this sweet Mercury is made out of sublimate which is a most violent poyson whereunto they adde some crude quick-silver which is sublimated the second time and so by the mixture thereof the corroding vertue of the spirits of the salt and vitriol doe vanish away and it is made a sweet powder which before was very sharp Here I doe not see any preparation at all but onely a certain mixture and addition of quick-silver the nature of which doth for all that remaine whole and entire and with a slight art is brought to its former temper But if Mercury sublimate be such a deadly poyson the ensuing addition of live Mercury doth not take away the force thereof but only allay it and so the strength being dispersed it is weaker than when it was united And it is manifest for this reason to wit because there is the same reason of naturall things of the same kinde When it is first sublimated the mixture of the salt spirits with the quick-silver makes it to become noxious yet the quick-silver it selfe doth not take away from those spirits their force and violence but rather friendly unites it selfe with them Afterwards when fresh quick-silver is added thereto to make it sweet in regard that it is of the same nature with the former it doth likewise conjoyne it self with the fore-named spirits and can no more abate their violence than the former quick silver But because there is a greater quantity of quick-silver added than was in it before although the aforesaid spirits in their owne nature are no lesse forcible than they were yet they cannot do so much harm because they are allayed and corrected as a few drops of the spirit of vitriol mixed with water may be drunk which otherwise is a corrosive medicament And therefore this sweet Mercury is not so safe as that which hath not been sublimated But if crude quick-silver being mixed with mercury sublimate doth take away the poyson thereof Nihil dat quod non habet and makes it harmlesse much more shall it self be harmlesse Nothing gives that which it hath not If therefore it doth give relish and sweetnesse to that most strong poyson without doubt it hath it in it selfe for propter quod unumquodque est tale illudest magis tale If then the onely commixture of the crude quick-silver doth make the sublimate to become wholsome and profitable to mans body much more shall it self be wholsome and profitable The stories recited in the precedent Chapter doe manifest as much from which it plainly appeares that quick-silver even unprepared hath been administred with very good successe Wee must confesse indeed Cautions in using of quicksilver that if it bee taken in too great a quantity or if there be no corrupt humours in the body for it to work upon it may doe harm as also it is not so good for the cholerick and melancholick as for the phlegmatick But if for that cause quick-silver were to be rejected in like manner almost all remedies should be abandoned from any use in Physick For they are never so good for one but they may hurt another yea even all if they be taken in too great a quantity or unseasonably We will adde here the testimony of a late writer and a most excellent Chymist to wit Hartmannus one that taught divers wayes of preparing Mercury yet treating concerning the curing of wormes in the belly he saith The most excellent remedy of all is quick-silver either taken crude by it self from a scruple to a few drammes or else first quenched with the juyce of Lemmons but then the dose must be lesse because being quenched it stayes longer in the belly Where he seemes to preferre the crude before that which is quenched as wee have already sufficiently manifested CHAP. XXXI Of Tobacco BEcause Tobacco is growne so familiar in use that there are few or none but take it something must bee said concerning it and first of the nature of it Many thinke yea and some have written that Tobacco is * Stupefactive Narcotick and therefore they call it Henbane of Peru whose opinion experience seems to confirme for it provokes sleep and asswages paine Which opinion although it hath learned men for its Authors and Abettors yet to me it doth not seem altogether agreeable to verity For that which provokes sleepe doth it by a vapour either stirred up in the brain or carried up thither or by furthering concoction for then do we sleep most soundly when the stomack is not overcharged with meat It asswages paine because it either takes away or alters the cause thereof but it doth not benumme the part affected by any narcotick quality thus I have seen inveterate head-ache cured with Tobacco Tobacco is not narcotick That it hath not any narcotick quality may be known by divers tokens First because as they confesse Tobacco is hot and dry and doth attenuate penetrate and resolve the humours which is found true by experience But all these are repugnant to the nature of narcoticks not that I thinke that all narcoticks are cold for many of them are hot but because whatsoever is narcotick doth thicken the humours so that if the paine arise from gross humours they do a great deale of harme because they make the humours more grosse and so the disease is made harder to be cured But Tobacco is best for cold natures and cold humours contrary to the nature of narcoticks Secondly if there be a great evacuation of the belly or a flux of bloud which cannot be stayed with astringent medicines we use narcotick and stupefactive remedies as a principall meanes to settle the humours But Tobacco doth purge the body both upwards and downwards in a violent manner like Hellebore or Antimony And any man shall as soone prove Hellebore to bee a narcotick as perswade mee that Tobacco is so It may perhaps stay a vomiting but that is in regard it takes away the cause as a vomit cures a distemper of vomiting Thirdly Stupefactions being applyed outwardly doe bereave the part of sence and refrigerate very much but Tobacco doth no such thing as any man that pleases may make experiment CHAP. XXXII Of the right use of Tobacco ALlthough I never yet took Tobacco nor doe I desire to take it yet I have observed very many of every sort of men to use it as the slender grosse cholerick phlegmatick and others who receive no harme thereby insomuch as I cannot approve of their opinion who think it to be very hurtfull unlesse when it is immoderately used and thus the Proverb is true Too much of one thing is good for nothing The Indians doe think so reverently of this plant that they believe it to bee the most wholsome and sacred of all other and I have commended it to many who by using it have been very happily restored to health Lewes Mercatus a famous Physician among the Spaniards doth in sundry places highly extoll it and he
things which they can no where make to appeare CHAP. X. That milk mixt with water is good for those that are in consumptions BEcause among the remedies for those that are in a consumption of which we have spoken in the precedent Chapter milk doth not challenge the last but the chiefest place we will speake something of it it being for this purpose much better than gold for it nourisheth refrigerateth and confolidateth ulcers and it is profitable for many other things Yet in administring it divers eautions are to bee observed Cautions in using of milk which the Physician ought to consider lest he doe more harme than good for it is soone corrupted in the stomack For sometimes it turnes into a nidorous and burning savour sometimes it growes tart and sowre or curdles in the stomack When it becomes tart and sowre a little honey or sugar may be boyled in it for the coldnesse of the stomack is the cause of the tartnesse but if it turne into a burning savour it is corrupted through heat and then it is good to put thereto a good deale of water But the people like not this mixture Yet most excellent Physicians have allowed of it for it moderates the heat hurts not the milk it selfe and is good for hecticks and such as are in a consumption in respect of its cooling and moystning especially if it be Cows milk which at this day is most ordinary of all 7 Epid. Hippocrates ministers Cowes milk with a sixth part of water both because this milk is by its owne nature somewhat thick and also because it quickly turns into a burning savour 5 Epid. tex 56. And he tels a story of Pythocles who ministred to the sick milk mingled with much water 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 And there is the same reason why Avicenne and others doe prescribe butter-Milke because it is more watery and so doth refrigerate more So Galen commends Asses Milke because it is very thinne full of whey and hath very little curd therefore it is most fit to amend drinesse and to temper heate But if such milk cannot be gotten it will not be amisse to bring Cowes milk to the temper and consistence of Asses milke which a mixture of water doth most fitly performe This not onely the Ancients but the moderne Writers doe observe Gordondus Ioubertus Hollerius and others Hollerius in his chapter of Phthisis and the Hectick saith If belching doe * savour of burning Nidorous a little water must beboyled with the milk Which counsell if many would follow they should perceive more benefit from the use of Milk than they usually do CHAP. XI That the common proverbe is false Milke must be washed from the Liver BEcause this so familiar and ordinary Proverbe is not of any great moment we will speake but little of it Many when they eat Milk do presently drink Beere or Wine and say that Milk must be washed off the Liver For which saying there is no reason for then the Milk is not yet come to the Liver but is contained still in the stomach and therefore there is no sence why it should be washed off the Liver But they must rather stay three or foure houres after the taking of the Milk for then is the first concoction of the stomach finished and the milk is in the Liver that it may be turned into blood Secondly no reason enforces why milk should be washed from the Liver rather than other meats for there is the same reason of all meats which necessity urges to be contained in the Liver that they may be changed into blood Thirdly it is sure that by this meanes the Milk is curdled in the Stomach The evill effects of curdled milk and so is afterward more easily corrupted more slowly concocted and burdens the stomach for Milk curdled in the Stomach is reckoned among poysons and I knew a man that by this meanes dyed suddenly Let them therefore observe it that use to eat milk that they doe not unadvisedly drinke Wine or other liquours that dissolve milk seeing that by the use of them milk is soon corrupted in the stomach waxes sowre and becomes hurtfull CHAP. XII That strong Beere or Ale should not be drunk in the morning fasting THis is the most usuall custome of all that in the morning after they are risen they must have their morning draughts of strong Beer or Ale and sometimes of Wine I know that by very many Physicians that custome of drinking in the morning any sort of drinke whatsoever it be is by no means approved because that moystning doth dissolve the strength of the stomach loosen and debilitate it so as that the body becomes afterward more replete with crudities But I am not of their minde at all for a mornings draught so that it be not of strong drink helps forward the distribution of the meat Small beer best for morning draughts purges the stomach and as they say well cleanses it tempers naturall heat moystens the body and which I think most true hinders the generation of the stone for it tempers and moystens the Kidneyes as many of our ancient and moderne Writers prescribe broths of Butter Mallowes and other such things for to temper the Kidneyes why not by the like reason small Beere which doth coole moysten and is diuretick But yet singular heed is to be taken that in the morning while the stomach is empty The evill effects of strong drink in the mornings strong Ale or other such drinkes be not powred in for they hurt the nervous parts from whence the Gout paine of the joints inflammations of the bowels and other grievous diseases may arise for by reason of their subtiltie and great force of spirits these drinkes do insinuate themselves into the nervous parts insomuch as they are usually troubled with paine of the joints that are eagerly delighted with such drinks and therefore advisedly is wine forbidden them that are Gouty Neverthelesse the diversitie of natures is to bee considered here for they that are of a temperament somewhat moyst because they need but little drinke ought not to drink in the morning fasting But they that are of a dry constitution both may and ought to drink fasting but not strong drinks for by them the nervous parts are sooner offended and dried Galen confirms this in his Comment upon the 21. Aph. lib. 2. where he saith that if before the use of meats any man use a liberall drinking of Wine hee is very much troubled with Convulsions and taken with Frensies and in his Comment upon the 20. Aphorisme lib. 6. Among the causes why so many are vexed with the Gout and paine of the joints he reckons this that they drink strong drinks before meat for they do very soon offend the substance of the nerves as doth carnall copulation Also Plutarch in his Symposiacks disputing whether new diseases may breed or no produces this as a cause of new diseases that they
to resolving remedies which during the increase may be first mixed with repelling but in the height of the disease they must bee meerly resolving medicines 13 method cap. 2. To which purpose Galen uses cowparsenep thyme wild thyme and other such hot things boyled in oyle and he teacheth that the frensie in the height and the lethargie have the very same manner of curing because in both of them the same resolving remedies are to be used where also he commends mustard and castoreum both which are very hot And these hot things in the height and also in the declination of the disease doe not heat but resolve For this is the right manner of curing any inflammation that in the height and in the declination wee use digesting and discussing remedies 1. simâ—l cap. 4. for as Galen teaches Digesting remedies do by accident refrigerate and coole an inflammation Wherefore in * 1. ad Glaue cap. 15. 2 do Medic. 2. locor two severall places for the paine of the head in feavers he uses the se digestives to wit after universall evacuations But the moderne Physicians use young pigeons and whelps cloven downe the back and the lungs of a Ramme yet warme which remedies although the Ancients were ignorant of yet they performed the same with other things answerable to these in operation Now when dogs or pigeons are applyed to the soles of the feet that is either done for revulsion or else for resolving the matter of the disease Not for revulsiouâ— because the people seldome or never use them but in the height and in the declination of the disease now the revulsion should bee made in the beginning both because their heat is but very gentle and because it doth draw but very weakly for these things which draw unto the most remote parts of the body must bee exceeding hot Therefore Galen in his Book de revulsione saith that they must bee sharp medicines which draw back humours from the head and bowels 8 collect cap. 19. And * Oribasius is of the same minde For they draw by their heate and paine But young pigeons do resolve without much heat wherefore though I thinke they doe draw something yet it is but weakly and not from the far distant parts in respect of their so gentle heat Nor are they available for resolution of humours for who will believe that remedies are to be applyed to the feet that they may resolve the humours infolded in the braine And this is the opinion even of all Physicians who have written of the diseases of the head Neverthelesse I doe not absolutely speake against the applying them to the soles of the feet because it may doe a little good and cannot doe hurt It is an usuall thing with them of Monspeliers In France they are applied to the heart to apply young pigeons cloven through the middle together with some cordiall powders to the region of the heart after the manner of an Epitheme to comfort the heart and refresh the spirits because they have a milde heat familiar and agreeing with our naturall heat CHAP. XLVIII Of the Weapon-salve BEcause the weapon-salve otherwise called the sympatheticall magneticall and starry oyntment is held in so great account by some that they think it cures wounds being applyed not to the affected part but to the weapon that makes the wound we will not passe it over in silence For now adayes it begins to bee much in use This was the invention of some Germanes especially of â—heophrâ—stus Paraâ—â—â—sus whom Goclenius followed and also Crollrus who hath a description of this oyntment different from that of Paracelsus and others some of whom followed Paracelsuâ— and others Crollius his description Now some will have this to bee a wonderfull gift of God that wounds should be cured with so much facility and it is only an abridgment of the art of Surgery so that for the future Surgery need not to be regarded seeing veâ—unds and ulcers may be cured with one only remedy But yet nature seems worthy to be blamed in that shee so long kept close such an excellent remedy and revealed it not to Adam the Patriarchs holy men Jewes the primitive Christians and the most learned men but hath revealed it to drunkards Paracelsus charged whoremongers dicers such as the report goes Paracelsus was his only Countrymen writing and confessing the same The rest of them in my judgment do so obscurely explain themselves that it is very likely they knew not what they would say nor ought it to move any man that Goclenius sayes that he could name Emperours Kings and Princes who give testimony of the vertue of this oyntment for perhaps some Impostors with their counterfeit glosse have beguiled them which is a thing not impossible but I verily believe Goclenius himselfe was never knowne to Kings and Emperours But to passe by these things it is to be noted in the first place that this ointment is compounded of mosse that growes upon a mans skull A principall ingredient is the mosse that grows upon a mans skull that was hanged which they call usnea because this is as it were the pure quintessence of the skull and a spiritous substance as one of them better learned than the rest was conceited Crollius makes choice of a man that hath dyed a violent death and Hartman his Commentatour preferres one that hath been hanged Because when they are strangled the naturall and vitall spirits are carried upwards and seeing that by reason of the hardnesse of the skull they cannot get out they are coarcted together with the animall spirits and in processe of time grow into one and breake forth unto the circumference of the skull then by the accesse of Mercury or the spirit of the World conveyed into these inferiour things by raine dew snow and frosts is made usnea which containes in it all the naturall vitall and animall vertues which afterwards it communicates to this oyntment Who can but admire at such grosse ignorance of naturall Philosophy in Hartman For he is in a palpable errour in saying that in them that are strangled the naturall and vitall spirits are carried upwards when the vessels to wit the veines and arteries through which these spirits are carried as all men know are intercepted and stopped Moreover although they should be carried up then more than at other times why shall they rather be coarcted and united in one that is hanged than in a living man in whom the spirits are so easily wasted and how is it that before this mosse and hearinesse grew upon the skull they are not quite dissipated and dissolved But how knowes hee that those spirits are carried up to the braine in them that are hanged doe settle rather in the skull than in the substance of the brain For in a living creature they are for the most part in the braine it selfe Now these spirits doe either flow into it or they are naturally seated and
the blood of the party wounded is joyned unto the ointment the spirits that are in the blood are by reason of sympathy joyned with the spirits of the ointment being both of the same kind and so doth take the vertues of the ointment and carry it unto the party wounded And not only the vertues of the ointment but also the affects which follow the administration of ointments which are such as happen either by a too strait or too loose ligature as also those which may ensue if a wound be left uncovered in a place that is either too cold or too hot And there is so much force in these spirits that they are able to conveigh the vertue of the ointment from the East into the West from the North to the South And Crollius calls them all fooles who think that this cure is Magicall and hee will have it to be done by a magneticall and attractive vertue caused by the starres which is carried unto the wound by the Aire being the Medium and that by reason of the sympathy of Nature and Balsame of bloud which is in every man and by reason of the influence of caelesticall bodies And thus Hartman explaines it when the weapon is anointed the salt of the blood which is on the weapon doth by a magneticall vertue draw the animal spirits out of the ointment which two spirits by the concurrence of the spirit of the world are friendly united into one But if the spirit which is in the bloud of the weapon cannot attract the spirit of the ointment without the annointing that is to say without reall contract how can it bee sayd to draw it with a magneticall vertue Now this spirit of the world hee will have to bee diffused throughout all things in the world to be that which carries the formes of seeds and all proportions which knits all things together and which applies actives to passives Hence it comes to passe that what commoditie or discommoditie that bloud congealed without the veines doth receive it is presently by sympathy communicated to its connaturall blood that resides within the veines Thence it is that the partie is in paine if the weapon bee held to the fire or exposed to the cold aire and contrariwise if the patient chance to eat Onions Mustard or Garlick it may presently be perceived in the weapon namely because those spirits doe communicate their passions one to another From what hath been premised it will be very easie to demonstrate the vanity of that manner of curing The vanity of curing by the ointment of which I confesse I never did nor yet desire to make any tryall Yet I doubt not but I shall plainly shew the frivolousnesse of it even from their own principles For instead of the ground-worke they lay downe many things that are very dubious and uncertaine as that which Hartman talkes of the spirit of the world which what or where it is no man as yet hath been able to demonstrate which saith hee is diffused throughout all things when but a little before hee had said that it is conveighed into these inferiour things by raine dewes and frosts and so in a clear and caime aire this spirit may be to seek when perhaps there would be most need of it And lest we should conceive it to be a spirituall and incorporcall substance he calls it Mercurius Mundi and questionlesse it must be corporcall which stands in need of corporeal means to carry it also he supposes the spirits to be perpetual and unalterable in the bloud although it be corrupted when notwithstanding the blood even in the body and veins may be so corrupted that it may lose its form much more without the veines and doubtlesse the bloud that is in the ointment hath quite Jost its form the efficacie of its spirits and so the analogie and sympathie of the spirits of the partie wounded and of the ointment is much weakened Now that some do call this a magicall forme of curing it is not improbable Probable arguments to prove it magicall seeing that vertue of curing which is sayd to be in the ointment doth stand in need of the spirit of the world to carry it that is to say the Divell who is called the Prince of the world But I rather thinke this manner of curing is false than magicall because many follow it which are very farre from that impious and detestable crime Nor matters it that experience confirmes the truth of this form of healing for onely such wounds have been healed which might have been healed by natures endeavour alone without any help of Art and therefore it may yet be questionable whether the cure were performed by vertue of the ointment or no as we shall manifest afterwards First then it is false that this ointment is a more speciall gift of God than other ointments remedies are It s not a special gift of God as is pretended seeing by their own confession the whole cure is done by naturall means We must needs confesse that every thing is the gift of God whatsoever we eat drinke or use for the health of mans body But in this sence they call it not the gift of God but 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 because God hath miraculously taught it men as if every Science Art and all knowledge of remedies were not from God who hath created Medicine out of the earth But let us see whether this cure be possible or no. That there are great and divers sympathies and antipathies of things experience it selfe shewes the reasons whereof it is impossble to render Yet all things are contained and terminated within a certaine spheare of activitie Wee dayly see that the Loadstone drawes not iron but within a certaine distance I knew one that could not endure Cat to be in the roome although he saw her not but being put out of the chamber with a wall or doore between hee returned to himself again and so of all others There is no stronger antipathy then that which is betwixt the heavens and these inferiour things because it comprehends all things within its circumference and being of great force to act is able to dilate its qualities and vertues every way so that this inferiour orbe and every parcell thereof is within the spheare of the activitie of those caelestiall bodies yet we see that sympathy to languish by the distance of places The Loadstone tends to the Pole Artick but the further it is from the Pole the more it declines from it and so by little and little it tends not to the Poles of the world but to the Zodiack and perhaps rather to some other part of the heavens then to the North. If this bee true of the Caelestiall bodies it must needs be more true of these inferiour things Therefore how can the vertue of that ointment be carried so farre as sometimes it must be and not bee hindred by the interposition of buildings seas
mountaines walls windes and of the chest in which with the weapon it is layd up especially when those things which carry the spirits are corporeall which may be letted by the interposition of other bodyes or at least by how much the further distant the object is by so much the more is the vertue thereof diminished and there is good cause to fear lest in a great distance of places the force of the medicament doe perish quite Hartman writes that this communication is made by a magneticall vertue even so as the sent of the carkasse is communicated to the Vultures many miles distant But smels are not diffused in any unlimited space whatsoever and besides they may be diversly hindred as by raine windes and such like To no purpose also was it that Goclenius alledged exampies of many sympathies for it followes not because there are sympathies in other things that therefore there is a sympathy in the ointment Besides the sympathy which is sayd to bee in this ointment is farre different from the sympathy of other things which do insensibly diffuse their vertue into the aire and need not the spirit of the world to carry them and do never worke unlesse the object bee present and are terminated and limited within a certain space But that there are some cessations and fallings off from this sympathy the Loadstone shewes which being rubbed over with Garlick doth not draw iron which manifests that there is not an efflux and wasting of the qualitie only but of some thinne substance also Secondly there is not a reall contact of the agent and patient for it touches not the wound it self but the weapon which is farre distant from the wound which is neither the subject of the disease nor yet of the cure and which needs not to be cured Therefore one said well hee that bindes the weapon that the wound may be cured doth as if one should cover a stone which hath made the hand cold that the hand may be made hot thereby Nor let any man say that there is a vertuall contract the spirit of the world carrying the vertue of the ointment to the wound for this spirit of the world if there be any such thing is common to all things that are in the world otherwise it were not the spirit of the world And yet it operates not in other sympathies for unlesse the object bee present there are none at all Moreover this sympatheticall vertue of the ointment which is joyned with the spirit of the world in such a friendly society is not seated in any artificiall thing as artificiall but in something that is naturall and they might do well to tell what is that naturall thing in the ointment which peculiarly hath so much familiarity with the spirit of the world As wee Galenists say that in every organe there is some particular part which is the seat of the facultie and on which especially depends the action without doubt there ought to be the same thing in this ointment for all the simples which are put into the composition of it cannot so equally agree with the spirit of the world that it should carry their vertues from place to place at the will of him that annointed therewith Therefore the cure shall result either from the similitude of the weapon to the wound but that cannot be for in relations there is no power of acting but there should rather be antipathy betwixt the weapon and the person wounded Or else some vertue flowes from the ointment to the wound for according to Crollius the ointment is of a conglutinating and drawing nature but they do not touch one another Nor is that sympathy of nature sufficient which Crollius with naturall Balsame makes the cause of the cure for if there be any such sympathy the annointing is superfluous for the vertues which are carried after a magneticall manner through so great distances of places doe not need a corporeall application But in this ointment the contrary is apparent for nothing is done without the anointing of the weapon Therefore its working is materiall and after the manner of other unguents it cannot operate without a corporeall contact as appeares by the anointing for if it may worke magnetically without a corporeall contact the anointing is in vaine And in vain also doth Grollius observe a forme of anointing on the upper or neather part of the weapon for the vulnerary vertue thereof might out of the box wherein it is bee diffused even to all that are wounded for it hath a sympathy with all Seeing then it doth not operate without reall application and a certaine and determinate manner of anointing it is plainly manifest that it can act only after the manner of other remedies upon that thing to which it is applyed and no further Thirdly why is bloud fat and the mosse of mans bones put into this ointment is it because the spirits which are thought to bee in them although putrified But there are more such spirits in the body than in the ointment or in the bloud that comes from the wounded Therefore it is either the vertue of the oyntment that cures or else the vertue of the spirit that carries it If the vertue of the oyntment be the cause of the cure it must be principally seated either in the fat bloud and mosse or else in the other naturall remedies which are ingredients also in the oyntment to wit oyles and powders If the vertue of the oyntment depend upon the former the ointment is unprofitable because in the body of the party wounded there is already both a greater plenty of them and they are of a more forcible operation But if it flow from the other simples which are put into the composition of the oyntment the former things to wit the bloud fat and mosse are added but in vaine because they give no vertue to the oyntment So any vulnerary remedy if the bloud of the person wounded be applyed thereunto shall bee able to cure the wound by a magneticall quality to wit the spirit conveying the vertue of the oyntment to the part affected And indeed there is no reason if this sympatheticall ouring bee naturally possible why it may not bee good in all oyntments that mosse and bloud be put into them not for their vertue of healing but for their sympathy only as if a wound be to be deterged take the bloud of the Patient to which adde a deterging ointment and the spirits which are in the bloud by reason of sympathy by means of the spirit of the World will carry the vertue of that oyntment to the person wounded and so performe the cure In like manner any remedy may be made sympatheticall thus purges may be instituted or other intentions of Physicians perfected by adding to some convenient remedy a little of the Patients bloud whose vertue may be afterwards carried to the sick by means of the spirit of the World But if the spirits themselves have in
them the vertue of curing seeing there are more spirits left behinde in the body in vaine is the vertue of the oyntment implored Fourthly it appeares from the circumstances that this is an unprofitable manner of curing For they say that from the too loose or too strait binding of the weapon the same symptomes doe happen in the sick which are wont to come by such tying when it is used to the body Now these symptomes doe proceed either from the oyntment or from the binding Not from the ointment because it hath power to heale but not to hurt Nor from the binding because an artificiall thing hath no power to work at distance and upon another subject then to which it is applyed And therefore because Crollius prescribes sundry formes of applying it the oyntment is to be subspected for in naturall things that curious manner of anointing cannot change the property and of beneficiall make it to become hurtfull as likewise appeares in the Loadstone Nor doth it depend on them both because the magneticall vertue of the oyntment seeing it is defined to be meerly naturall and is seated in the oyntment doth proceed from meanes that work naturally as are the simples of which it is compounded and not from artificiall meanes which depend meerely on the will of him that anoints with it Furthermore they say that whatsoever commodity or discommodity that spirit which is in the bloud of the weapon doth receive it communicates the same by sympathy to that which is in the veines thence it is that the Patient is in pain if the weapon bee exposed the heat of the fire or to the cold aire But thus not only the vulnerary vertue of the oyntment but also the externall cold shall have a magnetick quality which is an absurd thing to suppose So that noxious cold might be carried from the weapon to the Patient through a hot medium as in the greatest heat of Summer As if the weapon should bee anointed in a Northern Country and the Patient be in Africk in a hot Country suppose the weapon to bee cold the Patient likewise shall be cold in Africk yea perhaps being near the sire Now seeing that cannot bee done but by the aire as Crollius confesses the aire of the Northerne Countrey shall have power to refrigerate the aire in Africa which who sees not to be a grosse absurdity But I would demand further seeing there is such a mutuall sympathy of spirits and the maintainers of this magneticall cure write that on the contrary if the sick shall observe an ill dyet and eat garlick onyons and mustard it is presently discerned in the weapon If the Patient doe lye neare the fire in Africk very hot and the weapon be exposed to the cold aire in the Northern Countryes why shall rather the person wounded bee made cold than the weapon be made hot because they will have the spirits to communicate their passions one to another These externall accidents cooling or heating do happen to the spirits either from the oyntment or not If not then they will not affect the party because the oyntment is necessary for the magneticall vertue that is in it and not in the ambient aire or other externall things and through the oyntment alone is the communication of the vertues from the weapon to the wounded Nor from the oyntment for it hath neither power to coole nor heat they are therefore nothing else but externall things not permanent but are changed according to the alteration of the ambient aire for in a hot aire the weapon being well covered and bound both the spirits and the oyntment will be hot and the contrary Then I demand how it comes to passe that they are not againe refrigerated in the way by the aire for they may bee carried through such such a medium which is cold as the winds which are by nature cold passing through hot climates doe become bot as the South winds In like manner if one loose a few ounces of bloud by a wound or bloud-letting or bleeding or by some other meâ—â—es it is a woulder that bloud being changed and cooled that the person doth not feele such effects if there be such a great sympathy of the spirits among themselves that what commodities or inconveniences they receive from externall causes they communicate them to that within the veines and so those spirits being refrigerated have power to refrigerate and coole that body out of which they issued If one or two drops of the bloud on the weapon by the anointing of the ointment be of power to heat the wounded body if it be kept in a hot place by reason that the spirits themselves are hot it is a wonder that the rest of the bloud that was spilled which hath more spirits than this being left behind and exposed to the open aire doth not likewise at the same time refrigerate the body seeing that in a greater quantity there is alwayes greater vertue if that bloud be cast into the fire why shall not the Patient feele the heat of the fire or if that bloud be putrified how is it that the body also doth not putrifie if there be such a great affinity betwixt the spirits and the body out of which they issued In like manner if the weapon cannot be had they say it sufficeth to besmear another weapon or a willow stick with a drop or two of the bloud that comes out of the wound I demand therefore if when this viceweapon is anointed with the oyntment that weapon which made the wound be first cast into the fire or water why shall not the sick be in great paine be cold or hot For there is no reason why it should suffer rather from one part of the spirits than another It is absurd therefore to imagine that this heating or cooling is communicated by any magneticall power Hence the Reader may observe that whatsoever they say of the sympathy of the spirits among themselves is true with them only of that part of the spirits which they faine to be united with the spirits of the oyntment by the aanointing and all these symptomes whether good or evill which they say doe happen to the wounded doe arise from thence But the spirits which are in the remainder of the bloud that was spilled doe neither hurt nor good and so their sympathy is vanished when neverthelesse they are of the samekind with the other spirits And who can but thinke these things are magicall especially if the actions of Magicians be compared therewith A comparison betwixt Magicall operations and this salve Who knows not that it was an ordinary thing with Magicians to make waxen statues by the help of which they did much harm and especially which concerns this heating at distance Virgil writes in his Pharmaccutriâ Limus ut hic durescit haec ut cera liquescit Vâ—o eodemque igni isic nostro Daphnis amore In English thus As clay growes hard by fire and
wax growes foft So Diphne for my love feeles changes oft Thus Hector Boetius and others doe report of some that have beene roasted with a gentlte heat by an imâ—ge of wax laid to the fire as Duffits King of Scots So they cause heat or cold and other affects when they list upon them that are absent the which all men grant cannot bee done by naturall causes Who have not heard that Witches which have anointed themselves with a magicall oyntment have been carried through the aire But that which Paracclsus writes in his Chapter of Invisible diseases makes much for our purpose if any man be hurt a foot or hand or some other member is to be drawn after the forme and shape of that which is hurt or if you will a pourtraicture of the whole body and it must be anointed and bound up and the man shall be free from paine yea and hee sayes that some who have been sick of other diseases have been cured after the like manner Who can beleeve that this is done by naturall causes and yet it is as easie in this to have recourse to magnetical vertues and sympathies and the spirit of the World as in the weapon-salve Here are examples of Magicall cures at distance which are in all respects like to the anointing of the weapon for as the image is anointed and bound up for the curing of the wound so is the weapon and as the Image laid to the fire or exposed to the frost doth burn or congeale him that is absent so doth the unguent laid upon the weapon and as the King of Scots in Boëtius was almost consumed in the waxen Image so the same may easily from the anointing of the weapon happen to him that is wounded if he that annoints it doe malitiously lay it to the fire or in some place that may communicate its harme to the person wounded and who sees not that this may be also a sort of Witchcraft If he that doth this by the help of the image douse the Devill who is the spirit of this world as an instrument to set on the charm it is likely that this magneticall cure as they call it hath the very same Author which they call by this name that they may cloak their knavery with a seeming shew of naturall actions And deservedly may the remedie be suspected even because of the Authors of it who were suspected for Magick For Paracelsus and Crollius do in divers places commend Magick and will have it to be a thing very needfull for a Physician But suppose wee that there is nothing magicall in it at all yet wee will further prove it to bee false and altogether a frivolous forme of curing Fifthly if then the spirit of the blood doth effect all these things and the ointment hath analogie and familiarity with the spirit which is in the blood why cannot other diseases likewise bee cured by the strengthning of the spirits and the balsame of blood For Crollius confesses that the cure is made by the balsame of blood and indeed the spirits and the vertues of the balsame in the body doe perfect all the cure Sixthly if according to Hartman the fixed salt of the bloud would not draw the spirit out of the ointment without the annointing it followes that there is no magneticall vertue in it at all because a corporeall contact is necessary and from hence it will follow likewise that without the corporeall contact it cannot worke at distance nor diffuse its strength so farre as to the person wounded The bloud hath the vertue either in it selfe or from the ointment If in it selfe then is the ointment in vaine Not from the ointment because what sympathy with the spirits of the partie is attributed unto it it hath it from the blood flesh fat and mosse which are ingredients in the composition by reason of the spirits which are thought to bee in them it followes then that the ointment hath no vertues in it which did not lie before in the spirits and so we conclude that the ointment is in vain also Seventhly the spirits which are in the blood fat and mosse are either of a diverse nature or of the same If they be of a diverse nature among themselves without doubt they are also of different operation and have not the same manner of sympathy with all the parts but the spirits of bloud have a greater affinitie with the blood the spirits of flesh with the flesh and the spirits of the Mosse with the Skull And therefore that the cure may succeed the better and sympathy be preserved besides the blood of the person wounded both his fat and his bones ought to bee mixed with the ointment on the wepon that a compleat cure may be performed and the magneticall vertue be without faile carried to the affected parts for verily there is not the same sympathy in the aforesaid spirits But if those spirits be all of the same nature that curiositie in adding thereto blood fat flesh and mosse is in vaine and superfluous when onely the blood which containes in it all those spirits may suffice Eighthly I have read a story of a horse whose feet had been hurt with a naile A horse shod in the quick cuted by this salve for the cure whereof the naile was aunointed with the aforesaid ointment and so the horse became sound againe And Crollius also relates the same From whence it follows that there is a certaine sympathy and familiaritie betwixt that ointment and the spirits of a horse and a certaine learned man confesses that there is the same vertue of healing in a man and in an horse Which if it be true in vaine is mans bloud preferred before an horses bloud for those things which are the same to one third are the same among themselves yea Crollius faith that not onely a horse but also all creatures that have flesh and bones may be cured with this ointment And in very deed if this manner of curing were certaine and infallible even any vulnerary ointment would bee as fit as this for the vertues thereof might bee conveighed to the sick by meanes of the spirit as well as the vertue of this ointment Ninthly seeing that the cure not onely of simple wounds but also of great and inward wounds is oftentimes perfected by Nature alone without the help of Art for to unite and to generate flesh are the works of Nature and not of Art and Crollius confesses that naturall Balsame doth work in this magneticall cure it is a wonder why that liniment is not rather applyed to the sick himselfe why it cures not ulcers seeing every wound doth at length become an ulcer and seeing bloud may flow also from ulcers and the principall indications of a wound are found likewise in an ulcer Why is it not also used for the curing of wounds made by Pistoll-shot and for such wherein there is a losse of substance Why hath Crollius excepted the wounds
of the Nerves Arteries and principall Members It is because it is good onely for fimple wounds and such as are onely in the flesh which nature by binding alone doth conglutinate with the help of naturall Balsame that is to say of the innate heate of the body hence it is easie for the wound being wrapped every day in clean clothes and washed with warm urine to grow together again of it self without the use of any ointment at all Therefore that ointment is altogether unprofitable nor availes that any thing which they talk of experience for without doubt those wounds might have been eured without the ointment For that ointment doth neither dissolve nor purge away the excrements of the wounds nor preserve the temperature of the parts for the parts of the body which may bee wounded are of divers sorts as Sanguine Spermatick Nervous Membranous fleshy and men themselves may be Cholerick or Sanguine Melancholick Phlegmatick Plethorick Cacochymick and bee troubled with some other diseases also for all which one and the same remedy cannot bee so convenient But enough of this CHAP. XLIX Of the curing of the Kings-Evill by the touch of the Seventh-Sonne BEcause of late I have heard of some who reporting that they are Seventh-Sonnes do promise great matters about the healing of the Kings-Evill which they professe to doe by touch alone and so beguile the too credulous people something must bee sayd concerning them This chapter I have added at the request of some Physicians of principall note That some diseases are sometimes cured only with the touch of some remedies it is plainly manifest by the authority of the most excellent Physicians Such are those which are called amuleta and periapia being remedies that are hung about the neck or laid to the body Thus Galen commends the root of Peionie hung about the neck for the Epilepsie others the stone called aëtites bound to a womans Thigh to facilitate the birth and divers such examples are found in Authors which many say they have observed although I have sometimes made triall of peionie * A stone which is found in an Eagles nest without which as it is thought she cannot lay her egges and the stone aëtites for the aforesaid affects without any successe Neverthelesse I deny not but there are occult sympathies and antipathies nor doe I goe about to thwart experience and the authority of able Physicians But it is farre more which these men professe they can doe namely cure the Kings evill by their touch alone and that because they are Seventh Sons That this is naturall I thinke scarce any will believe For whatsoever is naturall doth depend on inward principles and may be done by every individuall of that kinde so it be entire sound and according to nature in every respect as all Rubarb parges choler and every man is risible Nor doth it depend on number for number according to Philosophers is of no force to act for actions are of the things themselves and doe depend on the formes of things But this seventh Son is said to have some peculiar power which is denied to the six former brethren to wit because he is the Seventh It must needs follow therefore that that power must arise some other way since it proceeds neither from the forme nor the number It depends not on the Touch for Touching as Touching hath onely the power of Touching Indeed if there be either any noxious or salutiferous quality in the body it is communicated by the Touch. But the Touch it self hath no such force Furthermore seeing that all diseases are cured onely by the taking away of their cause those Wondermongers cannot take away the Kings evill unlesse they first take away the cause Now seeing that the cause of the Kings evill is fleagm as Physicians say setled in the kernels which in other parts breeds other diseases he might be able by the same touch and by the same vertue to cure other diseases that come from the same cause which thing seeing hee cannot doe it must necessarily follow that the cure is miraculous or else that it depends on the imagination of the sick But seeing the imagination of the sick is so different being in some stronger in others weaker an uncertain event must be looked for from an uncertain cause Therefore it must of necessity be either miraculous or false or diabolicall I scarce believe that it is miraculous The Apostles and Primitive Christians did heale by touch alone to the greater glory of God and the propagating of Christian Religion But God will not have miracles to be wrought at every mans private pleasure thus whatsoever the Apostles did they professed that they did it not by any power of their owne but in the name of our Lord Iesus Christ And therefore those seven Brethren the Sonnes of Sceva a Jew who went about in the same name to conjure the uncleane spirits were beaten by the Devill and suffered the punishment of their rash boldnesse Thus it is not lawfull adventurously to attempt the working of miracles In like manner the power of curing the Kings Evill is by the blessing of God granted to the Kings of great Brittaine and France which is denied to other Christian Kings And so Edward the Confessor for his singular piety cured not only the Kings Evill which prerogative redounded to his Successors after him but also other ulcers by touch alone which his Successors could not doe Seeing then this priviledge is onely vouchsafed to the aforesaid Kings and is wholly performed in the name of our Lord Iesus Christ if other Kings should attempt the same it were too much rashnesse and a grosse tempting of God who hath not given any such power to them Therefore in Spaine where this disease of the Kings Evill is epidemicall and popular Francis the first King of France being taken Prisoner by the Spaniards cured it by his touch alone as he was wont to doe France concerning which Lascaris hath this Epigramme Hispanos inter sanat Rex Choeradas estque Captivus superis gratus ut ante fuit Indicio tali Regum sanctissime qui te Arcent invisos suspicor esse Deo In English thus The King in Spaine though Captive heales their sore And is as dear to God now as before Thus they who by his goodnesse are reliev'd Are but unto a greater vengeance repriev'd Moreover it is to be noted that the aforesaid Kings on whom God hath bestowed that favour have it upon a certain condition nor is it derived unto their successors unlesse they be lawfull heires and abide in the Christian Faith For if an Usurper as there have been such in times past and God knowes what shall be the destinies of Kingdoms should depose a lawfull Prince from his Imperiall Throne hee should not with the Kingdome obtain this prerogative to himself Nor if any King though a lawfull Successour to the Crown should renounce the Christian Religion as mens dispositions are variable