perswade them to the submitting thereto and have not in my Practise been unfortunate therein but have seen Diseases that have been exasperated by other Medicines beyond expectation cured thereby and do think it most commonly so excellent a remedy that many Patients admitting thereof would much shorten the time and lessen the cost and trouble of their Sickness and not stand-in need of one quarter of those Medicines and Antidotes those Preparatives and Corroboratives those Infusions and Decoctions those Pills and Potions Purges and Vomits Cordials and Bolus Juleps and Emulsions Extracts and Juices Waters and Spirits Salts and Oils Syrups and Conserves Electuaries and Powders Plaisters and Ointments Blisters and Glisters they are made to take and though there be many Medicines that will purge Flegme Choler and Melancholy yet none are yet known that will safely purge bloud or lessen it yet I cannot in this case of Preservation from the Pestilence advise any one to open a Vein but rather disswade them from it And because it may take better from another of more authority than my self I have gotten Iacob Sylvius in his Book of the Blague to deliver his opinion in plain English As for Blood-letting saith he it is no way profitable for the preventing of this Disease because the bloud being diminished the body is made more open and lyable to external injuries and the strength decayes by the loss of blood the food and treasure of life Of the same mind also is the most excellent Physitian Sennertus who though in the cure of most other Diseases he begins with Phlebotomy yet in this forbids it and the most learned Riverius is of opinion that bleeding causeth one to be infected the more easily as also to escape the more hardly it being in this venemous Disease as in those that have taken poyson who by bleeding draw the poyson inward and very difficulty are recovered and therefore upon the very suspition of being poyson'd most skilful Physitians abstain from letting blood Nevertheless they conclude that if there be any notable fulness of blood or necessary evacuation suppressed a vein may be opened upon 〈◊〉 account and then very sparingly but not in reference to the Pestilence And as to the present time of the year Galen forbids to let bloud in a hot and dry season of the Air. Of Purging and Vomiting Although as Hyppocrates saith in his Aphorismes That Those which are of sound and perfect health do quickly faint and grievously endure a purging 〈…〉 nor superfluous humor to draw out and work upon doth first dissipate the Spirits and then dissolves those parts of the body which are humid and moist and afterwards corrupts those which are solid and although as Crato saith there be no purging or vomiting Medicines which are primarily and directly opposite to the venom of the Plague yet because foul bodies are more subject to Infection than those which are pure and clean and the humours they abound with may disturb Nature and interpose themselves and take off and dull the Operation of any Cordials or Antidotes and being agitated by the Disease might flow and settle to some noble part and bring the party into a most grievous Fever Frenzy or some other Inflamation whereby he may be endangered as much as by the Plague There have been several purging medicines directed by Physitians and I shall prescribe these The Pills of Ruffus otherwise called the Common or Pestilential Pills are very excellent you may take of them once or twice a week when you go to bed the dose of them is half a dram for an ordinary constitution or a whole dram for a strong man You may have them at any Apothecaries or else make such like yourself Take fine Aloes two ounces fine Myrrhe one ounce English Saffron half an ounce make them into powder and with Venice Turpentine make them into pills and take half a dram or a whole dram as aforesaid The Aloes clears the Stomach from bad humors and the belly from worms the Myrrhe preserves the body from Putrefaction the Saffron cheers the Spirits and the Turpentine is good against the Pestilence Or else take this Dissolve an ounce and a half of Manna in six ounces or a little draught of spring water and one spoonful of vinegar warmed together on the fire then strain it and take an ounce of Venice Turpentine and put to it the yolke of a new laid egge and stir it about and mixe it and it will look like cream then by little and little put to it the liquor being first quite cold wherein the Manna was dissolved and stir it about and drink it up and keep warm ordering your self as is usual in other purges or vomits when it works upwards you may take posset drink and downwards broth If it had a pleasant taste those that know the vertue of it would never take any other medicine It is strong enough for any of the strongest constitution and for those that are weaker six drams or half an ounce of Turpentine is dose enough Women with child may use this Infuse a dram of Rubarb slieed six hours in six ounces or a little draught of Endive or succory-Succory-water or Spring-water then strain it and put to the liquor one ounce or else two ounces of Manna and dissolve it over the fire and strain it and drink it up Children may take an ounce or two ounces or half an ounce of Manna dissolved in Succory of Endive-water or in Spring-water or Barly-water or Broth or Posset-drink But beware of strong purges and vomits which will sooner bring the Plague upon you than preserve you against it especially at this time when it is more probable that the Sickness is occasioned by the Corruption of the air than by the putrefaction of humors there having been no scarcity of provision whereby the poorer sort might have been necessitated to feed on unwholsome diet and therefore no necessity of taking any purging Physick I remember about four years since many were sick of a malignant Fever and the discontented party did attribute the cause to the keeping of Lent and eating of Fish what would they have said now if Lent had been strictly observed Of Sweating As purging vomiting and bleeding do draw in the humors and vapours from the circumference and outside of the body to the center and inside of the heart so medicines that cause Sweat expel them from the heart to the outside of the body and rarifie those humours into light and thin vapours which turn into a watery sweat as soon as they come out of the skin into the air and thereby drive out those humors and vapours which breed the Pestilence For which purpose it would not be inconvenient to take one or two drams of London or Venice-Treacle or of Mithridate or Diascordium or Confection of Iacynth according to the age or strength of the party or one dram of Electuary de Ov◠in White-wine Vinegar or a draught of Posset-drink made of
may be bred in the body which may prove offensive to Nature it will be convenient to have recourse to issues one in the left arm and the other in the right leg or thigh and by how much the greater is your danger the more issues you ought to make the benefit will recompence the trouble for they evacuate excrementitious humours which might become a receptacle for the Sickness for the prevention whereof they have been found a sovereign and useful remedy Mercurialis in the 23. Chapter of his Book of the Plague saith That he did not onely find these Issues to be much commended by Nicholaus Florentinus a Physitian of great authority but hath also proved them to be excellent by his own experience and that he can testifie that amongst almost an innumerable company which he saw dead of the Plague he never saw but one that had an issue and desirous to be further satisfied he made inquiry among other Physitians who testified the same that they likewise never saw one dead that had an Issue Which may be an argument that they are very helpful and there is good reason for it because like sinks they continually drain the body of superfluous humours And Skenkius in his Sixth Book of his Observations concerning Epidemical Diseases relates that many make Issues and raise Blisters with prosperous and good successe of health and safety although they do converse with thousands of them that die And for this purpose Physitians forbid the drying up of running sores the healing of filthy ulcers or striking in the itch And though some may say It is good sleeping in a whole skin yet it is not good dying in one and you were better to have your skin broken with a Launce or Cautery than with a Botch or Blain and you will find it lesse cost pain or trouble to go to a Chyrurgeon to make an Issue than to have him come to you to dress a Carbuncle Or else you may make one your self for to handle a Launcet is as soon learn'd as to sew with a Needle and you may sooner grow expert to cut your skin than to work Cut-work and though it may seem irksome to keep them alwayes running yet there is no more danger of drying them up when the Cause for which they were made is removed than there would be to heal a cut in the arm or broken shin that hath been sore or run a quarter of a year and though some have died that have had Issues and neglected other helps 't is no more disparagement to the Medicine than that a Town having good ditches should be taken by an Enemy that entred in at the Gates that lay open and secure and which ought to have been defended by other helps and forces The Third Cause of the Pestilence against which for our preservation we must defend our selves is Contagion and Infection Seeing it is almost impossible to avoid the occasions of Infection which may either assault you against your will or invade you against your knowledge or set upon you on a sudden to the end that you may break the force of it that it may have lesse power to enter in and you more strength to keep it out you must make use not onely of Purges Vomits and Issues which are not helps directly and of themselves contrary to the Plague but also you must have recourse to appropriate Medicines both external and internal Amulets and Antidotes Of Amulets Amulets are certain outward medicines most commonly made of poysonous things hung about the Neck and worn upon the Breast supposed to have a hidden power and secret vertue to defend the heart from the venom of the Pestilence They are worn upon the breast because the heart is the place principally affected in this Disease but whence and how they have their operation the learned differ and vary in opinion Some think that the heart becomes thereby somewhat more familiar and accustomed to poyson and will not so easily be hurt and overcome by it Others are of opinion That Arsnick and such like hot things whereof Amulets are made do dry up noxious humours and disperse offensive vapours as we see the heat of fire drieth moisture and hinders Putrefaction Others think that these Amulets being plac't neer the Heart the Vital Spirits do thereupon by a certain aversenesse and antipathy unite themselves together and become the stronger as we see Springs and Fountains by reason of the coldness of the ambient Air in Winter time do keep in all their heat and even smoke with warmth Others say it is done by Atraction as it is commonly said That hot Bread and Onions will draw unto them all the Infection in the Room And these Amulets by a kind of sympathy do intercept the pestilential vapours before they can be receiv'd into the body or else presently draw them out before they can settle there to do any mischief to the Heart it being in this case as with one that is stricken of a Viper or Scorpion who is best cured by applying and binding to the place the bruised body of the beast that stung him and if they cannot get that they apply some other venemous creature and the party will presently be relieved as if the venome had been drawn out by a Cupping-Glasse for one poyson having a conformity with another doth move and joyn it self unto it and affecteth union with it even as we see that holding a burnt hand to the fire draws out the heat and bathing a frozen member in Spring-water helps it of the cold and numbness But whatsoever the cause be they are much commended and Mercurialis that prescribes this saith that Pope Adrian the Sixth did wear one Take of white Arsenick two ounces white Dittany and English Saffron of each two drams of Camphire and Euphorbium of each one dram beat them into Powder and with Gum Arabick dissolv'd in rose-Rose-water make them into little Cakes about the breadth of a Shilling and the thickness of two half Crowns and dry them in the Sun or in an Oven after the Bread is taken out Skenkius commends this Take white Arsenick two ounces yellow Arsenick one ounce powder them and with the white of an Egge or Gum Dragon dissolv'd in water make them into Cakes as aforesaid Some there be that would have onely a piece of Arsenick sewed in Silk and worn in the bosome and have little or nothing mixt with it least it should hinder its vertue and efficacy of operation others put in many things that some of them might meet with and resist the pestilential venom which oftentimes is not of the same but of a different and various Nature Sennertus directs this Take of white Arsenick two ounces Zedoary two drams Saffron one scruple Camphire half a dram beat all into powder and with Gum Arabick dissolv'd in rose-Rose-water as aforesaid make it into Cakes Rhenanus commends this as the most perfect Amulet which hath this property to be moist and
a friend intreated him If he was innocent that he would free him for his own sake but if he was guilty that he would yet free him for his sake but however he must free him If Vinegar be simple and uncompounded take it for its own 〈◊〉 mixed with other Antidotes take it for 〈◊〉 but however take Vinegar Pliny finds fault with Physitians 〈◊〉 his time for not knowing its excellent vertue Vinegar being contrary to most other liquors in distillation may well have something more than ordinary in operation The Spirits of Wine and Beer and other liquors presently exhale and flie away and have nothing but flegme but when Vinegar is distill'd the flegme rises first and the Spirits stay behind Now as Galen saith of Poysons the hundredth part of a Cantharides doth not hurt nor one spark of fire burn to any purpose so it is in Cordials too little will do little good there must be a considerable quantity and sufficient dose you cannot in reason think one spoonful of Vinegar enough to quench such a heat as the Plague brings 'T is for the vertue of Vinegar that I wrote this Book I would be loath to present you a Glo-worm instead of a Diamond or put a Bulrush instead of a Spear into your hand when you are to fight with such an Enemy Imagine well and think highly of this Medicine I value my own life as much as another man doth his I had rather take Vinegar by it self than many other nay then any other single medicine without it Despise it not because 't is easie to be had neither let it be contemn'd because familiar It is the more excellent because common the more precious because cheap the vertues of it so many they will hardly be believed and therefore the greater because incredible But because the pestilent venome hath a power to corrupt putrifie and inflame the humours and oftentimes the Sicknesse is accompanied with a Fever which sometimes may be almost as dangerous as the Plague there must be care taken thereof so that as you may not by too cold things strike in the Plague so by too hot you may not exasperate the Fever but have respect to both for which purpose you may take cordial and cooling Juleps made of distill'd waters of Sorrel Endive Cichory Borage Bugloss Meadow sweet Angelica Dragons Dandelyon Betony Scabius Balme Fumitory to which you may put as much oyl of Brimstone or Vitriol as will make it very sharp to your taste and to every quart thereof about half a dram of Lapi◠Prunella or Sal Niter or Sal Peter and afterwards sweeten it with any Cordial Syrups as of Gilly-flowers Citrons Lemons Violets adding to it if you please Alchermes and when you are hot and dry you may drink as much as you please and as often as you will As thus Take of Meadowsweet and Cichory water of each one pint of Borage and Buglosse water half a pint of Dragon and Angelica water of each four ounces put to it as much Oyl of Vitriol as will make it very sharp then adde to it a dram of Lapis Prunella powdered Syrup of Gilly-flowers four ounces Alchermes two drams and drink as much and as often as you please Or else you may make the Tincture of Roses thus Boil four quarts of spring-Spring-water then let it cool till it be but about scalding hot then put it into a glased earthen pot and put to it two good handfuls or two ounces of dried Red-Rose leaves and stir them in the water that they may be all wet then put to them one Silver spoonful of Oil of Brimstone or Oil of Vitriol or as much as will make the liquor very sharp stir it all about and presently the Roses and the liquor will be of a delicate red colour then let it stand covered about four hours then strain it gently without squeezing into an earthen pan and sweeten it with a pound or two of Loaf-Sugar more or lesse as you please and with more Oil of Vitriol make it very sharp for your taste and keep it in Glass-bottles and when you are hot and dry drink as much as you please and if you list you may put any Cordial Syrup to it as Gilly-flowers juice of Citron Lemons Poppies or the like Or else you may take some Spring-water and put it fresh into a Glass and drop some Oil of Vitriol or Brimstone into it to make it sharp and sweeten it with Sugar and drink it both as a Preservative against a Fever or the Plague and as a Medicine and Julep in time of Sicknesse and let me tell you that plain Spring-water and Oil of Vitriol or Brimstone is a better Julep in the Plague Pestilent Malignant and other burning Fever than almost any other distill'd water without it Note that it is a vain and scrupulous error to take when you are dry and burning hot but two or three spoonfuls of Julep at a time I never denied my Patients drink in the heat of a Fever but let them drink Julep as much as they please for a little Julep doth but little good and rather encreaseth the heat as the powring of a little Water on a Smiths fire doth make it flame the more and burn the hotter whereas a great deal doth quite extinguish it and put it out And because this Oil of Vitriol is so excellent and useful a remedy mixt with water in this and all hot Diseases I should advise every ingenuous person that lives in the Country never to be without it These Oils you must understand cannot be taken by themselves but with spring or distilled waters and you must be careful of spilling any drop on your cloths for then it will fret and make a hole in them Now if you refuse to meddle with them for fear of receiving any hurt you may as well do so by fire which you must not sit by least a spark light on your apron neither must men take Tobacco for fear of burning their faces And yet I must tell you that 't is better to have a spot on your gown or a hole in your cloths which the negligent slabbering of it may occasion than a Purple in your Skin or a Botch or Carbuncle in your Flesh which the discreet taking of it will hinder I have heard of a Norwegian that coming out of his frozen Country into the South parts of the World saw some Damask Roses growing in a Garden and said Well may the weather be so hot when fire grows upon the Trees at which the hearers fell a-laughing and told him they were most sweet and fragrant flowers as pleasing to the smell as delightful to the eye and gather'd him one and bid him smell to it but he refus'd neither would he take it into his hands for fear of burning his fingers nor smell to it least he should fire his beard or singe his furr'd cap. To perswade you not to fear but use this Oil of Vitriol let me
Vinegar and Water put into the Milk instead of Beer or Ale Or else this which is most excellent without heating of the body or hurting of the purse Take Crabs eyes one ounce burnt Harts-horn half an ounce the black tops of Crabs claws an ounce and a half make them all into a powder and take of it one dram or two drams in a glass of posset-drink when you go to bed and drink another draught of posset-drink after to wash it down Or else you may drink a draught of Oxymel Posset-drink made as followeth Boil a quarter of a pint of English Honey with a quart of water and skum it then put to it one pint of vinegar and let it boil nine or ten walmes then let it cool and boil a quart of Milk and turn it with a sufficient quantity of the Oxymel and put away the curd and drink the posset-drink when you go to bed Or else take a dose or quantity of the Antipestilential Vinegar of which hereafter Of Observation of Diet. Although you defend your self never so safely from the evil air and retain your Blood as the treasure and maintain your Spirits as the guard of your life though you purge out vicious humors and sweat out bad vapours yet if you by any neglect disorder excess or defect do recruit those humors corrupt your blood or spend your spirits it will be to no more purpose than if you had washt your cloths never so clean and yet afterwards should tumble them in the dirt or trample them in the mire By Observation of Diet Physicians understand the well ordering of a mans self in those six things which they call Non-Natures the Air Sleep and Watching the Passions of the Mind Labour and Rest Repletion and Evacuation Meat and Drink which some have called the six strings of Apollo's Harp wherein consists the harmony of health If these be in tune the body is sound but if any of these be skrewed up too high by any excess or slackened too low by any defect or intemperately used then is the body put out of tune and made subject to diseases 1. For the Air let it not be too cold nor too hot and choose rather to wear by day and to be covered at night with too many cloths than too few and let your apparel be rather stuff then cloth which will soonest catch and longest hold Infection but take heed of too great heat Mercurialis tells of many Smiths and Glass-men that died in the Plague at Venice who by the heat of fire had made their bodies too open and apt to receive Infection 2. As for Sleep let it be moderate and take heed of too much watching 3. Let your Passions be calm'd and your mind serene and as much as possible refrain Anger and banish Fear 4. Let your Exercise be moderate and forbear over-heating your body whereby you will be necessitated to draw in more air and it hath been observed that many hard Labourers have not onely been infected but died of the Plague 5. For Repletion and Evacuation take heed of Excess and keep your body neither too loose nor costive Look upon Venus to be as great a friend to the Plague as Mars or Saturn and the Venereal Marks and Swellings no preservative against the Spots and Botches of the Pestilence It is no lesse unfortunate and wretched than devillish and wicked advice for any to get the Pox to avoid the Plague for Experience which is the Mistriss of Fools hath taught some that have no care of their souls that it is as dangerous for the body to go into some other Houses as into a Pest-House Lastly For Meat and Drink you are to have respect not onely to the Quality that it be good and wholesome and take heed of surfetting on any Summer fruit but also to the Quantity of what you take As the body is not to be weakened nor the Spirits spent with Fasting so is it not to be overcharged with Surfetting They that will eat till they can feel the meat with their fingers and drink till they can paddle with the liquor in their throats and be ready to shed it out of their mouths are in the way of cutting their throat with their tongue and digging their grave with their teeth Mercurialis saith of his own knowledge They are much deceiv'd who think to preserve themselves by eating and drinking and tells of many great drinkers both at Padua and at Venice that died of the Plague from which they thought to preserve themselves by drinking Wine It was the Saying of a Politician that Maxima pars frugalitatis est bene domatus venter so it may be the Aphorisme of a Physitian Maxima pars sanitatis est bene domatus venter As he that loveth pleasure will not be quickly rich so he that is given to excess will not be long well Temperance and Abstinence as they are not onely remedies against most diseases as Lessius treats at large in his Spare Diet and Cornaro made experiment by a little and very wholesom food so are they also a great corrector of any inconvenience that comes by evil nourishment When the impregnable City of Carlile under the government of the most invincible and resolute Governour Sir Thomas Glenham in the late Wars was besieged by an Army of Warlike English and hardy Scots there was great scarcity of Provision the besieged did eat all the Dogs and Cats never Roast-beef was sold so dear as Horse-flesh of which when Horses were kill'd and sold in the Market no Family for their money might have above their allowance the best provision that an Officers wife could procure whil'st she lay in Child-bed was a young Colt the Souldiers were allowed but two meals a week and that was a quantity of beans and the water they were boil'd in and yet so couragious as to say Give us but a Bean a Day and we will keep the Town Though the City was full of Inhabitants and Garrison Souldiers and many of the Loyal Gentry and divers Valiant Knights and delicate and tender Ladies came to live there to defend and be defended in the place yet during all that Siege of above forty weeks as I have been credibly inform'd there was not one person sick or died except one Woman who surfeited upon Bread made of Hemp-seed And if you would know what an excellent Antidote Temperance doth furnish you with against the Plague Histories will tell you that in the most grievous Plague at Athens described by Thucidydes Socrates the Phylosopher lived free and not infected To conclude sleep when you are drowsie rest when you are weary drink when you are dry and eat when you are hungry and mixe with your Diet something that is cordial as Vinegar and Nutmeg where it is agreeable and rise from the Table with an appetite Of Issues Seeing it may easily come to pass that in unhealthy times notwithstanding the most exact Observation of Diet some bad humours
as it were sweat at the approach or presence of the Pestilential venom and they are then to be dried at the fire or over a fume Take saith he of white and yellow Arsenick of each half an ounce the powder of dried Toads two ounces Mercury sublimed Wheat Flowre the Roots of Dittany of each three drams Saffron the Fragments of Jacynth and Emerald of each one scruple make them all into powder and with Gum Dragon dissolved in rose-Rose-water make them into Cakes and dry them as aforesaid I need not tell you that you must not eat them but sew them in a little silk bag fastening it to a ribbon and hanging it about your Neck let it lie about the middle of your Breast You are to avoid all violent exercise and over-heating of your self for fear of growing fainty whilest you wear it I have known some of these worn in the City of Bristol in the time of the Plague and the parties sometimes would have little pimples like the Itch rise about the breadth of the Amulet in their Breast which they did rub and scratch but never had the Plague and are alive till now There are also some Physitians that praise Quicksilver as the best and prefer it before any other Amulet It s vertue was found out thus It is usual with the Italian women to wear Quick-silver in their bosomes enclosed in a Quill or Nut-shell against the drying up of their Milk because by attenuating grosse humours and rarifying thick blood in the veins which could not passe the kernels of the Breast the Milk is thereby increased Now it so fell out that during the Plague all those women that wore it escaped Infection and it hath since that grown in request and hath been fortunately tried several times And there be those which say they have known the shell break and the Quick-silver fall out at the very instant that the ware was infected and this might be by the super-abundance of the force and matter of the Contagion which so little Quick-silver could no longer resist or contain It is made thus Bore a hole in a Filberd or Hazel-nut and with a Needle pick out the kernel and fill the shell with Quick-silver and stop the hole with waxe and wear it in your bosome sewed in a little purse or bag of silk And whereas divers Physitians have not onely spoke but writ against these Amulets so likewise there are many altogether as learned that have us'd them and whereas some might question the receiving of any inward benefit by such external applications one may also ask them if they did never hear of pigeons applied to the feet and compounded mixtures to the wrists and plaisters to the Stomachs and Navels of sick Patients to draw out such vapours and humours which infest the body 'T is no difficult matter for an Apothecary to make a little ball which being held in the hand and smell'd to at the nose will extreamly purge his Patient Many have had their Bladder hurt by having a blistering plaister put to the Neck And Skenkius mentions some that pist blood by carrying Cantharides about them in their purse or pocket There be them that will tell you that the liver of a Frog applied to the heart will mitigate the fits of a burning Fever A ring made of an Elkes claw is good against the Falling Sicknesse and some have been helpt by wearing a Piony Root about their Neck It is for some good reason that Gold is given to those that are cured of the Kings-Evil Several restless and unquiet persons have found ease by wearing of a spleen stone The Aetites or Stone found in an Eagles Nest if worn above the middle of a woman with-child preserves her from miscarrying but if below the thigh doth hasten her delivery and if not then taken away her death A piece of a dried Toad sewed in silk and worn in the bosome helps bleeding at the Nose so doth the Heliotropian and Cornelian Bloud-stone worn in bracelets about the Wrists or Neck Why may not then such things whereof Amulets are made have operation against the Pestilence But if you fear the danger of having them near you because they are esteemed venemous it may be said that Glass taken inwardly by its cutting corroding quality may prove as deadly as Arsnick which being worn only outwardly may be as innocent as Glass and Quick-silver worn before your bosome may be as harmlesse as that behind your Looking-glasse The Plague is a venemous Disease and you were better wear poyson on the out-side of your skin than the in-side of your heart and though some have died with Amulets about their Necks so also have there with my Lady Kents powder in their bellies and the last liquor they have taken hath been Aqua Mirabilis and yet both cordial and harmless You know Out-works may be useful for some Garrisons though perhaps by carelessnesse they have been surpriz'd by the Enemy and have no way benefited that Town which they were made for to defend Of Antidotes As the Pestilence being the general and great Sicknesse as hath been formerly shewed doth comprehend in it something of the Nature of all other Diseases so we have hitherto already spoken of some general helps that belong to the cure of other maladies as well as of the Plague but because it hath in it something more than ordinarily opposite and pecullarly dstructive to the Vital Spirits we come now to speak of such Medicines which have a more than ordinary and especial vertue to resist its venome and preserve the heart and these are Antidotes which are to encounter the Disease not onely afar off where we may chance to meet with it as we go abroad but also neer at hand when it comes to assault us at the doors and seize upon us in our Houses And here 't is necessary to give direction What is to be done when there is one sick or dead in the House wherein we live This question may well be askt because the danger is great since you are more apt to draw in the infected air which the sick continually are breathing out yet if the sick recover the venome of the Disease is then conquered and dispersed and seldom any of that family fall desperately ill after the first hath escaped but this danger is far more when there is one lies a dying for it is observable that then many of the Family are infected since Nature in the sick doth by all means endeavour to drive out the venome by the breath and pores 'T is in this case as when a Lamp or Candle burns there is alwayes some fume that rises from the flame which would blacken any thing held neer or over it but this is very little offensive because the stinking noisome vapour is consumed by the flame before it can reach to any considerable distance but when it is just burning or blown out there comes from the the week or cotton a most