consider the Attractive onely wherewith it covets Iron All almost agree in this That the Load-stone draweth Iron but not in this which way it should come to passe and whether pulverized it might yet retaine any thing of the Attractive quality Some have dreamt of bodies that have beene made crooked by the Load stone like Hookes or things crooked at the end and that thes draw Iron to them Others have feigned of Atomes starting out from the Load-stone and insinuating into the pores of Iron and driving out the very Iron Many conceit that the drier the nature of the Load-stone is the more humid Iron it hath attracted Lib. 3. De natural fâ—cult Galens conceit was that the Load-stone by a kind of vivifying vertue and an inbred property drawes Iron as a convenient food for it selfe There are those that assigne the cause of Attraction to the similitudes of substance and Ioentity of principles Others say that Iron is so drawne by the Load-stone as matter is by the forme because since the more imperfect things desire their owne perfection It pleaseth some to say it is a secret Sympathy which in Naturalls deserveth not the meanest place Some latter Writers make account that Iron is not drawne to the Load-stone but moved as to its Matrix by whose hidden principiations it might bee perfected as the earth unto its Center The Paraceâ—sians then ke that there is a kind of Iron spirit that 's resident in the Load stone which they ghesse too drawes more strongly in an other body than in its owne none of these opinions can satiate the mind nor satisfie the desire to learne but for this time to discusse the same any further 't will not be worth the labour The most learned Cabeus in a famous Tractate of the Load-stone saith that the cause of the attractive vertue in the Load-stone is a quality of two kinds wherewith Iron is so disposed by the Load-stone that it can provoke the very same unto it selfe But is not a secret thing made manifest by a thing as secret for what is that quality what kind of ground doth it acknowledge is it manifest or hid is it a meere kind of disposition Exert 131 In good troth that of Scaliger is most true Nos in luce rerum tenui caligare in mediocricaecutire in majore caecos esse in maximâ insanire That is in the sparing light of things we are dim-sighted in the indifferent we ware blind in the greater are stark blind in the greatest stark mad What if we should affirme that there is a kind of sulphurous spirit endued with this hidden property which notwithstanding may have a very neare affinity with the spirit of Iron none shall deny that will now narrowly looke into the inward nature of Mineralls and Mefalls yea that will consider the excellent quality of the Actractive vertue whereof we shall speake hereafter but that there is a kind of Minerall vertue in the Load stone Indeed I call the same Sulphurous according to those principles of the Chymicks which we see are even very much in Mineralls for they appoint the power of drawing that it containe in it selfe as it were a glewish humor and something that is oyley yet of an exceeding subtlery But it sufficiently appeares by this that the Load-stone is full of sulphur because with the violence of fire this very sulphur may be drawne out and like a flame it can put it selfe forth which also being so drawne out Cabous teacheth that all the Attractive faculty doth perish Yea by its sulphurousnesse or a sulphurous and as it were vivid effluxion easily so qualifieth Iron as so gaine the like quality of attracting other Iron which would not follow if there were naturally onely a watry subtlety and Mercuriall liquor However it hath the vertue of Penetration not sufficiently to be extolled and expressed so that although shut up within never so thicke a Chest yet must it looke unto the North. And the Attractive faculty of the Load-stone as witnesseth Baptista Porta Lib. 7. Mag. natur c. 16. can no way bee included no way bee bolted out or restrained but that it must invincibly penetrate and so shew its power as if there were nothing in the way that could forbid it for the vertue of the Stone it is Planetary very subtle going through the hardest bodies and with no hinderance even whatsoever fore-stopped for it can as easily diffuse its faculty through the â—ollidest stone as through the thinnest aire Lib. 2. c. 6. p. 124. Be it saith Cabeus that some Iron toole touch not the Load-stone but must come neerer by foure fingers breadth so that betwixt the Iron and the Load-stone whatsoever body it be that lyes betwixt whether solid or subtle the Iron presently conceives from the Load-stone the Magneticke qualities and by such a nearenesse although it touch not the Load-stone it acquireth the Magnetick vertue whereby speedily it directs towards the Poles it drawes Iron to it selfe it hangs by it selfe in one word the Iron must be magneticall Lib. De arte Magnefia Th. 6. Another experiment is observed out of Sueickard Iron saith he underlayed with Corke let it floate in some Vessell which with the Load-stone outwardly applyed notwithstanding any impediment is instantly moved and as it were sensible of the price of a friend will without delay having left its place as desirous to insinuate it selfe into his embracement come to the brim of the Vessell You the whilst which way soever you shall please having applyed the Load-stone about the midst without the Vessell shall carry to and fro the needle that floates within whence may be made many most pleasant spectacles to bee seene The same Author prepounds a way how Iron may goe upon a Table P. 55. Lay saith hee a needle halfe upon the Table yet having first toucht the Basis of the needle upon one part or other of the Load-stone which being done under the Table apply the Load-stone to the place that is right against the Basis of the needle and presently with exceeding delight you shall see the needle erecting it selfe and as you shall guide it moving beneath the Table which if you but controvert you shall see it not goe upon the Basis but the point from which verefied experiments the Sympathy and Affinity of the Load-stone and the Iron at once may bee concluded There hee these that introduce here the Identity of substance and so indeed Iron should attract Iron but there is in Iron and there is in the Load-stone a peculiar Spirit both of them friendly using a familiarity betwixt themselves and conspiring The spirit of the Load-stone drawes Iron and the spirit of the Iron receives and suscepts this effluxion and so is endowed with that faculty and made likewise Magnetical This excellent vertue of Attraction as it is by all almost granted to bee in the Load-stone when 't is onfire so whether also being pulverized it can doe
the same is a thing questioned Libavius Lib. 1. Syntagm Arcan p. 38. Lib. 1. De bitum in Gen. p. 96. as elsewhere too denyes that the powder of the Load-stone does attract because the vertue thereof by confusion may bee corrupted Gilbertus and many others that professedly treat not on this matter subscribe this opinion Cabeus hereof suspends his Iudgement and leaves it to Physitians to discusse Wherefore I hold it not unprofitable if partly wee shall examine the reasons that other men have produced and partly confirme a contrary opinion with some Arguments for the friendly Reader to collect which of them may bee true For Gilbertus Libavius and others that detract all vertue from the pulverized Load-stone stone the sequent Reasons may propugne 1. That in the pulverized Load-stone there can bee no Ordination of the Poles to draw Iron to Iron for it may bee so done that even the Poles driving Iron to Iron may be directed and so not traction but a further promotion rather of the Iron would arise 2. That as many doe suppose there can bee no Aequator or Pole in the powder of the Load-stone by whose benefit that Attraction might or ought be made 3. That being modified with Wars Oyle and other fatty things it may loose its faculty 4. That betwixt the Magneticke powder ingreding the Emplastor and its attractive vertue there can bee no proportion for to small purpose are a few graines of the Load-stone mixt with a little portion of Emplaster to any part applyed when to draw Iron some ounces thereof are held unable 5. That the Load-stone added to an Emplaster may oftentimes be of little force Neverthelesse these reasons seeme to be but infirmely knit For to the first I answer first that the Attractive faculty from the converted Poles may communicate it selfe to the other Poles directly aspecting unto Iron and that because of the presence of it's neere and Minerall friend to wit the Iron that so by reflexion that faculty might bee extracted Secondly the Load-stone Lib. 1. c. 5. pag. 17. ae Gilberâ—us hath it reduceth and disposeth the Load-stone into orderly concordances those parcells therefore that have respect unto Iron were able to overthrow the rest if not totally yet so as that by a naturall force they might bee able to unite their power and against that part most where the greater force puts forth it selfe and that 's against iron to helpe the very Iron too to be extracted however it bee that the pulverized Load-stone may bee commixed with a harder matter of emplaster To the Second It is held untrue that there cannot bee even in the least portion of the Load-stone the Pole and the Aequator for otherwise it would follow that there is not in any Load-stone either the Pole or the Aequator except that pure earth should the same exhibite or that so onely there were in every Minerall one onely Aequator whereof yet the contrary experience shewes since but from one greater Load-stone Artificers can turne many lesser Globes of which every one hath his Pole and his Aequator to say nothing that the Load-stone is a kind of similar body whereof anon To the third Cabeus shall supply his Answer who in the quoted place affirmes that there is nothing in nature can deprive the Load-stone of its faculty but fire and old age for the Load-stone being exagitated by the fire doth loose his flagrant sulphureous Spirit which being lost there is destroyed with all that tractive quality residing in the Bituminous or sulphureous spirit as was said before But by old age the radicall moysture as in all other mixt bodies doth not so totally perish as 't is soporated because as the same Cabeus testifieth the Load-stone revives if put againe to another perfect Load-stone P. 131. and by the same impregnated To the fourth which concernes the proportion of the body Trahent ano Trahend I say we must not respect so much to the corporeall quantity but the active quality rather for if we shall subiect other notable medicinall compositions to an Examen even a small portion of an ingredient will promise a great effect And indeed let us looke upon the very Simples How great vertue ingredes the body of the Hart with the Dietany hee expells the Arrowes that are inflicted on him What proportion is there betwixt a violent Catharticke and the humours to be drawne and evacuated where but one onely pill very often sufficeth and which usually can induce an Hyper catharsis Is there not by the benefit of a medicament assumed and from a far off either from the head or from any part of the body the peccant matter pleasantly drawne forth whether yet not the corporeall masse but the vertue onely of the Medicine arriveth why therefore should not the Magneticall quality communicated with an unguent suffice To the fifth it may bee alleaged that the choycest Load-stone is to bee elected that is to bee permixed with an Emplaster if chiefly that effect ought to be hoped for But that which hath its Minerall spirit exhaled by fire or old age is instly to be refused since it can retaine no longer the vertue of Attraction For the contrary opinion other sequent Reasons there are more weighty that may be produced undertaking the Patronage of a tractive vertue in the pulverized Load-stone 1. The vertue or that Magnetticall tractive spirit is in all and all in every part as affirmes Cabeus and Gilbertus dissents not from him L. 2. p. 105. The smallest pieces therefore of the Load-stone endowed with this spirit have beene able also to draw Iron for neither is the Load-stone 〈◊〉 dissimilar body whereof a part being cutoâ—â— participates not of the living forme but it is a similar body where even the least part can have the vertue of the whole Hath not also a little Corne of Pepper a proportionable quality of heating Doth not a small portion of Amber too draw chaffe yea this very Amber being pulverized and well mingled with Leaven and put to the soales of the feet to extract heat or to the nape of the necke to retract fluxion is even by poore women used with very good successe Indeed I doe confesse that not all pâ—â—â—s are equally so endued with that sulpherious spirit tâ—at they should equally participate the faculty of 〈◊〉 traction for many excrements are mingled with almost all Mineralls before they bee prepared which at last being sequestrated they become the choycest Mineralls Let the same Iudgment bee of the Load-stone Secondly the spirit of the Load-stone is of a Minerall quality and hath a steady nature so as that it can not easily be parted from the body or the parts thereof yea the smaller parts which evsn the examples of other Saline and sulphureous Mineralls doe attest the Load-stone therefore shall loose nothing of its vertue by trituration or being pulverized Thirdly there are also other kinds of Vegetables and Animalls whose nature yet is more
flitting and lesse steddy that by trituration and pulverizing may loose this Attractive or Magneticall quality as they call it Practice teacheth that the head of a Swallow pulverized and mixt with Hony attracteth all things infixed in the members which live Crabbs too are said to doe being confused and mixed with the fat of a Hare A Bullet or an Arrowes head is easily extracted with these sequent things â„ž Ovorum ex Cancris utris unc 4. Pingued Lepor unc 5. Succin albiss unc 3. misce applica Yea the Herbe Dogs-bane and the Root being pulverized if laid upon a wound it is said by a Magneticall vertue to extract whatsoever perhaps doth therein sticke See Samuel Hasenreffer Lib. 2. De curand affectib p. 360. p. 406. Avicenna commends this for a most excellent thing â„ž Ferment Mell. opt aut propol Ana. Lib. ss Visci querni quart 1. Ammoniaci q. unum miscâ— F. Empla Rogerus affirmes it for a thing approved with manifold experience that the root of a Reed confused with Hony can extract without paines things infixed Lib. 2. Chirarg c. 4. Tagaultius also delivers that Dictander Aristoloch and other things have very much of the same faculty That the Empl. Apostolic can draw forth Arrowes and Splinters stuck into the body See Nicholaus his Dispensatory and Weckerus Antid Spec. p. 978 979. If that therefore the Attractive faculty forsake not these things fetcht out of the Ranke of Vegetables and Animalls being likewise redacted into powder for what reason shall wee affirme that the pulverized Load-stone is of a condition inferiour since the nature of Mineralls is of a more steddy quality Fourthly if a lesser piece than indeed can bee had in the pulverized Loadstone be able to draw a weight great enough as a greater piece will draw a thing that 's greater But yet wee see First that that parcell wherewith Iron from the touch of the Load-stone is endowed to draw and lift up a Spanish Needle shall notwithstanding be farre greater then that piece of the pulverized Load-stone Secondly that the Magneticall needle too being onely toucht hath the least parcell of the Load-stone Howbeit affect each other and desire to unite through Boardes or a stone Table more therefore the greater part Fiftly Nature who is a Conserver of her Domicill endeavoureth something still to defend and repaire the same and therefore she labours much and intentively in the faculties of the very Load-stone and as it were recollects and unites them dispersed through the Emplaster that it may bee able to performe the more succesfull effect In the like Workes of Nature wee observe it daily for shee to publish her Actions exalts her vertues both of internall and externall Remedies Sixtly because other things too are admixed in Magneticall Emplasters that have the like faculty of Attraction to those therefore if there bee conioyned the vertues of the Magneticall pulverized howsoever in other mens opinions but small they acquire tho a greater power to attract Hence the famous Naturalists doe highly extoll this sequent â„ž Lapid Magnet Opt. unc 1. Rad Aristol Veriusque Polipod Visci quern An. Dr. 1. Stercor anserin dr ss 1. Gum. Ammoniac Galban in vino Albo Dissolut An. unc ss Propol dr 2. Mell. unc 1. Misce pro Emplastro Seventhly because that according to the opinion of many there can bee nothing found or yeelded in nature that might impaire the vertue of the Load-stone but fire and old age therefore not trituration nor oyle nor any thing else but much lesse a lesse proportion thereof Indeed Gilbertus will have the vertue of the Load-stone equally to decrease according to the decreasing of the corporeall quantity So that a stone of one pound should lift up a pound of Iron and that a piece of an ounce should suspend an ounce But from him not without reason doth Cabeus disagree yea the contrary is approved of by the experience of the famous Sennertus for the Load-stone is for himselfe well furnished and by many seene that which is scarce two ounces drawes more than a pound of Iron and continually sustaines it hanging by him and never suffers it to fall off See Lib. 6. Practic p. 3. Others have beene able to search and find out the same Eightly because at a iust distance the action of the Load-stone is employed for if wee consider the scituation of the Ventricle or the Iron lurking in it together with the Region whereunto the Emplaster is applyes wee shall find that the Load-stone exceeds not the sphere of his Activity Lib. 2. Theaâ—r nat p. 247. for as Bodinus witnesseth the Iron ought to bee distant from the Load-stone almost halfe a foot but there no such distance is allowed by these Ninthly because in vaine had the most famous and expert Physitians framed the Magneticall Emplasters and from the Load-stone assigned them the denomination if no faculty of Attraction were thence further to be expected Should so precious a stone bee admixed onely for Exsiccation sake since even Mineralls of lesse value are endowed with the same yea and a greater faculty of Exsiccation Hence not onely in Felix Wirtz is the Oppodeldoch composed of the load-stone to extract Weapons and other things that are unnaturally in the body as you may see in his Chirurgery P.M. 668. p. 674. L. 5. pract p. 4. c. 5. but also in the most famous Sennertus such like Medicaments wee find set off with the pulverized load-stone which can draw forth weapons pieced of bone thornes splinters iron and other things Such as these are 1. â„ž Cerae nova unc 1. Colophon Resin Flav. An. Lib. 4 Ammoniac unc 2 Bdellij unc 1. Succin Citrin unc 3. Ol. è Vitell. Ovor. unc 4. Lap. Magnet unc 5. F. S. A. Empl. 2. â„ž Cera Vi gin unc 4. Terebinth unc 2. Lap. Magnet unc 1. ss Fabar. Excort unc 1. Axung Lepor unc ss F. S. A. Empl. 3. â„ž Cera Terebinth An. unc 6. Colophon Pie Naval Ana. unc 1. Ceruss vitriol Rom. an unc 4. Lap. Hamatit Magnet an unc 2. Mastick unc ss Thuris Camph Mum. Sang. Dracon an unc 1. Ol. Iuniper unc 2. ss Ovor. Dr. 6. Caryophill dr 2. Hypericil unc ss Lumbricor unc 1. M. F. S. Ar. Empl. See likewise in Crollius Basil Chym. p. 267. also Hartman in Comm. Nichola Dispens and Wecker in Antidot Special Lib. 2. p. 981. 989 997.999 Munder makes a great reckoning of the Description of Oppodeldoch in his Tractate De Calcantho c. 7. and out of Sennertus Lib. 5. Pr. p. 414. Tenthly in the like Cure of Attraction we see that the powder of the Load-stone is also of great vertue as the Cure of ruptured folkes can testifie Lib. 7. Chir. c. 15 in Keligraph cap. 7. For Pareus and out of him Geiger report of a certaine Chyrurgion that had so cured Childrens ruptures that having wrought the Load-stone into the finest flower
and used the same in a Pultis of Barley Flower did afterwards annoynt the Groine wherein the Intestine was fallen downe and asperged it with the small filings of Iron the part being bandaged and trussed up as is fitting the Curation was thus finished The efficacy of the Remedy saith Geiger seemes thereof to depend that the load stone being of the same nature with the Iron asperged upon the groine out of a desire to attract doth with a kind of violent force ioyne to it selfe the fleshy and fatty parcells interiected which every way clinging together and binding the laxity of the Peritonaeum yea and in successe of time cleaving fast unto the very same doe intercept the way the Intestine or Omentum will slip into which seemes no more abhorrent unto reason than that we see the very Load stone doth this and that way distract Iron after it through the thicknes of a board that 's laid betwixt Lib. 1 p. 54 Sucickard indeed according to the opinion of others doth after the manner but the matter seemed to come to the same effect First saith he they propine to the infirme the filings of Steele in the best old Wine then outwardly apply to the part affected the load-stone which againe constraines and ioynes together the broken skins that are ready to fall asunder which when 't is done they spread upon a Plaster of Dogs-skin the Root of the great Comfrey contused and made into a Poultice which being laid upon the part affected they say they heale many in the space of eight dayes To conclude lastly who can deny the experience observed in the Pragensian Swallow-knife where likewise the Magneticall Emplaster was used and the way shewed then where the Section was fittest to bee made In our Rustick something not unlike this is observed for upon that place where a piece of the Magneticall Emplaster was layed there arose a little kind of swelling yea the sicke man then perceived a certaine motion of the knife towards that part But whence all this sooth no otherwise then from the vertue of the tractive faculty of the Load-stone and other things likewise endowed with an Attractive quality Who therefore these things well considered could say that the pulverized Load-stone is nothing worth and in vaine to be prescribed for extraction of Iron and to be mixt in Medicaments The third Section Of the very Incision of the Ventricle and extraction of the Knife THe Body being well and rightly fitted with Balsamick oyles and other things necessary at last the ninth day of Iuly Stylo nostro was appointed for the operation There met therefore with the Deane of the faculty of Physicke the most excellent Physitians honourable members of the same Colledge as also the Students Masters of our Art together with the most experienced Chyrurgion and Cutter of the Stone Master Dan. Schwabius my Gossip and Venerable friend now in Heaven When all things therefore were ready at hand as well externall and internall Cordialls as other Chyrurgicalls the Divine Assistance and Benediction being first invoked the Rusticke who with an undanted courage waited the Section was bound to a wooden Table and the place being marked out with a Coale the incision was made towards the left side of the Hypochondrium some two fingers breadth under the short Ribs according to the direction and first the skin and that fleshie pannicle there was no fat seene and then the subiected Muscles as also the Peritonaeum was cut and opened And although the Ventricle did somewhat sinke downe and avayding our fingers ends did not so presently admit of apprehension and a little staid the Operator and standers by yet at length attracted and contracted with a small needle crooked it shewed that the knife was there which being laid hold on and the poynt brought upwards the Ventricle above the same was a little incised and the knife succesfully extracted which was viewed by all that were standing by and greatly applanded both by them and the Patient himselfe who professed that this was the very knife he some few daies before had swallowed but the wound it selfe when the knife was drawne forth was quickly allayed Position the 6. That the worth of the Ventricle it is great the benefit greater the necessity greatest yet the wounds thereof not to be reckoned of if they touch not the upper part of the Orifice as neither because of the membranous substance to bee thought mortall in themselves yet not voyd of danger THere are indeed three Spring heads to wit the Disease the Cause and the Effects from whence doe flow the number of those that are properly called Indicants the Curatory regarding the Disease the Preservatory which respect the Cause and the Vitall this lookes unto the effects yet many things there are which the Physitian necessarily must heed in the consideration of Diseases not as the prime Indicants but the Indicants and Co indicants of the true as is gathered out of Galen 11. M. M. c. 13. 9. M. M. 3. Amongst these by best right the part affected challengeth to it selfe the Chieâ—dome whose reason and consideration is esteemed to be of so great moment that by many it hath beene placed among the primary Indicants for it not onely she weth with the finger as it were the true Indicants and so investeth the nature of Signes but conferreth much to the insinuation of the things that are to bee done and their naturall administration Moreover it suggesteth the Prognosticke grounds and plainely teacheth what issue the Disease may have In wounds indeed not onely the greatnesse of the wound and malignity of the cause but the excellency and precellency of the part affected is to bee regarded whereby so we might be able to declare whether the wound thereon inflicted bee deadly or dangerous or not deadly For this excellency hath concomitant hoth utility and necessity if now then we shall consider the Ventricle may not an undoubted Prognosticke of the wounds thereof hee made This part it hath the notablest place of worth because both suggesting to the whole body the greatest profit and is to the same exceeding necessary For as man cannot naturally prolong life without meat and drinke so neither can he want the Organ of the same appointed for concoction There are indeed many examples of those that not onely for many daies but moneths too yea yeares have lived without any meat or drinke as note Smetius in Miscellan p. 551. Lang. Lib. 2. ep 27. Donat. Lib. 7. Med. Hist mir cap. 1. lib. 4. c. 14. Schenk lib. 3. obs med 39. c. Ioubert lib. 1. Parad. 2. Quercitan Diaetetic Poly. Hist p. 204. Hildan Centur. 5. p. 113. Sennertus lib. 3. Practic par 1. S. 1. c. 2. and others But as these are reckoned among the rater things of nature so their life too was very miserable untill they came againe unto the naturall meanes Wherefore Nature provided for all Creatures a stomack that the food assumed at
indigested as witnesseth Cardanus Shenck writeth of one that by excrement voyded againe hard flint stones the same he had ingested Lib. 8. De rer variet cap. 40. Lib. 3. obs med 2. C. â—0 De abdit A certaine woman as noteth Benivenia devoured a brasse needle which at length on the tenth yeare came forth through the ventricle being pierced at a little hole and the wound consolidated and cured A certaine maid that had swalls wed downe a small needle did on the foureteenth day eiect the same not altered as Hildanus hath it Centur. 1. observ 34. Forestus writes of one that had swallowed the point of a knife and restored the same by the Posteriors not changed who relates too of his Brother that was then but a boy that in sport he swallowed downe a pellet of Lead round but slatted and the third day with out trouble did returne it with his excrements These and the like which in Authors are here and there obvious and oftentimes in practise doe sufficiently evince that Mineralls swallowed downe cannot by any mans stomack bee concocted Nor is it so that any one should hence conclude that the internall use of Mineralls is needlesse and in vain commended by Physitians yea that Gold Silver and the like are without successe propined unto the sick since they are better able to corroborate a mans purse than his body In Tetrad c. 25. 31. in pest Alexand. Lib. 2. c. 7. to which opinion among others subscribe Quercetanus as also the Augustan Physicians who in their dispensatory Adâ—auriam Alexandrin affirme that the addition of gold and silver in Medicines satisfies opinion more then the intention and out of an Arabian excesse introduceth to feed the eyes and to make a greater price for the Apothecary since it is so far from being that our naturall heate possibly should draw any vertue from them by its exhalation or power although intense that the power it selfe being entire and not having at all suffered any change by assumption wee should observe it to bee refined Howbeit although Gold which is reckoned for a medicament as well as other Mineralls cannot by the treasury of our stomacke be exactly wrought dissolved and converted into Chyle yet it sufficeth that it may by its solar influence and its radiation of a secret vertue into the very heart by a kind of sympatheticall power bee as the Sunne unto the Microcosme and confer its faculty to this intrall Yea who could ever deny that there may from Leafe Gold a certaine spirit like some evaporation bee communicated to our spirits analogicall to the same since we cannot deny but that in other Mineralls too there is such a like spirituall effluxion that insinuates it selfe into our bodies That the Turquoise stone externally applyed and contained in the hands doth even to bee admired asswage the flux of bloud Tr. de Gemmis this not onely Boetius de Boot hath left written in a proper Chapter and approved with some observations but I my selfe too have found the like efficacie of this stone in an over much Haemorrhagie An old man of seventy yeares of age having for some dayes made a bloudy Vrine was by fit medicines inwardly tooke recovered and a little after by reason of some more violent motion and some greater rupture of a veine hee had another more dangerous flux and his strength too was very much weakned inward and outward meanes and remedies nothing prevailing I advised the use of the aforesaid stone having therefore got Rings of them he applyed them to his hands and before an houre was quite spent 't is a wonder to be spoken the fluxe of bloud not without admiration ceased and hee recollecting his strength by little and little recovered health The same Rings have done good to many in an over much fluxe of the monethly Tearmes as in an Haemorrhagie too or an over-much bleeding at the Nose But after that some other examples likewise have declared the efficacious vertue of these stones is it not manifest out of Platerus that the hanging by of Chrystall doth very much good in the Vertigo Lab. 1. Pract. de funct c. p. 246 Lâ—b De dolor pag. 853. Schol. in Ep. 160. the same Platerus teacheth that the Saphir applyed unto the eyes is defensative against the Meazells Nor is this very thing unknowne to the poorest women What shall I say of the Amber whose attractive quallity even with any kind of heate can bee provoked When not two yeares agoe the Meazells here were Epidemicall they got for a little Girle at the beginning of the Disease before the Meazells brake forth Bracelets made of Amber put them about her wrists and tho they often fell from the left hand yet they remained still applyed unto the right in that place such an immense company of Meazells broke out that not without trouble was shee constrained to endure their heate For this cause also to draw back paine from the head 't is put under the soales of the feet That indeed it reverts the Catharrall defluxions from the eyes if put on the nape of the necke and so worne is a thing knowne as they say to bleare-eyed men and Barbers But if these and infinite others to say nothing now of the vertue of the Nephriticall stone onely outwardly applyed confer a notable helpe unto the body and by their spirituall effluxion resist a diseasing constitution why have not Gold and other things inwardly taken bin possibly effectuall Is it not so that if a trembling of the parts arise by the use of Quick-silver and that you put but a peece of Gold Coyne into the mouth it very selfe is with-drawne even from the Center of the body The servant of a certaine Gold-smith when by the continuall use of Quick-silver hee perceived his sight to be weakned by my perswasions for some dayes he carried a Duckat of Gold in his mouth whence daily he contracted a whitenesse and had his sight restored the virtnall power therefore of the medicament may be communicated to appropriated members even in that very body that is not disposed since that our heate may some-what worke into that very body which heate yet woe find now and then to bee very effectuall in many subiects Amatus Lusitanus reports of one that had swallowed downe a piece of brasse mony Cent. 2. Curat 69. and perceived not any harmâ— it did him but that his body became something leane yet a yeare after hee did egest it with the excrements but small and so consumed by his naturall heate that it drew all into a wonderment and the same Author adds that he saw at Ferarie a Glutton who could eate concoct and digest Leather shells and broken Glasses that every one would call him Estridge of whom you may read too in Columbus Lib. 15. Ana. Tom p. 486. So that piece of silver mony which a Girle of nine yeares of age a Cityzens daughter of Insterberg swallowed downe
of the Magnetes this attraction may not be letted is questionable Since fire may be quencht with Oyle Simile if there be a fit quantity that can embrace it by reason of its aboundance actuall coldnesse and moystening although it bee a ready materiall to bee converted into flame yet not in that forme Gums although they have the vertue of attraction yet since they labour not with that spirit and power the Magnetes doth they cannot bee said to quicken its spirt but rather to dull and extinguish it by their adverse faculties especially being rent by Tituration Cap. 6. A further search into the sixth position being the fourth and last part of our examination of our Auâ—hors reasons drawne from other simples c. Whereas the Author in this Position hath cited Gummes and other Drugges to strengthen the Opinion he holds now in question hee is much mistaken as I thinke in their natures Gummes and other Druggs being extracted have their portion and exact not a future or successive nourishment for they dry Reason 1 wither and in small time loose their properties which approves the fore-going Reason Reason 2 Gummes and oyles next they doe not visibly draw forth but rather or for the most part by heating and humecting with a comfortable warmth and dew gratefull and vegetating the part whereby nature is rather assisted to expell then altogether freed by the proper power of attraction in the medicament Reason 3 next they being mixt one with another by melting or otherwaies are as it were one and the selfe same in consistence or nature bee they Rosins Waxe powders of Seeds Roots Fruits c. these not possessing so admirable a spirit as the Magnetes to vivifie their vertues which hath fellowship in its operative power onely with Iron but Gummes and Drugges have a changeable affinity to bee suspected and with all members of the body and otherwaies either similar or dissimilar and uncertainely working which shewes they are not of that excellent Creation perfect and certaine as the Load stone Reason 4 but of a grosser birth and imperfect and certainely congruity of things makes them more efficient when contrarieties impediat and kill the faculties of one another as we may gather out of the composition of Medicines where many simples naturally vitious and hurtfull in themselves are by the addition of others gratefull unto our bodies and oppugnant to their qualities of hurt and poyson made helpefull and corrected if any pact of their substance either the grosse or subtle holds in it a temper to be changed or assisted being of a dissimilar growth all which may be allow'd in the Magnetes and Gummes c though not venemous yet of opposing natures the one pure the other imperfect to enlighten this reade Weekerus Lib. 4. Pract. Generalis Cap. 20.35 36. Reason 5 Next Oyle Pepper Cloves Gummâ—s Seeds Fruits Roote Leaves Flowers c. have all apt bodies to be pulverized in whose tituration and mixture one with another there can be no perishing of Vertues but addition and that for two regards Cause 1 First they have that excellent respective flame to loose which the Magnetes hath to give life and action to their grosse birth and substance of which it is begotten and in which the spirits dwells reciprocally sustaining one another which by division broken up and lost must needs pâ—oduce the ruine and ceasing of both in their functions and power as before spoken repetition in matters so difficult being needfull to recover memory and guide the intellect Cause 2 Secondly they are but severall portions of one roote by so many differences of nature in their issue and spring and by her labours divided into as many figures and changeable parcells of Gummes Seedes Rootes Fruites c. which being reduced againe into one body by pulverizing and kneading or melting together make up the same masse which nature in her will intended to bee but as one lumpe yet by such alterations succeeding one another according to the season both of heate coldnesse moysture or drynesse and their mixtures in their buddings and through the change of time they are endew'd with it commeth to passe they appeare out of their Coates in such variable shapes colours and distinct Vertues now the Loadstone being entire and having no other issue then it selfe by nature intended such and by her will made the same and unchangeable by seasons being bruised must loose the vigour of it selfe Nota. for we must make a difference betwixt things which nature hath brought forth divided and those which she hath delivered whole the divided off-spring of her wombe garnisht with many formes more Vertâ—es though begotten from one Root brought into one heape or body is but the pulling backe of things to the first intent of nature which although it bee done with an abundant change of what they would have bin in her first intention yet in consent and concordance of their qualities their Vertues may be quickned and in effect are but the same she did intend But those pieces of her Wombe she brings forth entire of one onely substance colour and Vertue not to bee alter'd by times or seasons warmth coldnesse drinesse moysture not visibly collecting or loosing power thus to bee crusht and broken must needs slake their Vertues if not utterly quench them What may be obiected out of this last part of this discourse in affirming that Gold and other Mineralls loose not their Vertues by pulverizing is vaine for the Loadstone will not so farre as it is possest with their matter and substance but they are not enricht with its spirit both attractive and respective concerning which the Reader may be better satisfied if he please to looke back to what 's pre-written Now I am not so confident but that I submit to the Iudicious onely it doth not appeare unto mee that the Magnetes reduced into powder and so incorporated can retaine its Vertue attractive but I will descend to experience Master Bond my very worthy friend an honest and painefull Student in the secrets of the Load stone is of this opinion I am assures he is able to give satisfaction in this matter to the ablest since these times can harely afford his equallin the Mathematicall Studies and mysteries depending upon that Art Cap. 7. Censure of the seventh and eighth Positions Position 7. IN this Position he hath worthily set downe the Rules of Indication whereby the Physitian is able to know what is menaced and thereby invited through a necessity to study the letting of what may be dangerous if arriving as threatned Indeed the Disease the Cause and strength of the Patient are those three principles which we should alwaies respect and labour to be well instructed in First the Disease must employ our understanding to know if it either in quantitie quality or both offend venemous abounding or together Next if one humour more or all it hath infected to which may bee added where the seate of the evill