefit from Wine and they said they never found greater relief in the very height of the Disease than when they drank Wine which their Physicians also confirmed whereas otherwise although it restore strength and spirits yet it is manifest it is very hurtfull by reason of its heat Therefore Galen in giving Bâ—le Armenick which is cold and dry distinguishes carefully whether there be a Fever or no and whether it be small or great And whereas several Physicians write that Wine must not be given because it carries the Poison to the heart and opens a passage thither this reason does not hold because otherwise it were not convenient in Poisons when yet Dioscorides not onely permits it but commands it even to be taken liberally against the biting of Serpents and all wounds which hurt by cooling But what can the nature of the Pestilential fever be wherein Celsus commends Wine Certainly it must be such wherein there is much poison and very little putrefaction and that in cold matter For sometimes in pestilential Fevers the putrefaction is so remiss Rubeus in cit loc that it is almost none at all and yet the pernicious or evil quality is very intense XLII If the Patient be troubled for several days with a costive body with anxiety of heart Can a man expect relief from a Purge Costiveness is not the cause of the Anxiety but the poison it self Therefore proceed to give â—weats strengthen the Heart and be not greatly solicitous for the Costiveness But if you have a mind to loosen let a Suppository be used for the use of a Clyster is not so safe This hath done many harm at this time and others little good while in the mean time it â—o way resists the malignity But if you will neglect this admonition which is confirmed by experience and reason and have a mind to give a Clyster abstain I pray from Scammoniates especially in Women and Virgins Barbette that have their Menstrua XLIII The appetite of meat decayed may be restored by Acids any way taken and especially with sweet Spirit of Salt and Elixir proprietatis either mixt with the ordinary drink or used with cordial mixtures Where note that since the Pestilential poison for the most part uses to exert its deleterious quality in a few days it is not worth the while for a Physician to be solicitous for restoring the Appetite immediately in the beginning because when poison is conquered by Acids the Appetite returns of its own accord but if it comes slowly Syl ius de le Bâ—ë it may be repeated by often using
those of his own Tribe Medicines especially made use of by Eminent Physicians in various Fevers and Agues In Fevers properly so called 1. OIL of Antimony is good almost for all Fevers Agricola ¶ And Spirit of Sal Ammoniack 2. This is a most excellent food in a Colliquative Fever Take the finest flower of Spelt put it in an earthen Vessel with which and Sugar make a stratum super stratum till the Vessel be full The proportion must be 4 ounces of Sugar to a pound of Flower Bake this in an Oven till it be dry Take 3 ounces of this meal mix it with broth of flesh and a fourth part Rose-water and white Saunders half a drachm Augenius Make a Ptisan Of which let the Patient take as often as he pleases 3. Take a piece of Cyprian Vitriol infuse it in 5 pounds of water drink 6 ounces of this blew water every morning for 6 days Borellus if the Patient vomit he will be cured within ten days 4. The Sengreen called Vermicularis bruised with Vinegar and Barley-flower and applied to the right hypochondrium in a Fever that is not excessive burning does much good Believe the experienced ¶ If the Fever be not very burning make two bags of Barley flower as big as ones back and apply one to the whole back Crato when it grows hot expose it to the Air and apply the other 5. Oil Salt or Magistery of Mother of Pearl first made with distilled Vinegar or precipitated with Spirit of Vitriol is an excellent Sudorifick and Antifebrile if it be mixt with Essence of Antimony Crugner made of Antimonium Diaphoreticum I call it Mixtura Antifebrilis Diaphoretica 6. Butter of Pearl is a stupendous and very effectual remedy for the cure of a Hectick Faber 7. Take clear Aloes the best Myrrh and the best Saffron each 1 ounce and an half Let the two former be powdered fine Put them in a capacious and strong Glass seal it by melting the neck of the Glass distill it in a moderate heat lest the Glass break till you see the whole mass concrete at the bottom and the clear Oil to circulate with the water on the sides of the Glass then open the neck of the Glass and pour in some Cinamon Water and distill them in wet Sand Van Helmont upon which scalding water must gradually be poured till nothing more will come over the Alimbeck and with this Medicine I have cured both Quartans and Continual Fevers 8. It is found by experience that Burnet infused in warm Water presently cures a continual Fever ¶ Water distilled off Water Melon is a great Medicine with some for it presently quenches the heat of the bloud ¶ The water of Gourd is excellent in burning Fevers A fresh Gourd is coated with fresh Paste it is baked in a hot Oven with bread and the water which is found within it is kept or a whole Gourd is cut in pieces put in a new earthen Pot is baked and strained out Heurnius and a little Sugar is added 9. In burning Fevers Bezoardicum Solare Martiale Lunare Joviale or Antihecticum Poterii are very good to stop the ebullition of the bloud Hofmannus and they are good in periodical continual Fevers 10. This is a certain experiment in burning Fevers Take Speedwell Mousear each half an ounce Make a Powder infuse it in Wine Kornthaverus let it stand a Month. Let him drink often of it it expells heat and cures any Fever 11. Nitrum Vitriolatum that is the coagulated Spirit of Vitriol is good in all Fevers Mynsiâ—ht 12. Take of Spirit of Vitriol Urine each one pound Mix them distill them by retort and a Crystalline Butter will ascend Of which give one scruple mixt with 3 ounces of water or phlegm of Vitriol to the sick party It is so excellent a Medicine that it has saved many mens lives Poppius for it extinguishes the internal preternatural heat 13. Sal Prunellae from half a scruple to half a drachm is an excellent alterative and much exceeds others if it be dissolved in Carduus Benedictus water and drunk it cools powerfully and quenches thirst ¶ Acidum Tartari Aluminatum has a secret virtue in opening obstructions Rolsinccius and especially in curing Tertian agues 14. Take of choice Manna as much as you please distill it by a Cucurbit with a gentle fire you will have an insipid Spirit Schroderus an excellent Sudorifick in all Fevers 15. The Water or Phlegm of Alume is much esteemed by some in all sorts of Fevers where if it were mixt with its Spirit it is like Angelus Sala it would be more effectual 16. Take of Mucilage of Quince seeds Fleawort seeds Oil of Violets fresh butter washt each 1 ounce white Wax what is sufficient anoint the Spina dorsi Ben. Vict. Faventinus It is admirable good in Fevers of such persons as cannot take Medicines In a Malignant Spotted Pestilential Fever and the Plague 1. In the Plague and after taking of Poison the Essence of Antimony is very good ¶ Mercurius vitae fixatus is very good in Pestilential Fevers ¶ Also the flowers of Antimonium diaphoreticum are an excellent remedy in Pestilential Fevers ¶ An excellent Bezoardick Vinegar Take of the root of the greater Fern Butter-bur Angelica Tormentil Elecampane each 1 ounce Powder of Serpents red Myrrh shavings of Harts-horn each 1 ounce flowers of Marigold Tunica each 2 pugils seeds of Sorrel Citron Carduus Benedictus each 1 drachm and an half Saffron 1 drachm Terra Sigillata Venice Treacle each 1 ounce and an half The best Vinegar 4 pounds Mix them set them in the Sun You will make a Vinegar than which nothing is more effectual 1 spoonfull whereof taken in the morning will preserve you safe from the Plague that day ¶ Vinegar of Antimony The dose 1 scruple that day you take it it preserves you from the Plague ¶ Spirit of Nitre is of great use in Malignant Fevers ¶ This diaphoretick mixture is of great efficacy in Malignant Fevers Take of Spirit of Terra Sigillata 1 drachm Tartar half a drachm Treacle 1 drachm Magistery of Coral J. Agricola Pearl each half a scruple Water of Carduus Benedictus Citron each half an ounce Mix them Make a draught for 2 doses 2. Our Country people in the Plague time defended themselves onely with Vinegar of Marigolds and they escaped without danger Bartholinus 3. A certain Man cured several of the Plague onely by applying a piece of the Monocerot's horn and with an infusion of it in common water for their ordinary drink and he gave this for prevention for they that used such water Bo elius were not infected with the Plague 4. Some say who have tried it that if in the beginning of a Pestilential fever one drink 2 or three ounces of Juice of Marigold Champegius and cover himself with Clothes he will
or half a drachm of crude Alume in the water or decoction of lesser Centaury if it be given 5 hours before the Fit and Sweat if possible provoked Grulingius I cannot sufficiently commend it in a Quartane 8. I use to drive away Quartane Agues with a Plaster of a few dissolving and abstersive things Van Helmont and it never failed me 9. In a Quartane Ague the following Plaster was the Secret of the Prince of Anhalt which sometimes so extracts the febrile Infection that now and then it raises blisters Take of Pepper Salt Saffron Garlick which is covered with earth of each alike what is sufficient Beat them in a Mortar to the form of a Cataplasm put a little in a Rag and apply it to the out-side of the Ring-finger of the left hand take it off the same hour it is applied and repeat it before the Fit Hertod 10. Flowers of Sal Ammoniack are excellent in a Quartane ¶ Roots of crude Asarum though crude they provoke Vomit with great perturbation yet boiled in Water and not in Wine they are changed into a deoppilative Diuretick which the Spiciness that lies in it does shew D. Oheimius fled to this as to his last refuge in tedious Fevers depending on inveterate Obstructions of the Hypochondria Hofmannus 11. Against a Quartane as a famous thing I recommend distilled Oil of Pepper 4 drops given with extract of Gentian Also Flowers of Sal Ammoniack or the Salt thrice sublimed with extract of Spleenwort or lesser Centaury Also Spirit of Nitre prepared with Sulphur Also Spirit of Vitriol of Mars and Venus given in Gentian or Treacle-water And outwardly I must highly commend Sage Christ Langius Rue and Shepherds-purse with Vinegar applied to the Pulses 12. I was in fear of the Fourth Fit of a Quartane and before it came I drank a little Spirit of Wine or Aqua vitae sweetned with Sugar and I saw no Fit but had an end of my Ague to my great joy Lotichius 13. One that was ill of a double Quartane was cured with 3 doses of an infusion of Senna in Aqua Riverii febrifuga which is nothing else but Spring-water with Salt of Tartar whose wonderfull effects we experience continually in all long Fevers and in diseases coming from Obstructions ¶ Extract of Germander with Salt of Tamarisk made into Pills Riverius is commended as a most excellent Medicine for a Quartane 14. I have often tried the following Medicine with success Take of Leaves of Elder Sage Dovesfoot Rue each half an handfull Marigold 2 handfulls Salt and Wine alike a third part Beat them together Rondeletius apply it to the Wrists before the Fit Remove them when there is occasion 15. I can say from my own experience that if Seed of St. John's wort be bruised Varignana and given in Wine before the Fit it does much good Fistula or A narrow and long Vlcer The Contents The cause of its pertinacy I. A palliative Cure sometimes lawfull II. The cure of them must not always be undertaken III. All do not admit of a Cure IV. The force of a hot and dry Air in curing of them V. Vnder the Armpit cured with actual fire VI. One in the Breast with a decay of the Os sternum must not be cured by burning this bone VII One with an erosion of the Collar-bone cured VIII One cured by eating things IX Fallopius his Syrup efficacious in the cure X. It must not be filled with Hellebore XI One in the nether Jaw cured by drawing of a Tooth XII One in the right Pap eaten out XIII When one in Ano requires a palliative cure XIV Whether the cure by a Thread be safe XV. Fistulae of long standing in old Men must not be cured XVI The consumption of the callus by Medicines without actual fire XVII Medicines I. THe Daughter of N. after a grievous pain in her Loins fell into a troublesome Fistula in her Groin which by continual running wasted her body so that in a short time she departed this life The cutting of her up shewed an evident Caries in a bastard-rib which continually sent out a sharp ichor into the flesh below which being eroded there came a long and anfractuous Fistula which was beyond the Skill of Medicine You may see the defect of the same Art in Fistula's of the Anus whose beginning sometimes runs very high either to the Loins or the Vertebrae of the Breast or sometimes to the Shoulders whose inaccessible Caries the tortuous winding of the fistula does hinder from being searched with a probe which also hinders injections designed to cleanse the Ulcer and does exclude the Hand which might take out the vitiated Bone Which nevertheless not being timely taken away the Patient dies before his time and the fistula deriving its original from a remote Caries does obstinately resist the Physicians cure Whose lips though you clip open and ampliate which yet is very good in cutaneous fistula's nevertheless you will lose your labour and you can never come to the farthest end of these sinuous windings from whence so many branches and so frequent rivulets descend by muscles and tendons which lie deep that though a Probe be never so dextrously put into such a tortuous fistula Tulpius obs 28. l. 3. yet it can never reach or remove the Caries that is the cause of a continual fistula II. The cure of fistula's is two-fold one fictitious false and palliative the other true Of the Palliative Galen makes mention lib. de Tum p. n. c. 4. and Avicenna 4. 4. tr 4. c. 2. When the fistula is dried up within and healed on the outside a sinus or hollow place remaining within which is performed by putting drying Medicines into it by keeping a good Diet and by purging of the superfluous humours By this means the Sinus is closed for a time the orifice healing up But afterwards when any moisture is gathered in it an Abscess is formed again and the fistula returns I do not deny I sometimes use this false cure for the Patient's consolation For having purged the body and ordered a spare diet I leave off Tents which I had a long time put in such incurable fistula's and apply a new Sponge wet in some Mineral water and wrung-out or in some lixivium or Lime-water By this means the whole was closed outwardly so that the fistula seemed to be cured the Patients being dismissed This sort of cure sometimes wanted success sometimes not for the integrity and soundness of the Skin conduces much to the cure of external Diseases because the natural Heat expires by the Aperture and the natural functions of the part are not performed But when the orifice is stopt the natural heat is kept in then it performs aright the work of concoction it digests and discusses excrements Aquapeâ—dens so that sometimes the sinus fills up which it would not have done if the fistula had
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 â—r 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
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 â—f 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 â—oë 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
to revive And these were so much the more irregular and showed so much the more intense putrefaction by how much the matter of which they were bred was more thick and faeculent As to the Cure I have admired at the quite contrary Indications which this Disease seems to intimate to me For on the one hand it was clear that the Symptomes which depend upon too great Inflammation were immediately produced by a hot regiment as a Fever Phrensy Purple Spots c. to which this Disease above all other is subject And on the other hand an over cold regiment did hinder the Swelling of the Hands and Face which is here very necessary and render the Pustules more flat After I had much and often revolved these things anxiously with my self I at length understood that it was possible to help both these inconveniences together at the same time for by allowing the liberal use of water boyled with Milk of small Beer or of some such other Liquor it was in my power to check the internal rage of the blood and on the other hand by keeping the Patient constantly in bed not putting out so much as an Arm I could by the gentle heat thereof promote the elevation of the Pustules and the swelling of the face and hands Nor is this Method inconsistent with it self for the blood when the eruption is at an end is reckoned to have discharged the inflamed Particles into the habit of the Body and not then to want provocatives to a further secretion of the matter so that since then the whole stress of the business lies in the habit of the Body and in ripening the Abscesses we must only take care on the score of the blood that it may be preserved from hot Vapours struck in from the flesh beset with Pustles and on the score of the Pustles that they may be brought to maturity by the gentle heat of the external parts But then how happily soever this Method of mine had succeeded in other Confluent small Pox yet in these of this Constitution my Method failed me so that most of these that were very ill of them died whether they used the Method now recommended by me or a hotter Regiment and Cordials Therefore I fully understood that something was yet wanting beside these things which might conduce either to the checking of ebullition of the Blood or to raise the Pustules and the Swelling of the Face and Hands that is that something was wanting which might be sufficient to conquer an intense Putrefaction which was observed to be higher in these than in any other At last Spirit of Vitriol came into my mind which I thought might satisfie both intentions both the resisting of putrefaction and stilling the rage of the Blood Wherefore leaving the Patient to himself till both his pain and inclination to Vomit which use to go before eruption were ceased and all the Small Pox were come out at length on the 5th or 6th day I ordered Spirit of Vitriol to be dropt into small Beer to a moderate acidity for his ordinary drink to drink his pleasure but more freely when the Fever of maturation was at hand which drink I ordered him to take every day till he was perfectly recovered This Spirit as if it had been Specifick for this Disease did check all Symptomes to a miracle The Face swelled sooner and far higher The interstices of the Small Pox inclined more to a red colour like a Damask Rose The small Pustules grew great at least as big as that sort would bear The Pustules also which otherwise had appeared to be black did here discharge a certain yellow matter resembling an Honey-comb Then the Face was instead of black tinged with a deep brown colour They ripened sooner and run through all the other times sooner by a day or two And all these things came to pass if they drank freely of the foresaid Liquor Wherefore whenever I observed that the Patient refused to take a quantity sufficient to conquer his Symptomes I gave him now and then this Spirit mixt either with some Syrup in a spoon or with Syrup and distilled water added to it that the more sparing use of this Liquor might be compensated I have reckoned up the divers conveniences of this Medicine Inconvenience indeed I could never yet observe any the least arise from it for although Salivation be usually stopt on the 11th or 15th day by it instead whereof some stools about that time do serve yet the Patient will be less endangered by these than by it because they that are sick of the Confluent Small Pox are chiefly in danger because in these dayes the Spittle being made viscid choaks a Man which indeed a loosness in this case helps which will either cease of self or at least when there is no danger from the small Pox it may be stopt by drinking Milk and Water and by taking of Narcoticks In the mean time the Patient being laid in his Bed and his Arms covered I would not suffer him to have more Clothes on him than ordinary I allowed him also to move himself from one part of the Bed to the other as he pleased to prevent Sweats to which he was much inclined notwithstanding this Remedy in the mean time he lived upon Oat-meal and Barly grewel and sometimes a roasted Apple Towards the latter end if either the Patient were faint or sick at his Stomach I indulged him 3 or 4 spoonfuls of Canary Wine And after the 5th or 6th day I ordered him being a grown Person for Children had no need of it a Paregorick draught to be taken every Evening betimes that is 14 drops of liquid Laudanum in Cowslip water On the 14th day I suffered the Patient to rise from his Bed on the 21th I got him let Blood and then I purged him twice or thrice which being done the Patient's Face looked better and of a more lively colour than theirs used to do whom this Disease had handled ill Besides the method here recommended does not suffer the Face to be disfigured with Scars Sydenham which proceed from hot and enraged Humours eroding the Skin XXXV The Small Pox must not be neglected but an exact account must be taken of them and a sollicitous cure must be insisted on First when they are Epidemical and one or more Children are taken with them in the same House and there are more yet that have not had them and indeed for prevention sake from so grievous and difficult a Disease 2. Upon the account of them in whom while the Fever is urgent the Humour that produces the Small Pox is moved up and down the Body with the Blood 3. When Spots and Pustules are come out all the Body over and they begin to be inflamed and to hasten to suppuration 4. When the same Small Pox are in suppuration or cease to suppurate 5. When signs remain of a Humour that produces the Small Pox not sufficiently expelled
Mace and a crust of bread or in distilled water or Tincture of Pontick Wormwood Take of powder of Ivory Crabs-Eyes red Coral each 2 drachms Coral calcined 1 drachm red Sanders Cinnamon each half a drachm Make a powder The Dose half a drachm in the same manner Take of the Tincture of Salt of Tartar 1 ounce The Dose 1 scruple to half a drachm twice a day in some appropriate distilled water Idem XXVI In Vomiting from a sharp and hot matter Medicines endued with a sowre and vitriolick Salt are more convenient That famous one of Riverius is proper in this place Take of Salt of Wormwood 1 scruple give it in a spoonful of juice of Lemons Take of Coral prepared two drachms Salt of Wormwood one drachm and an half juice of Lemons four ounces Let them stand in a capacious Glass Add of strong Cinnamon water 2 ounces The Dose a spoonful or two twice a day first shaking the Glass Take of powder of Ivory Coral each 2 drachms Vitriol of Mars 1 drachm Sugar Candy 1 drachm Mix them Divide it into 6 or 8 parts let 1 be taken twice a day in some convenient Vehicle In this case mineral purging waters which have much Nitre in them Idem and Iron Waters use to do abundance of good XXVII If when the Stomach perverts most it takes into a bitter and bilious putrilage as it often does it be therefore incliâ—ed to frequent vomitings Medicines both Acid and Bitter are proper Take of Elixir proprietatis 1 ounce take 1 scruple twice a day in some convenient Vehicle Take of Rheubarb in powder xxv grains Salt of Wormwood 1 scruple Cinnamon water half an ounce juice of Lemons 1 ounce Mix them Take this either by it self or in some convenient Liquor Take of powder of Crabs-Eyes half an ounce Tartar Chalybâ—â—te 2 drachms Sugar Candy 1 drachm Make a powder Idem The Dose half a drachm with some convenient Liquor twice a day XXVIII The cause of a frequent and habitual Vomiting is oftentimes not so much any matter irritating the Stomach as a weakness of its Nervous fibres and it s too great propensity to irritation inasmuch namely as they being very tender and infirm can neither concoct what is taken nor bear the burthen or load of it but are presently irritated by any thing that lies upon them and therefore put the carnous Fibres into emetick Spasms that they may throw off what is troublesome In this Affection there are 2 cases to wit Either a weakness of the Stomach implanted in the very Fibres is contracted from some inordinate courses as Surfeiting dayly and immoderate drinking frequent drinking of Wine or hot Waters and other Errors in Diet inasmuch as these Fibres being distended beyond measure or too much heated or as it were rosted cannot admit or contain animal Spirits in a quantity sufficient Or Secondly these Fibres although of themselves they be well enough yet because of Nerves somewhere obstructed they are deprived of a due afflux of Spirits and thereupon being languid and flaccid they cannot bear what is taken but being oppressed they force it back by Vomit Thus I have known several who without any impurity of Stomach or languor contracted from disorder have been taken as it were with a Palsy in that part and lost their appetite and have been subject to frequent Vomiting In the first case such Remedies are indicated as may by their Stypticity make the too much distended and thin Fibres to corrugate and contract into a narrower room and such as may by their pleasantness draw spirits more plentifully thither and refresh what are languid Take of Conserve of red Roses vitriolate 4 ounces preserved Myrobalanes 6 drachms Ginger preserved in India half an ounce Species de Hyacintho 2 drachms the reddest Crocus Martis 1 drachm Syrup of Corals what is sufficient Make an Electuary The Dose 1 drachm twice a day drinking a draught of distilled water upon it In a weakness of the Stomach or resolution caused by some Nerves being somewhere obstructed Antiparalytick Remedies joyned with Stomachicks will be of great use Take of Elixir proprietatis Paracelsi 1 drachm The Dose 1 scruple twice a day in the following water Take of Cypress tops 6 handfuls leaves of Clary 4 handfuls the outer rind of 12 Oranges Cinnamon Mace each 1 ounce roots of Cyperus lesser Galangale each half an ounce When they are cut and bruised pour to them of Brunswick Mum 8 pounds distill them in common Vessels Tincture of Coral Tartar or Antimony may be used in the same manner In this case Spiritus Salis dulcis also Spirit of Sal Ammoniac or its flowers Willis ibid. give great help Moreover Vomits and Purges and Sweats are often given with benefit I have known this Disease several times happily cured by Bathing in the Bath at Bathe XXIX In Vomiting and the Disease Cholera Laudâ—num may be given with Syrup or Tincture of Roses or with sapa of Quinces and let a Cupping-Glass be immediately applied to the region of the Stomach Mâ—yerne traâ—t de Laudanâ— M. S. and make a Cataplasm of Leaven powder of Mint and Orange Peal with some juice of Mint Medicines especially made use of by eminent Physicians 1. Let this Plaster be applied for it does wonders Take of Mastich Cinnamon Lignum Aloes Zâ—doary Galangale Cloves Anniseeds Marathrum each 3 drachms Mix them Make a powder Mix the powder with Oyl of Mastich and Balm And then with leaves of Wormwood and Mint and baked Bread boyled in Wine make a Plaster â—ordonâ—â— and apply it warm 2. This following applied is found to stop Vomiting presently Take of sower leven 2 drachms dried Mint powdered Mastich powdered each 2 drachms and an half powder of Cloves 1 drachm a little Vinegar Mix them and spread them on a Cloth and apply it warm Grulingius it does excellently well 3. Water cooled in Snow stops a pertinacious bilious Vomiting above all things De Heredia As I have found by experience 4. This is a most excellent Remedy for all Vomiting Take of Cloves grossly beaten half a drachm Roses 1 Pugil red Wine half a Pound Boyl half away Joel The Dose 2 Spoonfuls after meat 5. If enormous Vomiting follow the taking of Antimonial Medicines take 4 drops of Oyl of Cinnamon in Cinnamon-water Kunrad and the Vomiting will presently stop 6. This is admirable good Take Yolks of Eggs fry them in a Frying pan with Oyl of Mastich adding powder of Mastich and Coral till they become a soft cake Rhudius Apply them hot to the Mouth of the Stomach 7. I have learned by experience that Water and Vinegar of Roses with the Yolk of an Egg and a little Salt without any Butter Rosenbergius presently stops Vomiting 8. A crust of Bread dipt in Malmsey Wine or Mint water and sprinkled with powder of Mint Mace Cloves Cinnamon or Spec. Aromat rosat and applied to the Stomach is
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. Wedâ—l 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 hâ—litus 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
answer In the preparation many parts of the Vitriol are separated from the Spirit whence we cannot observe all the effects in the Spirit that are seen in the Vitriol intire and some may be seen in the first that are not taken notice of in the latter Vitriol vomits the Spirit stays vomiting So Sulphur is inflammable its Spirit not so yea it rather resisteth a flame The Spirit of Vitriol hath an eroding faculty if given alone but that is common to it with other Liquors as Vinegar the juice of Citron c. Your Acidulae or Mineral Waters are drunk with profit that have their vertue from Vitriolick Spirits It is safely given in convenient Liquors It s hotness is corrected while its particles are severed by a mixture with Water or other Liquors in that proportion that an hundred particles or atoms of Water are mixed with ten or twelve of the Spirit 2. The Medicine was not known to Antiquity yea * x. m. c. 2. 11. c. 9. Galen suspects the use of Vitriolate waters in putrid Fevers because being applied to the Skin they both cause an astriction of its pores and too much heat the Body Answ We must not therefore reject it because it was not known to Antiquity Galen disallows of the external use of Vitriolate Waters because they constringe the Skin 3. He says there are safer Medicines Answ The Spirit of Vitriol is safer if it be taken in a due quantity That it has done good in Fevers there are innumerable witnesses few say that it has done â—urt It does not as yet appear that there are safer Medicines 4. The too great astriction that was in the Vitriol is also in the oyl now astringents do harm in putrid Fevers Answ The astriction in the Spirit is not so great as to do harm there rather seems to be none in it all acids do not astringe yea they attenuate deterge take away obstructions loosen the Belly it cures the flux of the Belly not by binding but by strengthning and condensating there proceed indeed effects from densation that are like to astriction but are not astringents and acids are different But suppose it astringe there is no danger from thence for the inciding attenuating and opening parts are by far the more powerful 5. Viâ—riol is poyson according to Dioscorides Answ It is Poyson in a large sense in which all things that kill by their quantity are called deleteries c. Rolfinc Ep. de febr c. 136. where more objections are made ¶ Spirit of Vitriol being given indecently and too long puts on the nature rather of a Poyson than a Medicine Being added to Humours that boil already enough of themselves just as if you mix this Spirit with the Gall of some Animal Rolfinc cons 2. l. 4. p. 405. it causes greater disturbance and procures a quicker ascent of vapours XXIV Chymists make Universal and general Digestives of Tartar as 1. It s cream and Crystals 2. The magistery of Tartar vitriolate 3. Misiura simplex But these are not truly such it is safer to rank them in the number of particular Digestives They are not good in a bilious Cacochymie and for salt sowr and acrimonious humours In those they may increase the ebullition and do harm They are more profitable for a simple cacochymical melancholy but not so good for a Pontick and Acrimonious which has the seeds of fire in it As much as they avail to incide thickness so much they irritate fervid and adust humours and hurt by inflaming Rolfinc meth gener c. p. 477. They are in some sort good for phlegmatick humors XXV The Cream and Crystal of Tartar absterge incide thick and tartareous Humours open obstructions and loosen the Belly and either of them is a pleasant Medicine if a drachm thereof be given in the broth of flesh or in boyled water with a little butter in it with three four or five grains of Diagridium or extract of Scammony it will give the liquor a somewhat acid taste The Crystals are not so acid nor so diuretick as the Cream and therefore they are safelier given when the body is not purged Sennert Epist 28. cent 1. the dose is from a scruple to a drachm XXVI As to the Crystal of Tartar let the younger Physicians note that it is of greater efficacy than is commonly believed seeing we seldome make use of it in our practice through the carelesness of Apothecaries and deceit of Pseudochymists or those common distillers that sell chymical Medicines to Apothecaries none whereof almost is sincere but all adulterate The carelesness of Apothecaries is for the most part so great that they chuse rather to buy the Crystal of Tartar of those distillers than make it themselves though no preparation of Medicines in the whole art be easier because it is sold them at a low price whereas it would stand them dearer to make it Now the cheat lies in this that those Impostors put in their decoctions but a little Tartar and a great deal of Alum not that Tartar is dearer than Alum but because Tartar yields but a little quantity of Crystals whereas Alum will all of it run into them Hereby are Physicians disappointed of their end seeing Alum is indued with an astringent vertue that is contrary to the opening faculty that is desired by them And another hurt is done this Medicine that this sort of Crystals is drawn out by decoctions made in Brass pots whereby the malignant quality of the Brass is imprinted upon the Medicine For it is a very well known and vulgar precept of pharmacy that acids be not boyled in brass vessels because they easily penetrate and draw a certain tincture from the brass that is very hurtful But the Crystals of Tartar are very acid and by some are named Acidum Tartari And yet this errour is very commonly committed even by the Apothecaries themselves for almost all that make these Crystals with their own hands use brass vessels so that I have seen some Apothecaries have Crystals of Tartar of a Sea-green colour from the Verdegriese that had been drawn from the Vessel wherein they had been made Therefore Physicians will consult for their own conscience for their esteem and the health of their Patients if they make Apothecaries make the crystal of Tartar with their own hand and in Glass Iron or earthen Vessels River pract l. 11. c. 4. XXVII Though I leave every one to his own judgment and experience in the use of Tartar yet by long use I have found that there is more of an opening and loosening faculty in Tartar it self than in its cream or crystals drawn by the solicitous hands and thoughts of Chymists seeing in boiling and by so many washings its purgative vertue that rests chiefly in its earthy and saline parts does most of it vanish inâ—o the thin air I prescribe opening herbs that are defin'd for the Spleen or Liver to be boiled in pottage
First wash the part well then lay on the following Liniment Take of Honey of Roses half an ounce oil of Vitriol 1 drachm mix them make an Ointment Herc. Saxonia l. 2. p. c. 25. 7. If the Ulcers be Malignant I use either Water of Tartar or Vitriol wherewith all malignant Ulcers are conquered River prax Med. l. 6. c. 5. 8. If there be no Inflammation the onely and best Remedy is Spirit of Vitriol or Sulphur which in those that are grown may be used alone Dip a little Cotton bound to the end of a stick in it and give the Sore a light touch for so a simple Thrush is cured in a moment Sennert l. 2. p. 1. c. 18. 9. In Childrens Thrush this is an approved Remedy especially when it is malignant and Epidemick They hold a living Frog to the Child's Mouth that it may draw out the Malignity which when it is weary and dead they hold another and so on but this is a filthy Medicine Apoplexia or the Apoplexy The Contents Whether Bloud must be let I. The Jugular Veins may be opened II. When Fomentations must be used before Bloud-letting III. Bloud-letting not good for all IV. A Sanguine Apoplexy cured by bleeding in both Arms at once V. Where Cupping-Glasses should be applied VI. The Efficacy of Cupping applied to the fore-part of the Head VII Cured by Blisters VIII Shaking the Body and stirring them up to walk when proper IX Plucking the Hair bending the Fingers rubbing the extreme Parts c. whether of any use X. Whether a Man should be Purged XI Violent Purging is convenient XII Whether a Vomit may be given XIII The Vomit must be strong XIV Clysters must be very sharp XV. Suppositories should be given frequently XVI Apophlegmatisms of Hiera to be rejected XVII Vinegar should not be mixt with them XVIII Whether Sneezing be proper XIX Whether Fumes be proper XX. The Efficacy of Stillatitious Oils and Volatile Salts XXI The great Antidotes are not allways proper XXII Whether for the Cure a Fever should be raised and when it succeeds the Apoplexy whether it should be extinguished XXIII An Apoplexy negligently cured of a small one became Mortal XXIV What Posture is best XXV They that are past Hopes are not to be quite given over XXVI Medicines I. I Judge a Man may nay must according to Prudence and Art let bloud in every Apoplexy according to the Constitution of the Patient and quantity of bloud in the Vessels and that plentifully For so the Patient will endure the longer Sylv. de le Boë Pran l. 2 c. 21. and the Apoplexy will be easilier cured as experience testifies without which I know not whether upon consultation one would not be afraid to let bloud in ancient people When therefore the Physician dare not let bloud experienced persons advise well that Scarification should be used or at least Cupping with Scarification in stead of bloud-letting And because so great a Man as Sylvius relies here altogether on Experience but remains dissatisfied in his Theory as who pleases to consult the place cited may see I think it very pertinent to consider how exactly the excellent Wepfer hath laid down the Theory For to discover so abstruse and latent Causes he produces Anatomical Histories or Observations wherein the Phaenomena in Bodies of several who died of this Disease are declared In three that died Apoplectick the extravasated bloud was either gathered here and there into great Clods or had discoloured the substance of the Brain all over in another a Floud of Serum had overflowed the Brain within and without From these marks of this most occult disease thus discovered the Authour concludes the places principally affected are not the large Ventricles but the medullous substance of the Cerebrum and the Cerebellum which is every way porous and furnished with narrow passages as well that Vital Spirits may flow thither from the bloud as that the Animal may flow thence And indeed he concludes that the Cause of every Apoplexy wholly consists in these Two i. e. in one alone or both together namely either because the Afflux of bloud through the Arteries to the Brain is denied or the Efflux of Animal Spirits from the Cerebrum and Cerebellum through the Nerves and Spinal Marrow is stopt or for both these causes As to the First he proposes how the bloud may be stopt three ways i. e. First Either by reason of the Obstruction of the inner Carotid and Vertebral Arteries which happens in the bigger Vessels and especially about the Ascent of the Cranium from bloud concrete into grumous Lumps or in the lesser Vessels which cross the Brain from their being stopt with viscous Matter Or Secondly The influx of bloud is kept from the Brain by reason of the Compression of those Vessels which sometimes happens when the Paristhmia or Glands of the Neck are so swelled with Serous humours that by pressing the Arteries that pass under them they stop the passage of the bloud to the Head Or Thirdly The Afflux of Bloud may be hindred when a Vessel being opened within the Cranium the bloud is plentifully poured out which should otherwise go to the benefit of the Brain As to the other Cause of the Apoplexy i. e. the hindring the spirits in the efflux he reckons it is caused two ways either by obstruction of the Origination of all the Nerves caused by serous Matter or by sudden Compression of the same which either too great gathering of bloud in the Meninges or in some certain parts of the Brain or in its Ventricles or some phlegmonous Disposition do produce Seeing the Apoplexy according to the opinion of the Moderns consonant to the doctrine of Hippocrates arises from the stoppage of the Circulation of the bloud or as he speaks from the standing of the bloud and not as Galen would have it from the oppletion of the Ventricles of the Brain All hope of safety consists in a speedy revulsion and retraction of the Matter from the Head nor can there be found a Remedy which can so speedily avert derive nay and evacuate the humours from the Brain as Letting of bloud therefore we prefer it before all other means in curing the Apoplexy and we think it proper for all Individuals whether they be plethorick or no. The thing it self speaks for several Apoplectick persons have been restored and perfectly cured onely by letting of bloud When the bloud is taken from the Arm that also in the Jugular Veins is drawn downwards and then comes some portion of the Matter that is in the Sinus's which although often it be phlegmatick yet it is found not without bloud but may be removed and drawn back with it And for that cause unless some weighty reason hinder we order large bloud-letting in Apoplectick persons which may reach the humours above and remove them and sometimes we repeat it twice or thrice in each Arm that the Veins being emptied on each side
operate nothing at all which is an ill sign and such persons usually die But because according to Celsus Many things may well be done in a dangerous case which should otherwise be omitted therefore when the foresaid Remedies avail not we may come up to Antimonial Medicines especially those that are less violent such as Aqua Benedicta made of Crocus Metallorum which Purging both upwards and downwards brings away so great a quantity of Phlegm not onely from the Stomach and lower parts but from the Brain that sometime the Patient is cured by this Evacuation For I can truely testifie that I saw a Nobleman cured of an Apoplexy thrice in two years by this onely Remedy And although some condemn the use of Vomits in these cases yet we must rather trust experience which teaches us by daily experiments how comatous Children are with more speed and safety cured by Vomitive Salt of Vitriol Riverius than by any other Remedy XIV Here I must take notice of a frequent Errour in giving the Emetick Wine For timorous Physicians prescribe it in too small a Dose i. e. an ounce or an ounce and half at most and when they are frustrated of the effect expected Francisc Bayle Tract de Apoplexia c. 11. they blame and disparage the Medicine whereas to persons grown and of any strength it should be given to about three ounces in an Infusion of Senna XV. Walaeus saith that in the Apoplexy Clysters may be so strong of Coloquintida that they fetch the very bloud Nothing hinders it for Life must be saved and this Damage may easily be repaired And it may the better be done if the Apoplexy were caused by too much bloud XVI The Belly for Revulsion sake and to excite the dull Faculties may be provoked by administring sharp Clysters and Suppositories whereas otherwise they would scarce go to stool Suppositories because they provoke exceedingly and are quickly made and by reason Clysters cannot be kept for Senselessness are very convenient and should often be repeated Platerus in which some burning hot things since the Patient is without Sense will doe no harm XVII Some rub Hiera and Purging Electuaries on the Palate to no purpose in stead whereof it were better to use Confectio Anacardina Idem which inflames a little XVIII We rub the Palate with things that bring away Phlegm yet in that Quantity and Form that if they should fall on the Aspera Arteria they may not choak Take of Mustard-seed long-Pepper Pellitory of Spain powdered a like quantity mix them with as much Honey juice of Rue and Horseradish as is sufficient to make them into the form of an Ointment We leave out the Vinegar which some put in because it abates the strength of sharp things Idem as we see in Onions and Horseradish if they be eaten with Vinegar XIX Although the humour causing the Apoplexy cannot be cast out by Sneezing because it is not contained in the Ventricles yet in this most grievous and dangerous case we must try every thing that may remove the Matter However before Purging it is suspicious because by the motion of the Head and Breast there is a greater afflux of humours We may anoint the Nostrils with the same we anoint the Palate withall Platerus XX. Some provide Fumigations but they are not at all to be commended for they are dangerous to those that have difficulty of Breathing It is better to hold a little Rue Rondeletius or Castor or Galbanum to the Nostrils Some highly approve a Fume of Amber made immediately how destitute such are of Reason Crato learned Physicians can abundantly shew XXI Things taken inwardly are not to be neglected in the very beginning which encrease the Effervescency of the Bloud refresh the Spirits and raise the deficient Heat in Plethorick persons especially after bloud-letting in others both before and after The most spirituous and which abound with volatile Salt are best Such as are several sorts of Apoplectick Waters Spirit of Wine Tartarisate distilled Oils of Anniseed Rosemary Sage Cloves and the like with some Cephalick Water Volatile Salts especially bring great and present benefit that are separated and cleansed from all concretion of their Body such as are the volatile Salts of Sal Ammoniack Soot Bloud Hartshorn and which exceeds them all the volatile Salt of Vipers These Salts quickly pass through the whole Mass of Bloud Bay Tract de Apoplex and render it more fluid they infringe the force of Acids and dissolve grumous bloud XXII There are some who give Treacle or Mithridate to drink but under a great mistake because all the virtue of the Opium will not be lost though they be never so old To say nothing of the many Astringents are in them the strength whereof although it be qualified may be suspected because the humour that is the cause of the Disease and moistens the body of the brain is more deeply impacted by these Medicines Râ—ndeâ—etius It is better to give a Scruple or two of Castor which because of its unpleasantness less hurts the brain XXIII When a continual Fever for one Intermitting presages Death accompanies the Apoplexy as it should do it needs no other help If it be too low it increases the Disease if too high it spends a Man For a Fever cures no other Apoplexy Crato in Consil than that which comes of cooling the bloud of crude humours and a flatulent spirit But here the Prudence of the Physician present is required XXIV Holleriuâ—â— lib. curaâ— Sect. 29. One taken with an Apoplexy was raised by rubbing and Motion a Fever followed gentle enough but with a Delirium Being negligently cured and not raising what fell upon his Lungs he died the ninth day after his Fever and the tenth after his Apoplexy XXV The question is about the Posture of the Patient namely Whether he must presently be put to bed or be kept up a-while Some very carefully observe the latter nor without reason because certainly there will be a greater propensity to sleep in bed and the bloud by the heat of the Clothes will be in a greater ferment and the more it blazes the more recementitious matter it discharges into the disaffected Brain On the contrary while the Patient is thin clad and set in a Chair the bloud runs slower and while the Vessels subside they seem fitter to receive the humours from the Head than to send more thither Wherefore if the Patient have strength sufficient perhaps it were better to sit up six or eight hours till the flux of the morbifick matter be past and the course of the bloud be made more sedate by letting of bloud and by other remedies carefully administred But such as are weak and of a tender Constitution must as soon as they are seized be laid on a bed either in it or upon it His posture must be not on his back but with his head a little raised
Temples and Nostrils The Arch-Dutchess of Austria had frequent experience of the Virtue of this Medicine 14. Take Oil of Cinnamon Cloves and Lavender Jo. Bap. Van Helm Tract de Febribus c. 15. p. m. 778. if you know how to change them into Volatile Salt you have got as effectual a Remedy as can be expected from these Simples in an inveterate Vertigo Palpitation Apoplexy and such cases 15. The following Aqua Vitae or Quintessence preserves a Man from yea cures him of the Apoplexy if a spoonfull of it be taken every morning Take of Conserve of Rosemary Flowers Lavender each two ounces of Balm Sage each one ounce of Species Diamoschi dulcis Diambrae each two drachms of the Root of Peony the Seed of the same of Cinnamon each half an ounce of Saffron a drachm of Castor Rocket Seed each two drachms Franc. Joel Oper. Med. Tom. 1. l. 1. Sect. 3. p. m. 91. Apoplexiae curatio of Sugar Candy half an ounce of Juniper Water distilled four pounds bruise them and mix them let them stand Infused in the Sun or some warm place for a Month distill it in Ashes let the dry Matter be taken out of the Glass and pounded and let the distilled Water be poured on it again let them stand in a warm Infusion fourteen days and then distill them in Balneo Mariae 16. I gave a Noble Apoplectick Woman who could not speak for three days Spirit of Black Cherries and she presently recovered her Voice Mr. Thomas Kesler tractatu German 200 process chim processu 53. 17. Essence of Amber with Apoplectick Water Conrad Kunrad Medull distill part 1. p.m. 202. 248. is a most excellent Remedy for an Apoplexy 18. Tincture or Essence of the Amaethist is both an excellent Preservative and Cure The Dose is to fifteen drops 19. Take of Flowers of the Linden-tree and Lilly of the Valley as much as you please Bay-berries two ounces beat them all well together till they be in a kind of Mass Then take some juice of Violets mixt with Sugar pour it on the Mass mix them well and strain the juice hard out Take this and half as much Salt of Wormwood dissolved into Liquor Distill it by a Retort rectifie the liquor that comes over drive it through a Retort again and then bring it over an Alembick that there may be no Phlegm and you will have a most excellent Spirit of which you may give half a spoonfull Idem p. 2. p. m. 137. ad Apoplex with a little Cinnamon or Linden-Flower Water to an Apoplectick person It gives present help and preserves a Man his whole Life from the Apoplexy 20. For the Apoplexy Phil. Muller mirac chim lib. 5. p. m. 83. Take of the best Aqua Vitae one Pint of Juniper Berries two handfulls bruise them and Infuse them in the Aqua Vitae for three days strain it out and put into it of Sage Pennyrial Cresses Saffron each one drachm give a little to the Patient and he will presently recover his Speech 20. Felix Platerus tract de function laes cap. 2. saith That Chymists give the Extract of Sage in Apoplexies as a great Secret Joh. Popp. Tract de Febribus malignis c. 3. de Apoplex 21. A sure secret for the Apoplexy and loss of Speech Take of Oil of White Amber seven grains of Ambergrise and Musk each eight grains of the Water of Lavender Betony each half an ounce of the Water of Marjoram one ounce mix them and make a Liquor which when taken the Speech will be restored 22. The following Water is of admirable Virtue in comforting the Brain and Nerves It powerfully helps the Memory sharpens the Wit strengthens the Judgment Whâ—ther it be taken inwardly or the Part affected be chafed with it it doeth much good Guernerus Rolfinkins Ord. Meth. Med. special consultatoriae l. 2. Cons 25. 17. Every Dose may be exalted with some grains of Magistery of Pearl or Specifick of Antimony Take of the Leaves of Sage with the Tops and Flowers of Marjoram Lily Conval Balm Hysop Lavender each two handfulls of Rosemary Vervain each half an handfull of the Root of Leopards-bane one ounce of Nutmeg Galangale Cinnamon each one ounce of Bayberries Juniper-berries each three ounces of Herb Paris one ounce of Caroway-Seeds Cubebs Cardamome each half an ounce of Whitewine as much as is sufficient Let them be well bruised and Infused for some days or let them stand fourteen days in Horsedung Then distill it in Balneo Mariae Dan. Sennert l. 1. par 2. c. 33. p. m. 665. de Apoplexia 23. Confectio Anacardina as it is proper in all cold diseases of the Brain so in this especially given either alone if the Patient come to himself and can take solid Medicines or dissolved in Aqua Vitae Also distilled Oil of Nutmegs if dropt into the Nostrils and Ears and the Palate be rubbed with it is highly commended 24. A Mineral Antapoplectical Water Take of Creme of Tartar one pound of the Mineral of Antimony a pound and an half Let the Acid Spirit be distilled by a Retort with a moderate fire which let be rectified Take of this six ounces add thereto of Spirit of Venus made of Verdigriece three ounces of the burning spirit of Saturn distilled from his Sugar an ounce and half of the volatile sulphureous Vitriol rectified by the acid spirit four ounces Mix them for use It is an excellent tart Water much to be desired in all Apoplectick Epileptick and Soporous cases It may safely be given to Children in Fits from one drachm to two in some gratefull Vehicle Appetentia nimia depravata Or The Appetite too great and depraved The Contents We must not use too much fat things in allaying it I. Narcoticks must be used cautiously II. A depraved Appetite cured by Sweat III. By Volatile Salts IV. By running of the Haemorrhoids V. Medicines I. FAt and clammy things stay too great hunger yet they are more proper in the beginning when we would provoke Vomit but when the Vomit becomes violent they must be omitted We must also have a care lest we use them over much and the Patient be brought into a contrary condition therefore when the Patient begins to mend Sennertus Fat things and which hinder concoction must be omitted II. But Narcoticks are to be used with caution and strong ones avoided as the Infusion of Mad Nightshade made in Wine which immediately destroys all appetite of Food in the most voracious person Yet strong Wine and Brandy may be used which according to Platerus take away hunger not so much by heating as stupifying As Treacle and Mithridate by the same narcotick quality he thinks do take away the dog-like Appetite Idem III. It is good in the depraved Appetite sometimes to cause a gentle Sweat But we must have a care that the Patient be not stifled with Clothes for it were better not to sweat at all
consider with himself whether he be able to persist in it all his life which yet perchance he will not be able to doe be he never so resolved For I know a Nobleman who after he had lived a whole year on Milk alone not onely without offence but with a great deal of pleasure all which time he went to stool once a day or oftner growing costive on a sudden and the temper of his body being changed but the resolution of his mind still continuing Idem p. 75. and his Stomach at length loathing Milk was forced to give over Medicines especially made use of by eminent Physicians 1. An admirable Electuary for all Gout Pains which I have often used with good success I declare it eases them presently without trouble it cools the fiery heat and so qualifies the Part Jul. Caes Baricellus hort Gen. p. 90. that I have seen some sick of the Gout recover the same day they took this Physick It is made thus Take of white Hermodactyls cleansed from their upper coat Diagridium each 3 drachms Costus Cummin-seed Ginger Cloves each 1 drachm Let them be powdered and with some proper Syrup or with Honey and White-wine boil'd together make an Electuary The dose is from 3 drachms to 4. 2. Take of Germander Groundpine lesser Centaury Aristolochia rotunda Sage Betony each 1 ounce of the best ripe Guaiacum 8 ounces Crato lib. 6. Cons 100. Make a Powder By this one Remedy the Gout may be perfectly cured except a Man will lead Sardanapalus his life The dose is 1 drachm in the morning for several weeks 3. This is reckoned excellent for prevention Rod. à Fonseca Tom. 2. Cons 59. Take of pure Spring-Water 10 pounds the Wood of Mastick-Tree cut very small 3 ounces Let them boil an hour drink of this Water at Dinner and Supper For it strengthens the Stomach helps Digestion and prevents Defluxions This was given me as a secret by a very skilfull Physician 4. In a hot cause I think nothing is better Spigelius de Aâ—thritide p. 84. if I may conclude from my Experience than the Powder of Wild Cichory Leaves dried in the shade and gathered in May. A drachm or 2 scruples may be given in a little Chicken Broth without Salt in the morning 4 hours before dinner and in the evening as he goes to sleep either with a spare Supper or with none at all ☞ The outward Medicines are either indicated before or may be sufficiently compensated by this single one described in the following Discourse which seems of more moment in the Cure of the Gout than all that our great Physicians have relied on whether inward or outward put together The SUM of WILLIAM TEN RHYNE'S M. D. Treatise of the Gout PART I. The Aitiology Ten Rhyn de Arthrit p. 94. ALthough it be besides our Design to meddle with Theory yet I have two Reasons not to omit this of the Gout 1. It 's extraordinary Novelty shall I say or Antiquity New I must call it because lately transmitted to us from the East Indies but it must be really Ancient For it makes up one half of a Japan Doctour as the Needle makes the other and they derived this moiety of their skill from Ingenious China where perhaps its date may be so old that the eldest Chronicle in Europe cannot Synchronize But certain I am it is as Ancient as our Father Hippocrates as the Issue will prove 2. It s extreme Necessity For the reason why the Gout has been hitherto incurable by us Europaeans is the Ignorance of its true Cause as Prosper Martianus in his first Section frankly acknowledges Wherefore to doe the Learned Graecian and the Ingenious Barbarian both right and my Countrymen good I thought it a pity to let the Moxa go without its Reason lest it should lie undiscerned under a multitude of Plasters and Pultesses good for the Gout and for want of good Credentials it should not reflect the honour due to its Authours nor afford the tortured man that ease which it is able to procure To avoid therefore any farther Preamble and not to meddle with Etymologies we thus describe the Gout The Gout is a preternatural little and for the most part invisible and inwardly latent Tumour of the Periosteum arising from a dry and malignant Vapour which by the contractive motion of the Heart is forced with the Bloud through the Arteries to the Limbs and to the Joints thereof especially and violently separates the Periosteum from the Bone into which Interstice this Vapour being once forced doth stick there most tenaciously and distend the said Membrane of a most tender sense and so is the cause of that sharp Pain and sometime hinders the Member it self in its motion I call it an inwardly latent Tumour to distinguish it from other flatulent Tumors for whereas these lie between the flesh and skin or interstices of the Muscles the other lies hid under the thin film that covers the Bones I call it an invisible Tumour not that I am ignorant how in this Disease there are Swellings conspicuous enough but lest I should stumble upon the same Stone at which so many eminent Doctours for several Ages have tript For difference should be made between a Disease and its symptomes between that Swelling that is peculiar to the Gout which though a small one yet is the onely cause of Pain and that Swelling that is subsequent to the Pain of the Part For at the beginning these Pains are without any Swelling though afterwards about the State of the Disease the Part affected often swells The Practice of the Ancients might afford considerable Arguments for this latent Tumour as their cutting and burning Hippocrates lib. 3. de morb speaking of the Cure of the Pleurisie saith If he do not spit and it give some signs of it on the side cut or burn him But the most cogent may be drawn from the Panacea of China and Japan i. e. Burning by Moxa and from Acupuncture in Japan which puts it out of all doubt that most Diseases arise from a noxious Vapour the cause of some invisible Tumour And that a Vapour is the Cause I have Hippocrates his authority for it lib. de Flatibus Who saith That we live of Meat Drink and Air and then he shews how the Air especially is Authour both of Life and Death to all Animals He saith That this Air or Spirit which in our Bodies we call a Vapour is the sole cause of all Diseases He instances in Fevers Griping of the Guts Defluxions Dropsies Apoplexies Epilepsies and concludes that it holds true in all other Diseases but that it would be tedious to particularize them all When he comes to Defluxions under which the Gout has been ever ranked he hath these words The Spirit is involved in the Bloud near the narrow Veins and the thinnest part which I judge is the Vapour that causes the Gout is thrust out by the
combustible if it be prepared as it ought for the Chinois carry it about them in Tinder-boxes They touch the top of these Hurds with a lighted Match which the Rich Men in China not in Japan as to my knowledge make up with Perfumes when they have given fire the gentle flame turns not all this little Turret into Ashes but leaves a little Segment of it in the Base which draws the Epidermis with no Violence nor raises any Blister unless it may be a very small and superficial one But for the most part it leaves onely a duskish Spot although the Burning be renewed several times upon the same part and according to Art a Wound be endeavoured Because like a Cupping-Glass for this burning with Mugwort serves the Japanois instead of Cupping Scarifying Blistering and Bloud-letting which last depresses the vigour of the Bloud and Spirits without Diminution of the Morbifick Matter especially in hot Countries it imbibes the Humours that they do not corrode the skin for the Humours at this Burning run like lightning Nor is this Burning which beside the great ease it brings highly commends this sort of Remedy very painfull for it is a soft Down nor is the flame thick or great nor does it penetrate the skin and the Conflagration it self is momentany This Burning in weaker places is commonly reiterated three or four times but in other places if the Patient be strong and the Vapours lie deep for example in the Sciatica in which Hippocrates orders many large scars to be made with Burning where the Chinois and Japanois burn many small ones near one another it is repeated sometimes twenty thirty nay above fifty times till that mischievous Vapour exhale and there is no fear of any mischief upon it nor any remainder of Pain But as soon as the Burning is over you may handle the burnt part or press it as you lift For this burning of Moxa asswages the Pain and for the most part takes it quite away Some to the Utility of this Burning will perhaps oppose a contrary Experience and say That by vexatious Burnings Gouty persons do spend their Animal and Vital Spirits spoil Nutrition and which is the least of all disfigure the skin with scars But would my Opponents go to China or Japan they would there find that People of every Age Sex and Condition in every approach of Pain whether inward or outward and at the appearance of any Swelling do burn with their Moxa and that the oftner they burn the stronger they grow nay that when they are well they burn for prevention of any Disease they fear Although I confess it sometimes happens that by a long violent and often repeated Burning they sometimes fall into Swoons and that this Burning in hot Regions where more Spirits go out by the pores of the Body always open does less good than in colder places where the habit of Mens Bodies is contrary Besides tender and lean People should not be burnt so violently nor so frequently as those that are strong and of a full Body And as for Scars I ever thought Health was to be preferred before Beauty Therefore what Pliny said of Fire in general I may truly say of this Burning Down And there is a medical Virtue in the very Fire especially in that of ours So Galen allows that the help of Fire is beyond all Physick when he saith that Burning is a Remedy which empties the whole substance of that which troubles Which M. A. Severinâ—s interprets so There is no Disease so difficult and impenetrable that cannot be conquered by the force of Fire especially if we exactly knew its strength and use For as the Flame is fed by the Air as its food and fewel so this Artificial Burning in noxious Vapours is more kindled by their Bellows and which is the chief thing it exhausts and disperses them Yet we must assist Nature when she is weak and a small Escar is to be separated after this manner Bruised Garlick must be laid on the Escar which again must be covered with its own skin moistened in ones Mouth and so laid on to keep it instead of a Plaster and then after 24 hours the Garlick Plaster must be taken off for the Scab will be ready to fall off behind which when it falls there remains a pellucid Scar in the Cuticle very rarely a round Blister which nevertheless if it do arise must be gently cut with a pair of fine Scissers that way may be made for the peccant matter nor must the Scab be taken off with such harsh Instruments as a Penknife or Rasor This Escar is easily taken away if you take but a Leaf of Plantain the common cure for Wounds and Ulcers among the Country people in Japan Bete Cabbage Syri c. roasted a little and rubbed in ones hands to make it soft and so apply it and wait with patience till the Escar fall and it heal Where you must observe that if the Plantain Leaves first laid on hot Coals till they grow limber and fall together then they must be laid on the Palm of the hand and spread open again be applied hot and moist on the ribby side it will run matter like an Issue but if they be applied on the smooth side when the Sore requires healing the Wound closeth which while the Japanois neglect and cause their Sores to abound with unctuous putrilage and the flowing matter to grow crude again by this Burning they are disfigured with filthy Scars quickly and without any notable Scar more conveniently than the best Plasters which because of their fat should be rejected But the falling of the Escar is not at all to be hastned although it stick never so slenderly to the Sore that work must be left to Nature nor must the running of the matter be stopt nor must they by putting in of Pease be made mere Issues but of its own accord let the matter ouze out as much as it will Wherefore the Leaves are to be kept on with their fibrous side to the Sore because so the diseased matter runs out more freely but with their smooth side to it not so long because then the Wound would close up too soon the nervous side of the Leaves therefore must be kept to the Sore and that they fall not off must be bound on or kept on where the Place will not permit binding with sticking Plasters and in twice 24 hours time at least must be renewed But if Plantain which abounds in China and Japan where this method of Cure is most used be wanting Cabbage Bete Coltsfoot Ivy or the like may be used in its stead Which if they should all be wanting as at Sea Diapalma Basilicon or which I like better Sticticum Paracelsi or some such Plaster may be used I remember I have seen evident marks of this Burning among the Inhabitants of the Island Timaon and them of Java And I kept a Malabar slave who had deep Scars of this Burning which
1 ounce and an half of the four greater cold Seeds Marshmallow each 6 drachms Spec. Lithontrip Elect. Ducis Justini each half a drachm burnt Eggshells Cinnamon each 3 drachms Cloves 2 drachms then strain them well out distill them in Ashes If you take 2 drachms of this Water it doth wonders in suppression of Urine breaking and expulsion of the Stone to which if you add its own Salt in a convenient quantity Idem p. 186. it will become a far more excellent Medicine 7. The following Syrup is an excellent Remedy leaving no calculous matter behind in the Kidneys if after Purging 2 spoonfulls of it be taken twice or thrice every week in the morning Balthasar Brannerus de calculo Take of the juice of Speedwell half a pound of ground Ivy 3 ounces of Purslain 1 ounce and an half let the expressed juices when they are strained be made into a Syrup J. Caes Claudinus 8. This is a familiar Medicine with me The extract of Millepedes made with hot Water The dose 2 ounces Crato l. 6. Cons 79 l. â—0 9. Draw the juice out of Purslain dry it and make it into Pills give 1 drachm of it it expels the Stone to a wonder ¶ The distilled Water of a Man's Urine or a Bull 's if the Patient doth not loath it conduces wonderfully to the breaking of the Stone and provoking of Urine ¶ Let the Patient eat 9 or 10 Hazle-Nuts well picked before dinner and supper for I have found by certain experience that not a few who have been afflicted with the cruel tortures of the Stone for a long time by eating of Hazle-Nuts have been cured ¶ Strawberry-water with the Kernels of Hazle-Nuts bruised taken in a morning so as you can sleep upon it is good for prevention ¶ In a most grievous pain and heat of the Kidneys I have found this plaster help to bring away the Stone with a great deal more ease Take 9 Crabs boil them in a sufficient quantity of Water or Milk bruise them and boil them and squeeze out the Juice Steep the Crum of a White Loaf in this Juice add the Yelks of 2 Eggs fresh Butter and Oil of Violets what is sufficient mix them spread it on a linen cloth and apply it to the Reins and Ureters ¶ For the Stone Take of the best Malmsey-Wine 3 pounds Peach-Stones N o 100 Bitter Cherry-Stones N o 200 fresh Elder-flowers 8 ounces Bruise them and let both them and the flowers be infused in the Malmsey-Wine but let there be two several Infusions one for the Stones and another for the Flowers let them stand a day in Infusion and then distill them Drink four or five ounces of this Water it quickly breaks the Stone so that it is voided by Urine ¶ I prefer Eringo Roots candied or steeped in White-wine and Syrup of the Juice of Speedwell before all though I am not ignorant that the Roots of Brier and Rest-harrow doe much good when the Stone is manifest ¶ In the Stone of the Kidneys the following Cataplasm I find doth wonderfully asswage pain and force out the Stone with great benefit and success Let Pellitory of the Wall be boiled with Parsly-Roots let the Roots when they are squeezed out be cast away and add 8 or 9 Onions roasted in Ashes pour on some Oil of bitter Almonds and in very grievous pains Oil of Scorpions Crato in consiliis ¶ For the Pain of the Kidneys caused by the Stone there is nothing better than a Decoction of Speedwell and the inspissated Juice does as well 10. There is a fungus growing to Stones Claudius Deodatus called Lyncurius which dried powdered and given in Diuretick-Wine doth so purge the Reins that a Stone will never grow again there which is confirmed by manifold experience 11. Pet. Joh. Faber The Sap of the Birch-Tree hath a wonderfull property by nature while it admirably moistens our Balsamick Spirit that is the coagulatour of the Stone and by its radical moisture doth hinder that by its dryness and heat it does not coagulate the useless and volatile Sordes of our Liquours 12. Jacob. Fontanus One kept the following Clyster for a great Secret Take a pound and an half of decoction of Millet and give it 13. Christ Gâ—â—â—iâ—onius Ceâ—s Med. 125. In the Stone this is a more powerfull Remedy if a Hare be cut in pieces put in a new pot well luted and baked in an Oven and then powdered Aetius and Sextus Platonicus do prove this to be a very proper Remedy for if this powder be put in Water or Wine and the Stone be put in also you will see the Stone dissolved in a short time And we have experienced it not onely good to break the Stone but to prevent it to which powder we add some Turpentine Liquorish juice or Oxymel of Squills 14. Fresh Oil of Hazle-Nuts drawn by a Press Casp Cald. de Heredia is commended by the daily use whereof a certain Physician attests he hath seen several Stones voided The dose is 3 ounces 15. Freder Hofmannus m. m. l. 1. c. 12. Motherwort is an excellent thing in all diseases of the Kidneys for according to Montagnana it is a secret Medicine that hath a power beyond all others to purge away Urine and the Stone 16. Wolf Hoferus The bloud of a young Fawn dried and given in a drachm weight wonderfully expells the Stone according to our own experience 17. The Root of the herb Vervain bruised Joh. Marquardus and drunk in good Mede a little warm doth not onely help those incredibly that are troubled with the Stone but quickly reduces whatever it is that hinders the Urine 18. Christ Gâ—aerinonius cons 126. Juice of Lemons hath helped many in the Stone which when carefully cleared and taken in Malmsey-Wine I have experienced not hurtfull to the Stomach but most effectual to purge the Reins However if the Stomach should receive any harm let the juice be distilled by an Alembick and then it is a most safe thing 19. Lud. Mercaetus de Calâ—â—lo p. 736. The flower and seed of Star-thistle are highly in request among the People whose force and efficacy in purging the Reins and Bladder we daily find more and more if 2 ounces of its distilled Water be taken in the morning 20. Joh. Bap. M nanus coâ—s 194. Let the Patient take Sugar of Roses an hour before meal the whole year through for it is an excellent Remedy for the Kidneys 21. Carolus Piso A certain Noble Matron found the admirable virtue of Golden-Rod first made known by me in innumerable Nephritick persons with happy success 22. Take Wheat and boil it till it swell or burst Hercul Saxoâ—ia put it hot into a bag and apply it You may trust this as a secret 23. Goats Bloud mixt in a Mortar with Barly Alex. Trallianus l. 3. c. 34. and applied as a
1672. cos 167. XXIV If Stones must be cut out of the Vrethra and can be got out no way else they are to be held fast with the fingers both above and below nor after the Wound is made must they be let go till the Stones start out or be taken out with a pair of Pliers For if they be let go the Wound of the Vrethra is so hid by the Skin that covers it that it cannot be found again by reason of the convex superficies of the Vrethra and the lax Skin over it Medicines especially made use of by eminent Physicians Don. ab Altomari 10. 1. Alexander approved of Kid's or Goat's bloud applied hot outwardly as an effectual Remedy invented and proved by long time and experience but far more if you smear it in a hot Bath often and at certain Intervals Hâ—rat Augenius 2. A most excellent Remedy to break the Stone Take of Millepedes prepared 1 drachm Aqua vitae half an ounce Broth of red Chich-pease 9 or 10 ounces Drink it warm an hour before Dinner Joh. Baverius cons 4. 3. Petroleum wherein Lapis Lyncis hath been boiled strained and injected by a Syringe wonderfully breaks the Stone in the Bladder the yard being about that instant embrocated with a decoction of Mallows 4. I made use of this Medicine in my self for the Stone in the Bladder Take of prepared Sows Sponge of Wild-rose-tree Seeds of Purple-violets each 1 ounce Spec. Lithontript 2. drachms Make an Antidote Two drachms of this were taken in 10 ounces of diuretick decoction and 2 drachms of Spirit of Juniper I took this at five by the clock every morning for some time and a little after great store of reddish Urine came away with Flakes in it like Fishes scales which was the coat or crust loosened from a larger Stone by the continual use of this I was freed from the Stone ¶ This is a noble and royal Nephritick liquour communicated to me by an Illustrious Prince of which Paracelsus in his Book de Tartaro makes mention though but obscurely Take of White-tartar powdered dissolve it into liquour in a Glass in a Cellar which hardened again at the fire must be calcined and powdered Take of this Powder 1 ounce Guilhelmus Laurembergius de calc p. 17. pour to it Parsly-water 2 pounds mix them and let them stand till the Powder be dissolved which done let it be filtred twice or thrice through a Paper that it may become a clear and pellucid liquour which with Chips of Orange-pill cast into it is tinged into a Citrine colour and kept for use The Dose is 1 spoonfull in 5 or 6 ounces of White-wine with which I use to give some Strawbery-water 5. This is a Secret in the Stone Take of Whites of Eggs boiled in Water mix them with Oil of Nard and Mastick add of the Powder of Lapis Judaicus half a drachm ground fine upon a Flint with a Decoction of Millet and a little Cummin Maroldus Pract. Med. p. 249. Take a little of it strained morning and evening Several have been cured by this when they could find no benefit by other Medicines 6. A certain Physician told me he had cured several after this manner He took a Hare with young he cast away all the Inwards then he filled the belly with the Dam's bloud and burnt it to Powder in a new Pot of which with as much Sugar he gave a little in a Spoon in a short time the Patient voided the Stone in little pieces by his yard ¶ A certain experienced Man took a Hare and casting away the Inwards he filled the Belly with the Skin Saxifrage Millet Lapis Lyncis Lapis Judaicus Lapis Spongiae Cinque-foil and Goldenrod and burnt it to Powder in a new Pot Arn. Villanovan Breâ— l. â— c. 32. The Dose was 1 spoonfull with a little Wine or the like every day it broke and forced away the Stone in the Kidneys and Bladder Cancer or A Canker The Contents How it may be distinguished from a Scirrhus I. It must not be vexed with Medicines II. Vpon what the difficulty of it depends III. It s Cure must be attempted IV. Frequent Purging hurtfull V. How to be administred VI. Bloudletting is necessary VII Cordials to be preferred before vulnerary Potions VIII Whether Repellers may be used IX The Pain is to be mitigated sometimes by Narcoticks X. Asswaged by applying the Flesh of a Pullet XI We must not foolishly make use of Arsenick and Sublimate XII The efficacy of a Plate of Lead applied XIII It must be lightly smeared with Quick-silver XIV The Cure by Medicine and the Knife XV. A good Diet can doe much without topical Medicines XVI A Canker in the Lip must not be cut out with Instruments dipt in Aqua-fortis XVII It must not be touched with a pair of Scissers XVIII One taken away by cutting reviving in another place XIX What Canker in the Breast may be taken away XX. The crossing it with the Needle is not always necessary XXI When a Canker in the Breast is stopt how the Bloud may be stopt XXII Whether we may repell in a Canker in the Breast XXIII A Phlegmone resembling a Canker XXIV Medicines I. A Canker can difficultly be discerned from a Scirrhus except thus that is If you lay some lenient and emollient Medicine upon the Tumour and after two or three hours if you see it either diminished or quite gone Walaeus Meth. med p. 11. there is no suspicion of a Canker But if the Swelling abate not but grow into a Spongy substance it is for certain a Canker II. It is observed that there is a double poison in a Canker one Putrefactive another Corrosive If you apply hot and moist Medicines which use to promote pus in Imposthumes and Ulcers that are capable of ripening then it will degenerate into deep Putrefaction Heurnius com ad aph 38. Sect. 6. and will corrupt all near it with Rottenness But if you would correct this foulness by Causticks the other Poison that in Cankers is Corrosive will rise and burn all things near it ¶ A Matron that had passed her 50th year her Menses leaving her was taken with a Swelling in her right Pap at the first hard and without pain Some years after when it increased and caused pain she made use of a Surgeon who when he had applied Emollients and Suppuraters for almost a Month as the pain increased by degrees the Swelling broke which presently turned into a malignant painfull and foetid Ulcer which at length proved mortal ¶ An occult Canker often lies hid a long time without any harm Hildanus cent 3. obs 89. but when provoked it eats the skin And when that is open either of it self or by the unskilfulness of him that hath it in hand ever after it will be kept within no bounds but like a ravenous wild Beast devours whatever comes in its way And by how much the more
with the Yelk of an Egg and cured his Patient Medicines especially made use of by eminent Physicians 1. I have often used this Unguent for the Canker with good success Take of Vnguent Diapompholyg 3 ounces Venice-Treacle 1 ounce Saturn calcined with Nitre and washed in Plantain-Water 2 ounces G. Fabricius cent 6. obs 7. Juice of Herb Robert as much as sufficeth to the just consistency of an Unguent Keep it for use 2. Hier. Fabricius Chirurg l. 1 p. 1. c. 27. An Unguent of green Frogs is very good for a Canker see the preparation in Sennertus ¶ Also the Broth of Craw-fish boiled in Asses-Milk drunk five days successively and this course repeated seven times composes the pain of a Canker in the Breast 3. There is a Salt made out of the Caput mortuum of the preparation of Spirit of Soot that is a most excellent thing in an Ulcerated Canker This Salt is drawn off with Vinegar and in some cool place is dissolved into a Liquour again and with this Cankrous Ulcers are several times anointed Joh. Hartmannus prax chym p. 18. The poison is drawn out visibly like a steam Then the Oil of Soot gently sprinkled upon it and frequently brings a crust over it like a skin which falling off in five or six days time shews that the Ulcer is healed 4. Fabricius asserts from certain Experience that the following Water is admirable in curing Ulcerous Cankers It is made thus Take sucking Puppies put them in Wine and distill it half off in Balneo then take the Puppies out and boil them in a sufficient quantity of Golden-Rod-Water or in common Water with Golden-Rod in it when the Decoction is made add the Water that was distilled off the young Dogs and boil them together till the flesh come from the bones De Heredia de morb mul. p. 229. Then distill them all in Balneo Keep the Water for use Wet dry clothes or rags in this and apply it to the Ulcerous Carcinoma For upon certain experience it heals the sore by cleansing and drying I should add in the Decoction Leaves of Burnet Carduus Benedictus and Ash which are commended by all Men for the Canker ¶ This is one Man's Secret Take of Quick-Lime wrought up thick with Honey and burnt to powder in an Earthen Pot and powdered 3 drachms Vitriol Alum Orpiment Verdigrease Sal-Gem each half a drachm Idem p. 240. Make a Powder strow it on and it cures the Canker Peccettus Chirurg l. 1. c. 30. 5. The powder of a Milstone or the Clayey stuff that comes from a Grindstone when you grind Tools upon it applied either by it self or mixt with Oil of Myrtle and with the Juice of Nightshade or Plantain anointed upon the place is good to strengthen it after the cure of the Canker ¶ The Oil of Eggs rubbed in a Leaden Mortar till it grow thick doth operate powerfully in easing the pain Idem ibid. palliating a cure in an Ulcerous Canker 6. The Head of a Puppy a month old cut off and dried and powdered Praevotius med pauper p. 182. Id. p. 100. mixt with Honey and laid on an Ulcerous Canker is said to kill it or wash it with Ivy-water and then lay Ivy-Leaves upon it ¶ Oil of Olives with the Flowers of Wheat gathered in the Spring set in the Sun for several days is good to anoint an Ulcerous Canker A Country fellow did stupendous things with this Phil. Salmuthus obs cent 2. p. 71. 7. Mother of Time black Hellebore Fumitory and things compounded of them as Pilulae de Fumaria Confectio Hamech c. are especially commended for evacuating black Choler ¶ The Fish of boiled Cockles and Crawfish is good to ease the pain But there is an Oil distilled from green Frogs per descensum Idem p. 109. which is excellent both to give ease and cure the Canker ¶ Lead is highly commended by all men Therefore all Medicines for this Disease are most conveniently prepared in a Leaden Mortar with a Leaden Pestil An Ointment of Lead may be made thus if two thick Plates of Lead have Oil of Roses poured on them and rubbed so long one against the other till it acquire the form of a Liniment 8. In a Canker that was not Ulcerous I have often used this Repelling and digesting Medicine Take of old Treacle 1 ounce Vigerius oper chirurg l. 1. c. 25. Juice of Crawfish Lettuce and Oil of Roses each 1 ounce Yelks of Eggs rosted in Embers N o 2. Camphire half a drachm Mix them together in a Leaden Mortar Make an Unguent Capitis affectus in genere Intemperies Or The Diseases of the Head in general its Intemperature The Contents In Diseases of the Head What Vein should be opened I. Of letting Bloud according to the Laws of Circulation II. Whether a Vomit be proper III. Phlegmagogues must be added in every intemperature IV. What time Pills should be given V. They do not purge the Head better than other forms of Medicines VI. In a hot Intemperature we must Purge cautiously VII What Purges must be given in an Intemperature with Melancholy VIII How Sneezers and Apophlegmatisms do work IX Violent Sneezers doe hurt in small diseases X. They are very good in Defluxions XI A powerfull Apophlegmatism XII A cold Intemperature whether from an outward or inward cause how cured XIII Aquae Vitae are not always safe XIV Whether an Issue be proper in the Coronal Suture XV. Patients must not be tired with a multitude of Cauteries XVI In a hot Intemperature whether application of hot things doe good XVII With what cautions the Head must be washed XVIII They are not proper for all men XIX The benefit of Plasters applied to the Nape of the Neck XX. The Benefit and manner of Rubbing XXI Topicks applied to the Heart doe good XXII The Benefit of Plasters to the Feet XXIII Costiveness bad for the Head XXIV Coriander good for the Head XXV Spiced Caps often doe harm XXVI Too hot too cold or too astringent things must not be put in them XXVII They are most proper in essential diseases of the Head XXVIII Medicines I. PHysicians do not all agree what Vein should be opened in diseases of the Head yet it is altogether necessary a distinction should be made and we must take good notice what the Laws of Evacuation from the whole what those of Revulsion and Evacuation from the part affected do require For in the beginning of the Disease we must not have respect onely to the Head but to the whole Body also and to the part whence the flux of Bloud comes and we must so order Bloud-letting that it may doe good and not hurt that is that we may hinder the bloud from running to the Head Therefore in the beginning such a Vein should be opened as may both evacuate the abounding bloud and draw it from the Head but we must by no means in the beginning
at several intervals 2. Caesalpinus A large Cupping-glass with much flame set on for an hour cures forthwith like an enchantment 3. I have known this Electuary doe much good Crato l. 1. cons 6. Take of Conserve of Roses 6 drachms Spec. Aromat rosat 2 scruples White-frankincense 1 scruple Mix them make an Electuary Take the quantity of a Chesnut when you go to bed ¶ Take of Sea-wormwood tops Chamaemil each 1 Pugil White-frankincense one drachm Boil them in a sufficient quantity of Water Strain it Id. lib. 2. cons 10. To 4 ounces of the Colature add of Syrup of the juice of Chamaemil Feaver-few each half an ounce for 2 doses With this I have eased most violent Pains in the Stomach and Intestines ¶ This is a most present Remedy for the Heart-burn Idem l. 2. p. 314. Take of new Conserve of Roses 2 ounces Spec. Aromat rosat 2 scruples White-pepper 1 scruple Mix them 4. This Liquour appeases the Pain in the Stomach wonderfully if half a drachm of it be given Deodatus panâ—h hyg Take of Mastick 4 ounces the best rectified Spirit of Wine half a pound Galangale 1 ounce Infuse them digest them and distill them by an Alembick 5. Oil of Sweet-almonds taken in some Broth Lael à Fonte cons 35. that hath had Citron-seeds boil'd in it is of great efficacy and so is Emulsion of Citron-seeds 6. The Sapphirine Oil of Chamaemil Hartmannus given to 4 or 5 drops in Mint-water is excellent for the Heart-burn 7. In Heart-burning from acid Phlegm and crude Juices sticking to the Stomach Oil of Aniseeds rubbed on the region of the Stomach is of great efficacy 8. This is highly commended in Pain of the Stomach Take of Nutmeg 2 drachms Spirit of Wine 2 ounces Platerus Honey of Roses till it be sweet boil them a little take 2 or 3 spoonfulls 9. I can reckon up several who have been cured of most bitter Pains in their Stomach Peterius onely by applying a Plaster of Gum Tacamahaca Eust Rhudius art med l. 2 c. 8. 10. Take of Spec. Hierae 2 drachms Diarrhodon Abbaâ—â— half a drachm and with Marmalade of Quinces not aromatized I have made Bolus's and given them to several who commonly the same day were all of them freed from their Symptoms 11. In this Disease I use this I take 3 Eggs and break them Herc. Saxonia and with Oil of Roses and Mastick I make Fritters of them and apply them to the mouth of the stomach It is an excellent Remedy 12. I have often found 1 drachm of Powder of Calamus Aromaticus given in 2 ounces of clarified Juice of Worm-wood hot Solenander very effectual in the Heart-burn 13. About 3 ounces of the Juice of Dill boiled in Water and drunk doth wonderfully relieve the Pain of the stomach Varignana that is with reaching and hick-cough Catalepsis or A waking Senslesness or Stupidity wherein a man retains the form and figure of one awake when nevertheless all the functions of his mind and senses are asleep The Contents Cured by voiding Worms I. Whether Wine may be allowed II. I. A Girl not full eight years old in a Burning-fever was first taken with a deep sleep and then with a Catalepsis her Eyes being quite open She took nothing down for seven days but a little Chicken-broth with Purslane boiled in it she lay pale Bâ—nedictus l. 1. c. 26 â—â—â—â—ur mori speechless and without motion onely she breathed with difficulty The Mother in utter despair of her Daughter gave her a Suppository of Honey with which she voided a knot of forty two Worms without any excrement and presently came to her self Some caliginous Vapours from these Animals in her Belly seized all the Senses of her Brain Fâ—rtis cons 34. câ—n 1. II. Galen 3. simpl allows Malmsey-wine to Cataleptick persons after whose example Amatus permits Cretian Wine is best with some Sage or Rosemary in it Catarrhus or A Catarrh or Defluxion The Contents The Head is often in no fault and therefore not to be tormented with Remedies I. Many Diseases ascribed to it amiss II. Not cured by one way alone III. Concoction must be more attended than Evacuation IV. The Intemperature or the Brain not always to be blamed V. One caused by Cold needs not Medicines VI. Whether Bloud letting in a Cold one be proper VII When it may be stopt VIII When a Purge may be given IX If a salt one falls upon the Breast we must purge X. If we fear a Consumption we must give a strong Purge XI A Vomit is sometimes proper XII When it may be given in a suffocative one XIII The Cure of a suffocative one XIV We must not insist long upon Vacuations and Revulsions XV. A salt one cured with Issues between the Shoulders XVI With a Seton in the Neck XVII When it falls upon the Breast a Vesicatory proper XVIII Becchicks hurtfull in time of Defluxion XIX By the abuse of sweet things it runs the more into the mouth XX. Whether Bath waters and Spaws be good XXI Whether Whey be good XXII Decoctions of Guaiacum not always wholesome XXIII Whether a Fever be the care of it XXIV Decoctions hurtful XXV The use of Bathing XXVI Washing of the Head sometimes good XXVII Fumes when proper XXVIII Plasters to stop it dangerous XXIX Rubbing the Head bad XXX All Anointing hurtfull XXXI Whether a drying Diet be always proper XXXII What posture one should lye and keep ones Head in XXXIII Exercise of the lower parts wholesome XXXIV Venus whether proper XXXV The Cure of a Catarrh falling upon the Breast XXXVI Of a violent one falling upon the external parts XXXVII Medicines I. IT is clear from Galen's Testimony 2. de differ Febr. cap. ult that sometimes a Catarrh is caused by some fault in the bloud when the head is no way out of order Therefore one cannot say absolutely that a Catarrh is the cause of a Fever It is confirmed because the subject bowels or often the whole body may afford fewel to the Catarrh the head continuing altogether unhurt for the Catarrh sometimes arises from fulness of body sometimes from the heat of the subject bowels and sometimes from the weakness of the head as is gathered from Galen ad Glauconem cap. 15. While therefore the subject bowels abound with excrements they conspire in production of the Catarrh Sanctorius mâ—th vit err l. 1. c. 26. either because in a long tract of time they are indisposed or because some errour is committed in the first concoction as when the belly is stufft with excrements in which case the head may be sound They err therefore that apply Remedies as Embrocations Washings c. to the head which is onely hurt by sympathy when the subject bowels should be cured ¶ Oftentimes excrementitious humours that are sent up from the lower parts to the brain cause a Catarrh and acquire a
and the Excrements are hardened it is another thing that causes the Pain for it is often observed that a man has not gone to stool for several days and that the Excrements have been retained without the Colick but upon the arising of wind afterwards the Colick hath risen If therefore the Colick be caused by some hard Excrements hindring the passage of the rest of them and of the wind emollients must be used Sennertus and afterwards sharp things to irritate the faculty LIX When a man had recovered of a Catarrh he fell sick of a very troublesome Colick which encreased towards night before it came upon him just as he had done eating he vomited up some pounds of clear water without mixture of any thick Chyle The cause of the Colick seemed to me to be the thickness of the Chyle which for want of liquid Serum when it could not pass the Intestines freely raised the Gripes I knew a Minister tormented with the Colick Bartholinus cent 5. obs 58. who by vomiting great store of water was cured Wherefore Hydragogues must frequently be used in the Colick by help whereof I have often cured Patients by purging LX. A Girl about two years old was tormented with periodical pains about her groin so that neither lying sitting standing nor carried in Armes she could find any ease from her pains This pain returned at set times she was well from ten at night till twelve the next day the third fit being ended and no manifest crisis appearing she lived free from it afterwards There was no sign of worms therefore I do not question but it was a flatulent Colick residing rather in the muscles of the Belly than in the Colon for she was loose enough I cured her by anointing her Belly with distilled Oil of Wormwood and Cumminseed Idem â—ist 59. and giving her some Treacle in Hartshorn water LXI Mr. Puri of Newenburgh in Switzerland four score years old but a lusty man of his age being taken with a violent pain in his left side called a neighbouring Chirurgeon who taking him to be sick of a Pleurisie let him bloud whereupon his pain grew worse His Son a worthy Pastor in the City brought his Urine and asked my advice I enquired of him whether his Father had drunk any new wine lately it was in November which in that year 1659. had got no ripeness He told me yes and added that his pain was below his Ribs and not fixt in one place I foretold him that letting-bloud would prove fatal to him and indeed he died in three days past all remedy LXII No Disease almost requires a more speedy aid from Physick than the Colick and Gripes that happen in the Scurvey Against these evils Clysters of divers sorts Fomentations c. are used The use of Opiates is found here very necessary Certainly Riverius his Rule That purging Pills should have Laudanum in them is very proper here for when sleep is caused and the Patient a little purged the Paroxysm is frequently at an end And testaceous powders by which the sowre salts are either imbibed or fixed conduce very much to the driving away of the morbifick cause For example Take of Powder of Crabs eyes Egg shells each I drachm and an half Pearl 1 drachm Make a powder for 4 doses Willis to be given in a decoction of the root and seed of Burdock every sixth hour LXIII In a long Colick when all other remedies did little or no good I have often known this medicine given once or twice to raise a Salivation and give the Patient ease For if at any time the morbifick matter be plentifully gathered and deeply rooted in the nervous folds cannot be removed by other Medicines the Mercurial Particles spreading themselves every way easily dissolve and divide it into minute parts dispell them this way and that and at length wholly dissipate them Wherefore in a long and pertinacious Colick Idem they may sometimes be given with success to raise a Salivation LXIV A horn Cupping instrument is highly esteemed among the Indians dwelling under the torrid Zone who as they were curing a young man sick of the Colick first gave him a Clyster with their mouth and presently applied horn Cupping instruments to his Belly And sucking the Air out at the little hole they stopt it presently with their finger both to make the instrument to stick fast to the skin and to get the wind out of the Bowels which by these means the Barbarians did most successfully from the young man N. Tulpius l. 3. cap. 49. LXV Galen says that the wind Colick is cured as by charm and Crato approves it if a large cupping-glass with much flame be applied to the Belly near the Navel Observe near not upon the Navel lest swooning follow by reason of the commerce between the umbilical vessels and the heart For a man certainly dies if the skin be flayn off the Navel although he may live if he be flayn all over besides a punishment very common among the Egyptians LXVI This mixture is one of the highest specificks which I have often used successfully Take of Spirit of Wine 1 drachm Spirit of Nitre between half a scruple and half a drachm Spring water 3 ounces Let him take it and being well covered let him compose himself to sweat and keep himself quiet For it is the best way to lie still how difficult soever it be Hartman pâ—ax chym This is good especially when the wind is enclosed between the membranes Medicines especially made use of by eminent Physicians 1. In the Colick especially if it pain a man about his stomach they say the broth of the juice of sweet Almonds is good with some grains of long Pepper in Hippocras Wine I have seen the pain laid with a caustick Plaster that would almost make an Eschar Gallel Balluâ—ius and draw outwards being applied near the Navel 2. They say it is a most effectual remedy which is made of white Pigeons dung boiled in water till half be boiled away adding a little Dill seed to 2 ounces of the liquor strained and so drunk ¶ One man commends 2 ounces of Nitre with an equal quantity of water and oil given by Clyster for it wonderfully draws out thick matter and dry compact Excrements ¶ The Osprey that digests all it devours has one wonderfull Intestine It is evident that the extreme part of it tied to one causes the Colick Alex. Benedictus ¶ The Guts of a Wolf dried and given in drink are a good Remedy Blolkwitzius 3. I know a man who with the Spirit of Elder-Berries as with shewing a Gorgon's Head presently discusses the Colick pain very familiar to him It is of great virtue in this Disease 4. Mercury water given inwardly takes away the Colick radically and it is thus made The Mercury is first reduced to a Water into half of this water put crude Mercury purified which is also
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 Rulaâ—dus ¶ 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 Saxâ—nia 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 Sâ—hwentfield 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 Zimâ—ra 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
person to be fumed with Agate and that the Oil of it is good for the same ¶ C. Piso commends it highly The smell of it saith he is a most present remedy as I have experienced in several and in that famous French Virago Maturina who being given over for dead by her Physicians upon her first smelling of this Stone was raised from her Bed and beyond all expectation ran immediately with great chearfulness to the Table and Dice The controversie is decided by distinguishing Epilepsies for this fume is good in that which vapours ascending from the womb do cause for the virtue of strong smells is such that they discuss hysterick Fits if they be held to the nose But stinking smells bring an Epilepsie that comes of any other cause XIX Stupefiers of the Nerves because by dulling their sense they render them less affected with trouble when they are irritated and therefore less convulsed if the gentler sort of them be given in grievous and dangerous Convulsions I have often found them doe much good In which respect I think Treacle c. may be proper both because it infringes the venomous power of the Epilepsie and because it dulls the exquisite sense of the nerves Platerus de funct lâ—s p. 77. and that it is given rather for that reason than because it strengthens the nervous kind XX. If it have its rise from the Womb we must take notice not to give sweet smelling Medicines for they both make the head heavy Sennertus and cause the fit XXI Things that add strength to the nervous kind are appropriate remedies which are made of capital and arthritick simples which since they supply the nervous kind with new strength as it were that it may be the better able to resist what is troublesome to it use not improperly to be added to other Medicines which we use in the Epilepsie However not with the same mind or intention but because they believed the Epilepsie was caused by Phlegm stopping up the Brain not onely these things appropriate to the Nerves are hot but in the cure of the Epilepsie they used for the most part things that migâ—t cut and attenuate thick Phlegm and the hottest remedies Which notwithstanding if the Epilepsie come from the irritation of the nervous kind because they heat the Body more I observe they cure not at all so I know by experience they rather irritate and promote and exasperate the fits And because I either found or had it from credible persons that they doe more good than hurt with their heat except in a cold and moist constitution of body or when they have moreover some other property whereby they resist poison Platerus or this disease I think they should not otherwise lightly be used XXII We affirm with Jacchinus and others that a Decoction of Guaiacum is proper for those that are subject to the Epilepsie because we must especially have respect to the antecedent cause whereby the proximate is fomented and sustained And it often consists in gross impurities gathered in the whole Body or Brain Womb Stomach c. which do indicate Incision Attenuation Solution Purging by Urine Stool Sweat c. and therefore the consumption of themselves For these as they are the subjects and antecedent causes being removed the noxious faculty existing in them is also removed that is the malignant Vapour which being exalted or raised by evaporation does otherwise produce an Epilepsie And a Decoction of Guaiacum is of great service in respect of the present indication as by inciding and attenuating it dissolves this antecedent cause by cleansing it evacuates and by provoking sweat it renders the mass of bloud defoecate not without strengthening of the Bowels through its amicable astrictive faculty connate to it Nor is the decoction of Guaiacum onely usefull in rooting out the Cause but its acid Spirit and Oil also is very good to allay and conquer a fit We must take notice concerning Hydroticks that they are proper generals premised 2. That the decoction it self of Guaiacum according to the different nature of the Subject must be prepared with things appropriate to the morbifick cause taking care especially Gr. Horstius dec 2. prob 9. that in boiling it the Spirits do not exhale XXIII There are some that take Guaiacum for Lignum Heracleum Rulandi induced thereto both by the similitude of the name and because he often uses a decoction of this wood in the same diseases in curing of which he glories that the Oil has done good Quercetan on the contrary thinks it is drawn by distillation off Box wood Others think rather from the Pine Others from the Larch-tree for this reason especially because Oleum ERACLIVM makes by transposition of the very same Letters LARICEVM We saith Clossaeus although we are not ignorant that the Oleum Heracleum Rulandi is made of Hazle wood per descensum and that his Antepileptick Conserve is made of it not onely because Hazle nuts were called by the Ancients Heracleoticae but especially because Valentinus Rulandus writing to Fabricius Hildanus Obs 84. cent 3. plainly calls the Spirit and Oil of Hazle Wood per descensum Heraclinum Although saith he the thing be so yet I constantly affirm that Oil of Guaiacum may very fitly be used in its stead For the acid Liquor of Guaiacum hath the same virtues and faculties and shews the very same effects which he attributes to his Oleum Corylinum Moreover as experience testifies the specifick properties of Liquors perish in descensory distillation which being consumed by the fire a more fixt vitriolick Spirit is elevated together with a stinking Oil and Gum or Resine which as they are in great plenty in all Wood so in their power of acting and virtue Idem â—â—id they differ not much one from another XXIV Let Candidates in Physick observe this that the seed of Poeony is more gratefull than the root wherefore the seed may be put in Childrens victuals on the contrary the root is more convenient for Clysters It is better to use the powder of the root than the faecula for in preparing the faeculae of simples their virtue is washed away with the menstruum that is put to them yea just like Magisteries they are made like an useless Calx or the menstruum gives them some ascititious qualities XXV Candidates in Physick must also be told that if by God's Blessing they would cure an Epilepsie according to their desire they must account among Vegetables the Male Poeony rare to be found among Animals Castor or Swallows among Minerals Vitriol to be recommended to them as Specificks Some indeed will highly commend the use of Cinnabar of Antimony but it should onely be where the Epilepsie is caused by Worms S. Pauii Qu. Bot. cl 2. otherwise in my opinion it is no convenient Medicine for Epileptick persons XXVI While it was my custom to use Oil of Amber in people troubled with Epilepsies Convulsions Imposthumes
Make a Powder The dose is 1 drachm with a due quantity of Water of Hartshorn Flowers of the Linden-tree and Lily-Conval ¶ An Amulet for the Epilepsie There is a branch of Elder that grows on an old Willow pieces whereof hung about the Neck have very happy success in either abating or quire curing an Epilepsie They must be gathered in the Months of September and October before the Full-Moon ¶ One of the second sprigs of a Willow cut into small pieces and nine of them tied in a Linen or Silken-rag hung about the neck to the Mouth of the Stomach either before or after a Fit and worn so long till it breaks or falls off of it self is an Amulet The rag when it is fallen must not be touched with ones hands but taken in a pair of Tongs Tâ—om Bartholinus and buried in some remote place lest it should be touched by the sick or any other and so infect them with the Falling-sickness 7. A Medicine diminishing the Epilepsie I have observed that by taking 1 drachm of the Powder of Soapwort-seed once a Month for three New-Moons the Fits have abated much either in number or violence ¶ I have known many perfectly cured by eating a Wolf's Liver ¶ A drachm of Peacock's-dung in Powder drunk in Wine when the Moon is New is a most excellent remedy Pet. Borellus if it be taken once a month for some months together 8. I have known these two Powders very effectual Take of prepared Coriander 2 drachms Seeds of Poeony Purslane each 1 ounce Hoof of an Ass burnt half an ounce Mix them make Powder The dose 2 drachms in 2 ounces of Rue-water Take of Man's bloud taken away by Cupping of Man's Skull each 2 drachms prepared Pearl Galangale Zedoary each 1 drachm Mastick red Amber red Coral Dittany each 1 drachm and an half flesh of a Kite fat Raisins each half an ounce Mix them make a Powder Add 2 ounces of Sugar The dose is 1 drachm in Poeony-water every morning ¶ Some account this a Secret Take juice of Carduus Benedictus purified and boiled up thick 4 ounces juice of Yarrow purified 3 ounces Sugar 4 ounces Mix them boil them into the form of an Electuary The dose 1 spoonfull 9. The Skin of a Wolf taken off that part which sticks to the Spine must be cut into the form of a Girdle about 2 inches broad it must be girt about the Belly and the Loins and worn always that the inside of the Skin may touch the Flesh the hairy side being put outwards ¶ As soon as a Mare 's Foal is foaled it vomits up some matter which unless one take up hastily the Mare immediately devours it This matter dried and Powdered cures the Falling-Sickness by certain experience it seems a wonderfull thing Oil of Vitriol rightly prepared and 5 drops of it taken with Broth in the morning for several days has cured many of this disease ¶ I approve of nothing better Joh. Crato than Peacock's dung given in distilled-water of Carduus or Yarrow than which I have found nothing more effectual 10. Cinnabar of Antimony in equal weight with Magistery of Corals is a Specifick even in inveterate Epilepsies Claud. Deodatus it takes away the disease onely by Sweat at repeated turns and necessary evacuations premised The dose is from 10 to 16 grains in some proper liquour 11. Oil of Box is admirable Rod. à Fonseca for it is Narcotick and Narcoticks by stupefying the Sense use to hinder the Fit 12. In a Fit of the Falling-Sickness I give order to rub Rue between ones hands and to hold it to the Nose or to put a little of it up the Nostrils for by this means I have brought innumerable out of their Fits Forestus ¶ Let the following Amulet be hung on childrens necks Take of green Poeony-root half an ounce of Male Poeony-seeds namely the black 1 drachm and an half when the Root is cut and the Seed bruised put them in a bag and hang them on By this Suspensory I have seen the Fits cease to a wonder and have often experienced the great and excellent virtue of it 13. Dissolve the scrapings of the Whitest Amber in Spirit of Wine that it may be tinged filtrate it Phil. Grulingius and evaporate it to half It is a great Secret in the Falling-sickness It may be given to 15 grains in some appropriate Water 14. This is admirable Take Ears of Barley when they begin to grow ripe burn them to Powder Franc. Hildesheim of which give a little to an Epileptick person every morning in Poeony-water and he will presently be cured 15. A certain illustrious Lady testifies that upon the most sure experiment of a certain Widow the Falling-sickness is cured by a Powder made of Quails-Eggs The Eggs are dried a little Wolf Hâ—eÌ„ferus so as they may be powdered Half a drachm of it to 2 Scruples is given for a dose 16. The Fat of a Rabbet killed by a violent death melted and 4 or 5 drops of it given in Water of Magpies or Swallows certainly gives help ¶ This also is accounted a singular secret The Gall of a black Whelp that sucks they take for a Boy a Dog-whelp for a Girl a Bitch and is strangled Frid. Hofmannus given in some convenient liquour By benefit of this a Son of the Duke of Buckingham's was cured This is much in use in England 17. The famous Spiritus Vitrioli Antepilepticus Hartmanni Take of the finest Hungarian Vitriol 4 pounds add thereto of Urine of healthy Boys new made 8 pounds Digest them for some time in a close Vessel in Balneo Mariae Afterwards in the same distill a two-fold Phlegm the first of which is an excellent Paregorick for Gout-Pains and others to asswage them the other is an excellent Ophthalmick good for all diseases in the Eyes Put the Caput mortuum powdered into a strong earthen Retort in an open fire yet at first but very gentle and drive it over into a large Receiver while the Spirits come over thick there flows out a most pretious Liquour of a Sulphureous smell and something austere tast which being rectified once and again by retort and kept in a Glass well stopt perfectly cures all Fits in Children A Scruple of this may be mixt with Water of Poeony and Linden-tree-flowers of each 1 ounce and kept for use Give half a spoonfull of this said mixture in the Fit the contracted and convulse parts being first reduced and a little after their senses being recollected they will come to themselves which as soon as you observe give them a little more and so a third time But if the Fit should come again as it often does repeat the same process thrice and never fear but at the second time this disease so familiar to Children and Infants may be utterly and radically taken away especially if some comforters of the brain be used afterwards
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 Sydenhâ—m 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
they had been perfectly cured XXVIII A certain Carman cured several that had been long sick of Agues or otherwise indisposed by giving them a draught of Wine wherein he had first dissolved an handfull of Salt They that drank it purged upwards and downwards with great violence Some that had been troubled with a tedious Head-ach and bastard Tertians after they had had them for a long time recovered by this means But several others to whom this Medicine was given unseasonably or that were very weak Erastus Quaest de Purgan were most grievously hurt by it yea and some died XXIX Since natural sleep is nought in the beginning of Ague fits whether may we say the same of it caused by art A certain friend affirms that many Agues have been removed by the help of Laudanum Opiatum after due preparation and purging with Tartarum Vitriolatum Extract of Hellebore Antimonium Diaphoreticum c. Which effect he judges does not want its reason For seeing saith he in all Agues that continue pertinaciously there is some putrefied infection which is left in the focus after every fit and which ferments upon the coming of a new fit with fluxion either through the Veins or through the whole it so falls out that if the Alexipyretick Laudanum be given 2 or 3 hours before the coming of the fit all the heat will be then mitigated the fermentation of the humours stopt and fluxions into all parts restrained and so the Ague with the spreading of it wholly intercepted Perhaps that passage found in Petronius may be to this purpose where Quartilla says Truly I was so tormented that night Gr. Horsitus prâ—bl decad 1. Quaes 6. and shaked with cold so dangerously that I feared a fit of a Tertian and therefore I sought a Medicine for sleep ¶ If the Disease retire not upon purging I should certainly give Philonium before the fit This will not onely be convenient to drive away a bastard Tertian Abr. Scyller apud Scholtzium Ep. 3. but also to assuage pain ¶ That Hippocrates used Narcoticks in a Quartan to check the motion of the humours and hinder the dispersing of them which is the proximate cause of an Ague is evident from lib. 2. de morb Sect. 2. vers 206. Of Henbane seed the quantity of a Millet-seed and as much of Mandrake and of juice of Silphium the quantity of 3 Beans in Wine c. ¶ Platerus gave Syrup of Poppy to one in an Ague before the fit Obser l. 2. p. 173. Febrium Symptomata or Symptomes of Fevers The Contents In a febrile heat we must cool cautiously with Externals I. Whether we may let Bloud or Purge in a Loosness II. Whether a Pestilential one may be stopt III. One arising in the beginning of a Disease must be stopt IV. The stopping of a cholerick one when it comes upon an Ague V. By what contrivance it may be checkt VI. One in an Acute Fever repressed onely with Diet. VII When astringent Meat and Drink is proper VIII There must be one cure if the retentive faculty be weak and another if the expulsive be irritated IX How we must help a lost Appetite X. Whether Olives and salt Fish be always proper to recover it XI How the Anguish may be kept off in an exquisite Tertian XII When and how the Head-ach may be cured XIII Cured in an Hemitritaeus by opening the Saphaena Vein XIV Whether Bleeding be proper for the Heart-burn XV. The quieting of divers pains and restlessness XVI How the cold fit in an Ague may be mitigated XVII How Bleeding may be stopt XVIII The cure of a succeeding Dropsie XIX In Blackness of the Tongue the use of Nitre is good XX. Whether opening the veins under the Tongue be good for it XXI In driness of it and of the whole we must not use abstersive drink XXII When such driness is present there is no room for Meat and Broth. XXIII How driness from Bile may be amended XXIV The cure of a bastard Consumption that follows some Fevers XXV When Narcoticks may be given for a Phrensie in a Fever XXVI We must purge before we give a Narcotick XXVII The mitigation of the cold fit XXVIII XXIX The cure of the Hickup XXX It has a peculiar cause in Fevers XXXI To endure Thirst is hurtfull XXXII It must be quenched onely one way but according to the diversity of the focus XXXIII Sugared things increase it but do not quench it XXXIV We must take care of it in an Ague fit XXXV Variety of drinks out of Hippocrates XXXVI When we must use common water and when distilled XXXVII Sleep caused by Art is not so bad as that which is natural XXXVIII It is not convenient in the beginning of a fit in a Tertian XXXIX Some Sweats must be suppressed others let alone and others promoted XL. The cure of them when they arise from the fault of the mass of bloud in the declension of a Fever XLI The cure of dysenterick stools depends upon the cure of the Fever XLII The mitigation of a cough XLIII The cure must be taken of the Stomach XLIV The cure of all the troublesome Symptomes that are about it XLV We must help watching with safe Remedies XLVI XLVII Laudanum is good for it and many other Symptomes XLVIII The stopping of a Vomit in malignant Fevers XLIX Stopt in a fit of a Tertian by Pills of Aloes L. When greater regard must be had to the Symptomes than to the Disease LI. Cautions in the use of Medicines may be taken from the Pulse LII I. A Noble-man being taken with a most violent Burning fever asked an old Woman that was by to bring him a Pail full of cold water which being done he dipt his hands into the water and when he found that the raging of the heat was allayed and extinguished by it he held them in longer at length when he drew them out a livid Blackness had disfigured both of them with privation of sense Earnest endeavours were used to recall the native heat but all to no purpose Horstius l. 9. obs 23. for for the pleasure of his refreshment he lost both his Life and Fingers ¶ A Woman not being able to quench the heat of a Burning fever by drinking washed her mouth with cold water so lavishly and frequently that no warning was sufficient to deter her from this most gratefull Cooling But the veins and arteries of her Palate and Throat being straitned by this adventitious Cold and the vapours inspissated and so the Spirits that endeavoured to go to the Brain being suppressed Tulpius l. 4. 4. obs 20. her Understanding not onely failed her but with contracted Nerves also she fell at length into inevitable Death II. Some hold that we must never let bloud or purge in a Fever or Loosness though the vacuation be not proportionable to the abundance Others say that there is room for either Remedy if Nature move not perfectly Each Sect errs departing from
much the more easily a Colliquation of his body will follow while the Heat seizes and wasts the solid parts of the body And Sweat also which takes its matter from Drink is by this means hindred which might have been promoted by cold and plentifull drinking Platerus XXXVI There are four sorts of Drink of which Hippocrates treats lib. de vict Acut. Barley-water Water and Honey Wine Vinegar and Honey In a dry Disease he neither makes mention of Oxymel nor Barley-water not of the first because an over cutting thing is not proper for a dry Disease not of the latter because it being drink nourishes but little because of its thinness But he mentions Honey and Water and Wine as things that nourish and moisten And he leaves the choice of either to the Physician as if he apprehended that sometimes in a dry Disease one of them might doe hurt and the other might doe good for if a dry Disease come from a cholerick humour by reason of its furious quality Water and Honey must be avoided by all means and Wine must be given because it moistens and administers strength to Nature with an Abstersion or Incision But if a dry Disease come from an over thick humour that resists the concoctive faculty Water and Honey must be rather given than Wine as well to extenuate the grossness of the humour as to moisten the Body for Water and Honey moistens more than Vinegar and Honey Brudus XXXVII In Fevers which have their original from a hot Cause without a mixture of Phlegm especially in Summer time the use of common Water is to be chosen But it must not be concealed that wherever we desire concoction of a crude humour of a phlegmatick kind Drink of distilled Water does more harm than that of natural Water The former indeed if it be given cold cools on a double account actually and potentially Besides it pierces more into the inner parts of the body upon the account of its fiery quality Whence it is manifest that the innate heat suffers more from this sort of Waters than from what is natural Wherefore in a cold Cause and in those that labour under a Weakness of any of their inward parts I think distilled Waters should be avoided Idem XXXVIII Since natural Sleep in the beginning of an Ague fit is hurtfull it is queried Whether we must think the same of it caused by Art See Agues in general Paragr XXIX XXXIX Sleep in the beginning of a fit may seem proper to some because it is a refresher of Mens bodies and a renewer of strength for it is said to be the Authour of good digestion But at the very time of the fit more intense and stouter strength is required because at that time when the peccant matter is moved it must be attenuated dissolved and discussed that it being at last by this means consumed the end of the fit may the sooner follow But the Negative should rather be held for Men should be waking in the very fit because the bloud and spirits and therefore the innate heat in Sleep move inwards yet this motion is contrary to that whereby the natural virtue endeavours to discuss the matter in the fit and remove it outwards For the Heat concentrated in Sleep may make the inward effervescency of the Humours greater and so the Fever more violent Yet when the fit is ended Sleep is not dissallowed when afterwards it egregiously relieves the strength weakned by the battle betwixt the Disease and Nature Horstius XL. If a Physician be consulted whether it be expedient for a sick Man who begins to sweat to be covered with clothes and sweat quiet or on the contrary whether he should not hinder sweating by fanning and motion And considering the Sweat is hot and that it begins to run from the whole body and is yet doubtfull as it is of the beginning of the Disease and of the day and the Disease be not known let him bid the Patient keep himself quiet neither laying on more nor taking away any clothes and let him sweat a while When he is dubious he must visit the Patient again and observe whether he be very restless or whether he begin to breathe hard or whether the Pulse be a little languid If any such thing follow let him order him to be removed and sanned with a fan If none of these things appear and he say that he is rather relieved than oppressed let him proceed not onely one or two but several hours taking in the mean time if the business be protracted long some Broth for his refection If on the contrary he be not onely restless and his Pulse argue weakness but he faint also or look thin in the Face he must not onely prevent it by fanning but also anoint the body with some Astringent as with Oil of Myrtle strowing on Powder of Mirtle and Pomegranate-flowers c. And the signs of a spending and fainting Sweat are said and lastly for it to be cold and to gather in great drops about his Forehead and Neck for his Eyes to be hollow his Face and Nails livid When these things appear Fainting and Death is not afar off Vallesius XLI It frequently happened that they who were upon the recovery from Fevers they especially whom the Fever had macerated a long time and had not left them till after long and plenteous evacuation especially if they were of a weakly habit of body it happened I say that they assoon as they began to be warm in bed were presently all over in a Sweat whereby some were grievously weakned and recovered their strength but slowly and others were cast into a Consumption Because I thought this could arise from nothing else but the bloud being so far depauperated and weakned by the contumacy of the Disease that it could not assimilate with Juices which were newly brought to it it endeavoured to cast them off by Sweat I always persuaded them that were thus affected to take three or four spoonfulls of old Malaga-wine by the use of which their strength returned ever and their Sweats vanished Sydenham XLII In Autumn 1675. dysenterick stools came upon an epidemick Fever and sometimes a Diarrhaea I presently perceived they were symptomatick to this Fever and not as in some Constitutions original and primarily arising Which notwithstanding seeing the cause of the Disease was included in the mass of bloud it did indicate bloud-letting which indeed giving a Narcotick twice after it was sufficient to conquer this Symptome Idem XLIII It often happens that the Patient is vexed through the whole course of the Fever with a troublesome Cough that is the tumultuous mass of bloud being evidently moved and all things now looking towards a Sedition it so falls out that some loose and diffluent humours are carried out of the mass of bloud through the Vessels of the Lungs or by diapedesis into the inner membrane of the Windpipe which is
the Dysenteries themselves Therefore I called this a Dysenterick fever It sometimes began with Gripes but moderate ones or sometimes they came a little after it but often there were no Gripes at all For the cure of this Disease after I had observed that the Phaenomena of the Fever of most Dysenterick persons were the very same with them that accompanied the Solitary Fevers of this year it seemed consentaneous to me that my Patients might be cured if I did in some measure imitate that evacuation by which Nature uses to throw off that corrosive and sharp matter which is the continent cause of the Dysentery it self and of the Fever that attends it And therefore I encountred this Fever in the very same method both as to Bleeding and repeated Purging and Cordials as I used in the cure of the Dysentery above Except that I found that Paregoricks given between the Purges did not onely doe no good but that they did harm otherwise than in the Dysentery because the Matter was detained by them that should have been carried off by Purging The Patient lived for the first days of the Disease upon Oatmeal and Barley-Grewel His drink was small Beer a little warm And after I had Purged him once or twice I saw no necessity to forbid my Patient a little Chicken or some such meat easie of Digestion since this curing of him by Purging may allow it which could not be granted if we went another way to work The third Purge for the most part one day being always interposed made an end of the Disease Yet this did not always hold good but sometimes more were to be used If when the Fever was gone the Patients strength was broken and feeble and they recovered slowly which frequently happened to hysterick persons I endeavoured to restore it and to recall the Spirits that were run away and dissipated to their deserted Stations by giving Laudanum in a little dose but I rarely repeated that remedy nor ever prescribed it till two or three days after the last Purge But nothing made so much for renewing the strength and refreshing the Spirits as a free use of the open Air presently as the Fever was departed And I took the occasion of insisting on this practice from hence In the beginning almost of this Constitution I was called to a young Woman lying sick indeed of a Fever and almost killed with a most bitter pain in her forehead and with other Symptoms with which we have already said that this Dysenterick fever was loaded When I enquired of her in what manner the Fever first took her and how long she had had it she confessed that fourteen days agoe she had been freed of a Dysentery to which either going away of it self or forced away by help of Medicines the said Fever forthwith succeeded with an Head-ach Which I did conjecture I might be best able to prevent if I substituted another evacuation instead of the Dysentery very like that upon stopping of which the Fever arose and therefore I restored her in the method before recommended And the Fevers of this Constitution did most readily yield themselves to this method In young people and sometimes in those that were a little elder this Fever now and then got into the head upon which they grew delirous not indeed as in other Fevers after the manner of a Phrensie but they were struck with a Stupidity which came very nigh a Carus Sydenâ—am Sect. â— â— Obs in moâ—â— Aâ—â—t This happened to them above all the rest who had in any sort unfortunately employed themselves in extorting Sweats Febris Ephemera or An one-day Fever The Contents Whether the Bath be proper I. Whether Diatrion pipereon be proper for one bred of Crudities II. Whether drinking of Warm water be proper III. Whether Oxymel be good for an imputrid Continent IV. Whether drinking of Cold water be proper V. It cannot be safely cured without Bloud-letting VI. A Man may Bleed till he faint VII An Ephemera from constipation of the Skin cured by Hydroticks VIII I. WHether is a Bath proper in one-day-Fevers For the resolution we must know that a Bath of Sweet-water may be considered in respect of its divers parts whereof Galen l. 10. method enumerates four 1. The Air of the Bath by virtue of which Sweat is raised 2. A seat of hot Water 3. A seat of cold Water 4. That part of it where the Sweat is wiped off But since the causes of one-day Fevers are various and divers we must take notice that the hot Air of the Bath is proper for those Diaries which are caused by the closeness of the Skin obstruction of the Pores or swelling of the Glands But it is hurtfull for those that are caused by commotions of the mind by weariness heat of the Sun and the like A seat of hot Water may more safely be used in every Diary A seat of cold water cannot be granted without caution But then it is proper for every one to wipe off the Sweat Forestus his limitation laid down lib. 1. obs 6. must be observed that all these things may be proceeded on in an Ephemera as such For where Obstructions internal Crudities Loathings Catarrhs Loosness c. occur we must abstain from Baths We must take notice also that some Modern Physicians have substituted other remedies instead of Baths because we want that provision which was familiar to the Ancients And farthermore for this reason because most people are delinquent in their diet and hereupon heaping up of crudities renders their bodies unfit for the use of the Bathe G. Horstius II. Galen is found fault with by Trallianus for prescribing meth med c. 5. Diatrion pipereon simplex where when the body is costive crude aliment is lodged in the Stomach and 4 de sanit tuend for giving it in a nidorulent crudity which is proper neither on the account of the Fever nor of its cause which is the effect of an ever intense heat But Galen's design is to provoke the expulsive faculty by a Medicine endued with such acrimony to the end that the corrupt aliment may depart to the Guts and what crude remains may be farther concocted and digested Besides if it be given when the Body is Purged it does no harm because its heat is extinguished in the first ways Idem and goes not into the Veins but in the mean time it strengthens the weak Stomach III. Trallianus his Medicine deserves notice who commends drinking of warm Water where Meat is in the Stomach for it washes cleanses and drives the Meat into the lower Belly Primirosius d. â—eb l. 1. c. 5. it tempers the inflamed Spirits and he says he knows not a better remedy and truly it is an excellent one IV. Oxymel is suspected by some upon the account of the Honey whose heat seems hurtfull for several persons because it easily turns to choler But it is truly agreeable because it dissolves what is thick
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
Summer that they may be the less offended by the heats and sweat the less for they better withstand it who use Garlick than they who abstain Moreover it defends mens bodies from external Cold and renders them less obnoxious to it It performs this not by its quality alone but as it strengthens the innate heat so that the body afterwards is overcome with more difficulty by any cause whatever But they who have not used Garlick it is not safe for them to begin to accustome themselves to it in a pestilential constitution as neither it is for them that are of a hot constitution of a thin habit of body Children weak People and they whose bodies easily waste but they that are of a gross habit of body of a cold constitution and difficultly waste by transpiration I think they may obtain their desire in Wintertime Besides according to Hippocrates and Galen 4. de 1. Vict. it excellently preserves a man from surfeiting and how much this disposes mens bodies for any external impression the ill habits declare which arise from thence Then Dioscorides assigns great advantages to Garlick against the change of Water both for prevention and cure Moreover we know by long experience that Garlick strengthens the natural heat raises an appetite sharpens concoction and the rest of the natural Actions and does not suffer the meat to corrupt And Bodies suffer the quite Contraries to these things from the Plague therefore for the said Reasons we may give Garlick with meat to him that is sick of the Plague But if you consider it is drying as Dioscorides writes and that in the Pestilential fever there is a bad humour in the stomach whereby all its actions are corrupted especially that whereby meat is concocted and that whereby it is retained will you therefore reject it because it heats more than it ought By no means because the Patients suffer less harm from the addition of heat than of the pestilential putrefaction Besides the Heat is not in the earthy part of the Garlick as the heat of a bitter thing but it is in the watry part which presently is dissolved into the habit of the body passing immediately from the inner to the outer parts a thing which does not a little good in a pestilential Fever You will object that Hippocrates 4. de v. acut says that Garlick breeds Wind Heat in the Breast Head-ach and Loathing of meat But Galen asserts the contrary being taught by experience nay he says it cures the Head-ach if it be given after evacuation Therefore I advise all that are sick of a pestilential Fever as a most wholsome thing to mix Garlick with their meat that by its drying and strengthning the natural Heat it may resist the deadly prevailing corruption and that it may discharge what is corrupted by the way of Urine or by its violent motion to the circumferential parts as well as for these of the Symptoms in the Stomach vomiting and loathing meat yet still observing custome and the violence of the febrile heat according to the age complexion and season of the year Nor must it presently be rejected because of some contrary quality for Galen says It is difficult to find any thing that does greatly profit without hurt And as Avicenna says the heat of Garlick vanishes in boiling wherefore he that would use it whole let him boil it with meat without any other Preparation if one would break it let it lye a day in Infusion in Vinegar or Juice of Sorrel Besides they say Garlick drives away fear which very much afflicts and wasts the spirits of such as are seized with a pestilential Fever Brudus XXX Where there is great pain of the Head or Stomach and the Patients do not sleep Camphire must be used cautiously Otherwise this is as it were the Vehicle of other Medicines and makes them penetrate all over the Body and oppose themselves to the pestilential poison yet a great quantity of it is needless two or three grains may be sufficient XXXI Let Rose or Rue Vinegar be smelled to or let Citron rind be held in the mouth For they who for preservation would guard themselves with Zedoary and Cloves doe themselves a great deal of hurt Crato XXXII I know this that Opium has a special virtue against the Plague Wild-night-shade testifies this Gesnerus Ep. 34. which is a most effectual Remedy in the Murrain of Hogs as Tragus writes and it has the virtue of Opium ¶ I judge Opium should not be added unless to the hottest Antidotes but such they commonly are which are given in the Cure of the Plague for to omit other things which take Opium expresly into them the noble Pulvis Saxonicus good against Poisons has the fruit and leaves of Herb Paris that is the Aconitum primum Fuschii which cools no-less strenuously than Opium And this Antidote as I hear from experienced persons does abundance of good in the Plague And Electuarium de ovo has Nux vomica in it to which I find cold in the fourth degree attributed notwithstanding I am as yet doubtfull Idem ¶ It is wonderfull also that these things how bitter soever yet are not at all cold as the Cocculi Levantici This also is wonderfull that these exceeding cold things should cause Sweat Idem as I have often observed ¶ But seeing distilled Remedies seem to be preferred by me because they sooner penetrate and in the Plague there is need of quick penetration Yet I would not mix soporiferous things as Opium and the like with other distilled things both because I would not have them penetrate to the Heart and because such things distilled seem to me to be made worse and more hurtfull to our nature Idem but not hot things XXXIII In the year 1645. the Plague though not a cruel one was abroad And Dr. Henry Sayer when others refused the charge did boldly visit any that were sick he gave them Medicines every day he handled with his own hand Buboes and virulent Ulcers and he cured several sick people That he might guard himself from the Contagion before he went to any infected houses he onely used to drink a good draught of generous Wine then when he had finished his perambulation about the very threshold of Death he used to repeat the same Antidote But within a short time being so bold as to lye in the same bed with a certain Captain whose company he intirely loved who was taken with the Plague nor then did these Arts profit their Master which had been of so great advantage to all other men but he died of that Disease much lamented of all that lived thereabout About others that were infected with the Plague his method of Cure was usually this If Spots or Buboes appeared not till after he was called for the most part he gave a Vomit the Prescript of which was of infusion of Crocus metallorum with sometimes white Vitriol sometimes Roman When the
him to use moderate Exercise and to take the open Air He drank now and then some cooling pectoral Ptisan These little things were sufficient both to conquer the Cough and the Fever and to prevent other Symptoms For as by abstaining from flesh and spirituous Liquours and also by the use of cooling things the bloud was so contempered as to be less apt for a febrile Impression so also by the help of Exercise the hot Effluvia of the Bloud which when the Pores of the Body were stopt by sudden Cold being driven inwards raised a Cough did more opportunely exhale and were dispersed to the Patient 's great benefit As for stopping of the Cough danger was not wanting in attempting it by Narcoticks and Anodynes Nor was there less danger if one attempted the same by spirituous Liquours and hot Medicines because when the matter of the Cough was inviscated and hardned both these ways those Exhalations which leaving the Bloud quietly and insensibly by Coughing vanished into Air now when a passage was denied them being shut up in the mass of bloud caused a Fever there And this oftentimes succeeded very ill with many who while they endeavoured to put a stop to the Cough by burnt Brandy and other hot Liquours did invite Pleuritick and Peripneumonick Affections Nor were they in a less errour who would by provoking Sweat exterminate the Cause of the Disease For though Sweat bursting out spontaneously does often expell the morbifick Cause above all other Remedies whatever yet it is clear that while we extort it we inflame the bloud and may kill him whom we would cure The Fever and its worst Symptoms were best opposed by bleeding in the Arm and a Blister applied to the Neck for a pain in the Head Back and Limbs followed the Cough and by giving a Clyster every day In the mean time I advised my Patient every day to keep up from his Bed for some hours to abstain from flesh and to sup some Ptisan or cooling lenient Broth c. When two or three days were over if the Pain in his side were not abated but troubled him still violently I took away some bloud a second time and I persuaded him to continue yet the use of Clysters While in this manner we allowed the Disease time that the Bloud might by degrees get off those hot particles that were fixt on the Pleura and Lungs all the Symptoms used quietly to vanish Whereas they that set upon the Disease in a hostile manner making as it were War with a huge force of Remedies either lost their Patients or at least were forced to redeem their Life by bleeding oftner repeated than the nature of the Disease did require or indeed did safely admit For whereas in the true Pleurisie repeated Venaesection does the whole business and is alone sufficient for cure if so be that over hot Medicines and a regiment which fight against it do not hinder On the contrary in this Symptome it was sufficient to open a Vein once or at least twice if so be the Patient were allowed to rise from his Bed and use a cooling drink But there was no necessity to take bloud away oftner unless where the said Symptome was very much increased by the accession of heat from without Nor even in this case was it without danger altogether Sydenham Febres Puerperarum or Fevers of Women in Childbed The Contents The Description and Cure of a Milk fever I. Of a Putrid fever II. Of a Symptomatical fever III. Whence we must take the beginning of the Fever from the day of bringing to Bed or of the coming of the Fever IV. I. FEvers of lying-in Women are reckoned as it were of three sorts a Milky a Putrid and a Symptomatick fever The Milk fever arises because when the Breasts are filled and much distended with Milk the bloud-vessels are compressed so that they cannot easily transmit the bloud that flows that way Whereupon the bloud being stopt in its Circuit begins to be tumultuous in the whole mass and when the Spirits are inordinately moved and wholly confused it conceives an effervescence and makes a simple Synochus Or because the matter of the Milk traverses the bloud a great share whereof is in the Mass of bloud and having left the Womb that Liquour is translated to the Breasts Which if it exceed the due store of the nutritious juice and so all of it cannot be assimilated but moreover abounds with heterogeneous parts it does as some extraneous thing and not miscible create trouble to the bloud and a febrile effervescence of three days continuance is spent in throwing of it out This Fever is wholly committed to Nature and as long as the Lochia go right proceeds for the most part successfully enough without the help of Physick for after the effervescence of the bloud which is finished in three or four days either plentifull sweat or free transpiration ends this affection Yet in the mean time above admission of Milk we must observe that it is usual for them that will not give suck within two or three days after they are brought to Bed to cover all their Paps with some astringent Plasters as Emplastrum de Minio c. for so the glandulous substance of the Paps is a little contracted so that they do not so readily receive the milky humour that way scaturient Yet this sort of remedy must be cautiously used lest if milk be wholly excluded or forced too violently out of the Breasts as it restagnates suddenly into the bloud it cause a disorder of the same a forerunner of a Putrid or a Malignant fever II. It proves a very difficult task to Physicians to cure the Putrid fevers because all manner of Physick is accounted by the Vulgar not onely useless but hurtfull for lying-in Women wherefore Physicians are rarely called but when there is no place left for Remedies and all opportunity of doing good is over But a twofold Methodus Medendi ought to be gone upon as in contagious Diseases a Prophylactick and a Therapeutick Although this Fever how Malignant soever it be is never got by contagion and those that are by need not fear the taking of any poisonous infection from without yet all Child-bed Women have an inbred Mine of Virulence Wherefore they have need of an exact Regiment to the end that after their Delivery the impurities of the bloud and humours may be rightly purged without the danger of a Fever Therefore these three things must be inculcated to Physicians First that they prescribe an exact course of Diet namely to feed of Oat-meal Caudle sometimes of Beer sometimes of white Wine and Water mixt together sometimes of Panada and other light things for a Week at least Because they are much emptied they may sup something the oftner but no solid or strong food must be given them For I diligently observed that the over hasty eating of flesh and dainty food has brought these Fevers For lying-in Women
almost by Months The history should be remembred which is cited by Bâ—rellâ—s 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 Speciâ—icks X. Sennertus lib. 2. de febr c. 19. promising what should be premised from Pedemontâ—nus commendâ— singularly 2 drachms of the powder of Aâ—â—â—â—um 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 Asarâ—â— 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. â—â—â—s 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 Hâ—â—â—â—â—us 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 Riverâ—is 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 â—â—b 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
is on Fire But Opiates and Anodynes that fix and thicken the bloud and spirits must rather be used Also Juleps and Decoctions which cool the raging Bowels temper the Bloud and refresh the Spirits must be made use of frequently Acetous Liquours of Vegetables or Minerals and purified Nitre because they restrain the raging of the Bloud and quench thirst are very proper Let hot and spirituous Waters cordial and bezoartick Powders as long as the Disease has no malignity be avoided If the bloud circulate unevenly and be carried more impetuously towards the head than the feet Epithems of the warm flesh or bowels of Animals applied to the Soles of the feet are good Idem III. When the Fever is in the State Nature's motion must be carefully attended whether she will make a Crisis or no. Wherefore nothing must be attempted rashly by the Physician Bleeding and Purging must be avoided but when the febrile heat is somewhat abated after the deflagration of the bloud and signs of coction appear in the urine if then Nature's motion be too slow a Sweat or a gentle Purge may be given But if all be crude and disturbed if the urine be still turbid without a sediment or secretion of parts if the Spirits be languid the Pulse low if no Crisis or onely what was provoked precede no evacuation whatever either by Sweat or Purge can be attempted without manifest danger to life But we must tarry longer that the spirits of the bloud may recover themselves may in some measure concoct the excrementitious and crude humours and then separate them a little Then let the Spirits be refreshed with moderate Cordials let the immoderate effervescence of the bloud if there be any be hindred and its due fermentation sustained which truly is best performed by Coral Pearl and such Powders for indeed they are dissolved by the ferments of the Bowels and then ferment with the Bloud and very much restore its weak and wavering motion In the mean while Nature labouring let all obstacles and impediments be removed and especially the increase of excrements gathered in the first ways must be abated with the frequent use of Clysters Idâ—m IV. In what manner or method the most urgent Symptoms ought to be treated it will not be easie to prescribe by certain rules because the self same must sometime be immediately stopt and quieted sometime more hastily promoted and which is more than all it may be at another time they must wholly be left to nature We must oppose some of them with asswaging and lenient Remedies and others with rougher and irritative Physick Yet in the mean time this Rule must be observed in all of them that we religiously insist in Nature's footsteps who if she doe amiss her disorders must be reduced If she go right but too violently she must be restrained but if she go right and operate slower or weaker than she ought it would doe well to promote and aid her endeavours by the help of Physick Idem V. In the declension of the Fever when after the Crisis is over Nature is above the Disease all is safe and there is not much for the Physician to doe it onely remains for him to propound an exact course of Diet that the Patient may quickly recover his strength without any fear of a Relapse It is also good to carry off the reliques of the febrile matter by a gentle Purge In Diet Men oftnest split upon the Rock of a Relapse that is the Sick after preposterous eating of Flesh or strong Meat relapse into a Fever for when the Bowels are weak and they do not easily concoct aliment unless it be very thin and when the Crasis of the bloud is so weak that it cannot assimilate a strong nutritious Juice if any thing disproportionate be offered to either of them the oeconomy of Nature is perverted and all goes to wrack Wherefore Convalescents must long abstain from Flesh and must not eat it till after their Urine be like healthy persons and does no more grow turbid in the Cold and then indeed it is best to begin with a dilute Meat-broth and after gradually to ascend to stronger things Idem VI. When after an imperfect Crisis the case is doubtfull and the controversie under decision then a difficult task is incumbent on the Physician Let Nature's motion and strength be diligently attended whether she begins to prevail upon the Disease or to yield to it If there be signs of Concoction and strength be good a gentle evacuation may be made In the mean time we must help the most urgent Symptoms with proper Remedies all impediments must be removed and strength must be restored as much as may be by Cordials and a right course of Diet. VII When after a bad Crisis or none at all all things grow worse and when the Physician almost despairs of the Cure of the Disease let him give the prognostick that the event is doubtfull and much to be feared Yet he must not so far rely on the prognostick as to let his fears too much possess him but still let him provide as much as lies in Physick's skill for the health of his Patient though despaired of let Remedies be used for the most troublesome Symptoms and let the Spirits of the bloud almost extinct be recruited by Cordials When we despair of Recovery let life be prolonged as long as we can and an Euthanasia at least procured Idem VIII In Continent Fevers because they are always accompanied with great strength we may give a thin Diet But after Putrefaction is begun we must feed the Patient higher because the Corruption of the humours requires it according to Galen's opinion lib. 8. Meth. and 1. Aphor. 17. Mercatus Febris Tertiana or A Tertian Ague The Contents Whether Bloud may be let I. The time to let bloud II. Whether a Purge may be given onely after the third Fit III IV. At what hour a Purge must be given in a double Tertian V. Syrup of Damask roses not fit to purge withall VI. An exquisite Tertian curable by alteration alone without purging VII Sometimes it onely gives way to a Vomit VIII Whether it may not be cured without one IX A Vomit is seldom proper for a legitimate one X. The efficacy of Spirit of Sulphur XI A bastard Tertian cured by the use of Spaw-waters XII Made longer by the abuse of cooling Juleps XIII The excessive use of Aperients hurtfull XIV Drinking of Water good for an exquisite one XV. The remaining ferment must be extinguished by Specificks XVI We must have regard to the indisposition of the Bowels XVII What way a Decoction of Wormwood does good XVIII Cured by a Diaphoretick XIX By applying Bottles XX. A caution in the application of Epithemes XXI Applications to the Wrists not to be rejected XXII The Diet must be thin and spare XXIII The Patient sometimes killed with a multitude of clothes XXIV The Cure of a
be free from that infection 5. This powder was used with great success in the Plague and is given by many but erroneously as a common cure for Fevers Take Sugar-Candy 3 drachms Ginger 2 drachms Camphire 1 drachm Mix them The dose 1 drachm in Water and Vinegar in which Tansie has been boiled especially when the season is not hot ¶ I could also prove the efficacy of this Electuary by good witnesses it is made also of Camphire Take of Scordium 3 drachms Tormentil White Dittany Zedoary Gentian Angelica Cloves each 1 drachm Saffron Camphire each 2 scruples Mix them Make a powder sprinkle it with Water of Carduus in which are dissolved of Treacle 2 drachms and with Syrup of Juice of Carduus and of Scordium make an Electuary The dose 1 drachm or more in Carduus-water ¶ Nothing is better to preserve children from the Plague than Bole-Armenick with a little Tormentil and Citron-pill powdered which may be strewed on their Meat ¶ In a Pestilential fever the following Water is a truely royal Medicine and is highly commended Take Spirit of Malmsey-wine eight times distilled 8 Measures put to it of root of Tormentil Serpentaria each 1 ounce Angelica Zedoary each half an ounce Citron-peel Cinamon each 1 drachm let them stand 3 days in a glass stopt and in a warm place then these things being cast away and strained out first pour this Elixir again into a glass and let these things tied up in Linen be put into it Take of fresh Sperma Ceti Ambergrise best Rheubarb each 2 drachms Musk half a drachm let the Vessel be well stopt keep it One drop of it in Summer time is taken with Sugar of Roses for preservation to those that are infected one ounce may be given with Water of Carduus Benedictus Scabious or Scordium adding 1 drachm of this Powder Take of Hartshorn Unicorns-horn each 1 scruple Terra sigillata half a drachm Pearl Emerald each half a scruple Camphire 7 grains 5 grains of Bezoar-stone may be added and every 3 hours 1 scruple of this powder may be given with Water of Water-lily Sorel c. and when the Patient has taken it let him Sweat ¶ I have learned by certain experience that to pour some Spirit of Malmsey-wine upon Amber and keep the Glass close stopt and every morning to take a few drops with Bread Crato is an excellent preservative from the Plague 5. Elixir Alliatum is reckoned a great Preservative from the Plague it is made thus Take twenty heads of Garlick cleansed bruise them put them in an Alembick pour to them rectified Spirit of Wine till it stand four inches above distill it in Balneo by cohobations always putting in new Garlick in the last distillation add of Camphire tied in a rag and hung in the nose of the Alembick 1 drachm distill it as before ¶ There is a most secret virtue against the Plague in the herb Milfoil whole with its Flowers Deodatus with which onely the Buriers use to guard themselves in the greatest Plagues 6. A compound Oil is made of Scorpions and is much celebrated amongst Chymists it is commonly called Oleum Clementis it shews wonderfull effects in Poison and in all Pestilential Diseases reviving them that are half dead which Oil I highly commend in this case if the Arteries Pet. Salius Diversus and the region of the heart be anointed onely with it 7. A Salt is made of the ashes of a burnt Toad with Water of Carduus Benedictus or Meadow-sweet The dose half a drachm in Carduus Benedictus Water for a Sweat in the Plague which it powerfully promotes Faber and it is very good to cast the Plague out thereby 8. I take Earth-Toads and hang them up and dry them in the Air then I lay them on a hot Tile to make them dry I powder them but first I anoint the Pestil and Mortar with Oil of Scorpions that the Powder may not get into my Nose and hurt my brain with its poisonous quality I take of this Powder 1 ounce sowre Leven 4 ounces the best Treacle 1 ounce leaves of green Rue 1 handfull I mix all these things well with Honey and apply it to the Bubo twice or thrice a day This Plaster draws the Poison out of the body wonderfully to it self a whole Toad dried Guilh. Frabricius and applied to a Bubo does the same 9. This is a most noble Bezoardick Tincture Take of Mistura simplex 3 ounces Berries of the herb One berry 3 drachms Scorzonera-Root 4 scruples Make an Infusion and digest them J. Mich. Febr. The Dose 1 scruple to 2 scruples 10. Hier. Fabricius I especially commend Flammula Jovis to be applied to a Bubo because it draws much and raises blisters by which the Poison is purged out 11. This Plaster is commended above all others for Swellings and Pestilential Buboes Take a Frog and a Toad dried powder them add thereto of Gum Opoponax Frankincense each 2 ounces Galbanum 1 ounce Serapinum 4 ounces Bdellium 3 drachms pour to them Rose-vinegar what is sufficient boil and dissolve the Gums add of Camphire Oil of Sulphur each 1 ounce Fry them in a Frying-pan into the form of a Pultess and apply it hot to the Swelling repeating it every six hours ¶ This is very good to anoint Carbuncles Take of Vnguentum Basilicon 1 ounce fat of Vipers 1 ounce extract of Scordium 3 drachms Treacle 2 drachms Juice of Lemons Oil of Scorpions each half an ounce Mix them Make an Unguent Anoint the Carbuncles ¶ Above all other things which by experience are found good to preserve from the Plague Vitriol is the thing To the stronger sort it may be given to 1 drachm dissolved with Honey and Water for the weak it is prepared with Rose-water and ground very fine at least four times and so half a drachm of it may be given with Wine or Honey ¶ In a Malignant Spotted Fever this Cordial-water of mine is most excellent Take of Juice of Goat's Rue Sorrel Scordium Citron each 1 pound Mix them Add 1 ounce of Treacle Infuse them in warm Water then distill them in Balneo The dose half an ounce morning and evening ¶ This is a most excellent Powder which preserves from and cures the Plague Take of White Vitriol it is first powdered and infused in water then it is dried and this is done three or four times adding a little Camphire of White Dittany Tormentil-root each 2 drachms Make a Powder Rod. à Fonseca The Dose is 1 drachm in Water of Plantain or Roses or Sorrel 12. This Powder of mine was very good Take of Root of Dittany Tormentil Bole Armenick prepared Terra sigillata each 3 drachms Roots of Gentian Butter-bur Tunica each 2 drachms red Sanders 1 drachm shavings of Ivory Citron-Pill red Coral Bone of a Stag's heart Root of Zedoary each half a drachm prepared Pearl both the Behens each 2 drachms Amber Unicorn each half a
the Knife or Razor must be thrice repeated The first Cut separates the finger in the last joint from the metacarpus the second and third takes off the Septum Digitorum on either side of the finger In this operation thrice repeated something carnous or membranous may remain untouched by the Knife and may render the operation more difficult and tedious Now I considering these things contrived an Instrument whereby the finger may be cut off in the last joint together with the Septum on either side at one blow and it is a very sharp and winged Knife whose hind part is semicircular and of a bigness proportionable to the finger to be cut off And though before I disapproved of this way of chopping off Limbs yet in this case because it cannot otherwise be well done Idem of two evils we must chuse the less XXVII A Hand affected with a Cancer not exulcerated is cut off in a sound place that is at the heads of the radius and ulna towards the Wrist But we must take notice to the end the bloud yet infected which the adjoining Vessels contain may run out for being retained it might affect the Arm that neither the Arm must be tied with a rowler above the place of Incision nor must the softer parts be cut with a red hot Knife Scultetus which Barbarians call Cauterium cultellare Medicines especially made use of by eminent Physicians 1. I have often seen this Cataplasm used with desired success in stopping of a Gangrene Take of Meal of Beans Lupines each 4 ounces Juice of Rue 2 ounces or Powder of Rue 3 ounces Oxymel simplex 6 ounces Lie what is sufficient Sometimes he adds powder of Scordium Mix them Crato Make a Cataplasm 2. Spirit of Salt rightly prepared applied to outward Gangrenes and Ulcers is a high Narcotick Remedy without any pain ¶ All the care consists in the efficacy and virtue of Spirit of Salt for the Salt being saturated with this Liquour and dried is reduced to its natural temper which every one may see by experience for every sharp and biting Salt if it be dissolved in Spirit of Salt Faber is reduced to a wonderfull sweetness 3. Vnguentum Aegyptiacum is a most excellent and principal Remedy for a Gangrene Gul. Fabricius it separates the dead flesh from the live and breeds a laudable Eschar 4. In the cure of a Gangrene after the Eschar is removed if not onely Medicines but the very Air cause intolerable pain this following is very familiar with me I take Ointment of Betony made of the juice to which I either add Oil of Sweet Almonds if there be no inflammation or if there be one as there often is I mix Oil of Roses or Yelks of Eggs and I have never yet found any thing better ¶ Scordium bruised or the juice of it is excellent For experience shews Hieron Fabricius that dead bodies are preserved from putrefaction if they either be stuffed with it or wrapt in it 5. Take of Colts-foot 1 handfull and an half Melilot Mullein Dwarf-Elder each half an handfull Frankincense Litharge each 2 drachms and an half Mastick Myrrh each 1 drachm and an half crude Alume 2 drachms Mix them for a Decoction Grombs When a Gangrene is feared in a Dropsie 6. Let the part affected be washed with Spirit of Wine Camphorate than which I think nothing is more proper for hindring the mortification of any part Hartman 7. I remember one was perfectly cured of a Gangrene in his thigh after rotten Apples bruised had been applied in form of a Cataplasm without the liquour S. Pauli once or twice 8. To bring a place to its natural colour again Vnguentum Aegyptiacum dissolved in Aqua vitae is most excellent Ranchinus 9. I order the scarified places to be moistned with Spirit of Sulphur where the flesh was mortified then I order all the Arm to be fomented with Spirit of Wine hot wherein Powder of Aloes and Myrrh were infused then Powder of Aloes and Myrrh were strewed on the Arm in great quantity and upon the Powder linen cloths wet in Spirit of Wine were applied which Remedy being used a few hours the Arm returned to its colour to a miracle the swelling abated and the Gangrene was stopt Riverius 10. Take of Cow's dung 1 pound Oil of Roses 4 ounces Vinegar 3 ounces Saffron half a scruple Mix them Make a Plaster which must be applied hot every three hours J Dav. Rulandu◠I know by experience it certainly cleanses and cures a Gangrene 11. To prevent a Gangrene Sir Theodore de Mayerne of England used this following successfully applied warm with cloths dipt in it Take of the strongest Vinegar red Wine Spring-water each a like quantity Litharge of Gold well beaten 8 ounces Roche Alume Sea Salt each 2 ounces Gum Arabick Myrrh each 1 ounce Olibanum Mastick each two ounces When the Liquours are mixt put in the Litharge let them boil stirring them continually then add the Salt and Alume then the Gum Arabick Phil. Jac. Sachsius and last of all the Powders boil them to a consumption of a fourth part 12. If it will not give way to gentle Medicines we must use strong ones Take of Mercury what you please dissolve it in Aqua fortis when it is dissolved add to it of Sal Saturni and Vnguentum Rosatum Camphoratum what is sufficient Make an Unguent ¶ This Liquour is very good if cloths be dipt in it and applied It was successfully used in a Gangrene of the Scrotum Take of Vitriol 1 ounce tops of Oak 1 handfull Frankincense 1 ounce Camphire two drachms Sennertus Wine 2 pounds and an half Boil about a third away 13. The Juice of the Herb Alexanders in Unguents stops Gangrenes wonderfully Turnheusetus It is a Secret 14. Salt of Soot is made thus Let Soot be powdered as fine as flower dissolve it in Vinegar let it settle to the bottom of the Vessel separate the Vinegar and dissolve it in other Vinegar continuing it so five times and you will find a Salt which if it be put in a moist place will melt and make a most excellent Oil for Gangrenes and malignant Ulcers Joh. Vigierius Ganglion or A glandulous Swelling The Contents We must have a care how we cut a Ganglion or Lupia I. It must not be brought to Suppuration II. The old and new way of Cure III. I. IF a Ganglion will not yield to Medicines it must be cut out with a Knife unless it be in the hands or in the feet or there be danger of Nerves Veins or Arteries wherewith sometimes it is implicated A Lupia also must be cut out as a Gland like as we did a few days agone near the Jugulars Chalmetaeus with good success II. A Ganglion sometimes when it is deeply radicated hinders the motion of some joint therefore some course must be taken with it betimes
his advice 5. Aph. 23. In these places whence bloud runs or is about to run we must use what is Cold c. Especially to places where the motion begins unless there be obstructions which would thereby be made worse for as these things condense astringe and render the bloud less fluid so Cupping glasses indeed retract the bloud and spirits with violence but because in a great Haemorrhagie it is effervescent Fab. Hildanus cent 2. obs 47. it may easily be drawn by the Cupping-glasses to the Liver and settle there IX A Noble Matron fifty nine years old having omitted letting of bloud by reason of her decay in years was suddenly troubled with an enormous Bleeding at the Nose the bloud ran as though she had been let bloud I prescribed cooling and repellent Epithemes for her Forehead and Neck but she bled the faster A Chirurgeon put Tents into her Nose full of Powders to stop bloud but they were ready to choak her and when they were taken out she bled enormously Her Fainting dissuaded me from letting of her bloud Therefore I set a large Cupping-glass first to the region of the Liver and then another to the Nape of the Neck and her Bleeding stopt immediately This Remedy did others good G. C. Winder Misc cuâ— an 76. obs 90. A Cupping-glass is dangerous in the beginning of an Haemorrhage X. It is well known that Cupping-glasses set to the Shoulders and Neck are a most excellent Remedy yet I have sometimes observed they have been used to the Patients detriment A plethorick Man who was ill of Bleeding at his Nose by the advice of his Physician got Cupping-glasses to be set to himself by the fire-side and in a few hours his Bleeding increased so that he lost several pounds of bloud I being called order him presently to go from the fire and that his Back be anointed with a cooling Ointment Ligatures to be made upon his Arms at the Elbows and upon his Legs at the Hams I apply a linen cloth wet in Water and Vinegar to his Forehead and I put some of my Powder described lib. de Gangraena cap. 19. with Tents dipt in Whites of Eggs into his Nose Hence let young Men learn that in all Haemorrhagies the Body must not be heated F. Hildanus cent 6. obs 13. nor the Back rubbed with hot Clothes nor exposed to the Fire XI Cupping-glasses applied to the Shoulders both dry and moist retract the running bloud from the Nostrils but are not a Remedy altogether safe for they may draw the bloud from the lower to the upper parts and give occasion to new Bleeding Some set them upon the Arms upon the Musculus biceps whereby Revulsion is made of bloud from the Nose Riverius XII Onely arterious bloud nourishes the Brain and runs out at the Nose Therefore Coolers and Astringents must not onely be applied to the Neck behind but before also upon the carotid Arteries Riolanus XIII Topical Medicines must be applied to those parts where need is of them immediately or where the bloud may be most cooled For there by immediate contact if it be possible they stop the orifices of the Vessels but here by intimately altering they check the violent motion of the bloud so that to repeat them in short they are applied to the Bregma Forehead under the Tongue to the Nape of the Neck the Nostrils Throat to the Armpits the right and left Hypochondrium the Stones and the Soles of the Feet Wedelius XIV The Bloud does not always come from the Veins of the Head but oftentimes from the small Vessels that come out of the third Sinus of the Crassa meninx when they open a very great Haemorrhagie sometimes arises Bauhinus Th. Anat. l. 3. c. 8. In such Bleeding Medicines must be applied not to the Forehead but to the Vertex and coronal Suture ¶ In such a Bleeding at the Nose Topicks must be applied to the hind part of the Head for the Bloud ascends by the hinder Sinus's before it comes to the third Therefore Hippocrates ordered the hind part of Meton's Head to be fomented with warm water to the end the Bloud might run more freely Sennertus XV. The Head must not be washed with cold water unless Revulsions have gone before whereby the bloud may be drawn to the lower parts of the Body or to the hind part of the Head otherwise Gal. 5. Mâ—t. Med. c. 6. being driven inwards by Coolers it will fill the Veins which are within ¶ Therefore the Bleeding will increase on this account and because the Heat gathered within by Antiperistasis furthers the motion and violence of the bloud Or if the bloud be stopt a Convulsion Apoplexy Parotis or the Bloud falling upon the Aspera Arteria a Difficulty of Breathing will follow XVI Moreover this is suspected when the Vulgar at the beginning lay a linen Cloth wet in cold water round the Neck for there is fear when the way is intercepted between the Heart and Brain either an Apoplexy or a Swooning may follow Sennertus XVII Cold things applied to the Forehead and Temples and the Nape of the Neck where the vertebral Arteries ascend do a little check and repell the afflux of bloud Yet some doe ill in advising cooling Topicks to be applied to the jugular Veins for so the Bloud being retarded in its return will run more abundantly out at the Nose Moreover whereas it is usual to apply linen Cloths or a Sponge wet in Vinegar to the Pubes and Genitals it does good upon no other account than as tying of the Limbs inasmuch that is as the reflux of the venous bloud is thereby hindred Willis XVIII Many use Ligatures but I do not much approve of them although Galen 5. Meth. 6. propose them for assoon as the Ligature is loosed it fills the Head for the Bloud being retained under the Ligature is made more violent and runs to the weakest part Saxonia ¶ I do not willingly use Ligatures both because they deprive the subject parts of spirit and bloud and because by the compression of the muscles they seem to exagitate and impell the fluent bloud Enchirid. Med. Pract. ¶ Asclepiades of old condemned them as Scribonius Largus writes XIX Cruel Ligatures joined with an impetuous motion of the bloud are useless for though gentle binding of the extreme parts and astriction of the Forehead be not insignificant to stop the Bloud a little and to bind the Vessels and upon that score also cold things as Stones and the like beside the Effluvia which they send out are commended if they be held in the Hand or under the Armpits yet if the due bounds which become a Physician be exceeded the Bleeding is so far from being stopt that it rather bleeds the faster Wedelius XX. Swathing egregiously stops Bleeding which follows a Wound in the Veins but if it be tied too strait it easily causes a Sphacelus XXI
Kettle of cold water Hildanus cent 1. obs 17. so the bloud being cooled and thickned the bleeding stopt by degrees XXIX Mr. N. was subject to an haemorrhage till he was thirty years old and he was grown so weak and lean that he was very nigh death He was at length cured by drinking Wine moderately for he had been abstemious and so he came to be an old Man Borellus cent 2. obs 87. For he had been over much cooled by drinking of Water and Bleeding XXX I saw a most contumacious bleeding stopt in the most Illustrious N. by the intervention of a Swoon whereby the bloud and Spirits are powerfully retracted to the inner parts He when no remedies did him any good said he had occasion to go to stool as he arose out of his bed he swooned out of which after he came the bloud ran with far less violence And after half a drachm of Sal Prunellae in cold water had been given him the bleeding wholly stopt This Remedy is propounded by Hippocrates 3. Epidem 7. Concerning which Galen says it must be observed 5. meth 5. that swooning does good onely when the bloud runs out at veins which end in the Superficies of the body for when it comes from the inner veins as in spitting of Bloud the immoderate coming of the Menses or in wounds of the inner parts Riverius it will rather increase the bleeding by retraction of the heat to the inwards and to those parts whereout the bloud runs XXXI One was taken with a Bleeding which no Medicines would stop at length when he was put into a great fright it stopt I ordered that he should be vext and when he was fretted that a great Bason full of cold Water Panarolus Pent. 5. obs 27. should be thrown upon his Back with a great noise hereby he being immediately put into a Fright the bloud stopt XXXII Fab. Bartoletus Professor of Mantua relates how a desperate bleeding at the Nose was stopt to a miracle while he was present by a Sieve-maker within half a quarter of an hour onely with violent squeezing between his fingers the interstice between his Nostrils Thuanus also relates Rhodius cent 1. obs 91. how the desperate bleeding of a wound was stopt lib. 75. histor XXXIII A Nobleman having been troubled with frequent and violent eruptions of bloud sometimes at the sedal Veins sometimes at the Nose after several Venaesections taking of Juleps and cooling Decoctions c. at length by taking the following Powder a dose whereof he took in a Julep every sixth hour Take of Male-Poeony red Coral Pearl each 1 drachm Ivory Hartshorn Bloudstone each half a drachm Lapis Prunellae 1 drachm Make a Powder The dose half a drachm Take of Water of Black Cherries 8 ounces Balm Cinnamomi hordeati each 2 ounces Treacle-water 1 ounce Syrup of Corals 1 ounce and an half making Ligatures in certain places as is usual and then in others according to occasion both to quiet and to intercept the spasms of the Vessels was cured quickly without any relapse afterwards For I found the Disease to be merely or chiefly spasmodick for every day when he bled his pulse was weak his extreme parts cold and all his Vessels fell flat as if they had been too much emptied Moreover the Patient was troubled with a Vertigo almost continually and a tremor of the heart and a Swooning now and then or with the fear of it Truely the bloud was so far from bursting out of the Vessels through too much plenitude or turgescence that rather on the contrary the Current of it ran so low and small that it was scarce able to maintain the floud of Circulation Notwithstanding which was the very truth he often in a day felt something in his body to creep fast like wind sometime upwards sometimes downwards and oftentimes bleeding at the Nose or haemorrhoids followed the tendency of that motion so that hence one might easily conclude that the motive fibres of the bloud-vessels whereby they are contracted being affected with a spasm did inordinately hurry the bloud how low soever thither and now and then forced an eruption Willis XXXIV Things doe good that cause an Eschar as Colcothar by which remedy alone the most Illustrious the Prince of Orange was recalled from a fatal bleeding He every day bled a vast quantity of bloud at a wound which he had received in his jugular Veins and it could be stopt by no remedies but by a tent wrapt in a digestive and good store of powder of Colcothar Heurnius which was thrust into the Wound By Colcothar I mean burnt Vitriol XXXV I have read in the Dutch History that a wound in the jugular Vein of his Excellency William the First Prince of Orange was closed by laying a finger upon it and so the bloud stopt This artifice was of old proposed by M. Gatinaria Pressing Irons may serve instead of Fingers Van Horne XXXVI When a Man had in a fit of the Falling Sickness bit his Tongue where the Veins are large so great a bleeding followed that it could be stopt by no remedies and his strength was so low that he was ready to dye A famous Chirurgeon made a Pill of Wool and dipt it in Goldsmith's-Water and thrust it with a Probe into the Wound and Vein where it was open and within a little while the bloud totally stopt Pâ—terus XXXVII Truely the application of a red-hot Iron after mutilation is a horrible thing wherefore I propose a remedy which stops bleeding as if it were by Inchantment It is onely Alume of which little Tents are made and after cutting off the Limbs they are thrust as far as they may into the orifices of the greater Veins and then the business is finished with the application of many Splenia and astringent Powders So there was one who could by no means stop the bleeding of a Vein in the Arm Bâ—relâ—us câ—â—t 4. obs 30. which I immediately stopt onely by applying Alume XXXVIII To stop Bleeding even when the Arteries are cut nothing is better than Galen's Plaster made of Aloes Frankincense Hare's Down most exactly powdered and mixt with the White of an Egg wherewith the Wound is filled to stop the Arteries But if it stop not with this most pretious remedy 4 grains of Sperniolae Compositum Crollii may be given with good success and about the neck for a Wound of the Temporal Muscle c. a Plaster may be applied of which Johnston makes mention Id. Med. l. 8. tit 6. c. 2. made of Furnace Clay and sharp Vinegar of Roses spread upon a Rowler four inches broad and as often as it is dried renewed till the bleeding stop And oftentimes it stops within half an hour or sooner to a wonder Sâ—ulterus Tâ—b 2â— â—arag 11. I thought good to take notice of these three remedies because they stop every deplorable haemorrhage XXXIX Chalybeate Waters may be drunk for a month than
taken stops all Bleeding Stockkerus 12. If a red-hot Iron be held under the Nose as it bleeds so that the vapour of the Burnt-bloud may ascend to the Nose immediately the Bleeding stops Willis Haemorrhoides or The Piles The Contents Their excessive Bleeding must not be rashly stopt I. Where bloud must be let when they are stopt II. When they run excessively bloud may be let in the lower Veins III. Whether they should be opened with a Penknife IV. Whether in curing haemorrhoids of a long continuance all of them must be suppressed V. The cure of their too much running by bloud-letting VI. In whom they may safely be suppressed VII Scarifications Cuppings Ligatures c. do not stop them when they run too much VIII Not onely bloud but a puriform matter sometimes runs out of them IX What such bloud comes X. Whether the thick and black humours which they void do come from the Spleen XI Whether Tying Cutting and Burning be proper for their excessive running XII Whether an old Flux must be let alone or stopt XIII An excessive one stopt by searing XIV The body must be exactly prepared before they be stopt XV. They are painfull from all bloud and not onely from melancholick XVI The cure of painfull and distended ones by compunction XVII The cure of latent ones XVIII Sharp Clysters are bad to provoke them XIX The pain cured by an easie Medicine XX. Eased by opening a vein in the little Toe XXI The pain of the blind ones ceasing by an Issue made below the Knee XXII When they are painfull we must abstain from violent Purgers XXIII Why remedies must be varied XXIV Narcoticks must sometimes be made use of XXV The cure of them excrescent easie and safe XXVI The cure of Tumid ones without pain and inflammation XXVII Pain must be eased variously XXVIII XXIX The Flux is often provoked by Medicines of Scammony and Senna XXX Tamarinds and Syrup of Roses are suspected XXXI How we must purge in an excessive flux of them XXXII We must abstain from Rheubarb XXXIII We must not accustome our selves to them XXXIV To stop them a decoction of Sarsa is excellent And derivation to the Womb. XXXV The Abuse of Clysters hurtfull for such as are subject to the Piles XXXVI Vnguents not proper XXXVII Medicines I. I Remember when I had the most Illustrious Ann Countess of Waldeck of the family of the Duke of Cleves under cure for a most grievous and tedious Flux of the haemorrhoids and when I saw that her strength was wasted and her spirits spent and so that she was in great danger I stopt them But though she was refreshed the first day thereby yet she was wonderfully oppressed on the following days and she began to swell and puff up about her heart When I was called on the sixth day I was forced to open the veins and make the haemorrhoids bleed again nor could I with any security close them till I had provided for the body by gentle Evacuations and for the Liver with other things that are alterative and corroborating Solenander Therefore here we must act dexterously lest we leap out of the Frying-pan into the Fire II. Because oftentimes there is no less danger when they are too much stopt than when they run too much especially in such whose custome it has been to be purged that way at set-times and we must have a care they be not stopt longer than is convenient therefore it is proper to let Bloud in the inner veins of the Legs about the inner Ankle or in the veins under the Ham for by opening them the suppressed Piles are provoked according to Galen l. de V. S. But if the Body do not appear very much oppressed nor any danger as yet seem to be feared from the suppression of them yet it is good to provide for and to take care of Mens health lest some Disease breed by their being too much stopt It will doe good sometimes to open a vein in either Arm for so you will prevent the necessity of the haemorrhoids the cause that is of that Flux being in some measure removed and you will abate Nature's pains in bringing them at certain times Idem and you will avoid some inconvenience which may happen ¶ For the cure some teach that according to Galen a vein must be opened in the Foot because the opening of this vein provokes the haemorrhoids In which matter the Physician must not be too hasty a plenitude of Bloud continuing because by this Bleeding the Bloud often falls with such violence upon the lower parts and especially the part affected that a worse Disease follows and hence I have seen in such a case great Inflammations and sometimes Gangrenes also have followed Wherefore the plenitude remaining not the lower but rather the upper veins must be opened And this must be observed especially when there is an intention onely to allay pain and not to provoke the haemorrhoids for where no intention is to provoke them it is safer in every case to open the upper veins and the rather if we have a mind to stop them P. Salius III. In a preternatural running of the Haemorrhoids although a Vein must be opened in the Arm because the Fluxion which tends to the Head may be drawn back by opening a Vein in the Legs so that which tends to the Feet or Anus by opening a Vein in the Arm. For if the Bloud run impetuously by the Arteries to the lower parts and a Vein be opened in the Arm the Bloud cannot chuse but be carried with less violence to the lower parts for want of Bloud that is if a good quantity have been taken by venaesection And since it has an easier exit where a Vein is open the Bloud must necessarily run by those Arteries rather which are soonest drained by the opened Vein than by them out of which into the Veins there is not so ready a passage and so the Bloud which before ran by the Arteries downwards when a Vein is opened in the Arm and the course changed must needs tend upwards to the Arm by the branches of the upper Arteries Yet we must observe if there be an Inflammation already in the Haemorrhoids then we must bleed rather in the Leg than in the Arm because in this case we have not so much regard to the humour affluent as affluxed which wants evacuation and derivation Bleeding by venaesection will then be convenient when the excessive Flux of the Haemorrhoids proceeds from redundance of Bloud in the Mesaraick Veins for though Bloud do not then run out of them by opening a Vein because these Veins no where reach to the Skin yet because the Vena cava being in some sort exhausted of the Bloud by it draws Bloud out of the Mesaraicks by the means some evacuation of it is made thence also by revulsion and especially by plentifull bleeding in some patent Vein in the Arm or Hand Or also
openers and purgers for example Take of extract of Rheubarb 1 scruple Tartarum vitriolatum half a scruple Mix them Make a Bolus upon which let the Patient drink some distilled Water of Agrimony in which after a while ten drops of rectified Spirit of Tartar may be dropt Fortis XXXII Purgatives must answer in proportion to the foresaid preparers and aperients among which since Rheubarb has the prerogative we must not depart from it yet observing this difference that as the substance purges the hollow more than the gibbous part so the Infusion purges the gibbous part more than the hollow of the Liver because it communicates its subtiler parts to the Infusion Let 2 drachms be infused in Agrimony-water adding a little Spike Senna and Polypody of the Oak and to the expression add some Syrup of Roses solutive Idem XXXIII We must not desist from the use of aperients till all pain be quite gone or well abated and the Hypochondria be lighter since the obstruction of the Liver is a chronical Disease and usually cannot be opened in one week nay scarce in a whole year We must be very industrious to take it away for there is the beginning and foundation of all Diseases and unless it be carefully and totally taken away it causes the corruption of the Bloud Inflammations Fevers Schirrhi divers Fluxes of the Belly Cachexy Dropsie Jaundice c. 2. A due order must be observed in giving of all Medicines Universals must always be given before Particulars and Topicks 3. Medicines must not be given till long after Meat 4. They must be Liquid that they may penetrate 5. Attenuant dissolving and discussing things besides that they must be moderate and must also be hepatick and astringent 6. In Diseases of the Liver we must not use sweet things as Meat but as Sauce after recovery but they must not be offered to any while they are indisposed Hofmannus External Topicks must never be cold but always hot or warm XXXIV One at Padua was ill of a deplorable Ulcer of the Liver he was otherwise a lusty Man and addicted to Sea-affairs The Excellent H. S. a Physician of Venice conâ—rary to the advice of the rest of the Physicians got his Abdomen opened with a Razour upon the Region of the Liver that much of the Pus might run out at the wound After which the wound was cured and the Man survived and three years after he leaped and wrought Capivaccius and found no inconvenience XXXV Some are of opinion that an Imposthume of the Liver must not be opened because according to Fernelius 6. de part Morb. cap. 4. and Forestus lib. 19. obs 10. an Ulcer contracted from an Abscess which is continually washed with aliment must perpetually be very foul nor can it ever heal seeing the substance of the Liver is spermatick and can no more be repaired than other such parts This Disease therefore since it is of it self mortal let the Physician abstain from external incision or burning lest he be thought to have killed the Man whom the violence of the Disease destroyed But on the contrary where it is not possible to evacuate the Pus by Urine or any other way Mercatus Pract. lib. 4. cap. 2. intimates that the opening of it with a red hot Iron may be practised by a skilfull and honest Chirurgeon If saith he the abscess appear outwardly certainly it is bad not to cut it because if incision be omitted the Liver is eroded by the Pus and there is no escaping of Death But if you be minded to cut it without a red-hot Iron there will be danger of an hemorrhage and the Man will immediately be destroyed Notwithstanding Capivaccius l. 3. Pract. c. 23. and Saxonia l. 3. Panthaei c. 29. give instances of the opening of it with success Some tumours come to suppuration and because the Liver is of little sense for onely the gibbous part of it has Nerves therefore crude ones cannot be distinguished from suppurable ones but in process of time For then they that suppurate especially on the gibbous part stand out sharp and indicate Section without endangering of Life as I have experienced in several although the common integuments the Muscles and Peritonaeum were cut But if it be in the hollow part it must be purged by Urine as I observed in a Nun. Which cannot be done in a Tumour of the gibbous part When it is cut a Tent may be put in dipt in the White of an Egg. Then we must use digestives as in the wound of that part Marchetti obs 52. Afterwards a cicatrice must be made with Sarcoticks and then with Epuloticks yet all the purulent matter must first be evacuated by help of Tents and leaden Pipes by which it is purged sooner and with more convenience In this manner I have cured several who at this present live well in health ¶ Hippocrates 7. Aph. 46. teaches us how a purulent Liver may be healed But almost all Men judge them desperate who have a purulent Liver The Cure I believe is not so difficult but it may be attempted with some hopes of recovery But Physicians fearing lest the Pus should be found bloudy and fetid in which case they certainly die are afraid lest the cause of death should be imputed to them I visited one whose Liver I immediately judged was inflamed and purulent Others believed he was troubled with a malignant Fever I thought to have cut him over against the Swelling to let the Pus out which remedy was derided After he was dead I ordered the place to be opened which the wretched Man while he lived pointed to as most tormented and the Coat of the Liver was found parted from the Parenchyma and in that space there were five pounds of white Pus Sanctorius as I foretold ¶ Although Hippocrates 7. Aph. 42. says the case is desperate when Pus comes out like to Lees of Oil yet we must not wholly desist from good hope seeing this seems to proceed rather from the natural condition of the suppurated Liver than from the default of heat onely because when the substance of the Liver is inflamed the heat is not such as to be able to turn the substance of it into white Pus But if you will venture on it make the hole large outwardly Mercatus and narrow inwardly Hernia or A Rupture The Contents It does not come in the Groin onely I. Whether we may rely on Medicines taken inwardly II. Rest and long lying in bed the best remedy III. The fashion of a Splenium under the Truss IV. A Truss must be applied to each Groin V. Cutting must not be tried in all VI. A rupture in the Guts cured by Section VII The way of curing one without Section by means of a Caustick VIII The Physician ought not to consent to Castration IX The new way of curing a Rupture false X. The coalition in old Men cannot be expected XI Whether Section
So Leonides advises us to doe when some of the vessels which feed the Testicle are varicous for if all of them be so the Testicle must be taken together with them lest when it wants nourishment it should corrupt This Rupture also may be cured with a potential Cautery unless the Varication be too great If therefore it be more in the ambient Veins of the Testicle than in the Scrotum for then an excessive haemorrhagy might be feared from the corrosion of those large Veins the Cautery must be applied in greater plenty that it may not onely burn and waste these Veins but the Testicle also for so the crust will be stronger and thicker Geiger Chelegr c. 13. which will hinder any excessive haemorrhage XXXI Because it may be feared a Vein may grow varicous in the Scrotum Fortis therefore the Scrotum must be anointed with Oleum Saturni XXXII Since the matter of a varicous Rupture is melancholick Bloud poured from the upper parts upon the Scrotum either by critical transmutation of the melancholick matter or the termination of some Sickness Or it is caused by a Spleen weak in drawing melancholick dregs from the Liver or the Liver not expelling the melancholick Bloud as it ought besides external causes which multiply melancholick Bloud That it may be rightly cured we must abstain from such causes then when the common excrements are discharged Bloud must be let out of some lienary Vein for usually such ruptured persons have an obstruction in their Spleen and find a pain in their left hypochondrium then we must use Decoctions to purifie the Bloud and remove obstructions of the Spleen Geiger Chelegr c. 14. Medicines especially made use of by eminent Physicians 1. This is admirable for a Rupture of the Guts which we have tried and so cured that others have admired Let Paper lye three days in Water till it have soaked up the moisture like a Sponge Make a Ball of it and when the Gut is put up apply it to the Groin bind it on with some convenient Ligature Aetius and do not remove it for three days 2. When because of the Swelling the Guts cannot be put up again Boil some Oats in a sufficient quantity of Water then add half a pound of fresh Butter boil it again Then let the boiled Oats be put in two Bags and by turns let one of the Bags be put into the Water and so foment the part and put up the slipt Guts gently with the Bag. This Remedy has been found very beneficial Loyse Bourgois 3. This is admirable good in all Ruptures Take of root of white Carline Thistle Dove's-foot dryed boil these two in red styptick Wine give a draught of the Wine sometimes in the morning Brendelius 4. A Plaster of Hare's-down burnt with Powder of Comfrey mixt with Oil of unripe Roses and Pitch Claudinus is excellent 5. In the month of May there are Bladders found upon Elm-leaves full of Water which is peculiarly good for Wounds and Ruptures The round things which hang upon Oak-leaves gathered in the month of May and exposed to the Sun in a Glass do dissolve of themselves into Water which anointed on the Rupture Crollius is good 6. Ruptures are cured with the depurated Juice of Rupture-wort which is mixed with Bean-flower and applied to the part for 15 days the Patient keeping his Bed all the time ¶ Spirit of common Salt and Sal Gemm if 3 or 4 drops of it be taken in the morning with Flix-wood or Comfrey-water Faber is a great Secret for curing a Rupture 7. I have had great experience and much success of this After the Gut is put up let the Patient for 20 days take of prepared Steel 1 scruple mixt with 2 scruples of Sugar and drink a little Malmsey-Wine upon it Fallopius 8. A Man of fifty had a Rupture which grew as big as one's Head and hard which could be softned by no Fomentations nor put up I gave him a draught of Wine just boiled up once with some Anise Caroway and Fenil-seeds bruised and the Hardness immediately was softned and the Rupture was put up Van Helmont 9. Let a Load-stone powdered be given in Pottage then let the Groin through which the Gut slips be anointed with Honey and fine filings of Steel strewed upon it this Remedy must be used for several days and the part affected must be carefully kept up with a Truss Hofmannus 10. It is evident from infallible experience that the Root of Wake-Robin has a singular Virtue against Ruptures About a drachm or a little less given in some convenient liquour not onely draws back the Procidency but heals the Rupture of the Peritonaeum if either the Patients lye on their backs in bed Laurenbergius or if they use a Truss 11. In a windy Rupture I have often experienced this Emplastrum de Vigo cum Mercurio and Emplast Diachalciteos dissolved into generous Malmsey-wine with Oil of Bayes Paraeus 12. Greater Ants distilled with Bread if every day in the morning carnous Ruptures be anointed therewith Petraeus or a little of the Water be taken doe good 13. Some commend this as a most certain Cure Take of white Cichory gathered about St. James Tide 3 pugils Pasque-flower 2 pugils Seed of Thorow-wax 2 pugils Make a Powder The Dose as much as one can take up with his three fingers in some flesh broth at Dinner and Supper till the Patient recover 2. Take roots of Elecampane Sanicle Comfrey Saracen's Consound each what is sufficient make a Decoction in Water to the Consumption of half In this Decoction hot wet Cloths and let the place affected be often fomented and afterwards anointed with the following Unguent Take Oil of Eggs and Tormentill-powder Mix them Make an Unguent Sennertus Hydrophobia Rabies Fear of Water Biting of a Mad Dog The Contents Whether a Vein must be breathed I. When it may be breathed II. Whether we must purge III. At what time IV. With what we may purge and with what we may not V. Throwing into the Sea is good VI. The bitten part must not presently be cut off VII An Example of a happy cure VIII Medicines I. SOme think Venaesection not at all proper for the Biting of a Mad Dog because it draws the Poison through the whole Body into the Veins yet Avicenna l. 4. sen 6. tr 4. c. 9. writes that bloud must be let after the fourth day and that not onely once but twice especially when a Man has not been bled immediately after the Bite and when Bloud abounds Yet some modern Physicians after the Biting of a Mad Dog to prevent Madness are so abhorrent from Bloud-letting that they maintain it must be avoided as a thing which by emptying the Veins causes the Poison to penetrate deeper But these Men seem to think that the Venom of a Mad Dog is not dispersed all over the Body till
original to the disease besides for the most part it is impossible to raise a Sweat in Hydropick persons Riveriuâ— XXI Diaphoreticks though they be of special use in an Anasarca yet in an Ascites they are either of none or but very rare because used unseasonably they often doe the Patient a great deal of harm without any benefit inasmuch namely as by heating the bloud they cause the waters fluctuating in the cavity of the Belly to rage and as it were to boil so that the spirits and humours are very much disturbed by vapours raised from thence and so a disorder of all the functions does follow and the Inwards themselves are very much hurt as if they were perboiled Moreover by Sweating thus amiss the bloud being forced into fusion and precipitation of the Serum Willis discharges more of it into the nest of the Ascites XXII Sweat must not be raised by Decoctions which by their actual humidity doe harm but by Extracts of Guaiacum Claudinus Sassafras Carduus Benedictus c. XXIII They greatly mistake who try to expell an absolute and full Cacochymie as in a Dropsie by Sudorificks Indeed this is sometimes good in the Venereal Disease but it is onely in this case and that onely sometimes It happens sometimes that in Hydropicks little blisters appear on their Belly by opening of these oftentimes more water comes out in two or three hours time than the best Sweat would get out in a whole night Hofmannus XXIV Let any one be ill of an inveterate Dropsie in the end he is troubled with continual want of Sleep and he that goes to cure this with Narcoticks kills the Patient Hydropicks dye upon taking one grain of Opium If the Patient desire help for his want of Sleep let the Physician prescribe some well-known Medicine lest when the Patient must of necessity dye hastning of his Death be ascribed to Medicines Walaeus XXV Whoever gives an Hydropick person half a drachm of Treacle he highly endangers his Patient's life and his own credit even by giving of one grain For such Opiates do not onely lay the Spirits asleep but they make the shortness of breath worse Hofmannus to which Symptoms almost all Hydropicks are obnoxious XXVI Perforation of the Abdomen is the greatest Remedy which must be used when there are indicant and permittent Intentions The Indicant are watry Matter It is lawfull to perforate in an Ascites onely Avicenna does not tap the Abdomen unless the body be very strong when therefore you come to Patients do not tarry till they grow weak because it will be in vain afterwards to use this remedy Concerning the time Avicenna says You must not dare to tap the Belly as long as any other cure is possible The Moderns explain it thus All things must be tried before the Knife but this is a great errour for Avicenna used other Remedies after Tapping But he would shew us that we must not proceed to Tapping unless we foresee the Disease will not be cured with less remedies When therefore we find the Belly swell fast and other accidents we must presently have recourse to this remedy But if we should try all things first without doubt the Patient would be enfeebled and his weakness would not allow it Capivaccius Hippocrates ¶ We must tap Hydropicks quickly ¶ Aurelianus says there is no other reason why most dye whatever some may object but because this cure is always tried too late and when the disease by diuturnity is become incurable Vallesius XXVII It ought to be considered that Nature her self who being taught by no Man yet does those things that are proper has as it were pointed out to us this operation while she has saved the Patient oftentimes from present death by swelling and opening the Navel in a Dropsie And though it be very difficult to tap the Navel yet when it is swelled we must seek no other place But if the Navel chance not to rise in a blister some other convenient place must be sought And that is on the left-side of the Navel three inches below the Navel and so many on one side of it Yet first as the Patient stands upright if there be not an excessive quantity of Serum or as he sits or lies when his belly is very much swelled the place must be carefully marked with Ink. Formerly Section was made with a Penknife through the skin muscles and Peritonaeum not without fear of hurting the Guts then after Section they put a smooth-shouldred Silver pipe into the wound exactly fitting the hole Which because it was very difficult the Moderns have found out a far more convenient way and that is by a Pipe having a very sharp edge at the end which Barbette Chirurg p. 1. c. 15. describes for by this the Abdomen is perforated by degrees But as soon as it has penetrated into the hollow part presently the water uses to run out at the holes that are on each side of the edge the excessive flux whereof if we would stop we stop the hole of the pipe with a Silver pen exactly fitting it and when we have a mind to let it run again we draw it out When we have a mind often to repeat this operation either a new hole is made or that is opened again which was made before Van Horne Miâ—roâ—ecâ—n A little Lint with an agglutinant plaster applied over it shuts the hole securely XXVIII We must hasten to tapping not the vulgar way which is full of danger but a new and safe way by a Silver pin hollow which is gently thrust into the Abdomen about four inches below the Navel and as many on one side of it and after a sufficient quantity of water is let out it is drawn out again and in like manner at some other time or day it is thrust into the same hole unless it seem good to make a new hole some other where There is no danger in this operation because when the pin is drawn out no more liquour will run out but by applying a Diapalma plaster the opened place is not onely defended from the injuries of the ambient Air but its consolidation is promoted Sylvius XXIX Although Erasistratus Avicenna and Gordonius think it destructive yet if there be all the conditions for the safe performance of it I should willingly order it immediately And these conditions are six 1. That not deplorable persons but such as have strength be tapped 2. That they be not very feverish 3. That there be no Schirrhus in the bowels 4. That the disease be new and the bowels not corrupted by the water 5. All the water must not be evacuated 6. It must neither be in Summer nor in Winter time if it be possible But in a Dropsie of many months the decay of the Inwards may be suspected which alone may dehort from so great a Remedy the unhappy success whereof may easily be
by which often repeated and the Dose gradually increased I irritated the Disease but when I had tried to evacuate the water to no purpose no purging following but the swelling of her Belly rather increasing she left me off and as I remember recovered her health by the help of another Physician who used more effectual Remedies When therefore it is manifest that the Patient is of such a habit of Body that gentle Catharticks doe their work neither quickly nor kindly stronger things must be tried In which case it must be observed that though few Hydragogues if they be given alone answer expectation yet if they be mixt with gentle things as a quickner they are very effectual In such Bodies for example sake I have often prescribed the following Potion with success Take of Tamarinds half an ounce Leaves of Senna 2 drachms Rheubarb 1 drachm and an half Boil them in a sufficient quantity of Spring-water to 3 ounces In the Colature dissolve of Manna and Syrup of Roses solutive each 1 ounce Syrup of Buckthorn half an ounce Electuary of Juice of Roses 2 drachms Mix them Make a Potion Which Potion nevertheless must not be given but to the stronger sort which purges when other things are able to doe no good as I have tried by manifold experience of it Here follows another Receipt not infrequent with me which they may very conveniently use who hate the repeated use of other Purgatives when in purging it both heats the Patient and strengthens him For Example Take of root of Jalap bruised Hermodactyls each half an ounce crude Scammony 3 drachms Leaves of Senna 2 ounces scraped Liquorice Aniseed Caraway each half an ounce Tops of Wormwood Leaves of Sage each 1 handfull Infuse them cold in four pounds of common Aqua vitae and strain it onely at the time of use Let him take one spoonfull at the hour of sleep and two the next morning increasing or diminishing the Dose according to the operation But the two chief Medicines in my opinion are behind and for such as are hard to be wrought upon they are stronger than any of the rest that I have either enumerated or yet found I mean Elaterium and an Infusion of Crocus metallorum Elaterium or the Faecula of wild Cucumber does in a very little quantity exert its virtue powerfully in purging the Belly and discharging the excrements with the serous and watry humours so that two grains to speak in general is a proper Dose for most Bodies I use to mix half a scruple of Pilular Coch. maj which I order to be made into two little Pills and to be taken in the morning As for the Infusion of Crocus metallorum an ounce and an half of it or for those that are hard to purge two ounces given in the morning and repeated every day according to the Patient's strength although at first blush it promise little more than to carry off the filth lodged in the Stomach yet it will so work that at length it will ease the Belly of its load of superincumbent water For besides that when the Vomiting ceases it purges downwards it is altogether necessary that since there is so great an agitation and concussion of the Stomach and Bowels after so notable a corrivation of water wherewith they are as it were every way surrounded an evacuation of it by passages not open enough according to the common Law of Nature must follow so violent a straining Nevertheless if the foresaid Vomitory do not sufficiently purge the lower Belly I sometimes though very seldom add both Electuary of Juice of Roses and Syrup of Buckthorn after the third or fourth Dose of a mere Infusion of Crocus metallorum for example Take of Carduus benedictus water 3 ounces Infusion of Crocus metallorum 1 ounce and an half Syrup of Buckthorn half an ounce Electuary of Juice of Roses 2 drachms Mix them Make a Potion There is also another common simple Medicine which cures the Dropsie the same way as that whereof we have last treated namely 3 handfulls of the inner rind of Elder scraped from the Wood boiled in 2 pounds of Milk and Water mixt together to 1 pound Let one half of this Decoction be taken in the morning and the other in the evening every day till the Patient be well This Medicine both vomits and purges like Crocus metallorum and therefore cures the Disease the same way and not by any specifick virtue Wherefore if it perform neither of these operations or but moderately and sparingly it does not one jot of good but when it produces either of them effectually especially if both of them it conduces wonderfully to the Cure of this Disease But indeed which ought seriously to be taken notice of it often happens that water falls not onely into the Legs and Thighs but also into the cavity of the Abdomen which nevertheless must not be got out by Medicines either purging upwards or downwards For example when such a Swelling either follows a tedious Consumption or arises from some decay or putrefaction of the Inwards or from the tone of the bloud If I may so say being relaxed or destroyed and from the spirits being utterly exhausted by some old Fistula's in the carnous parts which have voided much Sanies or from too great debility and evacuation as well of the humours as spirits which has been brought upon a Man either by salivation sweating or too violent purging and a thin diet in the Cure of the Venereal Disease used more than the case required In these and other Diseases which come in this manner the Patient will not onely not be relieved by purging but the tone of the bloud being still farther decayed the Disease will be increased Wherefore the case standing thus the whole stress of the Cure rests upon the bloud and Inwards being strengthned by all means Among other things of this nature besides strengthning things to be reckoned up hereafter I am informed by certain experience that change of the Air and Exercise in a free Air such as the Patient can bear does very fitly answer this Indication the spirits that is being inspired as it were with a new life by these means and the excretory Organs minded again of the office incumbent on them Sometimes also without any such cause we must satisfie this Intention which respects evacuating the water neither with Catharticks nor Emeticks for whenever the Patient is of a weakly constitution or a Woman very subject to vapours and ataxies of the animal spirits it cannot be that the business can be done by Catharticks much less by Emeticks Here therefore the evacuation of the water must be committed to Diureticks Of which rank though very many be of great fame in the Writings of Physicians yet the most effectual are they not to say onely they as I think which are made of Lixivial Salts Nor makes it any matter of what sort of Vegetables the Ashes are made But seeing scarce any one Vegetable
is more easie to be had than Broom and it is well accounted of in this Disease I usually order 1 pound of its Ashes to be infused in 4 pounds of Rhenish-wine cold adding a pugil or two of Leaves of common Wormwood I order 4 ounces of the Liquour strained by filtration to be constantly drunk by the Patient in the morning at five in the afternoon and at night By which Remedy alone I have seen Dropsies cured which have been reckoned desperate in such whose Constitution has been too weak to bear purging But when the water that we may hasten to the second Intention which is the proximate cause of the Disease is now wholly evacuated we are come for the most part but half way of the Cure unless the weakned bloud which was the first original of the Disease be helped by long and constant taking of heating and strengthning Medicines whereby a new product of water may be prevented For though it may so happen to young People oftentimes that when the water is well purged out they recover without any other Remedy because their natural heat being then rid of the load and pressure of the water may supply the place of the said Remedies yet in elder People or them that have no very sound habit of body it is altogether necessary that presently when the evacuation of the water is finished they have recourse to the use of those Simples that heat and invigorate the bloud Among which those things I have formerly recommended in the Cure of the Gout whether they respect the Remedies themselves or the six non-natural things besides those which shall afterwards be spoken of are proper unless that Wine from which we must wholly abstain in the Gout does not onely no harm in the Dropsie but a great deal of good if it be used for Mens ordinary drink seeing these two Diseases agree in this that the same strengthning Medicines oppose the original cause of either of them Moreover to satisfie this intention of which we are now treating namely the strengthning of the bloud whether the evacuation of the water be procured as before by a Diuretick a Purge or a Vomit it is altogether necessary that the Patient as much as the case requires be obliged to drink Wine while he is under Cure so he begin not to drink Wine before the passages be a little opened and way made for the water or at least strong Beer instead of Wine seeing all thin and cooling Liquours how pleasant soever they be to the Palate which is ever in a manner thirsty in this Disease do make the Patient more phlegmatick and augment the water these therefore must seldom or never be allowed And on the contrary generous Liquours so they be not distilled spirits promote health so far that sometimes they alone restore it when lost as in the beginning of the Disease before the Belly be much stretched with water especially if they be impregnated with heating and strengthning Herbs For the poorer sort whose Purse will not afford better Medicines strong Beer in which a sufficient quantity of root of Horse-radish Leaves of common Wormwood garden Scurvigrass lesser Centaury and tops of Broom have been steeped is by my Advice used for their ordinary drink and may serve instead of all For the richer sort Canary Wine may be impregnated with the same bitter Herbs a draught of which may be taken twice or thrice a-day among the forementioned Medicines Or if this please not the Palate so well Wormwood-wine may be drunk in its stead of which the Patient may take nine spoonfulls after taking two drachms of the digestive Electuary described Tit. de Arthritide Book I. at Medicinal hours that is morning four in the afternoon and night This Electuary far surpasses any other strengthning Medicine in satisfying this Intention But here it is of great moment that the Patient drink sparingly of any small Liquours seeing all of them whatever they be give increase to the water so that wholly abstaining from drink has cured some And therefore if the Patient must sometimes be indulged these Liquours he must drink them very sparingly Notwithstanding because this Disease is accompanied with great thirst which abstaining from small drink does increase it will be proper for the Patient to wash his mouth often with cold water sharpned with spirit of Vitriol or let him keep some Tamarinds in his mouth or chew Lemon but swallow neither of them because of their Coldness which is not so proper for the Disease But among strengthners Steel in the Cure of a Dropsie beginning deserves not the last place for it invigorates and heats the bloud Which is the reason why Garlick is so good in this case for I have known a Dropsie cured with it onely omitting Evacuaters by other Mens Prescription not mine For it must be observed that the Dropsie which has onely swelled the Feet or the Belly also but moderately does not presently require a Cure by Emeticks and Catharticks but often gives way to these said heating and strengthning Liquours But above all things it must be seriously observed that whenever we set upon this Disease onely with strengthners or Lixivials also the Patient must by no means be purged either with a gentle or strong Purge so long as we are endeavouring to strengthen the Bloud For a Purge will pull down what a strengthner has built up which every one must be forced to acknowledge who has observed that the Swelling which by the use of strengthners began to abate does presently increase after Purging For although when we desire to satisfie the intention of getting out the Water it would not be amiss also now and then to give strengthners yet when our whole business is to strengthen the bloud it is altogether necessary to abstain from Catharticks It is to be observed also that the Patient is not always cured though we satisfie both Indications that is though the water gathered in the Belly be wholly got out and Heaters and Strengthners also be given afterwards to prevent a new product of Water For it often happens that an Ascites which has lasted many years by the long incubation of the Water upon the Inwards has perverted and as it were perboiled their substance And has utterly corrupted both the Bowels themselves and the neighbouring parts breeding preternatural Glands and Bladders turgid with Sanies and turning all things contained within the cavity of the Abdomen into a kind of putrilage as Dissection of Bodies of such as have died of an inveterate Dropsie has made manifest When the Disease is arrived at this height it contemns all the helps of Art as far as I see Nevertheless it is the Physicians duty since he cannot certainly know what harm is done to the Inwards as yet to endeavour the cure by all means by Evacuating as well as Strengthning Medicines And he must neither be discouraged nor must he discourage his Patient We must endeavour to doe this
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 〈◊〉 Aperients XLVII Crocus Martis sometimes causes Belching Xâ—â—â—â—I 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.
But if any one have a mind to use a lixivial Salt that effervescence may be made the less by it let him temper it first by other means that is by some volatile Spirit or Oil Wherefore Venice and common Soap are of great virtue in checking the effervescence Whenever the pituitous humour offends in viscidity then it must be incided and attenuated with acid and gummous things as the humour gives way to the one rather than the other which it is easie to experience or try Yea it is the part of a prudent Physician not to think he knows all things For it is the part of a prudent Man not to begin rashly but when he has observed in dubious cases by what the Patient is chiefly holpen he may proceed couragiously Therefore when by gentle procedure a remedy is found by means whereof especially the Patient is relieved then we may proceed more cheerfully in the use of it And divers Gums occur very convenient in this case Galbanum Sagapenum Ammoniack Opoponax and the like all or each of which may be used according as there shall be occasion and especially in form of Pills Among Acids which may also be given there occur divers Spirits prepared by Art of Salt Nitre Vitriol Sulphur and also Wine-vinegar distilled and sometimes not distilled wherein if the bulb of a Squill be infused it is called Vinegar of Squills and is an excellent Medicine in this and the like diseases arising from viscid Phlegm These things also are good for correcting of viscid Phlegm Mastick Amber and the volatile Salt made of it as also the sublimated Salt of Hartshorn Castor Myrrhe moreover Steel prepared the common way or Vitriol of it with which some Mens opening Pills are prepared Every volatile Salt conduces above all things to correct and amend the viscid Phlegm which has a virtue of reducing that humour insensibly to a mediocrity Wherefore I recommend to all the preparation and use of such Salts whether they be prepared in a dry form or in a moist In the mean time this must be observed that volatile Salts prepared in a dry form when they are very subtile can scarce be kept but do easily turn to Air it is better therefore to prepare them in a moist form or at least to keep them for use dissolved in moist and watry things The bilious humour offends especially by reason of a fixt lixivious Salt which will be amended and tempered most powerfully by Acids But because then at the same time an Effervescence is raised by reason whereof this Hypochondriack disease is produced it seems not so safe or convenient to make use of Acids unless they be tempered with a volatile Spirit by means whereof the violence of the Acid Spirit is not a little infringed so that a less effervescence is caused thereby For the contempering also of lixivial Salts Acids mixt with oily things may be made use of for all sharp things as well Saline as Acid are tempered with fat things In the mean time we must have a care of oily Acids when besides a lixivial Salt Sylvius de le Boë Oil abounds in the bile which especially is evident by a greater heat and febrile burning in the Body V. A Lenitive being premised the first preparative must be Julapium Acetosum about three ounces with half an ounce of Creme of Tartar finely powdered for they may well be mixt together When five days are over again a Lenitive must be repeated drinking upon it two pounds either of clarified Whey or Barley-water Then we must proceed to open obstructions and prepare the humours lodged in the veins To which purpose aperient and mundifying juices clarified may be prescribed since Medicines made with Honey or Sugar are good for few Hypochondriacks Thus the clarified juices of Borage Cichory Endive Mallows Hops and Ceterach may be given the next day after the Physick and the next day after that half a drachm of Rheubarb mixt with two drachms of Flos Cassiae may be given after which a full Glass of Cichory and Agrimony-water may be drunk Then the day after the juices may be repeated Fortis cons 28. cent 3. and so alternately the Rheubarb and the juices may be taken VI. For a successfull and more accurate preparation I am willing to abstain from sweet Syrups made of Sugar and Honey as also from very sower things since they puff up the bowels and increase the heat and these cause a fermentation in the humours Wherefore clarified juices of Borage Endive sweet Apples c. must be given to about three ounces in Broth altered with Mallow Borage Fortis Cichory root of Cinquefoil Cichory c. VII In the use of Preparatives we must consider whether an Acid or a Nidorous crudity be more troublesome to the Patient and conduce to this evil for although it may be bred of either yet as the accidents vary according to the one or the other so also the way of cure varies For in an Acid crudity we may use hot things but in a Nidorous one and where great inflammation is we must use temperate ones Sennertus VIII If the Disease be inveterate gentle Aperients can doe but little good yet they must be given first For experience has taught that these Aperients Creme of Tartar Tartarum vitriolatum Vinum Martiale Pulvis cachecticus have qualified the Disease but could never eradicate it The case is the same in medical Waters For used once a year they open the Inwards a little but do not take away the Disease it self It is necessary therefore that against an inveterate Hypochondriack Disease such things be used as may pluck up the Disease by the root such as Aqua Philosophica or Spiritus Vini Tartarisatus if in some convenient liquour it be so given as to begin with the least and to ascend to the highest drop from one drop to twelve and according to the precedent circumstances we must continue a while in one dose and we must add now a drop Hartmannus and then a drop to it IX Preparation by Syrups and distilled waters while the humours are attenuated and run to the parts obstructed makes the Obstructions daily worse for they tire the Patients and Nature too much Crato they hurt the Stomach grievously and manifestly destroy concoction X. Vinegar may be used but it must be sparingly and onely for relish-sake and reason tells us it must be used in cholerick rather than in pituitous persons lest the exuberant melancholick juice be fermented with the excessive sowreness and the swelling of the Spleen be increased or way be made for sowre Belching Martini XI Creme and Crystals of Tartar and Tartarum vitriolatum are so common now adays that several scarce prescribe any Medicines wherein some one of these is not put yea Tartarum vitriolatum is called by Crollius Vniversale Digestivum And I acknowledge indeed that Medicines made of Tartar have a great virtue in
14. cent 3. made with the Acid of Sulphur with Extract of Rheubarb Ammoniack c. V. In a new Jaundice Emetick Medicines while the Tone and Faculties of the Viscera are good often give relief inasmuch namely as they rid the Stomach of a load of Phlegm wherewith almost always it is burthened in this Disease Moreover by irritating the choledochal Vessels and by shaking all the hepatick ducts they both open their obstructions and make a passage for the Bile by the usual ways Willis VI. A Boy ill of a Dropsie devoured seven or nine Lice the Disease by degrees disappeared and in the room of it there followed Paleness excessive Appetite Atrophy and Death When his Body was opened there appeared an unusual cluster of Lice of a monstrous bigness If they doe any good at all in the Jaundice G. Hannaeâ—s Act. Domâ— an 1675. obs 23. they doe it by their Volatile Salt which makes the Obstructions to remove and the liquour necessary for our bodies to move more briskly VII I Judge whether there be an Obstruction of any Bilary Duct or no such thing can be supposed the Bile then undergoes a notable change by reason whereof it is carried more impetuously and copiously towards the bloud with which notwithstanding it is not so well mixt as it used but is onely confounded with it and therefore it more easily recedes from the bloud and not onely joins it self to the Skin and external parts but joins it self also to the Muscles and the Inwards and dies and tinges them with its colour For Bile naturally constituted both in the small gut and in the right Ventricle of the heart is not onely loosly but intimately mixt with the occurrent humours and so indeed that it cannot any more be separated from them Which union is made by reason of the effervescence of it in both places upon its meeting with an Acid. Both the said effervescences are either diminished or taken away The cure therefore of the Jaundice will consist in this First in taking away the more remote causes Secondly In correcting and removing the mediate causes glutinous Phlegm stopping the bilary duct c. Thirdly In amending the proximate cause corrupt and vitiated Bile being too spirituous and rendred unfit for effervescence that it may be carried again to the Guts Fourthly In taking away the discolouring of the Skin Glutinous Phlegm is corrected and incided with Aromaticks and volatile Salts When it is corrected Phlegmagogues carry it off which may also serve for Correction for Example Take of Root of Madder greater Celandine Smallage each half an ounce Flowers of Broom half a handfull Seeds of Columbine Parsly Anise each 2 drachms crude Tartar 1 drachm and an half Boil them in an equal quantity of White-wine and water what is sufficient In twenty ounces of the Colature dissolve of Syrupus Diacnicu Syrup of Cichory with Rheubarb each 1 ounce and an half Mix them Let the Patient take some of this Apozeme twice or thrice a day so as he may have two or three stools and may void the Choler together with the Phlegm When the Jaundice comes from the poison of a Viper or from any other then to correct and expell it all Sudorificks abounding with a volatile Salt are good which answer both Indications Hither conduces Antimonium Diaphoreticum to fifteen grains Bezoardicum minerale to half a scruple volatile Salt of Hartshorn or of any Animal got by distillation and if it be strong five or six drops or grains of it often given in some convenient liquour Treacle also is good and various preparations of Vipers The Bile of Ictericks that is depraved and vitiated and made too spirituous will be amended especially by oily and fat things by means whereof an aptitude to right effervescence is restored to the Bile Thus I have cured several of the Jaundice by giving them five or six ounces of a decoction of Hempseed in fat Cow's Milk boiled till it burst and strained twice or thrice aday Thus also having premised what ought I have several times successfully cured a Jaundice by giving one drachm of any Soap dissolved in warm Milk and Sugar once or twice a day Soap indeed seems to doe good as by its lixivial Salt it dissolves the obstruction in the intestinal Bilary duct which because it cannot be said of Hempseed which cures the same Disease I suppose is good First Upon account of the Lixivial Salt but fixt of which it is made as it being joyned to the Bile corrupted by its excessive spirituosity corrects and diminishes the too great volatility and spirituosity thereof by assuming to it self some share of the volatile Spirit luxuriant in the Bile And Secondly Upon account of the fat or oil but thick and not at all Aromatick or Volatile by means whereof it takes off the edge of the volatile and spirituous Salt which has the predominance in the Bile This opinion of mine seems to be confirmed by Saffron familiar in the cure of the Jaundice which being commended for its fatness in that very thing favours my opinion for Saffron is easily joined to a volatile Spirit Therefore volatile Spirits may be fixt and bound and brought to tranquillity with fat and oily things Whence it appears if when they are joined with the Bile in too great a quantity or exalted in it they cause a Jaundice by making it more volatile and moveable that this said volatility and mobility of Spirits must be conquer'd by oily things and such as cause gentle sleep and thereby the Jaundice must be cured The discolouring of the Skin goes away of it self but it 's sooner removed by subtile Sudorificks Sylvius de le Boë and things endued with a volatile Salt whether Sweat follow or not VIII In this class of Medicines whereby the Ictericious dyscrasie of the bloud is intended to be relieved Chalybeate Medicines seem to have a place of right wherefore they doe as great good in the Jaundice as in other diseases of Cachexy as well by opening the obstructions of the Bowels as by depressing the efferations of the Sulphur and fixt Salt and by volatilizing the bloud Therefore filings of Steel or its Powder the Mineral frame of it being dissolved or the Vitriolick Salt extracted may conveniently be added to Decoctions and Infusions Idem IX Hence it is that the Waters sometimes cure Ictericks to a miracle who have been left to the Prognostick Though also these drunk in a large quantity as they pass through all the Vessels do also open the hepatict ducts Willis how much soever stopt X. If a hot Intemperature of the Liver be the cause it must be altered whether it be with or without an Inflammation But this I advise that their counsel must not be taken who use external Medicines actually cold and astringent to the Liver for they hinder the passage of the Bile to the whole body Saxonia and so for an intemperature they raise an Erysipelaceous
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 Mâ—lchior 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 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 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 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 may be parted from its 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 with a small impression of the fingers ends onely If the Parents be
Patient can hardly be awaked the use of Sternutations is very proper yet we must not persist continually in them lest they thin and move the Humours too much At the beginning of the Disease especially we must abstain from them They are bad also when the Fever is high They may be used when the Lethargy begins of it self or when it takes one lying in bed and in the declension Sennertus VII I have known the most good from a Blister above all other Applications when it has run well all over the Head I saw two Lethargick persons cured chiefly by this Remedy after the Disease had continued a long time and had not onely destroyed the memory but much impared the understanding For because the excoriated places in both of them would not easily heal they ran a great deal of thin Ichor namely Willis every day about half a pound VIII Fumes which some use to raise the lethargick are not proper in this case because they fill the Brain much It is better to make a Decoction of Pennyroyal Rue Mother of Time Hyssop wild Majoran boiled in Vinegar adding a little Castor and to receive the Steam of it at the Nostrils Sennertus IX The Ancients held the Cause to be Phlegm gathered in the Head which by its Moisture and Cold caused the Stupefaction and by its putredinal heat waking But this is impossible The Cause is rather a narcotick Vapour elevated in the concomitant Fevers whether a quotidian continual bastard-tertian or semi-tertian Or if it came without a Fever it is phlegmatick Bloud that causes the Inflammation For as Forestus observes there is often such an Inflammation as turns to a Gangrene And so the Cause of the Lethargy is twofold Hippocrates l. de Morb. sect 3. places the seat of the Lethargy in the Lungs and he judges that it does not much differ from a Peripneumony affirming that the Cause of a Peripneumony is bilious bloud of a Lethargy pituitous X. The Ancients used strong and hot Preparatives as well as Purgatives so that it appears they little regarded the concomitant Fever and it was on this ground because they thought the Fever was onely symptomatick and followed the Putrefaction of Phlegm in the Brain which being removed the Fever ceases But seeing the Fever is not onely symptomatick but narcotick Vapours ascend from the febrile matter into the Head and the Heat puts the Phlegm in the Head into fusion or Phlegm runs out of the whole Body into the Head the Fever ought not to be neglected And according as it is more intense or remiss so Medicines which are otherwise good in a Carus must be so tempered because of the Fever that the danger which otherwise is imminent be not doubled when the Fever is increased with such Medicines Idem XI Because of the cruel nature of this Disease I propound a new sort of Remedy i. e. an Issue or Seton in the Neck in those Lethargies that is which are of long continuance or come by Fits because such are the Forerunners either of an Apoplexy or an Epilepsie Therefore in a Carus or Catalepsis I reckon an Issue in the Arm a good Remedy both for Prevention and Cure But in a Lethargy because it is an Inflammation and short Disease certainly it can doe little good as neither in such comatous Diseases as have a concomitant Fever or are caused by Sympathy Mercatus Medicines especially made use of by eminent Physicians 1. Savory often infused in Vinegar and applied to the Head or drunk with Wine raises the most Lethargick persons Altomari 2. Give Spirit of Citron and it will afford present Remedy Hoeferus 3. Castor in the Cure of a Lethargy is preferred above most other Medicines Sennertus 4. A Squill sometimes alone or Mustard bruised with Vinegar laid in manner of a Cataplasm to the Hips is able to raise any Man from a dead sleep Trallianus 5. One ordered a Hog to be hung by the Heels before the Patient who hearing the continual noise and crying of the Hog that hung by him was so terrified that he could not sleep Villanoranus ¶ Another ordered the Patient's Head to be shaven and to be anointed with Honey and the Flies so troubled him that he was not able to sleep And so he was cured Lienis Affectus or Diseases of the Spleen The Contents Whether Bleeding in the left or in the right Vein be more proper I. Whether opening of the Haemorrhoids be beneficial II. Opening of the Veins upon the Region of the Liver III. Issues Setons and Blisters whether they may be properly made there IV. The benefit of a Vomit V. Purging useless VI. Clysters sometimes doe good VII It requires strong Medicines VIII The benefit of Diureticks IX Hidroticks are good X. It needs Astringents and Strengthners XI Exercise is good XII In what form Topicks are most effectual XIII When it is inflamed we must repell with caution XIV When Purging is good XV. How the Cure of an inflamed Spleen differs from the Cure of an inflamed Liver according to the Laws of Circulation XVI When the Inflammation is asswaged we must proceed in the use of Remedies XVII Crocus Martis aperitivus is hurtfull to the Stomach XVIII Astringents must be mixt with Aperients XIX Issues in the Leg are good XX. A great Spleen not morbid XXI It does not swell with Melancholy but with Wind. XXII Dry Cupping-glasses good in a hard one XXIII Whether a Vein may be opened in a Scirrhus XXIV In scirrhous Tumours Cock-broth ineffectual XXV A Swelling of the left Hypochondrium ascribed to the Spleen did arise from the Colon. XXVI Whether cutting out of the Spleen be possible XXVII Whether a scirrhous Spleen may be cloven XXVIII When it is displaced it deceives under divers forms XXIX What such the Vnguents for a hardned one ought to be XXX Medicines I. IN an Inflammation and other Diseases of the Spleen which a gathering or preternatural motion of Bloud to that place does cause Bloud-letting is therefore prescribed that the abundance of Bloud gathered in the Spleen may be diminished and that what still runs to the same part may be retracted to the opposite parts and as far distant as may be For so a Cure is used for the said Diseases according to Hippocrates his rule by Contraries But this Contrariety whether you evacuate or especially if you make revulsion of the bloud which runs in abundance to some part must not be reckoned by the rectitude as they talk or rather to speak more properly and truly by the continuity of the fibres of the vessels common to those parts This is the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 of Hippocrates for revulsion can scarce be made by an absolutely streight way because the Bloud must of necessity pass through the windings and turnings of the vessels The rectitude therefore or continuity of fibres and community of Vessels must be regarded for without the
with the Acid of Sulphur which is most effectual if two or three grains of it be given with a Purgative Vehicle to wit with Pilulae de tribus or extract of Senna drinking a deobstruent decoction upon it But because by long practice I have observed it spoils the Stomach I had rather give Circulatum aperiens which Medicine contains in it Sal Martis Sal urinae pueri and Sal Tartari to which rectified Spirit of Tartar is put and all of them circulated forty days continually in a Pelican and so it becomes a most efficacious Aperient The dose whereof is about half a drachm in distilled water of Fumitory and Agrimony for fifteen or twenty days Idem XIX They who in Spleniticks begin with Aperients and not with Astringents are mistaken because they set more by the preservatory Indication than by the Vital which by no means should be done in flaccid parts such as the Spleen is We use in them Chalybeates Tomarisk Scolopendrium c. which are all strengthners When the Spleen is strengthned it is rendred more able to expell the excrements And the same Astringent virtue defends the Spleen from the flux of the humours Therefore Galen 2. Meth. 16. says that Astringents must be put in Medicines for the Spleen because all Aperients destitute of an Astringent faculty puff up the Spleen Sanctorius as sweet and sugared things do testifie which are opening and do puff it up XX. Issues in the left Leg though they do not evacuate the gross humour yet by voiding the serosities they preserve from Melancholick Diseases and from trembling and palpitation of the Heart Fortis as Aetius and Fernelius have observed XXI Antiquity formerly attributed a stinking Mouth putrid Gums bleeding and sore Legs to a great Spleen But they distinguish badly between a Disease of magnitude augmented and an Ulcer or a part vitiated with putrefaction For the Spleen labours of both Diseases but the signs mentioned by the Ancients do rather indicate putrefaction than magnitude augmented for when black choler putrefies about the Spleen not onely the mouth is corrupted but Varices also break out and the Legs grow sore with Ulcers A Child was ill kept by its Nurse in stead of Milk she fed it with other gross food it gathered from that much tough and viscid humour so stuffing the narrow Veins of the Mesentery Pancreas and Spleen that this last part was much swelled distended all the Abdomen and Loins and made the whole body lean But when the obstruction was removed and some of the humour abated the distended Spleen did so manifestly decrease that it clearly appeared this Swelling came not so much from a bad conformation as from abundance of food which being subtracted the Child did thrive again nor did ever any of those signs appear which Hippocrates 2. Prorrh ascribes to a great Spleen Tulpius XXII The Spleen swells not because of abundance of melancholy but rather because of wind gathered and retained about these parts Medicines therefore must be made of things astringent and that discuss Wind for Astringents hinder its inflation and swelling Rondeletius and discuss what is already received XXIII Cupping-glasses may be frequently applied to the Spleen presently after emollient fomentations which as I have always observed them to doe good dry for moving the matter and heating the part so I durst never use them with Scarification lest the humour when the moisture was exhausted Fortis might turn Scirrhous XXIV Whether may bloud be let in a Scirrhus of the Spleen Galen lib. de car p. s m. c. 16. commends Bleeding and admires why the Ancients omitted it in this disease I think either may be done For when the Scirrhus has injured the whole body and there is a beginning of a Cachexy and Dropsie venaesection yea and all manner of Bleeding must be omitted When the rest of the parts of the Body are well a vein must be opened in the left Arm Saxonia if strength be good if not in the left hand XXV After we have been carefull in purging we must proceed to strong attenuants and aperients in which some give the Broth of an old Cock with Steel but because we have observed this to doe little or no good in Scirrhous tumours we rather use a decoction of Sarsa-parilla which is held to be admirable against hard tumours Take of Sarsa-parilla well cut two ounces the middle rind of a Willow 1 ounce Bark of Caper-root half an ounce Smith's water three pounds Mix them Make an Infusion for 24 hours then let them boil half away towards the latter end of the boiling add of Spleen-wort Dead-nettle each one pugil Strain it for three doses to be taken in the morning after this Bolus Take of Trochiscs of Capers one Scruple Crocus Martis aperitivus three or four grains Vinegar of Squills what is sufficient Mix them Make a Bolus Continue taking thirty or forty days Every fifth day this must be taken Take of Pilulae de tribus Extract of Senna each half a drachm Extract of Hellebore one Scruple Fortis XXVI A Man about fifty years old had a great Swelling in the left Hypochondrium unequal and hard as big as ones Arm reaching towards the right side according to the usual site of the Colon. The Physicians ascribed it to the Spleen together with other symptoms of the Hypochondriack disease I prescribed the following Liniment and Plaster to be applied over all the upper region of the Abdomen beside Pills made of Gums by means whereof the Tumour was softned and in a great measure removed Take of Ointment of Marsh-mallows compound Oil of Capers each 1 ounce Oleum Philosophorum 2 drachms Mix them ¶ This is the description of the carminative Plaster Take of Gum Galbanum Bdellium Ammoniack each half an ounce Olibanum red Myrrhe each 2 drachms Sylvius de le Boë Thebaick Opium one drachm Dissolve them in Vinegar of Squills and when they are inspissated again add of yellow Wax Colophonia each three drachms Balsame of Peru Oleum Philosophorum each one drachm Earth half a drachm Carroway distilled half a Scruple Venice Turpentine what is sufficient Make a Plaster according to Art Spread it on Leather and take measure of the swelling with a paper and cut their Plaster accordingly and apply it XXVII It is an old tradition that the Spleen may be cut out from Runners But it s noble uses disswade that it being employed in depurating the acid bloud and there is fear of an Haemorrhagy for it abounds in Veins and Arteries Besides it is so close tied by the membranes of the Peritonaeum and the communication of Vessels to the parts adjoining that it seems impossible to take it out without hazard of Inflammation and endamaging the parts adjoyning Yet it were to be wished the cause of so many evils could be extirpated But in my opinion we should doe little good because the fault lies in
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 Idâ—m 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
presently drawn out and while we were busied in doing up the wound he vomited up what he had eat before and besides both pist and shit By and by he was laid in his bed and after he had for two hours sustained much violence vomiting up divers liquours which had disturbed his Stomach he fell into a profound Sleep about ten a clock and slept all that night without intermission till eight a clock the next day being Thursday When he awaked he seem'd wonderfully compos'd and in his right mind expressing the Pain and universal weariness that he felt in all his members He pist a large glass full of such black Urine that you would have said it had been mixt with Soot He was sleepy all that day spake little and desired that he might be suffered to be quiet He also slept well all the next night Making water on Friday morning he filled another glass with Urine that was altogether as black as that he made the morning before He bled a pretty deal at the Nose and therefore we thought it convenient to take from him two or three Porringers of bloud In the mean time his Wife who had sought him from one City to another came to Paris and he as soon as he saw her rejoiced greatly and related to her with great constancy of mind several chances that had befallen him as he wandred about the Streets c. He is now of a very quiet spirit minds his business very well sleeps long without interruption though he says he has sometimes confused and troublesome Dreams This Story is taken out of an Epistle of J. Denys Doctour of Physick and Professour of Philosophy and Mathematicks at Paris concerning Transfusion of bloud and infusory Chirurgery XII Let Laudanum be given to the Mad to procure Sleep temper the Brain and hinder the ascent of smoaky Exhalations Theod. de Mayerne Tract de Laudano MS. But because such Patients do commonly refuse Medicines and 't is very hard to get them to swallow a solid Pill the Laudanum may be dissolved in any convenient Liquour XIII I think it is not inconvenient to use a pretty gross and plentifull Diet for to those whose faculty is strong with defect of humours Galen 1. Aph. 17. bids us allow Victuals plentifully and often Nor is it inconvenient that somewhat remain crude and phlegmatick yea 't is profitable on the account of moistning and cooling For persons in this condition are seldom indeed recovered for this reason because generally they eat far less than is convenient nay 't is sometimes necessary to use both fair and foul means to compell them to eat their Victuals Mercat l. 1. Prax. c. 18. Melancholy See Hypochondriacal Affection Book VII The Contents Whether bloud be to be let in every Melancholy I. Subtile or thin bloud is not to be let out II. The opening of the Hemorrhoids is not always profitable III. Whether strong Purgers may be used and how Hellebore is to be corrected IV. We must seldom purge with Pills V. It does not always require Purging VI. The Efficacy of the Flowers of Antimony VII The use of Hellebore VIII The Efficacy of the Extract of Coloquintida IX The reason why Hippocrates frequently used Hellebore X. Confectio Hamech is not so convenient and profitable XI Purgers are to be given towards evening XII Cassia is very good in this Disease XIII In every species of it regard is to be had to the Hypochondres and the whole body XIV We must have respect to the Brain and Heart XV. Preparers ought to be moist XVI The profitableness of Acidulae XVII Of Asses Milk XVIII In what regard Vomitories doe good XIX Flatus do not always forbid the giving of Whey in the Hypochondriacal Melancholy XX. Alteration and Corroboration are the chief Indications XXI Whether Confectio Alkermes be to be rejected because of the Lapis Lazuli XXII A Woman cured by Arteriotomy XXIII Whether Issues be profitable XXIV Whether Issues upon the coronal Suture be profitable XXV Sugared things are hurtfull in adust Melancholy XXVI Of the use of Wine see § XVI Whether it be profitable to use Venery XXVII An easie Remedy for Hypochondriacal Melancholy XXVIII Melancholists are calmly and gently to be dealt withall XXIX We must not insist upon Remedies too pertinaciously XXX Whether boring of the Skull be profitable XXXI I. THERE is no greater reason for Fear in any thing of Physick than to take either more or less Bloud from the Melancholick than is fitting For in these we should be afraid of this Remedy because of their Fear and Sadness wherewith they are always necessarily affected through the dissipation suffocation or diminution of the vital spirits which the melancholick have so great need of and moreover in Bleeding commonly that which is more thick is retained within whilst the more subtile and profitable part of the bloud is evacuated Nor do we as many advise approve of permitting the bloud to flow freely if it look thick when the Vein is opened and to stop it if it look thin For it is better to weigh by an exact and more certain conjecture whether bloud is to be let or no For oft when the effervescence of the bloud has been let alone and no bloud let the Distemper has degenerated from Melancholy into Madness Wherefore we must consider in this business whether the Liver being too hot and dry breed too much of this humour or when a great deal of bloud is bred it burn it up through its own hot Intemperature or that of the whole body from an internal or external occasion or whether the bloud of the Hemorrhoids Terms or Varices be supprest Then truly bloud is to be let presently yet not in that quantity we would suffer it to flow in if there were a redundance of bloud with the other humours Something is to be allowed to the Disease of Melancholy which for the aforesaid reasons does not admit of it But when either the affections of the mind or famine care want of sleep love and such like induce a Melancholy the nature of the thing advises us to abstain wholly from Bleeding especially if we understand that long evacuations either of the bloud or of the belly have preceded the rather if the body look lean shrivel'd withered be wasted with cares and be of a black colour or if you find that there is a great deal of an adust thick cold and dry humour but not much bloud upon the account of all which things Mercat l. 1. c. 17. I think it was said by the Ancients that Bleeding does the Melancholick little good II. In Bleeding we must give diligent heed that the thicker bloud be not left within and the thin and profitable drawn forth Galen indeed advises us that if the bloud which flows out be not melancholick it is presently to be stopt but others tell us it often happens that though the bloud be thin at first yet that which is thick
dissuaded him from medling with it Severinus Med. Eff. p. 113. though it put him to continual trouble VI. Ptilosis is a callous red thickness of the Eye-lids often accompanied with the falling off of the Hair a contumacious and tedious Ail the Cure whereof I once experienced by pricking of the little Veins in the outside of the Eye-lid which rise as it were into Varices and many others came to me whom I always cured the same way Among the rest a Religious Man who for six months could find no benefit by any Medicines was thus quickly cured that is Idem p. 79. by frequent pricking with a Needle VII I have often cured an Ectropium by Scarification And an Ectropium according to Celsus is a fault in the upper Eye-lid which turns up a little and comes not down far enough to shut or in the lower Eye-lid which is not drawn high enough but turns back and hangs down and cannot joyn with the upper And both are caused by some inward Disease and by a Scar and this not without defect in the Eye-lid which if it be too defective says Celsus no Cure can restore it So He indeed but I found that an Eye-lid inverted after the Cure of a Carbuncle so that all the lower Sinus of the Eye lay much open was amended by cutting the Circle of the Deglabrated Eye-lid And this happened to a Capuchine who by such cutting recovered the beauty of his Eye almost entirely Idem who had been despaired of by the Surgeons Palpitatio Cordis or the Palpitation of the Heart The Contents Whether Bleeding be good I. Where Blood must be lâ—t II. When Cupping-Glasses must be applied to the Back III. A Caution in applying Vesicatories IV. Whether Attenuants be proper for the cause V. When we must abstain from Diureticks and Hydroticks VI. Sweet sented things are not proper if it comes from the Womb. VII If it come from Wind we must avoid Syrupus de Pomis VIII Caused by a Worm IX A violent one in an Hypochondriack Woman quickly discussed X. If it come from abundance or heat of Blood how such things must be used XI The Efficacy of Issues XII We must continue long in the use of Medicines XIII Cured by drinking Whey and bathing in fresh Water XIV Willis his way of Cure XV. The trembling of the Heart differs in the Causes from the Palpitation XVI Medicines I. ALthough oftentimes Wind be found in this Malady yet because there may be Wind in a Spurious Palpitation which proceeds from the heat of Blood or inundation of the Pericardium it is not safe at the first coming of it to apply hot things Wherefore if the mischief arise from the heat of Blood first of all according to Galen's Opinion Blood must be let In them who labour of an Inundation of the Pericardium never unless very sparingly and seldom only that what oppresses the Spirits of the Heart may be moderately subtracted and that the Fever which perhaps for want of convenient Ventilation increases may not gain ground and I think this is what must chiefly be done in a Spurious one Mercatuâ— thinks Blood-letting hurtful because its Indicant namely abundance of Blood does not at that present offend For who will affirm that Flatuous Matter which is the immediate cause of this Affection can be taken away by Blood-letting Yet Galen 5. loc aff c. 2. intimates the contrary when he affirms that all who are ill of a Palpitation of the Heart are cured by bleeding and attenuating Food and Physick Which Tenet is not without reason for when abundance of Blood is in fault it indicates plentiful detraction lest the Spirits be suffocated But if there be no great Plenitude yet Bleeding is convenient Horstius Dec. 5. Prob. 3. because the Disease in respect of the part affected is great for a principal part is affected where we must take care by Revulsion that abundance of Humours do not run more to the Heart which is otherwise debilitated II. The Palpitation of the Heart as is very apparent to me is usually caused by a Melancholick Humour Hor. Augenius l. 10. de Sist c. 11. that is by consent with the Hypochondria in Splenetick Persons wherefore I always did my Patients a great deal of good by setting Leeches to the Haemorrhoid Veins III. When in time of the Fit the strength is not able to bear Bleeding we must use Leeches and Cupping-Glasses As for the place Rhases 7. cont applies Cupping-Glasses to the Back Avicenna disapproves them because they raise Palpitation by drawing the Blood to the Breast This contradiction is thus taken away Cupping-Glasses in Plenitude of the whole applied to the Back with much flame and deep Scarification especially if they be large use to raise this Tremulous affection of the Heart Therefore in this case they must be set to the lower parts But when the Body is evacuated by Medicines and Bleeding small Cupping-Glasses gentle Scarification with a little Flame applied to the Back do good for they draw the Vapour Wind and Blood from the Center to the Circumference Saxonia IV. For Revulsion of the Matter in a tedious and frequent one Issues and Blisters either in the Arms if the Matter fall from the Head or in the Legs if it be essential or transmitted from the lower parts to the Heart are good Concerning Vesicatories Mercurialis cautions us not to use Cantharides because they have a faculty malignant and adverse to the Heart but rather Crow's-Foot Flammula Jovis c. V. Where the Matter is sanguine almost all agree in this that Extenuating Syrups should be given Being swayed by Galen's Testimony 5. de loc aff 2. who treats a Palpitation with Blood-letting and Extenuating Medicines And they take their Matter for Extenuaters from Lib. de Palpit c. 5. where he reckons up all hot Medicines endued with an Attenuant virtue Penny-royal Calamint c. This Operation is to me suspected yea dangerous seeing Wind may be bred of a hot cause where Cacochymie or Plenitude is The place is in Galen 4. acut 9. For if hot Attenuants be given in abundance of Blood Wind and Vapours will be raised and they will increase the Palpitation Therefore Attenuants may be chosen but they must be cooling as Ptisane Oxymel Syrupus acetosus simplex acetositatis Citri c. And I believe Galen 5. de loc aff must be understood of Attenuating Meats and Diet not of Attenuating Medicines but of true Extenuaters And such are they which diminish Blood either of themselves or by accident Of themselves Venae-Section and all Evacuation of Blood All Purging by Vomit or Stool Sweat or Urine diminish Blood By accident a spare Diet Labour Friction Bathing The place is in Galen 2. aphor 28. where under the name of Attenuating Medicines all these things are understood And truly in abundance of Blood it is good to extenuate Saxonia that is to let Blood and diminish it VI. L.
Matter be coagulated in the Head and through weakness of the Faculties cannot afterwards be resolved and dissipated VII Some think we ought to abstain from Medicines that purge electively because the Matter is Crude and the Vitious Humour not as yet separated from the good which if it be agitated will rush the sooner and with the greater violence to the Head Others on the contrary hope for more benefit from the evacuation of the Humours than hurt by the agitation of them For though they cannot deny but that the Humour is as yet generally Crude yet they suppose it to have the condition of a Turgent Matter and that as it wanders about it tends towards the Head and therefore is to be purged off left it rush into the Head especially seeing all of it cannot be evacuated by Bleeding But there is need of a distinction here and we must consider whether the Inflammation arise from the Fever or the Fever proceed from the Inflammation as the primary Disease For if the primary Disease be a Fever and the Inflammation be raised from the motion of the Cacochymie agitated in the Veins such Matter is deservedly referr'd to a Turgent therefore according to Hippocrates's his Advice 1. aph 22. it is to be evacuated presently in the beginning And though Nature drive it to a certain part yet it is not so immovable but that it may easily follow the leading of a Purge and that it is Turgent appears even from hence that such Matter seems at first to be moved to one part and by and by 't is carried to another whence of a Pleurisy is sometimes made a Quinsy or a Peripneumony or of either of these a Pleurisy But if the Matter be received already into the Brain and the beginning of the Disease be over 't is to no purpose to give Purgers Also as Massarias affirms 't is dangerous to defer purging to the declination seeing the Disease kills either in the beginning or in the augment or in the state But the case is quite alter'd when the Inflammation proceeds without a Fever preceding from the hurt of the Brain or its Membranes or from an effervescence of the Blood in the Veins of the Head For in such case Hippâ—crates's Advice is to be follow'd 2. de fract t. 20. 22. who in such Inflammation purges indeed in the beginning before the Fever come but after it is come purges no longer For then the Matter is not Turgent Dan. Sennert Pract. â—ap 27. l. 1. part 1. such as rushes to any part in the beginnings of Fevers nor is the beginning of the Disease from the Veins of the whole Body but it proceeds from a peculiar part VIII Hypnoticks are oft necessary in this Disease but the stronger sort are not convenient presently at the beginning nor are they to be used often because the sleep that is procured by Opiats does carry more Morbifick Matter into the Brain and fixes it more closely therein Willis IX Because want of sleep is very urgent in this Disease sleep is to be procured some way or other even in the beginning of the Disease The proposed Repellents are good for that purpose especially if before the application of Oxyrrhodines the Head be wet with the cold Oyl of Violets whereby Convulsions are also prevented Inwardly with Juleps or Emulsions may sometimes be given an ounce of the Syrup of Poppy or two or three grains of Laudanum Opiate which likewise being given in Clysters does powerfully enough and more safely procure sleep Yet in the use of Narcoticks the Physician ought to be wary for they ought not to be given if the Spirits be very low lest these and the heat be extinguished by them Lazar. River X. Narcoticks which consist of meerly cold things must be cautiously given because they agree not so well with some the Fibres of whose Stomach are very tender and sensible I have oft observed such Hypnoticks to cause a great oppression in the Stomach then presently an inflation of it and a while after distractions and disturbances of the Spirits in the Brain yea in the whole Body have follow'd so that there ensued not only a frustration of sleep but also the greatest inquietude Willis XI When watchings are very troublesom we may make a Decoction of Chamomel Flowers with some heads of Poppy in it and foment the Head therewith warm For such things as are applied cold condense the Humour and Vapour and those things which do very much stupefy as Mandrake Hemlock and Opium lead to a contrary Disease and cause an incurable passion for I have seen some whom their Physicians had brought into a deep sleep by immoderate cooling Christ a Vega. l. 3. c. 6. Art Med. to dye Lethargick Of the efficacy of an actual Cautery see the Title of Mania or Madness XII Some prescribe the decoction of Coriander for Drink which yet is suspected by me seeing Coriander Seeds are of themselves apt to disturb the Mind and to cause a Delirium Nor matters the Authority of Avicen who thinks that Coriander is cold for we must rather believe Galen Salius c. 6. Annot. in Altim Dioscorides Experience Reason and Truth XIII A Phrensy sometimes turns to a Lethargy because the Humours are too much cooled by the use of cold Medicins and where there is a thickness of Matter Rebeus c. 13. l. 3. comment in Celsum Thence also happen sometimes those obscure gentle and trembling Phreâ—sies which Galen calls Hectick XIV In the use of Oxyrrhodines the Constitution of the Patient with the season of the year or the External Air are to be consider'd For in strong and robust Constitutions where there is a vehement heat about the Head and so an exquisite Phrensy and especially in Summer they are to be applied not only virtually but actually cold But when the Body is more weak or the Patient is either a Child or old Man and there is no such heat about the Head and it is Winter they are rather to be applied warm especially in those places where the vertue of the Medicins can the better penetrate namely about the Sutures And this also is to be noted that some Topicks penetrate easily of themselves as being made of Vinegar Vervain Dill and the like which being often applied cold do nevertheless perfect their operation Others are astringent as Roses Plantane Bole-Armene Sennertus which act better when they are warmed ¶ Let not the use of these be continued too long but only about three days and let the quantity of the Vinegar be also less Greg. Horst probl 4. decad 2. because of the urgent Vigiliae XV. If as it sometime happens the Inflammation seem to tend towards the Skin and the outer parts of the Head lest the Matter being repelled inwards and towards the Brain should induce a greater mischief we must abstain from Repellents especially such as are more strong Idem XVI There is
or Ulceration of the Lungs with such Balsam of Sulphur or other Oleous Balsamicks made of the Flowers of Sulphur with destilled Oils For it is well known that in a Phthisis or Ulcer of the Lungs or other Internal Viscera there is always either a previous or a present Inflammation and that not without an inflaming and painful Acid 'T is also well known to all that the destilled Oils and other things of which the said Balsamicks are made are also hot inflammable and resinous though few perceive that this is to be imputed to their acid Particles Destilled Oils and other fat things do hâ—rm in Distempers of the Skull and Bones being anointed therewith and in Erysipelatous Distempers they bring on a Gangrene by reason of their occult Acid With what sound reason therefore can these things be given in a Phthisis or Ulceration of the Lungs Besides seeing then the digestive ferments of the Viscera are likewise very weak and these Oleous Balsamicks because of their unctuous Acid that is immersed in the Volatil salts do rather fight against those ferments as appears from the belching after taking of them they cannot be brought into act and converted into Volatil salts agreeable to Nature whence remaining thus crude they are wholly offensive to Nature and cause an irreparable mischief Furthermore in such Diseases the whole Mass of Blood together with the Lympha is otherwise grown vappid as it were so that the Volatil salt Oleous and Balsamick Particles which are congruous to Nature being spent or resolved herein the Spirit of Life being become weaker loses of its light yea becomes very little and when such Sulphureous Preternatural very hot Oils are made use of what else will happen but that as a greater flame extinguishes a less so also these things which are hot in an high degree do utterly extinguish the remainder of the vital flame or in stead of the vital heat introduce an Hectick As to the second reason why they may be used viz. because they refresh the Vital Spirits I say it matters little though by their sulphur they seem to cheer them a little unless they did also thereby consume the Morbifick Cause and unlock the stopt and obstructed ways and strengthned the ferments of the Viscera As to the third 't is confest indeed that destilled Oils do allay the corrosive vertue of Aqua fortis whilst a weaker Acid corrects a stronger but what signifies this to their Internal use And lastly the reason why these Balsamick Oils being dropt into Flesh-broth preserve it from stinking and corruption is because they defend it from the injury of the Air even as we see that the Oil of Sweet Almonds made by expression or the Oil of Olives keeps Wine in the Vessel from corrupting But what is this to the present business It proves nothing for the operation of these Balsams in Mans Body differs far from that which they have in other things without the Body Frid. Hofm clav Schrod p. 375. In the former there is a fermental heat in the later a putredinal elementary XXII Amongst Abstergers and Mundifiers of an Vlcer I have hitherto found no Medicin which being used either outwardly or inwardly has so safely and quickly not only cleansed but also closed up fresh Ulcers as the Balsam of Sulphur when the Patients could and would make use of it Now I prefer that before the rest which is made with the Oil of Aniseeds Sylv. tract 4. append sect 180 186. though it may be also made with the Oils of Amber Juniper Venice Turpentine Nuts and other things ¶ The toughness of the Matter which hinders Respiration is loosned by inciding Medicins and so is easilier cough'd up For this purpose I do in like manner commend the Balsam of Sulphur prepared with the Oil of Aniseeds as being not only good for cleansing and closing up of the Ulcer but also makes the Pus it self more thin and fluid Idem sect 199. and so promotes and facilitates its excretion XXIII In this case some commend not only the Flowers of Sulphur and the Balsam but also the Milk whereof yet I never observed any notable effect though I have oft given it to my Patients Idem sect 190. and have also seen it given by others XXIV Injections made into the cavity of the Breast help very much when the outer surface or substance of the Lungs is Ulcerated if the Ulcer be caused by a Wound in the Breast that extends to the Lungs seeing in that case there is an open way whereby this may be done And by the use hereof such things being in the mean time given also inwardly as are proper in other Exuâ—cerations I have seen a Man recovered and live many years after who was stabb'd in his Breast as far as his Lungs from whence there arose an Uâ—cer therein and corrupted pieces of his Lungs came sometimes forth of the Wound and the Man was become quite Tabid I know another also who evacuated a Bloody sanious and purulent Matter through a Wound in his Breast Plater tom 3. p. 436. that by the use hereof was relieved a good while ago and is still alive XXV The Catarrh is first to be stopt Therefore I persuade the whole Head to be shaven and Vesicatories to be applied thereto first of the more gentle but at length I come to the stronger even to Cantharides I applied Vesicatories to the Head of a certain Noble Lady that labour'd under a Phthisis improperly so called namely that arose from a Catarrh descending from the Head and putrefying in the Lungs whereby the Body uses to waste and the same symptoms follow as do upon an Exulceration of the Lungs and Nature supplied that which we could not do all her Head being cover'd with Bladders and Crusts and she was cured of this Catarrh and is still alive Afterwards I would come to the draining also of the Breast and Lungs and would blister all the Breast and at length would make Issues upon both Arms and so the Matter would exhale every where and the putrefaction by that means cease and there will be a diversion of the Matter Whence Galen in a true Phthisis orders Cauteries or Issues upon the Breast Montan. cons 147. to drain it XXVI The diversion of a Catarrh is most conveniently performed by Fontanels or Issues which I cannot sufficiently commend seeing I my self have seen such cured by them as have been half Phthisical who cough'd up both Blood and Matter for the Acrimonious Humour that flows from the Head upon the Breast is fitly evacuated by them I knew a Man who had been Consumptive a long time of a Melancholick Constitution of Body and who had used divers other Remedies in vain whom I not only cured in a fortnight of the defluxion from his Head upon the inferior parts by making an Issue in his left Arm but his Body also somewhat recovered its vigour and lost Flesh Fabrit
whom purging is so familiar that they can omit it in no Disease or Patient making use of it often even against the Rules of former Physicians and yet they are so afraid of it in a Pleurisy alone that they dare not give even the slightest Purge to a Pleuritical Person For in truth Galen did not disallow of Purgation when a pain is below the Midriff but he said those things to admonish us that we ought to use it with great caution so as that if we meet with any difficulty in purging we should abstain from it and flee to Venesection as being safer though it do not dissolve the pain as Hippocrates says so well as fit purging would do As oft therefore as no great impediment gainsays we may safely purge About which some things are to be consider'd and first That it be administred placidly which Hippocrates intimates saying We must loosen the Belly Secondly That it is not to be procured by every Medicin indifferently but such as is agreeable to the Disease like that which he proposes of wild Purslain and black Hellebore corrected with some of the Aromata which though it be esteemed strong now a days yet I have found it gentle enough when given in a moderate Dose But whether Manna and the Syrup of Roses solutive which I see some use be alike profitable I dare not affirm I know indeed that these differ quite from the Medicin of Hippocrates for they draw out thin and serous Humours and do not a little raise Flatus but * Peplium wild Purslain and Hellebore draw forth thick and adust Humours and as Hippocrates says discuss Flatus besides these are bitter those very sweet But whether Manna may not be used in stead of those Medicins which Hippocrates gives in Pleuritical Sorbitions I will not contend if the Patient be of a weak Constitution and cannot endure a stronger Medicin Otherwise I should trust more to Hippocrates's Hellebore and to Scammony put into the Juice of Ptisan with the Pouder of Anisceds If any suspect Hippocrates's Opinion because of that which he has said 4. sect Whosoevâ—r attempt to dissolve presently at the beginning those things which are inflamed Prosper Martian comm in illum locum c. let him read Vallesâ—us's Commentary of my Exposition XXIV The Wife of Mr. N. had an Erysipelas in her Leg for seven or eight days with a continual Fever and was cured of both Distempers by the care of her Physician Afterwards she expoâ—'d her self too soon to the cold Air whereupon she fell into a pain in her Side with a Fever Cough and difficulty of breathing and sometimes there were streaks of Blood in what she cough'd up She was Bled twice or thrice and other things were administred I was call'd on the fifth day of the Disease I thought that a Purge was to be given the next day which seem'd to be against the Rules of Art by which it is declared that a Purge is not to be given before the seventh day But the following Reasons induced me 1. Because the Pleurisy seemed not to be legitimate bred from a collected or contractive Inflammation but rather from a certain spurious thin and serous Fluxion or also from Acrimonious Vapours raised from a Cacochymie contained in the lower Belly and twitching of the Pleura I concluded thus because there appeared Blood only in one or two Spittings and that but very little like a Thread which could not come in so small a quantity from the inflamed Pleura but rather from some small Vein opened by the violence of the Cough or it might descend from the Head seeing she had suffer'd a slight Hemorrhage about the same time 2. Because the pain was not continual but ended and returned by intervals with a very remiss Fever 3. Because through the whole time of the later invasion she waked continually though the pain of her Side did intermit very much even on the night whereby one might gather that those great watchings depended rather upon the putrefaction of the Humours and an essential Fever than on a true Pleurisy 4. Because all the time she had had the Erysipelas she had refused the Purge which was prescribed her and so the whole hoard of the Cacochymie remained shut up within Therefore she took a Purge on the sixth day of the later Disease of Senna Rhubarb Manna and the Syrup of Roses by which she was gently purged with good success for the pain in her Side remitted presently nor was she aâ—flicted any longer with want of sleep but only a little feverishness appeared towards night afterwards by the help of some slight Remedies she was throughly recovered River cent 4. obs 18. XXV To take away a Phlegmon of the Pleura besides the taking away of Blood by a large Phlebotomy or by Scarification the serous and other Recrementitious Humours ought likewise to be gently expelled both out of its Mass and also out of the Bowels by Stool Urine and Sweat The stronger Purgers are rightly forbid because they exagitate the Blood and cause it to be fixed deeper in the parts affected And though some famous Chymists viz. Ang. Sala Mart. Rulandus Hartman and several others do give Stibiate Vomits to all Pleuritical Persons and cry them up as the best Remedy yet truly this seems to me neither safe nor consonant to Reason The only way as I think that they can come to help which also is very uncertain and dangerous is this viz. that the Medicin operating violently whiâ—st their Spirits are dissolved and they faint away all the vigour and turgescence of the Blood quails and thereupon the Nervous Fibres remit their painful Corrugations or Contractions and the Sanguiferous Vessels being very much emptied resorb the Morbifick Matter In the mean time there is danger lest the Humours being violently moved should rush more impetuously to the part affected at least lest the Spirits being too much dejected and the work of Nature about the concoction or separation of the Morbifick Matter being disturbed the strength should fail before the Crisis of the Disease Willis XXVI Many Practitioners are much afraid to attempt the Cure of any great Disease of the Pleura by Vomitories yet Rulandus and Hartman often gave Aqua benedicta with benefit Riverius in obs comm 29. also commends this kind of Remedy All Pleuritical Persons says he that Vomit presently in the beginning of the Disease escape as I have observed in very many the Pleura being cased of the load of Humours by the help of Vomiting XXVII Gentle Diureticks that are not very hot are very good according to Galen apb 44. 6. loc off 4. and Hippocr 1. Epid. 2. For there are several ways of purging out the Matter in the Breast according to Hippocrates and Galen Epiph. Ferdinand hist 32. ¶ Prevotius observed that a Pleurisy of the left Side is for the most part deposited by Urine wherefore in this case he gave the milder Diureticks
with good success amongst which Diacuminum was very familiar with him Rhod. cent 2. obs 13. ¶ If Spitting cannot succeed the Matter is to be evacuated either by Sweat or by Urine or by Externals or a suppuration is to be endeavoured For provoking Urine Turpentine is commended in this case either alone or mixt with the Pouder of Lykyrrhize Give a drachm of it and let it be wash'd in the Water of Maidenhair to which add half a drachm of the Pouder of Lykyrrhize Yet these Diureticks ought not to be administred in every case but only when you see the Spitting does not proceed and that the Patient pisses plentifully For Hippocrates said 4. acut 28. that those Pleuritical and Peripneumonical Persons are treated amiss who spit nothing up unless they void much Urine Therefore when you see the propension of Nature you may come safely to Diureticks to Maiden-hair Saxon. Parsley Fennil to the cold Seeds where the Fever is urgent ¶ Hippocrates 2. de morb makes three differences of a Pleurisy according to the diversity whereof the Cure is to be varied Concerning the first kind he writes thus lib. 1. v. 233. But often if it be turned to the inferior parts it distributes a pain through the Veins to the Bladder and the Patient makes a great deal of Bloody Vrine In this place he sets forth in what Pleurisy the Morbifick Matter is not expelled by Spitting as is usual but by Urine a sign whereof is a pain extending it self by the Groins to the Bladder and the Patients making a Bloody Urine understanding that which is tinctured with a deep red which looks of a Bloody colour Seeing therefore this sort of Pleurisy has its Crisis by Urine not by Spitting he therefore advises the Cure to be performed by those things which provoke Urine for which purpose he gives Oxymel diluted with a good deal of Water Prosp Martian comm in v. 206. l. 2. de morb sect 2. namely Oxymel is Diuretick and by the coldness of the Water whereby it is diluted 't is very sit to temper Choler XXVIII In the Pleurisy and Peripneumony Nature which is the Curer of Diseases does sometimes purge out by Urine the Morbous purulent Matter contained in the Cavity of the Breast as Galen witnesseth 6. de loc 4. Therefore her Motion is diligently to be observed lest it be inverted by her Servant the Physician So that if it happen that Nature endeavours an Excretion by Urine we must make use of Diureticks as Heurnius persuades us cap. 3. de morb pâ—ctoral XXIX Hippocrates 4. acut gave to a Pâ—euritical Person in the beginning Oxymel with Panax or All-heal boil'd in it and strained as also to the Hepatick and such as were pained about the Midriff viz. to such as had Phlegmons or other collections of Humours in the Liver or Midriff namely to digest powerfully and to move Sweat or Urine or both This way of curing Pleuritical Persons by violently discussing Potions is not very much in use with our Physicians who after Bleeding Anointings and Pectorals pass to no other Remedy Yet I know one to whom some ordinary Fellow gave something of this kind in Drink who by having a plentiful Sweat raised was presently relieved his Breast loosened and he spit easily when it was now the seventh day of the Disease and he had begun to Expectorate nothing and was in danger to be strangled almost through difficulty of breathing Ignorant Fellows also who empirically undertake the Cure of some Diseases Valles 4. de ac p. 250. cure Pleurisies often by Sweating Medicins with good success ¶ A Boy of twelve years of Age was ill of a Pleurisy of his right Side he was bled five times and other things were prescribed On the seventh there was given him half a drachm of Chimney Soot in Carduus Water Within two hours after taking this Medicin all the symptoms which were grievous remitted very much and the Patient was much better Lazar. Riv. cent 2. obs 79. and afterwards recovered by degrees ¶ I have seen many and especially Women who for want of fitting Remedies were brought to extremity almost by a Pleurisy cured by taking once or twice of Quercetan's Apple in twenty four hours whereupon beyond expectation there follow'd either a plentiful Sweating or liberal Expectoration Indeed I could name several to whom being almost desperate I have prescribed this Medicin Idem cent 4. obs 88. and I never saw any event of it but good ¶ An obstruction of the Vessels by viscid Phlegm or Blood coagulated in them shall be cured by using inwardly and outwardly such Medicins as dissolve the offending Humour and make it fluxile again Amongst Internals Aromatick salts are the most profitable which are prepared of divers parts of Animals as all and every of them being endued with a notable vertue to dissolve all coagulated and congealed things and to reduce them to their former fluidity and likewise to provoke Sweat which being gently promoted withal a resolution of the coagulated Humours is more easily quickly and happily obtained Hence it is that often upon the seasonable giving of one Sudorifick prepared of the foresaid volatil salts or the like the Pleurisy which is an inflammation of the Side hath been happily cured without the opening of a Vein And hence it is that mixtures made of such things and taken seasonably a spoonful at a time by short intervals have soon safely and pleasantly cured both the Pleurisy and Peripneumony and also the Inflammations of other parts As for instance Take of the Waters of Parsley Hyssop and Fennil of each an ounce of Treacle Water half an ounce of the Spirit of Sal Armoniack half a drachm of Laudanum Opiate four grains of the Syrup of red Poppy an ounce mix them The Spirit of Sal Armoniack the volatil salt of Hartshorn or any other may be used and according to the greater or less acrimony thereof more or less of it may be added to the mixture and a greater or less quantity of the mixture may be taken at each time and the Body may be kept in a warm place to promote the Medicin on every hand and sometimes to facilitate Sweating though it is not needful to provoke Swear seeing that does no good but as the volatil and saline vertue of the Medicin penetrates then the easilier and quicklier to the part affected and obstructed To a Volatil salt may and ought to be referred Crabs Eyes the Jaws of a Pike Hartshorn c. seeing they abound therewith In this case also a l Metallick and Mineral Sulphurs but such as are fixt are profitable wherefore hither is referred also Antimonium Diaphoreticum brought to some fixtness though these things are good in this case on many accounts Nor are only the Volatil salts of Animals profitable here but all which are derived from the various parts of Plants called Scorbutical and Acrimonious and emulate the vertues of the same such as the Juices
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 tâ—e Mother and Foetus XVI I have more than once obsâ—rved that the use of Butter has been hurtful to Women with Child P Borell obs 26. cent 3. as also to those who are subjâ—ct to Fits of the Mother wherefore I advise them to abstain from it XVII Some disapprove of Exercise because it hâ—ats dissolves the Spirits raises a Fever causes thirst and procures abortion by precipitating the Foetus But these things are to be understâ—od 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 weâ—k 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 faculâ—y 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
Sudorifick Decoction will be far more effectual Take of Wood of Guajacum Misletoe of the Oak of each two ounces common Water four pounds Mix them Make an Infusion twenty four hours then boil half away Keep the Colature for three Doses It must be given in the Morning an hour before you would sweat first giving this Bolus Take of Extract of Elecampane Root one scruple Flower of Brimstone half a scruple Mix them Make a Bolus Let him sweat in a Stove that the Head may sweat notwithstanding the danger of Suffocation which is usually objected for that holds good only when the Orthopnoea is present But if the Breath grows short in the Stove as it sometimes happens in the first days let the Patient presently go to Bed and sweat and afterwards sweating will be well born a longer time even in a Stove When the sweat is ended that the drying of the Lungs may be compleated Purging Sulphureous Waters must be given for ten or twelve days And they will be very good to pump the Head withal Fortis X. Spirit of Sulphur is given for an Asthma But here we must distinguish between one Idiopathick for which Spirit of Sulphur may not be used and one Sympathick fixt about the Hypochondria for which Spirit of Sulphur may give its assistance This Spirit will be of greater virtue if it be distilled with Gum Ammoniack F. Hofm XI When an Orthopnoea is present we must act with great caution lest the Patients be suddenly killed with unseasonable Remedies Yea seeing the Physician cannot always be present the Patient must be instructed how he may be a Physician to himself Therefore when an Orthopnoea is coming this must especially be observed that at that time the Expectoration of the Matter must not be attempted but by Internal and External Laxatives it must be carried from the Bronchia to the Cavity of the Lungs For while we endeavour to get up the Catarrhal Matter that falls from the Head and rises from the other Cavities we bring the same in more abundance to the Bronchia whereby the passage of the Breath being wholly stopt the Patient is quite strangled I have observed this to have happened twice to Physicians Wherefore first of all Rest must immediately be prescribed using only Frictions to the lower parts to hinder the ascent of the Matter sticking in the Cavity Then let Oil of sweet Almonds new drawn without Fire be in readiness of which he may take about half a spoonful between whiles The Cawl of a Wether c. may be applied to the Breast and to make it more laxative it may be sprinkled with Oil of sweet Almonds Or a great Sponge may be applied to it dipt in a decoction of Mallow Root Marshmallow White Lily Lykyrrhize and Fenugreek Seeds which must not be quite wrung out and it must be often applied pretty warm nor must it be suffered to grow cold But when the Fit is going off some gentle Expectorant must be given to wit when the Matter begins to be concocted and to be discharged out of the narrow Bronchia for then ease will be found by coughing and excretion of the Matter Fortis Asthmatis Therapia or the Cure of an Asthma XII In the Cure of an Asthma there are two primary Indications the Curatory and the Preservatory The first teaches what must be done in the Fit that the Patient may be delivered out of present danger The other shews what must be done out of the Fit for removing of the Morbifick Cause lest this Disease return often or violently Therefore when the Fit is upon one we must endeavour 1. That in respect both of the Air and the Lungs more free breathing may be procured and 2. That the Organs of Respiration may be recalled and checkt in their spasms begun and usually stubbornly persisting As to the former let the Patient be placed with his Body upright in an open and airy place free from Fumes and from the Breath of the by-standers Then we must do our endeavour that the Lungs being made free from all stoppage and Internal Oppression and also from External Compression may fetch the Breath and let it go again freely To these ends that the swelling of the lower Bowels may not press upon or straiten the Praecordia the Belly must be emptied with a Clyster the clothes must be opened And moreover because in this case People are usually oppressed either by the Blood being too Turgescent within the Pneumonick Vessels or by Serum falling from the Arteries and Glands upon the Tracheal Ducts the rage of both Humours must be appeased Therefore if the strength will bear it and if the Pulse be strong enough Bleeding is often proper Moreover things that discharge the Serum and Superfluities of the Aestuating Blood by Urine and Sweat must be carefully used To which end Apozemes c. which they call Pectoral are highly serviceable And Testaceous Pouders Preparations of Millepedes Spirits and Volatil Salts are taken with success And in the mean time beside these things such must be given as open and smooth the passages of the Windpipe and cause Expectoration and which may moreover if there shall be occasion stop the Catarrh that falls down upon them to which end Linctus Pectoral Decoctions and Fumigations are proper As to the other intention of Cure to wit that the Organs of Respiration may quietly return from the Spasms they are fallen into to their ordinary Functions unless this follow spontaneously after the Aestuations of the Blood and Serum in the Lungs are quieted For we have shewn not only by Reasoning but by Observations that a Convulsive Asthma is often caused when the Morbifick Matter falling upon the Pneumonick Nerves sticks somewhere in their passages especially about their Plexus Vpon which when abundance is gathered and begins to disperse and move for that reason the Spirits thereabout and such as are affluent to the Organs of Respiration are disturbed and driven into irregularities and by and by those Spirits affect others that dwell in the Pectoral and Pulmonary Fibres and excite them to irregular and Asthmatical Spasms we must use Antispasmodicks and Anodynes for Medicins that are usually given in Hysterick Fits use to do good in a Convulsive Asthma Spirit of Hartshorn Sooâ— and especially of Sal Ammoniack distilled with Gum Ammoniack also Tinctures of Gum Ammoniack Sulphur Castor Asa foeâ—ida Syrup of Gum Ammoniack Sulphur Oxymel of Squiâ—s and the like which because they are either of an ingrateful smell or taste they do as it were dissipate the Sprits and withdraw them from tumults and sometimes do much good But if the Spirits raging in this manner cannot be quieted we may proceed to Narcoticks that when some are dispersed the rest may be reduced to good order For unless the stoppage of the Lungs with great oppression at the Heart do hinder Opiates sometimes do much good In horrible Fits of this Disease when other Medicins would do
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 spuâ—a 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
corruptive Ferment to which moreover an addition of Putrefaction is made by the Blood in like manner depraved Thirdly if perhaps these causes be wanting so as the Glandulous humour of the Skin has contracted no fault neither from the Blood nor from its own stagnation yet it is certain that the virulent infection communicated from without does nevertheless render it prolifick as to these Diseases This is exceedingly manifest from vulgar observation inasmuch as they that are best in health and have as good a Constitution as can be scarce ever sleep without harm in the same Bed with an Itchy Person or where an Itchy Person has lain nor only so but Itchy Persons Linnen washed in the same washing with other mens often impart their infection Certainly the Infection of no one Disease is more easily and certainly propagated the Plague only excepted then this of the Itch. Willis II. Whether is Bleeding convenient The Conciliator answers affirmatively but with a limitation that is when the matter of the Itch is yet contained within the Body for when the matter of it is blood mixt with sharp humours it follows that bleeding is a convenient Remedy Besides the effect is not taken away till first the cause be removed which may this way properly be done Yea for an Universal Disease such as the Itch is an Universal Remedy such as letting Blood is seems convenient But when nothing more of the peccant humour is in the Veins there is no need of Bleeding Distinguish therefore between the Itch that is already come which is not increased by any further afflux of matter and one that is but in coming III. Two primary Indications occur concerning the Cure of the Itch The first Curatory which respects two things That the Glandulous humour its corruptive ferment being utterly extinct may be reduced to a right temper Secondly that the Pores and passages of the Skin being freed from the Ichorus Concretions may recover their former strength and thorough passage The second Indication which is Preservatory has a care of two things First to prevent the Impurities and Corruptive Infection of the Itch as they fall from the Skin while the ferment is in subduing from regurgitating into the Blood and Nervous Liquor and not only from causing disorders in them but moreover as it is often usual from bringing some more grievous mischief upon the Brain and Heart Secondly to endeavour that the Infection of the Humours and noble Parts first contracted from the Itchy matter while the faults in the Skin are amending may be eradicated All these intentions of Cure may be complicated together by using inward and outward Remedies both at once or they may be used first one and then another namely that the Morbifick matter being disseated may not be able to run any whither and lye hid in any hole but may totally be removed out of every corner by Medicines aimed at both inwardly and outwardly Therefore Purges ought both to begin and make an end of this method of Cure Although Helmont treats a Cathartick Medicine with high disdain and as it were leads it in Triumph because of it self it does not Cure the Itch yet we may affirm that this Disease is scarce ever easily Willis but never safely Cured without this sort of Physick IV. A certain man who was troubled with an exceeding Itching washed his Body with an infusion of Sublimate but within a few hours there were Blisters raised all over his Body in a little while after he was so troubled with faintings and swoonings Borellus Cent. 2. Obs 92. that he was very nigh death but being rubbed with Cordial things he escaped ¶ A Monk neglecting Universals killed the Itch with Oyntments presently upon which defluxions of Salt Humours supervening and falling upon his Lungs he spate Blood at times and at length an Hectick coming upon him he died Velschius Obs 65. When he was dead his Lungs were found altogether corrupted and most of them hardened into a Scirrhus V. He that would Cure the Itch must first of all cleanse the Blood for it lodges in the Saline Vitriolate and Aluminous impurities thereof And Mercurius dulcis and Vitae Arcanum Corallinum Extractum Panchymagogum Hartmannus and the like exterging things perform the Cure VI. But if there be any Obstruction it must first be removed before you purge Idem without which an inveterate Itch will scarce give way VII If the Itch be contumacious and itch very much sweats happily Cure it given for 20 dayes one after another raised with the white fixt flowers of Antimony in a decoction or spirit of Guaiacum Thus I cured a student in Physick Idem and a certain Bohemian VIII Yet we must abstain if the affection come from a hot and dry intemperature of the Liver for by the administration of hot things it grows more effervescent a greater adustion of atrabilarious humours succeeding A certain Student being troubled with a dry Itch all over him whose body was of a hot Constitution by the use of this decoction Take of China Salsa parilla each 6 drachms wood of Sassafras roots of Rhodium Cichory Scorzonera each 1 ounce infuse them in 12 pounds of water boyl half away was so inflamed all over his Body that he was forced to desist from his Cure Besides I have observed as bad an event of Cure in other Itchy Persons Augustinus Thonerus Obs 3. l. 4. and them that were troubled with the Lepra Graecorum although so great an excess of hot things were not committed IX A Senator of Vlm while he tarried at Geneva was infected with the Itch by the advice of the Physitians 18 Cupping Glasses were set at one time to divers out parts of his Body When Mr M Mullerus was infected with the Itch while he lived at Venice 24 Cupping-Glasses were by the advice of his Physicians applied to him and both of them were made free of their nastiness with good success But though these Cures succeeded according to desire nevertheless if any Physician should attempt to go upon such a process of Cure among us he must never expect Idem Obs 2. that his advice would be followed X. When I could Cure the Itch in the hands Glanderpiâ—â— especially in the right by no Medicines I took it away by making an Issue in the right Arm. XI Empiricks make a Girdle two inches broad of a list of Cloth anointed with crude Mercury killed the vulgar way and Hogs-lard to be girt about the naked Loins for them that are infected with the Itch and who would in their Travels be free from Lice A lusty Matron of about 40 years old fat and of a moist constitution of Body when in the Month of February she had put on such a Girdle for a small Itch and had worn it for three Weeks night and day she indeed was rid of her Itch but there followed a Salivation exulceration of the Gums heaviness in the
ferment and grow hot we must have a care that we exasperate not the Evil by over hot Medicines especially in more Southernly Climes where the Melancholick humour is adust and approaching to the nature of black Choler Idem Therefore such Medicines are not improperly given in Whey VII Authors do well caution us about Medicines proper for the Scurvy that there is greater efficacy in Juices then in Decoctions which experience testifies For they have their efficacy from a volatil Salt which is dissipated by boyling and for the most part vanishes in drying But in Juices and Conserves it remains in a manner intire Much less should Extracts be preferred For although no unprofitable ones may be prepared out of some Plants yet since their virtue chiefly consists in a volatil Salt it cannot be but it must be wasted For this Salt unites it self with Spirit of Wine or with whatever other Liquor is used in the Extraction and flies away with it and so the Body is left destitute of this Salt Hofmannus and in a great measure ineffectual VIII The same Cure must be insisted on in this Disease as in Hypochondriack ones seeing it is bred of the same humour but further receding from a natural state Riverius Therefore for the most part it stands in need of more powerful Remedies IX All sugared things are enemies to Scorbutick and Hypochondriack persons and therefore let us abstain from the use of them for not only as they lye in the Hypochondria of Scorbutick Persons Moebius Instit p. 522. they turn into dross near akin to Salts but according to Celsus l. 4. c. 9. they are enemies to the Spleen for they move bile ferment the Humours and breed Obstructions in the Bowels ¶ And by the use of them according to Hippocrates 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that is the Spleen is swelled and made great Wherefore both Dorncrellius praefat Dispensat and Greg. Horstius l. 7. Observat forbids them Scorbutick Persons Hofmannus m. m. p. 348. X. I will tell you freely that although I do not question but the Scurvey is truly found in these Northern Parts yet I am verily perswaded it does not so frequently occurr as is commonly believed And that many not to say most of those Diseases on whose account we blame the Scurvey are the effects of Diseases that are in breeding but not yet bred and which have not as yet put on any certain type or the unhappy reliques of some Disease that is not as yet wholly conquered whereby the Blood and other Humours are tainted for example In what bodies any matter apt to produce the Gout is newly bred but not as yet fallen upon the Joynts divers Symptomes will show themselves which will give suspicion of the Scurvey till a Gout now formed and actually exerting it self leave no room for further doubting What I have said of the Gout I would have understood of the Dropsie concerning which Disease although it be vulgarly said Where the Scurvey ends the Dropsie begins yet this rule must very often be no otherwise taken than that as soon as ever the Dropsie shows it self by manifest signs then the preconceived opinion of the Scurvy immediately falls to the ground The same may be said of very many other chronical Diseases which are but growing and which therefore have not formed themselves any type or of them also which although they be partly got away yet they seem not to be wholly conquered and exterminated And indeed unless we allow this the name of the Scurvy as it now goes will encrease vastly and will serve for almost all Diseases Whereas if we would make it our business to search narrowly into the inwards of every Disease and bring it from behind the Veil of irregular Symptomes it would presently show its nature and might easily be placed in that family to which it belongs And the method whereby such Diseases should be driven away ought not to be accommodated to these counterfeit Symptomes but to the Disease it self whatever it is as perfectly formed Sydenham and then actually existing XI As for the Cure of the Scurvy since not only one simple preternatural affection but a legion of such must be forced away therefore the method of Cure ought to touch upon manifold Indications and those variously complicated and subordinate which yet I have thought good after the vulgar manner to reduce to these three heads namely as they are preservatory which respect and remove the cause of the Disease and Curatory which remove the Disease it self and its Symptomes and lastly vital which maintain and restore the strength and Spirits of the Patient At the beginning of the Cure we ought to aim at the cause of the Disease for when it like the root is cut or pulled up presently the stock boughs and fruit wither away Since therefore we have shown that the cause of the Scurvey is founded upon a Dyscrasie in the Blood to wit either Sulphureo-Saline or Salino-Sulphureous we must do our endeavour that the Dyscrasie of either nature may be amended To this purpose First Impediments must be removed and then the Primary intention must be put in execution for both which ends Remedies are taken from Diet Surgery and Pharmacy As to Diet a special course of it shall be appointed below in the mean time we will proceed to the rest The reduction of the Blood to a due temper by appropriate Medicines is especially hindred for these two reasons that is First because it is continually furnished with a store of bad nutritious Juice Then Secondly the recrements that are bred in it are not sufficiently voided by the proper emunctories There we must take care that the work of Chylification may be performed aright in the first wayes then that the vaporous recrements may be purged away by Transpiration the serous by the Kidneys and Lymphaeducts the bilious by the Gall-bladder the atrabilarious by the Spleen and others of what kind soever they be by their proper emunctories Then when these offices are rightly performed we must endeavour to reduce the Dyscrasie of the Blood by specifick Medicines and especially such as have a volatil Salt in them The Remedies that respect each of these intentions may be complicated together and ought to be used both at once but in what manner and modes of administration we must yet more particularly show 1. We must have a care that Chylification be rightly performed in the first ways that the load of Excrementitious matter gathered there may be cast off that the destroyed or depraved ferments may be restored that the passages and pores that are any ways stopt or obstructed may be opened To these ends Cathartick digestive and aperient Medicines are designed 2. That the excrements gathered in the mass of Blood when they are not sufficiently discharged by their proper emunctories may now and then be carried off by other ways most convenient For this matter Catharticks Diaphoreticks and Diureticks
Nettle each 2 ounces Brooklime 2 ounces bruise them in a Mortar with 10 ounces of the whitest Sugar then add of Scales of Iron very finely powdered 1 ounce powder of white and red Sanders each 2 drachms With a sufficient quantity of juice of Nettle make an Electuary The Dose is the quantity of a Nutmeg twice a day Take of the destilled water or Decoction of some temperate Anti-scorbutick two pounds of our preparation of Steel 2 drachms Mix them in a glass The Dose is 3 or 4 ounces Take of Nettle tops Leaves of Brooklime each 4 handfuls When they are bruised strain out the juice keep it in a Glass The Dose is 2 or 3 ounces twice a day with some distilled Antiscorbutick water Of faults in the Mouth arising from the Scurvy Whenever the Scorbutick Infection has seized the Mouth so as the Gums swell and the flesh of them become fungous immediately Remedies which drive away putrefaction from them must be diligently used Among these Washes for the Mouth and Liniments are of especial use both when the Disease begins about these Parts and when it grows worse which nevertheless as they respect divers intentions so they use to be diversly prepared to wit the flesh of the Gums when it first swells must be freed from the Incursions of a Salt and corrupt Blood and Serum afterwards the Flesh grown flaccid and shrunk from the Teeth must be defended from putrefaction and that it may stick closer to the Teeth there must be astriction for these and other intentions Gargarisms or Mouth-washes of divers sorts may be used Of all which the chief ingredients are Vegetables boyled and Minerals infused The Herbs and Roots that are boyled in some proper Liquor either Water or Wine are for the most part either sharp or bitter or styptick and then such Decoctions are impregnated either with a Volatil Lixivial Vitriolate Chalybeate or Aluminous Salt 1. When therefore the Flesh of the Gums by reason of a defluxion of Salt and corrupt Blood and Serum first begins to swell and grow fungous Take of the middle rind of Elder Elm each half an handful Leaves of Savory Sage Rocket Cresses each 1 handful Roots of Pellitory of Spain 2 drachms being shred and bruised boyl them in 3 pounds of Lime-water to the consumption of a third part If edulcoration be required add of Honey of Roses 2 ounces Make a Gargarism Or take of tried Vitriol 1 ounce our Country People call it Captain Green's powder Spring-water 2 pounds mix them in a Glass shake it and when the Liquor is settled and clear use it Or Make a Ly of ashes of Broom or Rosemary or of calcined Tartar or Nitre in 3 pounds of this boyl of the Leaves of Savory Time Rosemary Sage each 1 handful Let the colature be poured upon 2 handfuls of Scurvy-grass Leaves Make a hot and close Infusion for 3 hours strain it again and keep it to wash the Mouth often in a day For the same intention also Liniments at times and especially at Night may be applied that their virtue may be communicated to the Patients even while they sleep There is exstant a Famous prescription frequent among Authors and approved by long experience Take of Leaves of Columbine crisp Mint Sage Nutmeg Myrrh which yet sometimes is omitted each 2 drachms burnt Allum half an ounce Virgin Honey 4 ounces or what is sufficient make a Liniment according to Art 2. If at any time the flaccid Flesh of the Gums part from the roots of the Teeth a gentle scarification is often used moreover let the Mouth be washed with this Decoction Take of tops of Bramble Cypress Leaves of Sanicle Ladies smock each 1 handful boyl them in water wherein Iron has been quenched 3 pounds to the consumption of a third add to the colature of Honey of Roses 2 ounces Mix them Such a Liniment as this may be applied Take of the powder of Florentine Orrice Leaves of Sage St. John's-wort each 2 drachms bole Armonick Sal prunellae each 1 drachms Virgin Honey hot what is sufficient incorporate them well by stirring 3. When the Gums are putrid and corrupt and the Teeth are rotten and loose and send out a nasty stink stronger Medicines and such as exceedingly resist putrefaction may be used an Infusion of Camphorate vitriol or lapis Medicamentosus are especially proper in this Case Or Take of root of Gentian round Birthwort cut each half an ounce Leaves of lesser Centaury Sea Wormwood Savory Columbine each 1 handful boyl them in some lime or lixivial water and sometimes wherein Iron has been quenched or Allum dissolved 3 pounds to the consumption of a third part To the Colature add 2 or 3 ounces of crude Honey Mix them 4. If the falling of the Teeth be chiefly feared Take of the bark of the root of the wild Sloe-Tree 1 ounce Tormentil and of Bistort whole each an handful Pomegranate rind and flowers each half an ounce boyl them in 3 pounds of Spring water the best Honey 2 ounces Mix them Take of Camphorate Vitriol burnt Harts-horn each 1 drachm Nutmeg half a drachm the best Honey what is sufficient Make a Liniment Or Take of the Powder of root of Bistort Pomegranate rind Bole-Armonick burnt Allum each 1 drachm Honey of Roses what is sufficient add of Spirit of Vitriol 1 scruple Make an oyntment 5. If at any time as is sometimes usual putrid and deep Ulcers seize the Gums or other Parts of the Mouth the foresaid stronger Medicines must be often used Moreover a rag dipt in Vnguentum Aegyptiacum dissolved in Spirit of Wine or in an Infusion of lapis medicamentosus or Sublimate may sometimes be applied In these cases the Cure must be left to a skilful Surgeon Of Pains that usually infest the Legs and other Limbs sometimes at Night especially Against these Pains because sometimes they are very bitter beside the general method of curing the Scurvy specifick Remedies and such as oppose this Symptom are indicated therefore in such a case when a man has been well purged and bled if need be it is convenient to set upon the Disease both by Medicines inwardly and applications outwardly As to the former things that move Sweat and Urine often give relief inasmuch as they carry another way the lixivial and acid recrements of the Blood and Nervous juice which used to meet in the part affected especially if such things be used as vindicate both these Humors from that bad disposition as well saline as acid Testaceous powders of Crabs Eyes mandible of a Pike also Spirit and Flowers of Sal Ammoniack Spirit of Blood Tincture of Antimony Coral Decoctions of root and seed of Burdock Groundpine Germander are very good Which sort of Remedies may be taken with distilled Antiscorbutick waters twice or thrice a day Distilled water of Horse-dung adding Scurvy-grass Brooklime Iva arthritica and the like does sometimes a great deal of good In the mean time Fomentations Liniments Cataplasms or
warmed When the Atrophy arises from the fault of the affected Blood and therefore perverting the nutritious juice for the most part it has an erratick Fever joyned with Night Sweats inasmuch namely as the Mass of Blood is forced by that degenerate juice into unequal and uncertain Effervescencies and so the troublesome matter is cast off by Night sweat In this case when a spare diet is ordered Decoctions and distilled waters which melt and purifie the Blood may be often taken mixt with Antiscorbuticks Take of the shavings of Ivory of Harts-horn each 2 drachms and an half candied Eringo roots 6 drachms root of Chervil Dandelion each half an ounce Leaves of Harts-tongue Liverwort each 1 handful 1 Apple sliced Raisins 1 handful boyl them in 3 pounds of Spring water to the consumption of a third part Let the colature be poured to 2 handfuls of Leaves of Brooklime bruised Sal prunellae 1 drachm and an half or fixt Nitre 1 drachm Make a hot and close Infusion for 3 hours Take 4 or 6 ounces thrice a day Take of Leaves of Brooklime 4 pounds Sorrel Dandelion the whole each 2 handfuls Snails cleansed 1 pound two Orange Peels When they are shred and bruised pour to them of new Milk or Whey made with Syder or fresh juice of Apples 6 pounds Destil them the common way Take 3 ounces twice or thrice a day Of the Rheumatism We conclude that this Disease comes from the congress and mutual effervescency of Salts that are of a divers original and nature namely of a fixt one coming from the Blood and an acid from the Nervous Liquor The subjects of both these Salts are superfluous faeculencies left by the foresaid Humors when they are forced into a turgescency and poured sometimes into this sometimes into the other part Wherefore that the Disease may be cured both the turgescency of the Humours must be stopt and their superfluous faeculencies purged out also the Salts either way degenerate must be reduced to a state of volatility For the two first intentions a gentle purge and Blood-letting is required in the first place and accordingly as they can bear it must sometime be repeated and also Diureticks and Diaphoreticks which may in some measure convey away the Saline serosities must now and then be given which evacuations that they may be made more sedately and be the better bore by the assistance of nature Opiates must be frequently made use of For the other Scope upon which the chief hinge of the Cure does hang alteratives and especially such as are endued with a Volatil Salt are very good Wherefore in this Case there is a vulgar but no contemptible Medicine to give an Infusion of a Stone Horse dung in white Wine or some distilled water to 3 or 4 ounces twice a day I have given Spirit of Harts horn and of Blood often in these Cases to the Patient 's great advantage Of the Dropsie Whereas we judge there is a twofold Dropsie comes upon the Scurvy that is an habitual and an occasional one about the Cure of the former we commonly lose our Labour for no Remedies are able to restore the Liver and Lungs and other Parts sometimes wholly vitiated and the frame of the Blood when it is utterly subverted In such a Case if any thing can be found to be done the bounds of Medicine are very narrow for there is no place left for Catharticks nor Diaphoreticks nor for strong evacuation of any sort We must insist especially and almost only on Cordials and Diureticks To these ends Elixirs Tinctures Electuaries Powders Infusions Decoctions destilled Waters c. which consist partly of Antihydropicks partly of Antiscorbuticks A Scorbutick Dropsie from an evident cause or raised on a sudden from some occasion does often admit of Cure which indeed that it may succeed the more easily the Tumults of nature ought first to be quieted and its disorders restrained wherefore if watchings do still annoy them Sleep must be procured by use of Opiates and now and then as often as there shall be occasion forced As soon as they are able to be purged the following powder may be taken and at due intervals may sometimes be repeated in the mean time let the Body be kept Solutive by the frequent use of Clysters Take of Mercurius dulcis 1 scruple resin of Jalap from 5 grains to 10 Cloves half a scruple let it be given in a spoonful of Panada At other times Diureticks and sometimes Diaphoreticks may be carefully given Take of the Tincture of Salt of Tartar impregnated with an Infusion of millepedes as much as you please g ve a scruple or two twice a day with some appropriate Liquor Take of the Spirit of Sal Ammoniack what you please The Dose is from half a scruple to 15 drops in the same manner Take of millepedes prepared 3 drachms Salt of Tartar 2 drachms Nutmeg 1 drachm mix them make a powder The Dose is half a scruple twice a day in some proper Liquor Or Take of Bees dried and powdered 2 drachms seed of Ammi powdered 1 drachm oyl of Juniper 1 scruple Turpentine what is sufficient Make a mass of Pills The Dose is from 1 scruple to half a drachm twice a day drinking thereupon some Specifick Liquor Take of Leaves of both Scurvy grasses Water Cresses Pepperwort Arsmart each 3 handfuls Root of Aron Bryony Florentine Orrice each 4 ounces middle rind of Elder 2 handfuls Winter's bark 2 ounces the outer rind of 4 Oranges 3 Lemons fresh Juniper berries 4 ounces when they are shred and bruised pour to them of Rhenish Wine 4 pounds Wine of the juice of Elder berries 2 pounds Destil them the common way let the whole water be mixt The Dose is 3 or 4 ounces twice a day after a Dose of some Medicine prescribed before Decoctions and Physick Ales may be made as before prescribed adding Antihydropick Ingredients Of Rattling of the Bones There yet remains a Symptome which sometimes though rarely befals a Scorbutick Person to wit the rattling of the Bones I have known some but not above 3 or 4 who having been a long time Sick of the Scurvy have felt the hurt of it not only in the Humours and Fleshy Parts but in the very Bones For whenever they bended their Limbs any way the heads of the Bones when they rubbed one against another made a rattling as if they had been bare furthermore when they lay down in their Bed and turned themselves there from side to side you might hear a great rattling from the Collision of the Vertebrae as if you had been jumbling a Skeleton which affrighted the Patients themselves The conjunct cause of this perhaps might seem to be because when the soft Interstice of the Bones that is the Fat Membranes and Ligaments are much wasted the junctures of them like empty Mill-stones make a noise by rubbing one against another Yet it is evident the matter is otherwise for there is no such rattling of the Bones
Hippocrates Spirit of Sulphur and the like ease Thirst in Fevers It quenches Thirst to shut ones Mouth hold ones Tongue and to take the cool Air and Drink ¶ For the same Cure will not serve all sorts Vallesius 6. Epid. 3. For that which is caused by the heat of the Lungs and Breast the inspiration of cold Air is fitter than Drink and that rather very cold than much of it ¶ If Thirst come through the fault of the Reins as it does in a Diabetes I think you cannot use a better Remedy in this Case than one that causes rest or stupifies or at least lessens Sense So for such this is good to take every other Night an ounce and an half of Syrup of Poppy with Barly water or a decoction of Mallows To which purpose it is good also to lick some of the same in the day-time Syrup of Purslain is also good and de mucilaginibus Mercatus and whatever takes off the sharpness of Sense ¶ Although Hippocrates aphor 24. sect 5. seems to forbid Milk to the Thirsty yet it must be understood of them only who are excessive Thirsty through too much Heat and a mass of putrid and cholerick Humors in whom Milk is easily corrupted and not of them who are Thirsty through Heat and Consumption Varandaeus tract de ventriculi Mâ—rbis p. 102. for in the same Aphorism he allows Milk to Hectick Persons though in a Feaver Galen l. 7. Meth. prescribes the use of Milk and the warm Bath to hecticks II. They are in an Error who when they see sick People almost killed with Thirst give them things candied with Sugar and Conserves as of the Sowr part of Citron c. which although perhaps without Sugar they might quench Thirst yet with it they will never quench Thirst Children know that Sugar increases Thirst It is better to take nothing at all Sanctorius Meth. l. 13. c. 2. because if the Tongue were not fouled with these sweet Things it would not for some hours be so Thirsty Therefore I wonder that Physicians though they see it daily do not abstain from it III. Nitre and Sal prunellae have a Virtue to quench Thirst and Heat Hartman in his Praxis mixes 1 ounce of it prepared with a pint of Liquor or Water for a drink for Feaverish Persons I scarce go above 5 scruples for it weakens the Stomach a little and therefore sometimes causes a Loosness Schroderus l. 3. cap. 23. but it may be given from half a drachm to an whole one without harm especially with Sugar whereby its bitterness is mitigated Medicines especially made use of by eminent Physicians 1. Linseed Alex. Benedictus and Quince seed tied up in a rag like a little Ball and steeped in Violet water if it be held in the Mouth wonderfully quenches Thirst 2. These Pills wonderfully quench Thirst Take of seeds of Melon Cucumbers candied Lettucestalk Diacodium in a solid Form and Sugar 2 drachms Sacch candi violat Trag. each 1 drachm With the White of an Egg make Pills Hold one under the Tongue and let it dissolve by little and little in the Mouth and then swallow it ¶ Pieces of Water-Melon held in the Mouth are highly approved to quench thirst in a Pestilential Feaver Some also as a Secret hold water with as much Vinegar as the Patient likes Aeustach Rudius in the Mouth and give them to drink 3. The heat of the Body and of the Praecordia must be quenched with Epithemes whereby I have oftner with success cured thirst than with internal things For by applying juice of Cichory Endive Purslain c. with Vinegar and Spec. diatriωn Santalωn to the region of the Liver Here. Saxonia and often repeating it I have done a great deal of good Sinus or a deep running Imposthume See Fistula Book VI. and Vlcus Book XVIII Somnus preter naturam or Praeternatural Sleep See Lethargus Book X. The Contents Not all that is extended beyond the usual time must be interupted I. Opening of the Jugular Veins is gaod in sleepy Diseases II. The Vertue of Cresses in awakening from sleep III. Drinking of Coffee is not good for all IV. Cured by an Hypnotick V. The method of Curing a Coma. VI. Cured by a Cautery behind in the Head VII Compounded Aqua Vitae must be given with great care VIII I. SOmetimes in great want of rest sleep is so long prolonged and so sound that it may seem a sleepy Disease and deceive the Physician both in length of time and deepness of the sleep as in those that are over tired or have over watched or over wrought themselves So I saw one who after he had lain sick 34 dayes and had not changed his Linnen all the time of his Disease when he had changed it and was laid in a soft and clean Bed slept 36 hours continually He was thought to be carotick Ludovicus l. 1. cap. 2. but he was not so for at length he awaked took meat and the next day was well II. To open the outer jugular by a Skilful Surgeon is good in sleepy Diseases and is proved from many Histories Some prefer 2 or 3 Leeches applied along that Vein to the angle of the lower Jaw Riolanus where it stands up and may be seen III. In deep Sleep it is good to eat Cresses either boyled in Broth or raw in Sallets for there is nothing dries the Brain more than Cresses whence came the Proverb to drowzy Persons go eat Cresses Where I cannot but wonder why Fernelius cap. 2. lib. 2. Pathol. writes that Cresses cause Sleep Rondeletius cap. 19. IV. Drinking of Coffee seeing it is very effectual in keeping off drowziness something must be said here of its effects and the reason of its working From the Eastern People to whom it has been long ago familiar it is become customary among us I think the nature of it consists in this that it presently communicates its adust particles with which it abounds according to both its tast and scent to the Blood and then to the Nervous juice which therefore by their incongruity and mobility or restlessness do both keep open the Pores of the outer part of the Brain and add certain goads and pricks to the Spirits which are deprived of any other chain or torpidness whereby they are the longer excited to perform their offices For to fall asleep these two things are necessarily required of which sometimes the one sometimes the other is the greater sharer in causing it Namely all the Pores and Passages of the out part of the Brain must be very much stuffed and filled from the Liquor which overflows there out of the Blood and therefore must be stopt Then besides to accomplish this effect it is necessary that the animal Spirits being excluded from these passages and moreover oftentimes loaden with nutritious and serous Particles must betake themselves to the middle of the Brain there to lye quiet
In the performance of these tasks necessary to Sleep the order is not alwayes one and the same for sometimes the Animal Spirits do first and of their own accord forsake these spaces the Nervous juice running immediately into the vacant places And sometimes the Nervous juice mixt plentifully with the Serum first invades these passages driving thence the Spirits though against their will and forcing them inwards But the operation of Coffee seems contrary to both these effects for immediately upon drinking of it its adust Particles that are very nimble and restless being carried into the Blood do put its Liquor a little in fusion and force the serous Liquor to the Kidneys and habit of the Body Moreover when they arrive at the Brain they easily open its Pores which by their mobility they keep very open whilest they joyning with the Spirits despoyl them of all their other Particles as well Sleepy as Nutritious and so being light and fleet do put them every where into motion and cause them to be expanded through the whole compass of the Brain when it is free from all gravative oppletion and obstruction Yet in the mean time while the Spirits are in this manner constantly and unweariedly exercised the Nervous juices are deprived of access and assimilation their stores are not sufficiently and after their wonted manner recruited indeed the old Spirits are rendred more nimble and unwearied but the recruits of new ones are diminished Hence it may most easily appear that this drink though in common use and in some cases very useful and medical perhaps in others is hurtful and not so wholesome And that the matter is so not only reason but vulgar observation does commonly shew in as much as excessive Coffee-drinkers oftentimes grow lean and subject to the Palsie and impotency to Venus The first effect is so frequent and every where known that we only therefore forbid them the drinking of Coffee because it inclines to leanness Because when the Blood by continual and too frequent use becomes sharp and retorrid it is therefore less fit for to nourish As to the Diseases of the Brain and Nervous kind I reckon that when I am sometime called to cure them no man prescribes it to be drunk so frequently as I for it is my custome to send them more to the Coffee-Houses than to Apothecaries Shops Truly in most Cephalick Sicknesses that is Head-ache Vertigo Lethargy Catarrhe and the like where there is a moist Brain but a slowness and torpidness of the Animal Spirits with a cold constitution or not very hot and a watry Blood Coffee is often drunk with advantage for drunk every day it clarifies and illustrates both parts of the Soul and dispels all mists of the Functions whatever But on the contrary they that are lean and of a Cholerick Constitution or Melancholick who have a sharp and retorrid Blood a hot Brain and too eagre and restless animal Spirits ought altogether to abstain from that drink because it further perverts the Spirits and Humours and renders them altogether unapt and unable to undergo any Functions For I have observed many who have not had sufficient plenty of Spirits and besides troubled with the Vertigo palpitation of the Heart trembling of the Limbs or numbness have been worse as to those Diseases upon drinking of Coffee and have presently perceived an unusual languidness in their whole Body Willis V. A Maid about 20 years old was about the beginning of Autumn held with a double Tertian for 12 dayes and was cured of it by Remedies Her Fits returned again but some new Symptomes came in the Fit namely much Sleep redness of Face prominence of Eyes a pricking pain in the left side and a great difficulty in swallowing I suspected an hysterick affection was complicated with the Ague fit and I prescribed her hysterick Remedies notwithstanding which the Disease continued After a few dayes the Symptomes returned without the Ague which confirmed my opinion for the pain of her left side went to her right sometimes pricking pains appeared in divers parts of the Abdomen with a pain in the Stomach and loathing and sometimes a Fit of the Mother Before the Fit came she took by my advice 4 little Pills of Laudanum and a little after the Fit came but within 2 hours when the Laudanum began to work all things abated she was well the whole Night whereas the foregoing she had been tormented Riverius Cent. 2. Obs 20. Hence this Paradox may be gathered that a Sleepy Disease may be Cured by the use of Laudanum VI. In a Coma our chief endeavour must be to prevent the efflux of new morbifick matter into the Brain and to discuss and get out what is got thither already Moreover the animal Spirits must be awakened and all torpidness and sleepyness taken from them To this end we must Purge Bleed Cup Blister make application of revulsives and discutients give Cephalick Medicines and such especially as are indued with a volatil Salt and use several other wayes of Administration But if this Disease follow some other Sickness or come upon any Man whose Body is already much wasted his Blood vitiated or much depauperated we must first consider well of Bleeding and Purging before we do either nay for the most part we must abstain from them yet sometimes that the conjunct cause of the Disease or the matter fixt in the Brain may be put in Motion it may be convenient to take away a small quantity of Blood either by setting Leeches to the Fore Head or Temples or by Cupping and Scarifying the Shoulders Willis VII I saw a lusty young Priest taken with a Coma after a relapse into a Fever with a tremor in one side without sense for want of Strength in the Parts When he had taken a very sharp Clyster with 3 drachms of Coloquintida and 2 ounces of Honey of Roses and Salt in it without any effect Praevotius ordered him 7 Blisters which doing little good J. Rhodius Câ—nt 1. Obs 36. they proceeded to make a cautery in his Head behind upon which he amended VIII The strong scented stillatitious Liquor of Lavender rubbed on the Forehead and temples revives those that are taken with a small Catalepsis a Hemiplexia and now and then with the falling Sickness and oftentimes with Swooning But where there is plenty of Humours especially if they be mixt with the Blood the use of this is not safe nor of any composition drawn off Wine in which such Herbs Flowers or Seeds and certain Spices have been macerated which most People give indifferently For by the use of these hot things which fill the Head the Disease is increased and the Patient indangered especially when Bleeding and Purging go not before I thought fit to give this caution because commonly some unlearned Physicians and over bold Apothecaries do immediately give such Compositions and things of the like nature not only to Apoplectick Persons but also to those
of the antecedent causes IV. Rhenish Wine alwayes did me good in the Strangury caused by drinking new Beer If I could not get Wine and was forced to drink new Beer I was eased of my trouble by taking Nutmeg When some had fallen into that mischief they cured themselves only by anointing their Navil with the fat of a Candle Others cured themselves by taking only a spoonful of Oxymel But I have experienced that the smell of the leaves of black Currant Trees and much more a Decoction of them mends this fault Forestus V. If you find that no Remedies will do in this sort of Strangury you must make an Issue in one Leg by which the Phlegm imbibed by those parts may run out Mercatus which uses to be a present Remedy Medicines especially made use of by eminent Physicians 1. One drachm of the flesh of a Hedge-hog dried in the Sun and given in Wine brings away much Urine without trouble Aetius 2. Salt of Antimony is a secret in the dysury and Strangury De Bry. 3. Spirit of Turpentine quickly takes away all difficulty of Urine The Dose is from 9 or 10 drops to 12 in Cinnamon water Grembs 4. I have often seen them that were Sick of the Strangury relieved of a violent pain by taking a drachm of the powder of Crabs Eyes in White Wine 5. A little fat of a Goat put into the Navil easily cures the Strangury ¶ Oyl of Mastich dropt warm into the Navil takes it away quickly ¶ Amber especially the white powdered and given in Wine or boyled in Beer is good for the Stone and Strangury for it presently opens the passages and expels the calculous matter ¶ Several have been cured in the manner following Grulingius Take Rose-water beat up with the white of an Egg and give it to drink 6. I have learned this that Spirit of Spanish Salt drawn in the extreme Heat of a reverberatory with Potters clay taken in white Wine that was drawn out of the Vessel a day before does not only take away the mortal Stranguries of old Men and because it is wholly diuretick hath cured several but moreover they that have had an extraordinary Stone fall out of the Kidney and stayed some Months in the Bladder have at length voided it in small pieces by Urine And it is made of Salt first melted and then freed by the Fire from its superfluity then the Salt is beaten and dissolved among slices of Radish and then dried again Van Helmon and then distilled with as much Potters Earth in a violent Fire of reverberatory having a care that nothing expire Hooferus 7. To anoint the Belly with Beef tallow takes away the Strangury caused by drinking Beer 8. A glass of the clarified juice of Pellitory of the Wall is admirable if it be from a Stone or thick matter 9. Rulandus his certain experiment for the Strangury Take Sheeps Wool carded and made into the form of a Plaster to which add some Goats dung mixt with a Boy 's Urine apply it below the Navil it never fails 10. Outwardly to temper the Acrimony of the Humours and heat of the Bowels a Bath of sweet water is very good in the Morning before Dinner Sennertus especially with leaves of Violet water Lilly Lettuce Mallows Nightshade c. 11. This is excellent good against difficulty in making water Stokkerus Take 2 ounces of Privet water Morning and Evening 12. One found great benefit by 6 drops of rectified oyl of Amber in 3 spoonfuls of Parsly water Thonâ—ruâ— or Cock broth 13. I successfully cured the Strangury through the resolution of the Muscle in the Neck of the Bladder by putting a Woman in hot Oyl in which the leaves of Laurel Betony Sage Rosemary wild Marjoram Penny-royal Flowers of Chamomil and Cassidony were boyled after she had sate in it I made her an admirable Oyntment of Oyl of Worms Lily and Fox in which fat Whelps were boyled till the Flesh came from the Bone when I had strained it I put in Styrax Calamita Benzoin Oâ—oponax Olibanum Mace Nutmeg rectified aqua vitae Valleriola Goose grease and Wax which when she had used some Months she was cured Welkardus 14. Powder of dryed Acorns given in Wine is a present Remedy for the Strangury Strumae Scrofulae or the Kings-Evil or Scroffles The Contents How it may be distinguished from hardned Glands I. What sort of Purging is proper II. Whether a Vomit be proper III. The efficacy of Vesicatories applied to the Head IV. Whether Repellents are proper V. In what Sudorificks should be used VI. Narcoticks and Frictions waste it VII Wasted by a potential Cautery VIII What gives way to Suppuraters IX Dispersed in the Neck by Medicines X. The Cure by cutting out XI Upon what the difficulty of the Cure depends XII When it is Cured it nevertheless returns XIII Inward Medicines that consume them XIV Medicines I. BEcause there is a great likeness between the Kings-Evil and hardned Glands for they are alike both in place and matter therefore we must do our endeavour to distinguish the one from the other They differ first because the matter of the Glands is more subtil and thin of the Kings Evil more gross and viscid and more contumacious and hence it is that whenever a thin and subtil matter is incrassated of Glands they become the Kings-Evil Which is Galen's meaning 1. de loc aff 3. when he sayes that Glands sometimes turn into the Kings-Evil Secondly because indurated Glands are more separable from the adjoyning Flesh so that by the touch you may easily know it from the Glands But the Kings-Evil is so propagated into the adjoyning Flesh that it is a very hard thing to distinguish it 3. Because the Kings-Evil has a Coat but the Glands are alwayes without one Rogerius the Surgeon advises to take Ivy Leaves and Citron and pound them together and lay them to the Swelling and if the Swelling fall in 3 dayes time he says it is a sign they are Glands and not the Kings-Evil but if they grow worse with the application Mercurialis l. 1. c. 5. so as to be red and ake it is a sign they are not Glands but the Kings-Evil II. We must observe concerning Purging of Children since Infancy is very infirm it must be treated with very gentle Medicines and it is my advice rather to Purge often gently than to give strong Medicines For so I Cured a Noble Boy of the Kings-Evil Therefore they that commend Pilulae foetidae de Euphorbio and such Medicines for Children are not to be heeded I confess they are tolerable in grown People Idem ¶ Physicians for the most part accommodate their usual Purges in the Kings-Evil to Phlegmatick defluxions whence they reckon it arises not only if it be in the Neck but in any other part of the Body and direct them chiefly to purge Phlegm But as
a Miracle XI Blisters applied to the Hips are of use to prevent Fits But I have often observed that Sinapisms applied to the Hips 2 or 3 hours before the Fit have diverted it Fortis which is a Remedy of less trouble XII Like as where the said Suffocation is urgent Castor is deservedly preferred before many other things and its Tincture with rectified Spirit of Wine and Spirit of Sal Ammoniack so where Cold is very urgent as well outwardly as inwardly as in a Syncope and Diseases of that nature above all things that I have hitherto yet known I commend the destilled oyl of Cloves which is not ingrateful nor do I disapprove of the oyl of Turpentine which is less grateful seeing mixt with Spirit of Vitriol it raises an effervescency accompanied with great heat Let this mixture serve for an example Take of Water of Penny-royal 2 ounces Theriacalis simplex 6 drachms Tincture of Castor 2 drachms destilled oyl of Mace of Amber each 3 drops Syrup of Fennil half an ounce Give it by spoonfuls it is good also in Hypochondriack Diseases One scruple of Spirit of Sal Ammoniac may be added to this mixture which will make it much stronger or a narrow mouthed Glass containing the said Spirit Sylvius de le Boe. prax l. 1. c. 19. may be held to the Nose for by its sharp smell People are got both out of Fits and the falling sickness XIII I observed in a Matron a most grievous Aphony often returning with Convulsions She had been Barren many years and upon the approach of her Menses was taken with a most grievous Fit of the Mother then with a small Epilepsie at length with partial Convulsions of Hands Feet Back and horrible ones all the Body over She upon using of proper foetid uterine Medicines fell into more grievous Symptomes for which cause we fell to Perfumes Musk to wit and Amber and we gave them in a small quantity with other Cephalick strengthening things with good success Which should also be observed in other Hysterick Women that is in such whose Head and Nervous kind has been weakned in their youth by Epileptick Fits Horstius ◠1. Obs 26. or some other cause XIV A Woman was afflicted with most cruel Symptomes Head-ach Belching contraction of the Body pain in her Groin gnashing of her Teeth sometimes falling to the ground speechless her Mouth shut so that she could not open it and all these things from the fault of her Womb. She having tried many Medicines to no purpose an old Woman coming in gave her 13 grains of Musk and as many of common Dragon's blood in 4 drachms of Orange flower water she was cured and never after had any Fits Solenander Sect. 5. cons 5. §. 10. I have given the same Medicine in the like case and it alwayes did good I have given it several times XV. In the cure of a pregnant Hysterick Woman we must take great care that Remedies be prudently administred and that violent and very foetid things be not given lest abortion be caused And the business must be done more by external than internal things Riverius XVI Aetius well advises that a Woman when she has recovered her health should not wholly be neglected but for preservation sake she should use Medicines at certain intervals especially at suspected times so that the use of them should not wholly be left off but the quantity abated XVII I and Dr. Dobritius had a Woman under Cure of Fits of the Mother who had a very foul Body She was taken about Night especially with a straitness about her Stomach her Heart was oppressed and almost all her Limbs had a tingling in them her Head also aking Various things were tried by us the Humours were prepared evacuated strengthning things were given yet we did no good At length through my perswasion we gave her Antimonium diaphoreticum upon taking of which she began by degrees to amend We continued it for a Fortnight in which time she was so much relieved that because she was better and grew weary of Medicines she had rather commit the rest to Nature than longer insist on Medicines I ascribe her recovery chiefly to the Antimony She indeed is well now but not without complaints of a weariness in her Limbs Doringius XVIII We often meet with Women who think they are ill of the Spleen when they are Hysterick By Hysterick Affections I mean these Symptomes that happen not in the Womb it self but in other Parts which have a Sympathy with the Womb for the Womb has some Sympathy with all the Parts especially with such as are contained in the Abdomen to which it is joyned by its Veins Arteries Nerves Membranes and by its Ligaments from whence because of some vitious Blood Seed or other Humours foul vapours expire into other Parts And there is a very great Sympathy between the Spleen and Womb by the Arteries whence come Hypochondriack Ails rumblings and pains of the Belly And this Sympathy is so frequent and familiar that many say they are only Sick of the Spleen Trimirosius when the Disease is in their Womb. ¶ A Maid of a Melancholick nature had for several years been troubled with violent Fits that returned often Most Physicians thought this mischief came from Malignant Vapors bred in the Spleen and rising to the Diaphragm It so happened that the Patient was held almost a whole Night with so violent a Fit that they thought she would dye every moment I suspecting it to be a Fit of the Mother gave her compound Balm water which is much in use among us I poured 2 or 3 spoonfuls of it into her Mouth she came to her self to a Miracle Thonorus Obs 2. l. 3. p. 185. and all her difficulty of Breathing ceased Whence we knew it was an Hysterick Fit XIX I was called to a Matron who was dangerously ill of Fits I found her lying with her Eyes shut and speechless I immediately prescribed her Aqua matricalis de Melissa Composita instead whereof through the Apothecaries mistake Aqua matricalis camphorata was sent a spoonful of which when I had poured into her Mouth she began to complain as well as she could What do ye do Then all her Head burnt as hot as Fire But when the other de Melissa Composita was brought and given the Sick Woman she immediately recollected her self began to open her Eyes and to speak and was recovered to her former health Now though Camphire in some Hysterick cases be no ignoble Medicine yet you may find many Women to whom it is an Enemy especially such as have a hot Head for by reason of its volatil Spirits it presently flies to the Head Idem Obs 3. This Patient was of a Sanguine Complexion and ruddy Countenance XX. Laudanum is admirable in Vapors that Sympathically annoy the Brain especially in Fits of the Mother mixt with Hystericks Madamoiselle de la Font after
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
tough by the preceeding heat that the Patient be almost strangled which is not usual on the eleventh day a Gargarism must of necessity be used and order must be given to Syringe the Throat often with it Night and Day Let it be made either of Small Beer or Barley water with Honey of Roses But if the Patient have been treated as he ought Salivation even when it begins to abate will do its office so well that there will be no need of this Remedy And truly when it is come to this that the Patient is in danger of being choaked every moment quite dulled and his Breath almost gone we cannot safely trust this Remedy When the Patient is thus at his last cast I have sometimes very seasonably and successfully given a Vomit of Infusion of Crocus Metallorum but in something a larger dose to wit 1 ounce and an half because by reason of the extraordinary stupidity which the Patient labours under a less dose will not work at all and in the mean time by disturbing the Humours which it cannot carry off Idâ—m p. 210. will put the Patient in great danger of his Life XXX By this same tempering of the Blood I have seen purple spots removed but neither by this nor any other Method could I ever see either pissing of Blood or a violent eruption of it from the Lungs stopt as yet but both these Haemorrhagies as far as I could hitherto observe Idem p. 211. do undoubtedly presage death XXXI In suppression of Urine which sometimes takes the younger and brisker sort from the great confusion to wit and disorder of the Spirits which serve for the voiding of it by reason the Blood and Humours are disturbed with too great heat I have taken all the tribes of Diureticks to my assistance but nothing succeeded so well with me as to take the Patient out of his Bed who being supported by some that were by Idem ibid. when he had walked twice or thrice cross the Room presently made store of Urine to his great relief XXXII But the Symptomes which proceed from repercussion of the Variolous matter by external cold or evacuation unduly made they must be removed by the use of Cordials and a regiment conformable which yet must not be continued beyond the time that the Symptomes continue The chief of them are depression or falling in of the Pustules and a Loosness in the distinct Small Pox For in the Confluent neither does the depression of the Pustules forebode any ill because it is the nature of the Disease Nor a Loosness in Children that are sick of them because it causes health and no danger In both these cases a Cordial Potion of some proper destilled waters with Diascordium Laudanum liquidum c. may very well be given and that not only to remove the foresaid Symptomes but at any time of the Disease if the Patient complain of a pain at his Heart and sickness And indeed I think the redness which is so much upon the often striking in of the Pustules arises hence because they who have observed the depression of them in the Confluent sort have taken it for a recess of the Variolous matter upon taking cold when it is nothing but the nature of the Disease And they suspect the same in the distinct kind because to wit they expect the coming out and increase of the Pustules before their time Idem p. 212. whereas they have not taken notice of the time when Nature uses to bring this fruit to maturity XXXIII When the Patient is upon recovery and the Pustules are falling when the Patient has eaten Flesh a few dayes namely about the 21th day I reckon he may be bled in the Arm if the Disease have been violent since the Inflammation which the Small Pox has impressed on the Blood whether the Patient be old or young does no less indicate Blood-letting than the filth which has then been gathered does purging which is evident enough both from the colour of the Blood which when taken after a violent Small Pox is like that of Pleuriticks and also from those great Inflammations which after this Disease fall upon the Eyes and also from other dire effects of Blood over heated and depraved by this Disease Which is the reason that they who lived very well in health all their time before do all the rest of their Life after conflict with hot and sharp Humours falling upon the Lungs or on some other part But if the Pustules be few Idem p. 213. there will be no need of Bleeding After Bleeding I give two or three Purges XXXIV The Epidemick Measles which came in the year 1670 and they that were abroad in the year 1674. introduced black Small Pox whose Pustules were as black as soot that is when they fluxed and the Patient died not till they came to maturity for before they were ripe they were only of a brown colour Moreover the Pustules were very small if they were numerous for when they were but few they were not less than in other kinds of Small Pox and very seldom Black A great Putrefaction was latent in both of a thick and incoctil nature When they were ripe they smelled very ill so that when People were very bad of them a man could not come near them for stench They finished their course slowly and stuck longer on than any that I ever yet saw This is worth observation that how much more gentle the Disease is so much the sooner the Pustules ripen and the Disease comes to an end So in the regular sort of Confluent Small Pox which came in the year 1667. the 11th day was the most dangerous which once over there was no further fear usually of the Patient In the irregular sort of the Confluent next following which came in the beginning of the year 1670 the Patient was in greatest danger on the 14th or at furthest the 17th day which if the Patient got over he was safe But in this sort of Confluent Small Pox the Patient died even after the 20th day And sometimes if he did recover not only his Legs swelled which indeed is usual with some in the Confluent Small Pox but his Arms moreover Shoulders Thighs and other parts which Swellings begun the Tragedy with intolerable pain just like that of Rheumatick Persons afterwards they often suppurated and ended in great Sinuses and Imposthumes of the Muscular parts And these Small Pox seem to me a new kind arising out of the former then grown old Although the Black Small Pox which in the beginning of the year 1670 first showed themselves according to the disposition of the Air which made it Epidemical did go on towards the height yet like the relapse of some Disease the old matter fermenting again the Air which inclined to the production of the Small Pox drew them out of their old store which Disease indeed gathering strength anew seemed as it were
Treacle he was well For Treacle is a common Remedy against all Poyson I could not prescribe a proper Antidote because I knew not what Nature the Poyson was of but by these means their Pain in their Stomach ceased and both of them were cured Forestus ¶ Cardan cured some that were dying of an unknown Poyson by giving them Milk to drink XLII It is found by experience that a Mule when his Guts are taken out has such an attractive and dissolving Virtue that it is able to extract and dissipate Poysons As it was proved in Valentine Borgia Pope Alexander the fifth his Son who being enclosed in a Mule which had its Guts taken out immediately overcame the violence of the Poyson Claudinus ¶ In the year 1629. Falcini an Illustrious Patavine having by Gods mercy escaped great treachery had a present of Wine sent him which when he had tasted he was long tormented with an Ulcer in his Stomach and by Sylvaticus his advice after Valentine Borgia's example he escaped after he had been inclosed in a Mule whose Guts were taken out the Poyson being drawn from within to the out parts of the Skin And an accident showed that the Wine was poysoned with Mercury sublimate for as many as drank of it found the Poyson one of his attendants among others after he had pissed Quick-silver which however it be prepared Rhodius Cent. 3. Obs â— is restored to its former shape by dropping some Spirit of Salt upon it escaped XLIV A Nobleman had a Son who consumed away and at last died After his Body was cut open a certain hard mass like unto horn was found in the bottom of his Stomach which was sent to his Father He in memory of his Son caused a spoon to be made of it which he often used at the Table It happened that when this Spoon was put into a Sallet of Water Cresses and Vinegar it dissolved Hence we may easily conjecture that Water-Cresses has no common virtue against a Philtrum Schenckius XLV We must know there are three sorts of Diseases which are held to come from Witch craft The first is no way Witch-craft but when the Devil observes any one will be taken with a Disease as he is well skilled in natural things he perswades Witches and Wizzards that if they will but do what he orders them the Man will fall into such a Disease into which notwithstanding he would have fallen had the Witches done no such thing And in the mean time the Witches think the Disease was caused by their power Secondly there are other Diseases which indeed are not caused by the Devil but by natural causes while he changes the natural constitution and corrupts and alters the Humours Thirdly there are Diseases which are simply caused by the Devil without the Mediation of natural Humours As to the first sort of these Diseases it is most manifest and without doubt that it may be cured with natural Remedies But the third cannot be cured by natural Remedies because natural things can have no influence upon the Devil who is a Spirit And natural Medicines are good to cure the second sort however they are not sufficient alone but besides there is need of a divine cure For since in such Diseases two causes concurr the Humours and such things as are in a humane Body and the Devil besides although the former cause be removed yet unless the Devil cease from acting and hurting a perfect cure cannot be expected And these natural Medicines are either such as evacuate those vitious Humours which the Devil uses in causing Diseases or alterâ—tives and Alexipharmacks contrary to the dispositions caused by him amongst evacuants Vomits are chief by which it is evident many stubborn Diseases have been cured whose cause lay in the Stomach Mesentery and thereabout Therefore Rulandus cured Demoniacks by giving Vomits for these vitious Humours being taken away the Diseases which by their means the Devil had caused to cease Nor indeed must Purgatives be neglected H. ab Heer 's obs 13. tells how one who was hurt with a Philtre was purged by Urine and so cured Aâ— to Alteratives and Alexipharmacks we must obsâ—rve that the word Veneficium is sometimes taken for Inchantment and an action absolutely magical s metimes for a Disease caused by Philtra Therefore when in Authors you find that this or the other Herb is good against veneficia they are for the most part to be understood of secret Poysons rather than of magical actions For since there are common Alexipharmacks they may very properly be used in these Poysons whose natures are for the most part hid Yea perhaps one may use them with success even in Diseases caused by the Devil seeing he also is able to cause poysonous Dispositions in the Body which may be conquered by such Medicines Yet in all these natural Medicines both outward and inward this must be observed if we may use them because often in occult Diseases we may try various Remedies that they be used without all manner of superstition ceremony pronunciation of Words and the like Sennertus and that we rely only on their natural Powers and leave the rest to God XLVI Because they say that in these Mountains there is no small number of Witches and Wizzards by whose Witchcraft several are oftentimes bewitched I will therefore describe a true and proper Alexiterick to drive away such a Poyson which I tried at Geneva with admirable effect in a certain Girl of Lions originally about 6 years old who had been long since bewitched by a certain Witch she was almost quite emaciated dumb destitute of her motive Faculty very voracious who upon taking a certain Alexipharmack twice or thrice and repeating it begun both to Speak and Walk A little while after her Father signified to me she was perfectly well And this Antidote is Dogs-tongue yet not the common but that which is described by Dioscorides l. 4. And we have hitherto used the Leaves not having yet tried the Roots Now the Witch who divulged this Alexiterick gave nine leaves to drink in Water but we neglecting the number of Leaves ordered an handfull to be boyled in half a pint of Water till half were boyled away then we gave the Decoction to the Patient on an empty stomach Afterwards one gave to another Girl at Geneva bewitched almost in the same manner half a drachm of Moibanus his Antidote in white Wine with good success with which within a little time after she had been purged upwards and downwards at last she recovered Because the virtue of this Alexipharmack is so great against almost all manner of Poysons I think it not amiss to describe it Take of root of Valerian half an ounce root of Swallow wort 1 ounce Polypody of the Oak Marsh-mallow wild Angelica each 2 ounces fresh Garden Angelica 4 ounces Bark of the Root of Spurge Laurel 1 ounce and an half All these Roots must be digged up
c. 5. when the Stomach will not retain the Meat sayes it is best either to drink Wine cold or else very hot Which yet must so be understood as when the stomach is either empty or full of Phlegm we must abstain from cold Things which according to Hippocrates are enemies to the Nerves and then hot drink nourishes the innate heat and concocts crude Phlegm but when one is full Rubaeus comm in loc cum then he must use cold Things wherewith by antiparistasis the heat is gathered and made stronger XXI I have known some who have endeavoured to consume and dry up the matter with Oyl of Vitriol because it most violently dries and cleanses and indeed at first the Patients find benefit for they perceive by using of it that the Stomach is astringed their appetite encreased and the matter of the Fluxion abated but I know at length they have become Cachectick to say nothing of other Diseases Truly I have ever suspected the caustick Virtue which remains in that Oyl prepared even according to the Doctrine of Paracelsus I have indeed used it sometimes in Diseases proceeding from very crass Phlegm but I would perswade no man by the continued use of a few drops to spoil the moderate heat of the Stomach which is designed for Concoction and corrupt the goodness of the Blood For if we may make our conjecture of internals from externals what is it that boyls in the Chimney but heat And that Acids corrugate the Mouth of the Stomach and excite Appetite we know from the use of Vinegar Such therefore as constantly use this Oyl although they may flatter themselves for a time in the goodness of their Appetite and drying up of Defluxions yet at length and in process of time they are forced to acknowledge Gr. Hofmâ—nus to their sorrow the harm done to their Stomach and other Parts XXII For strengthning of the Stomach Chymists likewise commend Spirit of Vitriol of Venus which they call the Hungry Acetosity of Venus or Spirit of Hungarian Vitriol And they write of it that it is of such Virtue that it consumes all the Impurities that are in the Stomach whether Tartareous or Sulphureous and strengthens the Stomach so much that it is able to concoct all things But all this is hyperbolical And though it be often given with advantage yet Caution is necessary for it must not be used in every weakness and Disease of the Stomach but where there are gross and tartareous Humors which it consumes and afterwards by Astriction strengthens the Stomach But we must have a care that we do not over do it and that the radical moisture of the Stomach be not dissipated and wasted by it which often happens upon the unseasonable and excessive use of Spirit of Vitriol Sennertus XXIII All strong destilled Things must be avoided which seem indeed to do good but they shorten life because they far exceed the degree of innate heat and all Remedies ought to consist in Mediocrity For the gentlest Medicines in a diseased and languishing Stomach want not danger Crato cons. 106. especially in old People XXXIV It is the Custome of some that if at any time they eat any thing hard of Digestion or that will surfeit presently to drink some generous destilled Water as aqua vitae or the like to help Concoction but this is done not without hazard of Health for seeing the said Meats use not to be digested but by a long stay in the Stomach such Waters as these do by their penetrating and permeable Virtue carry these Meats not yet well concocted into the Veins whence proceed crudities and obstructions Thus Physicians do aright forbid the giving of Diureticks with Meat or immediately after Meat lest they carry the crudities of the Stomach to the urinary Passages And the reason is the same in Waters that are taken to promote Concoction because of the great aperient Virtue they are indued withal Therefore Rondeletius cap. de palpitatione We may saith he give such things inwardly as heat the Stomach and discuss Wind which thing must be observed for 3 or 4 hours before Meal we may give things that heat much and discuss Wind so the Liver be not very hot such as diatrion pip dianis aromat rosat diagalanga and the like These things should not be given immediately before Meal because by their heat and tenuity they would presently hurry with them the Aliment half crude to the first wayes Hence it is evident that they are in error who give very hot Powders after Meal which should be moderately hot Aetius l. 3. serm 1. c. 24. says neither this nor any other Medicine which penetrates much must be taken after Meal for some crude Meat is distributed and digested with it and causes Obstructions The use of it is convenient after rubbing in the Morning two hours before Exercise and Bathing What we said of things difficult of Digestion is applicable to things easily corruptible such as horary Fruits They are likewise in an Error who when they find Wind and Crudities upon their Stomachs drink these Waters to heat and strengthen the Stomach for by the tenuity of their substance they easily penetrate into the Bowels and increase their Intemperature whereupon their Disease afterwards encreases You will object Physicians prescribe Pepper bruised grossly and that Aetius used Wormwood for hypochondriack Winds but Pepper doe good this way because it reaches not to the Bowels but only strengthens the Stomach and therefore heats not the Liver Then its heat is extinguished and quickly dissipated in the first wayes and it cleanses and carries off sharp Humors Wormwood is good because it binds the Stomach and helps bilious not phlegmatick Humors which afford matter for this Disease by its detersion Primirosius and carries them off by stool and Urine XXV This must be observed concerning those they call digestive Powders that too strong things are not convenient in Diseases of the Head caused by Fumes It is best therefore to make them of things that are not much scented and to abstain from such things as have Musk Amber Saffron and other Things that fly to the Head in them But I blame such as put Liquorish in them for although it quench Thirst and have a little Astriction in it yet sweet Things make lax the Mouth of the Stomach and breed Wind. I also blame them that add Nutmeg and Mace because they are oyly Things and all such subvert the Stomach It is not amiss also to add Faenil and Seseli seed to Powders that discuss Wind and to digestives ones as also to other Powders because they attenuate the visory Spirits but we must be sparing in the use of Cummin Carroway and Rue seeds because of the too ingrateful taste of Cummin and the too great acrimony Let them be steeped in Vinegar Rondeleâ—â—â— if Powders be made for digestion of Meat XXXVI The breeding of much Matter in the Stomach
are drunk actually cold Sebis p. 546. they would offend the Stomach by their coldness IV. No Nation seems to drink Mineral waters more freely than the Italian for Fallopius prescribes them to 120 ounces The Germans are more sparing for Andernacus will not have the largest Dose to be above twenty seven ounces Though we cannot appoint a certain measure which may be as a Standard yet we think it profitable to express in some latitude the least middle and greatest Dose For people that are grown up let the least Dose be eight or twelve ounces the middle thirty two the highest sixty four And that a convenient quantity may be prescribed we must consider the circumstances as the Disease the Temperament Strength Age and Sex of the Patient the climate time of year manner of life custom habit of Body parts affected and the like Of which the greatness and vehemence of the Distemper is the Indicant properly so called thâ— strength of the Patient is the Permitteâ— or Prohibenâ— the other circumstances are the siâ—ns of the weakness or vigour of this Idem p. 53. But the most certain ruâ—â— for tâ—â— quantity is the Euphory or well-bearing when the Stomach dispenses well with it But daily experience shews that those that drink the Spaw-waters but in small quantity receive but small benefit by them yea are often prejudic'd whereas those that drink them plentifully are cur'd of great Distempers by them so that Frambesâ—iâ—â— sayes rightly that the more one drinks the â—oâ—e good he receiâ—es if so bâ— they paâ—â— wâ—ll Tâ—erefore let every one consider his Stomach how much Water he can bear and how soon he passes it and let this be his rule Heer Spadacien p. 114. That the best Indication is taken from Hurters and Helpers V. Authors advise to ascend by degrees to the highest Dose that the Stomach may be inured by little and little to the Waters as being actually cold and also that it may be understood how the Patient will be upon the drinking of them for a mans peculiar temper does not presently appear But we here admonish again that respect is not to be had so much to the number of cups as to the Euphory or well-bearing of the Patient and that the measure is to be accommodated to every ones nature Sebis p. 516. VI. When one is once come to the highest Dose some advise to keep to it till the end But because experience teaches that the diseased can seldome hold to the greatest Dose for four or five dayes but that they fall into Vomiting Fainting or difficulty of Breath it is more adviseable to follow the counsel of Herodotus in Oribasius Claudin de Inq. Sect. 1. viz. to descend by degrees till one come again to the first and least quantity VII Ryetius admonishes prudently to drink that quantity which a Man prescribes to himself in as little a time as may be that is to make an end of it in half an hour for otherwise seeing these waters pass quickly it would come to pass that the first should pass before the last be drunk which although Fallopius allow yet 't is generally disliked because by this means the last would be evacuated more slowly to the great prejudice of the drinkers and this is proved by daily experience and as many as have been often at the Spaw Heer p. 119. will subscribe to the truth of it VIII Some prescribe a certain number of dayes others have regard to the colour and consistence of the evacuated water which if for two dayes together it be such as before it was drunk they then think 't is time to abstain We think they are to be drunk so long as the Patients bear them well without confining them to a certain number of dayes and that they are also to be drunk so long as seems necessary for the perfect cure or at least for the bettering or manifest change of the diseased But as for the two first opinions we can subscribe to neither for as for the first it is impossible to prescribe a certain number of dayes because of the diversity of Diseases and Morbifick causes and as to the second it cannot be a certain rule seeing the Waters are used not only in Diseases with matter for Humours contained in the Veins but in Diseases without matter Sebiâ— p. 509 for altering and strengthning IX Some will have them warmed lest they offend the Stomach and Bowels with their coldness but experience teaches that many thousands drink your Acidulae cold without any prejudice Yea they ought not to be heated 1. because thereby they become white frothy turbid and some of them red whence is intimated a loss of their vertue by evocation of their Spirits which also happens to other Liquors as Wine c. 2. being drunk lukewarm they loose the tone of the Stomach and are vomited up Yet lest by their coldness they should offend an empty Stomach being taken out of the Well let them be held a little in ones hand in a closed Veâ—â—el thaâ— by that means they may lose somewhat â—f their coldness and let them be swallowed leisurely that as they descend into the Stomach Idem p. 583. they may be a little warmed by the parts they pass through viz. the Mouth and Gullet X. If the Waters altogether stagnate or abide in the Body as it happens to some what is to be done I answer there are divers receptacles of the Water in such cases If therefore they stay in the Intestines which is known by rumblâ—ng oâ— the Belly by belthing by teâ—sion and weight oâ— the abdomen then on the same day inject a Clyster of the same water with an ounce or two of hiera picra or of hiera Logadii or also of hiera diacolocynthis and so you shall bring the water all away But if this succeed not then try a sharper Clyster and the day following administer some purger of the Phlegm that has hindered the passage of the Waters and do this for two or three dayes together if it be necessary omitting in the mean time the use of the Waters But if the Water be retained in the Veins which is known by the absence of belching and of rumbling and swelling of the Belly let the Body be purged the next day for the absence of pain presses not for a Clyster on that day with Pills of hiera with agarick or with Pii Aloëphanginae being taken to three scruples and an half and afterwards procure sweating If these Pills bring not away the Water Fallopius advises to add a grain or two of Elaterium to one Dose of the said Pills Yea Fallopius was wont for the making of the Mineral Waters pass to give something of Elaterium first Heer p. 140. and after that the Water with very good success XI The English upon drinking the Waters presently smoke a pipe of Tabaco which I do not disallow but it would do better if by
Acidulae and pretend that they can do as much by a certain salt powder given to a few grains believing that the Stomach is offended by the great quantity of water which a little powder cannot do But this is a mistake for this is the prerogative of mineral waters that they do not offend the Stomach though taken in a large quantity in the mean time they pass through all the Vessels and whatsoever vitious matter they meet with they wash and cleanse it away which a few grains of any salt powder cannot do if one consider the great number of Mesaraick Vessels to which a few grains bear no proportion so as that the salt should be distributed to them all to say nothing of that singular mixture that is made by Nature which Art cannot imitate and that the vertue is not seated so much in any fixt salt as in a volatile Spirit which easily vanishes Sennertrâ— pract l. 3. part 5. sect 1. cap. 6. Nor must we rashly pass judgment of the qualities of these Waters for if we see that they consist of v. g. Alum Sulphur Iron Nitre c. we must not presently conclude Therefore they have the same vertues with the Minerals they consist of For according to Hippocrates lib. de vet medic In Man and other Mixts there is bitter salt acid insipid which being mixt and contemper'd are neither discerned nor offend But when any one of these shall be separated and exist by it self then it both becomes conspicuous and affects a Man and so obtains another vertue of affecting Hence gather that the qualities of Mineral Waters are to be enquired after by experience rather than by reason and that they are an Empirical Medicine whereby divers and contrary Distempers are cured See an example of artificial Acidul in Platerus's Observations lib. 3. p. 610. where he sayes that some mix Spirit of Vitriol with Acidulae that they may acquire an acidity but I have observed that that has prov'd prejudicial to many Willis sayes that he can make Artificial as effectual and grateful as the Natural XXII It is the opinion of some that it is convenient to boil Victuals in Mineral Waters but I do not approve of it 1. because the use of Medicaments ought not to be continual for by that means they become so familiar to Nature that they will effect little 2. Nature is not perpetually to be tir'd with Medicines but at Dinner and Supper time to be refreshed with mere aliments that she may endure the cure which is sometimes wont to last three four or five Weeks 3. Medicaments do infect aliments and these on the other hand dull the vertue of those 4. Mineral Waters do in no wise pass into the nourishment of the Body and therefore if they should be detained too long by the Food they would be corrupted for through the thinness and purity of their substance they are easily alter'd 5. If Victuals should be boil'd in the Waters it should either be for profit but then they would have but little vertue or for necessity but if they be drank twice aday they are taken in a quantity sufficient either for evacuation or alteration or lastly for pleasure Sebis p. 617. but so by boiling they lose their grateful taste c. XXIII Your Mineral waters commonly called Acidulae for the most part are wont to spring from a mixture of the Spirit of Vitriol sal Nitre and Alum which Minerals are indeed sometimes found simple but more often mixt more or less with other Minerals in the Bowels of the Earth especially with Iron There is great plenty of these Springs in divers Countreys in those especially that abound with Iron Mines Germany alone affords near a thousand as Bernhard Varenus affirms in his Geograph general cap. 17. lib. 1. But in Britain the more Famous are those of Barnet Epsom Tunbridge Astrop Scarburgh and that which springs out of S. Vincent's Rock near Bristol And the excellent vertues of these Acidulae both in reducing the over-fervent Blood to a just temper and also in cleansing it gently from Sulphureo-saline impurities both by Urine and Perspiration yea and in opening obstructions of the Bowels are so well known not to Physicians only but also to the unlearned multitude that they need not be published by me Nor need I stand in prescribing rules in the due use of them for that is done by others But I think good to intimate this in general that the Dose is to be increas'd or lessen'd daily according to the quicker or slower passage of the Waters observing a due regiment in the mean time both in Diet and Exercise and that a longer or shorter time is to be spent in drinking the Acidulae according to the greater or lesser Euphory and emolument of the drinker Gualt Charlton de Scorb p. 184. Adstringents The Contents The same are not convenient in all Cases I. III. How Medicines made of Mars astringe II. Respect is to be had to the Parts and Humors III. We must take heed of binding too much IV. In Diseases of the Breast we must astringe sparingly V. Whether there be astringent Clysters VI. In some Cases that require Astriction Openers c. are of use VII We must not rely much on Crocus Martis for astriction VIII When Tormentil is to be preferred before Bistort IX I. THe Universal and common Indicant for Astriction is the loosness of the solid Parts chiefly and next of the moist or in particular 1. The loosness of the Parietes Walls or Sides of the Parts hence Astringents are convenient in strengthning the Bowels when they are too loose and hence they are called and are Tonicks So Astringents also conduce to the moderating of the consistence of the Blood and resisting of Putrefaction whence many of them are also Alexipharmacks For the essence of malignant Diseases especially the Plague seems to consist in the resolution of the Blood when its consistence is so perverted that it is not sufficient for Vital actions but the Serum and Blood are parted of which sort are both Acids and mucilaginous precipitants and also Balsamick diaphoreticks 2. The rarity of the Pores 3. The mobility of the humors 4. The solution of the unity of the Membranes and Vessels 5. The consequent eruption of the humors sometimes of the Blood and Serum Now astringents that are owing to these Indicants are of divers kinds which although they all agree in uno tertio and intend one and the same end yet as Galen notes 3. de sang miss c. 15. this or that Astringent Medicine besides its astriction has several other qualities and therefore cannot obtain altogether the same effect or Different effects are observed to proceed from different Astringents For that which astringes besides astriction is either Acrimonious or Fat or Sweet or Bitter or Salt or Acid whereby is manifestly intimated what difference there is in the choice of Astringents for this or the other purpose In
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
and exterminate from the vital jurisdiction divers inveterate kinds of Fevers and other Diseases that arise from thence The defect of the felleous Ferment is made up by bitter things as Wormwood Centaury Agrimony Card. Ben. Fumitory and the roots of Succory and other Aromatick bitter ones Its excess is corrected by the acids reckoned up above For the Fermentation of the bile unless it be in a right state gives occasion to divers Calamities in the windings of the Guts When the Sulphureous part is sometimes exalted in the mass of Blood from a febrile Ferment and is too luxuriant and the Crasis of the Blood perverted from its due state so that it is all in a flame hot and boiling then that febrile Ferment as the most urgent is first to be destroyed by precipitation which is done in intermitting Fevers by tartareous Medicines by lixivial Martials married to acid Spirits in continual by Bezoardicum s and c. of Gold and Steel which do wonderfully bridle the ebullition of the Blood whose vertue arises not only from the Antimony and Mars and Sol but also from the Spirit of Nitre which is fixt abundantly in these which the increase of the weight teacheth its refrigerating and Anodyne vertue remaining safe which is known to few which yet is made more apparent when all the Nitre is turn'd into a most white Earth by the operation declared by Helmont Poterius's Alexipyreton that springs from the same Fountain is no less powerful Now the cause of that ebullition is a febrile and poisonous Ferment which being removed the Disease is most quickly and safely banished But this is done neither by Purgers nor by Bleeding which two are Impairers of the Faculties but by specifick anti-febrile Remedies that fix the febrile matter by Diaphoreticks and Diureticks to which if specifick Alexeteries be assisting you have a true Alexipharmack not only of all malignant Fevers but also of the very Plague it self In the mean time the febrile aestus or fervour is to be demulced with the acid Spirits of Mars tinctura Bezoardica Gelly of Hartshorn and Ivory with the Juices of Pomegranats Corinths c. the tinctures of Roses Violets and Borage prepared with the Philosophick Spirit of Vitriol and a little of the Spirit of Rasberries c. When the saline Parts in the Blood through bad digestion and fermentation are not spirituous enough nor are rightly exalted but remain crude and fixt are at their own liberty and suffer a fluor the Blood not only becomes thick and unfit for Circulation but acid also austere and acrimonious so that it is thereby corrupted and being coagulated breeds Obstructions in the Viscera and tartareous crudities are every where heaped up from which proceed the Hypochondriacal Distemper the Scurvy running and fixed Gout Stone Dropsie Leprosie and most Chronical Diseases In this vicious disposition those Medicines are good which exalt and volatilize what is fixt and promote an inflation in the whole mass of Blood In this case Evacuators profit nothing at all but by depauperating the Blood more waste the faculties without remedying those Medicines avail more that are fill'd with a temperate and mild volatil Alkali such as Stone-crop Fumitory Germander Centaury Celandine Scurvigrass and the more penetrating as the salt Spirit of Sal Armoniack of Hartshorn Soot Man's Blood Hart's Blood the volatil Salt of Tartar Arcanum tartari with the volatil Salt of Vipers c. respect being had to the circumstances are of notable use Hither also are to be referr'd Decoctions of Roots and Herbs impregnated with a volatil lixivial Salt so that the more excellent these are in this degree the more easily and plentifully also do they correct the preternatural acidities in our Body Preparations of Steel and Tartar give great hope of Health here also for these besides that in the Stomach the Fountain of Digestion and Archive of Life they correct and prepare the said Acidities which otherwise might be hostile in the habit of the Body they also imbibe and precipitate the wild Salts in the Blood and withal unlock the Vessels that are here and there obstructed Precipitating Medicines work after a Positive manner while they are spirituous and have a singular Balsamick vertue by the benefit whereof they so strengthen the power of the Natural Ferments and their innate Balsamick saltness that Nature her self can now again rise up against the Crudities and digest or precipitate or separate them After this manner ought the universal Remedy to operate if any had it Maurit Hofman Meth. Med. lib. 1. c. 19. or for want of it other comforting Spirits reduced to the greatest volatility Anodynes Narcoticks See Hypnoticks The Contents Some Anodynes are external some internal I. The external act either by mollifying II. Or by hindring an afflux of humours III. Or by Digesting IV. Nervine Anodynes V. The same agree not to all Parts VI. Opium is better inwardly than outwardly VII How Narcoticks take away the sense of the Part. VIII How they take away Pains IX Anodynes and Narcoticks differ only in degree X. Some Anodynes are not alike Narcotick XI The vertue of Narcoticks depends on the Sulphur XII Opium is a notable Anodyne XIII How it eases Pains XIV It stops Fluxes of the Serum and Blood XV. It is convenient for thin humours not thick XVI It is not to be given where there wants Serum XVII In Malignant Diseases it is to be joyned with Bezoardicks Ibid. Opium is the best Sudorifick XVIII Let it be given in a due Dose XIX The internal use is often better than the external XX. Let not the Patient be very weak when he takes it XXI Cold things being applied are an effectual Anodyne XXII The Preparation of the Oil of yelks of Eggs and Almonds XXIII I. THat we may the better proceed in rehearsing these it is necessary to premise a distinction betwixt internal and external Anodynes for according to the place of application does their manner of working vary also Both of them indeed loosen the tension and vellication of the Membranous Parts but after a much differing manner II. For outwardly this is perfomed 1. By Emollients that are such as to their operation whether they be Mucilaginous things whence a cheap and familiar Poultess in all Pains is made of the crumb of white Bread Milk Saffron the yelk of an Egg c. So live-Earth worms being applied do notably asswage the Pains both of a Whitlow and also others of the Nervous Parts on which account I have sometimes cured the greatest Pains of the Back only by bruising and applying these Or watery tepids or hot and moist things so Baths Fomentations and the like Topicks do loosen and digest by a kindly warmth and so do egregiously demulce So Hippocrates in a Pleuritick pain applied warm Milk in a Bladder to the aking side for although the vertue of the Liquor cannot throughly reach this Membrane yet neither is there need of it for it suffices that a
Spirits are exhausted and spent the remainder be tyed Death ensues presently XXII For easing the greatest Pains where digesting Anodynes being first applied have done no good let the pained Part be hastily touched with a Bladder full of cold Water and let the Bladder be removed again without delay and repeat this twice or thrice this is the advice of Hippocrates and Sanctorius for a moderate torpor has a vertue to cure Pain and then the application is made more conveniently in a Bladder because the pained Member is not offended by the moisture which perhaps might do it harm XXIII Oil of yelks of Eggs and of sweet Almonds is not to be drawn out of the yelks or Almonds burnt which some Perfume-makers do that they may draw the Oil more easily and plentifully but they are only to be gently warmed and then the Oil to be drawn out of them with that diligence that is necessary For indeed by burning of them the Oil is easily drawn Fabr. Hild. l. de Gangraena c. 24. but then it is sordid stinking and very unfit to allay Pain Aperients or Openers See Obstructions Book 13. and Preparers below The Contents Volatil Aperients should be moderately thick I. Absorbing and Resolving Aperients II. XI The Vniversal Indicant of Apertion is 1. An Obstruction III. Viz. 1. An Obstruction of the Viscera IV. 2. An Obstruction of the Vessels V. 3. An Obstruction of the Passages VI. 2. A Concrete or tartareous Body indicates Aperients VII Humours and Wind are subject to concretion VIII 3. A thick viscid clammy Body indicates Aperients IX Thick Humours often lie hid although the Symptoms of thin be most urgent X. 4. An acid acrimonious sowr Body indicates Openers and on what the vertue of Steel-Medicines depends XI Purgers are Openers and we must use these by turns XII What degree of heat Aperients are endued withal XIII Their active Principles XIV All Diureticks are Aperients XV. Let Vniversal Remedies precede the use of them XVI We must not insist too much on them especially on the volatil XVII Medicines that respect the Part are to be mixed with them XVIII They are not to be mixed with our Meat XIX We must take heed they dry not too much XX. Stirring about is necessary upon taking Chalybeates XXI I. APerient resolving attenuating inciding and absorbing Medicines all serve the same end for some of them only express the manner of acting more Their vertue namely and manner of acting consists principally in the thinness of their Parts Aperients are endued with Particles that incide are acute penetrate and loosen the Passages whereby they procure Motion to fixed Humours and make way for themselves to pass by But secondarily they ought to have a moderate thickness that their vertue may not so soon expire or dissipate which that of Rarefiers does which are more proper for what sticks in the Surface and Pores for they loosen the Pores and fuse the Humours Hence bitter things are of great esteem among Aperients because through their earthy Parts they strengthen withal For it stands for a rule That those Aperients are the best which strengthen the Parts and Fibres withal and do not induce a loose tone II. And these are the Aperients properly so called or rather of the first class namely of the volatil But besides these there are others that absorb and resolve not as if they were endued with thin Particles and so penetrated by their own vertue but because they absorb or drink up the coagulum that fixes the Humours as it were and for the most part is an acid pontick and sowr quality whence the Humours are sweetned as it were and consequently do not restagnate in their Receptacles or Chanels but pass readily to and again and are either circulated or cast out III. The Universal and as it were common Indicant therefore of Apertion I mean common to the Vessels and Pores obstructed and to the matter obstructing is 1. Somewhat obstructed and so hence Aperients in a great latitude are convenient for all obstructions in general For example for an obstruction IV. 1. Of the Viscera as of the Liver Womb Kidneys Spleen Mesentery where it is to be noted that those viscera are more liable to obstructions that have many vessels as the Liver and Spleen especially V. 2. Of the Vessels as of the Veins and Arteries which are like pipes or channels Whence as otherwise waters in pipes do by little and little deposit that slimy matter wherewith they abound in the pipes they pass through and fix it to their sides so it is in the Vessels whence we see that those whose Vessels are obstructed have their pulse increased and that the Blood is moved the quicker because the space it moves in is narrower Also for obstruction of the Nerves as in the Palsie where those Nervine Aperients are fitting that open the obstructed pores of the Nerves Also of the salival and lymphatick Vessels c. VI. 3. Of the meatus or passages as that of the Gall of the Intestines of the Ureters c. whence they are proper in the Jaundice Colick Stone c. where we must note by the way That all Persons troubled with the Stone are also Hypochondriacal or abound with a tartareous or obstructing matter in their Blood VII 2. Somewhat concreted or tartareous does indicate Aperients when saline tartareous and earthy Humours cause obstructions in which case they are properly called Resolvents Whence in the Stone Scurvy or the Hypochondriacal affection they are the only Remedies whether the concretion and coagulation be in fieri or but a growing whence in clodding of the Blood palpitation of the heart Swooning Fainting a polypus of the Heart c. they are good or in facto when it is completed as in inward Abscesses Pleurisie Apostem of the Liver c. also in a fall from some high place and in Wounds inwardly whence most Antipleuriticks and Antitraumaticks are withal Resolvents and in a Pleurisie the same things are convenient as in a fall from on high so also these Resolvents on this account are good in spitting of Blood if they be join'd with Adstringents VIII Now subject to this sort of concretion are either Humours viz. Blood Choler Serum Urine Milk whensoever they restagnate and are moved without their proper sphere as I may say or are out of their Element or flatus or wind whence Resolvents are also very good in flatulent Distempers IX Aperients are indicated 3. by somewhat thick viscid and clammy whether that be meant of the bile when it becomes sluggish puts off its proper nature and loses its salino-Sulphureous kindly and balsamick acrimony or of phlegmatick cold and moist juices whence in an Anasarca thick Catarrhs ill habit glutinous stone the Stomach fill'd with Phlegm c. they are good in which case they are particularly called Attenuaters and Inciders X. Now although thin Humours also may often seem to offend in obstructions as in the Scurvy and
IX The way to make a Fontanel in the Coronal suture X. Those Issues are best that are made by excision XI Whether is best to make them with an actual or a potential Cautery XII We must proceed warily in the application of a Potential Cautery XIII We must take heed of mistaking the place where the Caustick should be applied XIV How deep the Caustick should eat XV. It must not be applied to a weak Part. XVI Issues must not be made in Persons that have a very ill habit of Body XVII Whether they cause Barrenness XVIII They are not to be rashly dried up XIX Why they sometimes run nothing XX. How their Operation is to be helpt XXI A supervening tumour not to be ascribed to the mistake of the Physician XXII Let not Causticks be made of Astringents XXIII Those Issues that break out of their own accord are not to be stopt XXIV If the Body be foul apply not a Caustick XXV A Compendious way of making a Seton XXVI When we make it we must take heed of hurting the Tendons XXVII It is best making a Seton with an heated Instrument XXVIII In Children it is to be preferr'd before an Issue in the Neck XXIX Whether a Seton is to be made lengthwayes or breadthwayes XXX Let not the ligature upon Issues in the Arm be too strait XXXI The best Issues are in the Thigh if convenient Ligature can be made XXXII The Profitableness of Inustions XXXIII The difference of them according to the different intention XXXIV How the Arabians make their Inustions XXXV Whether Inustions of the Abdomen that were in use amongst the Ancients be to be approved XXXVI There is a Cautery without Pain XXXVII I. FOntanels as well as Vesicatories drain out whatsoever Humours are fixed within the Skin though in a less compass or that are drawn through it both from the Blood-Vessels and Nerves But they do not only like Vesicatories proritate and milk as it were the outer surface of the Skin but by perforating the Skin also they convey outwards all that exsudes from the sides of the hole by the broken vessels and that also which is sliding from other places under the bottom of the hole Wherefore there flow to Fontanels or Issues not only those Humours that are heaped up within the Pores of the Skin or the Glands or which are sent thither by the Arteries and Nerves but moreover the serous Excrements under the Skin that use to creep from place to place by the interstices of the Muscles and Membranes do from every hand tend towards them and find an exit by them Besides an Issue being placed in the way anticipates the Morbifick Humours that are wont to be carried to other Parts that were before weak and long afflicted and so frees sometimes one Part sometimes another from their incurse and like a Bulwark defends them from the Enemy Hence the matter whether Arthritick or Nephritick or Colical yea sometimes the Paralytick or otherwise the Scorbutick as it passes out of its Fountains to its nests or diseased Parts is often intercepted by Issues and so is carried out with the escaping of the usual invasions of the Disease This Emissary or Outlet also like water-furrows made to drain the ouziness of the Earth does by little and little drain out the Humours that are setled in any part or region of the Body and are there doing harm and so they either prevent or cure a morbid Disposition Willis II. From these various ways of helping whereby Issues are wont in general to profit it is easily gathered for what Diseases they are chiefly requisite for though there be almost no Disease to which this Remedy is either hurtful or unprofitable yet it seems more necessary in some cases than in others It is commonly prescribed for almost all Diseases of the Head both internal and external for the Convulsive motions of Infants and Children for their Ophthalmie and strumous Tumours Nor is this Remedy in less repute for Diseases of the Breast as also for those of the lower Belly Nor is there any Gouty or Cachectical Person but has his Skin as full of holes as a Lamprey But truly this Remedy howsoever profitable and benign of it self is not agreeable to all For there are two sorts of Men who although they were diseased may be excused from Fontanels inasmuch namely as this Emissary evacuates too much in some and in others less than it ought and in the mean time is very painful 1. It is not convenient when it too much evacuates or spends the moisture or spirits I have observed in some that an Issue made in any Part of the Body pours out an ichor immoderate in quantity and vicious for quality out of it namely very frequently if not always there ouzes in great plenty a watry thin and stinking Humour often colouring the Pease and Coverings black and by the too great efflux hereof the Strength and Flesh are wasted The reason whereof seems to be that in some who have their Blood and Humours ill disposed when a Solution of continuity is made and hindred from healing it shortly turns into a stinking and ill favour'd Ulcer the sides whereof put on the nature of a corruptive acid Ferment whereby namely the Portions of the Blood that are continually driven thither are so tainted and dissolved that the Serum having its Sulphur loosned and being imbued with other defilements is rejected of the Veins and so issues plentifully out there Moreover this corruptive taint of the Issue being communicated to the Blood doth in some sort deprave its whole mass and thereby as also through the too great loss of the serous Humour renders it at least less nutritious And from the Sulphur of the Blood 's being dissolved on the sides of the Issue and flowing out with the Serum does the ichor that flows oâ—t stink so and blacken the Linnen Sometimes the Fontanel pouring out no immoderate quantity of ichor does yet unduly consume the Spirits and Strength which indeed is known by the Effect and sometimes only a Posteriori inasmuch namely as some while they have one or more Issues open continue languid and lean but these being stopt they presently become more brisk and fleshy Moreover 't is a vulgar observation that many upon having an Issue made near their Head have been taken with some defect and weakness of Sight so that they have been forced to close it again presently which seems therefore to happen because where the store of Spirits is small and their consistence very thin small expences of them or of the juice out of which they are bred if so be they be constant are hardly born But 2. Fontanels as also Vesicatories are forbidden some or are warily prescribed on another and indeed a different regard namely because when they evacuate almost little or nothing they vex and pain very much the place in which they are made For such as being of a Cholerick or otherwise
Fevers for which Wine is not at all ill especially for those which have their seat in the Stomach if so be such Wine be given as disturbs not the Head though in a pretty quantity it sometimes effects a cure according to Primrose l. 3. de vulg err in Med. cap. 18. The same person adds The propriety of a man has great power in the cure of all Diseases and there are some so very much addicted to Wine that even in the extremest Sicknesses they cannot abstain from it Add to these Canonherius of the admirable vertues of Wine who Lib. 1. cap. 3. § 18. writes thus We may use Wine in Fevers and as Aliment and § 25. Wine procures Sweat and by it not a little of the serous matter is carried fourth by Vrine Let the Reader compare with these Costaeus in Tract de Potu in morbis lib. 2. Hippolyt Obicius Hipp. Antonellus in apparatu Animadv upon the same XIV Hippocrates greatly disallows of Water for ordinary Drink and as much commends it as a Medicine namely when drunk in a large quantity Now he says it hurts in ordinary drink because it is thick passes not through the Hypochondres and in cholerick Persons easily turns into choler for being conquer'd by the febrile heat it easily Putrefies otherwise because it is cold and moist it is wholly contrary to the Fever and therefore is good for it In those therefore who are used to drink Water I see no reason why it may not be granted but it will be better if it be corrected with the mixture of other things yea it may be boiled to make it the thinner Some will have it distilled and then to be temper'd with the mixture of cooling and opening Syrups some would have Bread so soaked in it that it may a little imbibe the vertue of the Ferment Primiros de febr p. 146. others would have Cinamon infused in it c. XV. Beer although it be small yet it always has some faculty to heat and make drunk although that vertue be less and weaker in small than in strong whence it is not so good for those that are in acute Fevers and whose Head achs because it inflames and causes thirst if it be drunk plentifully as Febricitant Persons use to drink that are very dry You will object that Beer is only Barley-water nor does it acquire any quality that is adverse to a Fever from the addition of Hops seeing Hops are usually prescribed to depurate the Blood But Experience teacheth that there is a great difference betwixt Barley-water and Beer seeing the Water cools and drink as much as you will it never inflames nor disturbs the Brain nor causes thirst which cannot be said of Beer even though it be small And the difference depends upon this that Beer is not made of simple Barley but of Mault which is Barley steep'd and dried and dry Hops are added which heat sufficiently then it is fermented whence it acquires an hot quality which is not in Barley-water nor Ptisan and therefore it seemeth to me not so good Yet its use is better to be born with than that of Wine because it is less hot and is Diuretick Add that a Spirit is drawn even from small Beer Idem XVI In giving Drink to People in acute Fevers 't is fitting to use a measure lest on the one hand by too much moisture which is improper for Febricitant persons there spring either a greater crudity or a fouler and longer Putrefaction or on the other side by too much driness the accidents be increased and the Body consume Yet this one thing is worth noting that Drink being mixed with Meat is easilier concocted doth sooner refresh and doth less burthen weak Nature whence it comes to pass that on the first day of an acute Fever we may forbid all moisture unless the Patient be so weak that on that account Food is necessary but on the last days when driness and burning are urgent we must give Drink more freely Merc. lib. Praeâ—d 1. c. 2. especially if there shall be manifest concoction XVII Drinking in the Fit of an Ague is very hurtful for hereby just like as when Water is thrown upon a red hot Brick Valaeus m. â— p. 1â—0 there is caused such an ebullition of Humours as that both the Disease and the Symptom thirst are increased ¶ And yet we ought not pertinaciously as some do adhering to the indication from the cause neglect the intemperature for it is better sometimes to let the Disease be prolonged Valles 1. 2â— p. 41. than that a man should be presently burnt up ¶ I have found by Experience that hereby there have often sprung continual and mortal Fevers of intermittent ones and such as have been void of danger Heurn Aph. 62. 7. XVIII In continual burning Fevers the effect is commonly more urgent than the cause the Symptom than the Disease when therefore burning and troublesom thirst are grievous to the Patients in those Diseases it seems reasonable to give them their Drink cold and in that plenty that it may temper the boiling Humours and extinguish the fervour of the Spirits To this Hippocrates has regard whilst in many places he commends cold Drink thus l. de vict ac both in the Causus or burning Fever and Quinsey he gives cold Water In lib. 4. Epid. he says that in acute Fevers 't is profitable to give cold Water In 2. de morb On the second day after the beginning of the Fever you shall give him as much cold Water as he 'l drink again 3. de morb he prescribes cold water even that hath been exposed to the open air But l. de Loc. he says For Drink you shall give warm water and water and Honey and Vinegar with water for if the drink be not received in cold being and remaining warm it will detract from the sick Body or either will eject by Vrine or will dry There namely he is more intent upon the cause of the Disease For drink is given in Fevers upon a double account either that it may be a vehicle for the food and quench thirst which is taken with the food it self and this should be cold or for the alteration or exclusion of the Humours and here warm drink is commended as also if the Body have not been accustomed to cold or if the Stomach be cold XIX Give cooling potions to drink in burning Fevers when you will says Hippocrates 3. de morb v. 69. Note that Hippocr said not when the Patient will but when you the Physician will that is according to the regulated will of the Physician and not the perverse will of the Patient Now these potions are of different operations for some cause pissing others going to stool some both some neither some cool only like as when one pours cold Water into a Vessel of boiling Water or exposes the Vessel it self full of Water to the open air Therefore you shall give
themselves the mistura simplex alone may serve for an instance for neither the Spirit of Treacle of it self nor the Spirit of Tartar do so readily procure sweat as when the Spirit of Vitriol is joined to them for this doth promote both their activities So also the tincture of Bezoar without the addition of the Spirit of Salt or some other acid is less apt to cause sweat Now when the Blood curdles it becomes more gross viscid thick and glutinous whence acids by taming the Sulphur and hindring rarefaction as much as may be do in such case promote the separation of the serous Humour and by this means promote also its halituosity Whence these and the Diaphoreticks of the first class are profitable being chosen according to the diversity of Indicants even in divers kinds of Fevers especially also in the Pox Scurvy Leprosie and the like where the Blood being much too glutinous doth necessarily import a weight and pain of the membres These very Medicines also of this class have a great vertue to take away the grumousness of the Blood whence also the mistura simplex has no contemptible use in the palpitation of the heart it self also in the scab and many other maladies In a word in any faults of the mass of Blood arising from the quality and vitious excesses in motion ebullitions despumations c. diaphoreticks bear away the bell both restoring and depressing the ferment V. But inward Impellents have need of externals whence it is not enough to take a Diaphoretick Medicine but at least there is need that the ambient air should be warmer than usual and that the Body be cover'd as also that the pores be more dilated and the Humours fused But the business is never accomplished by externals alone unless when the matter sticks more betwixt the Skin and Flesh for in that case external impellents do more good Likewise when a particular tumour exerciseth and wearies some membre the same are useful VI. Nor avail they only in the abundance and repletion of Humours and impurities of the Blood but they also make the sluggish Humours more brisk and lively but they are chiefly good for resolving and attenuating of serous Humours and evacuating them by the pores whence the fixedness or volatility of the Medicines and the different state of the Blood varies their use There are some who always use antimon diaphoret only others cry the Spirit of Harts-horn up to the Sky others use the tincture of Bezoar especially the camphorated almost for all cases All these offend but chiefly the last for all cannot endure alike camphorated Remedies at least in so great a dose as greatly rarefies the Blood Camphor hath a notable place in invigorating the motion of the Blood but not where it is too much rarefied and Boils for in such cases it makes the watching thirst and heat to be greater whence it is better to use the tincture of Bezoar not so much camphorated or rather to have some other milder at hand VII Whensoever therefore resolution of the strength is feared and the Blood stands more in need of a Bridle than a Spur the more temperate bear away the bell and are to be preferr'd and on the contrary Lib. de febr So especially Hofman observes that in a certain Epidemical Fever joined with a colliquative Sweat Bole-Armen and sealed Earth were the only Remedies But if any should give the same alone to promote the motion and fermentation of the Blood he would make himself ridiculous VIII Where there is more need of Precipitation than Discussion the Patients are to be less compelled to Sweat yea Sweat being too much forced does less good even in continual Fevers Hence those do egregiously err in their Practice who in Tertians and Quartans by giving a febrifuge Powder before the Fit do continually prompt and almost compel their Patient to Sweat from whence we have observed that a fear of a Consumption and other no light Symptoms have sometimes arisen Hence in driving out the Small Pox also in malignant Fevers it is never adviseable to force the Patients too strongly to Sweat for by this means the Serum is too much consumed the Blood it self is more excited to ebullition and the endeavour of Nature that is acting aright unseasonably precipitated and therefore 't is better to continue a Diaphoresis or gentle breathing and to give Nature time than spoil all by forcing it is better to follow her to lead and not drive her that which Sweat performeth not a thin dewiness does IX They are less profitable wheresoever Serum is wanting yea and if it exceed they are not so good neither for as when it fails Hydroticks do more exhaust it so when it is superfluous they cannot alone conquer and evacuate it Hence for example in the distracted and other cholerick Persons also the rule now given holds whence in that case either the more temperate only are to be chosen or they are not to be given without watry vehicles that increase the Serum substantially which very thing holds of the drier sort of People in general Hence in hydropical Persons Diureticks and Purgers do more good than Diaphoreticks X. In Phlegmatick Diseases and where the first ways abound with vicious Humours and these are fixed there as it were they are not so good Hence Purgers and Vomiters are more universal Remedies as it were and after these when the thicker and more viscous Parts are taken away the thin 〈◊〉 remains is more fitly evacuated by Diaphoreticks Hence in all Fevers indeed Diaphoreticks profit greatly but in the intermitting that is diligently to be observed especially in the Quotidian The same thing is to be noted also in the Scab it self and in a Cachexie Diaphoreticks have but a secondary place lest they coagulate the Phlegm or Serum more that is already coagulated and too thick lest they disturb the Humours and more increase the impurities of the Blood Wedâ—i de san rac p. 170. which they should take away Diureticks The Contents Their nature and distribution as to their use I. Which of them are convenient when the Blood is too thick and tenacious II. What Medicines are agreeable for a too loose compages of the Blood III. When there is place for Saline Remedies IV. When we must use Sulphureous V. Their distinction as to their effect VI. They are not indifferently agreeable to all Affections and Humours VII For what Diseases they are especially convenient VIII How they expel the pituitous and serous Humour IX They ought for the most part to precede the use of Hydroticks or sweating Remedies X. The Humours often are to be prepared before the administration of Diureticks XI They have a faculty to separate serous Humours out of the mass of Blood XII All the Body may be drained by their help XIII They do not always prerequire the Preparation of the Humours and they may be given before the declension of the Disease XIV The same
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
that when the Blood being weak or growing sowr does not either through the defect of Fermentation or the dominion of an acid and coagulative Salt circulate briskly enough and equably and so keep the superfluous Serum so long within it self as till it may deliver it to the Kidneys the foresaid Remedies by keeping the mixture of the Blood intire or restoring it when it faulters Idem conduce to the provoking of Urine VI. Helmont in his Treatise of the Stone c. 5. Sect. 17. thus distinguishes Diureticks as to their effects 1. Some sharpen the Urine with a corrosive Poison as Cantharides 2. Others provoke an acidity and leave it in the Urine and raise a Strangury such as is new Beer or Ale 3. Others make the Urine abstersive as acidulae or Mineral waters Vitriolum Martis Crabs eyes and also the Herbs that every where are called Diuretick and do all of them contain a volatil alkali or at least acquire it in Digestion 4. Some stimulate the sluggishness of the Archeus and increase in it the expulsive Faculty such as are Horse-rhadish Asperagus c. 5. Some refresh the Urine and Kidneys with a grateful smell as Mace Nutmeg Turpentine Mastich Juniper c. as if the Kidneys being comforted by the Odour became mindful of their office 6. There are some also which from a lixivial alkali pass under digestion into an acrimony that cleanseth the passages of the Urine like Soap and stimulate the expulsive Faculty and incide the filth that sticks to the passages of which sort are those which are gathered from Shells and Stones and the ashes of things appropriate and which alone seem to deserve the name of Lithontripticks or Stone-breakers especially if they be brought into a degree of volatility 7. There is a kind of Diuretick which in a small quantity pours forth a great deal of Urine from the whole Body as hog-lice and what things soever contain a volatil Nitre and which by their property excite the sluggish Kidneys 8. There is also a kind which is profitable for allaying Pains in the Kidneys comforting them when they hesitate such a vertue there is in Saffron Rhubarb and Cassia when they are deprived of their loosening quality I add those also which not only by an abstersive Faculty but also by a resolutive thrust forward incide and expel the tartareous dross as well out of the Hypochondres as Kidneys Thus Spirit of Sea-salt and of Vitriol are not only Diuretick but do moreover dissolve the Tartar and bring it out by the urinary Passages Seeing therefore there is great diversity of them they are not every of them alike fit to be administred to every affection and morbifick cause but the nature of each is to be examined more accurately Thus in the Dropsie we fitly use those which are properly called Diureticks which make the Urine abstersive and incide the filth that sticks to the Passages and by their acrimony excite the expulsive Faculty but those are not to be used here which yield much watriness Likewise Diureticks properly so called are good when there stick thick tartareous Humours in the Hypochondres and all the Veins for these can attenuate resolve absterge and send them forth by Urine The morbifick cause also is to be well examin'd for we must first lessen its plenty through other places of excretion lest whil'st it rushes into the narrow Veins it obstruct them If there be acrimonious salt and other sowr Humours present in the Body their acrimony is first to be mitigated or contemper'd either by specifick digestives or other appropriate Precipitants lest they affect the rest of the Parts in their passage If lastly the urinary Passages also and other adjacent Vessels be either exulcerated or inflamed or labour under some such Distemper the vitious Humours stagnating in the Body are not fitly moved by Diureticks to these affected and weak parts unless the matter of the Ulcers be withdrawn both by Clysters and Catharticks When the viscera are obstructed unless the Diureticks be of that nature as to open and absterge the Humours withal they will procure a greater mischief to the Sick and often do so prejudice the Bowels appointed for Concoction that a Cachexie after a while ensues Fr. Hofman m. m. l. 1. c. 12. See an example in Horstius in Epist Med. s 8. VII It is to be noted that all Diureticks are not indifferently convenient in any distemper or Humour for the benefiting of the sick by provoking Urine but one is to be used in one Disease or offending Humour and another in another Some indeed are good for bringing out Choler and others phlegm offending by Urine Proper for Choler are the juice of Citron the emulsion of Barley Straw-berries the Spirit of Salt the Salt of Tartar vitriolated c. and for Phlegm amongst Chymical Medicines the volatil Salt of Urine and otherwise all volatil Salts the distilled oils of Juniper-berries of Amber c. yea and also the Acids commended just now for choler because they no less alter-Phlegm yea Acids drive it forth by Urine than do Aromaticks and such as consist of a volatil Salt as experience alone has taught us yet the latter are for the most part observed to be the better and fitter for restoring health seeing they not only correct Phlegm but also preserve the Choler in its natural state Franc. Sylv. de le Boe tract 6. § 251. But Acids though they incide Phlegm and promote its passing out by Urine yet they do withal infringe Choler and carry it from its natural state and in that respect hurt VIII Diureticks are most proper in those Diseases that are firmly rooted and have their foundation in a Tartareous Saline Dross in which it is profitable to evacuate by little and little the occasional cause of the Disease by the Urinary passages Thus in the Hypochondriack and Scorbutick we empty out of the Body those Tartareous Humours and preternatural Salts tinged with a Scorbutick ferment and springing from depraved digestions I say we empty these out of the Body more fitly by degrees by Diuretick aperitives otherwise called Antiscorbuticks Frider. Hofman m. m. lib. 1. c. 12. which withal saturate the force of the excited Salts than by bare Sudorificks or Purgers only IX By what means do Diureticks provoke Urine and together with it drive forth the pituitous and serous Humour seeing they differ very much one from another both in taste and smell and other sensible qualities That this may the more easily appear we must know that we here speak properly of those Diureticks that draw forth serous and Phlegmatick Humours abounding in the Body wherefore the reason of that superfluity is first to be considered which is seldom one alone but most often manifold For Serum or Phlegm abound in the mass of Blood either because they are not separated from it or because they are produced in so great plenty that they cannot be sufficiently separated and discharged from
Hysterical fits and other convulsive ones they are but seldom to be given and not without caution and the advice of a skilful Physician But in a cruel Head-ach Catarrhs Colick Pleurisie ordinary Fevers Vomiting Dysenterie fits of the Stone or Gout and in all pains whatsoever Opiats are not only allowed but we have recourse to them as to Divine panacea's III. And as often as we intend to make use of them we must also consider in what tenour the Animal Spirits over which dominion they preside are for if being fewer or oppressed they already flag and do not spread their sails enough certainly they ought not to be further lessened and cast down by Opiats Wherefore if so be the Animal faculties be not vigorous both as to sense and discourse or do not exert themselves briskly enough or when the pulse and respiration have the turns of their reciprocations but weak or swifter or also flower then usual hindred and unequal or lastly if a numbness and enervation shall seize upon the membres and motive parts with an unwonted languor we must wholly refrain from any hypnotick Medicine But we shall not stick to use them if they are indicated in the greater Diseases and if withal the Animal Spirits be strong enough in these and other respects or become too much expanded or immoderately fierce and outragious IV. Yet the state of the Blood and Humours is not to be neglected in the mean time because sometimes their naughty condition does wholly forbid Opiats or suffers them not to be used unless sparingly and with some restriction The Blood does contraindicate their use when it offends either in its quantity or in its quality or crasis As to the former it either abounds or is defective and in both respects it hinders Narcotick Remedies For first if at any time the Blood being turgid through plenty and withal boiling in a Fever do greatly distend the Vessels and so the heart greatly labour to drive it most quickly about lest it stagnate or overflow any where by a very swift repetition of its systole's truly in such case to give a Narcotick to hinder that labour and endeavour of the heart without which life could not be maintain'd were the part rather of a poisoner than a Physician wherefore in a Plethora bleeding ought always to be premised before the use of Opiats Secondly nor is there fear of less mischief from Narcoticks as often as they are given in defect or penury of the Blood as after great hemorrhagies long fasting or long-continued sickness because seeing the rivulet of the Blood is but small and through its smallness hardly continuous lest its flowing be interrupted and therefore cease the heart by beating very swiftly as with doubled endeavours strives to drive it about most quickly Hence it is obvious to conceive how great harm Opiats do which put a stop to this endeavour of the heart that is then chiefly necessary Indeed for this reason it seems to be that we forbid sleep to women presently after Child-birth when their lochia flow plentifully or to any persons after a large letting of Blood or great hemorrhagies namely lest the Spirits being recalled in sleeping leave the heart so destitute that it cannot quickly enough drive about the lessened stream of Blood Moreover sometimes the Blood offending in its quality or crasis contraindicates the use of Opiats because whilst in a Cacochymie or Fever the Blood being very full of recrements ought to be agitated with a greater endeavour of the heart and to be more quickly circulated namely that the heterogeneous particles may be subjugated and soon evaporate the intervening operation of a Narcotick stops these attempts of the heart and therefore hinders the lustration or clearing of the Blood and sometimes frustrates it As to those other recrementitious Humours that use to be heaped up within the Stomach and intestins 't is fitting that these also should be withdrawn purged forth by vomit or stool before an Opiat be given for otherwise being fixed there they will stick the more stubbornly because the Splanchnick fibres being stupefied by the Medicine are not so irritated as before nor do easily enter upon or briskly perform their excretory Spasms for expelling these recrements Willis Pharmac Rat. part 1. wherefore according to the old precept if any thing be to be evacuated evacuate it before you give Narcotick Medicines V. We must observe concerning Narcoticks 1. that Anodynes are always to be used before them for seeing they make the Spirits sluggish often induce a stupor drousiness difficulty of Breath and sometimes death it self there is need of great caution in giving of them 2. They are not to be used before general Remedies 3. It is safer first to apply them outwardly and to see whether their use suffice before they be given inwardly 4. We must mark whether the faculties can sustain the Disease so long as till the cause of watching or pain can be taken away by ordinary Remedies nor must we come to them till the Patient be in some danger from want of sleep or pain 5. According to Sennertus l. 1. p. 2. cap. 1. Pract. If the faculties be not very much dejected by the Disease but only begin to be in danger through pain or want of sleep then is it safe to give Opiats when other things profit not But if the Patient be not only in danger through want of sleep and pain but the faculties are already dejected even by the Disease it self so that 't is doubted in a manner of the life of the Patient then they are not easily to be given Frider. Hofman m. m. lib. 2. c. 4. because they hasten death and bring on a perpetual slumber VI. Their daily and too frequent use is to be avoided lest whilst we try to ease pain we introduce another Distemper or lessen the Concoction of the Stomach For I my self have observed this to be true Idem ibid. that they hinder the concoction of the Stomach for they blunt its fermental Spirit so that it cannot exert its fermenting vertue whence follow Cardialgiae weight and compressions of the Stomach with anguish VII Let them be banished in the beginning of a Paroxysm or also when a crisis is at hand for the endeavour and motion of Nature is inverted by them whilst the natural heat is suffocated and the febrile heat is hindred from being expanded and the morbifick matter from being expelled VIII Their use after Blood-letting is very hurtful because the Members being then languishing and almost insensible a deadly Hemorrhagie may easily arise See an example in Borellus Cent. 4. Obs 57. IX They are to be given after the meat is past off the Stomach and three hours before eating again lest concoction be disturbed yet if there be great necessity they may be administred even an hour after Supper Idem p. m. 438. the vapours of the meat more easily carrying their somniferous and anodyne vertue to the
the Conserve of Rosemary Flowers Balm and the like to drive away troublesome watchings from them Now the reason of this is the same with what Hosman gave of flower-de-luce namely because Mosch and Ambre are fumous or vaporous ¶ Opium appeases watchings and procures sweet sleep if so be the watchings proceed not from over great driness in which case they do no good given alone but they do very well with moisteners so that by this means the Brain is both demulced and made drousie especially in old men and otherwise where the watchings arise from over great driness defect Acrimony or other indisposition of the Lympha Whence washings of the Head and Feet c. belong hither as also other vehicles of Opiats and promoters of their vertue Wedel de s m. fac p. 205. ¶ We may safely use the somniferous sponge of Heurnius 2 met c. 7. seeing those that are made to sleep by it presently awake upon its being taken off or if they continue to sleep too long they may be easily awaked with another sponge steept in the decoction of wild thyme boiled in Vinegar together with Majoran Smallage and sweet Fennel Seed applied to the Nostrils Sim. Pauli quadrip Botan cl 2. tit Iris. XXII As cold soporificks hurt in Diseases of the Breast by thickning the Humours and making them unfit for expectoration so Flower-de-luce does excellent well in these Diseases XXIII Seeing 't is easie to offend in using too great a quantity of Opium it will be the part of a prudent Physician to behave himself warily in the giving of Opium and Opiats and rather to give them at several times a little at a time than to give much at one and the same time with danger to the Patients Sylv. de le Boë Prax. l. 2. c. 22. §. 113. especially seeing the same yea better effect may be obtained from the same Opiat given at several times than all at once XXIV Although the Narcotick stupefying vertue of Opium differ widely from the pacative vertue of the Anodyne prepared of Vitriol which induces only a natural sleep and no stupefaction which I would have well noted of all that desire at any time to practise Physick with commendation yet I will explain the nature of each The Narcotick vertue of Opium seems indeed to be extended to the Animal Spirits but the pacative vertue of Vitriol to the effervescent bile which I think Helmont then calls the fury of the Archeus Let all therefore seek that Anodyne of Vitriol and esteem it for a great secret when they find it for it performs wonderful things in curing divers most difficult Distempers Idem §. 31. XXV As to the Heads and Seeds of white Poppy of which Diacodium as also decoctions Emulsions and other Hypnotick preparations are made it is very plain that these are far less endued with a Narcotick Sulphur than the concrete juice of Opium and what thereof is in these is far more pure and harmless wherefore we do oftner and more securely give Remedies made up of these For it is not good to ascend to Laudanum unless when through the vehemence of Symptoms Diacodiats will not do Moreover seeing these contain less of virulence in them they need not much preparation but may be used in Medicine being only boil'd or infus'd or sqeezed But Opium is very rarely prescribed simply and by it self Willis phar Rat. p. m. 317. but is wont to be divers ways corrected and compounded that it may become an Anodyne safe enough XXVI When other things have been used in vain to procure sleep then comes Opium The vulgar are afraid of it as present poison whereas being rightly prepared and given in a convenient dose it is an innocent and wholsom Medicine The Ancients indeed have writ that it is a poison but that is only when it is taken in too great a quantity but thus there is nothing so wholsom which by abuse may not become hurtful Now there are divers sorts of poisons some are such in their whole substance which kill however or in what dose soever they are taken others only in quantity otherwise they may profit as Purgers and such things are given in that quantity as to overcome Nature thus milk curdled in the Stomach or juice of Lettuce are said to be poisons But among those things which are called Somniferous Opium is the most innocent 1. Because our Opium is generally the Meconium of Dioscorides which is made of the juice of the leaves and heads of Poppy but Opium is a tear Now Meconium is far less effectual than Opium whence it must be given in a larger dose than Opium to hurt 2. We must note from Galen 5. simpl 18. that of Narcoticks some moisten as Hemlock Mandrake and these are hurtful others dry and these are taken inwardly without harm And 1. de Symptom caus he writes Those things which cool and moisten cause not sleep but a Coma stupefaction and Carus but those which dry as Opium are less hurtful Therefore according to the opinion of Dioscorides and Galen we need not to be so afraid of Opium taken moderately Primiros de vulg error 4. c. 44. XXVII The Ancients who thought that Opium hurt by its excessive coldness used altogether hot Medicines to correct it such as Pepper Pyrethrum or bastard Pellitory Saffron Castor Euphorbium and the like but they were induced to correct Opium in that manner by a false Hypothesis and they made no good preparation of their Medicines To speak only of Philonium Romanum heretofore a sufficiently frequent Medicine experience hath taught that through the admixture of so many hot Medicines it can hardly be swallow'd but it will burn the Throat and cause an heat therein and being mixt in Clysters but even to half a drachm it has in some caused a great heat in the lower Belly and streight Gut To day it is very usual to make an extract of Opium with Spirit of Wine impregnated with spec diambr. aromat ros or the like or let such Spirit of Wine be added to the extract of Opium as also distilled Oyls and Cordial waters as we may see in the various preparations of Laudanum * See Schrod pharm l. 4. cl 2. c. 394. Some find fault with this preparation of Opium because it does equally deposit into the Spirit of Wine the stinking and poysonous Sulphur which remains in Opium even after its having past the fire yea being more attenuated by the Spirit it sooner exerts its Malignity and insinuates more intimately into the Parts Whereto they add this also that there is a certain Narcotick vertue in Wine These therefore find out another way to prepare and correct Opium They cut Opium into small pieces and dry it so long in dishes set over hot ashes or other gentle heat as till the stinking Sulphur exhale and the Opium breath out a sweet and grateful smell and may be powdered betwixt ones Fingers which
to a due purgation three things are required 1. An effectual Medicine given in a due dose time and manner 2. The ways ought to be open otherwise there is either no purgation or such as is troublesome 3. The Humour ought to be disposed and it is so if it make no resistance against the Medicine as if it be not tough thick clammy or mixt with the Blood or other Humours whereby its motion may be hindred Therefore thin Humours are in their own Nature most easily purged out but they are mixt either with the Blood or other Humours or the ways may be shut and obstructed wherefore these are to be opened and then the Humours to be evacuated are to be separated from the rest Now concoction is twofold one wherein the Humours are reduced to benignity that they may nourish the other wherein they are made apt for expulsion If we speak of the first we must concoct thin Humours that they may return to mediocrity therefore they are to be incrassated If of the second thick Humours are rather to be attenuated because they resist that which would move them but not the thin because they are easily moveable as Galen in the fore-cited place teacheth But if thin Humours be mixed with the Blood they ought first to be prepared and whether they be so is known 1. by the Blood that is let if much ichor separate from it 2. When these Humours are separated there ensue Itchings Blains and Scabs 3. If the Urine be ruddy and thick it is a sign that thin Humours are mixt with the Blood but if it be plentiful Primiros l. 2. de Feb. c. 9. thin and clear it is a sign they are separated and prepared X. Whether ought an altering Medicine in one dose be so strong as the quality that it should change in the Body I answer if it can reach the part affected and that without the hurt or prejudice of the adjoyning parts then it is altogether lawful so a beginning Erysipelas that has seised but upon one part may be presently expelled by a strong cooler and the heat of the Stomach likewise But if it cannot conveniently reach to the part affected without having its vertue weakned and without the hurting also of the neighbouring parts we must alter by giving the Medicine at several times J. Walaeus m. m. p. 93. XI Let Alterations be made leisurely so as not to begin at the highest degree that is the third sometimes we alter in the fourth But let us begin at the first and proceed from the first to the second from the second to the third if the two first will not doe otherwise the highest degree would easily become familiar to Nature and afterwards she would not be helped by weaker things Idem p. 95. XII We cannot alter every thing with every Alterative for alteration is made by conjunction and perfection hence if Medicines be to alter 't is necessary that they be mixed with the Humours to be altered if they require to be mixed they ought to be like to the Humours not in respect of qualities for so they ought to be contrary but in respect of the constitution Therefore let those things that are oily in our Bodies be altered with oleous things the watry with watry the Salt with Salt Nor need we add hot things to hot if we say that Salt things are to be added to Salt for there are Salt things which are cold Idem ibid. such as Nitre and Borax XIII During concoction retentions of the excrements are profitable and evacuations hurtful as being contrary to concoctions Wherefore we must shun their practice who by continually soliciting evacuations by Clysters and other Remedies Valles m. m. l. 2. c. ult give no leave for concoction XIV The bilious Humour requires cold preparers yet these do so hinder purgation that we must sometimes abstain from them especially just before it is time to purge On which account even in cholerick and acute Diseases we must seek for an opportunity to give hot Medicines as the decoction of wild Majâ—ran Penniroyal c. We shall therefore use cold syrups for the Acrimony of the Humours but things that attenuate and incide when we would only make the Bodies fluid Mere. de praesid med to wit just before purging ¶ Choler both the natural excrementitious and also the preternatural and the excessive Sulphureous oleous parts of the Blood in a word a bilious cacochymie as it offends by its heat is digested by watry diluters sharpish and other temperate things but if it be too tough also by inciders G. W. Wedel des m. fac p. 12 and bitter things as in the Jaundise if too thin by sharpish and earthy mucilaginous things ¶ Choler is to be temper'd both on the account of its Acrimony and on the account of its volatility increased The Saline lixivial Acrimony of the Choler is most powerfully temper'd by acid and sowr things more gently by oily and spirituous which yet often it is not safe to use seeing they are apt to increase and cherish the burning of the Bile and Blood unless the oyls be first fixed Therefore the only safe temperers of the Acrimony of Choler will be acid and sowr things such as are amongst vulgar Remedies Sorrel Wool-Sorrel Plantain c. amongst Chymical I commend Alum and its Spirit as also the Spirits of Vitriol common Salt Nitre Sulphur c. distilled Vinegar as well simple as prepared with other things The too great volatility of the Choler may be diminished by fixers Sylv. de lâ— Boe Append. tract ◠§. 711. and especially by the even now mentioned acid and sowr things amongst which the Spirit of Nitre is perhaps the principal excelling all other acid Spirits in fixing XV. We must see that the unpleasantness of Apozems be not troublesome to Nature for it often happens that the Remedy is ungrateful to Nature and does more hurt by spoiling the appetite and overturning the Stomach than good by the impression of its vertues which neither does it bestow intire seeing through its ungratefulness it suffers a repulse from Nature and cannot be brought thither whither it was directed by the vehicle Therefore the Ancients out of so great a multitude of Remedies chose and brought into use a few that might allure Nature by their sweetness and by their pleasantness might imprint their vertues more deeply whilst they should be received into the more familiar embraces of Nature for Nature refuses unpleasant things as we may see in aliments Moreover they are to be disallowed when they are prepared besides the purpose for opening obstructions of the viscera to which the cause of the Disease is not referred but to the stoppage and constipation of the pores of the Skin whence there is a retenâ—ion of fuliginous excrements which is followed by putrefaction Add hereto that whereas they chiefly provoke Urine for of this vertue are the opening roots therefore called
a month or longer with great benefit XXXV The vertue of Chalybeate Medicines depends on the different manner of resolving and laying open the particles of the concrete or Steel and of their being exerted into act For steel or Iron consists chiefly of Salt Sulphur and Earth it is endued but very slenderly with Spirit and water Now the particles of the former elements especially the Sulphureous and saline being combin'd in the concrete with the earthy remain altogether fixt and sluggish but being loosed and pulled from one another they are of very great efficacy The foresâ—id particles are loosed two ways either by art or by Nature after they are taken into the bâ—dy for a metallick body is wont to be corroded and dissolved by the ferment of the Stomach as by a Chymical Menstruum The most simple way of preparing Iron or Sâ—eel is a dividing of its body into small integral parts by fyling which parts retain the nature of the whole and contain suphureous and saline bodies combined with other earthy The filing of Steel being taken inwardly is dissolved by the ferment of the Stomach as by an acid Menstruum the signs whereof are as well the sulphureous and nidorous belching like that when one has eaten Eggs boyl'd hard as the blackness of the dung which is caused by the Steel dissolved within in the Viscera that perform concoction the active particles both sulphureous saline fly plentifully out of the concrete and benig involved in the nutritious juice are conveyed into the Blood which being of a contrary vertue do often both of them as with joynt forces conspire for the profit of the sick The sulphureous particles being conveyed into the Blood add to it a new and more plentiful store of Sulphur so that its mass if it was before poor and effete does now ferment more briskly in the vessels and being further kindled in the Heart acquires a more intense heat yea and a deeper colour For thus we may observe in very many that are affected with the Leucophlegmatia and Green-sickness whose countenance is pale their Blood cold and watry that by the use of Steel they acquire a fresher and more florid countenance their Blood being died with a deeper tincture and colour Moreover from the filing of Steel dissolved in the Stomach the saline particles are also separated and have often a notable effect both upon the solid parts and humours for these being of a vitriolick and styptick nature do astringe and corroborate the two loose and debilitated fibres of the Viscera and so restore their vitiated tone Besides these sâ—line particles restrain the impetus of the Blood hinder its too great heat and frothy turgescence and keep it in an even circulation moreover which is their principal vertue they contract and straiten the over loose open and gaping mouths of the Arteries so that neither the Blood nor Serum can issue forth nor is the thred of the circulation broken off On which account in the dropsie and hemorrhagies Remedies partaking of the saline particles of Iron are of the most famous use and efficacy for many diseases proceed from this cause that the mouths of the Arteries being too open and the interstices of the vessels over loose the Serum or Blood burst forth which diseases are often cured by the vitriolick particles of Steel which constringe and corroborate both the Blood-vessels and nervous fibres Thus the filing of Steel being taken inwardly seems both to spur and bridle the Blood but inasmuch as the incitation wrought by this Medicine is far more powerful than the restriction therefore it ought to be given only to those whose Blood is very thick and cold as to rustick and robust persons in a very hot and spirituous Blood and hot Viscera it is not at all proper Besides in persons more delicate and of a â—ender constitution there is danger lest the particles of the Steel seeing they cannot be sufficiently dissolved should strike into the membranes of the bowels like pieces of glass and sticking firmly to them should produce deadly ulcers and gripings which I have known sometimes to fall out really 2. Next to filing of Steel let a second way of preparation be calcining it with Sulphur namely let a roll of Brimstone be held to plates of Steel made red hot that the Metal may melt to pieces which being again calcin'd to consume the sulphur and ground in a Mortar are brought to a fine powder that is of excellent use In this preparation of Steel the sulphureous particles do indeed exhale the sign whereof is that this powder upon pouring an Acid liquor upon it boils and waxes hot far less than the filing of Steel yet when one takes it inwardly a Sulphureous nidour is raised from it In the mean time in this preparation the saline particles seem to be a little increased by new ones that accrew to the red hot metal from the Sulphur so that the active particles of both kinds namely both Sulphureous and Saline come almost to a poise and seeing by this means this Medicine the compages of the metal being loosed may be very subtilely powdered it becomes of far more excellent use than filing of Steel In most cases where Steel ought to be given in substance as in a Cachexie the Green-sickness and the like it is convenient to use this Medicine 3. In the third place comes the preparation of Steel with Vinegar namely the filing of Steel is so often besprinkled with Vinegar and dryed as till it may be reduced to an impalpable powder In this preparation the greatest part of the Sulphureous particles do evaporate in the mean time the saline are much encreased by others accrewing from the Vinegar which are mixed with the earthy particles This powder of Steel hardly froths or bubbles at all upon pouring an acid liquor upon it and when it is taken inwardly hardly produces any Sulphureous nidour and therefore it is not so profitable for opening obstructions of the Viscera or restoring the ferment of the Blood yet in an hot constitution it uses to be given with greater success than the former preparations in the Hemorrhagies and Hypochondriack Melancholy 4. The Rust of Iron follows which seems to be the extract or quintessence of the metallick Body because in that excrescence some particles of all kinds namely Sulphureous saline and earthy being loosed from the compages of the whole are combined with one another and make as it were a new mixt or concrete that is more subtil and defecate Because in this concrete there reside fewer particles of Sulphur therefore it does not so powerfully ferment the Blood or unlock obstructions of the Viscera as Steel prepared with Sulphur yet in the hotter intemperatures of the parts or Humours it notably performs the intentions that are requisite from a chalybeate Medicine Thus far of the preparations of Steel wherein the elementary particles of every kind are comprehended though in a different portion others remain wherein
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 operâ—tion 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
Sea and Pit salt Idem Praxeos l. 1. c. 6. § 11 12 13 14. See more lib. 1. tit de Aphthis and most salted things is wonderfully corrected by Lime made of burnt Flints or Shells which no prudent Physician will be any longer afraid of but may be used with very good success for very many Diseases under the form of a Lye LIII We must take great heed that in curing one offending Humour we hurt not another For though it appear from Experience that the Medicines which are taken act chiefly on the offending Humours when they are most proper for correcting them yet it is also manifest that the Medicines that are fit to alter several different Humours do in some measure also operate upon the Humours that do not offend when they are either taken in too great a quantity at once or for too long a continuance Though therefore there arise not always presently any notable hurt from the use of such Medicines that are not in every respect accommodated to the offending Humours yet the same shews it self by degrees to such Physicians as are diligent observers of all the changes that happen to their Patients which Physicians when they foresee any thing that will hurt do prudently provide for the same Idem Append Tract 6. § 257 258 259. and change those Medicines from which they see not plainly that their proposed scope is to be hoped LIV. Both effervescence being vitiated in the small Guts and Heart and being joined with a troublesom heat is bridled and reduced to a moderate and temperate degree partly by acid and sowr Medicines especially being joined with Opiats to which doubtless the fixed Sulphurs of Minerals and Metals are to be preferred which if any one cannot have in an excellent perfect degree let him at least endeavour to make them sweet such as will neither provoke Vomit nor Stool For those Sulphurs so long as they are volatil and combustible use to provoke Vomit and Stool which in this case is hurtful namely when we have a mind to bridle a too great effervescence and to reduce it to a laudable mediocrity for the Humours are disturbed by all Purgers and the effervescence promoted and not restrained Now for want of such Sulphurs as are sufficiently fixt we may successfully use Opiats joined with acid and sowr Medicines whence on this account the extract of Opium with distilled Vinegar is better than that made with Spirit of Wine seeing by such Preparation it is fitted for tempering the too great effervescence of the Blood The same effervescence is much bridled by an emulsion of Barley Idem Append Tract x. Sect. 7 8. of white Poppy Seeds yea of sweet Almonds LV. The Pancreatick juice abounding too much in the Body indicates its diminution and that by Stool Where note that seeing it is naturally subacid it is good to prepare it a little first for the more easie carrying of it forth by further tempering its acidity and in a sort concentrating of it which is best done by volatil Salts and afterwards using Hydragogues seeing the liquor is of it self thin enough clear and subacid and therefore coming nearest the consistence of Serum though now and then it become preternaturally glutinous Idem Meth. Med. l. 1. c. 16. and so incline more to the nature of Phlegm LVI Seeing all the Humours ought to be fluid they offend variously as often as they lose that fluidity either in whole or in part or have it more than they use or ought to have it The Blood loses its fluidity wholly when it curdles and coagulates into clods and this is done either by the external cold of the Air Water c. or by eating or drinking acid and sowr things especially or glutinous or earthy also by sadness of mind or affrightment or by sluggishness and rest of the Body or lastly by too much sleep Now according to the diversity of the cause is the diminished fluidity of the Blood to be cured diversly for when its fluidity is diminished from the external cold of the Air or Water then not only It is to be restored but also the diminishing cause is to be expelled forth by the same way it came in Thus besides volatil Salts and divers things derived from Animals as Crabs eyes Mummy Sperma ceti c. the more grateful and acrimonious aromatick Plants are likewise good especially such as may at the same time drive forth Sweat and therewith also the mischief induced by the Air. When it is coagulated more than usual by acid things taken inwardly let such things be used as both infringe concentrate and enervate an acid and also dissolve the coagulation it self and so make the Blood fluid again Things infringing the force of an acid are Chalk Corals Crabs eyes Perles c. Aromaticks make the coagulated Blood fluid Volatil Salts do both When the consistence of the Blood is increased and its fluidity lessen'd by austere or sowr things it is harder to restore but no Remedies that are commended by any for this can be compared with volatil Salts as both powerfully correcting austerity and happily taking away and curing the hurtful effect thereof add that most things that are received into use are derived from Animals and contain much Salt Hither are to be referred the more gentle Aromaticks When the Blood is not fluid enough through the abuse of glutinous things things profiting are 1. Spirituous acids 2. The more acrimonious Aromaticks 3. Pickles and Medicines prepared of a mixture of both 4. Volatil Salts When the consistence of the Blood is increased from earthy things used amiss in the Green sickness it very difficultly and that but slowly yields even to the best Remedies for which purpose I have hitherto found volatil Salts the best When the Blood is made less fluid through sadness of mind or some great fright then both the mind is to be comforted and confirmed and the fault that is introduced upon the Blood amended which because it is like to that which is caused by sowr things is to be corrected with the same If from too much rest of the Body the Blood be made more sluggish in its motion that mischief will be repaired by the motion of the Body When from too much sleep it will be corrected by waking longer Idâ—m Meth. Med. l. 2. if so be these changes viz. of the motion of the Body and waking be made by degrees not all of a sudden Purgation The Contents One may Purge when there is neither concoction nor turgescence of the Humours I. What is to be understood by Concoction II. A perfect one is not always to be tarried for III. We must take heed how we Purge when there are signs of Concoction present IV. What an orgasm or turgency of Humours is V. Cold Humours are sometimes turgent VI. Whether turgent Humours are always to be Purged VII Whether we must Purge in the beginning of a Disease VIII
their thickness become unfit for expulsion XVIII As often as the whole mass of Blood abounds with a watry excrement it ought to be freed therefrom by degrees the evacuations of the same being often repeated both by Stool and especially by Sweat or Urine I say especially by Sweat because all evacuation by Stool does more disturb and weaken the Body than by Sweat especially when water is to be evacuated because that uses not of its own accord to tend towards the Siege but to the Kidneys and Pores of the skin For as Choler is evacuated no way more commodiously than by Stool and Vomit and not so by Urine or Sweat so watry Humours are most fitly expelled by Urine and Sweat and not so by Vomit or Stool But pituitous and acid Humours seem to be conveniently enough expelled both ways both by Stool and Vomit and also by Urine and Sweat If any desire to know the reasons of what is here said I will give the following and 1. Choler is therefore carried off more conveniently easily and happily by Stool and Vomit than by Urine and Sweat because it self is poured forth pure and comes only to the small Gut and not to the Heart and the whole Blood from whence it may be easily driven upward to the Stomach and also downward to the thick Guts and so be evacuated But the same choler when it is mixt with the mass of Blood from whence it should be separated sticks closelier to it than that it can be expelled out of the Body by Sweat and Urine nor can it any more be parted pure from that mass 2. As to watry Humours as they are rather loosely confused in the mass of Blood than intimately mixt with it so they may be easily separated therefrom so that they may be expelled out of the Body as well by Urine as Sweat And because water superabounding in the Blood according to Nature uses to be separated with the Urine and not by stool 't is no wonder if the same may also by Art be more easily expelled by Urine and Sweat than by Stool or Vomit For though the Pancreatick juice as also the saliva may from thence acquire a more fluid consistence and so also increase the liquidness of the Humours that flow to the Guts yet there seldom happens by this means and way any notable spontaneous evacuation by Stool of the watry part of the Blood but pretty often by Urine and Sweat And so also is an artificial evacuation of the same water more conveniently and easily attempted by Sweat and Urine than by Stool or Vomit 3. Thin Phlegm such namely as has its origin from the saliva may not only be easily drawn forth both by Stool and Vomit but also by Urine and Sweat because it is not so difficult to separate from the rest of the mass of Blood And the more tough and clammy can be conveniently drawn forth no way till it be sufficiently incided and attenuated but then though it may be more plentifully carried off by Stool or Vomit yet it may not inconveniently be drawn forth also by way of Urine and Sweat which then uses to come forth more thick and clammy which is a certain Argument that those ways are not unfit for the expelling a clammy Humour also Lastly an acid Humour as it wants to be temper'd and corrected before it can be expelled any way so then it may be most conveniently cast out by Stool and Vomit inasmuch as when it abounds in the Pancreatick juice it here finds a very short passage but the same may no less conveniently be expelled by Urine and Sweat because those volatil Salts that do easiliest and quickliest correct and temper it do withal carry the same to the passages of Urine and Sweat â—â—lvius Pâ—act l. iii. cap. 3. seeing all of them are Sudorificks and Diureticks XIX Among the Humours that differ from the mass of Blood there is every where mention of a melancholick Humour which they declare commonly to be of an earthy Nature As far as I have been able to judge from an accurate and long observation of the Patients I have had the care of and from a laudable evacuation of the Humours that produce the said melancholick Distempers that is by happily curing the said Distempers I have noted two sorts of Humours on which those Distempers depended not a little differing from one another to wit sowr and very clammy Phlegmatick partly by correcting and partly by draining forth whereof I have happily cured the said Distempers wherefore I have thought that both ought to come under the notion of a melancholick Humour And this distinction is not to be slightly esteemed by Physicians that will Practise seeing if this be neglected you will hardly ever cure Melancholists as you desire yea I am fully perswaded that melancholick Distempers are therefore so seldom happily cured because most Physicians do not sufficiently observe that distinction being too much addicted to their Authors and over-neglectful of those things that happen in Practice Now we must even for this reason attend to that distinction because the same Medicines cannot always be profitably used both in the alteration and especially in the evacuation of these two Humours for sowr Humours are best altered and corrected by volatil Salts and all the milder Aromatick plants but the glutinous also by acid Spirits which do further corrupt and render hurtful the sowr So sowr Humours are very happily evacuated by Hydragogues commonly so called but the glutinous by Phlegmagogues Whence any one may easily see of how great profit yea necessity this distinction is for the right practising of Physick seeing it brings great light both for the knowing and curing melancholick Distempers as those will confess who being employed in their cure shall compare what others have said and writ of this matter with what I have Therefore two kinds of melancholick Humours require two sorts of Medicines to Purge them To draw out the Phlegmatick especially the glutinous these are good Ind. Myrobalans Polypody Dodder of Time Senna black Hellebore LAPIS LAZVLI and LAPIS ARMENVS To Hydragogues belong SOLDANELLA the Berries Seed middle Bark Root and Leaves of Dwarf-Elder and Elder Mechoacan Jalap the Root of Flower de luce Fr. Sylvius m m. l. 2. c. 7. and 9. Hedge-hyssop ESVLA MEZEREVM ELATERIVM Gum of PERV and Crystals of LVNA XX. A Salt Humour is presently to be Purged according to Galen l. de const Art because it cannot be concocted for Concoction supposes crudity to be concocted but a salt Humour is concocted yea adust Epiph. Ferdinand wherefore those are presently to be Purged that are troubled with a salt destillation XXI The Purgation of acrimonious Humours should rather be indifferent than minute Mercat de Indic Medica for by small dribbling Excretions of acrimonious Humours it often happens that Dysenteries are caused XXII I think it adviseable when a principal Part is ready to receive the
two years old having contracted the Pox from its Nurse was cured by Merc. dulcis taken to Eight Grains River cent 1. obs 95. when a Decoction of Guaiacum had been used to no purpose With these Eight Grains there were mixed four of Diagridium and he took it every Fourth Day ¶ Formius reports that another Child who was born pox'd when it was fifteen days old took two or three Grains of Merc. dulc in Sugar and Milk continuing it for a Month by which it was cured ¶ Yet I will not pass by in silence that by its use the straight Gut sometimes falls down in old Men for whom seeing they abound in Phlegmatick humours I. Rhod. cent 3. obs 84. Sam. Clossaeus apud Horst tom 2. p. 545. perhaps any Mercurials are not so convenient and safe ¶ If Mercury be given for a Purger it causes stools that are betwixt a Skie colour and a Green XXXVIII Of Chymical Medicins that purge Phlegm I commend all those prepared of Mercury both by Sublimation and Precipitation some whereof use to be given in a larger others in a smaller Dose For of the Sublimates that which is called Corrosive is seldom given to one Grain but the Dulcis may be given even to Thirty And the Precipitates the more they are fixed with an acid Spirit c. in a long and strong Fire in the greater quantity may they be taken but the less fixed in the less Mercury Sublimate that is called Corrosive differs from the Dulcis or sweet in this that being very acrimonious and corroding there is new crude Mercury added to it with which it is ground and Sublimed again in which new Sublimation by the fresh Mercury that is added to it the acid Spirit that was in the former is infringed and that so as that all its acrimony seems to be obliterated and it is therefore called dulcis Whence it is clear that all that great gnawing Vertue and Acrimony of the corrosive Mercury depends not on the Mercury it self but on the acid Spirit that is plentifully concentrated in it and is driven upwards and sublimed with it For there is not only more Mercury in the sweet than in the corrosive but moreover not only two or three times but even thirty times more of the former than the latter and yet the latter is more safely used Whence also it appears that the noxious quality of corrosive sublimate is not to be ascribed to the Mercury it self but to the acid Spirit that is concentrated in it in great plenty and continues in its acrimony seeing when it is made sweet by the addition of new Mercury and subliming it again Sylv. de le Boe appendic tract vi §. 210. it then becomes at least thirty times a more gentle Medicin How to dulcifie Mercury without the addition of fresh Mercury See Sylvius as quoted in the Margent § 215. It is strange that by a new addition of Mercury and Sublimation so great and hurtful so austere burning and gnawing an Acrimony as is in the Corrosive Sublimate should be covered and hid yea corrected For I think there can hardly be found in Nature any austerity that can be compared with that of this And whereas austere or sour things are generally earthy and of an obtuse taste this Mercury is withal most acrimonious and consuming almost all things which therefore I had rather Physicians would abstain from Idem meth med lib. 2. cap. 5. §. 26. than use frequently if they would be very careful of the health of their Patients XXXIX Note that Merc. dulcis sublimate given to Sixteen Grains purges more in a Body that is full of bad humours than Thirty will do in another that is not so full Hartman prax l. 1. c. 4. §. 1. In the giving of Mercury howsoever prepared we must note 1. That Pills are the most convenient form of giving it namely lest the Mercury by too long stay in the Mouth should offend the Palat causing a Flux and making the Tonsils swell the thinner humours being drawn from every where to the Palat by a certain proper familiarity of Nature 2. When you go about to incorporate Mercury think it always adviseable to add a drop or two of the Oil of Sulphur for this does bridle its malignity and fastens its volatility that tends upwards and corrects the Symptoms that it causeth 3. Note that after having taken Mercury some Gruel or Broth is to be taken within two hours at the most and some Meat within half an hour after that that it may not stay too long in the Stomach 4. Let it not be given often or much to the Bilious because by purging forth the Serous humour which is the Bridle of Choler it may do them harm 5. Let it be given with Turpentine or the following Extract of Coloquintida Take of Coloquintida that has been kept for some years without its inner Husks and Kernels half a Pound of pure Scammony four Ounces Slice them and draw a tincture from them with unrectified Spirit of Wine Throwing away the faeces put the tinctured Menstruum in a Cucurbit and in Balneo Mariae let the Spirit of Wine be extracted to the consistence of Honey or Pills ¶ Merc. dulcis is 1. Idem §. 20 21 22 23 24. Not to be given but in Pills or in a Bolus never in pouder because it is an Enemy to the Teeth and Gums 2. Let it be given well prepared I mean not over often rectified but yet choice and well washt 3. It is given in impurities of the Blood Scab Pox Itch and other Ulcers 4. In serous Distempers as the Dropsie for all Mercurials make the Serum very fluxile and hinder its coagulation above all other things and melt the Phlegm whence also Pilulae Quercetani deserve Praise 5. In fluxes of the Seed or in a simple and virulent Gonorrhoea for the same Reason amongst other things for it breaks and cleanseth the Ulcer in the Seminal Bladders by which the malady is fed Wedel de s m. fac p. 145. whence also by its use the flux thereof seems to be increased 6. It is good against Worms of all sorts XL. Mercurius dulcis is esteemed by some as a Panacea or Universal remedy but it is the most profitably used in the French Pox Its Dose is from Fifteen Grains to Thirty It is good to acuate it with a little of Scammony prepared troch Alhandal or some other purger that it may not stay long in the Stomach or Body and raise a Salivation and other dangerous Symptoms that use to attend Mercury as I have known it sometimes do And we may affirm of all Mercurial Medicins in General that it is convenient they should be exterminated out of the Body as soon as they have performed their Operation For experience has taught that when they are retained Sennert Epist 28. cent 1. they return to their pristin Nature and have been the Authors of the worst
the more readily be driven down out of the Body being furthered by the slipperiness hereof Which how profitable it is we then come to understand when after a long loosness wherein this Phlegm has been expelled also we come to want the benefit of excretion Do not those therefore offer violence to Nature Simon Pauli Quadrip Botan class 3. tit Centaur min. that are daily scraping this crust from off the Guts with Pills and Clysters LXIII 'T is strange how apt Wine is to penetrate by reason of its volatil Salts how entirely it often conveys the vertues of vegetables into the menstruum or Liquor Hence I remember that D. Joh. Michael did gravely advise as often as Resinous Bodies were added to any Purging potion that they were better extracted if a little Wine were added On the same account 't is better to use Mechoacan in Infusion than in Pouder I. D. Major tract de calc Sperlingian and Schroder l. 4. pharm § 448. declares that the purging Spirit or Infusion of Scammony prepared with the Spirit of Malaga-Wine purges without any trouble or disturbance LXIV Simple Extracts are often better than compound especially when the compound aim not all at one and the same scope Thus the most simple Laudanum made of Opium alone is in my opinion to be prefer'd far before all the Laudanums that are to be had up and down made with the essence of Spec. diambrae c. for these very things are far better added for the present use according to the intention of the thing and the variation of circumstances There is the like reason in the extraction of a mass for Pills whence amongst other things it chiefly comes to pass that Pills made of such a compound Mass have commonly so deceitful an effect The same holds of most other common compositions in which the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 as to the decent manner of mixture is seldom observed 'T is better to prepare the things which are to be prepared and then to compound them at pleasure or rather according to necessity G. W. Wedel pharm p. 26. lest being overwhelmed as it were with a hodg-podg of Ingredients we become either doubtful or deceived LXV Purging extracts are a more sluggish kind of Medicin The Rosin of Scammony or Jalap may indeed be dissolved with the Spirit of Wine and reduced into an Essence which is a Medicin convenient enough but yet a little too hot But amongst Purgers Extracts are of more common use than Essences Now that Purging Extracts are more sluggish in Operation is clear by experience For though half a Scruple of the Rosin of Jalap be equal in proportion to two Scruples of Jalap in substance yet it Purges no more than one Scruple of Jalap Yea Pills made of the Rosin of Scammony or Jalap alone have either no effect at all or else an unfaithful one that is they either purge not at all or more strongly than they should If any ask how this comes to pass that there should not be a stronger effect seeing Rosins and Extracts are and are called the quintessence as it were or at least the best part The true reason hereof consists in the manner of resolution Scammony Jalap and Rhubarb purge strongly in substance in regard the Sulphur is more dispersed and therefore they are more easily dissolved and consequently stimulate the Guts to Excretion And this very resolution of the Medicin is chiefly performed by the Serum which as it is the vehicle of Aliments so also of Medicins But when the Resinous Sulphureous particles are more united they are more conglobated and more hardly dissolved yet when they are resolved which they are in Bodies abounding with Salt humours chiefly they then more readily display their Salino-Sulphureous Stimulus and communicate it to the Body Hence Purging Rosins are best given with Emulsions And likewise it is adviseable to mix the extract of Scammony or Jalap with a little of the same in substance which we commonly do with good success For it is to be noted that besides the Resinous there lurk also Gummy parts in Jalap which when precipitation is made come severally into sight by the evaporation of the decanted Liquor which is not very Purgative Hence gather what is to be thought of that opinion of Lavaterus who defens Gal. p. 72. says he has been taught by experience that the taking of a simple Infusion of Purgers does more than Extracts themselves because he thought that the purging vertue of Medicins inheres more in the Salt than in the Sulphur or Mercury for the Salt can never be mixed with Spirit of Wine Idem although in time it may draw something of a tincture from it LXVI Many imprudently enough infuse a great deal of Senna and Rhubarb in a small quantity of Liquor whereby all their vertue is so far from being drawn forth that half or a fourth part of it is not He therefore that is desirous to know both the quantity of the Liquor and also of the Purger to be infused in it 1. Let him have regard to the Liquor it self whether it be pure or imbued with the vertue of some other Purging Medicin that may help or hinder the vertue of that which we are to infuse 2. Let him consider whether the Purger be strong and full of a Purgative vertue or more or less destitute of the same from any cause And seeing the Physician cannot know what such the Purger is which the Apothecary will make use of the more prudent Physicians use to prescribe a little the more of the Purger that if it have not its vertue intire that want may be made up with using the greater quantity of it LXVII But another error is often committed here by Apothecaries whilst some infuse the Purger in the prescribed quantity of Liquor others in a greater and either take only a part thereof or evaporate it too much yea sometimes strain the Purger and sometimes not Whence any one may see how uncertain the efficacy of such an Infusion must needs be In the mean time many Apothecaries think they have Licence to do such things whereby yet both the Physicians and Patients are imposed upon Wherefore seeing it is impossible for a Physician to discover the particular custom of any Apothecary which they often conceal I had rather in my Practice prescribe either Electuaries or Pills than Infusions seeing Potions also may be made of Electuaries dissolved in a convenient Liquor And I have observed that I have prescribed Physick to my Patients with far greater certainty and safety than others Sylv. de le Boe meth med lib. II. c. 7. Salivaters The Contents They Operate by opening and widening the pores of the Fauces palate c. I. By fusing melting and inciding the serous humours II. Whether salivation by Mercury be an universal evacuation III. Salivaters evacuate the conjunct cause and relieve the neighbouring parts IV. They are most proper when humours are
Fever seeing all the mischiefs to continue vigorous I advised to take eighteen ounces of Blood from him whereupon they all began so to decline that two days after there remained no foot-step of them From another Youth that was sick of the same disease but without a Looseness I ordered a pound of Blood to be taken When I order'd it it was the fourth day of his sickness but the second after the eruption of the Exanthemata and on the fifth day from the beginning of the disease he returned again to his usual occupation ¶ But in curing Exanthemata that arise without a Fever or which precede it such as were observed in many in the Summer of the Year 1575 both in Women and Youths and grown Men namely very thick Prominences all the Body over that were broad hard reddish or pale such as those caused by the stinging of Nettles sometimes with itching sometimes without seeing there is no Physician almost but presently flies to the proposed remedy there is therefore nothing remaining to speak of these save that it is an errour to Purge before Bleeding seeing the said disease for the most part happens from the effervescence and redundance of the Blood and in case of costiveness Clysters are to be used What I have said of Exanthemata breaking forth with a defective Crisis take the same things as spoken of Parotides Bubo's and other Abscesses of the like sort breaking out before the due time namely that it is best to let Blood in such case viz. Leon Botallus lib. de curat per s m. cap. 5. When the Fever neither grows less nor increases upon their breaking forth for this I have found to be very profitable in many c. XXX Phlebotomy uses often to amend the mixture and temperature of the Blood but in a manifold or several respect For 1. If any Heterogeneous thing be confounded with its Mass namely which can neither be rightly subdued nor easily separated and thrown off the Blood that flows out upon opening a Vein does often carry forth so much of that Matter with it that the remainder may either be conquered or expelled 2. The Blood departing from its temperature is often restored by Venesection for when its Mass hath degenerated from a fixt Sulphur or Salt or from both of them exalted together into an Acrimonious Salt or Salino-Sulphureous by letting forth a portion of the Blood there presently arises a new fermentation of it and often there is caused such a change of all the particles thereof that thereupon the Spirits do a little emerge with the Volatil Salt and recover their dominion the fixed Sulphur and Salt being subjugated as they ought to be For this reason it is that Bleeding often brings great help not only in Fevers but moreover in the Scurvy Jaundise yea in the beginning of a Phthisis or Consumption for the Blood after the Vessels are emptied like the Stomach unloaded does better concoct or assimilate all the humours received into it and what is Heterogeneous it the easilier separates and dischargeth But if the Crasis or mixture of the Blood begin to be much loosed and spoiled as in the Plague and Malignant Fevers abstain wholly from Venesection because by letting of Blood the store of Spirits is diminished which alone can free the Mass of Blood from putrefaction and corruption and so all things tend presently to a destructive dissolution Moreover if the Dyscrasie of the Blood be such that the more noble principles to wit the Spirit volatil Salt and Sulphur being depressed or wasted the watry and earthy particles are predominant the Blood ought by no means to be let out but to be preserved as the treasure of life Because when the Spirits are but few every loss of them causes all the faculties to stagger and strengthens the disease as in a Dropsie Cachexy Consumption and in other diseases where the active principles are greatly deprest to open a Vein is almost the same thing as to cut a mans Throat In the aforesaid cases where the Crasis of the Blood is respected it will be easie to determine whether Bleeding be convenient or no but in some others as especially in a continual putrid Fever when life and death turn upon this hinge there needs the greatest deliberation We must consider the state of the Blood the tendency of the morbifick Matter and the strength of Nature 1. If in a putrid Fever the Blood aestuating very much shall raise a great heat with thirst watching and drought in the Throat and there appear no eruption of plentiful Sweat or of Exanthemata nor is shortly expected Venesection is so plainly indicated that it is not lawful to omit it But on the contrary if in a languishing Body there arise a Fever that is slow and remiss yet continual with a weak pulse abstain from Bleeding and get the Fever off by Sweating Urine and Blistering In a middle state of the Blood and of the Fever Bleeding is indifferent of it self and it is to be determined by other respects Therefore 2. We must consider the tendency of the morbifick Matter or its impetus which if it be sluggish in the morbifick Matter and unfit for Secretion and so as it often uses making a translation into the Head instead of a Crisis threaten the Brain and Nerves Bleeding is seasonably made use of for preventing these mischiefs But if this matter being suddenly excited into a violent motion and either rushing inwards into the Viscera of the lower belly cause cruel Vomiting or dysenterical distempers or else being driven outwards seem about to produce the small Pox Measles or other breakings forth every such Impetus of Nature if good ought not to be disturbed if bad not aggravated by Bleeding For in these cases to let Blood is not only dangerous but oftentimes ignominious 3. As to Bleeding in a doubtful case we must moreover have regard to the strength of the Patient For in a sound constitution Youthful age the beginning of a disease and when the faculties both vital and animal are as yet in a brisk and indifferent condition Bleeding ought to be confidently prescribed Willis posth oper sect 3. c. 1. unless something contra-indicate But when it shall be otherwise as to these conditions proceed not rashly to this evacuation XXXI Avicen denieth that Blood is to be let in the beginning of diseases because thereby the noxious humours are then extenuated and impelled through all the Body and are so mixed with the pure Blood that nothing of the offending humour is brought forth with the wholesom juice lib. 1. fen 4. c. 20. Likewise lib. 3. tr 2. c. 7. in the cure of the Foot-gout and Sciatica he would not have us to let Blood in the beginning Because Phlebotomy says he stirs up the humours and makes them run into the Body and does not extract that which is necessary to be extracted So lib. 4. tr 2. cap. 42. in the cure of a burning Fever he
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
urges Mercat de praesid lib. 1. cap. 2. we must take more the first time notwithstanding Galen's saying who bids us add half the second time XLIV I suspect whether change of the colour should be respected in Bleeding for at what time the Blood is a flowing 't is hard to observe such a change of colour and when it is already run out it is not so profitable to look upon it seeing often when one has been let Blood twice or thrice that which is hid in the deepest minera of the putrefaction is drawn out in the last place yet in but a small quantity so that it can do little good and the Patient cannot without harm sustain further Bleeding though never so necessary So that I think that measure of the quantity to be surer which is chiefly taken from the benefiting and sustaining And though there do not presently appear any benefit yet the sustaining has this excellency that if the remedy be used according to art it promises benefit and endures repetition till the disease be overcome Mercat de Praes l. 1. c. 2. ¶ Physicians use to receive the Blood into three Porringers when they observe a discolouring in the last and see it very impure and dare not continue the Bleeding till it come forth pure for fear of fainting away they declare that the Patient must Bleed again not once but three or four times And they are confirm'd in this opinion when they see a glutinous surface in the Porringer that is clammy and tough Rolfinc meth gen l. 4. sect 2. c. 10. But this measure is deceitful for that is esteemed for discoloured Blood which is Blood mixt with chyle the glutinous surface is chylous XLV One would at first think that the measure of the quantity of Bleeding should be till we have taken away all abundance but we may not do so for there is one thing which I think I have observed viz. That there has been an excess made when so much Blood has been let forth that the left ventricle of the Heart could no longer drive it into the Body Walaeus meth med p. 78. nor the Blood come from thence to the right ventricle of the Heart XLVI There are some cases wherein it is expedient to cause fainting away by evacuation For in very great inflammations in the most burning Fevers and most vehement pains the Ancients as Galen reports used to make evacuation to that degree Not indeed as if Lipothymy were to be the measure of the greatest evacuation as the common opinion is for this measure would have been very deceitful seeing some faint away upon the least occasion and others endure immoderate evacuations without swooning But rather because in the aforesaid cases Lipothymy comes on a proper account for hereby is a retraction made of the Blood and Spirits to the viscera whence there is caused the greatest revulsion from the part affected the habit of the Body likewise is very much cooled and a torpor is induced upon the senses I have observed this benefit in pains so that I cannot sufficiently set forth how notably it takes them away A noble Woman being troubled with very violent pains in her Head and all things that were given her doing her no good the pain at length came to that height that through the greatness of it she fell into a swoon out of which being got in a little time she was freed from all sense of pain and continued in that state till the same pain returning caused a new swooning which proved the cure of the pain Hence I perceived the reason why the Ancients in the greatest pains made evacuations to fainting away For Hippocrates also in the Pleurisie 4. acut v. 241. hath commended it If the pain reach to the Clavicle or Collar-bone c. and it be acute we must Bleed even to swooning Not exclusively as some interpret but inclusively for he says If the pain be acute we must Bleed even to swooning Hence it appears that swooning is procured because of the violence of the pain that it may take the pain away Seeing therefore swooning even without immoderate evacuation happens in all cases in which it is approved of it will not be necessary to administer an evacuation in that manner lest the Patient before a great evacuation be made faint away as Galen observed Yea he is sometimes to be placed so as that even by a moderate evacuation he may fall into a swoon Martian comm in vers 70. l. de humor namely when 't is feared that the sick either through age or some other great cause cannot bear a large one and that we shall obtain if he be Bled either standing or sitting XLVII As I never make those numerous Bleedings which proceed to fifteen or twenty So this I will premise that there is hardly any disease whose cure I do not begin with Venesection because if that be not used in the first place there is scarce place for any remedy For a full Body neither makes the ways permeable for other evacuations nor affords it a passage for any medicins what is cooled is condensed what is heated is inflamed such a Body is fit for no way of cure Therefore it is so far to be evacuated as that it may sustain the remainder of the cure without prejudice Valles m. m. l. 4. c. 2. but not so far as that the faculty may not suffice afterwards or the Body incur the before rehearsed prejudices XLVIII The habit of the Body affords but a deceitful token of the measure of Bleeding wherefore we must be the more attentive to the strength of the faculties and to the Veins themselves from which the strength of the faculties is more manifest than from the habit it self of the Body This indeed Celsus has taught us to examine for if the Veins be large and the habit also fat and loaded such Bodies bear Bleeding more easily But if the Veins be small Mercat de Ind. med l. 1. c. 4. though the Bodies be slender yet they bear this kind of evacuation more difficultly XLIX 'T is certain that Bleeding is profitable against a Plethora whether already compleat or but a beginning for the mischiefs of a Plethora cannot be better taken away or prevented by any other remedy Yet we should avoid the necessity of this evacuation as much as we may namely because the Blood becomes thereby more sulphureous and less salt and therefore almost all persons are apt thereupon to fall into Fevers and to grow fat Moreover Venesection being a great remedy if it be prostituted to every little occasion it will become less effectual when there is need to use it for great diseases To which this may be added that according to the observation of the vulgar the more familiarly any one uses Phlebotomy the oftner he shall need it because Blood being often let to avoid a Plethora the rest of the Mass will the sooner arise again to a
carried into wider they fill the whole Body with crudities and vitiate the Blood or cause both and doubtless these ought to be concocted or evacuated before bleeding For which reason believing that the Belly can be cleared of crudities no other way they Purge always before venesection whereas Hippocrates 1. de vict acut 41. 4.36 thought that in a manifest satiety it was enough to pass one day without eating or to use a Clyster whence all others almost now adays take always care to empty the Guts by a Clyster an hour or two before bleeding namely lest the thin parts of the faeces should be derived into the Blood and taint it Which though it be more tolerable than while the Vessels are yet full to disturb the whole Body by Purging yet besides that it is undertaken to no purpose save where the Guts appear manifestly full and there is a sense of weight in them it is not without harm and sometimes such as is very great For many being not sufficiently evacuated by the Medicine newly taken the Belly is disturbed in the very bleeding and they faint away unseasonably so that the bleeding is hindred and the faculties very much weakened Wherefore I use no such Clyster unless when there is a peculiar and manifest necessity thereof as when any of the aforesaid things is present and if I be to use it I cause it to be administred not near the bleeding but a long time before namely that the motion which it raises may first have been layed especially seeing bleeding it self uses to move the Humours of the Body which often are carried of their own accord into the Belly Which motion being added to the former which the Clyster had raised becomes too great and before the bleeding is ended brings the said dangers Wherefore I think it far more adviseable where the weakness of the faculty hinders not to use a Clyster presently after bleeding that when the bleeding has been manag'd well that which has been moved and agitated by it may be drawn into the Intestins and evacuated by them which we have often seen to succeed so well that a man is evacuated and purged without taking a purging Medicine But then let the faculty be firm for if either the Guts be not manifestly burthened or the faculty not very firm I will use no Clyster neither before nor after Valles m. m. lib. 4. cap. 2. contenting my self with bleeding alone that day LXXII Fernelius gives good advice l. 2. de s m. cap. 4. Nor do I after the manner of the unskilful presently command bleeding if the Nose do but drop a little Blood or the Vrine look ruddy for the Blood is apt to burst forth not only from Plenitude and because Nature attempts that evacuation but from many other causes For such as have the mouths of the Veins eaten asunder or in whom the viscera and especially the Liver is grown weak and scirrhous often bleed at the Nose as hydropical Persons use to do LXXIII Some observe certain days to be unfortunate and unhappy both for purging and bleeding But I have oft found by Experience that such observations are nothing worth First because the Heaven is an universal cause which acts not unless the particular causes be well disposed Secondly because Astrological Judgments are very uncertain various ambiguous and deluding those that make them through the diversity of the nearest causes Hor. Augen de Veâ—â— Sect. l. 8. c. 18. Therefore 't is rash to admit of an Astrological Judgment in a sick Person when occasion is very urgent ¶ Seeing the course of the Moon for the most part causes damages and detriments unto infirm Bodies it may be brought into dispute whether a Vein may be opened in that part wherein the Moon abides For most are fearful in this thing nor dare they attempt any such thing be the Disease never so urgent and require such a Remedy never so speedily But I think that it ought to be attempted maturely without trepidation and with great confidence of relief and driving away the Disease for acute and swift Diseases admit of no truce or delay Levin Lerun l. de occ Natur Mirac 4. c. 15. Seâ— more in Arâ— de Villanova Guido â—oubertus Botallus Heurnius Claudinus c. Nor ought any one to be deterred or desist from his undertaking though he attempt it while some Planet is adverse or malignant Thus in a Pleuâ—isie Quinsie Inflammation of the Lungs and Liver neglecting the scrupulous Observation of the Stars and Aspect of the Planets we must hasten maturely to venesection even in that Part which the Moon is possest of LXXIV 'T is ridiculous that some will let Blood only from seven till twelve For says Galen l. de sang mis c. 10. Fear not to let Blood even in the night yea on what day soever you find indications for bleeding do it though it be the Twentieth day from the beginning if so be the faculty consent And cap. 11. he bids us open a Vein at any hour of the day or night Heuâ—â— m. ad Prax. l. 3. c. 9. if so be in Fevers or Agues it be done in the remission of the Paroxysms LXXV Though necessity urge if the Patient have newly eaten let bleeding be deferr'd a little till the fresh juice of the Victuals be past into the Blood for the Veins being emptied will snatch into themselves the Chyme that is not only crude but oft incongruous and unproportionate to the Blood whence not only its motion is disturb'd but the vital flame also is sometimes in danger to be smother'd I have known some that having been let Blood after drinking too freely of vinous Liquors have faln into terrible fainting Fits that have lasted very long till the vital Spirit being half overturned hath recover'd it self again Willis LXXVI Assoon as the quantity of the Blood to be let is resolv'd upon then the next care ought to be that by making a large orifice the same may flow out equally mixt in as little time as may be for otherwise if it shall issue forth at a little hole either drop by drop or in a small thread the mass of Blood fermenting will sever into Parts and that which is subtil and more spirituous will spurt forth the thicker and seculent part staying behind Whence we may observe that if Blood be at any time let out of a large orifice with a full stream and be stopt a little by laying ones finger upon the hole and then be suffer'd to flow again a little after the Blood that comes out at the second time will be far purer and brighter than that which came forth at first namely because in the interval of the efflux the more subtil Particles being extricated out of the thicker and united together have prepared themselves for flying out Wherefore if Hippocrates's Precept to let Blood till it change colour be to be observed we must see that it run out speedily
incide and attenuate mucilaginousness especially the Spirit of Salt these also free the first ways from that notable mucilage that lines the Stomach which they carry either to the passages of Urine or dispose to go out by stool 2. Alkalines and Enixa which on this account are called Saponaries these do notably carry away and absterge the Lees of the Blood as Helmont speaks the tincture of Tartar the arcanum of the same Tartar vitriolate c. 3. Aromaticks as others so especially carminative which use to profit both inwardly and outwardly in those cases yea both the now mentioned things do so conspire as it were in this third vertue that they procure a free course to the Blood and that the Serum be not hindred in its office whence also bitter things and other belong hither these also correct that dullness and deficient spirituascencâ— and aerescence of the Stomach or rather of the chyle and do especially avert Scirrhus's of the Spleen and are of principal efficacy in Quartan Agues and its Symptoms that arise from hence For it cannot be but when either the Blood is too much fixed by acids or the oily Balsamick particles of the Chyle are not separated slimy thick tartareous excrements must be bred and be fasten'd here and there but especially in the Spleen 4. Hither belong also Abstergers Diureticks and Nephriticks likewise for it is certain both that in the Hypochondriacal a gravelly sandy matter that proceeds from the tartareous muddiness of the Blood is separated with the Urine and also that most who are troubled with the stone are Hypochondriacal withal and that antihypochondriacks are proper for these also IV. From these things it is clear both that any specificks in general and in particular spleneticks and Antihypochondriacks are not all of them proper for all Persons for like as either austere and acid Humours or Lixivial Volatil and middle such as chiefly cause colliquative sweats or the muddiness of the Blood offend more so likewise doth the application of these vary so as that if a man proceed in order and apply them promiscuously he shall rather load the Patient with Symptoms than relieve him V. Volatils as well others as Antiscorbutick do often hurt the Splenetick and even the Scorbutick themselves This is clear from what has been just now alledged for if the Hypochondriack person have a Blood that is full of Saline Lixivious and Alkaline atoms if he be troubled or abound with an over fluxil and volatil Serum those thing indeed are not good whence 't is an errour to administer Antiscorbuticks indifferently Hence I have often seen all the Symptoms that were hardly allayed as preternatural heat watchings c. raised anew by the Spirit of Scurvigrass which had also been used hand over head for the extracting of other Aperitives for instance of Steel VI. Acids are often good and so it cannot be said simply He is hypochondriacal therefore no acids are to be given him Hither belongs Lipsius's Encomium of the Spirit of Vitriol Cent. 1. Epist 81. for when through a sedentary life he had contracted a great sliminess of Blood whence also he voided by Stool glassie Phlegm he used the Vinegar of Vitriol with no bad success Likewise temperate and absorbing and diluting Remedies are profitably administred to these Hence Servius Inst Med. c. 3. I have sometimes benefited the Hypochondriacal rather by cooling than healing Medicines by Whey Mineral Waters and other things whereby the heat of the Hypochondres might be temper'd and so neither are these things to be administred without the active nor those without these temperate Remedies The Serum is to be attended to in all cases that it be neither defective nor abound too much with saline Particles VII But the Spleen requires stronger Aperitives than the Liver This is the affirmation of Galen which though Mercatus oppugn and grant it only of the external use yet it is true where either the Spirits and Blood are fixed or sliminess is Predominant in the Blood hence for instance the Spirit of Sal Armoniack is very profitably given to the melancholick even in drink VIII Those must use motion that take Steel-Remedies and the Excrements of the Belly are to be considered Motion I say must be used that the sluggish Humours may be excited and the Medicine may be better actuated and descend but this is principally to be meant when they are taken in a dry or solid form for then unless motion be used they do not work well And the Excrements must be consider'd because they are tinged by Steel-Medicines so that they are voided black because of the Vitriol that is drawn out of the Medicins which is a manifest token that there has been a resolution thereof made And it is to be noted that they are not to be given in substance and a dry form except the Stomach be strong G. W. Wedel de s m. sac p. 107. so that if I may so say it can bear and concoct them Sâ—illicidium or Pumping The Contents It is a very effectual Tâ—pick I. We must have regard to such Indications as forbid it II. To whom hot Baths are hurtful III. How cold Stillicidia are to be used IV. To what Parts they are chiefly beneficial V. What Part of the Head is to be exposed to them VI. The manner of administring them VII The Patient must not sleep the whilst VIII What things are to be applied afterwards IX I. STillitidium or Pumping commonly called Daccia and Gutta and improperly by some Embroche which signifies Perfusion from 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 to wet is that form of Medicine whereby there is made a destillation of a liquid Humour from on high like a showr upon some part It is agreed by all that this Stillicidium excells any other form of external Medicine as to its activity and that indeed justly because through the motion of the matter falling from on high the Skin waxes hot and the Pores are opened whereby is made the greater impression The occasion of inventing this Remedy was twofold the one the resistance of the Distemper as to other forms and manners of acting through the stubbornness of the matter or it s too deep situation the other the disposition of the Part it self to which the Remedy was to be applied when through the obstacle of the Bones it suffers not the vertue of a Medicine to reach to the part affected unless it be administred with motion on which account Galen 13. Claudin Append c. ult Meth. c. 22. commends this manner of administration chiefly in the Head II. The Prohibents are many and 1. a Plethora and Cacochymie 2. An Ulcer and all solution of unity yea and sometimes an evil composition of the Parts But it is particularly forbid for the Head by a vertiginous Distemper by a suffocating Catarrh or an hot Catarrh because seeing upon the account of this it ought to be cooling it might do a great deal of harm to the Brain
that is naturally cold To which may be added that an agitation being made by such Remedy in the Head an hot Catarrh that is fluxile of its own nature will fall more precipitantly upon the subjacent Parts and thereby will cause great mischief Id m. III. Concerning waters that spring of their own accord it is to be noted that the sulphureous bituminous and aluminous as Galen says l. 6. de ta Valet c. 9. are very bad for hot Heads whether the heat be joined with driness or with moisture I say the sulphureous and bituminous because they incend and melt the Humours and the aluminous because they constipate the narrow Pores m. IV. This also is to be noted that such things are very seldom used in the way of Stillicidium which by moistening may cool yea this is to be understood of cold things in general though they do not moisten but dry as cold thermae or Baths that they are never to be used alone lest the innate heat be extinguished but hot are always to be mixed with them at least in a threefold proportion Idem V. Stillicidia are used to all places that are fit to have liquor fall upon them but they are chiefly convenient for the Head and for the Nervous Parts and Joints The Liver Spleen Stomach c. seeing they are soft Parts and therefore other forms of Remedies may easily work upon them are not to be troubled with Stillicidia save in a stubborn and inveterate Distemper Idem VI. As to the Head some distinguish certain Parts in it for in a cold and moist Catarrh Deafness c. they apply Stillicidia to the coronal suture in a Palsie and Convulsion to the hinder Part of the Head where the beginning of the Nerves is but whilst the Fluxion lasts for otherwise they use to water the resolved or contracted Parts themselves In other inveterate Diseases of the Head such as the Head-ach or Megrim they pour the liquor upon the affected or weak part it self Indeed in my opinion these do not do amiss but yet the vertue of the Stillicidium is always more easily and readily received by the coronal suture Idem ¶ In deafness the Stillicidium may be received very well in the region of the ears and temples for if a mans skull be inspected the Lambdoidal suture appears to reach even to the Mastoides process and the sutures of the Temples appear to coincide therewith so that the vertue of the Stillicidia may penetrate and enter into the inmost Parts of the Ears VII It is administred two ways the one without a Bath and separately from it the other with a Bath so as that the Patient ducking himself in a Bath does withal receive the Stillicidium The first way are almost all Artificial Stillicidia administred and some of late think that Bath Stillicidia are best administred the same way but besides that it seems too troublesom Experience witnesseth that it is not so profitable Idem VIII Whilst the Stillicidium is administring the Patient must by no means Sleep which he uses to be prone to when his Head waxes hot and so a multitude of vapours is attracted to the Brain But those do amiss who keep their Patients awake with loud singing seeing the Head is filled therewith Therefore we must endeavour to do it by talking to them and by other ways Idem IX When the Embrochation is over the part is to be dried and wiped with pretty warm Cloaths and is either to be anointed with some oil of the same vertue with the Stillicidium or to be fenced with something else that may preserve the quality imprinted by the Stillicidium The vulgar apply a Linen cloth to the shaved part of the Head and put a Night-cap over that 'T were better to apply a Cerecloth that is fitted to the Nature and Faculties of the Stillicidium thus Montagnana's Capital Cerecloth of Betony c. will be convenient for a cold Head Idem Stomachicks See Book 18. Of the Diseases of the Ventricle in general The Contents They respect either the heat I. Or the ferment of the Stomach II. Remedies strengthening the Ferment III. Correctors of it when it exceeds IV. What such Externals must be V. Such as respect the beat and ferment both are very well joined together VI. What Stomachicks are bad for an hot and dry intemperature VII In altering we must have a care we do not hurt the other viscera VIII It is not to be overcharged with abundance of Medicines IX I. STomachicks respect 1. the heat which is impaired and wants to be strengthened of which sort are divers Restoratives indeed yet they profit on this general account that they are endued with an oily volatil aromatick and sweet Sulphur which they contain and are 1. Aromatick as aromata or spices the root of Burnet Mint c. 2. Balsamick oils as Amber Balsam of Peru c. for this very Medicine is indued with a Balsamick Acrimony whence Riverius commends it in Vomiting want of appetite c. 3. Things indued with a Volatil Salt especially such as is oily as Pepper Mustard Ginger 4. Spirituous things as wine the Spirit of Wine Mint Juniper Citron pill c. 5. Bitter things as Worm-wood Aloes Elixir proprietatis 6. Carminatives 7. Mild Astringents as Cinnamon Mastich Peptick Powders c. 8. Nervine Cephaiicks as Castor Hore-hound for there is a very great consent of the Stomach with the Brain All these things profit in an Anorexie injur'd chylification belching hiccough pain at the Stomach in which case the oyl of Cloves and Carminatives are the most profitable weak concoction inflation sympathick vertigo and other Symptoms of the Stomach that arise from coldness and generally the same things correct an excessive heat as correct a vitious ferment II. Or 2. they respect the ferment which I call the menstruum of the Stomach Now though those Remedies that contribute towards the restoring of this do much agree and fall in with the aforesaid things inasmuch as they also are indued with a saline Acrimony yet this is to be noted by the way That as those things which abound with a sulphureous Principle and are more Balsamick and oily do more respect the weak heat of the Stomach and invigorate it so saline Medicines do more invigorate the ferment for there are some cases wherein the heat is strong enough and yet the ferment hindered and fetter'd so that concoction cannot be happily performed though it be best that these fellow-causes which stand for one should be both attended together and on this account we must also see that whilst we endeavour to strengthen the heat we do not destroy the ferment which is chiefly done by spirituous things as Brandy III. The sluggish and deficient ferment is whetted and recruited by all such things as are indued either with an acid Salt or especially a volatil 1. All Acrimonious things as common Salt which
are commonly distilled by Chymistry out of the fruits or juices of Vegetables matured by fermentation or resolved by putrefaction as the Spirits of Wine of the berries of Juniper and Elder of black Cherries c. Such vinous Liquors as these being taken inwardly both inasmuch as they erect the Animal Spirits and excite them into a greater expansion and also in that they exagitate the Blood and as by the addition of oyl to a flame cause it to be more accended do procure a diaphoresis 2. For procuring a diaphoresis Saline preparations of divers kinds and different states are prescribed with success which yet do not like the Particles of an intire mixt or like the merely spirituous either by their heterogeneity exagitate the Blood or by their inflammability accend it but only by acting upon its Saline Particles which whilst they snatch into their embraces they pull them from their too strict combination with others whereby the compages of the Blood being loosened and the Pulse increased the superfluous serosities and other recrements may the easilier part therefrom and be sent off by Sweat To this rank ought Salts of almost every condition but especially the volatil fluid fixt and nitrous to be referred of which either alone or compounded with one another are the Diaphoreticks of the chiefest note made which being taken inwardly and meeting with other Salts that are as well in the viscera as in the mass of Blood and calling them out of the embraces of other Particles do unlock and rarefie the Blood and thereby dispose to a Diaphoresis 1. The Diaphoreticks whose bases are the integral Parts of a mixt wherein likewise an acrimonious or volatil Salt is predominant do often on this account contribute to the procuring of Sweat inasmuch as their Particles being received into the Blood seeing they can neither be mixt therewith nor tamed do exagitate greatly divide and part as it were into small Particles the mass thereof so that at length the compages of the Blood being very much loosened and wrought into an effervescence the superfluous serosities and the recrements and corrupted particles of the Blood are cast forth together with the particles of the Medicine that are to be thrown off because of their heterogeneity 2. Sudorifick Medicines prepared of the elementary parts of a Mixt have for their basis either a Spirit or Salt sometimes simple sometimes combined with another Salt or with Sulphur To Diaphoreticks whose bases are Spirits with other elementary particles combined as for example a drachm of mixtura simplex in a convenient vehicle are referred those which consist of a Spirit a fixt Salt or Sulphur combined of which sort are the tincture of the salt of Tartar and Antimony the dose whereof is from one scruple to two in some liquor Moreover distilled waters wherein the spirituous particles are diluted with the watry use to be often given with success for provoking sweat The doses of the aforesaid waters may be actuated by the addition of Chymical liquors or Salts Medicines of this sort being endued with a vinous Spirit are chiefly and almost solely profitable for old men and for such as are endued with a cold temperament or are subject to the Palsie or Dropsie But in an hot constitution and where there is an heat of the viscera or a febrile effervescence of the Blood they use to do more harm than good inasmuch as they rarefie the former and accend this latter too much The Diaphoreticks which have a saline basis as they are of a various nature viz. accordingly as it is a volatil fixt acetous or nitrous Salt so they are of a different use and operation whence in some cases one sort is better and in others another or another A fixt and volatil Salt are best for those whose Blood is very full of a serous Humour Besides if the liquor that waters the viscera and genus nervosum do at any time wax eager as it uses to do in the Dropsical and Cacochymical and those who are subject to spasmodick Diseases these Medicines are more profitably administred for procuring sweat for meeting with the acido-saline particles of the Humours and closing with them they unlock the compages of the Blood and also through the heterogeneous mixture do exagitate its mass so that its serosities are more easily separated and driven outwards through the pores of the Skin 3. Diaphoreticks which have a nitrous salt for their basis seem to help in the same cases almost as the former consisting of a fixt and volatil Salt namely inasmuch as they destroy the predominancies of an acid Salt and so dispose the mixture of the Blood that while it effervesces its serum and recrements may be the more easily separated and sent off 4. Diaphoreticks whose basis is an acid Salt are chiefly profitable against the predominancies of a fixt Salt or Sulphur Namely if at any time through the saline fixt particles combined with the Sulphureous or earthy the mass of Blood become too much locked up and constringed so that it cannot easily let go its serosities to be sent off by sweat as sometimes is usual in continual Fevers and the Scurvy an acid Salt in the Medicine that is given meeting with a fixed Salt in our Body and snatching it into its embraces takes away the undue combinations thereof and so unlocks the effervescent Blood and disposes it to sweat 5. Some Medicines that are wholly or for the greatest part Sulphureous are commonly reckoned in the number of Diaphoreticks as namely some natural Balsams and some factitious ones also chymical oyls especially those of Guaiacum Box Camphor Harts-horn and Soot likewise the resinous extracts of heavy woods with many others which though of themselves they make little towards the provoking of sweat yet being joined with other saline things I think them to be not altogether unprofitable inasmuch as in a colder and too Phlegmatick a constitution Willis Pharm rat p. m. 196. seq Sulphureo saline Remedies do rarefie the over watry Blood and dispose it to a freer evaporation no less than spirituous things III. The bases of a Sudorifick Diet-drink are the decoctions of liquors for the cure of the Pox and some other chronical Diseases deeply rooted in the Blood and Humours For a very intense and frequent sweating namely daily for a long time is requisite for the cure of some Diseases namely not only that the impurities and corruptions of the viscera and Humours may be carried off but also that the morbifick tinctures that are deeply imprinted thereupon may be wholly destroyed and rooted out as it were For this purpose it will not be enough to give some sudorifick powder or bolus now and then but an intire Diet ought to be ordered fâ—r this intention wherefore let all the Drink be a sudorifick decoction after one dose whereof taken also in the morning let plentiful sweating be provoked making use besides of the heat of a bath or hot-House Moreover
and that Galen is to be understood of that which is soft and gentle XVII When the Blood stagnates and stops in its Vessels motion is most happily procured to it by Sudorificks sometimes by Venesection by the help of those the Blood is not only made more fluid and moveable but the same is moreover actually moved and more and more rarefied by the volatil Salt that is in them and by its stay alone does by degrees loose the Blood more or less concreted by its own acid Spirit and therefore agitates it Whence a more frequent and greater pulse uses to be the companion of sweat for whilst the volatil Salt of Sudorificks arrives at the right ventricle of the heart and the Blood there becomes more rare and does not only of its own accord seek an exit for it self but by further widening the ventricle of the Heart it excites the same to both a more frequent and stronger contraction of it self Sylv. de le Boë pract l. 1. c. 34. §. 29. and therefore moves the Blood more that before was somewhat deficient in its motion and promotes its course every way from the Heart XVIII Not only Medicines taken inwardly yea and hot drink drunk freely provoke sweat but many external things also Thus the air alone heated by art and making a dry bath in a stove or sitting by a good fire powerfully draw forth sweat and when a watry humidity is redundant in the Body it is driven forth by sweat this way easily and happily enough but so is not a sowr or acid or Salt Muriatick Humour though a glutinous Humour may thus also be both attenuated and expelled by sweat if so be it be continued long enough lest the same Humour being dissolved by the fire and driven all about be again coagulated in the capillary Vessels and there breed obstructions and many mischiefs that follow thereupon Idem m m. l. 1. c. 11. § 27. XIX Bezoardicum minerale is prepared of the Butter of Antimony by pouring thereon the Spirit of Nitre or aqua Stygia Where it is to be observed that whilst these two liquors are mixed together the Salts meeting by and by with one another are strictly combined and in the mean time the Sulphureous particles which are in great plenty being utterly excluded fly away carrying some saline Bodies with them raise an heat and very stinking smoak these being driven away the saline that are left are more strictly combined with some earthy ones of the Antimony and at length having undergone the fire that the Emetick Sulphur may wholly exhale and the corrosive stings of the Salts may be destroyed they make an excellent Diaphoretick inasmuch namely as the different Salts of the Medicine do meet with the Salts of our Body with which being joined the compages of the Blood and Humours are loosened Willis â—harm rat p. m. 208. so that there lies open a free passage to the serous recrement The dose is from a scruple to a drachm XX. Though a certain preparation of Antimony be called Diaphoretick I know not to what sort of its particles this vertue can be attributed and I have often in vain expected such an effect from this Medicine It is often profitably given to stay fluxions of the Serum or Blood because this earth being deprived of its proper Salts does imbibe strange acid Salts which it meets with by chance in the Body which kind of vertue Crocus Martis prepared by a reverberatory fire seems to obtain from the like cause XXI Antimonium diaphoreticum is rightly given with the species de hyacintho pulvis ruber Pannonicus and others for the promoting of expulsion But we must note that it ought to be rightly and newly prepared for as it grows old it returns to its own Nature and Emetick vertue Wherefore I advise never to mix Antimony with those Powders but at the time when you are about to use them Ign. Franc. Thiermair cons l. 1. c. 7. for till then 't is best to keep them apart XXII Let Physicians be mindful that those who are engaged in a Diet of Guaiacum if they be not Purged every 8th or 10th day and unless they go to stool every day once Heer de Acidulis p. 100. do incur very grievous Symptoms XXIII Most now esteem that Paradox for truth that Decoctions of Guaiacum Sarsa Sassafras China and the like make People fat Which Horat. Guargantius in his resp medic p. 235. thus explains These Decoctions do attenuate indeed and dry up naughty and excrementitious Humours but leave the good and profitable untoucht Therefore they bring no hurt to the wasted and emaciated For seeing leanness and a fleshless habit proceed from bad nutrition and bad nutrition from acrimonious and salt Humours which consume the sweet and profitable Blood and hinder the Fat from being agglutinated therefore it follows that when those vitious juices are consumed by the foresaid Decoctions the Body is of course rightly nourished and fatned Thus far Guargantius Arcaeus's way of curing Phthisical People by a Decoction of the Wood is well known whereby he affirms they are not only hurt but also grow fleshy XXIV There are some who with an hydrotick Decoction give a Bolus of Turpentine and Ground-Ivy c. but I like not the raising of two motions at the same time therefore rather make a Bolus of the powder of Harts-horn Fortis Cent. 1. Cons 65. Vipers and some appropriate Salt XXV Besides Opium Salts promote Sweat namely by their fusory quality but 't is necessary they should be depurated whence common Salt and sal gemmae promote it not at all All Herbs that contain much Salt in them drive forth also much sweat as Wormwood Carduus bened being given in a sufficient Dose XXVI It is an error of the Moderns to use Decoctions with water for fluxions seeing it is clear that whatsoever Remedies are taken under the form of drink though they be of a dry Nature yet they alwayes increase moisture in the Body especially if they be taken at Meals Now I guess that the Physicians our predecessors were deceived by the Diet that uses to be prescribed to them who use hydrotick Decoctions Who having observed that some troubled with long continued destillations were cured thereof by a Decoction of Guaiacum or sarsaparilla or the like which they had taken for the cure of the French Pox brought in Decoctions of drying Woods and Roots which had not at all been used for this purpose before for the cure of Destillations and the cure succeeded happily as long as they observed that exact Diet of thoroughly-baked Bread or Bisket with Raisins limited to a certain quantity and wholly abstain'd from drinking of Wine But after that our Physicians indulging the complaints of their Patients began to allow them Flesh Eggs and Wine it has been seldom observed that Destillations have been cured by these Decoctions which is an evident argument that the Catarrhs were cured
such Diseases that unless the Patient be often visited he may commit many pernicious mistakes Much less can he do his Duty to many if he must be at Consultations with other Physicians for Consultations require time and Medical Study Therefore if many be to be cured none can be lookt after as they ought A Castro and therefore many die L. Let not a Physician be ashamed to confess his Errors imitating Hippocrates who says he was deceived by the Sutures this is after the manner of Great Men who have hopes of great things for some Mens Spirits because they have nothing detract nothing from themselves It is agreeable to a great Spirit and one who nevertheless will do great things to make a simple and true acknowledgment of his mistake and especially in that Ministery which is delivered to posterity for their profit Celsus LI. Experience is useful to Methodical or Dogmatical Physicians because from this historical and particular Experience of Empericks they take an occasion of finding out a general Reason of those things that are unknown Hippocrates lib. de Praecept has said that a Physician ought to learn of Idiots for these are endued with sense as well as the most learned Physician and the Rudiments of Physick were found out by the benefit of Sense Empiricism is useful to the Sick for be the Empiricks never so unskilful because they want the knowledge of Praecepts yet I exhort Dogmatical Physicians according to Hippocrates his Advice lib. de Praecept that for the Patients safety in difficult Diseases they would not neglect the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that is the Experience of Empiricks For though they have not a Dogmatical Method drawn from Histories of particulars yet they have Experience in particulars and sometimes cure Diseases by Empirical Analogism though they cannot render a Reason of their Cure by a Methodical or Dogmatical Epilogism Certainly a mere Empirick even upon the Testimony of Aristotle is better than a mere Dogmatist because he cures some though without Art Zwingerus this never cures any LII There are many things in this Art wherein for Urgency's sake it is a piece of Art to depart from Art For though there be many Legitimate and Regular Precepts yet none are perpetual And he that reckons any for perpetual and inviolable may be a Methodist but not at all Rational For a Rational Physician cures not by Book or Commentary but as Experienced Reason dictates in every affair and he ties himself to no unalterable Rules Nothing is more unprofitable and dangerous than always to observe the same set form which the less Circumspect and they that are ignorant in many things call Method which yet is method only in this that it is a short way but it is too short Art cannot be confined within so narrow bounds there is need of Reason to consider all things for in Cases there is a wonderful variety Vallesius LIII It is the part of a Physician not only to use Medicins and all Medicinal Instruments aright and to order the Meat and Drink but also to take care of all things that must be done or said before the Patient by himself or by any body else and of the Chamber House and Bed and of all External things and to dispose of them all as may make most to please and benefit the Patient Hippocrates calls this Providence the Oeconomy about a sick Person properly enough For when he orders Bleeding or Purging or the applying of a Plaster or any such thing he seems to exercise his Art of Physick But when he orders the Windows or Doors to be opened or shut the Patients Bed to be removed this way or that that they who come to see him talk of such or such things that this be told him and the other thing be concealed from him he seems to exercise a kind of Oeconomy And indeed though the first care which belongs to the Medicinal Instruments be of most moment yet the last is of no small concernment Certainly many excellent Physicians and well skilled in their Art because they are a little awkward about this Oeconomy are so ingrateful to their Patients that for this very reason they are laid aside as useless On the contrary others that have little skill do so accommodate themselves to this Care that though they do no great feats yet many think them excellent Physicians Vallesius LIV. The Physician must not visit his Patient beyond the twentieth day if he recover unless he be intreated to assist him in his Recovery So when he has a mind to take leave he must cunningly enquire whether there be any thing that still requires his coming for it does not become a prudent and grave Physician to tarry till he is bid to come no more A Castro LV. Many Physicians avoid all days of the Conjunctions and Oppositions of the Moon Some to this Superstition do add many other unhappy Aspects And it is plain that all of them will not begin a Cure on those days and that they make an intermission of the Cure on them if they have begun it Hippocrates indeed condemns fifty days about the Dogdays and twenty about each Solstice and Aequinox ten before and so many after and the rising and setting of the Pleiades and Arcturus l. de Med. Purg. and l. de Aer Aq. Loc. I think it more Medical and prudent Advice to have a care of the great and various Intemperature of the Seasons laying aside all care of the Stars Nor indeed can I think that those Physicians named the Stars upon any other account than as they are signs of the Alteration of Seasons The Dog of great heat Arcturus and the Pleiades and the four Points of the Zodiack of sudden Alterations A Physician therefore may observe the Alterations of the Air and reckon they only belong to his Art I only regard these Aspects of the Moon when it makes not much matter whether you give or defer your Remedy Complying so far with other Mens opinions as to call it the Least Indication Vallesius LVI It is found by Experience that every seven or nine years a Man undergoes some great alteration These years are called Climacterick because they are Steps or Ladders by which we climb up to old Age. In these years Gravius in Horstius tom 2. p. 492. disswades the use of great Medicins or as Mermannus calls it the Therapia Magna For as wise Physicians do nothing on Critical Days but leave Nature to her self So in these years since Nature for the most part uses to do some great thing the Physician must be quiet Hoeferus LVII Whether are there any Universal Medicins as is written of Butler's Stone See Fr. Hofmanni A. Pharm l. 2. c. 65. which cured most if not all Diseases with a touch of the Tongue only using a few more Circumstances We do not deny Helmont's Opinion that Scents have an immediate contact with the Spirits and
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 â—e read in the Pope's Canons that the Gout aroâ—e 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 cauâ—es 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 Bâ—t which is of greater moment the Cure proves it for whilst in the Gout men are burnt with Moxa sometimes Wind hisseth out of tâ—e 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 thâ—t the Periâ—steum 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 â—urt 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
can do much in exciting the Archeus But whether by this very illinition with such a Stone of Ens Veneris c. the Archeus can be so strengthned as to avert all occasional Causes is a great Postulatum and can hardly be granted Wedelius LVIII Whenever the Physician judges some generous Remedy requisite and the Patient or By-standers are against it he ought to shew the great danger present the mischief of deferring or omitting it and then impute all the dammage that will follow to their refusal Thus they that will not yield to perswasions will obey for fear of future evil Now the Physician that neglects this Rule does not only neglect his Patients but himself His Patients because when they flinch for a little pain or trouble he does not threaten them with the danger and so force them in a manner to obedience He neglects himself because when things go ill all the blame devolves on him and he is accused of want of skill as not foreseeing the mischief that would follow or of negligence in not reducing the Patient to his Duty with greater heat and earnestness Sylvius de le Boe. who is excusable for the pain he was to undergo LIX I have often thought with my self that we cannot make too little haste in driving away of Diseases but that we must proceed slowly and that more should be left to Nature than is now the custom to do For he is in a Mistake and that no very learned one who thinks Nature always needs the help of Art For if it were so she had not taken that care of Human kind which the conservation of the Species requires Since there is no proportion between the frequency of Diseases that invade Men and the faculties which Men have to drive them away even in those Ages when Physick flourished most and when most Men practised it What this will do in other Diseases I know not this I know very well from the concurrence of diligent observation that in the Fever wherein the Stupor prevailed after general Evacuations were used Bleeding and Clysters the said Symptom used only to be cured by Time Sydenham LX. Where the nature of the Disease is obscure yet as for the Cure an Indication is left us to be taken from the Juvantia and Laedentia by means whereof trying the way by degrees we may conduct the Patient out of danger provided we make not too much haste than which haste I think nothing more destructive nor that more Patients die of any one thing For I am not ashamed to confess that when I was not satisfied what I ought to do I provided best both for my Patient and my self by doing nothing For while I waited my opportunity to kill the Disease the Fever either went away by degrees of it self or put on such a Type that then I knew well enough with what Weapons to conquer it But which is to be lamented most Patients not fully knowing that it is as much the part of a skilful Physician sometimes to do nothing at all as at another time to give the most effectual Remedy are not capable of the benefit of this honesty and faithfulness but impute it either to negligence or ignorance whereas the dullest Empirick knows well enough how to give Medicin upon Medicin and usually does it more than the Wisest Physician Sylvius de le Boe. LXI I had rather make use of an Empirical Physician that is one who practises according to Experience than a Theorical one who practises according to his Reasonings and Figments For Experience has long since informed all Accurate Observers of things which happen in our Art that Empiricks are more successful in their practice than Theorists and such as are Physicians from Books or their own Speculations Men so much more miserable in their folly because they make others miserable with themselves But the World will be bubled with Cramp Words and great Brags Idem LXII As in the knowledge of all Arts Reason and Experience are very necessary so in Method one cannot be without the other Reason indicates what must be done Experience confirms what Reason has invented and teaches to work exactly according to Art Yet all things are not found either by Experience alone or by Reason alone Gal. 3. m. m. 1. Although Reason alone invent some things and Experience alone produce others yet always as much as possible Experience and Reason must be joined as two Crutches on which Physick leans So that in Theoremes or in Medicins found out by Reason Experience must follow on the Contrary in such things as were found out by Experience Reason must come behind 2. Meth. cap. 6. Let them be so connected and fastened one in another that one may strengthen the other For no Reason can be true which is contradicted by Experience nor on the contrary That is they must both be true and the things that are found out by them But when they thwart one the other of necessity either the Experience must have been inartificial or the opposite Reason must only be apparently true whereon we must not rely nor for it must we depart from our Senses and Experience And therefore there is no Reason without Experience both Experience without Reason is invalid and Reason without it is fallacious and captious Though the Preheminence between them two is doubtful For Experience knows few Diseases and those which come often and frequently But Reason does as well help rare Diseases which it never saw before as common ones because it searches out the Natures Differences and Causes of all by Discourse and Ratiocination or it comprehends things by Scientifick Knowledge or at least by Artificial Conjecture yet by a sure one and that which is next to Science Besides Experience only acquires those things which often happen in the same manner and seeing all the simple and compound Diseases of all parts Similar and Organick cannot be brought together it is impossible that there can be Experience of them all but only of the frequent ones and therefore it of it self does not comprehend or reach either the knowledge or Cure of several Diseases Besides some frequent Diseases come without any concourse of Symptoms and cannot be known but by conjecture and a Tentative Cure and therefore in this way of proceeding only Reason can obtain the knowledge which is sought after And Experience not knowing the power of the trying Remedy joyns and compares it with the following operation and thence it easily guesses and it gets as much knowledge of the Disease by things hurtful and orders the whole Cure But not that Experience which knowing not the virtues of Remedies takes any thing for the Cure without judgment so that if the business succeed not at first he knows not whither he must go but by blind Chance and Fortune runs to another thing But however it is that Reason dictates these and the like things to us yet Experience is very