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
out of those things that doe resist all sorts of poysons for neither butter nor milk nor oyle or other things which resist Arsenick and Corrosives are ingredients in their Antidote but they are selected out of the medicinall matter of Cordials to wit they would only have the heart to be defended against the malignity of the drugge and not the violence of the drugge it selfe to be repressed As some learned Physicians write that the poyson of the plague is of such a nature that its proper Antidote is not yet found out Therefore whatsoever things are prescribed against the pestilentiall venome they doe only corroborate the heart against the force of the morbificall cause Hence the deceitfulnesse of the Mountibanks Antidote may be observed and that it is not universall as they report Any man may conjecture the same by the price for how can they defray the expences of their companions and of their journeyes which are many times very chargeable if the Antidote were of any price A way to try the vertue of the Antidote which as I have often observed with the oyntment and balsame they sell but for twelve pence That the efficacie of it may be proved for here is a very grosse deceit in that they doe usually fore-arme themselves with the Antidotes of the Shops against the violence of the poyson this caution should be observed Let a dog be kept a whole night without meat and drink and let neither milk nor any fat thing which may abate the strength of the poyson be given him in the morning but give him some Arsenick and after he hath taken it let him have as much of the Antidote as the Mountibank pleases and so the efficacie of the remedy shall be sufficiently proved The same may be said concerning men for they make experiment of the poyson upon themselves and take it in the presence of the people If they will take the poyson with the fore-named cautions having seen the effect wee will commend the remedy But they shew themselves upon the Stage for the most part after noon after meat and after the use of fat things and such as doe asswage the force of it as milk and perhaps of Antidotes For meat especially that which is fat and milk doe strengthen the stomack and weaken the poyson therefore it is no wonder if they doe then take it more boldly which soon after they vomit forth at home and so all comes to nothing There is another experiment of theirs which the people doe very much admire The Mountibank will apply a Viper to his breast A deceit in their applicatiō of the viper about the left pap and taking the Antidote will feele no harm At this the people stand amazed the very naming of it is wonderfull But here is a manifold deceit For First as Matthiolus saith these fellowes have sundry wayes to tame their vipers and serpents Secondly the vipers in England in respect of the temperature of the aire are not so venemous as they are in hot Countries Therefore Galen gives strict charge that in the composition of triacle the vipers be not taken in the height of Summer which with them is excessively hot for then are they most full of venome but with us the vipers are lesse venemous by much whose height of summer is not equivalent to the spring-time of the Italians Thirdly the people is deceived in thinking that the force of the Venome is sooner communicated to the heart if the venemous creature be applyed to the breast because of the nearenesse of the heart But that is false for the venome is carried by the Veines and Arteries as appeares in that all the blood of them that have been bitten by a Viper doth turne into a pale greennesse And seeing that the veines in the papps are so very slender and doe not come unto the heart but with a great many long windings I affirme and it is more probable that if the Viper be applyed to the feet which are farthest remote from the heart it will sooner infect the heart than if to the paps but soonest of all if it be applyed to the armes Cleopatra applyed the viper to her arme And now the story of Cleopatra comes to my minde Petrus Victorius blames the Painters that paint Cleopatra applying the Aspe to her paps seeing it is manifest out of Plutarch in the life of Antonius and out of Plinie likewise that she applyed it to her arme Zonaras relates that there appeared no signe of death upon her save two blew spots on her arme Caesar also in her statue which he carryed in triumph applyed the Aspe to her arme For in the armes there are great Veines and Arteries which doe quickly and in a straight way convey the venome to the heart whereas in the paps the vessels are slender which by sundry circumvolutions onely do lead to the heart And therefore in Saint Paul the miracle was so much the greater in that he felt no harme from the Viper which layd hold on his hand for if it had assailed him on his breast he had had respite enough to take some Antidote which on his hand he could not doe CHAP. VIII Of the Balsame and Ointment of the Mountibankes THey seeme also to doe wonders in curing wounds by the help of their Balsame They cure onely greene wounds with their ointment Where it is to be noted that they cure onely simple wounds for which union alone is sufficient without a future therefore in old Wounds their Balsame is nothing worth But this cure is not very hard for oftentimes onely binding up doth suffice for the cure of such simple and green wounds Nature it selfe by the meanes of the blood as with the Balsame uniting the divided parts Besides there are many remedies of that nature to be found in Authours whereof two excellent ones are prescribed by Riolanus The very same also is described by Fabritius ab Aquapendente as may be seen in his workes and is extant in the last print of London Pharmacopoëa That the people may know that there is nothing admirable in those remedies of theirs nothing that Physicians and Surgeons cannot doe much better They have likewise an Ointment for burnings Their oyntment for burns for the most part made of Pomatum or butter washt in Vinegar with the salt of Leade Their deceit in washing with flaming oyle or leade But because some of them proceed so farre that they wash their hands in boyling Oyle or melted Leade something must be sayd of that likewise lest the people thinke that these things be unknown to Physicians Albertus Magnus hath sundry wayes of doing it First he takes Fish glew and Alome of each a like quantity let them bee powred saith he upon Wine-Vineger and annoint any thing with this oyntment and it shall not be burned with fire Secondly take Lime quenched with the water of beanes and a little Mandrake and Marsh-Mallowes mixe them well and
the Epistles of Scholtius who being intreated by the Germanes to communicate his secrets answered very well read my practise and you shall finde my secrets in which book there is no secret no hidden thing at all I remember I have heard Varandaeus the Kings professour in the Universitie of Monspelier The best remedies are such as are no secrets say that those remedies are the best which are no secrets but best knowne as being confirmed with more certain experience and he said truly But let us now pry into the nature of secrets they are either simple or compounded I confesse indeed all the vertues of simples are not yet perfectly known as yet many lye hid If therefore any man hath found out by experience the vertue of some simple medicament What is properly to be called a secret not yet known that increase of art is to be commended and deserves to be called a secret as he that first found out the vomiting vertue of Antimony he that invented the compounding and found out the efficacie of gunpowder he that first brought Jalap into use had secrets greatly to be commended such as these if any man have he is worthy of commendation and I think no other secrets are to be admitted For those that are compounded of the ordinary matter of simples as usually they are albeit a physician doe keep them to himself and desire not that they be known yet they are not to be called secrets for any learned and skilfull physician can at his pleasure make the like of present materials And therefore I have observed that no man is more unhappy than those physicians that note their medicines out of books and many ignorant fellows we see doe cunningly conceale their remedies lest if they should become known to other physicians they should be laughed at Hence it appeares how much many both men and women here in England are beguiled where all do busie themselves in gathering receits as they call them when oftentimes those remedies are of no worth at all and did at the first come from some physician who himselfe had nothing that was secret And what though they be good yet they are not nor ought to be called secrets For as good yea and farre better remedies can a learned and skilfull physician provide out of the matter of physick diversly tempered as different words are made out of the letters diversly joyned I once met with a man that had a receit of a purge which as he said a very learned physician lately dead had given him which I perusing I could not hold from laughter at the foolishnesse of the composition he made it up for his Wife but all in vaine I perswaded him to give it to the Apothecary and that he should give her but the third part wherewith shee was sufficiently and abundantly purged And I knew a Gentleman that accounted Electuarium Lenitivum to be a great secret who told me hee paid twenty pound for the receit Others I know who have the pils of amber aqua mirabilis and many other such remedies which are to be had in every Apothecaries Shop and yet they account them as great secrets So I have knowne others keep for precious secrets the descriptions of Diet drinks which many times they believe to be more efficacious then those that are prescribed by physicians although the matter is far otherwise CHAP. XIII Of Physicians that are thought to be lucky and fortunate Many of them that practise physick although sometimes they are not thought to be so learned yet they are esteemed by the people to be fortunate and lucky Indeed some of them are very fortunate to heape together so great riches by an art which they doe not well understand But they are unfortunate that trust to them for by art and not by fortune are diseases cured forasmuch as to the cure of discases there ought to precede a certain understanding and fore-knowledge of them and their Symptomes how can it be that he that is but lightly tinctured with the knowledge of them can ever performe a good cure but that after the manner of the * They were a sort of people who were wont to fightblindfolded Andabatae he wrestles with diseases It may so fall out that he may meet with diseases very easie to be cured which nature it selfe is able to overcome without the help of physick of which if a Physician be but a spectator they will be cured and then he is a fortunate physician to whom such a thing doth happen It may fall uut also that he may be sent for in the declination of the disease or after the principall remedies have been administred by another more able Aristotle calls fortune an accidentall cause of those things that are done Now diseases are cured by a due administration of remedies which due administration doth not depend upon fortune but on the learning and judgment of the physician T is a right administration of remedies not fortune that cures diseases Otherwise he that useth a remedy and hath not a sufficient knowledge of the Art undoubtedly he aimes like a blinde man at a mark which if he hit it is meerly hap-hazard from whence it comes to passe many times that such men by their unskilfull application of remedies make diseases otherwise easie to be cured to become a great deal worse Hippocrates sayes well Lib. de locis in homine If the remedies of diseases be certaine what need is there of fortune otherwise as well remedies as those that are no remedies being exhibited with fortune will doe good But some man will say that which we call fortune is none other then the providence of God which directs the Physicians remedies though he be not very learned to the health of man But that is not enough for though all things depend upon Gods blessing and are to be expected from thence yet he doth not use to worke immediately but by the use of remedies For the most high from Heaven hath created physick and he saith that an honest learned and faithfull Physician is to be honoured So that it is not usuall with him to give a blessing to naughty remedies ignorantly and unseasonably administred But on the contrary if any physician whether a good man or bad know well the nature of remedies and diseases Gods covenant with nature and administer every thing discreetly that is in due place time order and according to the rules of art a happy event is to be hoped for and God is wont to blesse such meanes in regard of the covenant which he hath made with nature Otherwise although one should mis-apply remedies if yet a happy successe were to be expected what a miracle would it be if bad meanes which naturally cannot attain to the end propounded besides the order ordained by God in nature by his immediate benediction should notwithstanding be directed to the right aime Although God can doe this when
colour preferred before red because that colour doth dissipate the sight and call forth the spirits to the externall parts and so by consequence further the springing forth of the humours into the skin CHAP. XX. That they erre who thinke to drive away a disease beginning by labour IT is the custome of many when they feele themselves begin to besick to labour to shake off the disease by walking exercises and labours following herein the old saying Tu ne cede malis sed contra audentior ito Unto diseases give no way Be bold and let them beare no sway And somtimes it succeeds well to them not alwayes except the cause of the disease be very light For exercise is troublesome and hurtfull to the sick in regard of the agitation of the morbous humours thereby Prodicus was wont to molest those that were in feavers with much walking abroad coursing about wrestling and dry fomentations but he is blamed by Hippocrates 6 epid sect 3. text 23. because saith he a feaver is exasperated by hunger wrestling walking abroad coursing and frictions for from thence did happen a rednesse of the veines palenesse of the face and some gentle paines of the sides This custome of walking to and fro in diseases Plato attributes to Herodicus in the beginning of Phaedrus So Asclepiades in the beginning of a burning feaver would have the Patient to use violent exercise but he is blamed by Celsus He thought saith he that the strength of the sick was to be disquieted with labour light lib. 2. cap. 4. 15. watching and vehement thirstinesse so as that for some few dayes in the beginning of the feaver he would not suffer their mouthes to be washed It is not therefore alwaies safe to strive against the disease with such violent exercises for many times the Patient becomes farre worse after them than the was before POPVLAR ERROVRS The Fourth BOOK Of the Errours of the People about the use of Remedies CHAP. I. Of them that despise those Remedies that are Chymically prepared THE principall part of Physick concernes the use of remedies for it is an Art ordained for the vanquishing of diseases Now diseases are vanquished by the proper and right administration of remedies Therefore in this Book we will take notice of certaine errours of the people about the administration and use of remedies And first the opinion of men concerning remedies is two fold A twofold errour Some do neglect and greatly feare to use any remedies that are chymioally prepared Others on the contrary doe extoll them beyond measure but those of Galens method as they call them to wit which are prepared after the vulgar and long since received manner they basely account of and contemne We will say something of them both but they are wise that keep a meane Medium tenuere beati And as almost all the errours which are rife among the people have heretofore at first proceeded from Physicians whose meanings the people have not well understood so this also among the rest Wherefore something is to bee said of the aforesaid errours Chymicall remedies not to be rejected Now in this Chapter I will plainly manifest that chymicall remedies ought not to be neglected being administred by a prudent Physician and an honest man As touching this manner of preparing medicaments it was not invented by Paracelsus as we have already said Chymistry not invented by Paracelsus but was practised many ages before Paracelsus was borne even by those Physicians which followed Galens method as Raimundus Lullius Villanovanus and many others who have left behinde them for us some excellent remedies chymically prepared And after Paracelsus his time many learned Physicians judiciously distinguishing the chymicall preparation of remedies from the doctrine of Paracelsus have followed that and disallowed this Fernel the chief of the modern Physicians did frequently practise that art Matthiolus used the spirit of vitriol and antimonie prepared chymically and in his Epistle to Andrew de Blaw being the last of his fourth book of Epistles he doth not only approve of this art and commend the admirable operations of it but he thinks that no man can be an absolute Physician The knowledg of it necessary for a Physician no not an indifferent one who is not of good experience in this most noble science Crato a Physician to 3 Emperours in his counsels set forth by Scholtzius doth highly commend chymicall remedies and professes that he himselfe used them Yea Erastus himselfe the great Antagonist of the Paracelsian Sect in the preface of his works against Paracelsus confesses that he doth not implead or dislike this chymicall preparation of remedies but commends and approves of it very much Ioannes Riolanus a most excellent Interpreter of Physick whiles that at the appointment of the Colledge at Paris he had abolished all the deceitfull figments of the Paracelsians writes that this Colledge wherein are the most excellent Physicians of Europe doth leave free the use of Chymicks so as the old manner of curing according to the precepts of Galen and Hippocrates remaine in force Indeed that art in Galens time was not practised nor knowne Chymistry not known in Galens time neverthelesse it is not therefore to bee rejected For it hath been and ever will be free for posterity to adde something for use and ornament to an art already well established Thus we use many remedies which our ancestors were ignorant of as Sene Rubarb Cassia Tamarinds and other things far better than peplium coloquintida and the like Moreover the Rudiments of the chymicall art do appeare even in the vulgar preparation of medicaments Now according to them all remedies are prepared either by addition detraction or immutation for either the matter of the medicaments is required or else the faculty and vertue separate from the matter the matter in thickning astringent and drying remedies but the vertue alone in attenuating dissolving and purging medicines because the grosseness of the matter hinders their efficacie For this intention Mesues makes 4 kinds of operation decoction dissolution infusion trituration or grinding to powder What is infusion but an extract begun What is decoction especially roasting with fire but the beginning of calcination But in this manner of separation which they so much wished for and the Ancients accounted so necessary the chymicall Art doth excell for by divers wayes it severs the pure from the impure and so extracts and stirs up the divers vertues of medicaments which otherwise had been hid under the grosse matter and could never have been drawn out by naturall heat as especially may be seen in minerals Besides it concocts and attenuates the earthly parts alters or else quite takes away the malignant venemous and corrupt qualities and increases the vertues for there is more vertue and efficacie in cinnamon water against the Syncope and other diseases than in whole cinnamon The same may be said of distilled and extracted oyles the oyle of
thyme brimstone or cloves is more efficacious and powerfull than the simples out of which it hath been extracted Againe it makes many things to become more pleasant and familiar to Nature and contracts many vertues into a small lumpe as in extracts waters distilled oyles sundry kindes of salt and such like Now seeing that it is the duty of a Physician to cure quickly safely and pleasantly without doubt hee shall be able to doe it more compleatly being well skilled in chymicall remedies whose efficacy being greater doth sooner work whose small dose and neatnesse of preparation help unto pleasantnesse Object But some perhaps will object the whole age of the Ancients wanted Chymicall remedies who notwithstanding cured better than we doe and it happens yet daily that without them Physicians do perform many wonderfull cures Sol. That no man denies so men in old time did feed on Acornes and lived long yet having found out the use of Corn we reject Acornes and leave them for Hogs But if the Ancients themselves the ancientest of whom was in his time a new Physician had added nothing to the inventions of their Ancestours we should have all the Arts to be onely begun Again if they did performe such cures yet they did them but slowly and unpleasantly Therefore Chymicall operations were added for the solace of the sick honour and ornament of Art not that Physicians might cure absolutely but better and more commodiously But there are some things which doe terrifie the sick from the use of those remedies The first is because they think that all the remedies of the Chymists are very strong and violent doe presently either kill or cure and are as they call them desperate Medicines that they do operate quickly and pleasantly but not safely and that they leave behinde them a stain in the bowels which can seldome or never afterwards be washed out Now they think it better to bee cured slowly so that they bee safely and surely cured Soon enough saith the Proverbe if well enough Sat citò si bene sat But these things have their originall from their ignorance of that art and the audacitie of some knaves who use onely the most violent and such as are prepared by a preposterous operation for every chymicall preparation is not convenient for every remedy we use Mercurius Dulcis with good success but Mercury sublimate or precipitate not without hazard of life For the Chymists have many Medicines which are very gentle and not at all violent And indeed the Chymicall Apothecary and common likewise have the very same matter of Physick out of vegetables animals minerals and all other things as well gentle as violent which are used in Physick But the chymicall preparation doth amend or quite take away what is hurtfull in the violent and makes them more safe and pleasant for mans use Besides the Chymists have very many cordiall and strengthning remedies oftentimes much better than the vulgar But many times diseases doe require verystrong remedies resisting the force of the weaker Medicines Yea Hippocrates Galen Malo nodo malus cuneus Aph. 6. lib. 1.5 Meth. Cap. 15. Aetius and other of the Ancients did use stronger remedies than many Chymists doe For unto desperate diseases themost forcible remedyes are to be applyed was Hippocrates his counsell And Galen himself blames Erisistratus for using only milde and gentle remedies which he wil have to bee hurtful in great and dangerous diseases in which if opportunity which is very speedy be pretermitted either the patient dies or the disease becomes incurable It is therefore more ordinary with the Galenists to wit those Physicians that follow the old way to use violent Medicines which Chymists doe either better make use of or at least better prepared Nor is it true that the Chymists doe prepare all their remedies with the most violent heat of fire for most commonly a gentle heate is used Yet Galen affirmes that by a violent heat of fire many Druggs doe lay aside all their acrimony and sharpnesse And it is certaine that by this spagiricall art the most unruly medicaments are made serviceable and many that are otherwise poysonous their deadly qualities being corrected do become cordiall CHAP. II. That the use of Mineralls is not to be rejected ANother cause why many are so fearfull of these Chymicall remedies is because the Chymists are thought to use Mineralls And indeed it is certain enough that many that cloake their knaveries with the title of Chymists doe often use Mineralls both ill prepared and wronge applyed But as wee have said before the matter and subject of operation is the same of both the Apothecaries as well Chymicall as vulgar nor doth the Chymist lesse use vegetables than the Galenist and it is an easie thing for him to administer vegetables alone to his patients if they doe much impugne Mineralls Neverthelesse the use of Mineralls was more familiar among the ancient Physicians before the invention of the chymicall art than now it is For I know many Chymists that seldome use them but rather make choice of vegetables alone But the writings of the Ancients doe testifie that they were wont to use steele burnt brasse the flower of brass and such like either not at all prepared or but very sleightly The flower of brasse whole doth purge vehemently Some give it saith Dioscorides Lib. 5. kneaded in dough and made up in a pill Burnt Brasse saith he being drunke with honey and water doth provoke vomit the flower of Brasse given in the weight of two scruples drams out grosse humours Very many use the Armenian stone not prepared at all Is not that art highly to be commended which if at any time it use these things doth exhibit them diversly and elegantly prepared not whole Dioscorides writes that Silver is good against the poyson of Wolves-bane and Avicenne will have it to bee excellent against the trembling of the heart If therefore the authority of the Ancients be of any moment with us it must not be imputed to Chymists as a fault that sometimes they make use of Mineralls seeing they whom they call Galenists are guilty of the same errour if it be one but herein they are excelled by the Chymists in that they prepare them better insomuch as they may bee administred with lesse harme Matthiolus in his fore named epistle saies well that great and chronicall diseases can scarce be overcome without Mineralls but those Mineralls are not to be administred without the knowledge of the Chymicall art And the use of Bathes is ordinary all which doe partake of the vertue of some Minerall Object But perhaps some will object that Mineralls are altogether poysonous and hurtfull to nature and cannot be brought into action Sol. Which although it be after a sort true of many Mineralls yet that hinders not but they may be made good remedies in stubborne diseases that stand in need of strong Medicines and it is the nature of all Medicaments that
they alter our body for as we have said forcible remedies must bee applyed to extreame diseases hence sometimes it comes to passe that some Empyricks through their adventurous rashnesse do cure diseases that are given over by others to the disgrace of Physicians If therefore the Ancients without scruple or doubt did use them whole how fortunate are our times in which we are wont so curiously to prepare and dissolve them so as they may by our heat be more easily brought into action although to confesse the truth there are many of them which doe not require any great labour to reduce them into action as the flower of brasse whole as the Ancients did prescribe it though unaltered by our heat doth neverthelesse purge vehemently Avicenne when he makes Gold a meane betwixt Silver and the Hyacinth attributes to them the vertue of corroborating and cheering the heart and of resisting poyson which vertues saith he doe flow from the Hyacinth as the power of drawing Iron from the Loadstone and cannot be dissolved and overcome by our heat as vegetables are for that saith hee the substance thereof doth not endure but onely naturall heate helps forward the penetrating quality thereof Therefore according to the judgement ef Avicenne it doth not appeare that the Hyacinth or Gold or Silver are reduced into action or that they are changed and dissolved by our heat Also there are many such things which do help by contact alone as Galen commends Peione hung about the neck and Monardes the stone of Kidneyes bound to the arme which help onely by the diffusion of their quality like light and many such things have been observed by divers which would bee too tedious to rehearse Moreover not onely Minerals but also some vegetables are poysonous which neverthelesse are profitably administred at least in such a dose Mineral's may bee taken inwardly as nature is able to resist Seeing then it is manifest that Mineralls are prepared by Chymists and that the oyles quintessences and tinctures of them are extracted it is also as true and manifest that they may profitably and without danger bee conquered by our heate and taken inwardly CHAP. III. Of them that attribute too much to Chymicall Remedies ALthough I have already in the generall allowed and approved the Chymicall preparation of remedies yet we must know that not all remedies prepared chymically are good and wholsome for many questionlesse are badly prepared which perhaps required another kind of preparation it will not therefore bee amisse to endeavour to repell and root out that selfe-love through which they extoll their owne medicines with innumerable commendations and preferre them before all others For they are not sparing in promising great things going about to perswade us that they will work miracles and they forcibly obtrude remedies on us which if they may be credited are good for all sorts of feavers and doe cure divers kinds of diseases which even contrary causes have produced Which of them doth not highly commend the dissolving of gold Aurum potabile a deceit which they call Anrum potabile teach extoll and admire the divers wayes of making it Verily if all the wayes of preparing this one remedy were written downe together it would make a large and full volume and yet they are all fabulous and meere deceits neverthelesse for all this they doe audaciously and impudently brag of the efficacie of that not yet invented remedy The same may be said of other remedies much more easie for they set forth many things for tinctures oyles salt and the like which are nothing lesse then what they avouch them to be as might bee manifested of many things in particular but so this tractate would be too long and tedious Neverthelesse let us heare their reasons which we have touched in the first chapter we will here briefly repeat them The vulgar or common Medicines say they are usually poysonous as are almost all Catharticks or purging remedies and very many altering medicines as saffron hemlock coriander if they be taken in too great a quantity But the Chymicall are altogether free from any poysonous quality and from all impurity which may weaken the force of the remedies whereas in the vulgar this same impurity doth remaine which is no more amended by the mixture of other things then if birds should be boyled with their nests guts dung and all only a little cinnamon and sugar added thereunto So pils electuaries lozenges opiats have in them as well hurtfull as profitable qualities wherefore they cannot commodiously bee brought into action by our heat But in chymicall remedies the noxious qualities are severed from the wholsome and so they are more easily brought into action and are of greater efficacie and certainty Honey and sugar which are ingredients in divers remedies because they are of quick spirits and abound with sharp and filthy vapours are ill mixed therewith In like manner they like not decoction because thereby many of the vertues are lost the remedies become of an unpleasant rellish and the efficacie is dulled by the mixture of a strange liquor Thus they commend their own remedies for their purity safety efficacie pleasant rellish and small dose And indeed this is true in the preparation of many of them especially minerals yet not alwayes in all And First they falsly suppose that they have all some venomous quality in them for they doe ill to call that poyson which is only somewhat gross in substance For there is scarce any mixt body which is not heterogeneall and consists not of divers parts every one of which severally have in them divers wholsome and profitable vertues as the chymicall resolution it selfe doth demonstrate We must confesse that many things that are poysonous are by the chymicall art made harmlesse But forthwith to call that hurtfull and poysonous which is or seemes to bee lesse pure is too much rashnesse seeing that the mixture of divers parts is not made without the speciall providence of nature This doe meats and drinks shew in which God hath not without cause mingled the wholsome part with the unwholsome for the good of mans body Do not we more commodiously use wine than the spirit of wine the ordinary drinking of which doth rather harm than good whereas wine it self doth yield a profitable pleasant and comfortable drink to the body Therefore one said well they that doe so much dislike the earthy parts should be nourished with nothing but spirits as the spirit of wine oyle of corne and extracts of flesh Not that I deny preparation to be needfull though not alwayes a chymicall preparation So we prepare wheat for the making of bread by grinding fifting kneading baking and flesh by washing and boyling which if they should be chymically prepared would become hurtfull and utterly lost Wherefore is the separative faculty given to the body but for the separation of those things that are unprofitable And therefore Faber a late writer one that makes large
the fifth houre of the night not being silent as before but of purpose with a loud voice to awake him from his sleep But perhaps some will say Galen did not command sleep till two hours after bloud-letting I answer it had been well if the sick could have slept immediately after he had been let bloud and in no place doth Galen disallow that for we know we cannot alwayes sleep when we desire it But seeing the aforesaid sick man could not sleep comming againe two houres after he bade him lye still that he might sleep which Galen had not done if he had judged sleep to be hurtfull after blooding If any man object that sleep is prohibited lest the ligature should be loosed and the patient bleed againe that is nothing for that may be prevented by the diligent care of the by-standers and the sure binding of it As touching drink Good to drink after bleeding Amatus the Portugall proves that it is not hurtfull immediately after blood-letting but very wholsome commanding that the patient doe presently drinke a little cold water for in regard that the veines are emptied it is instantly distributed into the whole body and doth both easier sooner and safelier coole the body CHAP. XXVII That blooding and purging is not hurtfull for women with child ANd this Errour is none of the least that if a woman with childe be sick they will not suffer her to take Physick nor to be let bloud for fear of an aborsement which is contrary to reason the authority of the Ancients and daily experience To reason because a woman that labours with an acute disease as a Fever or a Pleurisie is in very great danger as saith Hippocrates Aph. 30. ib. 5. * it is mortall for a woman with childe to be taken with an acute disease Fevers in women with child are most dangerous Therefore no delay is to be made in applying remedies Again in respect that the child is nourished with the mothers blood if she be sick there is danger lest through that sicknesse and the corruption of the blood the childe perish which if it happen as sometimes it doth then is the mother in danger both by reason of the disease and of the dead childe namely lest she being weakened by the disease the childe dye through putrefaction of the blood and she bee not able to bear the childe at least never doth an aborsement happen without danger Now it is evident enough that these evills cannot be prevented without taking away the cause for indeed no disease can be cured otherwise and the cause cannot be taken away without blood-letting The disease is not cured till the causes be taken away or purging They that think it such a dangerous thing for women to use these remedies and thereupon do not admit of them let them seriously consider this Note If a Physician can cure a woman with childe sick of a putrid Fever without blood-letting or purging much more easily may he cure her of the same disease without these remedies when she is not with childe and so the use of them might be quite abandoned But if he cannot cure her not being with childe without those remedies he cannot then cure her being with childe and sick of the same disease For the same disease indicates the same remedie and the being with child doth not take away the indication of the disease but onely after a sort alters the quantity of remedies and the manner of using them Yea much rather are these remedies to be used in women with childe inasmuch as they stand in greater need of help than others But they think that all the nourishment is drawn from the childe by blood-letting and that there is danger of abortion by purging and other remedies The danger to the childe is from the disease not the remedy All this while not knowing that great danger hangs over the childe by reason of the blood being corrupted to wit lest it die and kill the mother who is already weakened with the disease so that there is more danger of abortion from the disease than from the remedy And first we must never take away such a great quantitie of blood as that thereby nourishment should be withdrawn from the infant but rather we observe that the infant becomes more lively after the corrupt blood is taken away The child becomes more lively after bleeding for there is blood enough left behinde to suffice both the child and its mother Again a purgation especially a gentle one although reiterated if need stand can do no hurt A woman with child may take a purge being given by a discreet Physician but rather good for the strength of the Physick doth scarce reach unto the childe or at least in such a long circuit the noxious part of its strength is lost But what if it should attaine to the childe yet it cannot kill it if it be exhibited in a moderate quantity Onely the blood comes unto the the childe which by vertue of the Physick is purged from noxious humours Also in women with childe the wombe resists it much for the safeguard of the infant for in them the retentive faculty is more busie then the expulsive This Errour Secondly oppugnes Authoritie for Hippocrates commends purging for women with childe from the fourth Moneth till the seventh Women with childe may take Physick if there be an ebullition of humours in them Sect 4. aph 1. from the fourth moneth till the seventh onely they must bee more gently dealtly withall than others but when the infant is younger than this or elder it is best wholly to abstaine Which if it were Hippocrates his opinion notwithstanding the vehemency of his remedies Our purges more safe then the Ancients were much more is it true of ours which are farre more gentle for the purgations of the Ancients were more dangerous than ours Againe Experience testifies that the childe cannot bee so easily expelled by the use of physick 7. Epid. as the history of Harpalaus his sister manifests who being foure moneths gone with childe and sick of a Dropsie and Asthma the infant being so weak that it had not stirred of a long time tooke Aethiopian Cumin with honey and wine which though it was exceeding bitter diuretick and therefore of great force to provoke the flowers yet being discreetly used did her good and neither hurt the child nor provoked her flowers intimating thus much that the child is not alwaies killed by taking Physick unlesse the Physick be very strong and constantly used There is a notable story out of Avenzoar whereof we have made mention in another place who not knowing that his wife was with childe did administer unto her exceeding strong physick and yet the childe was not hurt thereby I will saith he relate what befell me while I was in the prison of Haly my wife was with childe and I knew it not and she was troubled with
placed there If they doe only flow thither it is most cartaine that they doe all vanish after death because they are not parts of the body nor are they kept in by the strength of the living body for it is also consumed and wasted Hence even in the living there is continually need of a fresh supply of spirits because such abundance of them is consumed Much more when the corpse is rotten perhaps some yeares before the skull is made quite bare and is fit to contract mossinesse That they are not insite and naturally placed there it is evident because then they should be immoveable but these spirits in the very act of suffocation are presently lifted up to the brain Nor is it a thing credible that after death or in death they are seated there which Hartman seemes to have meant when hee saith that in processe of time they grow into one for those spirits that are infite by nature are made or at least repaired and maintained by those that flow into the braine by an act of nourishment which is not in them that are hanged and though it were in them yet it should be rather in the braine than in the skull Besides the substance of spirits is very thin and apt to evaporate how is it therefore when they breake out unto the circumference of the skull and are no longer enclosed within its hardnesse that they doe not vanish away but turn into a grosse and filthy mosse Their spirituall substance will nor endure that And therefore it is manifest that he erred in saying that this mosse containes in it all the vertues of the body it is a wonder that it hath not also nourishment sobset and reason I waved that which he babbles concerning the spirit of the World which he calls Mercuriuâ— Leandi But if there be any such spirit of the World it must of necessity be diffused through the whole World and not fall downe to us by the interchangeable courses of raine show and tempests On these absurdities is the very ground-worke of that medicament seated The foundation of the oyntment shaken But I had almost forgotten that of this mosse the foundation of such an excellent remedy Crollius mixes in his oyntment but the weight of two hazell nuts which is as Hartman interprets one dramme but Paracelsus deemed two vounces little enough although Paracolsus his whole description is but of nine ounces but Crollius his description is of thirteene ounces so large a structure stands on such a slender foundation Secondly it is to be noted that in the oyntment according to Paracelsus his description there was the bloud and fat of a man but Crollius omits them and not amisse if the moss by it selfe have all the vertues in it which thing Paracelsus seemes not to have believed in that he added these unto it but in defect of them hee puts therein the fat of a pig a bore and a beare And Hartman gives the reason why Paracelsus did adde bloud thereto because although the spirits do vanish away yet those spirits which adhere to the salt of the bloud are retained But first hee thought it requisite that those spirits should be carried up to the skull whereas Crollius thought them to be altogether unprofitable Furthermore Paracelsus and Crollius doe adde thereunto Mummy by which my Author Hartman thinks is meant Egyptian Mummie Which neverthelesse is the most unprofitable remedy being made in Egypt by cousening fellowes of the flesh of elephantick and leprous persons and of such as dyed of the French Pox or some such filthy diseases and of the flesh of slaves which they buy which they enbalme with Pitch and Bitumen But Paracelsus doth in sundry places highly extoll Mummie of the Gallowes as he calls it that is to say the flesh of a man that was hanged the which it is probable Crollius meant because he left out the fat and blood of a man which Paracelsus did put in Then other simples are added such as may be inserted in other ointments and plaisters for Paracelsus added thereunto Lineseed oyle oyle of Roses and Bole-armoniack And Crollius earth-wormes washes the braine of a Bore redde Sanders and the blood-stone The descriptions very different Here the reader must consider that these are two severall kindes of ointments really differing and have nothing common but the Mosse which Crollius added but in a very small quantitie and yet these two ointments are both of them said to bee of the same efficacie although Crollius left out those things to which the Paracelsians do attribute the whole magneticall vertue Yea some have left out the very Mosse also Thirdly some in the making up of the ointment do observe the divers aspects and courses of the stars Crollius scrapes off the Mosse the Moon increasing being in the house of Venus or some other good house not in the house of Mars and Saturne and he will have the ointment prepared the Sunne being in Libra But some more rightly doe wave these things For if the ointment have in it a magneticall vertue that is to say if it do cure wounds by the same qualitie by which the Loadstone draws Iron to it there is no need of the concourse of the stars seeing that vertue is in it by nature as the Loadstone at any time and under any star draws iron and tende to the Pole Fourthly some doe annoint the weapon and binde it up carefully and keep it warm and free from dust and winde otherwise they say the partie wounded will be in grievous torture if the weapon should lye cold and unbound Neverthelesse some say that by the onely dipping of the weapon into the box of ointment without any ligature they have performed a cure which Paracelsus requires only Fifthly if the weapon that made the wound cannot be had they take a piece of wood especially Willow according to Crollius or a tender sprigge of some tree or some such thing and besmeare it over with bloud that flowes from the wounds and so apply the remedy unto it Sixthly they bid that the wound be washed every day with urine Seventhly Crollius would have it observed whether it be a deep prick or no for then the weapon must bee anointed upwards and not by descending downwards although Paracelsus seemes not to have regarded that who commended the onely dipping of the weapon into the ointment Eighthly it is to bee noted that in a manner all the examples of cures which they instance are only of simple wounds in the flesh in which there is no losse of substance at all but onely one indication to wit a conjoyning of the parts disunited Ninthly some render this reason of the effect to wit that there are spirits in the blood and in regard of the familiaritie and sympathy of mans spirits among themselves the ointment is made of mans blood fat and flesh and the mosse of the skull in which spirits are contained Hence it comes to passe that when