PARACELSVS HIS DISPENSATORY AND CHIRURGERY THE DISPENSATORY Contains the choisest of his Physical Remedies And all that can be desired of his CHIRURGERY You have in the Treatises of Wounds Vlcers and Aposthumes Faithfully Englished by W. D. LONDON Printed by T.M. for Philip Chetwind and are to be sold by Stationers 1656. To the Reader REader Thou hast here some of the best Physical pieces of the best of Physicians who is so well known through the most part of the world for his excellent skill in the practice of Physick for his singular knowledge of the secrets of Nature for his candor in communicating his Secrets and Experiments faithfully to the World that I need do no more to commend these following Treatises to thee but to tell thee that they are Paracelsus's who very well deserves the Title of Princeps Medicorum The chief Physician of the Microcosm and the best Anatomizer of the Macrocosm for he hath brought out of its Bowels more of its hidden Secrets to the publick view then any Physician or Philosopher before or since his time as it plainly appears by these ensuing Treatises wherein you shall finde many Secrets worthy your knowledge Here you have excellent Physical principles whereby the Physician may be directed both in his practice of Physick and how to finde out Physical Secrets Here also you have rare and most useful Experiments for the benefit of the serious and very strange secrets for the satisfaction of the curious But these secrets have been much abused by many who unjustly desiring to have the praise of them from Paracelsus have inserted them in their own writings as secrets of their own finding out And to make the World believe this they have set down those secrets in their Writings so imperfectly and so much varying from Paracelsus minde that they are altogether useless and false Therefore those who desire to have these secrets truly and fully let them hear Paracelsus himself speaking his own minde in these ensuing Treatises and other his Writings let them reade them attentively and seriously so as they may have his minde fully and they shall finde these secrets true which hitherto have been accounted vain and frivolous as they have been falsly set down by others in their Writings In Chymistry Paracelsus was excellent and indeed Posterity is much beholding unto him for reviving an Art so useful for by this Art are made strong Waters Oyls Spirits and many excellent Medicines the which how useful they are almost every one now knows Yet this Art had been buried with the ancient Philosophers if it had not been for the great pains and diligent study of Paracelsus who made it his chief care to bring this Art abroad into the World which formerly hath been shut up in the Closets and secret Furnaces of Princes and Philosophers and hath taken off the vail which was left upon it by the Ancient Philosophers and hath discovered to us the many profitable uses of it and many worthy secrets of it never before known And this he did not for praise or gains for he was a man free from ambition covetousness as all who knew him do acknowledge the onely thing he aimed at in his actions when he was alive and in these his surviving Writings was onely the publick good and because of this his candor and faithfulness and the excellency of his skill he became an object of general envy that both when he was alive and now since his death he hath been maliciously scandalized by many And those who knew not the truth of these things taking upon trust from the malicious at first believed those falshoods and afterwards they themselves spake them as truths So that it is doubtful whether Paracelsus and his writings have had more wrong from the malicious or from the ignorant for those scandals put upon Paracelsus which have been invented by the envious have been defended by the ignorant Reader what is here spoken in vindication of Paracelsus it is onely to give thee notice that he is much wronged by many and not that thou shouldest think him faultless or his Writings infallible for nullus sine crimine vivit and no doubt but he hath had his faults and errors as well as other men and those none should defend but what is good in him and fit for publick use let none condemn Many of his Philosophical Opinions are not to be approved but his Physical practice is certainly very good and whereas the truth of Phylosophick Opinions which must be found out by reasoning in abditis recessibus latet is hardly found out therefore Paracelsus as most part of Philosophers do useth a liberty and a latitude in such Opinions But let the Reader use discretion in reading and be cautious in receiving such Opinions as in some of the following Treatises viz. of Corals Secrets of Vermin and St. Johns-wort where he saith That Coral and St. Johns-wort will drive away Ghosts and evil Spirits from the place where it is or from the person who carrieth it about them And in the Treatise of the secrets of Vermin he telleth us of strange things which may be done by the tongue tail and skin of the Adder c. These things are in deed very strange I cannot say much for the probability of them neither can I say that they are impossible I am not of that minde as many are who conclude those things to be impossible or that they must be done by the Divel which are extraordinary and are such things which they cannot understand For I know that God can do many things and many things naturally which we cannot understand how they are done we onely can admire them yea God hath given understanding to some men how to use some natural things whereby wonderful effects are done Now when we see strange things done or hear that such or such strange things may be done shall we think that they cannot be done naturally nor by God because we cannot understand how they are done is any mans reason so reaching and so comprehensive as to know all that can be done by God and Nature shall we say that this or the other thing is not done naturally because it is not according to those Principles which we only know Is not this to binde God and Nature to our Principles as if they cannot do otherwise then according to our Prescriptions O the vanity of weak man to dote so much upon his own reason Alas how little is the greatest knowledge that any man hath and how much of that little is very uncertain how many uncertain how many contrary Opinions in Phylosophy in Divinity in every Art and Science Quot homines tot sententiae I have a little digressed but to return again to Paracelsus Paracelsus Opinion concerning Spirits and Ghosts and many other his Philosophick Opinions which indeed are not ordinary I do not approve them nor will I here refute them his Physical Practice I do approve and
vinegar in which Coperas is dissolved let it dry and sprinkle it again and thus doe four or five times when it is thus prepared it will search to the bottome of the sore But the best way of preparing this calcined Coperas is thus distill the water off from the Coperas the grounds remaining is calcined Coperas put the water distilled to the said grounds distill it again do thus so often till no water will come from the grounds If you use this for any sore you will find it to be very subtil and piercing In curing sores you must consider well the degrees of sores and that which will not yeild to the calcined Coperas must bee cured by the oyle or water of Coperas So that if wee can do no good by the calcined Coperas wee must not therefore despair but we must prepare it further by distillation and in so doing wee may bring this medicine to that height that it can cure all kinds of sores as Canker wolf fistuls c. CHAP. III. Of the true Spirit and true oyle of Coperas how they are made and what are their Vertues ALchimy hath discovered many excellent secrets to physicians whereby great cures have been done and therefore physicians formerly when they entred upon the study of medicine they also studied Alchimy because it is the mother of many worthy physical secrets These two Arts viz. Medicine and Alchimy as companions were studied together till those talkative cheaters the humorists poisoned Medicine and made that virgin to be a strumpet and so must remain so long as they prevail for when ignorant men take upon them the profession of an art which they know not that Art certainly doth suffer violence and must be wronged Thus Alchymy hath been wronged in many things especially in Coperas how many deceitful oyls and spirits of Coperas have we in stead of that true oyl and true spirit of Coperas which the ancient physicians used they had the true spirit of Coperas and they exalted it to the highest degree whereby they perfectly cured any falling sicknesse in men women or children but others since who were unskilfull in Alchymy thinking to take a better way have endeavoured to draw out the spirit and to exalt the vertues of the Coperas otherwise and so leaving the first secret way of the Ancients which they lost they laboured to draw the oyle out of the calcined Coperas but in vain for what they draw out of it is of no use for that which cureth the falling sickness must have a subtle piercing spirit The true spirit or true oyl of Coperas hath such a piercing searching nature that it goeth through the whole body and nothing can escape it and when it meets with the disease it resists it and overcomes it in its own place now a physician cannot certainly know the seat and center of the disease and therefore he hath need to have such remedies as will search through the whole body and find out the disease and this is the reason why Humorist-doctors can never cure this disease and so they shame their profession because they have not the right remedies which can do it I can certifie this that the oyl which the common Alchymists draw out of the calcined Coperas which the Apothecaries call the spirit of Vitrial it hath nothing of a subtle or piercing nature in it it is a meer earthly dead thing which hath no profitable operation It is much to be lamented that through unskilfulness the true way should be suppressed and the false should be thus received in its stead I am perswaded that the divel doth this for this end that the sect of the Humorist-Doctors may be prevalent and that the diseased may not re-enjoy their health But to return to my purpose I will now shew you how you may get the true oyl and the true spirit of Coperas and how the Ancients found out the spirit first they distilled a water from the Coperas this water they distilled alone circulated it till it was fully corrected as their way teacheth and this water they used for many diseases both inward diseases as falling sicknesse c. and outward diseases and thereby they performed wonderful cures then they took this water so corrected and they powred it upon the grounds which remained in the first distillation and they distilled it again from the grounds thus they did eight or ten times with a strong fire whereby the wet spirits were united to the dry spirits so firmly that by continuall distilling the dry spirits at last came out with the wet spirits then they took these two spirits thus firmly united and put them in a glasse vessel where they exalted them to the highest degree these two spirits together thus exalted the Ancients found them to have greater operation then the foresaid water alone and with this one medicine they could do more then the Humorist-Doctors can do with all the medicines they have Artists do adde to this medicine sublimed wine to make it more piercing Now I will shew you my way which I use and commend it to all physicians especially for the falling-sickness which is cured only by this spirit of Coperas my way is thus I put so much spirit of wine to the Coperas as the Coperas will drink in then I distil a water from the Coperas and so I proceed in the same manner as is said before when the medicine is perfected I adde to it these things following viz. to one ounce of the spirit of Coperas I adde two ounces of the corrected spirit of Tartar and two drams of the warer of Treakle camphorated The patient who is troubled with the falling-sickness should take this medicine before his fit come upon him he may take it twice or thrice a day so much of it as the physician shall appoint Nature cannot afford a better medicine then this for the falling sickness My way of preparing this medicine is the same which was used by the Ancients I only addâ— the spirit of wine before I distill it and I adde to the medicine when it is perfected these things which I have named This precious spirit of Coperas is not only good for the falling-sicknesse but also for all diseases of the like nature as sounding extasie c. It is also good for all obstructions and inward imposthumes for fits of the mother and falling down of the mother Physicians might find out many other excellent vertues in this spirit of Coperas if they were diligent in searching them and if they would shew themselvs good and faithful physicians and careful of the health of their patients cursed be all those physicians who regard only their own gain and not the health of their patients especially those patients who are afflicted with that sad disease the falling-sickness I hope all good people will approve of what I have done here and truly I have described the way of preparing this spirit
Spirit of wine being separated from that Oyl there will remain the essence of the Root sweet without any addition This Essence doth much differ from that way which was used by the Physicians in ancient times for this Essence doth not purge out a great deal of humours but rather the Epileptick body it self i. e. the humour wherein the Disease or poyson of the Disease chiefly lurks which is the root of the Disease Therefore this Essence is a safer and more effectual purge and a more certain cure then that which was used in former times against this Disease Now this Essence will be more effectual against this disease if you join with it in the Spirit of wine the Misteto of Oak and Pellitorie and the seeds of Pionie that the medicinal spirit of these three may be mixed with the Essence of the Black Hellebore and so to be given to the sick person so much of it at a time as the skilful Physician shall think fit This disease must be driven out slowly and by degrees considering the Nature of the sick person of the Disease and of the Countrey where they live c. Addit The Root is to be pull'd out of the earth in the decrease of the Moon the Moon being in the Signe of Libra which Signe is most agreeable to the Falling-sicknesse upon the Friday or in an hour of Venus and it must be dryed in the shade with a dry North wind It was the custome of the Antients to use the Herbs as they are pulld out of the earth without any addition but my way of using this Root is thus Let the Patient who is troubled with the Falling-sicknesse be purged three dayes before the fit comes upon him if it can be done giving him for a purge two drams of the powder of this Root to young people in milk to old people in wine Another Preparation of the Leaves and Root of Hellebore It s certain that the vertue of this herb is great and admirable not much differing from a Balsome He which can bring out the Balsome which lurks in this herb hath a most precious treasure of Nature The way to make of this herb a Balsome is thus This herb must be putrified in its own water being placed in warm dung the glass being close stop'd afterwards the water must be separated from that which is putrified and the putrified matter must be separated from the grounds the grounds must be kept by themselves then you have the Balsome with two degrees of moistnesse and twenty two degrees of putrifaction The dose of that which is putrified according to degrees and of the water according to the quantity is to be considered in the administration of it according to the first proceeding This Balsome may be more exalted in its essence if the aforesaid work be done again by adding to this water and putrified matter new or fresh Hellebore and if it be dry especially the Root it s so much the better The Root is thus corrected Take of this Root cut in large slices two ounces of flesh a quarter of a pound cut very small of the water of Nutmeg one ounce of the water of large Pepper one dram put these together in a pot very well stopt and put your pot in boyling water three or four hours then take out your pot and pour out the liquor which you shall keep for your use then throw away the flesh and the herb Of this liquor you are to give so much as the disease the sick person and necessity requires Another Addition You have already heard that this Root cures four principall diseases and that it is a conservative of long life But now I will shew you how Hellebore can do greater Cures then any I have yet mentioned Take of this Balsome of black Hellebore one ounce of naturall Balsome half a scruple let them be so exactly mixed that there appear but only one and not two For Balsom and Hellebore are of the same nature in respect of Conservation Natural Balsom is such a Medicine which preserves us from all the infections of the Stars from the Plurisie and from the Pestilence Now we should provide Remedies not onely against our earthly infirmities and diseases but also against those diseases which come from the celestiall influences And against such diseases there is no Medicine more powerfull then Balsome If the Falling-Sicknesse could be cured by purging then this Root were a sufficient remedie Some Herbs are fit purges for the Falling Sicknesse other herbs for the Jaundies c. Every disease requires its own purge which is agreeable to it yet a Purgation is not a full Cure we must do something else to perfect the Cure therefore when the Patient is purged so as he should be then follows the Cure of the Falling Sickness which consists in the Secret or Arcanum of the Essence of Coperas By this method both old and young may be cured Neverthelesse the Physician must observe that this order of Purgations and Essences is not to be learned by the Apothecaries Art but by the natures of things which do teach us both the way how the Medicine is to be given and how much is to be given CHAP. III. The Cure of the Gout with black Hellebore THere are two kinds of Gout one kind of it comes of bloud the other comes of defluxions from the head In the Bloud-Gout the bloud doth rage and by Astronomie it appears that the bloud Gout is enraged by the influence of the Dog-stars as in another place I have fully proved Now Hellebore cannot help this kinde of Gout but it is good for that Gout which comes of saltish sowr sharp corrosive defluxions These qualities of the defluxions are the cause of the Gout and not heat or cold or moistnesse or drynesse but if the diseased person be much troubled with great heat or great coldnesse in his joynts it is by reason of the contention betwixt nature and the disease betwixt that which is sound and that which is diseased The Antient appâ—oved Physicians gave Hellebore to those who were troubled with such defluxions and with it purged them For this Root is the best of all purging Medicines which were known to the Ancients both for preventing Defluxions and for expelling them out of the body This Purge was made by the Ancients not according to the Rules of the Physicians of later times but it was judiciously without curiosity prepared They regarded not such Medicines which were made up of Syrups c. and such other vaine additions They gave this root alone without any addition to the patient a little of it every day and not all at one time For Purgations must be given moderately in long Diseases purging rather often and gently then violently This Root of elder Hellebore thus prepared and given every day as the Patient and Disease requires doth so cure defluxions by its natural vertue that no Root or Herb can do he like As
inflamed by any disease that it cannot be in greater torture the best thing we can use to take away this heat and pain is to eat Arsmart Those of ancient times when they used this herb they took away the biting of it by frying it with butter or oyl and so did eat it and being so eaten it cured those diseases for which it was intended And further this Herb by its benumming faculty is a Remedy for putrifaction it takes away the pains and diseases of the Lungs Cough pains of the belly and risings of the mother being outwardly applied it cureth that extreme inflammation called St. Anthonies fire and all other inflamed Ulcers but it must be wet in Rose-water before it be laid on It cureth likewise all pains which arise of corrosive humours or those subtil Salts which are dissolved in our bodies which do cause most tormenting pains Now where these corrosive or saltish humors are as in the teeth they cause the Tooth-ach in the finger they cause the Felon c. If you lay this herb upon the diseased part using it that way as hath been shewed before then it will certainly perform the Cure when all other Narcotick remedies cannot do it An Addition more fully explaining how this herb should be used for Wounds Vlcers c. THat you may be fully instructed concerning the nature of this Herb I have thought fit to add something concerning that first way of using it which I have before declared to you by the example of the Load-stone I told you before that this herb must be drawn through cold running water and the fresh herb being cold and wet must be laid upon the Ulcer Wound c. and then presently it must be taken off again and buryed Now the thing which I add here is this If the disease or other griefs accompanying the disease be so violent and strong that they will not easily yeeld to the Remedie then do thus Lay to the sore every morning a fresh herb after it hath been drawne through running water then take it and bury it and thus you must do three mornings and oftner if need be if you see the disease very hard to cure then you may do so twelve or fourteen mornings yea every morning till the cure be perfected If a man in his journey be hindred because his horse hath received some hurt or is extremely galled then lay this herb to the sore and do as I have now shewed you if he be not well after the first second fourth c. dressing yet you must continue this course till he be well Troublesome or violent diseases must have powerfull remedies and must be diligently look'd to And seeing in some diseases the aforesaid way of using this herb doth little good at first as one Purge or if the quantity of the purge be too little it doth little good in some diseases therefore I have thought good here to shew you how the first way of using this herb may be made so effectuall that there is not any sore whatsoever but it may be throughly cured by it Again you must remember to keep Wounds and Ulcers clean if you do it not you wil much hinder the Cure And likewise remember That it is good for the diseased person who uâ—seth this kind of Cure to be in motion and exercise so it be moderate for how much more he useth the part diseased so much sooner and better he shall be cured by the vertue of this Magnetick herb Again observe That other Medicaments may be joyned with this Herb such as are sutable to it and are by nature ordained to such Cures which being joyned with it may further the magnetick vertue of it Again there is one great secret in this herb which I will not hide from you viz. That the Cure which is performed by this Herb is a certain and lasting Cure You need not fear that an Ulcer c. cured by this Herb will break out again and it is such a Cure as Nature requires This magnetick Herb doth not close up that which Nature would have open nor will it leave that open which Nature would have closed As for example Where there is a passage for the effluxion of humours especially if there be a great deal of humour which purgeth out so as if such a passage should be stopd death would follow now this herb will not stop such a passage which should not be stop'd it only cures that which Nature would have cured it will not do any thing contrary or hurtfull to Nature Whereby it appears that this way of cure done by this herb is most natural If you would know how to use this herb for the Tooth-ach take some Arsmart and some of the bark of Henbane boil them together in Rose-vinegar when they are boiled enough take them out and bury them in the ground but the liquor you must take and wash your mouth with you must take it as hot as possibly you can and hold it in your mouth till it be cooled then put it out of your mouth and take some more of this liquor as hot as you did before and hold it in your mouth till it be cooled and thus if you do many times together you have a certain cure for the tooth-ach or you may take the herb it self not boyled and rub it upon the tooth and bury it and when it is putrified the pain of the tooth will cease The Correction of this Herb for those inward Diseases which I mentioned before is thus Let the Arsmart be boiled in the water of Night-shade or in the water of great Sengreen the decoction is to be drunk and the herb it self must be buried as hath been said before And you may do so likewise with it for outward diseases adding a little Camphire to it Besides all that we have yet spoken concerning Arsmart there is yet remaining a great and excellent secret But I conceive it better to be silent then to speak any more now concerning this noble Jewel TREATISE III. Of the Vertues and Preparations of CORALS CHAP. I. What kind of Coral is best The Vertue of it against Spirits Melancholy vain Phansies c. REd Corals are of two kinds one kinde of them is of a dark red colour or toward a purple colour another kind of them is of a bright shining red colour And as they differ in colours so they differ in properties There is another kind of a pale colour which hath very little vertue in it It is to be observed concerning the red Coral that how far short it is of a bright reddish it wants so much of its goodnesse and efficacy Experience teaches us that those Corals which are of a clear bright shining red colour full of boughs and no where broken are full of power and vertue But those Corals which have clefts or want any part which they should have are of lesse vertue As a tree which wants some of its boughs brings
like the Moon and as the Divell doth comply with the Moon so he doth with â—his dark red Coral Other Vertues of Coral Where this Coral is whether in the Fields or in Gardens there all kinds of fruits are multiplyed and increased it likewise drives away from those grounds where it lyeth all such Birds Vermine Spirits Ghosts which are hurtfull to the grounds or the fruits of the grounds and so it increaseth the fruits For the corn fruits c. receive great damage in the night by Spirits and Ghosts Further if the Divel may possesse man much more he may possesse beasts as Cows Dogs Hogs Birds c. viz. such beasts in which men have most delight And the Divel is also in Tempests in Lightning Hail c. Now if Nature may be thus possessed by unclean Spirits then certainly Nature by its own strength can deliver it self from those unclean Spirits that is that natural thing which is so possessed howbeit it cannot by its own strength deliver its self yet there is some other naturall thing like it self which agreeth with it to which God hath given a peculiar power against such unclean Spirits that as in Nature there be Remedies against Diseases so likwise in Nature there be Remedies against such wicked Spirits of which Remedies Corall is one Other Vertues of Corall Women with child may reap great benefit by this Coral and as they undergo more casualties troubles temptations griefs c. then men so they should not want this Corall but they should alwayes carry about them the most pleasant lightsome shining bright red Coral that they can have This Coral cureth the whites in Women and stoppeth the extraordinary flowing down of the monthly Courses and brings them to their naturall condition again It is also a great help to women in child birth if they have it about them for by it they shall be delivered safely speedily and with little pain This Coral also cureth loosnesse in the belly and all kinds of fluxes both in old and young people It makes us be of a good complexion and cheerfull it corrects the harshnesse and rudenesse of our natures and makes those civill which before were uncivill It stops the bloud of the veins bleeding at the nose the bleeding of wounds the Hemorrhoids It cureth the Falling sicknesse by the rectifying of Nature so that the diseased person shall not fall It is one of the chiefest things for the curing of this disease either in young people or in people of middle age CHAP. III. The marks of the best Coral How it should be prepared and exalted the vertues of its Essence HEre I will adde one notable maâ—k whereby you may know the goodnesse of Coral and how it must be carried This mark you shall finde in the figure of the Corall Take notice especially of the stock of the Coral in which you may plainly discern a belly and the back and so you must take notice of the right side and the left side of the Coral for accordingly it must be carried that is he who carrieth the Coral must set the belly of the Coral towards the same place that his belly is towards and the back of the Corall towards the same place that his back is towards the right side of the Coral as his right side and the left side of the Coral as his left side And that Corall in which you cannot discern this back and belly wanteth much of the vertue which it should have or if it wanteth any boughs which it should have then its defective in its vertue for the more boughs and branches it hath it is so much the better And therefore if you would have the aforesaid benefits of the Coral you must carry about you the whole Coral a broken piece of the Coral hath but lâ—ttle vertue Observe this distinction of the vertues of herbs There is a twofold Vertue in herbs and other Vegetables c. viz a specifical vertue that is a vertue appropriated to some certain Diseases which striketh at the root of that disease and roots it out And there is an essentiall vertue which is not proper to any one disease but is larger by this vertue an Herb can help a great many diseases and may cure some This essential vertue is like the beams of the Sun diffused in the air the specificall vertue is like the beams of the Sun contracted in a burning glasse So that the specificall vertue is a great deal more operative then the essential vertue The Exaltation of the Vertues of Coral I will not neither indeed can I exalt the Specificall vertue of Corals For what God hath already enlarged to its utmost bounds that it can go no further such a thing can neither be encreased nor diminished It is only the essentiall vertue which may be increased And therefore now I give you the Preparation and Exaltation only of the Essentiall vertue of Corals which I cannot pass by because the mysteries and secrets of Corals are wonderfull Of which I wâ—ll now treat not so slightâ—y as other Writers do It hath been alwayes the custome of Philosophers to separate the good from the bad the pure from the impure that is all things must die onely the soul continueth and if the soul doth not die and the bodie must rot hence then it follows that the seed must putrifie before it can bring forth fruit Putrifaction is incident to the body onely the Essence that which is good the soul doth not putrifie Now when that which is pure is separated from the impurities of the Coral then the Jewel is discovered in which all its vertues dwell which is of small quantity in respect of a great deal of uselesse impure matter which is separated from it By the Vertue of this Jewel viz by this essence of Coral are cured all sorts of vicious fluxes in women without any harm to the body whereas such fluxes in women if they be stopped in one place they break out worse in another place It s otherwise with this Cure done by the Essence of Coral for this cure is perfect and never doth any harm This Essence likewise cureth all sorts of fluxes of the belly that albeit they be moâ—t desperate so that they cannot be cured by other remedies yet this Essence will help them This Essence being taken inwardly stops bleeding in any part of the body Ten or fifteen drops of this Essence taken inwardly cureth all sorts of Falling-sicknesse in men women or children if they take it five weeks together I deny not but some things may be added to this Essence of Coral which may better it as the secret Essence of the stone Carneolus which makes the essence of Coral more efficacious in stopping of fluxes as bleeding fluxes of the belly c. Another thing which may be added to this Essence is the glasse of Steel made liquid which makes the essence very powerfull in curing the Falling-sicknesse The essence with these additions